Blue Goldstone Blog Hop and The CC7A Circles of Love Blog Hop

Two Blog Hops in one day ~ we are busy beaders!

Liz of Bead Contagion is hosting the Blue Goldstone Blog Hop.  As soon as I read about the sign ups, I had to be in on it.  I saw two things in these Blue Goldstone donuts ~ one was my lover van Gogh and the other was a magical Fall night with my husband on my parents' lake.  When the beads arrived, I gave Vincent the boot and went with the husband.  Here is a quote by me that I posted on Facebook that September 26, 2014 night :
                      Tonight is kissed by magic...the lake is like glass, the sky is so full of stars and they are all reflecting off the water.  It looks like the stars are coming up from the bottom of the lake.  Bliss.....

So now you know what influenced this necklace.  It was a b**** to photograph, but I did my best.  I deeply love this piece.  Thank you Liz.  Without you, this would have never happened.

In the chain are drops of water, ripples, and waves.  

Look at the sparkle in these Blue Goldstones! 

The whole necklace had the flow of the Lake in it ~ water, waves, ripples, the stars dancing on the water ~ IN the water ~ but it lacked water sounds.  So I had these three smaller donuts lap up against the bigger donut.  

Please go see all the participants in this hop ~ I cannot wait to run around and see what they made!

Liz (host):  Bead Contagion
Christine:  One Kiss Creations Beaded Jewelry 

Jasvanti:  Jewelry by Jasvant 

Cynthia:  Antiquity Travelers    

JoJo:  Tahoma Beadworks & Photography

Bobbie:  Beadsong Jewelry

Therese:  Therese’s Treasures 

Amy:  Amybeads

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The other Hop I am in today is a kickoff to another round of small monthly hops with the Creative Continuum of Seven Artists.

Alicia of All the Pretty Things put together this group of seven last year.  At the end of the year, she wanted more and we all said, "SURE! We'll do it again!"  She sent out little Circles of Love to each of us and asked us to make something with them for a March 28th reveal (a post office mishap prevented the United States participants from getting their circles, but we rallied and here we are, ready for show and tell!).  We will meet again on the 26th of each month to reveal something we made using our own photos as inspiration.

After you are done looking at my little Circle of Love here, please go see what the rest of the CC7A made:

Alicia
Therese
Sally
Monique
Cynthia
Emma


And now, my Circle of Love with Cherry Quartz ~

After buying those Black Matte AB squares in November, I instantly regretted it.  But when the cherry quarts came into my hands, I knew why I bought those squares.  I just didn't know it at the time!  I like the look of the squares with the circle!  

Y necklace ~ simple chain of black matte and pink beads, with a few more squares thrown in.  

All coiled up with a button closure

Thanks for coming by for both Hops today and Thank You to both Liz and Alicia for hosting :-D

A Little More Freeform

Friday's blog post mentioned how my brother won a giveaway Karen Williams was having a celebration of her new book, Explorations in Freeform Peyote Beading.  He generously passed those winnings on to me!  There were some beads left over after the amulet bag was finished, so here is what I made.  Sweet, simple, all Karen's beads (including that beautiful button), and oh-so-comfortable!  When I went to photograph it, I could not find it.  I looked EVERYWHERE.  It was on my wrist the whole time.

Beautiful Grey and a beige-lilac

LOVE that button!  

The waves were a freeform surprise! I intended to make a flat piece.  I am glad it did its own thing ~ it gives it character! 

Once again, Thank You Doug, Thank You Karen!  You made my winter less bleak :-D

Surprise Freeform Peyote Package

Karen Williams wrote a book called Explorations in Freeform Peyote Beading.  She had a blog book tour highlighting the artists that were in her book.  She also hosted a giveaway.  My brother stopped by Cynthia's blog the day of her leg of the blog book tour.  Through Cynthia's blog, he found Karen's blog and left a comment, not realizing it was a blog book tour or a giveaway.  Long story short ~ he won one of the prizes!  I thought to myself, "Well, I know what he will be sending me for my birthday! YAY!"...because what else is he going to do with beads?!  Sweet fella he is, he didn't make me wait and sent me the goodie package a couple weeks ago!  The photo of the winnings should go here...but I forgot to take one.  But before I show you what I did with Karen's beads, I have to tell you that I have been a winner twice before when Karen had a giveaway.  The one time, like my brother, I didn't even know I was entering a drawing!  And to win by association now really lit my fire to try something I have been pondering for twentysomething years now...with a freeform kicker.  To say it turned out like I imagined would be a lie.  But with freeform, that is just the way it goes!

ALL the beads in the amulet came from the winnings.  I added none of my own to the amulet.  It was a beautiful mix of purples and whites.  Gemstones, seed beads, and crystals.  

The chain is made with beads from my own stash.  Various glass beads with shells and flower designs, frosted white seed beads, and crystal AB peanut beads.  I did add the rock to the amulet bag too.  It is from my Manhattan Schist collection from Monmouth Beach, NJ.  

To say that this is difficult to photograph is an understatement! 

When I set out to make am amulet bag, I intended on putting a beaded flap and button over the front.  With it's asymmetry, this didn't seem to need it.  

Backside...which could be used as the front too!

I do not have new book Karen wrote...yet.  I do have her original Freeform Peyote Beading book, though.  I did get to see Cynthia's copy of the new book and holy-all-that-is-good-in-beading is it deliciously BEAUTIFUL!  

Thank You Doug, Thank You Karen.  THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!  

Next week I will show you what I made with most of the remaining beads!  

Yearning for the Snow to Melt

 I collected this sand encrusted shell when I was at the Jersey Shore this Fall.  I was there two gloriously sunny days in early October.  Pairing it with this lovely recycled sari from Darn Good Yarn  was all it needed, with those holes on one side (I fought the urge to drop little pearls in them!) and the shell ribs showing through on the other side.  It was quite the find!

The top photo is the true color of the shell.  These pictures are from my first attempt at using my brother's light tent set up.  He was patient and non-technical with me (as per my request. When people talk techie all I hear is "wah wah wah wah wah wah wah wah.") I see the benefits of the light box.  I am a crop and crop only editor when I take photos and am not inclined to take it any further so I am not sure it this will pan out for me.  I do have an idea for a set up.  I will let you know if it works.



I do hope Spring is happening in your neck of the woods!  It is trying to here but there is just so much snow in our yard, so it will be a while.

Sunny Thoughts :-D

.....was.....

Lakawanna County, PA

.....was.....

Lackawanna County, PA