tulips and pine: challenge

3.28.2013

Flower Baubles Necklace

I have been in a slump lately, one that involves designing jewelry. I've been busy quilting away and madly trying to finish up a quilt before I leave town for spring break. As I was reading some of the blogs that are on my reader, one of the gals tossed out an idea for a resin baubles challenge and I thought why not. Of course, I said yes before I made the trek to Michael's to find the said beads, but luckily I found the designated package and my little helper picked out the package of pink and purple. The other choice was a spring green and teal which would have been fun too.

I purchased the package, brought it home and began playing with it. This necklace was super fast to put together and I like how it came out. I used crimp beads to keep everything in its place and attached a lobster clasp and jump rings to finish it off.

Thank you Lorelei for the challenge and I look forward to seeing everyone's creations.

Don't you just love these little globes? Amazing how from the side

they are clear but from the top, the color shows through.

A close up of these beauties

Coming soon to my etsy store.....

If you feel like blog hopping, here are the other participants

10.20.2012

Do Over Challenge

I love the idea of mystery boxes and the anticipation of what could possibly be inside. The do over challenge from Jeannie was totally up my alley and I'm thankful for my dear sister-in-law and fellow jewelry designer/enabler for hooking me up with the link. It's also a treat to get some fun mail and not all the political crap-o-la that is filling my mail box, but that's another rant.

I received a sweet three piece set of pink and white pearls with a pink and silver foil heart. After taking the before pictures and taking all three pieces apart, I honestly just stared at the beads. I'm not much of fan of the sweet, pink pearls and my first instinct was to recreate the beads into a bracelet for my one year old niece. Unfortunately, little miss is going to have to wait a while for auntie to make her another bracelet.

Standing on my chair to reach my bead stash above my desk (to keep little busy hands in my household away), I started pulling out random beads. Not sure what my color scheme was going to be, I just pulled beads out until I had at least 6 colors to choose from. Once I saw the pink and brown ceramic beads, this was my jumping off point. At first, I had planned a necklace, but the number of beads needed and my design wasn't cooperating. I set it aside for a couple of days and when on with my life, wife and mom duties.

As I was sitting in bible study this past Wednesday, the design came to me - three stand bracelet. Cha-ching!! I drew out my design and then came home and went to work. The third strand with the chain and aqua beads went through a few color changes before I felt the piece sang. The only pieces I did not use were the white pearls, one of the claps and the earring wires.

I do love wearing multiple strands of bracelets, but rarely were a multiple strand piece at one time. This was a good challenge for me and even though pink is so not my color (mom of 3 boys...) it was fun to play with and be challenged.