echo creative club march reveal day!

so today is the reveal day for jeannie dukic's echo creative club's march reveal. let me remind you what she sent.

i love the color, the leaves, and the gorgeous peeled paint art beads. i have no idea how she makes these. she's brilliant! go visit her store here and get some of your own!

so i'm really inspired by nature. nature is pretty much my theme. and this collection made me think of a magical forest, so i went diving in my art beads and found the perfect focal--a fairy kissed tree!

i drilled the bottom hole and added little dangly bits of nature and those beads. love those beads.

then i focused on wire wrapping various beads in my color scheme of grey, blue, cranberry, brown, and silver. i wanted the wire to be brass, and the elements silver to reflect my silver and gold focal.

i pulled in a brown diane hawkey 'harmony' bead. i thought that would be perfect for my fairy wood. and of course i had to have a bird for my forest, so i grabbed my trusty green girl studio beads and dug in them to find this soaring birdie. yay!

i love the look of steel wire, so i wrapped a couple spots of the brass with it. love that black, steely look.

at the back i did some simple stringing.

i've got mother-of-pearl, wood, labradorite, jasper, and tiger's eye back here, all on brass beadalon. i kept the clasp simple since so much is going on in this necklace.

now, go see what the rest of the team did. and don't forget to visit jeannie's store and get your hands on some of these fabulous beads!

Beth Emery http://www.storiesbyindigoheart.blogspot.com -you are here

Birgitta Lejonklou http://www.lejonklou.blogspot.com

Cindy Cima Edwards http://www.cindycima.com

Courtney Breul http://www.beadsbybreul.blogspot.com

Erin Prais-Hintz http://www.treasures-found.blogspot.com

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

Molly Alexander http://www.beautifullybrokenme.blogspot.com

Shannon Chomanczuk http://www.formysweetdaughter.blogspot.com

small break

so i'm going to be gone from the internet world for a little while. i have a big thing that i may or may not be able to talk about when i get back. i'm not trying to be mysterious, i just don't know how i'm going to feel when all is said and done. it's another bend in the road and i'm just not sure what the road is gonna look like when i get around that bend. little apprehensive, little nervous, little excited, little scared. okay. a lot scared. but i am never alone. no matter where i go. i am never alone.

i hope you will join me on march 25th for the echo creative club reveal and april 1st-ish for the collective creative canape. i have those posts scheduled, so never fear that i will miss those.

expect me the second week of april. that's when i'll be back. i'll miss you, beautiful internet world. you have taught me the beauty and depth of my fellow jewelry artists, which is a lovely thing.

collective creative canape bead exchange!

so lori anderson started the bead soup cafe in conjuction with her bead soup blog party this time around. i've soooo been enjoying connecting with other bead freaks and jewelry makers. for those of us who didn't make it into the party, there came the opportunity to be part of a mini-swap. there are 19 of us and keri lee sereika organized it. we're calling ourselves the collective creative canape. collective; all of us together, creative; because that's what it is, canape; because it's a small bite. ;)

my lovely partner is cheryl foiles. we both sent each other bead soups that are inspired by nature. isn't that fun? synchronicity at work. so the parcel arrived yesterday evening and i was sooooo excited! i love challenges, as you well know. the bead soup idea, organized by the amazing, famous, and sweet lori anderson, is so brilliant. we exchange a focal and some accompanying beads with a total stranger and the fun ensues! i love this challenge because it brings beaders together, helps us reach beyond what we would normally choose and create something altogether new and different. it helps me grow and expand as a designer. love love love.

so cheryl went to ornamentea (she is lucky enough to live close enough to go often) and chose gemstones and brass for me. and... wait for it... elaine ray ceramics. swoon!!!!! i've been jonesing for elaine ray ever since i came across lorelei eurto's jewelry, who often uses elaine's work in her pieces.

so here is what she sent me.

she sent petrified wood, agate, a lovely pearl rosary chain, two mystery stone rings, a clasp she made herself, that gorgeous leaf focal that i already have a myriad of ideas for, and little brass pods. oh, and the elaine ray ceramics!!! squee!!! i'm so excited!

so come back april 1st for our reveal. can't. hardly. wait!

echo creative club preview for march reveal!

oh, squeee!!!

i get to play this month in jeannie dukic's echo creative club again! i'm so thrilled to show my gorgeous beads.

jeannie is a virtuoso with polymer clay. just look at those leaves! the copper-kissed beads! oooh-ahhh.

i draw most of my inspiration from nature--seas, skies, forests, deserts, animals, mountains, stones, weather... it's all grist for the mill. so i'm thinking trees... yeah. i'm thinking trees. definitely trees... i'll leave it that for now. :)

come back on the 25th for the big reveal!

please visit jeannie's website to get your hands on your very own leaves and peeled paint art beads: http://www.jkdjewelry.com