My Bead Soup from Austria!

I've been impatiently waiting for Michi to receive my bead soup so I could post what incredible pretties she sent me.It's a unusual color palette for me but after studying it for the last week I've become very excited about it and have several designs percolating. I know that most people try to use a new technique with their soups so I'm working on that idea as well.
Now without further adieu here's my soup:

 Great black,grey and green lampwork focals and beads made by Michi herself! Colour palette is black, orangey red and my favorite colour of green as you can tell from my blog and shop! Before I adopted this green as the colour for my brand my favorite colour was this shade of red. I love agates in this colour and she sent me two selections of these as well as a string of beautiful carnelian .

Of course there is much more lampwork  in shades of green and two amazing sets of Czech beads. I love those semi-opaque green discs and will have fun with those. There's a neat, delicate silver clasp which is perfect. Black is represented by hand-dyed silk ribbon and a string of hematite discs.

I don't know how Lori does it but my partner is so in tune with me. I've only recently started using lamp work and I can't get enough of it! My absolute favorite go-to shape for beads is discs and look at how many I got!And don't get me started on hematite......another staple in my stash!
I don't want to forget the string of funny funnel shaped seashells. What fun!

So that's my bounty from Michi. Hop over to her blog to see what I sent her. I'm excited to see what she makes of this.

 See you on the other side....May 3rd!

Bead soup made it to Austria! Yay!!!

It's been a long time but Michi has finally received the bead soup I sent . My mailing was delayed due to the nasty flu I had a few weeks ago. All better now and I can finally post my bead soup that's been sitting here teasing me forever! I decided not to start working on it until my partner got hers as well. Only fair, I think. I'll post later this evening once I'm sure that Michi is home from work over there. The time difference, you know!

Meantime I've decided to enter LiliKrist's monthly challenge which has it's reveal April 30th....just to put more pressure on myself. The Edward Foster painting she has chosen is beautiful and very inspiring! I've already got some ideas. The colours are perfect for me since I'm going through a blue phase right now so I couldn't resist joining in.

My Etsy shop is growing again. I added 6 more listings this weekend and now it looks like a real shop. Now I just have to be patient and hope for sales.Have a lovely Monday and I'll be back later to show the incredible bead soup I received.

It's official!

I spent ALL DAY yesterday setting up my Etsy shop and adding listings for 6 items (only) ! I can't believe how much work is involved and there's still so much to learn about this business. Now I know why I procrastinated  for so long. However, it is a lot of fun seeing my jewelry listed and to get feedback from people. One of the biggest errors I made was mis-spelling the name of the shop. I made a typo while setting it up and it's now known as "nanmade jewelery" with an extra "e" added after the "l. My bad! Here's the link.
I created a business page on Facebook at the same time. The link to it  is here.

Lampwork from Spawn of Flame.

Here's two examples of what I listed in the shop. Hope you like them! Details are on the Etsy site.

Lampwork from Studio Juls

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.