I got my bead soup

I got my bead soup and I love it.

My soup partner is Billi R.S. Rothove and she sent me a delicious soup.

Painted Wooden beads in the top of the picture and vintage Wooden Spacers in the bottom part of the picture

   Hemitite beads in triangles and discs along with a mix of rounds and 2mm beads and small bugle beads

A Jaspar Obsidian donut and black glass spacers

 Antique cloisonne beads

Lampwork beads in a dark green with green lampwork spacers

4 lacquered badgers and red antique trading beads

Billi has certainly given me a lot to work with.  I am already percolating ideas in my head and everyone will have to wait to see what I come up with.

Big reveal is Saturday May 2, 2014.  Please be sure to come back to see what I have made.

I am also participating in several other blog hops for the month of April.  The A-Z Challenge is for the entire month.  Each day you write about something that starts with the assigned letter of the alphabet.  I hope to make it through the entire month.  Please come back on Tuesday April 1 to see what I am blogging about.

I am also participating in the The Color of Dreams Blog Hop on Sunday, April 6 and Andrew Thorton's Deep Waters Challenge on Thursday, April 24.

Thank you for stopping by.

Carolyn

Bead Soup Blog Party beading partner

I found out last week who my beading partner for the 8th Bead Soup Blog Party was. 


She is listed as a visual artist and lives in the Great Smoky Mountains in Tennessee.  She has been making her craft since 2001.  She has has been blogging since May 2010 showing off her beautiful creations.  She writes about her processes while making items with polymer clay.  She has an Etsy shop where she sells her items while having the most fun.


She is Billi R.S. Rothove of the blog Artist at Work.


Please visit her blog and see the items that she has created.  Billi has already sent her beads out and I hope to have them by next week.


Thanks for stopping by.


Carolyn

Challenge of Music blog hop

I am a child of the '50s and '60s.  I love the early rock 'n roll songs and most of them are ones that I love to listen to.  I looked for focals that reminded me of songs of that era.  I missed out on a couple items that were in a destash event but found these.  Can anyone guess what I song I was thinking of?

Does the big picture help any?

I don't remember ever dancing to this tune.  It only had one artist that made it popular and I was just a little tyke when this first came out in 1955.  That was the year after my brother was born and we were living in Southern California, a long ways away from where this song was first popular.

The artist was a band that started in 1952 and continued to play until its namesake died in 1981.  Does that clue help any?  It was showcased on one of the popular music shows of the late 50s and early 60s based on the east coast in 1960.

I have included a link to a YouTube of the song:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-qjc17KEsc

Bill Haley & His Comets - Rock Around The Clock - American Bandstand 1960

I don't remember if I ever watched this particular American Bandstand show but I do remember watching the show after school.

I used clock connectors and added black onyx chips to the bottom loop and a green acrylic bead along with a black round bead to the top connecter and made a pair of earrings.

Be sure to visit the other blogs to see what they have made:  3rd-annual-challenge-of-music

Thank you for stopping by.

Carolyn

Bay Moon Design Patina Challenge

Kathy of Bay Moon Design blog was gracious enough to include me on her patina blog hop.  She sent each of the participants a Vintaj compass brass piece and asked us to patina the piece and make a piece of jewelry.

I do not like the way my piece looks at all.  It is mainly my fault as I forgot about the challenge and did not get the patina colorings ordered way ahead of time.  The colors I chose were Vintaj's Rusted Hardware.  You can see the Cinnabar and Rust in the center of the piece.  I used the Clay on the letters that are on the side of the compass.  Not very visible, are they?

I used the Lapis and Emerald colors that were from the Faded Pickup color selection on some of the markings between the letters.  I used the Topaz color on top of the Clay I had used before on the letters.  At least now you can see the letters.

There is one more mark that I need to color and then I should be ready to make something if I don't scrap the whole thing and start over.

The first two colors went on so easily and visibly, that I thought this would be very easy to do.  Proved me wrong.  As soon as I decide what I want to do, I will be posting it.  I hate to give up because I would really like to patina some findings.  I probably need to be a little more patient.

Please stop by the other blogs and see what they were able to make: patina-compass-reveal-and-giveaway

Hostess:  Kathy Lindemer,  BayMoonDesign 

Jennifer LaVite, Dry Gulch Beads and Jewelry

Karia Morgan, Texas Pepper Jams

 

Carolyn Lawson, Carolyn's Creations   You are here

Shai Williams, Shaiha's Ramblings

Jessica Murray, Whimsical Monkey
 
Tammie Everly, TTE Designs

Kay Thomerson, KayzKreationz Blog

Claire Fabian, Saraccino

Christie Searle Murrow,  Charis Designs

Be sure to stop back by to see what I end up doing with the compass piece.

Thanks for stopping by.

Carolyn

Gossiping Goddess Spring Fever Design Challenge

Leslie Watt of Gossiping Goddess, Caroline of Blueberri Beads and Claire Braunbarth of Smitten Beads are sponsoring a "Spring Fever Design Challenge" blog hop. 

20 lucky people are going to have the opportunity to purchase a design kit that will include a colorful layered ceramic flower focal and some accent beads from Leslie, a painted bird ceramic set from Caroline, and a length of gorgeous sari silk from Claire.  Leslie and Caroline have some gorgeous sample pictures of some of the kits on their websites. 

You can click on the colored "Gossiping Goddess" and "Blueberri Beads" links above to view the pictures and enter for a chance to be one of the fortunate 20 participants.

I would love to have the opportunity to be one of the fortunate ones as I have never worked with Leslie or Caroline's beads or sari silk.

Visit the websites above for an opportunity to participate in the blog hop.

Thanks for stopping by and be sure to return on Friday to see what I have completed for the Bay Moon Design patina challenge.  Stop by on Saturday to see whether I have managed to get my project together for Erin's Challenge of Music blog hop.

Carolyn

Grow Your Blog winner

If you are looking for the Winter Sparkle Blog Hop reveal, please click here:  winter-sparkle-blog-hop-reveal

I was finally able to draw the winner of my giveaway for a pair of earrings or some beads.  Annmarie from Wisconsin has been notified that she is the lucky person.  As soon as she contacts me with her preference and her address, they will be in the mail to her.

Thanks to everyone that stopped by and signed up to follow my blog.  I grew by half so I appreciate it.

I have signed up the the A-Z Challenge in April where you post every day but Sunday.  Your topic is the letter of the alphabet that is assigned for that day.  I have already started making my list.  There are some holes and I may be asking for some suggestions.  I thought I would talk about different gemstones and beading subjects. 

I hope to learn things about the different subjects and pass on what I have learned.  Please try and stop back by in the month of April.  I do intend to do some blogging in between then and now.

I have signed up for Lori Anderson's Bead Soup Blog Party and a couple of the blog hop challenges that Lisa Lodge is hosting.  I have a patina challenge for Friday, February 28th and Erin's Challenge of Music Blog Hop is the same day.  I hope to get both done this weekend.

Stop back by and see if I managed to complete both challenges.

Thanks for stopping by.

Carolyn

Winter Sparkle Blog Hop reveal

Welcome to the Winter Sparkle Blog Hop put on by Lisa Lodge of A Greateful Artist blog.  Lisa always has the best bead kits for her blog hops.  In fact I have several more of her blog hops that I will be doing.

Lisa advertised this particular blog hop last year and I hurriedly signed up as she has a limited number of kits.  I don't know if Lisa did it on purpose because she says that she sends the kits out blindly but I received a kit in my favorite shades of gold/topaz.

 

Beads included in kit.

 Here is a picture of the beads that were included in the kit:  two sizes of pearls, topaz-colored rondells, bicones and rounds, clear ovals, gold daisy spacers, gold seed beads, and two swarovski crystal pieces.

I did pretty good at using most of the beads in the kit.

Swarovski crystal earrings

Pearl and rounds earrings

Here are two other pair of earrings that I made using some of the pearls, topaz round beads, and lt. topaz rondells.









Memory wire bracelet

 I used the majority of the beads making this five strand memory wire bracelet. I used the smaller size pearls, the topaz bicones, rondells, and rounds along with the seed beads.  I also made about five different styles of dangles using the smaller beads.




The last of the beads were used to make this necklace.

Necklace

Thanks for stopping by.  Be sure to visit the other bloggers to see what they have made.


Your hostess:  Lisa Lodge, A Grateful Artist

Melissa Trudinger, Bead Recipes

Kathy Zeigler Lindemer, Bay Moon Design

Eleanor Burian Moore, The Charmed Life 

Jo-Ann Woolverton, It's a Beadiful Creation

Chris Eisenberg, Wanderware

Carolyn Lawson, Carolyn's Creations   You are here

Toltec  Jewels, Jewel School Friends

Christie Searle Murrow, Charis Designs Jewelry

Heather Richter, Desert Jewelry Designs

Ev Shelby, Raindrop Creations 

Dolores Raml, CraftyD's Creations

Kim Dworak, Cianci Blue

Cassi Renee Paslick, Beads: Rolling Downhill

Annette Rivers, Mama Owl's Mess

Tammie Tusher Everly, TTE Designs

Crystal Thain, Here Bead Dragons

Marybeth Rich, A Few Words from within the Pines

Norbel Marolla, She Flies Again Jewelry

Karen Burg, KEB Designs

Karin Grosset Grange, Ginkgo et Coquelicot

Jasvanti Patel, Jewels by Jasvanti

 

See you next time.

 

Carolyn