8th Annual Bead Soup Blog Party~~~~~ The Reveal!

First of all, I really would like to thank Lori Anderson, who masterminded this blog hop. She has been an inspiration to a lot of us and she deserves a lot of credit to have gotten this big side show off  the ground!  I say side show, it is more like a whole circus. We have clowns, like me, that play around with beads, and we have lion tamers that tame molten glass into submission and make beads, we have acrobats, like my partner, Skylar Bre'z,  that perform the daring feats with the beads. So sit back and enjoy the show!

the great soup that Skylar sent to me!

It's here!!!
The reveal for the 8th annual Bead Soup Blog Party!!!!!!!!
Yes, I am excited. I have been since sign ups and I am so happy to have been partnered with Skylar Bre'z. She has great taste and knew just what I would love and I have had the most fun playing with the beads she sent to me.

The soup that Skylar sent to me was really a wonderful array of gems. There are pearls, howlite, copper, glass, and a vast mix of crazy pretty beads. Then there is the hank of yarn, that beautiful bound bunch of beauty!  I had so much fun with it, and will for a while, because I used it sparingly. A snippet here and a snippet there... wanting to use it in every piece, but not wanting to overdo it!
I took pieces with me to work on when I went to Beadfest Texas, but honestly, I didn't have time to work much, but I did find some beads and stuff to go along with the soup. Of course I couldn't pass up the pretty hank of hand spun yarn to make the necklace with the copper shell bead and then I found the nautilus shell at Sonoran Beads and little odds and ends that, well, just screamed for me to add to the array. So what I ended up with is a mix of things I had, things I thought were perfect, and things that I just really needed to buy, like the crazy acrylic coral that just set off the set...

Here are my pieces, in no certain order... I made several, I guess I thought I needed to do justice to everything Skylar sent, but really, I didn't. I didn't do the beautiful pieces justice. I just had fun with them, and I didn't get around to finishing everything... I still have a mostly finished "memory" necklace that I just haven't had time to finish up... and a bracelet that I really wanted to get done, but I had other obligations, but will finish soon... and then the glass cabochon with the white daisy in blue and black.I have all the beads set aside and will work on that as soon as school is out   

Earrings to match the Nautilus necklace

The nautilus shell in copper is probably one of my favorite beads, it is really pretty and goes well with my love for shells and all things waterborne. I found the glass Whelk shell and little octopi, along with the glass nautilus shell at Beadfest Texas at the Sonoran Beads booth. I think they went perfect with this. The yarn as well came from that show, from Bernadette Fuentes, who sells this beautiful yarn and also has gorgeous glass beads. She was so sweet and showed me some of her samples and let me ooh and ahhh over her work!
So this necklace was born. It started out with some knitted wire as well, but I decided that it was just a little too much, and took it off, though I used it in the crocheted necklace with the silver focal.      The earrings were just fun!

The lady smelling roses cabochon from Skylar just needed to have a pretty bunch of beadwork around it, I liked the look of the copper oval beads and the reds and oranges to pull out the color of the picture. I used more of the yarn, kind of loosely knotted around the beads. I made two sets of earrings to go with it, and then did a watch as well… what can I say, I’ll probably wear this necklace some!

Purple People Eater

Then there is this one! The purple people eater as I like to call him! It is so cute, it is one that I wasn’t sure how to use, I don’t normally use pendants like this, it's so cute and funky! It reminds me of something that my daughter would do, and that is fun! The painting is great; I am ashamed to say that I have lost the card that came with it identifying the maker. I am so sorry. Maybe Skylar will fill in that blank. I used chain out of the soup and the bar part of one of the clasps and beaded the rest of the clasp. I had these great hex beads that I really wanted to use, but I didn’t like the peyote chain that I made, nor did I like the right angle weave chain, the piece just needed a few beads to make it stand out.
The blue spiral is my favorite I think, though it didn’t come out very well, I used the beads I had on hand to do the bead embroidery, and they were for the most part, pretty crap. I didn’t take the time to sort them, just used what was there, and they show it. But even at that, I like the pattern and will probably take it apart and do another one just like it, using more even beads, and maybe more of the yarn. There is just a bit of yarn on this one, in the ‘chain’.
The crocheted yarn necklace is the one that came first, I just couldn't wait to do something with that beautiful yarn and thought about that focal, the only thing I could think of was to use part of the yarn that was turquois-ish and wire wrap it as the chain. The clasp is one that I had
                                  Then there is the large glass bead, I wanted to use it so bad that I couldn't hardly stand it! Several tries and I didn't like anything that I made. Silk just didn't look good, bead weaving didn't look good, beads alone didn't look good... I thought about just clear line and the bead as the only visible component! It ended up that I did like the silk but it was really bare, I thought about crochet, using the ribbon of silk like thread, but it was still too bare. and the thought of having some wooly thread came to mind, well, I do have tons of wool... and... well, I liked the silk so I just added some roving to the ribbon and crocheted it into the chain. Adding jump rings and some beads, well... it was just right. The earrings are as daring as I will go at asymmetric, I used matching beads and added wool 'beads' and love them!

By the way... did I mention that Skylar sent some yarn?

 Ok, I guess you get it that I love this stuff!!!

Go by Lori Anderson's page (Pretty Things) and see the rest of the list for the other blog party members... SO MANY beautiful designs I am sure... I'll be spending the next week ogling and awwwwing over the  work of so many great designers!