Soul's Fire Designs: lori anderson

Friday, March 2, 2012

It's Bead Soup Time!!!

If you are searching for my Challenge of Music post, go HERE

I have to say, I wasn't certain if I was going to be able to pull everything together in time for this one! I was not counting on my entire family (including yours truly lol) being sick off and on for over two weeks! But, somehow, I did it! :) I didn't quite use up all of the incredible bead soup my sweet partner Kari Carrigan of Wee Gems and Charmed Pennies sent me, which you can view HERE, but I made a good effort! And things are still swirling about in my head what to do with the last bits!

My biggest challenge this time around was... which focal to start with?? Kari was so incredibly generous and I had so many possibilities that it was hard to choose where to begin! But after sleeping on it one night, I woke up the next morning with an idea... I pulled out the sweet little acorn that she had made and stared at it. Then I began pulling things from my stash, faceted pale blue jade, czech crystals, stainless steel chain... and finally Marsha Neal Studio silks. Here is what I came up with and I personally LOVE it, I have already worn it a few times (I couldn't resist).

It's really long, the longest necklace I have ever worn and I love it! The next piece that I came up with was another necklace, I could not resist the "J" pendant... it made me think of something from the Regency period. So I set out to make something with a vintage flair...

And came up with this :) Simple but a bit sparkly, elegant, I think it will be perfect for an evening out!

Then it took me time to decide what to do with those gorgeous Charmed Pennies she sent me... Of course the logical thing to do was make necklaces, right? But no, I had done two already.. and this was supposed to be a challenge... hmm... then one day it hit me... I remembered seeing the wonderful Rebecca Anderson of Songbead had done really cool little bangles! Now hmm, I didn't have pre-made bangles... but I did have some fabulous 14g Fallen Angel Brass wire. I'm one of those, if I don't have it I will try to find a way to make it myself girls these days! I also didn't have a bracelet mandrel which presented another problem, so the first try (the red one) I simply made to fit my own (rather small) wrist by simply bending and shaping the wire around my wrist. After I finished I thought, hm, well, that's alright... but I bet I could find a better way... and I stared at that coil of 14g wire for a while and then it hit me! The wire was already coiled to the perfect bangle size! I tried to fit my hand through a loop and it was no problem! I was giddy! So, I quickly whipped up two more bangles for the last two pendants and was pleased as punch!

And the last that I have to show you I made with the incredible lampwork beads Kari gave me, they are so very beautiful!!!

Please excuse the pics if they are a bit off, it was icy out and my fingers were cold LOL. Ok, ok, I know you all have a ton of other hopping to do , so I'll close up for now by saying, my son's birthday was yesterday and I'm having a sale in my shop (20% off anything except Blythe jewelry) using the code: BIRTHDAY Also, I am giving away the gorgeous earrings above to a lucky person who comments (by random number generator but you MUST leave me an email to contact you at, otherwise I will have to redraw!). I will announce the winner on my birthday, March 26th :). Make sure you visit my partner Kari's blog to see what she did with what I sent her! http://weegemsdesigns.blogspot.com/

Thank you so so much, Lori, for making this blog hop possible, for having this amazing idea.. and for bringing us all together as a creative community!! You ROCK!

I had to take Linky thing out LOL it was driving everyone nuts! Here is the list instead:

Hostess, Lori Anderson
Special Book Sneak Peeks, Cindy Wimmer

1. Adlinah Kamsir (Singapore) and Hajer Waheed (Kingdom of Bahrain)

2. Adrienn Lukacs (Hungary) and Agata Grygiel (Poland)

3. Agi Kiss (Hungary) and Carolien Muller-Genger (the Netherlands)

4. Agnes Asztalos (Hungary) and B.R. Kuhlman

5. Alesha Conklin and Becki Mendivil

6. Alice Peterson and Carol Dillman

7. Alicia Marinache (Canada) and Dita Basu

8. Amanda Dittloff and Brandy Thomason McNair

9. Amanda Tibbetts and Andrea Trank

10. Amy Freeland and Kay Mallery

11. Andra Weber and Christine Murrow