Soup Anyone? Bead Soup That Is

I finally got all my mail delivered from the post office from being gone for a week and wow, what I had waiting for me. I got soup. Bead Soup that is. I am participating in a Bead Soup Blog Party organized by Lori Anderson of Pretty Things. We got our partner assignments, shipped out a few beads along with a clasp and focal piece and now we are to make something out of the soup we received. Here is mine.

We must think alike as I also sent her bronze findings and chain to use. I love the blues in this group as there are some Blue Aventurine, some ceramic and crystals along with lots of other pretties. I'm totally in love with the Green Sheen Obsidian cabachon and at the bottom is a Malachite cabachon. I plan to wire wrap both real soon but not for this challenge.

My partner for this challenge is Christie from Charis Designs. Feel free to visit her blog and her ArtFire studio. If you would like to see what I send her, visit her blog post HERE.

I still have a lot to do before we leave on our next adventure. We will be in Napa for a week. This is our annual trip but we moved it from March to September so that we could enjoy a little warmer weather and to actually see grapes on the vine. Most of the harvest starts after we leave but that's okay we have fun just visiting the wineries, shopping and eating. I'll have to get to work when I return to finish up making something out of all those wonderful beads but until then I can stew on it for a bit. LOL.

Have a great day and I'll try to remember to take some photos of the ArtCharms I'm sorting tomorrow. The theme was Woodstock and the Groovy 60's. These charms are going to make a great bracelet. Oh the anticipation.

Camping in the Trees

Well we are camping where there are trees but I just happened to have made some trees....gem trees that is. I will show you a picture but before that I have to tell you that they are not finished, no roots yet and they haven't been mounted on a rock. I also made a new tree that I'm going to call a Charm Tree or maybe a Memory Tree, humm I guess I haven't made up my mind yet so if you have any suggestions let me know. The purpose is to hang charms or pictures or I guess anything you want off the loops. Might be a little hard to imagine without anything on it yet. I already have an Earring Tree design but you could use it for those also.

Here are the other lonely trees without there bases.

One of these trees will be donated to the Harvest of Hope auction to benefit Mary Bridge Children's Hospital and a couple will be sent to the gallery in Oregon. If you are ever passing through Lincoln City, Oregon and want to check it out, it is called Rock Your World on Hwy 101. They've been open since May 31st and so far the trees have been doing really well. Here is their Facebook page if you want to find out more about them. http://www.facebook.com/rockyourworldgallery

Now a couple of camping pictures. One of our spaniel Buddy and the other is me holding Leo.

Buddy's favorite place in the whole motor coach is on the front dash. He will even ride up there when we are traveling down the road.

Leo's favorite place in the coach is anywhere I am. I swear he just follows me around like a little puppy...no pun intended.

Have a good day everyone...tomorrow we are off to the beach for the day.

The Wonders of Camping and Crafting

We decided to take off for a few days and go camping but since I had some much to do I brought all my jewelry and gem tree making supplies to keep busy. I usually get so bored while we are camping as I'm thinking about all the stuff I could be getting into creating while at home. Problem solved, just bring everything. I didn't bring everything but I have a box of jewelry stuff, a box of art supplies and a box of gem tree making supplies. Who knows what I'm going to have to pack if we Winter down in Arizona. I'll have to start thinking about that soon so I can get all organized.

Anyway onto to the pretties. Everything has sterling silver findings except for the bronze chain necklace and earrings. I love the bronze metal but sterling still sells best. These will be up in my ArtFire studio soon but if you see something you like just e-mail me or leave me a comment and I'll quote you a price.

• First we have an Aquamarine bracelet with sterling silver spacers and small freshwater pearls. I just love this color of blue and it isn't that watered down bluish green that you normally see. 
• Then we have about a 20" pearl and agate necklace made with sterling silver links. I wanted something neutral that would go with most everything but not just all pearls. I guess you might say it is an updated pearl necklace. 
• My favorite, bronze links in an asymetrical design with Picasso Jasper. The earrings match. Necklace is about 36" in length and perfect to wear doubled. 
• On the bottom row is a delicate Love, Faith and Hope sterling bracelet with light pink crystals and freshwater pearls. I thought this might appeal to someone that would like to honor a friend who has gone through Breast Cancer. Perfect colors and sentiment. 
• Fluorite nugget double bracelet. This one is not for the faint at heart. The Fluorite has small sterling silver beads between them with an extra large sterling toggle clasp. If you need some healing spirit, this bracelet is guaranteed to make you feel better if not physically then mentally.
• The Pink Botswana necklace I took apart and re-did it by hand knotting between each bead with grey silk. An instant classic and so now with the light pink champagne color and grey tones.

I'm kind of jewelry'ed out now so maybe tomorrow I'll get out my gem tree supplies and crank a few of those babies out.

I hope everyone had a great weekend.

Bead Soup Party Time

I'm a sucker for these Bead Soup Blog Party's. I just love getting to know new people through their blogs and seeing what they create. There are a whopping 363 participants this year...WOW, I know I'm going to be busy visiting blogs in September. We just got our partner assignment today and mine is Christine from Charis Designs Jewelry. She also has an ArtFire Studio so if you want to pay her a visit, I'm sure she would be tickled pink.

I've already started a pile of beads but want to get more input from Christine on her likes and dislikes before shipping it out to her. If you aren't familiar with these bead parties. This one is hosted by Lori Anderson at Pretty Things blog. There is usually one large bead soup per year with several in between. This one is by far the largest that I've been a part of. So, Lori partners all of us up, then we contact our partner, find out what they like to work with in regards to beads, colors, metals, etc., ship them an assortment along with a fancy clasp and a focal bead or pendant. Once we get our beads soup from our partner then we have until a designated time (September 17th) to make something with it. Then we post pictures on our blog and talk about our experience. Oh, we also visit all those other blogs to see what wonderful things they have created. I can tell I'm going to be busy.

If you would like to take a look at my Bead Soup post from last year....here it is.
This one was from this past Winter 2011 and so far has been my favorite.
This bead soup was from this years Fairy Tale/Spring bead swap.

There has been so much more going on that I've been losing track of days...I know, how can that be but really it does happen. I taught a Gem Tree class at Shipwreck Beads yesterday to 3 great people. If you are interested I teach at least one class there a month. Here is the link to their web site Shipwreck Beads.

Today was my dad's 75th birthday and we did a BBQ for him with family. Talk about rushing around to clean house this morning. Ugg and two dogs that just wouldn't quit bringing in leaves and twigs. Food turned out great thanks to hubby and his wonderful grilling skills and the house didn't look too bad either. Now I have a somewhat clean house I'll have to tackle laundry and all the other stuff tomorrow that I've been putting off.

I'll leave you today with these pictures of my students and their wonderful little gem trees.

I hope everyone had a great weekend. Be Blessed.

Show Musings

Today isn't my typical clean house and laundry day as that is normally tomorrow but Summertime is a busy time for us and on Thursday we leave again for yet another Gem and Mineral Show. We were at Tenino, WA last weekend and had a wonderful time. I demonstrated soldering copper and hubby did gem trees. Gem Trees is always a big draw and on Sunday I abandoned my copper for teaching tree design along with him. Sometimes we have shows where kids or even adults want to learn and some just look, this one was quite busy with 2 students on Saturday and 5 on Sunday. It was just a little bit more on Sunday than what hubby is used to dealing with. Teaching always gives us a sense of satisfaction and of passing along the knowledge that someone else so generously gave us. We have found that at these shows we teach for free if we have the time, these free teachings usually get paid back to us 10 fold of which we are so grateful. Unfortunately, I didn't get any photos of us teaching but I did get a pic (with my phone) of hubby at the table.

Here is another demonstrator, Robin, who was showing how to carve soapstone.

I can appreciate what she does as carving one piece of stone takes her about 4 times as long to finish as one of my gem trees or several pieces of jewelry. She worked on this fish all weekend.

Here are a few copper pieces I finished on Saturday. The mix of circles will be a bubble pendant after I construct the bail. As some of you know I usually work with fusing fine silver but with the price of silver I really didn't want to just sit and play so switched to soldering the copper. A bit messier with the flux, solder and pickle that you have to lug around but I'm able to create much the same styles with the wire.

I wish I could say this was a relaxing week but yes, we are once again getting ready for another show. This coming weekend is the Northwest Federation Gem and Mineral Show in Chehalis, WA at the Lewis County Fairgrounds. This is a new venue for the show and hopefully one that will be successful for the sponsoring club. I still haven't decided if I want to demonstrate just trees with hubby or take my copper along also. I may e-mail the organizer to see what they think. I'm sure the more different types of hobby related crafts the better.

I think after this show we will be finished for the Summer before the couple of shows we have scheduled for the Fall start up. Maybe a few weeks breather.

I do feel that anyone that donates their time to demonstrate or teach for free at any show deserves to be congratulated on your selfless generosity. I know of several wonderful craftspeople that would not be so willing which is a shame to keep all that knowledge to yourself and not share with the world. I do know that a lot of us paid for classes to learn what we know and others are self taught but others are not so fortunate. Thanks to Tony, Kari, Robin, Chuck, Paul and Sandy for so taking time out of your busy life to share a weekend of knowledge with so many.

If you want to get out and do something a bit different this weekend, come to Chehalis at the Lewis County Fairgrounds, Friday-Sunday. You'll find us at one of the demonstrator tables.

A Little Bit More

Have you ever wanted just a little bit more or needed a little bit more? More time, more money, more stuff, more food, more dogs, more family...okay maybe not more family, especially with the holiday and all those parties behind us. Hopefully everyone had a great holiday and didn't shoot off a finger or a hand with the fireworks. I do know that the dogs are really glad the holiday is over along with all those fireworks. They aren't big fans.

I did get a chance to make a few new jewelry items this week but I really needed to make a little bit more. I have gem trees for the gallery in Oregon to complete and get mailed, some special orders and ArtCharms that are due to be mailed on Monday.

The first project was a wedding necklace for my niece who is getting married next Saturday. It looks like a double strand but they are single strands that you put together in the back with an "S" clasp. I added an extension to the pearl necklace so that it would be a little bit longer but you can wear them the same length together or separate. I thought she might get more use out of a little bit more versatile piece.

This next piece I made using vintage typewriter keys. The keys are glued on to a bracelet with disk blanks. I've tried it on but haven't worn it anywhere yet but am looking forward to wearing it.

This last piece I was playing around with copper wire and copper solder which I had never used before and created the double "s" stations on the side. Added a bit of copper chain and there you go.

Well that's what I've been up to. I do have some ArtCharms I'm working on so hopefully I can get them photographed and up tomorrow so you can see some of the fun things I create also.