Pictures Become Collage

TaDa!!!

After many tries I have finally discovered how to make a collage. Now to perfect the process & remember how I did it!

Lampwork & Clay Blog Hop - The Reveal!

A few months go, Lisa Lodge of Pine Ridge Treasures organized this wonderful blog hop. We had the choice of either lampwork or clay. Since I really like both, it was a hard decision.

Lampwork won out on the coin toss up! 

The beads are beautiful! Marcia Seever of ShaZazz Glass is the wonderful creator of these beauties! What beauties you might say .... well  I did it again!   I forgot to take pictures of the lampwork before I began - SIGH! ;)
Does anyone else relate to this "Problem"!!!!????  :) 

It took me awhile to decide how to show off these beauties. In fact, I didn't come up with an idea until midnight last night!  I think my muse was sleepy! .........  However, after much brainstorming & dragging out a bunch of beads & wire, she finally woke &  ...... This is my newest bracelet!

(From left to right) The lampwork beauties are the first bead - brown & white swirl, the third bead - brown with black & orange, and the last bead that is multi-colors of blue, white, brown & orange (it actually reminds me of a fish. Aren't they gorgeous?! I added accents of turquoise, tiger's eye, brown Chinese crystals of different shades from ZnetShows , black Czech crystals, & a stone (the round grey with red) I found down in Mexico that I have no clue what it is.

Thank you Lisa!

Check out the other participants from the list below! I'm off to blog hop  -- ENJOY :))

Our hostess:  Lisa Lodge, A Grateful Artist

Mary Govaars, MLH Jewelry Designs

Melissa Trudinger, Bead Recipes

Kathy Zeigler Lindemer, Bay Moon Design

Laurie Vyselaar, Lefthand Jewelry

Annette Rivers, MamaOwl's Mess

Karin King, The Sparkle Things Blog

Shaiha Williams,   Shaiha's Ramblings

Mimi Gardner, Baubles, Beads and Other Curiosities

Dee Alcalde, Agape Creations Jewelry

Kay Thomerson, Kayz Kreationz

Karla Morgan, Texas Pepper Jams

Lori Jean Poppe, Lorillijean Creative Corner

Eleanor Burian Moore, The Charmed Life

Terri Wlaschin, Dances in Fog

Sharyl McMillian-Nelson, Sharyl's Jewelry

Jo-Ann Woolverton, It's a Beadiful Creation

Veralynne Malone, Designed by Vera

Linda Aspenson Bergstrom, TBD

Toltec  Jewels, Jewel School Friends

Judy Turner, Silver Rains

Gloria Allen, Gloria Allen Designs

Kathleen Douglas, Washoe Kat's

Connie Tipton, TBD

Christie Searle Murrow, Charis Designs Jewelry

Andrea Glick-Zenith, ZenithJade Creations

Michele Dotson, Star Jewels

Chris Eisenberg, Wanderware

Jennifer Clifford, TBD

Kathleen Breeding, 99 Bottles of Beads on the Wall

Molly Alexander, Beautifully Broken Me

Loretta, Loretta's Boutique

Carolyn Lawson, Carolyns Creations

Shirley Moore, Beads and Bread

Bonnie Coursolle, Jasper's Gems

Alice Craddick, Alice's Beads and Baubles (reveal will be delayed a few days)

Pearls - "The Winter Diamonds!"

The Znet Shows' Dream Team is at it again! Many of us are working on Pearl creations for the upcoming Winter 2013/14 issue of Creative Spark, Znet Shows' Glossi magazine.

Pearls are known for being delicate, rare, fine, and valuable. Today, the majority sold are cultured or farmed. Imitation Pearls made of glass have become extremely popular in making beautiful & affordable jewelry, lavish clothing, and decorations.

The glass Pearl selections that Znet Shows have in their inventory are beautiful, high quality, and affordable.

The Pearls I chose & the Crystal accents.............

Pearls: (BDS1618-14)  6mm golden rounds
                      (BDS1619-23FIVE)  8mm bronze rounds
                    (BDS1923-36FIVE)   Vanilla rice pearls
Crystals: (ZMX-05-02)  6x4mm amber glow rondelles
        (ZMX-04-06)  autumn leaves teardrops

My Creations

 The wire is a combination of gold filled and rose gold filled.  

See Znet Show's Blog for the other Dream Team creations!

Book Review! - Project Necklaces

Project Necklaces 

by Kalmbach Publishers

This book has a wonderful variety of projects - 30 in all - using wirework, stringing, and stitching techniques. It is designed for beginners as well as the more experienced designer.

Beginners can benefit from pages 10 & 11 with Necklace Fitting 101. These two pages are designed to help you find the perfect length for your designs; choker & collar length, princess length, matinee length, opera length, and lariats & ropes. Learning how to custom tailor your necklaces to fit each individual you design for is a must!

I liked the way this book was divided; Stringing, Single Stitches, Combined Techniques, & Wirework. Each section has projects that a beginner would find simple enough and at the same time could spark the imagination of the more experienced.

The first section is simple stringing projects. Totally designed for the beginner.

But the second Section of Single Stitches has a little versatility in it. For example, the Peacock Fan on pages 22-24 is a fairly simple beading project.

and the Get to the Point necklace on pages 31-33 is a little more advanced single beading stitch.

I totally fell in love with the Autumn Garland necklace on pages 39-41 in the third section under Combined Techniques and .......

the Elementary Engineering project on pages 54-57. This project is actually two necklaces with the same techniques but allowing for creativity in design & imagination for the more advanced beader.

My love is actually in the last section under Wirework. The project on pages 66-67, Raining Petals, gave me inspiration for my latest project with ZnetShows' Pearl Challenge.

This is the necklace I made for the Pearl Challenge.

One of my next projects will be inspired by Sew Wired on pages 73-75. This is a combination of buttons, wire, and chain. I can totally see incorporating beads & copper into this project to personalize it.

I hope you enjoy this book as much as I did. Kalmbach did a wonderful job with the pictures, instructions & art work.