Friday, November 30, 2012

Artisan Whimsy Holiday Market Giveaway Winner!



Alrighty, so we come to the end of an exciting week for everyone over at Artisan Whimsy.
I got 3 sales from the event, which is more than I have had online in a week, so am happy :-)
Hope everyone else had a good run too!

Now onto the winner of this necklace:


I had 22 comments, and random.org picked

 

which happens to be Miss Sherri Stokey!Will be contacting you soon :-)

Thanks everyone for dropping by :-)


Challenge of Color - Earth As Art!


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Colors...can't imagine life without them! In fact, I printed out something today at work, went to pick it up, and couldn't quite recognize my print-out...because it was in black and white. I was expecting some colorful pictures! And Erin and Brandi Hussey have given us just that! Lots of colorful, actually surprising, pictures of our beautiful home...Earth!

This is actually the third time Erin of Tesori Trovati is hosting this challenge. This time she teamed up with Color Girl, Brandi Hussey, to bring us  a brilliant visual exploration of our planet. They gathered satellite pictures of Earth from the "Earth As Art" image gallery maintained by the USGS, and Brandi created color palettes from these pictures. Each of the participants were given two color palette choices to play with. There are 80 participants, and that is a TON of hard work from these ladies! So a big round of applause for them before we move on! Thank you SO much, both of you!

I was offered these two choices:





Both are beautiful, but I knew I would have time only for one. So I picked the Okavango Delta because of the wide range of colors in this palette! And I guess I always gravitate towards warmer colors like these.

So....a little about the Okavango Delta. I had never heard about it before, and am having a tough time saying its name ;-) It lies in the northwest of Botswana bordering Namibia.  It is formed by the Okavango River, which rises in the heart of Angola to the north and west, then flows over 1200 kilometres south, then east away from the Atlantic Ocean through Namibia into Botswana.  There it fans out into a huge delta approximately 15000 sq. kms in size and appears to disappear abruptly into the Kalahari Desert. And here is a map I found which looks EXACTLY like the photograph above, without the color! What a difference color makes! Wow!




Oh, right, you are here to see the jewelry I made using this as inspiration. To tell you the truth, I had a VERY hard time with this challenge. I had never used color palettes before, and this was like making me color inside the lines with a limited number of crayons ;-) Add to that the fact that while I love color, I usually do not mix them up, my designs are quite often monochrome, with a metal thrown in for contrast.

So I stared at the picture for a long long time, and decided to start with the greens. Rummaged through my beads, and found these headpins I bought from Humblebeads during a retreat I attended last month in Michigan.

They had pretty much all the shades of green that I needed! After that point, it was easy going, actually. I hit my pink and purple bead boxes, found the rest of my ingredients and made these:


 I bought the purple swirly beads during that trip to Michigan as well. In fact, I met Erin there! And that's when she told us about this upcoming challenge and I signed up as soon as she announced it :)
Coming back to the purple bead...it has some lovely shades of pink, lavender, purple and blue, and a really wonderful shape.

 This is just another view of the purple bead so you can see its shape. Isn't it cute?
 
This is how I would style them....oh, am already thinking of Spring now!




The earrings are available in my Etsy store!

I was hoping to make more pieces...but.......sigh....

And now its time to visit the other folks using these magical images to create more magic!
Oh, and Erin is going to give away a prize to one of her visitors who leaves her a comment...so go do that too!

Erin Prais-Hintz    http://treasures-found.blogspot.com/2012/11/3rd-annual-challenge-of-color-reveal.html
Rebecca Anderson    http://songbeads.blogspot.com
Kris Auderer    http://strandedinthecity.wordpress.com
Chrizette Bayman    http://beadsoupmix.blogspot.com
Lori Bowring Michaud    http://artfullyornamental.blogspot.com
Courtney Breul    http://beadsbybreul.blogspot.com/
Lynsey Brooks    http://yellowunicorncreations.blogspot.co.uk
Stephanie Buss    http://maxandlucie.blogspot.com
Iveth Caruso    http://www.creativeatelier.net/
Shannon Chomanczuk    http://www.formysweetdaughter.blogspot.com
Lisa Cone    http://inspiredadornments.blogspot.com/
Cece Cormier    http://thebeadingyogini.com
Lori Dorrington    http://lorisglassworks.blogspot.com
Dawn Doucette    http://designsbydawnmarie.blogspot.com
Jeannie Dukic    http://site.jkdjewelry.com/blog/
Kim Dworak    http://cianciblue.blogspot.com/
Beth Emery    http://storiesbyindigoheart.blogspot.com
Janice Everett    http://JLynnJewels.blogspot.com
Pam Farren    http://www.re-maker.blogspot.com
Donetta Farrington    http://simplygorgeous-donetta.blogspot.com
Gloria Ferrer    http://judetaama.blogspot.com.es/
Cherrie Fick    http://designsinthelight.co
Therese Frank    http://www.theresestreasures59.blogspot.com
Patty Gasparino    http://www.mylifeunderthebus.typepad.com
Tanya Goodwin    http://pixiloo.blogspot.com/2012/11/3rd-annual-challenge-of-color.html
Ambra Gostoli    http://chicandfrog.wordpress.com/2012/11/27/3rd-challenge-of-color
Jess Green    http://tabbiekoshka.blogspot.co.uk/
Denielle Hagerman    http://somebeadsandotherthings.com
Mary Harding    www.maryhardingjewelrybeadblog.blogspot.com
Karla Hartzog    http://www.karlakrafts.com
Kim Hora    http://www.kimmykats.com
Brandi Hussey    http://brandigirlblog.com
Emanda Johnson    http://ArtemisiaStudio.blogspot.com
Jennifer Justman    http://soulsfiredesigns.blogspot.com/
Sue Kennedy    http://suebeads.blogspot.com
Ema Kilroy    http://emakaye.blogspot.com
Lee Koopman    http://Stregajewellry.wordpress.com
Linda Landig    http://www.LindasBeadBlog.com
Kirsi Luostarinen    http://kirsiluokorut.blogspot.com
Cynthia Machata    http://antiquitytravelers.blogspot.com/
Alicia Marinache    http://www.allprettythings.ca
Beth McCord    http://www.ebbeadandmetalworks.blogspot.com
Mary K McGraw    http://mkaymac.blogspot.com/
Karen Mitchell    http://www.overthemoon-design.com
Cheri Mitchell-Reed    http://creativedesignsbycheri.blogspot.com/
Aimee Moisa    http://threecatsdancing.blogspot.com
Karla Morgan    http://www.texaspepperjams.blogspot.com
Penny Neville    http://copperpennydesigns.blogspot.com
Becky Pancake    http://beckypancakebeaddesigns.blogspot.com
Kashmira Patel    http://sadafulee.blogspot.com
Alice Peterson    http://alice-dreaming.blogspot.com
Kayla Potega    http://www.teejewelry.blogspot.com
Debbie Price    http://greenshoot.blogspot.co.uk
Bobbie Rafferty    http://beadsong.blogspot.com
Caron Reid    http://caronmichelle.blogspot.com.au/
Nicole Rennell    http://nicolerennell.com/blog
Cynthia Riggs    http://cynthsblog.blogspot.com/2012/11/3rd-annual-challenge-of-color.html
Andrea Ross    http://silvermapledesigns.blogspot.com/
Sally Russick    http://thestudiosublime.com
Annie Scherz    http://www.studioluma.ca
Pam Sears    http://crazycreativecorner.blogspot.com/
Renetha Stanziano    http://lamplightcrafts.blogspot.com
Sandra Stein    http://sannipanni.wordpress.com
Kristen Stevens    http://kristen-beadjourney.blogspot.com
Tracy Stillman    http://www.tracystillmandesigns.com
Sherri Stokey    http://www.knotjustmacrame.com/2012/11/challenge-of-color-reveal.html
Lola Survillo    http://www.beadlolabead.blogspot.com
Kay Thomerson    http://KayzKreationz.blogspot.com
Jo Tinley    http://daisychaindesignsjewellery.blogspot.com
Emma Todd    http://www.apolymerpenchant.com
Cory Tompkins    http://www.tealwaterdesigns.blogspot.com
Pam Traub    http://www.klassyjoolz.blogspot.com
Melissa Trudinger    http://beadrecipes.wordpress.com
Michelle Tucker    http://michellescreativemusings.blogspot.com/
Shelley Graham Turner    http://www.shelleygrahamturner.blogspot.com
Monique Urquhart    http://ahalfbakednotion.blogspot.com/
Rachel Van-Walsk    http://balancedcrafts.com/blog
Patti Vanderbloemen    http://www.myaddictionshandcrafted.blogspot.com
Lesley Watt    http://thegossipinggoddess.blogspot.com
Lynn White    http://lynnwhitejewelry.com/
Joan Williams    http://www.lilrubyjewelry.com



Thursday, November 29, 2012

November Challenge with Jasper Moon


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On to today's first challenge! I have two reveals I am doing today. I worked on this one first, so posting it first.

This is for the November Giveaway Challenge hosted by Miss Bonnie of Jasper Moon.
The challenge was to use ALL the components she sent us for FREE. Here is what I got:


Eight deep pink faceted crystal beads and a pretty silver toggle clasp. The clasp has pink rhinestones too! The color is really a very different kind of pink, not quite a shade I have seen much before in beads.

I set another challenge for myself...to make a bracelet. The clasp was too pretty to use in a necklace, plus I really need to step up my game and make some bracelets. I am pretty much scared of making them. My mind shuts down when it is asked to make one.

My first choice of stringing material was a dark colored cord. But it did nothing for the pretty pink. It completely changed the hue into something not nice at all. So I decided to go with white cord. Then, I scoured my copy of Erin Seigel and Lorelei Eurto's book for inspiration.


The trouble with bracelets is that they are short. Very little room to add things. Especially for a tiny wrist like mine, anything more than 6.5 inches will fall off. So I had to figure out a way to use 8 beads, and a clasp in some clever way within 6 inches. Not happening. I decided to use the clasp for something else.

After going over the book a couple times, I selected one which needed some braiding. I had recently bought some pink cord, so decided on a pink and white braid. I strung the beads, and merrily made the braid. But when it was time to attach the two, I was almost in tears. It did not look too good :((

I moaned about it on the Creative Bead Chat group on Facebook, and friends Alicia and Heidi came to rescue me. I finished it while speaking to them, and here's the result:


I think the bird saved this one. And I like it now too. The lesson learned here was to use thinner cord for tying the ends. I used the same white cord which was too thick. But...end result is something I like, so all is well :-)

Now on to the clasp. I wanted to use it as a pendant. I desperately need a nice, dainty pink set, so instead of getting too innovative and creative, I decided to make what I "need"!

I tried to use the toggle in the pendant, but it was falling over. So was not able to use it. This might disqualify me for this challenge :(( Anyhoo...here's my necklace:


And I made tiny earrings to go with the simple theme. The is NO design element in here at all. My excuse is that my struggle with the bracelet compensates for this, AND this is exactly what I needed:


Here is all of it together:


The other participants are:
Gail Accinelli
Kashmira Patel
Pine Ridge Treasures
Lori Schneider
Lady Grey
Robin Reed

I do not have blog links for all the other participants, but Bonnie is going to put up pictures of everyone's creations on her own blog.  So do visit her at
http://www.jasper-moon.ca/JaspersGemsBlog.htm and enjoy the other designs!

THANK YOU SO MUCH, Miss Bonnie for this wonderful gift and allowing me to play along!

Monday, November 26, 2012

What's next?

Coming up later this week, are reveals for two challenges...

The first is the November Challenge with Bonnie of Jasper Moon.

She sent a bead packet to 6 of us, and the challenge is to design something with EVERYTHING in the packet! You can add more, of course, but use all that she sends.

Here is what I got:

This one has been a bit daunting for me, but I did make something :)

The second reveal is for The Challenge of Color with Erin of Tesori Trovati.
Erin collaborated with Brandi Hussey of BrandiGirlBlog to create some unique color palettes for all 80 participants of this challenge. What is special about these color palettes is that they are derived from photographs from the Earth As Art gallery. What is special about these images is that they are satellite images showcasing the amazing beauty of our planet!

These are the two images I got to play with:



I have selected one of them, but am not telling you which :) This is also a daunting one for me, because I have never worked with color palettes before.

Both the reveals are on the 30th! So stay tuned!

Saturday, November 24, 2012

November Echo Creative Club Reveal - The Happy Dove

You may (or may not, go here, if "may-not") remember my post from about 20 days back, where I introduced this cutie:


This is one of the two beads I received from Jeannie Dukic, an amazing polymer clay artist who has started the Echo Creative Club. She picks artists that receive her lovely creations, and we in turn reveal what we made on the 25th of the selected month. So, since today is the 25th....... :-)

My first thoughts were to make some sort of twig and use silk ribbon. But I have seen that being done sooooo often, so chucked that idea. The I thought I would use yellow and brown crystals. So I opened my box of brown beads, and found my stash of Rudraksha...errr....faux-rudraksha.

What is rudraksha, you say?
It is a large evergreen broad-leaved tree whose seed is traditionally used for prayer beads in Hinduism. The word Rudraksha is derived from Rudra (Shiva—the Hindu God of all living creatures) and aksha (eyes). One Hindu legend says that once Lord Shiva opened His eyes after a long period yogic meditation, because of extreme fulfillment He shed out a tear. This single tear from Shiva’s eye grew into the Rudraksha tree. The central hard Rudraksha uni-seed may have 1 to 21 faces. Ones with 5 faces are considered to be the best!

Here's what they look like:


I think mine are "faux" because I bought them at a craft store in India. I am tempted to crack one open to make sure ;-)

Moving on...I settled on the Rudraksha beads to use with the dove. And selected a dark rust colored waxed linen cord to string it. Now I wanted something else to "break" the monotonous brown (the color of the cord pretty much matched the beads, so even though I knotted in between the beads, it was alllllllll brown). Sitting in front of me were these white faceted czech beads. And some Greek ceramic gears! I was liking how diverse my list of materials was becoming, and how beautiful they all looked together. Here is version 1!


Yeah! I know! Very pretty :-) But incomplete :( I was not sure what I should do to finish it. Didn't want to add more of the same beads. Showed it to my friend, and she said she liked it simple. So, simple it stayed. I wrapped the cord with some wire and decided to add a rollo chain. But I did want to add a bit of playfulness to it, so added some bells.
(Bells always remind me of you, Marla Gibson!)



I also made a clasp for this one since I am bored of the lobster clasp that I use for most of my necklaces. Its a very basic clasp, but I like it soooooo much better than the lobster!



And I also made matching earrings!



I like how the beads and the bird that symbolize PEACE are coming together in this necklace!
And the gentle tinkle of the bells, so soothing....

 Yeah, I know you want to see the whole thing, NOW. I know I am a tease, haha :-)

Here it is :-) All set to fly away!


Thanks a LOT Jeannie, for my pretty bird :-) He is my happy dove, not lonesome at all!

Now, if you are done admiring him, go visit all the other participants....actually, go even if you are not done. You can always come back ;-)

Charlie Jacka http://clay-space.com/
Cindy Cima Edwards http://www.cindycima.com/
Sonya Ingersoll-Stille http://dreaminofbeads.blogspot.com/

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Sadafulee is participating in the HANDMADE Cyber Sale at Artisan Whimsy!!!!

Wooooooot!!!!!! Thanksgiving is here, and also SALE season :-) And also that time to think about, oh-my-god-what-am-I-going-to-get-for-my-mom-girlfriend-sister-cousin-daughter-you-get-the-idea time.

I would like to help all you lost souls here, and point you to the BIGGEST HANDMADE CYBER SALE evvvver!


Shop the finest Jewelry Designers For the 2012 Holiday Season
Many of our artists have published work & sell their beautiful pieces nationally and internationally.

I will be offering 
 ~ 10% off  ~ 
use coupon code: AWHOLIDAY
at my etsy store

I will also be hosting a giveaway for this necklace valued at $25


Details: Get that fusion of vintage and modern in this pretty pink necklace made with pink coral chips, brown shell beads, wood beads, lucite flower and antique brass components.
Length: 16 inches around the neck
Length of dangle: 2.5 inches
Can make adjustments to length upon request.

 For a chance to win, leave a comment on this post saying so :-) 
Also leave me an email address so I may contact you in case you win.One entry per person, since this is my first giveaway and am trying to keep it simple!
The winner will be announced on December 1st!
 
All other participants will also be hosting giveaways and offering handsome discounts in their stores.
There are 45 designers and over $1300 worth of goodies being given away, so you would be a fool to not check this out!
 
 You can search for participating stores on Etsy and Artfire using the keyword
AWHOLIDAY 
Here is the list of all the participants!
Happy Shopping :-)


Friday, November 9, 2012

Stone of Destiny - Edinburgh

I think most of you have heard of the Creative Bead Chat group on FaceBook, and the new website Melinda Orr has started taking ideas generated in that group, called "Artisan Whimsy". If you have not heard of them, go there first and come back to read more :-)


One of the teams there is the UK Artists Blog Team. They issued a challenge based on the home towns of members of that team. (The challenge page is here.)



The towns we could pick from were: Dorset, Edinburgh...and I stopped reading right there! I had visited the UK and Scotland back in 1992. I traveled to UK, France, Italy, Germany, Holland, Netherlands and Switzerland in that trip. Among all those fancy places, Edinburgh was my favorite. I loved it. A lot! I was not even looking for a challenge to pick up, was simply browsing blogs, but I could not stop myself from signing up for this! My beloved Edinburgh! How could I pass that up!
(By the way, the other towns are: Bath, Isle of Wight, Liverpool and Southampton)

The inspiration photo provided for Edinburgh was the Stone of Destiny:


It is a block of red sandstone, used for many centuries at the coronation of Scotland's monarchs. You can read more about its history here.

A couple weeks back, Miss Kristi Bowman sent me these gorgeous Red Sponge Coral beads that were just perfect for this challenge.


And then I looked up some pictures of Edinburgh castle. Liked this one on the National Geographic website:


And from that inspiration, came this:



My original idea was to use copper elements with the red beads. But I didn't seem to have the kind of copper chain I wanted for hanging the beads. Here's a closeup of the pendant, as you can see, the cubes are suspended with really fine antique brass chain.



Didn't have that in copper, and I always design my jewelry from materials I have on hand. So decided to use the antique brass. And I think this was a wise choice. The red of the beads is quite striking, so the darker antique brass looks much better than the reddish copper would have. Another thing I thought of was that the "fixtures" in the castle (door knockers, handles, what have you) would have been with this finish too. So this was all good :-)

I had four more of the red beads left over, and lately I am trying to make sets of necklace and earrings, instead of just one thing. So used a couple of the remaining beads to make these:


Simple and they go well with the necklace. (Simplicity is another thing I am trying to achieve in my designs these days)

So there you have it! My interpretation of the Edinburgh castle :-)

Here are the other participants:
The HostsLesley Watt Gossiping Goddess
Rebecca Anderson Songbeads
Pippa Chandler Pip's Jewellery
Teresa Hulley Bo Hulley Beads
Natalie McKenna Grubbi
Jo Tinley Daisychain Designs

Dorset
Ginger Bishop Lilmummylikes
Cece Cormier The Beading Yogini
Therese Frank Therese’s Treasures
Cilla Watkins Tell Your Girlfriends
Sherry Baun

Edinburgh
Therese Frank Therese’s Treasures
Kashmira Patel Sadafulee
Caroline Dewison Blueberribeads
Sherry Baun
Leigh Thow Jewellrleigh
Lucy Haslam

Bath
Sherry Baun

Isle of Wight
Duane Clark Bizzy Bead
Sharyl McMillian-Nelson Sharyl's Jewelry
Leigh Thow Jewellrleigh
Jean Wright Just Beadey
D Lynne Bowland Islandgirl’s Insights
Sherry Baun

Liverpool
Shalini Austin   Jewellery by Shalini
Doris Stumpf Glaszwerg
Sherry Baun
Lennis C Windbent

Southampton
Sherri Stokey Knot Just Macramé
Sherry Baun
Leigh Thow Jewellrleigh
Kathy Lindemer Bay Moon Design

The last day for submission to this challenge is November 12, so do drop by there close to that date to see all the gorgeous work that the UK has inspired!

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Lucky Little Me!

Yup, change my name to Miss Lucky :-)

I had entered to win a giveaway by Miss Kristi Bowman on the Art Jewelry Elements blog.

The giveaway was for these bees:




All I had to do was comment on the post, and I said I lurrrrved these red cube beads:

These are Red Sponge Coral beads. Fascinating stuff!

And Miss Lucky won the bees. And not JUST the bees, but a whole motherload of goodies from the ultra generous Miss Kristi.

Want to see? Yeah, I know you do :)

SO here are my lovely pretties (in addition to the two above!)


There are copper connectors and two sooooooper cute bee charms made by Kristi.
And lampwork beads by Lara Lutrick, and Flourite Briolletes from NMBeads

Oh there is more :-)


This realllly cool two sided heart! I believe it is from Oh! Sullivan Studio. They do not have an online presence yet, and have already been told off by Kristi for this!

Oh but wait, there is more!


I also got some pumpkin beads and what I am going to call dumbbell beads, and this reallllllllllly cool pair of (I think) polymer clay shell shaped beads. They are amazing! They have copper and pearly effects (darn, I am not even able to describe it properly, hopefully Kristi will help me out!)

You agree? I am Miss Lucky?

PS: I cannot believe photo-snob me has actually started putting up blog posts with iPhone pics. But I figured iPics are better than noPics. Si?





Monday, November 5, 2012

Echo Creative Club

I am now part of the Echo Creative Club started by Jeannie Dukic.
What is this? This is from her website (http://site.jkdjewelry.com/):
"So what is Echo Creative Club?  I’m looking for experienced jewelry designers to use my art beads and pendants for FREE.
What does the name, Echo Creative mean?  Echo is something you put out there and it comes back.  I put my beads out there and they come back in a creative design from you."


 

I have participated for both November 2012 and December 2012. I received my beads last week, and have finally decided which one I will be using for November.

Its this cute one called "Lonesome Dove"


To me, he looks more happy and free than lonesome :-)
Here's another picture of the sweet little bird!


 Isn't he beautiful?

I will be posting my creation on November 25th, so stay tuned!


PS:
I would like to say THANKS to everyone who responded to my previous post!
Am still here, and hopefully be back in full swing in the new year.