Ocean Blog Hop 2014 First Reveal

Welcome to the first reveal for The Ocean 2014 Blog Hop, created by Lisa Lodge of A Grateful Artist. Each participant received a beautiful selection of beads curated by Lisa. In the interest of allowing you to visit all the participating blogs, I will limit my commentary to bead sources I added over and above my package from Lisa, and let the designs speak for themselves:

Two designs inspired by the cold northern oceans:

Crossings and Discoveries

Brown ceramic focal spike by Susanna Lehto, organic ceramic disc beads by Ingrid Mueller, jadeite squares, red Indonesian lampwork rounds and ribbon from Yukidesigns, hemp and waxed linen from Jewelry Accord.

Bubbles Eclectic

Large striped lentil lampwork by Cherie Ranfranz, organic ceramic disc beads by Ingrid Mueller, pale green lampwork "wing-ding" by Genea Crivello-Knable, additional lampwork by unknown artist (destash), jadeite square, Czech glass seed beads, waxed linen from Jewelry Accord.


Five designs inspired by the warm equatorial oceans:

Shell Pastels

(From Lisa's package, the blue shell focal by Michelle McCarthy), spotted lampwork rounds by Amy Hall, pink shell charm by Susan Delphine Delaney, yellow carved bone bead and pink triangular lampwork beads from Yukidesigns. The swirled polymer lentil directly above the focal is by yours truly.

Guardian Angelfish

Commercial glass focal (Fire Mountain Gems), ceramic tube bead by Sharleen Newland, lime lampwork spacers by Amy Hall, rainbow Indonesian glass tubes from Yukidesigns, green 1 mm leather cord from Roberta McIver.

Starfish Dance

I love these colours!

Ceramic bracelet focal by Ingrid Mueller, lampwork spacers by Juls Cannon,  waxed linen from Jewelry Accord.

They Sailed West

Porcelain pendant by Nancy Schindler Adams, rayon sparkle chainette thread from Lorraine Stobie. All additional glass beads from Michaels and Fire Mountain Gems.

Reef Life in Technicolour

Multicolour resin ovals and yellow carved bone beads from Yukidesigns, commercial striped ceramic teardrops (destash). A fun bracelet on elastic thread ( a first for me) :)


Whew, that's all I had time to finish :) However, I have a few beads left and components ready to go when I get a chance:

Thanks everyone for dropping by! For lots of ocean-inspired loveliness, check out these bloggers:

Your hostess:  Lisa Lodge, A Grateful Artist
Thanks for the inspiration, Lisa!

Christie Searle Murrow Charis Designs Jewelry

Kim Dworak Cianci Blue

Marybeth Rich A Few Words from within the Pines

Karen Grosset Grange Ginkgo et Coquelicot

Veralynne Malone Designed by Vera

*Monique Urquhart A Half-Baked Notion*
*You are here*

Katrina Taylor I Wanna Go Out

Mary Ann Macri Jacobs Trucksville Crafts

Jeanne Steck Gems by Jeanne Marie

Ann Schroeder Bead Love

Kathleen Breeding 99 Bottles of Beads on the Wall

Marianne Baxter Simply Seablime Jewelry

Terri Wlaschin Dances in Fog 

Margaret Pelech, Margaret Pelech's Ocean Blog
Jo-Ann Woolverton It's a Beadiful Creation
Kathy Zeigler Lindemer Bay Moon Design
Heather Richter Desert Jewelry Designs
Andrea Glick-Zenith ZenithJade Creations

Ocean Blog Hop Sneak Peek

This Saturday, May 31st, is the first reveal day for the Ocean 2014 Blog Hop, a creative event by Lisa Lodge of A Grateful Artist. Participants each ordered a themed kit, which Lisa individually selected for us. Here are the lovely ocean treasures I received from her:

Cultured sea glass in two colours and shapes; a pretty ceramic shell pendant by Michelle McCarthy of Firefly Design Studio; matching glass teardrops, rounds and faceted beads; and two pairs of silver components.

I have already designed several pieces and still working on more (I am the poster child for procraftination). So please join me, along with fifteen other sea-faring artists, for the reveal this Saturday :)

CC7A Reveal for May 2014: Semi-Precious

Welcome to reveal day for the May edition of the Creative Continuum of Seven Artists, brought to you this month by our leader, the lovely Alicia Marinache of All the Pretty Things. I received a beautiful picture jasper cabochon and matching 8 mm round beads from Alicia. I wanted an "old-fashioned" design for this month's challenge, so I used some components I've actually had for a long time. (I may have bought them from Fire Mountain Gems, which was my primary supplier way back before I discovered the world of art beads and handmade).

Gold-coloured figaro chain, delicate bead caps and bezel cup. This was a workout for me as far as wire-wrapping, which is a skill I seldom practice. I originally wanted to use some silk ribbon as part of the necklace, but I didn't receive my order yet. That's me, always last minute LOL. This may be altered or it may become a graduation gift :) 

You can visit the other CC7A members here:

Alicia... All the Pretty Things

Christine... One Kiss Creations 

Cynthia... Antiquity Travelers 

Emma... A Polymer Penchant 

Sally... The Studio Sublime 
Therese... Therese's Treasures

Finally Here! BSBP 2014!

Hello and welcome to the 8th Annual Bead Soup Blog Party! BSBP has become a well-oiled machine run brilliantly by the lovely Lori Anderson (with a little help from her friends), but for me a brand new experience, as I am taking part for the first time! Lori kindly paired me with an old hand (*TeeHee*) so the process has been fairly slick and painless for me. Thank you Lori, and thank you to a talented lampworker, potter and artist, Cheryl Brown of dragonflybeads in Alberta, Canada, for this marvelous selection of birds and beads, many handmade by Cheryl herself:

When I first received this beautiful soup, after the normal amount of bead-stroking and showing off the pretties to family and friends, I of course had a few panic attacks. What if I couldn't find a way to design a worthy piece or two with Cheryl's wonderful handmade lampwork? Until I finally sat with sketchbook in hand (something I rarely do these days)... and the bones of the designs came effortlessly :)

Two long necklaces and a work in progress...

I first made the longest necklace, using Cheryl's adorable caged bird and two feathered friends, on a handmade twisted-wire support, with some of my favorite copper chain (I call this design Visiting). The second necklace features wonderful melon-shaped large lampwork beads with the sparkly fire-polished faceted beads Cheryl sent, in clusters on gun metal chain. A lot of metal for me, but what the beads needed, I felt. I had originally planned to combine these as a double-strand, but I KNOW I will wear both more often if I can choose to combine them or not :) 

I was disappointed I hadn't used the pretty ombré ribbon from my soup, so when we got the extra week, I started playing around with it. I'm not sure whether the work in progress will ultimately become a choker or a wraparound bracelet... maybe both :) Here's a collage of a few of the pretty elements:

(The copper bird-shaped frame at lower right is a component I received from
  Gaea Cannaday, to which I added a bit of wire-wrapping and wove
the ribbons through it. I think it needs an extra layer in back.)

The lovely little heart-shaped clasp was used with the beautiful dark pearls and tiny sparkly gems from Cheryl's soup, to make this earthy bracelet with Czech seed beads and copper accents. I've always loved the way pearls take on one's body heat. I wear bracelets a lot, and this one has been on my wrist constantly!

I still have a few goodies in reserve. If you read my blog regularly, you know I was involved in the 100 Pairs 100 Days fundraiser. I am taking a break from earrings for a while, but I've got a few ideas I plan to share once my "earring mojo" is rejuvenated ;)

Thank you for sharing your talent with me, Cheryl; I so enjoyed working with your soup, I was definitely challenged as a designer and I can't wait to see what you have created as well! (Update 1: I peeked... OMG: GORGEOUS... get there and check them out!) (Update 2: Gadzooks, there's even more eye candy from Cheryl on this post.)

Some of the ingredients I sent to Cheryl...

BTW, if anyone would like to see another "caged bird" design, check out Cheryl's Facebook page for a silver set she made for the Art Gallery of Grande Prairie Annual Art Auction. Just gorgeous!

Almost 500 bloggers signed up for this Bead Soup Blog Hop 2014, and most of them will be posting today at various times according to their time zones. What a wonderful worldwide event :) I don't know how Lori does this, year after year. You are truly a force of nature, Lori!

Thank you for reading, everyone. You will find ALL the participant links on Lori's post. So now, go forth and visit!

P.S. I will be slower than normal blog-hopping this week. Yesterday was our day to bring home a shelter cat to foster, so I will be playing peacemaker with my other two kitties :( I'll post pics when the visitor comes out of hiding :)

BSBP Delayed One Week

In case anyone still hasn't heard, the Bead Soup Blog Party has been delayed one week, til May 10 (next Saturday). Our lovely hostess, Lori, needs to deal with ongoing health issues, and we all want her feelin' fine for this fabulous event!

So Lori, when you're ready to rejoin the Party, we'll be here waiting... along with our awesome soups: