Happy Birthday Art Bead Scene!!!

The ABS blog is one I rarely miss and have entered and enjoyed a few of their monthly art challenges. This week they are celebrating their 7th birthday and featuring a fabulous giveaway. Hop and over and enjoy! Here is the link.
Don't blame me if this leads to a new interest in art beads ! My whole direction in jewelry design has been strongly influenced by the artists I've discovered through this blog. My entry to the March challenge is here.

Birdie bead from TreeWingsStudio and lampwork bead from Julsbeads.

Both artists I discovered through Art Bead Scene.

Soups On!!!!

Wow, talk about fast! My bead soup arrived today  and I'm excited to share it but will wait until my partner gets hers. Then we'll do our reveal close together. I have to confess that I have opened it and am gobsmacked by all of it's beady wonderfulness! The packaging was wonderful with handmade paper bags closed with washi tape and decorated with custom made cards clipped on with mini wooden clothespins. We took a picture but it doesn't really show much detail. I pad pictures are great until you zoom, plus it was a cloudy day today so not much light.

Anyway this is the only picture I have of the packaging so it will have to do.

You can see how excited I was to receive my gift from Michi in  Austria.

And I was the only one excited about the new goodies in my Bead Soup ! Meet Maggie!

Thank you, Michi! It's all so wonderful!

Bead Soup is Served!

     Exactly what is  Bead Soup Blog Party?  Lori Anderson conceived the idea several years ago of an exchange of jewelry components between jewelry  artists and the challenge is for each artist is to create one or more pieces of jewelry using any or all of the bead soup they are sent. Each participant must  send a clasp , a focal, and some accent beads. The recipient has to use the clasp and focal in a design, though not necessarily in the same piece. They can add beads and things from their own stash to add their own individual flavour. It is an enormous undertaking on Lori's part and a very generous gift to the world of handmade jewelry.

     This event spans the world with participants from every continent sharing their beads and design ideas. There are 500 participants!! Many have been part of this fun from the beginning but most of us have jumped on board over the last few years as word of the best party ever spread across the blogosphere.

     On reveal day,May 3, 2014, we all post photos of our final creations on our respective blogs.Then the party starts as  we visit as many of the other participant's blogs as we can, leaving comments and admiring the diversity of designs and talent.
  
     Lori Anderson is an amazing woman who coordinates all of the partners so that you never get the same partner as before and if you're a newbie you may be paired up with a more experienced jewelry artist who has been in the BSBP before and will help you learn the ropes. It's a phenomena undertaking and Lori does a great job no matter what is going on in her life including being extremely ill for the last year!l 

Thank you, Lori!!! 

     Now I will show you my pixellated version of the bead soup that is on it's way to Austria once the post office opens tomorrow. I had way too much fun playing with Photoshop to create this picture and there's no guessing what is in it. One clue is that none of the beads or components are grey....that's just the background. 

Enjoy, Michi.

Fabulous giveaway

There's a terrific interview and giveaway HERE on the Esfera blog. It's an interview with Caroline Dewison of blueberribeads and a giveaway for her beads and jewelry made using her beads. So hop on over and check it out and share it widely. I'm hoping to win but I wish you all luck as well since it's such beautiful work.
I'm getting pictures today of my bead soup that I'm sending off to Michi in  Austria and will post them here once I camouflage them.
See you later. Happy sunny Sunday all.

Pressies !

I entered the Blah Buster Giveaway on Beadlove  a couple of weeks ago on  and I actually won. I thought only other people won fab goodies. That's not actually true because I also won a giveaway on the Grow Your Blog Hop a couple of weeks before that so I have no complaints.Both packages arrived today. Such fun!

First the package from Beadlove:

Pretty package!

Beautiful beads and buttons!


My other gift from the GYB giveaway came from fitandhealthybabyboomers and this is what I got!

I will definitely enjoy the chocolate and the books are full of wonderful tips for healthy living if I ever feel so motivated!

Sorry to brag but I was thrilled to get my pressies just in time for BSBP8.
No surprise for Michi if I send something from my goodie bags.

Red Letter Day! 2 great things in my life.

BSBP!

 I got my partner for the 8th Bead Soup Blog Party and I'm thrilled to meet her. Her name is Michi Pabeschitz from Austria and she does amazing lampwork which is great since I have recently fallen in love in all things handmade from glass! She is very talented and makes the most fun creations I have ever seen. Everyone of them brings a smile to my face! Please check out her blog and shop. Her Etsy shop is La Mar De Bonita. She has sent me a lovely email which I will reply to tonight because I've been busy today and finally accomplished something for :

Clean Up and Fix Up Challenge:

Thank you Sharyl Mcmillian-Nelson for creating this challenge because it booted me into action to finally  re-organize my jewelry work space. Unfortunately I am two days late for the reveal , but hey, better late than never!!! Without further ado here is what I've done this weekend.

I built this bookshelf and rearranged my bead storage so it's closer to me when I'm working. I hope that having everything close to me will inspire me to return things to their place instead of overloading  my table! We'll see!!!

My table is tidied and ready for work. Those are the tools I use everyday for jewelry making. My hammers, files, tumbler, polymer clay tools, pasta maker and toaster oven  are in my basement in"nanmade studio" Part Deux.  I found some wonderful bits and pieces on the table that I had forgotten about so it was like getting new treasures. I also found this wooden thingy which I bought in an antique store to use as a mandrel for making hoop earrings. It's about 8 inches (20 cm.) long and made out of lovely aged wood. Does anybody know what it is? 

I'll give away a pair of silver hoop earrings to somebody who comments on this blog post. Hopefully there will still be a few this late in the day. I'll pick a name at random from commentators.

I hope you enjoyed seeing my workspace cleaned up and re-organized. There is more work to come but not today. It's Oscar night and I need a nap before they start! I'll post any updates and changes I make over the next few weeks (or months!)

 Have a lovely Sunday evening all!

Operation:Clean Up, Fix Up My Workspace.March 1 Blog Challenge

Sharyl McMillian-Nelson over at Sharyl's Jewelry & Reflections is hosting this great blog hop to encourage us all to do  a job which is such a chore for most of us but when done will make jewelry making even more of a pleasure than it already is. I've had great intentions but had company all week and haven't accomplished much yet. Check back at close of play on Saturday when I hope to have some results.

My previous "Studio In The Wall"

If you've been reading my log over the last year you might remember how I organized my studio in a double closet in my apartment. It was great but I was starting to overflow it!

Main Studio Space

Now that I've moved into a large house I have much more room but am much less organized. I even have two areas to work in with part 2 in the basement but i have to organize how to work between the 2 areas since my main studio space is on the second floor.

Studio "Part Deux" for noisy, noxious activities like hammering, adding patina, tumbling, metalwork and also where my polymer clay is stored for now.

Work Table

I know that we all have a work surface like this at times but hopefully I can improve on it with better organization.

Laptop,Books! (and more storage)

I'm hoping to build a set of shelves closer to my worktable so it's easier to access all my supplies. It's Friday the day before the blog hop and nothing is done yet but  I'm planning to make some changes today but not sure how much I'll get done before tomorrow.

Please hop on over to the blogs of all the participants and see what's been accomplished. Thank you, Sharyl ,for creating and hosting this challenge. I'm looking forward to seeing what's been done and maybe pick up some ideas to help with my space.

Participant List:

Host: Sharyl McMillian-Nelson … http://sharylsjewelry.blogspot.com

Donna Millard http://fyrebeadz.blogspot.com/

Beda Hendrix ... https://www.facebook.com/SasijuhlsThings 

Ann Schroeder… http://www.beadlove.wordpress.com

Pamela Rachelle… http://crazycreativecorner.blogspot.com

Kristin L Oppold… http://www.yayjewelry.blogspot.com

Heidi Kingman ... http://heidikingman.blogspot.com

Andi ... http://strungoutjewelry.blogspot.com/

Patricia Buchanan Click “Blog” on the menu bar athttp://www.braceletstoo.artfire.com

Helen Simon… http://helensharvest.com/

Kashmira … http://sadafulee.blogspot.com/

somethingunique ... http://somethinguniquebylana.blogspot.ca/

Renetha ... http://lamplightcrafts.blogspot.com

Kathy Lindemer ... http://bay-moon-design.blogspot.com

Swapna Dinesh … http://www.swardaa.com

Linda Landig ... http://lindalandig.wordpress.com/

Ann Schroeder ... http://www.beadlove.wordpress.com/

Beti Horvath ... http://stringingfool.blogspot.com/

Sam S ... http://samsbeadshopandjewelry.blogspot.com/ 

Christina Miles ... http://wingsnscales.blogspot.com/

Islandgirl ... http://islandgirlsinsights.blogspot.ca/ 

macmillanmarie ... http://www.macmillanmarie.blogspot.com

Emma Todd … http://www.apolymerpenchant.com

Neena Shilvock … 
http://www.capriliciousjewellery.com/3/post/2014/02/neither-ship-shape-nor-bristol-fashion.html

Dee Clark… http://biz-e-bead.blogspot.com/

motidana ... http://kalaabhushan.blogspot.com/

Here Bead Dragons ... http://beaddragons.blogspot.com/

Carol D. ... http://dillmansdallies.blogspot.com/

Pam Sears ... http://crazycreativecorner.blogspot.com/

Nan Smith ... http://wirednan.blogspot.ca

AliMc ... http://northwoodscreativestudio.blogspot.com

Kari Asbury ... http://hippiechickdesign.blogspot.com

Shirley Moore ... http://www.beadsandbread.blogspot.com

PyxeeStyx ... http://travelingsideshow.blogspot.com/

Jayne Capps … https://mamasgottodoodle.blogspot.com

Louann Elwell 
... https://plus.google.com/117746558861718110652/posts

Rain ... http://honeyandollie.com/

Lori Bergmann ... http://www.LoriBergmann.blogspot.com

Helen Simon… http://helensharvest.blogspot.com/

Arlene Dean ... http://aglassbash.blogspot.com

Sandra... http://city-of-brass-stories.blogspot.de/

Alicia ... http://www.allprettythings.ca

Natalie Pappas ...  http://blog.nkpdesigns.com/