Bead Soup for Beth Bricker

Okay, this is the teaser. 

Beth's Bead Soup is in on it's way to her. 

Meet my Bead Soup Partner caught at a Bead Show.
Beth is on the Right- with the great smile.
Do you think Beads make her happy?  I do.I had fun with Adobe Elements and disguised the pictures I took of her ingredients. I don't think you will recognize anything in this but that is the point. Surprise!!  

Bead Soup a la Jurassic Park for Beth
andI love this one, came out really abstract after about 8 filter effects.

Bead Soup el Cognito

I sent her a really nice clasp, handmade by a favorite etsy artist I will divulge later.

I made the focal pendant and all of the polymer clay beads 

and then poured in a lot of spicy beads to warm it up. 

I am anxiously waiting my ingredients for the Party too! 

(Saturday) 

Okay, that was yesterday, the teaser above, 
(Now you know one of my little secrets, I started to prepare this post yesterday for today)
my husband brought in the mail and 
Guess What?!!@%$&*
My Bead Soup arrived from Beth!! 
(Today- Sunday)
I had to wait until this morning to photograph it all.
Beth was so generous!!
and there are beads I have never ever seen before in the mix! 
This is so exciting.
 I need to take you through 
the visual experience of opening this package of goodies

The mysterious package- I think she discovered that I sew too!  

A kind and encouraging note and more fabric related wrapping- love it!!  

Oh my, very organized, all labeled and carefully packaged!
This is a lesson for me.  I am learning from this.

This is unbelievable!! So many truly unique beads!
I am so wowed by how many I have never seen before.
You need to see some of these close up:

We have mountain sheep here in Nevada but I have never seen
Horn, Antler or Deer Bone beads
in any of all the bead stores here in town
and I have been in them all.
 I love them!  
I think that deliciously nubby big bead is the antler bead,
it is really amazing- wish you could see it from all angles! Can't make a truly tasty broth for the soup without some Bone can we.
Also I have never seen undyed howlite or seeds quite like these. 

There are some really different czech beads too.  I love all the earthy tones.
They are making me yearn for a vacation in the Montana Mountains,
where I could wear a plaid flannel shirt with my jeans like this cloth
and not sweat to death like I do here in the Desert. 

I think she may have figured out some of my favorite colors
with the Mardi Gras beads and the Turquoise.
The Black Tourmaline is so unusual- love the chunky randomness of the facets,
I couldn't quite capture it's true beauty because
I over slept this morning and the sun was already too bright. I love copper and will probably be adding even more to the mix

The Earthy Howlite Focal and a gorgeous Copper Clasp. 
(sorry about the tint, the sun was not cooperating outside
so I moved indoors for the rest of the photos)

Last and most precious,
an alternate Focal; a Rusty Key.  
I found all these ingredients really inspiring and can't wait to get to work. 
Thank you so much Beth for your amazing package of goodies!!
I am going to get started with some wire wrapping,
right now,  with Copper of course!! 
Be sure to come back on September 17th for the Blog Hop Reveal. 

My first published work!! Squeeeeeeeel of Joy

Pardon me while I brag, squeel, dance, sing, shout and carry on for just a minute-  

Here is my  "Leap of Faith" necklace 

My first time Bead Soup Necklace- "A Leap of Faith"

from the 2nd round of Lori Anderson's Bead Soup Blog Party 

in the Bead Buzz section of the June/July 2011  issue of Beadwork Magazine,

which will be on the stands May 27th.

I am so grateful to Lori for the opportunities she has provided me. 

I sent her my April ABS entry- "Finch and Bamboo Necklace" in last weeks post. 

Got to share the joy!! 

Last Night I peddled my wares in front of Studio8ten on Las Vegas Blvd

with several other Handmade in Vegas Etsy Team members.

Unfortunately I only had one sale. 

I lot of lugging for $25 but I truly hope my little polyclay fish 

is happy in her new home.

"Marmelade" my little tropical beauty

I bit the bullet and ordered 3 tons of rock for our backyard last week. 

Funny how my brain just doesn't work sometimes. 

They delivered it on Monday, pouring it onto a huge tarp in my driveway-

Right behind where my car is parked in the garage. 

Soooo, guess who couldn't go anywhere on Monday.  

Me.

"Brain Douche"
They are not just for kids!!
I need one right away. 

 I moved about 1 ton of it on Monday and promptly took four days off.
(I have 3 commissions to work on and 
have to recreate my inventory because the
old PC died 
and now I have to learn Numbers on my Mac.) 
Today I am back out to do some more Rockin"- thus the brief post. 
This time of year all the strenuous outdoor activities must be done in the morning. 
It will reach 97 degrees here today! 
Have a Rockin" Week-
That's what I will be doing.  
Remember ( if you can- I can, but only if I remember to take my memory herbs) 
Laughter is good medicine!

And the Winner of the Art Deco Set is..................

I apologize for being a few hours late posting my winner:

DEE from Runako Designs!!!
I got home too late last night from a celebration 
for the featured quilter in our local Quilt Show.  
Deb is a very good friend, 
the leader of our art quilt circle and 
a very talented art quilt artist. 
We were celebrating her celebrity this year!! 
(for more about that scroll down)

HERE IS THE GIVEAWAY PRIZE!! 

This was my second creation in the Recent Bead Soup Party 

made from my partner Angela's wonderful ingredients. 

The Bead Soup Parties 

The Bead Soup Parties are sponsored by Lori at Pretty Things. 

She will be hosting this next party in August so be sure to check back 

or 

perhaps you would like to join the fun!! 

To choose a winner 

I entered 1- 89 into a random number generator online. 

It spit out 45- so I counted down my comments list. 

Comment #45 was Dee from Runako Designs

89 comments are the most comments I have ever had on my blog 

so the old fashion strips of paper was a little too much to do. 

Unfortunately I did not have enough time yesterday either 

to find a widget that I could put on my blog.

So you will have to just trust me. 

ANYHOO- Dee please send me your shipping info and 

I will mail off your new Art Deco Set! 

About the Quilt Show....

Yes, I live in the desert in Las Vegas, Nevada.

I know you all think that means I live on the strip near Caesar's Palace

and gamble like a crazy woman, party all the time and smoke cigarettes.

None of that is true. There is a wonderful community of artistic people here. We live in neighborhoods all over town and somehow find each other and share our passions just like 

some little old town in East Timbuktoo.

This is a place I never dreamed I would end up though.  

I do enjoy the shows-(We saw the BeeGees Tribute for my birthday!)

Our local quilt show is one of our two  local guild's annual events:

The Desert Quilter's of Nevada Quilt Show. 

(Click the Purple above to see one of Deb's beautiful leaf print quilts on the site)

I entered only one quilt this year

"Dada Tatu Ya Ahadi"

swahili for 

"The Three Sisters Promise".

This is an art quilt that started with a little game 

where a group of us filled a little dish with 

suggestions, techniques... on little slips of paper.

We then passed the dish and chose one at a time.  

Each of us started our quilt designs based on these prompts.  

Mine started with a piece of cloth I had tie-dyed with coffee grounds.(left hand side) 

The first prompt suggested I free motion stitch on a fabric of my choice

so those fun white outines around the white star bursts evolved. 

At some point I ended up adding three polymer clay faces 

made by my friend Mary and 

the Three Sisters were born.  

(they are a little inspired by Vegas Show Girls*!)

I am still trying to find the African Folktale - there is one with that title. 

All I know is they are happy, dancing for joy and mean a lot to each other. 

(my muse tells me all this)

I started this over 2 years ago and finished it after 

one of my best customers traded some bark cloth from Africa 

(the bodies of the three sisters) 

for some jewelry. 

It always amazes me how things like that happen,

My muse was just waiting on that barkcloth I am sure 

because it is the perfect color and texture and fiber for the arms and torsos. 

AND

It's from Africa-- DUH!! 

She whispered in my ear:"Tear it and stitch it down with invisible thread." 

Well, yesterday as I walked around the show wide=00=eyed and totally inspired 

I found to my surprise I won a first place ribbon in my category!! 

@^%$#&*!! 

(translation computer for a squeal of joy!)

For Bead enthusiasts, part of the fun I had on this quilt 

was embossing some copper with the words in the title and adding a patina. 

I also had to add hair adornments; 

polymer clay pieces (white bone bead and earrings)

 and beading (tube beaded hair and the collar on sister #1) 

All the beading was done by me except the trim on the top and bottom. 

I love using burlap as a background too it has great texture. 

There is no backing fabric just black batting on the back so I painted it 

with Jacquard Lumieres so the stitching would be visible on the back side.  

Wish I had a picture of that but I don't- maybe later. 

Unfortunately I have to go catch up on all the house and yard work 

I haven't done this past few weeks due to so many deadlines.

But you can all:

Have a wonderful weekend!  

PS I have not finished the Bead Soup Party Hop yet. 

I will get to you all and I promised myself to take my time 

look at other posts on your blogs and really see what you all do!!

 I am having a blast, meeting wonderful fellow beadaholics 

and making new friends. 

 I will comment on each and every Soup Entry!  

Thanks again Lori for this fantastic opportunity- 

You are the Bestest of the Best!! 

The next post down has both of my bead soup entries. 

Girl's Weekend!!

Just a quick post I am leaving for Ontario, California this morning to go see my art quilt "Casting Dreams" at the Road to California Quilt Show. I will have lots of pictures next week so you can finally see it!!  My great friend Barbara and I will drive there, hoping to stop by the Quilt Visions -"No Boundaries" Exhibit at the Oceanside Museum of Art too. Two nights and the Doubletree and lots of fun!! My husband's only request is that I come home with some lottery tickets!! 

My dog Bandit is looking forward to a boy's weekend with Dad.  

I am sure I will be all fired up with inspiration when I get home Sunday.  My sewing machine is having a tune up while I am gone so I can finish up my projects for our local Desert Quilters of Nevada Quilt Show in March.  More about that later. 

AND

The Bead Soup Party begins next week too with partial reveals of the soup stash I will send my partner!! So much to look forward to this month and next.  Have a great weekend everyone!!