Reveal - Holiday Bling Blog Hop 3, February/March

Well good morning to you. Welcome to the reveal of the Holiday Bling Blog Hop 3! Are you ready to hop?! I am, well, almost. I've finished one of my projects for this sweet hop, the other is in process. I had a pleasant evening planned for last night - dinner out with the Hubs, finishing my project, hearing from my youngest that her plane was on the ground at Logan from Dallas and then going to bed, knowing she'd soon be home after the bus ride from Boston.

Whelp, when God gave out the Luck 'o the Irish, He skipped this Irishman (I think He mocks me sometimes). As a mother, you never want to have this text exchange with your baby (no matter how old the baby is): Gabrielle: "Our plane is delayed."; me: "How long?": "an hour", "ok, keep me posted-love you". Gabrielle: "Can you call Concord to see if they can hold the bus, we're going to land just before the last bus to Maine for the night?"; me: "No go, you'll gain a few minutes because you're the third pick-up. Run to the bus stop when you disembark." Two hours later: "We haven't even boarded yet, we're not going to make the bus (next bus is at 5:55 a.m.). Matt is going to come get us."

Matt, God love him, is my younger son. So, the Hubs and I, after dinner, had to go pick up her car, which we had previously dropped off at the bus terminal, fill the tank, drive it to our son and his fiance' Katie in the next town. In the process of doing this I receive another text (there had, of course been a fair number in between with me continually telling her I love her - I'm sure she got sick of that, I didn't.); Gabrielle: "We still haven't boarded. Something is wrong with the plane."; "Oh. Good. Lord!" (that was me); "With the fuel connecting to the engine.".......... Sick. To. My. Stomach. Holy. Maccaroni..........

3+ hours later, she was on her way home. I was in no state to work on project 2. Sorry Sherri, I will finish it today and post later. First, a great big thank you to both Marlene and Shelley for creating this fun hop. My partner for this swap is the lovely and extremely talented Sherri Stokey of Knot Just Macrame. I cannot begin to tell you how incredibly talented Sherri is. I do not have the patience or the vision to create the tiny, intricate works of art that she creates. Just amazing! I received a lovely assortment of handpainted lucite flowers (lucite is one of my favorites having worked at The Beadin' Path and having been a long time customer), and micro-macrame components. After a series of emails Sherri had suggested spring themed components. Fab! She also, cleverly, came up with our holiday: Everything You Do Is Right day, which is celebrated on March 16. Perfect! How sweet is that?!

These are the sweet components I received from Sherri:

The project I have completed was made from the micro-macrame components. I was a bit unorthodox / unconventional with them. I hope you don't mind Sherri. While I thoroughly enjoy making jewelry, I'm an ornament girl. I'm always collecting. I have Easter ornaments, Halloween ornaments, boat-loads of Christmas ornaments, Valentine's ornaments ...... So, I decided to make ornaments with them. I have an Easter tree (which we, suspiciously, can't find - or my collection of ornaments.....), and I've bought them for my girls and started them with a collection. So, without further ado - my Easter ornaments:

I used polymer clay, stamps, pearl ex powders, Swarovski flat back crystals and pearls, and lucite leaves. I love them. I'm not overly thrilled with the color of the purple, I had tried to mute it a bit by blending it - it's still a bit bright. I need to come up with something to soften the color a bit. Other than that, though, I love them.

So, what's a girl to do when she can't find her Easter tree? Make a temporary one. I have a plethora of "stuff", so I used a few of my driftwood pieces, some raffia, and my white beach stones. Voila - an Easter ornament tree!

Please check back later today to see the other piece I'm creating with Sherri's beautiful lucite flowers. So, grab a cuppa' and hop along to see the other holidays being celebrated in February and March. Thanks so much for stopping by!

Alicia Marinache All the Pretty Things
Catherine King Catherine's Musings
Chris Schlicht Non-blogger HBBH Partners
Cynthia Machata Antiquity Travelers
Dyanne Everett-Cantrell Dee-Liteful Jewelry Creations
Gina Hockett Freestyle Elements
Jennifer Reno Musings of a Crafty Jenny
Laura Reed Non-blogger HBBH Partners
Leanne Loftus First Impression Design
Lennis Carrier Windbent
Lori Bowring Michaud Artfully Ornamental - you are here
Marti Conrad Marti C's Clay Blog
Mary Govaars MLH Jewelry Designs
Renetha Stanziano LamplightCrafts
Rita/ Toltec Jewels Jewel School Friends
Sandra McGriff Creative Chaos
Sarah Goode Pookledo
Sherri Stokey Knot Just Macrame - my partner
Sonya Stille Dreamin Of Beads
Tammie Everly TTE Designs
Therese Frank Therese's Treasures
Tiffany Goff Smith Southern Gals Designs
Marlene Cupo Amazing Designs
Shelley Graham Turner Fabric of My Life

The Goodies Arrived

Hi! A couple of weeks ago I received several lovely packages in the mail. I am participating in two upcoming blog hops and have been paired with sweet partners! The first reveal will be this Saturday, March 16 (the day before St. Patrick's Day - my fave!). My partner for the Holiday Bling Blog Hop 3 is Sherri Stokey of Knot Just Macrame. Sherri came up with the fun, new to me, holiday Everything You Do Is Right Day, which is celebrated on March 16 - perfect!! We settled on swapping spring themed components, a quantity that could fit in the palm of one's hand.

Here are the amazing components Sherri sent to me:

Oh. My. Goodness! I have done a little bit of bead macrame (classes with Stephanie Sersich), but nothing like the work that Sherri does. Can you see how tiny the beads and macrame are in these components? Amazing. I do not have the eyesight to be able to make things like these. 

 And these painted lucite flowers? Oh my.

 I recently tried my hand at painting some of my stash of lucite as well as some polymer. Such fun! I have a couple of ideas brewing, one of them a little bit unconventional. I hope Sherri won't mind - I don't think the creator of the last component challenge I participated in was thrilled with what I did. Oh well.

These are the components I made and sent along to Sherri:

The photo is not spectacular, we haven't had lots of sun the past month, and when we have - I've been at work.A few of them are beachy, but the beach is seasonless in my world! I hope she likes them and can't wait to see what she makes!

The second hop I'm participating in is Lori Anderson's 7th Bead Soup Blog Party with a reveal date of March 30. I have been paired with the very sweet Sumi Rani of the HundredColors blog. Sumi is such a sweetie and I'm having a great time getting to know her. She is so brave, in my opinion, to up and leave your homeland, travel across the world and settle in another country with a small child.

This is what Sumi sent me (including the beautiful piece of poly-silk they're on):

and, here is what I sent to Sumi:

There's more to come so stop back on Saturday to see the reveal for the Holiday Bling Blog Hop 3! Thanks for stopping by!

Hopping Along.....

Where has the time gone? It's been almost a month since my last post. I don't think I can say that I've done a good job with my word "Focus", unless you consider that all of my focus has been on work. That is not what I want to focus on. So today, I'll focus on the creative opportunities I have upcoming - two swaps/blog hops!

First up is the Holiday Bling Blog Hop 3. Once again, Marlene & Shelley of Swaps by Marlene & Shelley have come up with a terrific idea! Partners who will swap surrounding an upcoming holiday in February/March. I've been paired with the lovely Sherri Stokey of Knot Just Macrame. Holy Maccaroni! This lady is talented! We have come up with the concept of trading components that we've made ourselves. The holiday we're representing? Sherri is a hoot! She found a holiday on March 16th - Everything You Do Is Right Day!!! I. LOVE. IT! We're swapping spring themed components - it will be perfect so stay tuned. Reveal day just happens to be on our holiday - how fab is that?!

Next up is the 7th Bead Soup Blog Party hosted by the amazing Lori McDaniel Anderson of the Pretty Things blog. My partner for this swap is the very sweet Sumi Rani of the HundredColors blog. Our reveal date is March 30. Sumi is from India and I'm having a great time getting to know her. I've received my soup and I'll post about that tomorrow. I think she may have received my soup this past Saturday - I hope.

Now, to focus on things I need to get done today on this President's Day holiday so I can get into my studio for a bit this afternoon and work on these two creative opportunities! Have a great day!