Spring Petals Necklace~Sweet Detour

Here’s the necklace my Muse insisted on me making last night instead of the OC Fair Necklace.

I don’t know about you but I buy beads because I love them. I’m addicted to them. When I see something wonderful, I have to get them because, hey, I may never see them again.

Consequently, I have a ton of beads just waiting for the right projects. These pretty, translucent lampwork beads have lived in my bead drawers for a long, long time. I’m so happy they found their project!

These starry blue beads have also waited patiently for the perfect project. I so love this chain design and these faceted beads were the ideal complement to the delicate motif.

On another subject, I was a little bummed to find out that Tequila Sunrise didn’t make the judges cut in the Beadstar Contest. Oh well, there’s always next year! Thanks for your encouragement with that project. At least now, I can put it up for sale. You’ll be seeing it soon on Etsy.


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Tall Mouse Craft Show

It wasn’t the greatest show on earth… But I met two very cool creative types~Yolandasclay (ceramic beads and pendants) and Laloon (art clay silver and cork)~and gave out a bunch of business cards. When a bad day goes fast, you know you’ve met some fun people!

Here’s a terrible, cell phone pic of my setup. It’s a constant challenge to do setup’s for different size tables and spaces.

I was happy with the different levels I created and for once, I didn’t put out too much and create clutter.

A word to show crafters, newbies and otherwise--if you’ve committed to do a show till a certain time, do NOT pack up early. I don’t want to totally rant out here, but it’s upsetting when vendors leave before the show is over. Besides the fact that it’s unprofessional, it makes the show look shoddy when there are empty spaces. You are making a commitment to do the show-have the integrity to complete your obligation.

Stepping off soapbox.

I’ve been putting off starting the competition necklace for the Orange County Fair. But now I’m back from vacation and the two shows I had are done. No more excuses!! This coming week will be dedicated to getting my Beaches of Orange County necklace done. I may even do a bracelet and earrings! To keep me motivated, I may even post progress photos.

May 15 is the day to start voting for the Beadstar contest, where I posted my Tequila Sunrise necklace. You can believe I’m gonna post the link here so you can vote! For me, hopefully :-)

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Work in Progress-Beadstar Contest Necklace

For those who follow me on Twitter, I’ve been mentioning working on “the contest necklace”. Well, here’s what I’ve been talking about.

Raw materials~~I knew I wanted a very specific color scheme, so I gathered all the reds, oranges and yellows I had and put them all in a big container, so they’d be wicked easy to work with.

I’ll be filling in all the chain up to the two red/orange beads at each end, an 8 to 9 hour process, doing each bead or bead set with a wrapped loop. I love the toggle. It’s an enameled metal I found at Brea Bead Works. I wanted a gold sun toggle but I don’t think they exist, so I was happy with this one since the color totally works with my design.

I may take off the faceted round red beads that frame the focal. They hide the pendant piece too much and for this necklace, I really do want to make sure that the focal has presence.

This entry will be in the glass category but I may also do one in the hearts category, since that’s one of my favorite shapes and I have billions of heart charms. Ok, 100’s…

Not that I want competition ;-), but here’s the link to the Beadstar contest http://www.beadingdaily.com/beadstar/Bead-Star-Rules.asp

Once I get this finished, I’ll post more pix. Wish me luck!

www.bearchick.etsy.com
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