Honey Do List, March Challenge

Sarajo Wentling hosts a blog hop challenge on her site every month. The inspiration is a photo taken by her husband Eric. The challenge is meant to inspire Sarajo to design outside of her comfort zone and use up some of her stash. Happily she shares and invites us to join along

This month’s inspiration is this photo of a rusted, crusty window with lots of heavy streaks of rusted iron and copper minerals, blackened areas and even a bit of what looks like very white snow around the edges of the glass panes

Photo courtesy of Eric Wentling

The brown colours on the lower window panes and the light yellows on the top ones seemed like a perfect fit to me.

 

Daisy Burst Necklace

Going through my stash I found the perfect stoneware pendant with a pretty daisy on it, created by Leslie Watt. The background is glazed in brown with the daisy in white and the perfect yellow centre. Digging further I found the perfect brecciated jasper rounds, a great complementary colour for the pendant background. Since the jasper rounds were so large I only used a few and needed something to balance them. Some glass rondelles filled the bill. I used a pale ivory waxed linen to string everything. To keep the necklace from being too heavy I added length with an antiqued brass chain and lobster clasp

Daisy Burst Necklace

I was in the mood to continue this colour exploration and made another necklace. This time I used a large mandala inspired polymer clay bead from Staci Louise Smith. There is a different pattern pressed into the front and back along with different colours on each side. For fun I added an antiqued brass key to swing from the bottom and used a very large antiqued bronze open loop as the bail. To bring out both sets of colours in the focal I decided to use gemstones again, this time surreal jasper ovals with streaks of different colours and hand carved yellow jade. Everything is strung on waxed linen again, with a chunkier antiqued bronze chain to add length

Iron Age Necklace

And here’s the reverse side of the pendant

 

Iron Age Necklace

I had a great time making these necklaces and hope you like them too.

You can find both in my online shop. Please check out all the other creations here

Thanks for stopping by. Have a great day

Art Elements March Theme - Nests

The Art Elements team have changed their monthly challenge format, going with themes now instead of component of the month. Using a theme allows participants to select their favourite art medium and create using it. The only rule is to use the theme in the creation.

For March Cathy Mendola selected nests as the theme 

I followed my favourite medium and created jewellery for the challenge. Inspired by a pretty little charm of a bird in flight I created this pendant

Nesting Pendant

Created by Melissa Trudinger, the image of the bird is sealed in resin and has the added touch of a polymer clay textured back with the word Soar impressed into it

Reverse side of pendant

The birds nest holds 6 tiny Swarovski pearls in the duskiest of greens that matches the background of the bird photo. I used 22 gage brass wire that I antiqued with gun blue before making the nest. The same wire was also put to use to make the bail. I hung the pendant from a silk and lace neck cord

I had such fun with the pendant nest that I decided to make matching earrings

Nesting Earrings

The tiny earring nests are made with the same wire and Swarovski pearls as the pendant. They were a little more difficult to make because of the ½” size but still satisfying

I had a great time making these and hope you like them too. You can find both in my online shop.

Please check out all the other creations:

Guest Participants-

Alysen

Anita

Divya

Kathy

Kym

Mona – You are here

Rosantia

Sarajo

Tammy 

AE team members-

Caroline

Cathy 

Claire

Jenny

Laney

Leslie

Lindsay

Marsha

Niky

Thanks for stopping by. Have a great day

Pretty Palettes, March Challenge

It’s been awhile since I joined the Pretty Palettes challenge. I’m thrilled to be able to join this month. The March challenge is based on this pretty artwork. You can read more about it here

 A Moment to Dream

Molly also provided this colour palette and selection of beads for it, however we are not limited to using these beads.

Following my usual mode I searched my bead stash for both unusual focals and suitable colours. First came this bright and sunny bracelet. I pulled from the brightest of yellow in the photo. Though it doesn’t match the colour palette I’m happy with it

Joyful Bracelet

This bracelet exudes joy with its bright springtime colours.  The colourful ceramic bullseye bead, made by Jennifer Jangles, is slightly different on each side. I used cheerful pressed glass hearts, stars and round beads to complement the ceramic bead. Everything is strung on waxed linen and finished with an antiqued brass toggle clasp

I decided to play with the other colours in the artwork and palette, focusing on the blues, light greens and the darker colours on the bottom row

Moments Pendant

The star of the pendant is the pretty polymer clay dogwood flower by Heather Powers. I used freshwater pearls in 3 sizes that were dyed 2 colours, moonlight silver and olive, as stackers on top of the flower. It felt like just a bit more colour was needed. I found cotton floss in complementary colours and made the little tassel which I finished with an antiqued brass cap. For the wires, chain and sweet heart toggle clasp I used antiqued bronze which helped to bring out the darker colours in the flower bead. I’m very happy with how this pendant looks and came together

You can find both in my online shop. Please check out all the other creations on reveal day here

Thanks for stopping by. Have a great day

We’re All Ears March Challenge – Celebrate Contrast

 I am late to the party but still happy to participate in the Earrings Everyday blog hop this month. This month’s challenge is built the achromatic look of black and white

Black and White

The inspiration post had a link to a Buzzfeed article on mixing, matching and playing with clashing prints. I have to admit I did struggle with some of their ideas. They are definitely not for everyone

I had planned several styles of earrings for the challenge and ran short on time. I did succeed in making 2 pairs with the second being a variation on the first

Chroma Earrings

This style of polymer clay plumeria flowers has always been a favourite. I had them in several colours and sizes but am running short now. I used the last 2 pair of black and white ones for this challenge

Chroma Earrings

The dangling little beads are snow quartz that I tied onto fireline. They almost seem to float over the shoulders. The ear wires are gunmetal, keeping with the black and white theme

In the Night Earrings

I was so pleased with the first version of these earrings that I decided to make a contrasting version with lots of black and very little white. Again I started with the polymer clay plumeria flowers

In the Night Earrings

For this pair I used faceted hematite beads for the dangles. It felt like these earrings could have the same emphasis with fewer dangle beads than in the whiter pair. Just to give a little change I decided to add a gunmetal loop to the top. It turns these earrings into great shoulder dusters

Please come and check out what everyone else created at the Earrings Everyday site.

Both pair of earrings are available in my online shop

Thanks for stopping by. Have a great day

We’re All Ears January Challenge – Colour of the Year

I am happy to participate in the Earrings Everyday blog hop this month. This month’s challenge is built around the Pantone colour of the year, Ultra Violet. You can read all about it here

Pantone Colour of the Year

Purple is one of my favourite colours. I was cleaning up my supply of storage tins lately and found the perfect one for this challenge. To my eye it looks like a combination of Ultra Violet and Hyacinth Violet from the Drama Queen colour harmony in the inspiration post

Tin Cover – Ready for Repurposing

The combination of the purple shades with the pale grey of the swirls, flowers and snowflakes, along with the touches of green, red and black appealed to me. From the pieces of the tin container I made these

Dream

Along with the pretty tin circles I used freshwater pearls dyed peacock plus chain, jump rings and head pins with an antiqued brass finish. The ear wires are sterling silver that I used gun blue to add a patina to. They are available in my online shop

Come check out what everyone else made. Thanks for stopping by. Have a great day

An Unplanned Absence

Wow. That was a long silence. I didn’t expect to be away from everything for so long but I was busy with a massive gardening project that I worked on until the end of October. And the worst part is it still isn’t finished. I just couldn’t do anymore. I needed a break

All that work caused new injuries to both of the rotator cuffs in my shoulders. I had injured them years ago when doing a lot of home renovations and painting.  With the new damage I couldn’t spend a lot of time doing anything

All that forced idleness just totally destroyed my design mojo. My muse took a long protracted vacation. I wanted to join in several fun blog challenges and group exchanges but could not muster up any ideas or enthusiasm

Finally, in mid-November, I started to feel the itch to create again, but not for creating jewellery. Since Christmas was coming I decided to put that spark to use and made this wreath for the dining room. The odd shape of the chandelier always made this an impossible task before. This time I came up with the idea to use the outside of an embroidery hoop for the top wreath and essentially hung everything from the top of the chain instead of trying to use the arms of the chandelier.

My homemade and extremely light chandelier decor

After Christmas was over and after putting away all the wreaths and outdoor décor everything felt too empty. The wall beside the door was a big blank beige slab of ugly bricks. So I had fun and made this winter wreath. The inspiration for it is not mine but the interpretation is. Here’s the link to the wreath that jump started mine, Two Junk Chix: Snowball Wreath

Snowball Wreath

Looking around inside again, I was missing the cheerfulness of the Christmas decorations and decided to bring some winter décor back inside. This very fun, but very roughly made, star wall hanging is an interpretation of the one from the book “Scandinavian Gatherings, From Afternoon Fika to Midsummer Feast”, from author Melissa Bahen, the creator of Lulu The Baker. The photo is dark because I couldn't get good lighting

Fun little wall hanging

I am working towards participating in a few blog challenges this month, perhaps a slow start and we’ll see how things go

Thanks for stopping by. Have a great day

We’re All Ears Design Challenge - July

"So by visualizing this piece of music we are all of a sudden open to a number ofthings we might not notice when just hearing it. We can see patterns andsequences more easily. We can see which instruments are playing and where andhow. We can see when harmony becomes melody. And we can see when there's onenote versus when there's many notes."

The above quote comes from a TEDx talk that sparked the inspiration for July’s We’re All Ears Challenge. You can read about it here

The screen shot below is taken from an interpretation of Bohemian Rhapsody 2. It happens at approx. 1:40 – 1:50 in the video. 

Liszt Hungarian Rhapsody 2, Andy Fillebrown

The image reminded me of the charms used in these earrings. I had originally selected them because they reminded me of the music my relatives played when we wanted to celebrate our French Canadian heritage. There were heavy Atlantic coast, Northern Canadian and European influences in the family and I have never been able to pin down the exact origin but I don’t have much of a musical ear so that doesn’t help

Hungarian Rhapsody

The charms are antiqued brass stamped with a mandala like pattern. I am quite taken by the flowers in the centre. A healthy coating of gilders paste was applied to bring out the details. Tiny glass beads in a lighter green and brass colour help to tie the charms to the antiqued brass ear wires

You can find the earrings in my shop.

Please visit the Earrings Everyday site for the blog reveal to see what everyone else made

Thanks for stopping by. Have a great day