Sunday, April 8, 2012

Cup of Mini Bead Soup Blog Hop and Floridity

Did you see the mini blog hop that Lori Anderson hosted yesterday?  Last year Lori had cups of bead soup each month using different artist beads that she purchased sight unseen.  This year she wanted others to play along so she has contacted artists has asked them to make special soup mixes, Lori is randomly picking three participates to play along with her each month, this month the bead soup mix was from Floridity.  I am not sure if you seen the mix of beads that Barbara cooked up, but they are beautiful and she is offering 16 sets first come first serve so if you loved what the others did be sure to pop by and send Barbara some love.  You can see the set below.


 Be sure to check out the designers her participated in this serving of soup they did a fabulous job with their designs!





I also spotted something that I really love at Floridity that is on my wish list!!

 I love flowers of any kind and the colors in this daisy remind of the Pantone color of the year!!!  So pretty Barbara.

I hope that everyone is having a splendid Sunday and that whatever you are doing is blessed and you are surrounding by your loved ones!!

Much love,
Penny

Saturday, April 7, 2012

Inspired by other Artists!

My dear friend Rebecca Anderson of Songbeads has been inspiring me with the designs that she has been posting and I wanted to try my hand at creating some of the things that she has made recently. 



The last pair of earrings were inspired by Lori Anderson from her Bead Soup blog party!! 

Happy Easter!!!

Much love,
Penny

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

March Allegory Design Team

A little late but here is my piece that I designed for the Allegory Gallery.  I used some beautiful Lucite rounds, a Czech glass square, some lovely cream seed beads accented with antique copper chain and charms.  All of these lovely beads can been found in Andrew's gallery.  I have been thinking alot about my designs and this piece is a move toward using a smattering of different elements and I wasn't comfortable at first but I like the eclectic feel that has come from this design.

Skylar


I am part of a really exiting team of designers - the Allegory Gallery Design Team. Every month from February 2012 - January 2013, we all blog about pieces of jewellery we have designed using materials from Allegory Gallery. We are able to combine these materials with those from our own stashes, to create new designs every month. Andrew Thornton sent each member of the team an exciting package of goodies, from his new Gallery and Boutique in Legonier, Pennsylvania.  You can check them out on facebook too.

Please check out the other members of the Allegory Gallery Design Team's blogs and show them some love!












 
 
 FTC disclaimer: Some beads in this post were provided for free in return for promotional consideration.
 
 

Friday, March 2, 2012

5th Bead Soup Blog Party

Wohoo!!!  Today is reveal day!!  Can't wait to see all of the eye candy today!  I was paired with Kristina Johansson, Maneki.  Kristina sent me a wonderful soup, but I have to say that this was my 3rd time participating in the Bead Soup Party and probably my most challenging.  Kristina sent me a silk rod, which was so lovely it had rich royal blue and burgundies.  It was lovely but I absolutely did not know what to do with it and since Kristina had sent me something so lovely, I knew that I had to do it justice, and I didn't want to leave it out of the design that I was going to make.  I contacted Kristina and asked if she had any examples of using the silk rod.  She so generously sent me an email with a bunch of links sharing what others had done, one of the ideas was something I had cooking up in my head, but I wanted to try and gain ideas from others but try and do something that was unique to me.  Deryn Mentock did two lovely necklaces with silk rods, and they inspired me so, and I have been struggling for weeks try to do something similar but, I couldn't come up with a unique enough idea without it looking like I was copying Deryn. 

Other things that hit me this week was a tragic passing of a friend and I almost thought that I wasn't going to complete my piece, my mind has been in the clouds this week and grief over took me yesterday.  I almost contacted Lori and was going to explain the situation, but I decided that in order to honor my wonderful friend I need to get back to work and I need to make this piece for her to help me heal.  So I am naming my piece in honor of my friend and her wonderful spirit.

RELEASE HER SOUL




I took apart the silk rod and cut it in half then wrapped it around the antique gold key, I then wrapped it with copper wire and added some of the seed beads in the blue/green color.  I love these seed beads they are somewhat iridescent, with gold foil on the inside.  I then wire wrapped a butterfly and flower that Kristina had sent to me, they are wrapped messy to signify that life can sometimes be messy.  I added a ceramic bead from Spirited Earth, some Czech glass beads, blue tiger eye and apple jasper, peacock fresh water pearls wire wrapped and added to copper chain.  The key says memory on it which I thought was appropriate.  I realize that I have combined antique gold and antique copper, but I really wanted to use the key so I just ran with it.

Kristina thank you so much for the wonderful soup you sent me, I loved the color palette and was truly challenged.   Thank you Lori for all your hard work and dedication to all of us in the beading world.  Your tireless work in trying to make everyone happy is very much appreciated.  I hope that you have just as much fun hopping as the rest of us.

You will find the list of all the participates at the end of this post.  Please stop by if you can and leave a comment, I know that everyone puts a great deal of time and energy into their soup!!

Thanks everyone for stopping by!!

Take care,
Penny