Pretty Palettes April Design Challenge

The challenge this month from the Halmark team Pretty Palettes creator was based on 2 sweet spring illustrations from Heather Powers. You can read more about Heather’s creations here

I chose this one to build my design with

Handpainted design by Heather Powers 

The jumping off point for this necklace was the pretty embossed teardrop in the light mint colour. To showcase it I gathered some mint glass beads and mother of pearl rounds, both I had bought at Michaels quite some time ago. To these I added some peach aventurine rounds that are close to the recommended colours, a multi coloured glass flower and some rectangle shaped chain

Mint Sprigs

I had 2 of the mint coloured glass beads left and decided to make a pair of little stacker earrings using the 3 bead colours. It gives a nice finishing touch. Oh yes, all the metals are silver plated

Mint Sprigs

The set is available in my shop

Mint Sprigs

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

Thanks for stopping by. Have a great day

Honey Do List April Design Challenge

For this month the hope was to capture spring in all its early season glory. Being in Minnesota, and with a cool spring so far, there wasn’t much glory yet. Eric Wentling did capture this sweet photo of a chickadee perched on red dogwood twigs

 

Photo courtesy of Eric Wentling

In honour of spring I made this pendant with a totem anchored by a red leaf

Bring the Spring

 I used several ceramic beads by different makers, all strung on a waxed cotton cord, tied to a gunmetal jump ring and suspended from a large antiqued silver plated ring. The makers?

Ceramic leaf – Leslie Watt

Ceramic Melon bead – Gaea Cannaday

Sprocket beads – Joan Miller

The pendant is available in my shop

Please visit SJ Design for the blog reveal to see what everyone else made

Thanks for stopping by. Have a great day

We’re All Ears April Challenge

The challenge this month was based on eggs in all their forms. Easter eggs, natural egg images, egg colours, egg shapes, whatever struck a creative spark

The inspiration photos of Ukrainian pysanki eggs are amazing and each one is a little treasure. There’s just something about them though that never works for me. Maybe it’s because they just feel too busy, too overwhelming with all their intricate patterns and colours

Pysanki Eggs

 For me the natural world, with its many amazing egg colours, shapes and textures, is a better fit. I went looking online and came up with 2 beautiful images. This first one I found online a few weeks ago. Unfortunately I forgot to save the link and have not been able to track it down again

Those purple speckles on the cream background are gorgeous. They inspired this pair of earrings

Speckled

The ceramic drops, though not quite egg shaped, are an excellent interpretation of the egg. They were created by Natalie McKenna of Grubbi Ceramics. I added glass button drops, also called mushroom beads, in a colourway called summer thunder. I picked out the ones I thought went well with the ceramic drops and used waxed linen in a light purple to tie the stack to antiqued bronze jump rings. The jump rings hang from brass ear wires that I antiqued very lightly.

I also found this image of Lewin bird eggs, this time on Pinterest.

These eggs inspired this pair of earrings

SpringGreens

The top egg felt like a close match to the ceramic drops, again from Natalie McKenna. As with the first pair of earrings I used more of the glass button drops from the summer thunder colourway. This time I used a bronze wire for the totem and bright brass ear wires for the final touch.

I hope you enjoyed the earrings. They are available in my shop

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day

Mother’s Day Sale

Moms

The most important women in our lives

We love them

They love us

Let’s celebrate Moms

Bijoux Gems Joy

Available at the Dufferin Museum

My jewellery and jewellery storage pieces are available in the Gift Shop of the Dufferin County Museum & Archives, now until the beginning of September

My journey with the museum began during the Christmas 2016 season when a good selection of my designs were available in the Gift Shop there.  Despite the terrible winter weather during much of the show period it was a success

The museum has a reputation for promoting not just the history of the area but also cultural and life impacting events throughout the year. In support of their events schedule, there is now a rotating schedule of vendors in the gift shop, and my jewellery is included in the first group. I also make jewellery storage and display units and have some in the gift shop too

 Come and seethe variety of handmade products from local artisans available in the Gift Shop. You may find the perfect item

Location:

The Dufferin County Museum & Archives 

936029 Airport Road

Mulmur, ON L9V 0L3

Hours:

Tuesday to Friday 10:00am until 5:00pm

Saturday 10:00am until 4:00pm

Sunday 12:00 noon until 5:00pm

Monday Closed

Archives and Archives reading room are closed on Sunday and Monday

Admission plus HST

Adults   $5.00

Seniors $4.00

Children (5 to 14 yrs.)  $2.00

Children (under 5)   Free

Family $12.00

Our building is fully wheelchair accessible and provides ample parking for our guests

GENERAL PUBLIC TOURS AND GROUP VISITS

The DCMA continues to welcome group visits. One of the best things about the DCMA is that there is something here for everyone. Other great reasons to come to the DCMA include great hospitality from friendly staff and volunteers, a huge collection of local artifacts, amazing views over the hills of Mulmur, and a unique architectural space.

To get more information about bringing your group to the museum for a tour visit www.dufferinmuseum.com/PublicProgramsTours or call 1-877-941-7787 ext. 32

Feathered Waves – A New Approach

Way back in August of last year I made this necklace for the Art Bead Scene monthly challenge

I was never totally happy with the necklace. The overall concept was good enough but the pieces just did not add up and didn’t do justice to the large feather. What wasn’t working for me?

The shiny smooth silver plated bail that held the blue iris pendulum bail didn’t fit in with the organic look of the necklace

The one strand of seed beads for the neck cord was just wimpy looking

The toggle bail was too large for that little strand of seed beads

This weekend I took the time to redo the necklace. Now it looks like this

 

Feathered Waves

I added 2 more strands of seed beads to the necklace, replaced the bail with one made out of seed beads, making it blend in better and added a silver plated chain to give the wearer options in the length. I also replaced the toggle clasp with a simpler lobster clasp. It fits much better with the size of the seed bead strands

Feathered Waves

The necklace is available in my shop here

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day