What do you get when you take 80ish, awesome jewelry designers, give them a partner, have them swap beads and make something? The 2nd Annual Bead Peeps Swap N Hop!
First - lemme give a shout out to each person who has worked hard, send beads, anxiously waited by their mailbox, worked hard to make something and even harder to write a blog post. Without YOU, this wouldn't be possible!
Second - A HUGE shout out to my partner, Natalie Davidson of http://www.northshoredays.com, for sending me an INCREDIBLY generous package of goodies, encouraging me and being a good friend - even if I accidentally called at 4am. =)
Ok - on with the goods!
Natalie told me that the theme of my goodies was "flight"
So, I started with an INCREDIBLE package from Natalie. She sent ALL OF THIS - including but not limited to:
- Malaysian pearls
- Turquoise, blue matte and a variety of green glass beads (drool worthy!)
- Cathedral cut, green czech beads
- A package of Natalie-made beads - including an ombre of turquoise beads, a feather focal and butterfly toggle
- BEAUTIFUL orange lampwork beads
- Sinful turquoise rondelles
- Lovely foiled beads from Thailand
- A GORGEOUS crystal wrapped focal
- Sweet blue and green wire - which was SUPER slippery
- Awesome flowers
- STUNNING NZ Paua shell beads and focal
- Some itty bitty serpentine heishi beads
AND
- A slew of sweet charms - a feather, a butterfly (which she made!), dragonflies, itty bitty birdies, hummingbirds
PLUS
A tote bag (how did she know that I LOVE bags?!), magnetic bookmarks - which I LOVE AND some quite "interesting" white chocolate (which I also LOVE)....with lemon and pop rocks inside.
Can you say....SPOILED?!
****You can click on any photo to see a larger version*****
Natalie's photo is MUCH better than mine =)
I was kinda overwhelmed. So, I decided to just focus on the theme....flight. I'd start something...look for supplies to finish and then...couldn't find anything I wanted - which happened a few times. (Shocker =) ) SO - as the time was drawing near...things were getting desperate...so I did what any good designer would do.... I went through my stash.
I found a few of this and a few of that...nothing really spoke to me....until I found....a wing! YES! Wings go with flight! I was on to something! Yellow goes with turquoise....and the wing has turquoise in it....eeek! Here we go.....
(As a side note: one of my goals for this hop, is to learn something new. I have used 4 new techniques between my necklace - daisies, S links, making the clasp bar, and I've never made the type of bracelet with those materials)
This piece features Natalie's handmade clasp and ombre beads. My handmade S links and daisies, and the INCREDIBLE lampwork of Kim Snider. *droool*
****You can click on any photo to see a larger version*****
So, once that was finished..... I moved on to the real project.....the one I'd thought of as SOON as I opened her packages..... a bracelet. It's all hand wrapped and and features her handmade butterfly charm, as the clasp. I tried to do an ombre-esque piece using her favorite glass beads that she sent. I used some in this and hoarded the rest. (tee-hee) I also added some of the butterfly charms she sent me. I ABSOLUTELY LOVE this bracelet and am SO PROUD of it! It just makes me happy!
And finally - gotta have some EARRINGS!
These feature Natalie's flower beads, her handmade ombre beads and her dragonflies. I love how they turned out!
I have had a GREAT adventure and am SO THANKFUL for Natalie! I hope I did you proud, partner! #BeadPeepsSwap!
Check out what everyone else did HERE!
To be sure you don’t miss out on any of my crazy adventures, you can sign up to follow my blog by email or news servers using the links in the right column of my page. You can also follow me on Facebook get updates about blog posts, my latest jewelry designs, show schedule, and other happenings!
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
