Wednesday Challenge

When Jo was home, she had too much fun pawing thru my supplies and helping me organize my work space.

One of her favorite games is to grab a random grouping of beads and challenge me to make something with it.

For this Jo challenge she chose these beads.



Natural sapphire, matte finish dyed agate, labradorite and fresh water pearl.

Time to put my thinking cap on :)

Custom pieces and organizing - I'd rather be fishing :)

I have been working on getting my work room organized, *whew* what a struggle. I went out and bought some shelves and storage tubs to at least get all of the stacks of stuff off the floor, chairs, the end table next to my couch, counter tops, microwave cart.....you get the picture. I have been in this push to get my studio straightened up because I have gotten several custom orders lately and I have no space to work, much less know if I have the inventory to make the order. Now as fate should have it, I have recently been approached by csnstores.com to do product reviews for them. This is SO exciting because I will have a chance to review products that I can use in my studio and share with you!!! How cool is that!

Working with customers on custom pieces is one of my favorite things. It is fun to allow the customer to be part of the designing process. It gives them a sense of pride as they wear their new jewelry that they are the designer of :)

I recently sold this bracelet














She wanted a necklace to go with this, so I made a quick order to Rings & Things for these items to match the bracelet:
29-555-16-905 Bead, Shell Pearl, Round, 16mm (Blue Mix)
40-099-24-7 Chain, Footage, Oval Curb, 10.5mm (Antiqued Copper Plated)
28-000-007-443Bead, Glass, Faceted Rondelle, 10mm (Electric Blue)

I worked up these two designs to give her a choice








This one could use more dangles.















This one could use more layers - it needs to be busier.















Which one do you like? Do you have any suggestions? Which one do you think she will choose?

Look what I got from Rings & Things!!!

Back in March I created this bracelet from a Rings & Things Blogger challenge packet.


I fell in love with the shell pearls and at the last Rings & Things Bead Tour, I popped over and bought some more!

I recently sold that bracelet and got an order for a matching necklace. I didn't have the BIG blue shell pearls or the chain so, *snaps fingers* darn! I had to go to Rings & Things and make an order!!!

Here's what I got.



29-555-16-905 Bead, Shell, Pearl, 16mm Round Bead

40-099-24-7 Chain, Ftage, Oval Curb,10.5mm

28-000-007-443 Glass, Fac 10mm Rondelle

43-148-03 Bead Cap, Copper, Filligree

Now let me tell you how pleasantly surprised I was - my mind exploded - when I saw the SPOOL OF CHAIN!!! I thought I had ordered just the 5 ft length of chain when it is actually 32 ft!!!!. I am stupid with happy about that spool. The possibilities are endless!!!!!

Thanks Rings & Things!!!

Stay tuned to see what came from Australia!!!!

Rings & Things shell pearl fun!!

About a month ago I got a great blogger packet from Rings & Things. I love them all, but I will say, this one was the most generous and most fun I have had in a long time. I have made so many things from these two huge handfuls of beads; a brown mix and a blue mix.

This is a fun dangle bracelet. It is a stretch from what I normally do, but there is a reason for this.
1. These style bracelets seem to be all the rage right now.
2. Bead Trends is taking submissions for their Sept issue two of the categories are dangles and bracelets. (this combines them both!)
3. There is an upscale resale shop that has opened and I want to approach them. This is an item that is more their style. (from peeking in their window) I want to show them some diversity from my normal hippy chunky stuff.

With all of that in mind I made this -



29-555-16-905 Bead, Shell Pearl, Round, 16mm (Blue Mix)*
28-000-007-443 Bead, Glass, Faceted Round, 10mm (Electric Blue)*
40-099-24-7 - Chain, Footage, Oval Curb, 10.5mm (Antiqued Copper Plated) *
Copper toggle
Purple turquoise faceted roundells
Copper spiral bead

I STILL have shell pearls left over!! Stop by tomorrow and see what I made with those!

*FTC compliance disclosure: the '*' items mentioned in this post credited to Rings & Things were provided as a promotional gift as part of the Blog Partner Program. These items are for review or design purposes. Find out more about the Rings & Things Blog Partner Program