These are a few of my favorite things . . .

 

A beautiful autumn day is upon us . . . a chill in the air, scattered raindrops, beautiful colors all around, spiced cider brewing and family arriving soon!  It truly is one of my favorite kinds of days and so too a fitting day for the reveals of Pine Ridge Treasures' Favorite Things Blog Hop!  Somehow I think that our amazing hostess, Lisa Lodge, had this all planned out from the get-go!  So grab some cider and enjoy not only my post but all those listed at the end.

Here were the treasures I received from Lisa . . . a challenge as usual! In my world I have so many "favorite things" that it was also a challenge to decide which ones to share so I let the materials make the decisions for me!  I choose my favorite beads from the stash, the little transparent green drops and decided to showcase them in one of my favorite and earliest beading projects. I added some little glass blown grape clusters because, honestly, wine is also one of my favorite things also!!!

VINEYARD

I have never used black in my designs so that seemed like a good challenge for me.  I love all the seasons and the holidays associated with them so I decided to couple the little matte black discs with a purple focal, purple beads and a hand forged antiqued brass chain to celebrate the upcoming Halloween festivities.  This piece helped me overcome my insecurities of using black in my designs and turned out to be my favorite piece in this collection!

JACK

My favorite new artistic adventure is working with wire . . . both humbling and satisfying at the same time!  Golden spirals combined with the faceted crystal rounds reminded me of frosty cold winter days and the glittering, hopeful light of that season's holy days.  I added a gorgeous sparkling Swarovsky crystal snowflake as a focal and tiny bicones on the chain to finish this icy piece.

BRRRR

My final piece might look a bit familiar to those of you who are regular participants in Lisa's blog hops.  Last year I made a piece for the Ceramic Blog Hop called "Go with the Flow" and Lisa commented that I should submit it for publication.  I dragged my feet for almost the whole year but finally took the leap and my piece was accepted by Bead and Button!!! Getting published is my new favorite thing!!!  It was suggested that I make another piece using the same technique but with a twist, so here is my "Go with the Flow" bracelet!

CHRISTMAS FLOW

Thank you so much Lisa for your encouragement and support of all of us who are so lucky to know you and participate in your wonderful, challenging and growth-full events.  I am looking forward to seeing my fellow artist's favorite things creations and I am sure I will find a few new favorites to love in the process.  So grab that cup of cider and check out all the amazing sites below. Happiest of everything to all . . .  

  

Your hostess:  Lisa Lodge, A Grateful Artist

Kim Dworak, Cianci Blue

Beti Horvath, Stringing Fool Jewelry

Veralynne Malone, Designed by Vera

Rosee Hanemaayer, Silver Penny Artisans

Chris Eisenberg, Wanderware

Inge von Roos, Inge's Blog

Shaiha Williams, Shaiha’s Ramblings

Karin Grosset Grange, Ginkgo et Coquelicot

PRT ~ Sunny Days Blog Hop ~ The birds and the bees

What a happy time this has been, creating beautiful things from a kit filled with new and interesting supplies!  Lisa never ceases to amaze and inspire me to grow in my abilities through her blog hops.  I challenge myself to try new techniques and color combinations that I normally would not gravitate to and integrate them into a cohesive style.  This year my personal challenge was to add wire~working to my repertoire and I so enjoyed incorporating that skill in these pieces.  Thank you Lisa for being such a huge source of artistic inspiration for me.  Enjoy my collection ~ the birds and the bees!!!

Will wonders ever cease???  I remembered to take this picture of the incredible kit Lisa send me for this event.  My first thoughts were, "Oh my God!  What could I ever do with all of this?"  These thoughts were quickly followed by one of my new creative habits . . . sketching ideas.  I have rarely gone through this step since I started on this creative journey, but it is fast becoming one of my favorite parts of the process!

My first piece was inspired by the gorgeous multi~strand bracelets that I admire so much in the Facebook jewelry groups I am a part of.  I used the bird focal and the blue and yellow beads from the kit, adding only wire and the green crystals for the branch.

love birds

My song birds bracelet uses my kit's green sea glass rounds wired onto strands of beaded wire and closes with the beautiful toggle clasp from the kit.  Two tiny copper birds grace the clasp area.

song birds

And, of course, as a newly certified beekeeper I needed to include my little fuzzy friends in this collection.  These tiny brass bumble bees are set against the honey colored sea glass to create these simple yet stunning earrings.

humble bumbles

This sweet little necklace was not in my original sketched ideas, but when I found the bird piece in my stash and had enough of the yellow polished crystals left from the kit, it just begged to be included. I wire~wrapped the crystals onto the focal piece and added a lovely, hand forged beaded wire chain to create a namesake for this blog hop!

sunny day

My final piece is another "bee" piece and makes me so happy which of course inspired the name!  I have worked hard to be able to make consistently accurate and beautiful spirals and can finally see the progress I have made in my work.  I was excited to find that the free~formed green sea glass actually could fit together like puzzle pieces if I measured and crafted accurately..  I used raw copper wire exclusively in this piece . . . 16g for the focal piece and 18g for the beautiful hand forged chain.

beeing happy

That is all from me for this epic blog hop . . . the morning clouds have cleared and I am going outside to enjoy the gift of this beautiful sunny day!  Thanks again Lisa for all the gifts you bring to our creative lives and to all my fellow artists for their beautiful work and spirit!  Please visit all the sites below and enjoy!!!


Your hostess:  Lisa Lodge, A Grateful Artist

Kim Dworak, Cianci Blue

Shaiha Williams, Shaiha’s Ramblings

Becky Pancake, Becky Pancake Bead Designs

Beti Horvath, Stringing Fool Jewelry

Veralynne Malone, Designed by Vera

Rosee Hanemaayer, Silver Penny Artisans

Gloria Allen, Gloria Allen Designs

Chris Eisenberg, Wanderware

Stephanie McGinley, TBD

Carolyn Lawson, Carolyns Creations

Gentle Spring ~ a PRT Blog Hop

"Gentle Spring, in sunshine clad, well does thou thy power display! For winter makes the the light heart sad, and thou makes the sad heart gay."  ~ Charles of Orleans

My incredible challenge kit from the awesome Lisa Lodge!

WIND CHIMES

wire, metal and bead necklace

uses the light pink daggers

FLOWER GARDEN

bead embroidered cuff bracelet

uses the crystal bicones

CHERRY BLOSSOMS

wire woven and bead bracelet

uses the pink crystal pearls

PUSSY WILLOWS

wire and bead necklace

uses the white crystal pearls

TINY BUDS

leather cording and bead wrap bracelet

uses the pink crystal pearls & purple cotton cord

Thanks Lisa for challenging me to witness the beauty of the changing seasons and to capture it in the wondrous variety of supplies you sent.  My heart is truly gay!  Thanks to everyone for visiting my blog and for all the amazing work I know I will enjoy!  Join me in visiting the blog sites of the artists listed below and your heart will be gay too!!!

GENTLE SPRING ARTISTS

Your hostess:  Lisa Lodge, A Grateful Artist

Kim Dworak, Cianci Blue

Shaiha Williams, Shaiha’s Ramblings

Gloria Allen, Gloria Allen Designs

Saundra Farren, Something by Saundra

Ann Schroeder, Bead Love

Melissa Trudinger, Bead Recipes

Carolyn Lawson, Carolyn's Creations

Becky Pancake, Becky Pancake Bead Designs

Chris Eisenberg, Wanderware

Keepers of the Bees ~ Pine Ridge Treasures Ceramic Blog Hop

It was such a great surprise when I received my kit for this blog hop from Lisa Lodge of A Grateful Artist / Pine Ridge Treasures as it contained the most beautiful ceramic bee piece from Gaia beads. Lisa couldn't possibly have known that I was currently working on my Washington state beekeepers certification and had become very passionate about the welfare of our bee friends.  I was so excited to work on projects that reflected this new interest and hopefully help educate people on the importance of bees in our lives.  Healthy bees are critical for sustaining human health and happiness.  Honeybees don't just make honey; they pollinate many of our most used crops ~  apples, nuts, avocados, soybeans, asparagus, broccoli, celery, squash, cucumbers, citrus fruit, peaches, kiwi, cherries, blueberries, cranberries, strawberries, cantaloupe and lots, lots more!  Approximately one-third of our diet comes from insect-pollinated plants and the honey bee is responsible for 80 percent of that pollination.  Even cattle, which feed on alfalfa, depend on bees.  If the bee colonies continue to collapse, we could end up with just grains and water to sustain us!  This is the biggest general threat to our food supply!  Perhaps you can see why I am so passionate about this cause and why I am studying to become a responsible beekeeper!  
  

My first piece , Beekeeper, is a bead embroidered cuff bracelet that spotlights the beautiful Gaia focal.  It is captured by golden multi-hued seed beads that represent one product of the bees work . . . honey! The two faceted green stones were also in my kit and complimented the focal perfectly.  A couple of tiny worker bees buzz freely from delicate copper chain and the piece closes with copper fittings and double linked copper chain.  The piece is backed in gorgeous soft golden leather.  

BEEKEEPER

My second piece, Honeycomb, uses the new bead shape of the same name.  This piece was inspired by a Joanne Zammit design and I must admit they were some of the hardest beads I have ever worked with!  When I finished the main part of the focal, it was too flimsy to hang straight, so in an effort to alleviate that problem I used a piece of 16g copper wire and some honey colored bicones that had come in my kit.  To the now solid honeycomb I attached a beautiful glass honey drop and strung the piece from a hand made bead and wire chain.

HONEYCOMB

My last two pieces use the amazing hexagon crystals that came in my kit in a freeform wire focal piece.  One of my creative goals for this year was to challenge myself with a new technique and so I chose to work with wire.  I shaped, textured and antiqued raw copper wire and then wrapped these beautiful crystals into their spots.  The chain for this piece is the first handmade wire chain I ever made and I love it so much!  The matching earrings make this an incredible set!!!

BEE-DAZZLED

Thank you so much Lisa for the amazing kit that inspired these pieces.  A percentage of their sales will be donated to the Washington State Bee Protection fund.  Please continue to learn more about how you can help protect our bee friends at: 

http://agr.wa.gov/fp/pubs/docs/388-TenWaysToProtectBeesFromPesticides.pdf

Check out what these other amazing artists created for this Ceramic Blog Hop at:

Your hostess:  Lisa Lodge, A Grateful Artist

Carolyn Lawson, Carolyn's Creations

Kim Dworak, Cianci Blue

Shaiha Williams, Shaiha’s Ramblings

Veralynne Malone, Designed by Vera

Kari Asbury, Hippie Chick Design

Chris Eisenberg, Wanderware

Gloria Allen, Gloria Allen Designs

Saundra Farren, Something by Saundra

Ann Schroeder, Bead Love

Christine Stonefield, Sweet Girl Design

Melissa Trudinger, Bead Recipes