And the winner is........

I've been very neglectful of blogging lately but I will explain why later in the post. Right now I owe all the participants and readers of the second annual "My Country blog Hop" a followup giveaway. I was touched by all of the response to my blog hop and there was such enthusiasm that I feel sure |I will continue it again next year. I've entered all the names of the participants and other blog readers into random.org to choose the winner. And the winner is.....Dini of angazabychanges.blogspot.nl. Please send me your postal address, Dini and I'll send these Canadian earrings off to you. Congratulations, my friend!

Since the blog hop and while participating in a couple of others I've gradually changed direction in my studio. I feel like I've dropped off the jewelry making world and landed in p.c. heaven. I've been dabbling in polymer on and off for the last year but have just recently become completely immersed in it. All thanks to Ginger of The Blue Bottle Tree who has put together the most fabulous tutorials on creating with pc.

This is the one I've been playing with and it's great.Clear, step by step instructions and many,many colour photographs of every step and lots of inspirational ones to spark your own creativity. I have bought a few tutorials but this one is by far the best. If you're thinking of exploring polymer clay any of her tutorials would be a good place to start. I have multiple beads and pendants at various stages of development but none are yet ready for public viewing. Soon........!

Wilkomen, Bienvenue, Bienvenidos and Welcome!! (Selamat Datang to LiliKrist!)

Welcome to "My Country Blog Hop" hosted by yours truly. 25 participants from all over the world will write a blog post featuring little known facts about their country and also show an artistic creation that was inspired by their country.
I created this event to connect with artists and bloggers worldwide who are happy to share their home with others. Last year was the first time I did this and it was lots of fun so I decided to repeat it. I hope you enjoy!

HAPPY CANADA DAY!

 Today is a holiday in Canada to celebrate the birthday of this fabulous country and I am sharing it with all of you. I hope you enjoy what you see and learn about my "home and native land". There will be a lot of links for you to click on if your interested because I didn't want to make this post too lengthy.
To many Americans and others we are that cold and snowy country at the top of the map where we all speak French and grow "Biebers"(LOL). But there is much more to Canada than that. Yes we have snow and cold but we also have thousands of fresh water lakes ( the largest area of freshwater in the world) and gorgeous summers to enjoy these lakes.

Lake Superior

Kayaking

Fishing in Ontario

The lakes are so huge that when my English friends were visiting the 14 year old thought the shore of Lake Ontario was the seaside!

I guess size is relative but we are a very big country. second largest by land mass after China! It's our population that makes us seem small compared to the rest of the world. According to Wikipedia we are the most sparsely populated country in the world! Lots of room for everybody who wants to visit and even stay. If you are considering immigrating you won't be alone. Canada is one of most diverse countries in the world with representatives of every ethnicity and culture .

Gosh , I sound like a saleswoman for Canada  and have just realized I could go on for hours telling you all the great things but that's not why you're here. I hope the above information opened your eyes to some of what makes up this great country and inspires you to look into more when you have the time.

With so many national characteristics I was stymied about what to create. I have been having great fun lately playing with polymer clay and the vignette below shows just a few of our national icons. (remember I'm just a polymer clay newbie!)( The curling rocks are lamp work beads from Glass Bead Art)

Curling match between Benedict Beaver and Percival Polar Bear with the Inukshuk as referee.

I had a lot of fun creating these animals. Hope you get a kick out of them!

I just had to make some Canuck jewelry so here it is . I worked long and hard to make a maple leaf out of polymer clay and this is the best I could come up with. (really steep learning curve with pc.). I'm also on a roll experimenting with waxed Irish linen thread and tried hand knotting to make  this illusion style necklace in Canada's national colors.

 A couple of months ago I won the Art Bead Scene monthly challenge and received some of Mary Harding's wonderful ceramics. She very nicely made me these little maple leaf charms which I hung from sterling ear threads. They are super comfortable  and look really cute on.

That's the end of my contribution to this blog hop. Please go to the blogs listed below to see what all the other participants created. Comments left on my blog will be entered in a draw for something Canadian! (I haven't decided yet what it will be. Any requests? Mention in your comment and I'll see what I can do.)

Hostess: Nan Smith  (Canada)                            wirednan.blogspot.ca 

1. Ana (Portugal)                                          http://acbeads.blogspot.ca/                                    

2.Rita  (Orlando)                              http://www.jewelschoolfriends.com/                           
                                                                        

3. Dini (The Netherlands)             http://angazabychanges.blogspot.ca/                                           

4. Robin Reed  (Indiana)                    http://willowdragon.blogspot.ca/                 

5. Lilik Kristiana   (Indonesia )               http://pcbylik.blogspot.ca/                             

6. Karla Morgan  (Texas)             /       texaspepperjams.blogspot.com

7. Karen Mitchell (South Australia)                  www.overthemoon-design.com

8. Jayne Capps  (Oklahoma)               mamasgottodoodle.blogspot.com             

9. Melissa Trudinger  (Australia)                  beadrecipes.wordpress.com

10. Johana Nunez  (Puerto Rico)                                http:artincendi.com

11. Kepi  (Alberta)                                          kepirasmussen.blogspot.ca                                    
12. Deb Fortin  (Ontario)                                       studiok24.blogspot.ca  

13. Divya  (India)                                                                              jewelsofsayuri.com

14. Tammy Adams  (Arizona)                             paisleylizard.com/blog.html

15. Kay Thomerson  (Texas)                        kayzkreationz.blogspot.com                                          
  16. Bairozan  (Bulgaria)                                                            bairozan.blogspot.ca

17. Carolyn's Creations  (           )        carolynscreationswa.blogspot.com

18. Lecia Woessner   (New Orleans)                  copperroses.blogspot.com

19. Linda A.  (Wash. D.C.                           FromTheBeadBoard.blogspot.com

20.Inge Van Roos (California)                          ingetraud.wordpress.com

21. Natalie   (New Zealand)                  http://www.northshoredays.com

22. Lori Schneider (              )                            beadaddicted.blogspot.com

23.Mary Harding (New York)maryhardingjewelrybeadblog.blogspot.com 


24. Bouchra Rebai (Algeria)                          bouchrarebiai.wordpress.com     bouchrarebiai.wordpress.com
25.Michelle McCarthy  (Florida )         Fireflydesignstudio.blogspot.com  

Pearl Challenge!

Welcome to my blog featuring the jewelry I made for Shel's Pearls, Pearls, Pearls blog hop. Michelle is a pearl fanatic and makes absolutely stunning pieces with pearls of all sorts. She created this blog hop to challenge us to do the same. This was a very difficult challenge for me since I have always had a major creative block when it comes to designing with pearls. I buy pearls with great intentions but can never seem to get past the starting point. To me pearls are all about frilly, lacy and girly designs none of which are words I would use to describe my style. I love what other people do with pearls to cross over style lines but I haven't been able to do this to my satisfaction. However I managed to make 2 pieces for this challenge and I am happy with the results. Thanks Michelle for hosting this hop and pushing me out of my comfort zone. I will continue to experiment with pearls for now on.
The first thing I successfully completed after several failed projects was this pair of earrings.

 I love these tiny fresh water seed pearls and wanted to use many since they look great in bunches. I wire wrapped them on rosy colored torched copper ball headpins and hung them like a curtain of pearls from an antique copper ring. They were too plain like this so I hunted through my stash and came up with these cranberry fresh water pearls that match the ball headpins perfectly. They are dangling from my own handmade earwires and I'm  happy with how they turned out.


The second piece is experimental in two ways. After seeing all the creative ways used with waxed Irish linen thread in Diane's recent blog hop I have been playing around a lot with it and wanted to use it for this challenge with the pearls. Unfortunately my knotting skills need a lot more practice to perfect. I strung these beautiful peach toned Swarovski pearls on dark brown linen and added tiny reddish-brown agate beads to frame the pearls in an illusion style necklace. It's a casual way to wear pearls and suits my style well.

I hope you've enjoyed seeing what I came up with for this challenge. Please hop over to Mishel's blog or click on the InLinx Linkup here to see everyone else's creations. Have a lovely Sunday!
Please check back here on Tuesday, July 1st to see the reveal for my own blog hop:
My Country Blog Hop

An InLinkz Link-up

Coming up next week!

Hi there!  Next Tuesday, July 1 is the second annual My Country Blog Hop where participants will highlight their country by creating handmade art and telling the story behind it's creation. I thought of this idea while participating in Lori Anderson's 7th  Bead Soup Blog Party last year. I love that our community of designers and makers is international and that we share our passions across all borders. It is a thrill to meet other bloggers from all across the world and share our many experiences, both about jewelry and life in general.

I have always been a proud Canadian but this patriotism grew when I lived in the UK for four years (1997-2001). I found myself having to explain what being a Canadian meant to me and sharing all that I love about living here. These feelings of pride and patriotism have stayed with me since I returned here and I have become a big booster of everything Canadian. Most Canadians already know many of the wonderful aspects about our country but over the years I have realized that the world in general needs more Canada! So this is my mission....to share what I love about this wonderful country and what it means to be Canadian.

Of course, being Canadian, I don't like to brag!!!! ( we are known as polite and self-effacing people).Therefore I invited other bloggers to join in to share what they love or have learned about their country and then  to stretch their creativity to create a work of art that reflects their country. It's a great opportunity to see your home from the point of view of others and to learn what there is to love in living elsewhere. Please follow along and check out the other participants art and stories.

The event takes place on July 1, 2014 which is our big national birthday celebration, Canada Day. On that day you can hop to the blogs of the following participants and enjoy their contribution.

My Country Blog Hop Participants

Nan Smith (hostess|)               nanmade.blogspot.ca

1. Ana (Portugal)                                                       acbeads.blogspot.ca

2.Rita  (Orlando)                                              JewelSchoolFriends.com   

3. Dini (The Netherlands)                                    angazabychanges.blogspot.nl

4. Robin Reed  (Indiana)                              willowdragon.blogspot.com

5. Lilik Kristiana   (Indonesia )                             pcbylik.blogspot.com

6. Karla Morgan  (Texas)                                    texaspepperjams.blogspot.com

7. Karen Mitchell (South Australia)                  www.overthemoon-design.com

8. Jayne Capps  (Oklahoma)               mamasgottodoodle.blogspot.com             

9. Melissa Trudinger  (Australia)                  beadrecipes.wordpress.com

10. Johana Nunez  (Puerto Rico)                                http:artincendi.com

11. Kepi  (Alberta)                                          kepirasmussen.blogspot.ca                                    
12. Deb Fortin  (Ontario)                                       studiok24.blogspot.ca  

13. Divya  (India)                                                                              jewelsofsayuri.com

14. Tammy Adams  (Arizona)                             paisleylizard.com/blog.html

15. Kay Thomerson  (Texas)                        kayzkreationz.blogspot.com                                          
16. Bairozan  (Bulgaria)                                                            bairozan.blogspot.ca

17. Carolyn's Creations  (           )        carolynscreationswa.blogspot.com

18. Lecia Woessner   (New Orleans)                  copperroses.blogspot.com

19. Linda A.  (Wash. D.C.                           FromTheBeadBoard.blogspot.com

20.Inge Van Roos (California)                          ingetraud.wordpress.com

21. Natalie   (New Zealand)                  http://www.northshoredays.com

22. Lori Schneider (              )                            beadaddicted.blogspot.com

23.Mary Harding (New York)maryhardingjewelrybeadblog.blogspot.com 

24. Bouchra Rebai (Algeria)                          bouchrarebai.wordpress.com     
25.Michelle McCarthy  (Florida )         Fireflydesignstudio.blogspot.com 

Announcing the Participants in My Country Blog Hop

A few weeks ago I posted about the upcoming blog hop I am hosting for July 1 called My Country Blog Hop. I am very pleased with the response and can't wait to see what everybody creates for the reveal.
The concept is for each participant to choose a locale they are familiar with and create a work of art inspired by that place. This is the second year for this hop and it is lots of fun to see what everyone comes up with.
Each blog will feature a description of the inspiration behind the creation and we will all learn something new and interesting about different parts of the world while sharing about our own homes.

This lovely Trillium, official provincial flower of Ontario where I live, was the inspiration behind my first attempt at a polymer clay cane

This was my final result which I was not too happy with. However it was my first attempt and quite a new challenge for me.

Last year it was all about jewelry but I've expended the field this year and any handmade work is acceptable. You can make jewelry, drawings, paintings, paper art, textile art, sculpture, etc.whatever helps you to tell a story. We will all post photos of our creations and share the inspiration that led to the results. 

You could make polymer clay replicas of these Pennsylvania landmarks!

Or Union Jack earrings to show your British roots.

Japanese kimono fabric can turn up in many art forms.

It is truly an international blog event with participants from the Far East, The Antipodes, the Middle East, Europe, USA, the Caribbean and Canada. Thanks to all for joining in. Here are the lovely folks who signed up. Please check back on July 1 for the reveal.

Hostess: Nan Smith  (Canada)                            wirednan.blogspot.ca 

1. Ana (Portugal)                                                       acbeads.blogspot.ca

2.Rita  (Orlando)                                              JewelSchoolFriends.com   

3. Dini (The Netherlands)                                    angazabychanges.blogspot.nl

4. Robin Reed  (Indiana)                              willowdragon.blogspot.com

5. Lilik Kristiana   (Indonesia )                             pcbylik.blogspot.com

6. Karla Morgan  (Texas)                                    texaspepperjams.blogspot.com

7. Karen Mitchell (South Australia)                  www.overthemoon-design.com

8. Jayne Capps  (Oklahoma)               mamasgottodoodle.blogspot.com             

9. Melissa Trudinger  (Australia)                  beadrecipes.wordpress.com

10. Johana Nunez  (Puerto Rico)                                http:artincendi.com

11. Kepi  (Alberta)                                          kepirasmussen.blogspot.ca                                    
12. Deb Fortin  (Ontario)                                       studiok24.blogspot.ca  

13. Divya  (India)                                                                              jewelsofsayuri.com

14. Tammy Adams  (Arizona)                             paisleylizard.com/blog.html

15. Kay Thomerson  (Texas)                        kayzkreationz.blogspot.com                                          
  16. Bairozan  (Bulgaria)                                                            bairozan.blogspot.ca

17. Carolyn's Creations  (           )        carolynscreationswa.blogspot.com

18. Lecia Woessner   (New Orleans)                  copperroses.blogspot.com

19. Linda A.  (Wash. D.C.                           FromTheBeadBoard.blogspot.com

20.Inge Van Roos (California)                          ingetraud.wordpress.com

21. Natalie   (New Zealand)                  http://www.northshoredays.com

22. Lori Schneider (              )                            beadaddicted.blogspot.com

23.Mary Harding (New York)maryhardingjewelrybeadblog.blogspot.com 


24. Bouchra Rebai (Algeria)                          bouchrarebai.wordpress.com     
25.Michelle McCarthy  (Florida )         Fireflydesignstudio.blogspot.com  

My Country, Blog Hop

If you're looking for my reveal for BSBP 8 go here:

My Country Blog Hop


Last summer I hosted my first ever Blog Hop and had a great time so I decided to do it again with a few changes. Please share with your friends.

My Country Blog Hop July 1, 2014

The focus was on making jewelry that was representative of your home nation. That seemed a little limited to me so this year I'm opening it up to all craftspeople.

Most of us know many details about our country, province, state, county or hometown. Imagine you have to show somebody something about your home in a handmade product. It can be jewelry, fabric arts, clothing, drawing, painting, etc. Literally anything you can make which will highlight something about your home which may not be common knowledge to outsiders is acceptable. 

We all love our homes and this is a chance to show off it's best features. 

It is great fun to learn about the homes of our blogging friends and it is a challenge to create a work of art that best tells a story about our homelands.

You don't have to currently live there , either. It can be where you were born, where you once lived, where your ancestors originated or almost any other reason that you are knowledgeable about this place.

Examples from last year's hop include a polymer clay flower that are the provincial flower of a province; jewelry inspired by the corn of Mexico, a bracelet to commemorate the coronation of the new king of The Netherlands, earrings that look like the flags of the Switzerland and Portugal. You can see that there was a variety of submissions and each artist also told a story about their home and their artistic inspiration. It's just for fun as a challenge and we all get to learn something new and see what other craftspeople are up to in their homes.

MY COUNTRY BLOG HOP
REVEAL JULY 1, 2014


Please leave your name , email address and location you have chosen to represent in the comments before June 10th,2014. If you prefer not to post your email address you can send  it to me at wirednan13@hotmail.com.

By the way, July 1st is Canada Day so you can expect many Canadian references like the following:

I'm looking forward to welcoming all of you to the celebration of my country and getting to know something new about yours. Can't wait to see what you create!!!!

BSBP 8 Giveaway! and Another Blog Hop!!!

If you're hopping in BSBP8 here's my reveal.


Whew! and Wow! I've barely started hopping and I'm overwhelmed. There is so much artistic talent, warmth and love in this community of jewelry makers in the blogosphere that It makes me feel all soft and fuzzy! Wait....that's my vision after going through so many blogs!!!
Some of you may have heard the reason I'm late to the party is a serious health issue which struck on the day of the party. I managed to post my reveal and check the reveals of my partner, Michi, and Lori ,before I  headed to the hospital where I spent the next week  with no reliable wifi service ( and a few other things on my mind!). It turns out that I am in congestive heart failure and need to take it slow and easy for a few months.
 They never really decided what caused it but I've got it and have to learn to live within it's restrictions and hope it will gradually improve. Apparently it can do that so that's what I'm aiming for. Right now means lots of rest , restricted salt and fluid intake and taking a handful of pills every morning. I've been home for a week and each day has seen an improvement. The hardest part is letting other people "do" for me. I'm such an independent soul that being the passive recipient  of the efforts of others is killing me!! Must be all those years of being a nurse.

The good news is that I can keep hopping until I've read everybody's blogs which I never managed to do before.So much amazing jewelry which keeps inspiring me in my own work. Designing and playing with beads. wire and clay are all things I can do for hours without tiring out so it's really a win-win situation.

Enough about me. I said i was going to giveaway my clothes peg and button necklace away to a commentator on my reveal post. Here is what it looks like:

I used the random number generator and the number that came up is 7! 

The 7th person to comment on my post was Jael!!!!! 

Congratulations, Jael.

If you'll send me your postal address I'll send your fun necklace out to you. 

Thanks, everybody for reading and commenting on my blog.

It's great to get to know the people on the other end  of my blogging madness.

It feels less like I'm talking to myself!!!! (although I do that too!)

I'm also introducing my International blog hop this weekend but I'll do that tomorrow with a new post. See you all then!