Mismatched Art Bead Earring Swap

Hello and welcome! Today is reveal day for the Mismatched Art Bead Earring Swap hosted by the lovely Diana Ptaszynski of Suburban Girl Beads and Suburban Girl Studio. Thank you so much Diana for hosting such a wonderful swap, I know it's a lot of work and a bit of frustration to put these together! These are the first pair of really mismatched earrings I've made or received. It was a challenge, you should have seen my dining room table.....

Diana paired me for this swap with the very, very talented Lesley Watt of THEAtoo jewelry components and THEAjewellery. Lesley is not only a talented component designer, her jewelry designs are simply amazing. Lesley sent me a pair of earrings that goes with so many things - I love them!! They go with so many of my tops!

Lesley featured bronze clay bead caps that she made along with lampworked beads by two artisans: Josephine Wadman crafted the larger patterned beads and Pebbledreamss created the smaller solid colored beads. Aren't they great!?! Thank you again Lesley for being such a wonderful swap partner! You can check out Lesley's blog The Gossiping Goddess to see the autumnal earrings I created for her using some vintage and hand painted components! Here's a little sneaky peak:

Now, go visit all of these other talented designers to see what they received and swapped!:

Diana Ptaszynski  http://www.suburbangirlstudio.com

Lisa Liddy http://www.lisaliddy.wordpress.com

Kari Asbury  http://www.hippiechickdesign.blogspot.com

Jayne Capps  http://mamasgottodoodle.blogspot.com/

Rebecca Anderson  http://www.songbeads.blogspot.com

Lesley Watt  http://www.thegossipinggoddess.blogspot.com

Lori Bowring Michaud  http://www.artfullyornamental.blogspot.com

Renetha Stanziano  http://www.lamplightcrafts.blogspot.com

Holly Westfall   http://www.silverrosedesigns.blogspot.com/

Theresa Fosdick  http://www.thoughtful-notions.blogspot.com/

Ali McCarthy  http://www.northwoodscreativestudio.blogspot.com

Shai Williams  http://shaihasramblings.blogspot.com/

Iveth Caruso  http://www.creativeatelier.net/blog.html

Carolyn Collins  http://www.sparklingwaterstudio.com

Elaine Ray  http://www.elaineray.blogspot.com

Kristen Stevens http://kristen-beadjourney.blogspot.com/

Charlene Jacka   http://clay-space.com/blog

Jan Onipenco  http://www.MoltenMayhem.typepad.com

Stephanie Woods  http://www.rainydaysdesigns.com

Eleanor Burian-Mohr  http://www.cornerstoregoddessjewelry.blogspot.com

Shelby Foxwell  http://www.sundownbeaddesigns.blogspot.com

Pam Sears  http://www.crazycreativecorner.blogspot.com

Mary Harding  http://www.maryhardingjewelrybeadblog.blogspot.com

Lisa Johnson  http://www.Whimsyswonders.blogspot.com

Kashmira Patel  http://www.sadafulee.blogspot.com

Penny Neville  http://www.copperpennydesigns.blogspot.com

Dee Elgie  http://www.cherryobsidia.blogspot.co.uk

Sarah Small  http://www.bysalla.blogspot.com

Carolyn Lawson  http://www.Carolynscreationswa.blogspot.com

Karin Slaton  http://www.backstorybeads.blogspot.com

Ashleigh Becker  http://www.seladesignsjewelry.blogspot.com

Kay Hand  http://www.creativetangent.blogspot.com

Rana L. Wilson  http://ranaleadesigns.blogspot.com/

Sandra McGriff  http://www.skyescreativechaos.blogspot.com

Dawn Pierro  http://www.turtlemoondesigns.me

Shelley Graham Turner  http://www.shelleygrahamturner.blogspot.com

Karen Mitchell  http://www.overthemoon-design.com

Melissa Trudinger  http://www.beadrecipes.wordpress.com

Art Bead Earring Swap Reveal!

Good day to you! Today is reveal day for the Art Bead Earring Swap hosted by the lovely and talented Diana Ptaszynski of Suburban Girl Studio! Diana paired me with the very talented ceramic bead artist, Diane Hawkey. Diane was extremely generous and gifted me with two pairs of earrings, thank you so much Diane!

First up is a pair of LOVE hearts with sterling silver earwires. Adorable, and I can't wait to wear them! Diane is very well known in the beading world for her word beads. These beads have a shiny red glaze and the white banner and black words have a matte finish.

Next up is a pair of amber, crackle finish heart beads on brass earwires from Vintaj.

I wore these earrings to work the other day. They coordinate nicely with a necklace I finished over the weekend for Andrew Thornton's September Readers Challenge, which I'll be revealing on Wednesday, October 12 (check back!). This pair has a shiny amber glaze with a slight crackle finish on the beads and I think you can make out a floral and leaf embossing on the beads. Lovely!

Again, I am a very lucky girl! Thank you Diane!

Below is a picture Diane took of the earrings I sent to her (the peril of a daughter taking a photography class this semester is that I don't have my camera available whenever I want it!).

 

For these earrings, I used sterling silver bezel connectors from Rio Grande. I placed sealed scrapbook paper that looks like sand in the back, then teeny tiny pieces of sea glass in shades of brown, green and cobalt and filled them with ICE Resin. I then wired brown seaglass chips, cobalt dyed MOP chips, apatite, peridot and a stone I'm not sure about chips to the bottom connector with sterling ball end headpins and finished them with sterling earwires. I had intended to have all of the dangles be seaglass, however, my Dremel decided to give me fits and only the brown got drilled. This was my first time using resin and I was a wreck (I also made a few other pieces I'll show another day). The ICE Resin is worth every penny, it's FABULOUS! I had NO air bubbles. I can't wait to use it again.

I collected the seaglass at my favorite little hometown beach, Willard Beach. My Uncle Chick (his nickname) was the lifeguard there for 38 years. It's the beach my parents met at and they fell in love there (my dad worked summers for my uncle). I spent many a summer afternoon there with my children when they were growing up. It's a little gem of a beach. Most of the glass I collect there is smallish and usually brown, green or clear, but I love it!

Thanks again Diana for hosting this swap, and thanks for partnering me with Diane! Below are links to the rest of the participants:

Diana Ptaszynski   http://www.suburbangirlstudio.com/ Jenny Davies-Reazor  http://www.jdaviesreazor.com/blog Marie-Noel Voyer-Cramp  http://www.skyejewels.blogspot.com/ Lisa Petrillo  http://www.lucidmoonstudio.com/ Patty Chaban Gasparino  http://www.mylifeunderthebus.typepad.com/ Susan Kennedy  http://www.suebeads.blogspot.com/ Shannon Iko Chomanczuk  http://www.formysweetdaughter.blogspot.com/ Cilla Watkins  http://www.tellyourgirlfriends.com/ Diane Hawkey  http://www.dianehawkey.blogspot.com/ Pam Ferrari http://www.ferrarioriginalsyahoocom.blogspot.com/ Lori Bowring Michaud  http://www.artfullyornamental.blogspot.com/ (you are here) Stacey M. Curry  http://www.starhitchedwagon.blogspot.com/ Linda Landig  http://www.lindasbeadblog.com/ Norma Turvey  http://www.moonlitfantaseas.blogspot.com/ Melinda Orr  http://www.orrtec.blogspot.com/ Holly Westfall  http://www.silverrosedesigns.blogspot.com/ Rosemarie Cowit  http://www.gemrosedesigns.blogspot.com/ Staci L. Smith  http://www.stacilouise.blogspot.com/ Sarah Elder  http://www.mysocalledjunkylife.blogspot.com/

September Reader's Challenge & Art Bead Earring Swap

Whelp, I've bitten off quite a bit this month, but I'm very much looking forward to it! Not only is September the reveal for the Bead Soup Blog Party hosted by the lovely and talented Lori Anderson of Pretty Beads, but I've also joined two other activities this month as well.



First up will be the reveal for the Bead Soup Blog Party on September 17th. I haven't created my pieces yet, but I have everything pulled together. Now, for a full day of no interruptions!



Then it's the Art Bead Earring Swap hosted by the sweet and very talented Diana Ptaszynski, a ceramic/porcelain bead artist/metalsmith/jewelry designer, of Suburban Girl Studio. If you'd like to join, you have until September 8th to do so! My partner will be assigned on September 10 and the earrings need to be in the mail by the 24th with the reveal on October 5. I believe this is the first time Diana's hosted this event and I'm really looking forward to it. I already have a concept in mind and need a couple of hours to pull it together (depending upon who I'm paired with).



Finally, to round out the month, it's the very kind and talented Andrew Thornton's September Reader's Challenge (which is sold out). I was very fortunate to be among the first participants of Andrew's Reader's Challenge in July. It was really fun, and a little bit of a stretch for me. I wasn't able to snag a kit for the second challenge August, but I did score a Design Kit for the third challenge this month. Terrific beads in a palette I don't normally use. I'm really looking forward to receiving my kit. The reveal date for the Challenge is Friday, September 30.



That's how I'm creatively spending my September. How are you spending yours?