Artfully Ornamental: THEAtoo

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Gossiping Goddess / Kaz Baildon Bead Giveaway Blog Hop

Good day to you! Welcome to the reveal of the Kaz Baildon Bead Giveaway Blog Hop hosted by the lovely Lesley Watt of The Gossiping Goddess blog, THEAtoo and THEAjewellery. Lesley is a multi-talented jewelry and component designer. I was delighted to be paired with her a few months ago in Diana Ptaszynski's Mismatched Art Bead Earring Swap, and received a beautiful pair of earrings that go with so many things in my wardrobe!

Lesley put out a call several months ago for folks to put their names into the proverbial hat to receive beads that had been generously given to her by Kaz Baildon of Cheeky Cherub Designs. We would not know which beads we would receive and were charged with creating jewelry, accessories, ornaments - whatever we could dream up. I was very excited to be selected!

I promptly received my beads from Lesley and immediately thought I'd made a pair of earrings and a pendant for a necklace. Aren't they gorgeous! They have quite a bit of heft to them - one is just a tiny bit larger than the other two. I made the earrings first, however, they were a bit too heavy for my earlobes. I'm not sure if a smaller pair of ear wires would have made a difference or not; the antiqued brass kidney wires I had were definitely too long to support the weight of the earrings. I used vintage brass bells, Swarovski crystals, vintage lucite, dyed banded agate and pearls with brass headpins, bead caps and wire to make the dangles. I was bummed and slept on it.

Ultimately, I thought about working them into a necklace but wasn't sure how. I finally decided on a lariat so I could use both pieces. I've never made one before - certainly not because they're difficult to make! I like it! I used vintage copper chain from my favorite bead store The Beadin' Path (it's where the bulk of the other parts are from as well). It's a bit longer than in the picture above, the excess in hanging in the back so it would fit properly on the bust.

I'm not sure yet what I'll create with the third bead, but I may possibly work it into a Christmas ornament - I'm in that mode at the moment. Thank you very much Lesley for hosting such a lovely hop! Now, grab a cuppa' and see what these other designers have dreamed up (I know I will be when I return from work this evening!)!

Lesley Watt - www.thegossipinggoddess.blogspot.com
Cory Tompkins - http://tealwaterdesigns.blogspot.com
Rebecca Anderson - http://songbeads.blogspot.com
Marie Cramp - http://skyejewels.blogspot.com
Claire Braunbarth - http://smittenbeads.blogspot.com
Heidi Post - http://http://expostfactojewelry.blogspot.com
Tiffany Smith - http://southerngalsdesign.blogspot.com
Sharyl Macmillan-Nelson - http://sharylsjewelry.blogspot.com
Ailsa Cordner - http://www.bramalfiebeadsetc.co.uk/
Linda Landig - http://lindalandig.wordpress.com
Caroline Dewison - http://blueberribeads.com
Renetha - http://lamplightcrafts.blogspot.com
Kari Asbury - http://hippiechickdesign.blogspot.com
Niky Sayers - http://silverniknats.blogspot.com
Purple Cobwebs - http://www.purplecobwebs.blogspot.com
Cilla Watkins - http://www.tellyourgirlfriends.com/
Therese Frank - www.theresestreasures59.blogspot.com
Claire Ennis - http://clairescrystalclassics.blogspot.com
Emma - http://apolymerpenchant.blogspot.com
Kathy Lindemer - http://bay-moon-design.blogspot.com
Alicia - http://www.allprettythings.ca
Sandy Huntress - http://keepsakecrafts.net/blog/
Lori Bowring Michaud - http://artfullyornamental.blogspot.com - you are here!
Amy - http://copperdiem.blogspot.com
Katherine Gale - http://terrabeadworks.blogspot.com

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: