A Sky Full Of Stars

(Looking for my BSBP reveal ? go here ! <3)

'Cause in a sky, 'cause in a sky full of stars
I think I see you
I think I see you

This piece is a bit personal for a few reasons, the first of which being because it features a bead by my very talented lampwork artist friend, Donna Millard. I remember her making this bead a few days after she saw an aurora. I fell in love with that bead, but I did not have the money. And so that bead was gone, slipping in between my fingers.

Some time later, Donna made another. Again, I did not have the money. But that one bead, for some reason, sat there.It sat there and it waited, for months, until Donna had a sale. Then, I was able to bring my little dream of a bead home.

And I could not have been happier. There are no photos that can give that bead any justice. It is breathtaking. A sky full of stars, indeed. I had a really fun time trying to replicate the glow and iridescence with the shattered fire opal from the iced enamels line. It's far from the same, but it is still such a lovely effect ! I did the bowl of the two spoons as well as the round part of the handles, then poured resin on top. They all just glow ! I fear I am even more addicted to the medium than I once was... Please send help more of it, yes. I will have most of the new colors soon, minus one - they're still a bit hard to get !

The beads are blue goldstone, which is actually a man-made material rather than an actual stone. I always thought it looked like a starry sky to me, so adding a few was a given.Then I made a tassel with my star chain. The tassel addiction continues, ever and ever <<;

So I had the focal part done. I had no idea what to do the neckline with. I thought about just using more star chain, but it didn't seem to fit for some reason. This is the proof that an idea can happen everywhere and nothing is laughable... I was at the bakery, getting a tart for dessert. It was being boxed, and that box was then being wrapped in lengths of black ribbon. That was my AHA moment. As you can see this is not cheap plastic ribbon. This is a very nice fabric ribbon that worked perfectly for this purpose and provided the final touch.

Bead Soup Blog Party 8 :: Chirp chirp... Chirp Chirp ?

You know what they say about great minds, right ? Well, this is more than a little funny... Sandra and I both received our respective soups today, and... well...

We sent along the same themes. XD Just different colors and executions of said themes ! My other soup was much different, and Sandra had three soups to pick from... What were the odds of this ? XD

Before anything else, I would like to say that I have been completely and utterly shamed in the packaging department. Just look at this ! And there I just tucked everything safely into a box.... Sadly packaging is not my strong point.

But man, look at this haullllll. Two focals, lucky me ! One if a beach glass find that Sandra wire-wrapped herself - isn't it lovely ? I've done some wire-wrapping of stones - in fact, that's where I started because this is what my lovely mentor Bee excels at. And yet, a year later, our styles have diverged so much that Lori paired us up !

The second focal is that lovely bird by Rebekah of Tree Wings Studio whose shop I should not have looked up because LOOK AT THOSE CUTE BEADS ASDF ASDF I think im gonna raid it someone please send halp. The two bigger red and black disks are also by Rebekah.

Also pictured is coral - which is something I've always wanted to work with !, small pearls, an assortment of lovely gemstones, a clock claps barely peeking out from under the bird's wing, and my nemesis... The yellow. Those are very interesting yellow beads, however, and this set will work very well with the few yellow beads I do already own, mostly from swaps and soup purchases.  I already have ideas swirling in my mind, so this will be very interesting indeed.

As for the soup I have sent...

...Buuuuuuuurds. <<; The fact that this was completely unintentional really makes this even better. My soup features a clasp from Cat of BooBeads, some of the favorite clasps I have ever owned. :) You might have seen another similar a few posts down, in my remake of the star necklace.

Sandra's challenge will come from the focal - which is bigger than what she usually uses. I always tend to work with volume and big focal points. The ribbon will also be a bit of a challenge for her. Basically, I provided her with materials that are things I commonly use, but are completely foreign to her. I can't wait to see how she uses them ! Likely she will use them in very different ways than I usually do.

BONUS ROUND :

Warning, birds may attract cats...

Color Challenge Blog Hop - REVEAL !

The last two months have been... Well. Kind of heretic, as I scramble with balancing work while my dad is trying to find out what is wrong with him, so I've been quite a bit out of it.

Which is exactly why, when Lisa posted her reminder on Facebook, The first word that came to mind was 'well'.

The second word was 'SHIT !'

Needless to say, I had nothing done and about six hours to do something. For someone who is usually done a week in advance, this was a little terrifying. I also got red beads, and red is not a color I use often.

Well.

I think I managed to do justice to Shelley's adorable little owl.

I seem to be in a tassel mood lately...

Enjoy, and please visit everyone else, too !

Your Hostess: Lisa Lodge, A Grateful Artist

Chris Eisenberg, Wander Ware

Audrey Belanger, Dreams of an Absolution

Mary Govaars, MLH Jewelry Designs

Melissa Trudinger, Bead Recipes

Monique Urquhart, A Half-Baked Notion

Beti Horvath, Stringing Fool

Charlene Bausinger Jacka, Clay Space

Tara Plote, The Newbie Beader's Blog

Renetha Williams Stanziano, Lamplight Crafts

Leah Mifflin Tees, My Beady Little Eyes

Kathy Zeigler Lindemer, Bay Moon Design

Toltec Jewels, Toltec Jewels for Jewel School Friends

Molly Alexander, Beautifully Broken Me

Alicia Marinache, All the Pretty Things

Laurie Vyselaar, Lefthand Jewelry

Eleanor Burian-Mohr, The Charmed Life

Julie Lockhart, Copar Aingeal

Dolores Rami, CraftyD's Creations

Elizabeth Bunn, Elizabeth Beads

Mowse Doyle, Mowse Made This

Veralynne Malone, Designed by Vera

Candida Elkins Castleberry, Spun Sugar Beadworks

Shaiha Williams, Shaiha's Ramblings

Christie Searle Murrow, Charis Designs Jewelry

Andrea Glick-Zenith, ZenithJade Creations

When You Wish Upon A Star...

...It doesn't matter where you are.

So, hey, long time no actual... stuff, right ? Well, that is not really the case - just that most of it is tied to reveal dates. This piece is not, though, so I can actually share it. Yay yay.

This piece started as a simple entry for Brenda's march challenge - about kitchen sink jewelry. What in the ever loving hell is kitchen sink jewelry ? Well, I'll leave that for the master to clarify.

Then it kind of ran away from me. I didn't expect kitchen sink to be so addicting. I had issues with the mail that delayed the completion a lot, for one (thank you, Canada Post, nearly failing me as always). Brenda's geisha was a definite inspiration, but I wanted to put my own spin on it.

And so resulted a monster that did not even attempt to pretend to fit on the form. Hope none of you are too badly shocked.

The necklace wraps around, as you can see, to show off the lovely handmade clasp from Catherine Pruitt of BooBeads. Love love love love LOVE these claps. I want all of them, ktnxbye. It says 'Follow your own star', and I wired an opalite star to it. Some ribbon is looped though the lower part of the chain, and you can see the little rounds peeking on top.

I basically threw on everything that I liked on this. Blue beads, opalite, star beads, little bottles, keys... You know, everything but the kitchen sink ! My first attempt was too ambitious - it was too heavy to wear ! So I had to take everything off and start over.

The focal is a bezel that I painted with the vintaj inks, scattered some of my star chain and some of my spacers on, then poured resin into. The moon maiden and the wish charm where glued on at the very end, when my maiden finally decided to show up in my mailbox.

So what did I do with all the extra crap ?

Heh. :P That's not even all of it... I've got some things to unwire still.

A Special Collaboration...

I have had the honor to collaborate (even if long-distance) with a very talented young man. Most of you might very well know him !

His name is Zachary Anderson.

Yep, I was one of the lucky dogs who managed to grap one of Zack's resin focals when they went up.

This is the focal I got, with matching beads lovingly picked out by his mama Lori...

Hmmmmm....... What does one do with this ?

I'll show you ;D

That's what. I did not set out for Fancy on purpose.... It just kind of happened. This is a very long necklace, too, much longer than I usually make them, I used every single bead Lori sent me !

But if you ask me, the focal makes it. Zack had the hard part of the job. :> The fluorite rounds as well as the small glass rounds came out of my personal stash.

Yowza.

Lori is at it again.

Because organizing a whole blog hop with 400 people, participating in three reveals of said blog hop, and dealing with the issues that inevitably arise along the way is certainly not enough, she decided to hold a giveaway.

(Woman, has anyone given you pie and scotch yet ???)

And not just any old giveaway, either. FIVE separate giveaways !

That means 5 chances to win something, folks. Prize include B&B goodies, the upcoming bead soup book, Lori's blogging inspiration ebook (which is indeed very lovely !) a bead soup bag and a delicious bead soup, hand picked and carefully cooked by Lori herself !<

So head over there and give it a try ! The giveaway will end friday, july 13 (plenty of luck, right ? :P), so in about a week.

Color Surprise Challenge, Summer Lovin', and what's in a name ?

((Don't forget that I have a giveaway going until June 24th, midnight EST ! If you havn't entered yet, please don't forget to do so ! <3))


The Bead Soup Blog Party partners are going out as I type this ! Again, I need to tip my hat off to Lori for her dedication to this swap, and all of the effort she is putting into it... You rock, lady. What a superstar <3

As of today I am one week + a day (I work next saturday. BOOOO.) away from my vacation. And oh lord do I need this vacation. The east coast has been good and toasty and humid for the last two week and here up north is no exception, so I am poooooped. I also do not take any vacation in the winter, so I have more or less been working non-stop (with a looooot of overtime, thank you flaky co-workers) since last august.

I am certainly due. And I have a whole month off work coming to me. WOOOOO !

I will keep busy, of course. Im not a big traveller - I don't drive, which doesn't help there - and depending when my brother does get his vacation, I might not go anywhere at all. That means loooots of biking, looooots of pool time... and a lot of beading !

Certainly nothing wrong with that, no sir.

I am currently taking part in three other challenges, two of which involves kits. I got the kit for the second one today, so I figured I would slide in a word about them, through sadly neither kit challenges are still open for more people. I believe the written blog hop is still accepting people !

The first blog hop is a simple one. Shelley of Fabric Of My Life wants to know - what's in a name ? The name of my blog, of course ! Now, im keeping my lips zipped on this - no use giving away the punch ! But I will simply tell you that the answer is a little more personal than one might think.

Shelley is still taking participants and the posting date is July 17 - her birthday ! Come play with us ! <3

Then next...

Lisa of Pine Ridge Treasures came up with a fun way to run a destash - turn it into a challenge ! The Color Surprise Challenge is aptly named because each one of us brought our kits blindly - knowing roughly what we would get, bead-species wise, but not what color we would get ! I got blue, which is... kind of funny, because I was so afraid I would end up with yellow and not know what to do with it. Doesn't that focal look yummy ? And that turquoise ? Oh, yes. I will do yummy things with that delicious set indeed. It will be glorious.

The reveal for the Color Surprise Challenge will be July 21 !

And finally, for now...

This is the Summer Lovin' challenge, held by Amy of Amybeads Sandra was the one to find this, and well... look at that focal. I did not need much convincing at all to leap into this <<

I have a few ideas already.... I fear my piece will not be very summery.  BUT ! It will be lovely. It will be lovely indeed. Yummy silvers and golds and... lucite ? That's all you're getting out of me. 8D

The reveal date for the summer lovin' challenge will be August 1. See you all on these dates !

Shiiiiines.

I have some. The first of many packages came it today, this one from GlamourGirlBeads on etsy !

As soon as I saw this little cat cabochon, I knew it had to be mine. Homage to my assistant, if you will. I promise you will meet him soon. Now to ponder if want to do this as I originally intended (while I thought one could string beads on a normal chain. For the record, you can't. Derp !) which means I need to wait on my beading wire, or do something more simple. Im sure I'll find something to do with all these lovely beads either way, so no loss here ! Seriously. The black ones are so shiiiny *u*

Either way, plotting is afoot. Kekeke.