Link-a-palooza and other Randomness

Today I just want to share a bunch of randomness with you. S'alright? I apologize for the rambly-ness of  my recent posts.

First, if you're looking for my Bead Soup reveal, there's a link to it just up there /\ below my banner. . .see it on the left? Next to the Home button? There ya go! I thought that might be the easiest way to keep it available.

Fruit at the local Farmer's Market

I don't think I've outright mentioned that Pat and I are doing this whole healthy diet thing. He's the researcher for these things, I'm just the planner. I didn't post my menu for this week because it took me a little longer to get in the mindset and since we were preparing for Issac, I wasn't sure if we would actually get to eat the meals I planned. By Tuesday afternoon we weren't in the direct path of the storm and I had it worked out. Here are the basics of what we're doing (I think).
  • We're cutting back on our animal product intake. I cannot go full vegetarian or vegan. . .I like cheese, bacon, and butter a little too much. (Probably how we got in the shape we're in to start with.)
  • As well, he says we want to eat as much 'whole' foods as possible. Basically, we want as little processing to go into our foods. So, fresh over frozen or canned. No problem. . .I think fresh tastes better anyway. 
  • The processed bread/cracker/pasta items we DO eat need to say 'whole' in the first few ingredients. . .or something like that.
  • We've also continued to juice for at least one meal a day (breakfast or lunch work best for me). 
  • Oh. . .and there's something about cutting back our sugar intake. Whatever.
  • We had planned on trying to be more active, but have gotten cooped up inside because of the storm. Now that it's passed, we hope to work on that a little more.
So that's the general gist I have of it right now. I haven't completely figured out all the rules, but I'm trying. Pat bought  me a vegetarian cookbook (I like books) and I actually cooked Tofu earlier in the week. It was. . .okay. For now, I'm feeling kinda crummy, but I've been told that it's a fairly normal feeling when all those toxins start to leave your body. I'll ride the wave for now.


Since I'm going with randomness as today's theme, this seems a fitting time for a

Now let me share just a little shop news and I'll be out of your hair for at least the rest of today.
Some of my Shabby Beads were featured in this brightly hued treasury.
Hot Pink and Blue Treasury

On Sale
Unearthed Necklace
 New
Heavenly Earrings

I just have to mention how excited I am that the College football season has started up. I'll  be rooting for the Alabama Crimson Tide tomorrow night and I cannot wait!! Roll Tide!


With the sun FINALLY out after the storm, I'm hoping to soak it up and get my creative juices flowing again. . .and get my butt OUT of this computer chair. What are you hoping to accomplish this weekend?

Let Me Explain My Soup, My Bead Soup

If you're looking for my basic soup post, you'll find it here: Bead Soup Reveal.

It's odd that even though I've been trying to stay home as much as possible through this storm, I really haven't made an attempt to do anything in the craft room. Maybe because it's too dark outside (I like lots of natural light), maybe because I've been working on finishing the Bead soup blog party list (I'm finally done!), maybe because I'm just not feeling inspired, or maybe because Pat and I have been having in-depth discussions about the food we want to put in our bodies. Whatever it is, I've been camped in front of the television and computer instead of in front of my bead table for days. I have a feeling that's going to change soon.

First though, while I've stared at these screens for days I've been thinking about jewelry. . .particularly about my Bead Soup pieces. Since I didn't go into much detail in my Soup Reveal (for your benefit of course. I wanted you to be able to get on with the hopping), I would like to get into those details now. WARNING- this is picture and word heavy!! As well, many of the shots were taken with my camera phone and are not the best I could have done. Proceed with that in mind.

I'll do this in the order of the BSBP post because I believe that's the order in which I made everything anyway.
When I opened my bead soup I was awe-struck by the beauty of the blue raku focal. I almost immediately laid out a design with the rosewood beads and the turquoise Czech glass. I let that idea simmer for a while. . .like WEEKS before I finally just broke down and made it.
Simply enough, it's the rosewood beads with antiqued copper daisy spacers on either side and the turquoise glass beads both wire wrapped onto darkened copper wire. These are attached to each other and then to the antiqued copper chain. As you can see, I chose not to use the toggle clasp that Karen sent me and instead made my own with some heavy gauge copper wire. I thought that the toggle was too . . .bulky for the delicacy of the necklace.

I really like the above design still. Yet, it just didn't have enough pizazz for the awesomeness of that focal. So, I pondered the design again. By just re-orienting the hole vertically instead of horizontally, I knew that I would have some room to add dangles. I also wasn't completely keen on the long-ish length of this first attempt, so I removed some of the chain to be included in the dangles.

It was easy enough to split the removed chain into three different lengths and hang them from a jump ring attached to the simple loop that was now at the bottom of the pendant. I picked out a variety of pieces for the dangles. The first were some thin copper circles that I altered with a texture hammer. I also tried to color them with paint, but my attempts were unsuccessful. (I really need to get some of that Vintaj Patina soon!) Instead, they simply remained textured. They look fine, whatever. Each of those were hung with jump rings onto a different section of the chain. I gathered a couple of Swarovski crystals and copper spacers that I had won in a giveaway ages ago, round copper beads, small matching turquoise discs, and some chocolate-colored glass pearls. Each of these were put on a ball head pin and with some jiggle room left before a simple loop was formed at the top. They were all attached to the chain by the simple loops.

As you saw in the reveal, this is what I ended up with.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Like I stated in the original reveal, I dreamed this second design. When I do dream a design (at least the ones I remember), it's always just on that brink between sleep and wake. I saw this design clearly in my head as I awoke one morning before I even opened my eyes, but I failed to draw it up/write it down. Later in the day I remembered that I had had one of my dreamed designs and ALMOST remembered what it was. However, I was too busy with something else to focus on it. When I finally got to my craft desk and started sifting through my soup, the design hit me like a MACK truck and I was off and running with it.

It was as simple as cutting a long length of black annealed steel wire (20g), wiping it clean, and sealing it with some Renaissance Wax. Then, I wrapped it several times around my makeshift bracelet form (which incidentally is a baby food jar). I let the wire spring out a bit and made sure there were three circles. I threaded a cinnabar bead onto each end of the wire so that they were parallel to each other with the center wire still in the middle.

Where the ends of the wire overlapped, I left enough room for simple loops and then trimmed the wire. Once the simple loops were formed on each end, they were attached to each other.
To stabilize the back of the bangle, I took the wire that had been trimmed off (about 1 1/2 - 2 inches) and thread it through the simple loops. I wrapped the wire around the bracelet on either side of the loops and secured the ends down with flat-nose pliers.

Right now, I'm calling it "Orbital Bangle"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

For the third piece in my Bead Soup, I had visions of using the Greek ceramic spacers and the pink stones to make a pair of earrings. I planned on making the spacers into dangles just above the stone tubes. Let's just say that it didn't work out. In fact, it was downright AWFUL! So, I was left with a bunch of wire wrapped ceramic spacers. I hadn't wrapped them all yet, just to enough to know how bad those earrings would have been and just enough to know that I didn't want to have to take them all apart. So I stared at those wire wrapped spacers long and hard. I decided to distract myself with something else. Pat and I had been to the beach the previous week. While he played out on his standup paddleboard, I kept myself busy looking for shells. Now, I wasn't looking for the prettiest or most perfect shells. Oh no! I was specifically looking for shells with HOLES ALREADY IN THEM! I know how difficult it can be to drill the perfect hole into a shell without breaking it or overheating the drill. Several years ago I realized that it was just easier to collect the imperfect, hole-y shells instead. Since then, I've collected bunches and bunches of these misfit shells. Wow. . .have I gone off topic or what. Back to the bead soup designing. On the day I needed a distraction, I pulled out my baggie-o-shells from the previous week (it was the easiest to locate) and began attaching jump rings to them. You might even remember a Bead Table Wednesday post about this process.
It hit me that I could somehow combine both the wire wrapped Greek ceramic spacers and the shells. Since I was using random metals for the jump rings on the shells, I decided to pull out some other wire to wrap the rest of the ceramic spacers. Once I had them all done, I grabbed up the antiqued copper chain from my soup stash and clipped off a portion that would work as a double-wrap bracelet. While Pat and I watched a movie later that day, I set about sorting the shells by size. I spaced out the largest shells first and filled in with the smaller ones. Then using the same mix of jump rings, I attached the ceramic spacers intermittently along the chain. 
A simple lobster clasp from my personal stash was added and I had a fun, dangly, beachy bracelet!
 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

So we're halfway through my soup pieces. You think you can hang on for the rest? Let's see. . .

I absolutely knew I wanted to use the fabulous crochet flowers that my partner had made herself. But how? I puzzled this over and over, I pulled out the flowers and arranged them in front of me, I put them away, I pulled them out again. . .repeat. 
I had visions of using them in a long, hippie-like necklace or in a bib statement necklace, but I just couldn't decide how to attach anything to them without harming the delicate edges. I contemplated making separate bracelets out each of them. I even googled images of crochet flower necklaces for ideas. Nothing quite suited my fancy. When I finally realized that I could put shank buttons in the middle rings and then string wire through the button back to make loops, I thought I had finally hit upon the answer. I picked matching silver tone buttons and wired them in place. But once I did that to each of them, I just couldn't settle on a way to make the backs look pretty enough in the event that they flipped over. And, I was finding impossible to figure out a way to keep them from flipping over. As I puzzled over this some more and rearranged the flowers on my desk, I saw them (in my mind) arranged as brooches on a simple cardigan or button up shirt. So, I clipped off the wires and picked out a few other buttons (I wasn't digging the matchy-matchy of the buttons) and set to work with some craft glue and pin backs.
It was a stunning effect. Once they were done, I knew that they could easily be used separately or all at once depending on the outfit.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

At this point, I still had it stuck in my head that I wanted to make a pair of earrings with the pink Rhodonite beads. I tried combining them with some of the other beads in the soup and with other beads in my stash, but absolutely nothing was coming together. In desperation I started digging through my drawers of found objects, old jewelry pieces, and hardware when I stumbled on the brass washers. All at once I knew what I would do.
I apologize for this heinous picture.
It was easy enough to pull out the texture hammer once again and bang on the washers. I dipped them in some darkener. . .with very minimal results. (I've having a heck of a time darkening anything brass lately. If you have any tips or products that might work better, please let me know!) Once that was done as well as it could be, I used a helicopter punch to make holes in both the washers. With a brass eye pin, I wire wrapped the stone tubes to antiqued brass ear wires and used a jump ring to attach the washers to the bottom. Easy peasy!!
Remember, I'm GIVING AWAY these earrings. You just need to leave a comment on my Bead Soup Reveal post before September 10th to be entered.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Now. . .I still had that awesome toggle from Karen that I HAD to use. I knew that I could have turned around and slapped it on the shell bracelet or the first necklace, but I really wanted it to have a place of honor. So, I studied it for a while.
In my goals for the year, I vowed that I would try to think out of the box a little more. In this instance, I was struck with the idea to work WITHIN the box and encase something in the large hole of the toggle. My first issue was deciding what would fit in that small of a space. I was aware that it had to be something fairly flat. At first my options seemed to be a paper image/text or a dried flower. I was sorting through my stickers (seemed an easy enough option) when the idea of buttons popped into my head. I'm just a little obsessed with buttons so it appalled me that it wasn't my first instinct. . .and yet here I am admitting this to y'all. Dang. I knew I had a few really small buttons mixed in with my larger ones, so the jar of white buttons was dumped unceremoniously onto the craft room floor. I sorted until I found a few that would fit inside the small hole then narrowed it down to the prettiest of them.

Now it was time to 'encase' that baby button and ICE Resin was the option I'm most familiar with. I'd seen a few tutorials on using packing tape to seal the backside of open-backed bezels and figured that was all I needed to do. I laid the packing tape sticky side up and pressed my toggle onto it. I even turned the tape over to rub it down a little more. Unfortunately, I didn't take into account the bumpiness of the toggle. Oops.
In the photo above you can kinda see how the resin completely coated the back side. I reamed out the top hole and sanded the edges so the oopsie isn't as visible on the front, but I've definitely learned my lesson. Also noticeable in the above image is my solution of what to do with the toggle bar. With darkened copper wire, I made a simple loop to attach the buttoned toggle then threaded the bar onto the wire. I started to wire wrap the bar when it occurred to me (apparently I did not do enough thinking on this project beforehand) that the bar was just going to spin around in circles above that toggle. As I wrapped, it fixed itself as the end of the wire came to rest on the back of the bar. The way it is situated, that bar DOES NOT MOVE. Seriously. . .does not move. Problem solved.
From there, I knew I wanted to add some more mother of pearl buttons. In fact, I thought I was just going to make a long chain of them but there were. . .complications. Apparently I was too tired or something because I was having serious issues figuring out how to attach one button to the next. I kept trying to get them to hook together on the same jump ring. In order to do that, I was having to make some LARGE jump rings. It wasn't working for the more petite feel I was going for in this necklace. So, I decided that I would just attach the buttons to lengths of copper chain leftover from the first necklace with small jump rings. As I worked up the chain, it became painfully obviously that I had had a DUH moment and simply needed to attach the button jump rings to each other via an empty jump ring (I used a link from the chain for my 'empty' jump rings.) Seriously though. . .DUH!
I finished the necklace with with some more chain and puzzled over the clasp for a bit before deciding to just make a hook and loop with button accents. They're not my best and I may re-work them because of that, but I was so very happy to be done with that necklace you have no idea. It was seriously a comedy of errors at that point. But it does look good!

If you've made it this far, you are a real trooper! I appreciate you taking the time to read through it all. I just wanted to explain everything out for those who were wondering. Thanks for sticking with me and I hope to have something a little lighter for the next post.

Hurricane Party Anyone?

Here's my Bead Soup Blog Party Post if that's what you are looking for!

Tropical Storm/ Hurricane Issac
Many of you may know in what area I live, but if you don't. . . I'm in South Alabama. I've been watching the Weather Channel for DAYS now. The "cone of uncertainty"  has shifted slightly away from our area, but I am still under a Hurricane warning and just up the street (about a mile and a half) from where a mandatory evacuation has been ordered. It's a bit of organized chaos in my area right now. There is NO GAS in some of the gas stations and the bread shelves are empty. We're fairly prepared. I've got canned goods and water. Pat says we have flashlights and batteries. I'm considering taking some video of the house and gathering important papers. We might even get some of the items in the yard/porch up depending on which way Issac heads. Of course, right now he's still a tropical storm and that just means a little extra rainfall.

Normally I would post my menu for today, but since we don't know if we'll have electricity all week, I can't really plan our meals. As well, I don't want to buy a bunch of food that might just go bad. sigh. . .

So here I am waiting to see what happens. To keep busy, I'm working my way through the Bead Soup Blog Hop. There's not much else I can do but stay alert and pray that where-ever the storm hits, the damage is minimal and the residents are safe.

I spent the weekend occupied with some obligations and then with preparing for the storm so I'm sorry if I haven't made it to your Soup post yet. Keep your panties on, I promise I'm working on it! ;)

Here's what's going on in the shop today
Locked Necklace

Warm Comfort Earrings - relisted
Now back to the Weather Channel. Here's hoping your Monday is a bit more. . .predictable!

6th Bead Soup Blog Hop - Third Reveal and a Giveaway

1 Amazing Hostess (Lori Anderson)
3 Separate Reveal Dates
6th Party
400 Artists, Focals, & Clasps
Thousands upon Thousands of Beads

It's the BEAD SOUP BLOG PARTY!!
Let me start with a BIG Thank You to Lori Anderson, our hostess, for another wonderful Bead Soup Blog Hop. I know she's put a lot of time and effort into this all while battling her own issues. She's such an angel. I've made it around through the other two reveals this go-round and I know it's been a success so far. Congrats Lori. It's been lovely and I applaud all your work.

Now. . .I'm so excited you made it here! I know there's a ton of blogs to hop, so let's get to it shall we.
My partner, Karen Mitchell of Over the Moon Designs, sent me a wonderful array. Here's a quick mosaic peek of what I created with it. More detailed pictures are below.

And a reminder of what she sent.

Now to show you the details (clicking on the pictures will bring up a larger view)
Necklace. Soup ingredients used: Blue Raku pendant, rosewood beads, and turquoise Picasso firepolished Czech beads all from Over the Rainbow. From my stash: copper chain, copper spacers, and other beads and charms. The clasp I made myself.
Bangle Bracelet. Soup ingredients used: black cinnabar floral twist beads. From my stash: black annealed wire. I woke up having dreamed this design and had to make it happen.
Wrap Bracelet. Soup ingredients: Copper chain from Spotlight and Greek ceramic spacers. From my stash: found seashells, mixed metal wire and jump rings, and copper lobster clasp. This is a long strand that wraps twice around the wrist.
Brooches. Soup ingredients: Crochet flowers made by my partner at Over the Moon. From my stash: shank buttons and pin backs.
Earrings. Soup Ingredients:Pink Rhodonite beads. From my stash: antiqued brass earwires and jump rings, brass eye pins. I made the textured and patina-ed brass washers.
Necklace: Soup Ingredients: Copper Swirl Clasp. From my stash: vintage mother of pearl buttons and copper chain. I made the antiqued copper jump rings and clasp.
The toggle was altered by inserting a tiny button into the toggle loop and sealing it with ICE Resin. The toggle bar was wired above it.
I still have the fiber, some chain, and a few beads leftover from the soup. I'm sure just as soon as this hop is over I'll have some more ideas. For now, I do hope you like what I created. Thank you Karen for a most plentiful serving. It was a total blast working with what you sent!

GIVEAWAY ALERT!
I'm giving away the earrings I made. Just leave a comment and make sure your e-mail is attached somehow so I can contact you if you win. I'll draw a winner on Monday, September 10th. Good luck and thanks for stopping by.


Below is the list of the other participants. Happy Hopping!!


Hostess, Lori Anderson, Pretty Things

Agi Kiss, Moonsafari Beads 
Alice Peterson, Alice Dreaming
Alison Sachs, Beads by Earthtones
Amanda Dittloff, Passion Smashin'
Andra Marasteanu, Bijoux de Monanage
Angie Szlovak, SweetBeads
Anitra Gordy, Leelu Creations
Ann Sherwood, Ann's Blog
Arlene Dean, A Glass Bash
Audrey Belanger, Dreams of an Absolution
 
Barb Solem, Vivi Magoo Presents
Barbara Blaszczyk, laboratorim Flory
Bianca Odenthal, Zydies Glasperlen
Birgit Klughardt, GitesBeads
Bobbie Rafferty, Beadsong Jewelry
Bonnie Coursolle,  Jasper Gems
Cece Cormier, The Beading Yogini
Charlene Jacka, Clay Space
 
Cherrie Fick, En La Lumie're
Cheryl Foiles, Get Your Bead On
Christie Murrow, Charis Designs Jewelry
Christina Miles, Wings n Scales
Christina Stofmeel, Feng Beads
Christine Stonefield, Sweet Girl Design
Cindy Cima Edwards, Live to Design
CJ Bauschka, 4 His Glory Creations
Claire Smith, Embergrass Jewelry
Cynthia Riggs, Cynth's Blog
 
Dana Fowler, Trunk Full of Treasure
Dawn Pierro, Turtle Moon Designs
Dee Elgie, Cherry Obsidia
Donetta Farrington, Simply Gorgeous
Dot Lewallwn, Speedie Beadie
Eileen Snyder, Dorset Hill Beads
Elizabeth Bunn, Elizabeth Beads
Eva Kovacs, Ewa gyongyos vilaga!
Evelyn Duberry, Sheba Makeda
Fay Wolfenden, Torch Fairy
 
Fen Li, Bead Flora Jewels
Gail Zwang, Angel Moose Enterprises
Geneva Collins, Torque Story
Grace Dorsey, Fan of the Flame
Gretchen Nation,  Art Food Lodging
Hannah Annear, Squintessential
Hajer Waheed, My Beaded World
Heather Goldsmith, As I Bead It
Heather Otto, The Craft Hopper
Heidi Kingman, My Bead Therapy
 
THAT'S ME! ---->> Hope Smitherman, Crafty Hope
Isolina Perez, Isolina Perez
Jacqueline Keller, CreARTelier
Jane Haag, Did You Make Something Today?
Janeen Sorensen, Wild Vanilla Designs
Jean Peter, Jean P. Designs
Jennifer Judd, Jen Judd Rocks
Jennifer L Justman, Soul's Fire Designs
Joanna Matuszczyk, Bizuteria z filcu
Joanne Brown, Jo's Jewels
 
Joanne Lockwood, Jo Bunkum
Joyce Becker, Joyce's Joyful Gems
Judy Riley, Three Red Beads
THAT'S MY PARTNER! --->> Karen Mitchell, Over the Moon Design
Karen Williams, Baublicious
Karin von Hoeren, Creative Ideen
Karla Morgan, Texas Pepper Jams
Kashmira Patel, Sadafule .. always in bloom!
Kate Richbourg, We Can Make That at Home
Katrin Lembke, AllesPerle
 
Kathy Combs, Torched in Texas
Kathy Lindemer, Bay Moon Design
Kay Thomerson, Kayz Kreationz
Kelley Fogle, My Life, One Bead at at Time
Kelly Hosford Patterson, Traveling Side Show
Klaudette Koon, Only Road
Lara Lutrick, Lampwork Beads by Lara
Laura Guenther, Blue Antiquities
Laurie Lalonde, Simply Mod Jewelry
Lilik Kristiani, Soul of My Embodiment
 
Linda Younkman, Lindy's Designs
Lisa Chapman, Beach Cat Beads
Lisa Lodge, Pine Ridge Treasures
Loretta Carstensen, Designs by Loretta
Lori Bergmann, Lori Bergmann Design
Lori Dorrington, Lori's Adventures in Etsy Land
Lupe Meter, Gem's PC Corner
Lynn Davis, LLYYNN
Malin de Koning, Beading by Malin
Mandi Effron, Craft-o-licious
 
Mandy Williamson, Mimi's Beading
Margot Potter, The Impatient Crafter
Maria Rosa Sharrow, Willow Street Shops
Marianne Baxter, Simply Seablime Jewelry
Marina Dobrynina, Savon Feutre
Marjolein Trewavas, Room for Change
Marelene Cupo, Amazing Designs
Marsha Neal, Marsha Neal Studio
Marta Kaczerowska, uhuhu
Mary Govaars, MLH Jewelry Designs
 
Melissa Trudinger, Bead Recipes
Menka Gupta, Menka's Jewelry Blog
Michelle Burnett, Reverie and Revival
Michelle Escano-Caballero, The Cabby Crafter
Miko Wiropati, Uniquely Yunikua
Milla Hope,  LB Creative Arts and Crafts
Mimi Gardner, Other Curiosities
Miranda Ackerley, MirandackArts
Natalie McKenna, grubbi
Noemi Baena, fuego, metal, y color
 
Pam Ferrari, Ferrari Originals
Pam Sears, Crazy Creative Corner
Penny Neville, Copper Penny
Rachel Baron, R. Baron Designs
Rachel Myers, Rockabead Jewelry
Rana Wilson, Definitive Designs by R. Wilson
Rebecca Anderson, Song Beads
Rebecca Sirevaag, Becca's Place
Riki Schumacher, Riki Jewelry
Rose Binoya, Ahtee's Blog
 
Rossana De Gaspari, Rdegas Blog
Sally Anderson, Wild Sally Road
Sandi James, Do Be Do Bead Do
Sandi Volpe, Sandi Volpe
Sandra Wollberg, City of Brass Stories
Sarah Goode, Pookledo
Sarah Small, blog by salla
Shai Williams, Shaiha's Ramblings
Shawn Mills, Shawn Marie Designs with Bent Wire
Sheila Davis, Stone Designs by Sheila

Sheryl Stephens, Babble Bead
Shiraz Biggie, Secret Song Designs
Solange Collin,  Ahowin Handcrafted Jewelry
Sonya Stille, Dreamin' of Beads
Stephanie Dixon, The Dixon Chick
Susan Kennedy, Sue Beads
Susan Sheehan, Strands of Thought
Suzann Sladcik Wilson, Beadphoria
Sweet Freedom, Sweet Freedom Designs
Tabatha Dinger, Modernly Created
 
Tania Hagen, Pelima Jewellery Design
Tanya Boden, Fusion Muse
Terri Gauthier, Blooming Ideas
Terry Carter, Tapping Flamingo
Tracy Stillman, Tracy Stillman Designs

Link-a-palooza for a Busy day

I busted out a few more shabby pendants yesterday. This time I kept them 'as is' without adding any kind of image to them.

I've got a pile of more shapes ready to be altered, and I want to play around with some different options for decorating the front of them. However, a good friend and her fiancee are exchanging vows today so I'm heading out to the courthouse in just a few. Eek!

Since I'm short on time, it's the perfect opportunity for a




One last reminder about the Bead Soup Blog Party tomorrow and that's it for me today. I've got a commitment out of the house in the morning, but I'll be hopping the soups as soon as I get home. You can count on that! See ya later gators.

Bead Soup Teaser

With the Third reveal of the Bead Soup Blog Party only a few days away, I figured I ought to give you a little teaser shot of what I made for it.

I didn't want to reveal too much, so I hope I've blurred it just enough to give you a taste of my soup!

Don't forget to come back by on Saturday to see all the goodies un-blurred!

Until then, here's a new, bright bracelet in the shop. No blurriness here.
Solid Strips Bracelet

Oh, and my Bead Soup post should be up by 12am Central time on Saturday. . .you know, just in case you're as anxious to get started hopping as I am!

Bead Table Wednesday: Indecision

Our juice semi-fast is finished and with the having one 'real' meal a day, it really wasn't too bad. Pat reported that he definitely felt better, more energized after drinking the juice; but I wasn't feeling those effects. I just didn't seem to be getting ANYTHING done. That may have been a side effect of me not having to worry with meals as much to keep my schedule in line. Whatever it was, by yesterday afternoon I was anxious to get something, anything made.

After running a few errands, I made a point to flip through my idea/sketchbook and work on something from it. One entry simply read, make more shabby pendants. So, I did. Well. . .I started on them.
This is their current state. I still need to seal them, but I'm not completely SOLD on how they look right now.

See. . .yesterday, I posted this photo of them.
And I can't decide if they were better this way. They look so. . .plain like this, but I just can't seem to settle on what kind of image to put on them: rub-ons, stamps, stickers, stencils, doodles, text, paper, etc. I did attempt to stamp the backs of these with some Distress Ink, but that just seemed to fade into the other colors.

What do y'all think? Plain? Decorated? Other ideas?
I'm not usually so indecisive, so this is killing me.


In the meantime, I re-listed this necklace.
Southern Subtle Fall Necklace
And added these new earrings.
Purple Earrings
I suppose I'll probably just go seal these pendants and make some others later with additional experimental attempts at decorating them. However, I would REALLY like your input: decorated or not?

The 100 Day Project 2024

Yesterday, the 100 Day Project for 2024 started (it's not too late to join in!!) I mentioned last week that I would give you a heads-up ...