The 2011 Challenge of Color Blog Hop

Well, what is one to do when the very lovely and inspirational Miss Erin Prais-Hintz of Tesori Trovati and the Treasures Found blog issues an invitation to challenge one's self? One says, "Count me in Miss Erin!" Of course, what better way is there to challenge one's self than by waiting until the verylastminute when one has had three weeks to complete said challenge? Seriously, I need to reassess my priorities and give myself more time to be creative.
Anyhoo, this is the second year Erin has hosted this challenge. She offers twelve colors for participants to choose from; I chose blue. I very, very seldom create with blue. I don't know why I don't, I like blue. The blue color palette Erin chose for me is Sharpened Blue. She has partnered with Jessica Colaluca of Design Seeds to use her wonderful color palettes. Be sure to hop on over to Jessica's Design Seeds blog to spark your creativity with her beautiful palettes.

Sharpened Blue

So, without further ado, here is my necklace inspired by the Sharpened Blue palette:

The vast majority of components I used I already had, and because my studio is such a disaster at the moment, almost everything I needed was on my desk already. I only added the large blue, dyed jade chip beads and the blue ceramic rounds. My peachy colors have a tad more pink to them than the color chips, but I think it's ok. I made the pendant a few months ago with pottery and glass shards I've collected at the beach, along with some sanded grout and resin. It was my first experiment with resin (Ice Resin to be exact). I had been intimidated for years by the prospect of using resin, but the Ice Resin is a dream. The only problem I had was that a bit of blue from the shard at the bottom of the pendant bled and tinted some of the resin a little bit. I think that would have happend with any resin.

Because I was a Last Minute Lori in the creation of this necklace, it's not exactly as I'd like it to be. I am going to change out a couple of components (yep, as much as I love Swarovski, the padparascha crystals need to go; I may replace them with the darker opal beads in the picture below, we'll see) and that's why I haven't attached the clasp yet, but overall I'm happy with it. Thank you for hosting this creative challenge Miss Erin!

So, to thank you for stopping by my little space in the blogosphere on this blog hop I'm going to have a giveaway! Leave a comment and tell me what your least favorite color to work with or wear is and why. Leave your comment by 6 a.m. on Saturday, December 3 and I'll select two commenters to win a handpainted, stained glass Christmas ornament created by moi! One ornament will go to a challenge participant who leaves a comment and one ornament will go to a commenter who did not participate in the challenge. It will be a surprise, but I think you'll like it (most everyone who receives one from me loves them!)! Please make sure there is a way for me to contact you so that I may get your address if you're a winner! I think I'm beginning to feel the Christmas Spirit!

Be sure to check out all of the participant blogs to see their creations, happy hopping!

1	Norma Turvey	Teal	Color Crave
2	Jeannie Dukic	Green	Mineral Tones
3	Mary McGraw	Teal	Embellished Hues
4	Jo Tinley	Red	Decadent Tones
5	Rebecca Anderson	Pink	Tulip Tones
6	Kristi Jaro	Red	Temple Entrance
7	Stephani Gorman	Green	Dew Tones
8	Melissa Meman	Green	Fruit Star
9	Kathleen Lange Klik	Teal	Silk Hues
10	Cynthia Riggs	Red	Autumn Comfort
11	Heidi Post	Teal	Flora Bright
12	Cece Cormier	Teal	Merino Teal
13	Amy Freeland	Gray	Cultured Tones
14	Alice Peterson	Blue	Island Play
15	Rose Noble	Gray	Autumn Stacked
16	Kristina Johansson	Yellow	Sunny Flower
17	Kirsi Luostarinen	Teal	Dragon Hues
18	Tari Kahrs	Orange	Citrus Tones
19	Mallory Hoffman	Purple	Petaled Dark
20	Molly Alexander	Brown	Peppered Tones
21	Regina Santerre	Red	Frosted Berry
22	Emanda Johnson	Teal	Color Purl
23	Amy Severino	Orange	Winged Tones
24	Bobbie Rafferty	Teal	Lime Hues
25	Tanya Goodwin	Gray	Pecked Tones
26	Lisa Lodge	Blue	Nocturnal Tones
27	Hope Smitherman	Blue	Bloom Tones
28	Linda Landig	Green	Cacti Dark
29	Ambra Gostoli	Teal	Perched Autumn
30	Lori Bowring-Michaud	Blue	Sharpened Blue
31	Pippa Chandler	Teal	Hungarian Hues
32	Keirsten Giles	Purple	Mineral Brights
33	Jennifer Justman	Blue	Autumn Rays
34	Sandy Richardson	Purple	Moroccan Brights
35	CJ Bauschka	Teal	Teal Air
36	Shaiha Williams	Teal	Sushi Hues
37	Kay Thomerson	Purple	Autumn Spectrum
38	Sally Russick	Purple	Golden Gate Tones
39	Cilla Watkins	Purple	Autumn Infused
40	Shirley Moore	Purple	Frozen Heather
41	Jenni Connolly	Gray	Paw Tones
42	Tamara Soper	Green	Field Tones
43	Sharyl McMillian-Nelson	Blue	Nested Blues
44	Jen Velasquez	Pink	Sweetened Tints
45	Maria Grimes	Red	Bright Bloom
46	Elisabeth Auld	Gray	Petaled Tints
47	Susan Kennedy	Pink	Zinnia Tones
48	Shannon Chomanczuk	Gray	Autumn Leaf
49	Holly Westfall	Yellow	Sprinkled Tones
50	Patty Gasparino	Red	Color Carton
51	Angela Little	Pink	Singapore Brights
52	Lizzie Zawinski	Green	Budding Hues
53	Kristen Stevens	Pink	Scooped Tones
54	Dawn Doucette	Brown	Jarred Tones

Andrew Thornton's September Readers' Challenge

This month's challenge hosted by Andrew was FUN! Purple/lavender are not colors I typically work with. I had a blast with this. Andrew is a master at combining interesting, colorful ingredients. I wish I lived nearby to him, I'd love to sit and have a conversation about creating over a mug of coffee or cup of tea (maybe he'll visit Maine some time).



Andrew created a luscious, luxury bead blend in shades of purple that also included some red-purple. In addition to the bead blend he included Swarovski crystals, vintage Miriam Haskell beads, purple Soft Flex beading wire, a dichroic bead, a Humblebeads small pussy willow charm from Heather Powers, two enameled flowers from Sarah of C-Koop Beads, a a "grow" connector from Heather Wynn-Millican of Swoondimples.

And, if this all wasn't enough, he included a mystery component and a length of silver plated chain. The mystery component, a handcrafted floral copper coin accented with gilders paste, created by Andrew himself.

Unfortunately, it took me a while to get to it. September is a complete BEAR at work (notice how gently I worded that Sarah ;) ) and I had committed to Andrew's challenge, Diana Ptaszynski of Suburan Girl Studio's Art Bead Earring Swap (loved it!), and Lori Anderson's Bead Soup Blog Party (fab! - Lori is amazing in my book). Can you say overextended? Thankfully for me, Andrew has had twso reaveal dates for the September challenge due to an unfortunate postal issue. He graciously let me extend my reveal to the second date. So, without further ado, my necklace (I'm not inventive enough to come up with names for my pieces):

The stacked focal of this piece incorporates two vintage copper flowers from my favorite bead store The Beadin' Path. The center of the focal is the larger of the two enameled flowers. I painted one of the copper flowers with enamel paint and wired them together. Ideally, I think I'd like to create a ball end copper headpin for the center. We'll see if I get to that or not. There's also a flaw that needs fixing. When I was punching the holes for stringing, one of the petals slipped and the hole was mis-punched, to salvage the flower I placed it at the bottom. Now that I've used ICE Resin, I'm going to use it to fill that little hole and use some copper leaf to repair it.

I added some oval brass links, vintage tortoise colored Czech glass two-hole connectors and red-purple dyed jasper coins from The Beadin' Path, a few other beads from various sources, and an enameled copper toggle. I am not sure the source of the toggle, I think I bought it at a bead show some time ago, but I can't be certain. It might be a C-koop, I'm just not sure.

I'm also in process with both a bracelet and earrings. This weekend is my weekend to finish unfinished projects (REALLY!). I'm going to finish this bracelet and earrings and my necklace from the BSBP. Come back next week to see! I need a clasp for this bracelet, I need to paint on the sea glass pieces and the vintage Czech glass pendant, drill the sea glass and change out the copper jump rings for brass. From Andrew's kit I've used the "grow" connector from Heather Winn-Millican, dichroic bead, his beautiful handcrafted mystery component coin and the small pussy willow pendant from Heather Powers. I really, really like it (I'll like it even better when I finish it!).

Please excuse the pictures. I should have taken them over the weekend while it was sunny, but I forgot. So you get early A.M. pictures on a cloudy day. One of these days I'll set up my light box. That's anothe story.

Thanks again for creating this challenge Andrew! Now, grab a cuppa' and visit the blogs of the other participants and check this link on Andrew's blog for his piece and a few others he posted on the first reveal day: 

Lorelei Eurto

Sally Russick
Tara Linda
Paula Kramer
Melinda Orr
Beth Emery
Tracy Stillman
Heather Goldsmith
Lori Bowring Michaud
Rebecca Anderson
Debbie Price
Patty Gasparino

Have a great day!

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/