Anchors Aweigh Blog Hop Reveal featuring Suburban Girl Studio

Wow have I been busy.  I have had art shows 4 weekends in a row.  Luckily I had already finished my entry for this blog hop.
I would like to thank Rita of  Toltec Jewels for sponsoring the Anchors Aweigh Blog Hop.  She has been very generous with all of the participants.  Please take a moment to go to her website by clicking on Toltec Jewels and see all of her beautiful creations
Remember we were supposed to have a blog hop with just 10 artists but Rita just can't help herself or actually I think she hates to say no to all of us because we all beg to get in to any of her blog hops, ha ha.  So now we have 25 artists participating and I will share the list so you can visit all the artists and see what we made with what we were so lucky to receive.  Please visit and leave comments if you can because we would all love to hear what you think of our designs.
Here is what we received compliments of Rita and artistically created by Diana from Suburban Girl Studio.  These little cute porcelain charms were either in green or blue.

I received green ones.  Aren't they adorable?  As soon as I looked at these they screamed earrings.  I wanted something to tie into the theme and I looked through all of the tons of bead stash I have and I found these copper birds and some connectors that looked kind of ropy and reminded me of life savers that they throw out to you when you go overboard on a boatI  I also had some wooly wire that I had never used and I wanted to add a little color to brighten up the design. Took me several weeks walking by all the different parts that I had laid out on my desk.  I just couldn't make up my mind because I had another set of connectors but they were just plain circles in brass and it just kinda looked a little boring. In the end I went with my first design and I hope you like them.

Without further adieu!

 I just love these and I hope you do too.  I had so much fun creating them!  Please visit all of the following blogs to see the other artists creations. Enjoy

Marianne

Featured & Honored Artist:        Diana Ptaszynski

Diana's Shop:                           Suburban Girl Beads

Diana's Blogs:                          Suburban Girl Studio

                                               Art Jewelry Elements

Hostess: TJ                              Jewel School Friends

Bobbie Rafferty                        Beadsong Jewelry

Chris Eisenberg                        Wanderware

Heather Richter                         Desert Jewelry Designs

Michelle McCarthy                    Firefly Design Studio

Kathy Lindemer                        Bay Moon Design

Dini Bruinsma                           Angaza by Changes

Cynthia Machata                       Antiquity Travelers

Kathleen Breeding                     99 Bottles of Beads on the Wall

Linda Younkman                       Lindy's Designs

Robin Reed                              Artistry HCBD

Marla Gibson                            Spice Box Designs

Gina Hockett                            Freestyle Elements

Renetha Stanziano                     Lamplight Crafts

Christina Miles                         Wings N Scales

Marybeth Rich                         A Few Words from Within the Pines

Shai Williams                           Shaiha's Ramblings

Cheri Reed                               Creative Designs by Cheri

Monique Urguhart                     A Half-Baked Notion

Jennifer Reno                           Musings of a Crafty Jenny

Shirley Moore                           Beads and Bread

Tammy Adams                         Paisley Lizard

Melissa Trudinger                     Bead Recipes

Jill Bradley                               JillyBeads

Summer Carnival 2014 Blog Hop Reveal

Wow this was really fun once I got started.  I had a hard time at first even though I loved the colors of all the beads.  I was just stuck for some reason.  Lisa Lodge of  Pine Ridge Treasures   sponsors this hop.  She likes us to use as many as the beads in the kit as we can as well as beads from our stash but not purchase any.  Of course all beader's have more beads than they know what to do with.   I used quite a bit and still have enough to make a few more things, or add to my stash for another day.
A reminder of all the wonderful beads.
  

   I decided to work on a necklace first.  I wanted to make something that dangled in front. I laid out all the colors and thought I would use the yellow and blue sea glass with some of the white beads. I had a really cute silver head pin that has flowers on it and I used that to dangle some more beads.  So reminds me of summer!

 

Then I decided I needed a bracelet and earrings to go with the necklace. The glass beads that look a little green in the photo actually are this wonderful warm shade of yellow gold.  The bracelet is a simple stretch bracelet and is very light.  The bottom pair of earrings I also added a green crystal along with the blue and gold crystal.

 
After I finished those I thought I would make a gold set but with a longer chain.  This necklace can be worn with jeans or even that little black dress don't you think?

I love these gold earrings made with the crystals and sea glass.

Well that is it for this blog hop.  Hope you enjoyed my creations. Be sure and visit Pine Ridge Treasures to see all the other artists.

Anchors Aweigh!! Design Challenge

 Rita of Toltec Jewels invited me to participate in Anchors Aweigh!! Design Challenge Featuring  Suburban Girl Studio 

 

We received two very cute porcelain anchors for free to use in our designs. Each artist received either green or blue. 17 of us will be participating and the reveal will be on September 2nd so make sure you check back to see what I did.

I received green ones although they look blue :).

 I think this will be a fun one!

 

Pine Ridge Studio Summer Carnival Blog Hop

Lisa Lodge of Pine Ridge Treasures is holding a fun Summer Carnival Blog Hop.  The reveal will take place on August 2 which is coming up really quickly.  I have been very busy trying to get our house ready to put up for sale so I haven't had much time to be creative.  I had such a hard time coming up with a jewelry design even though I love, love, love the colors in the beads that Lisa sent me.  I think I might be having trouble because of the sparkly glass beads.  Kinda funny when I make sparkly dichroic glass pieces all the time.  When you join the hop you get a whole bunch of beads and Lisa lets you know the guidelines which are to use as many beads as you can from the kit, use what you have in your stash and don't buy any beads etc.  The hop is supposed to be challenging.  Anyway here are the beads!

A little blurry because I took them with my phone, but the sparkly beads are just a beautiful light golden color and I absolutely love the blue sea glass.  Well stay tuned for the hop and reveal which is August 2nd and see what I came up with.
So fun!

Ocean Blog Hop Reveal is here!

Well the day has finally arrived!  I have been working on my pieces for awhile.  As you recall I wasn't thrilled to get items that were orange because it happens to be my least favorite color,  haha.  Took me the longest time to get my mind wrapped around the colors and a beach theme. The focal is so cute and I just love the blues and pinks in it so I decided to add some turquoise and some shells to the mix.  As you can see in the first pictures the top two photo's are what I got in the package.  Thank you Lisa for stretching my creativity. 

I remembered I had these cute little anchors in copper which I thought would go well with the colors so I figured out how to attach to the beads and have it lay right, which I gotta tell you turned out to be a little bit harder than I expected.  I tried to add copper wire guards but they weren't wide enough. Then I made this cute bracelet with a fish clasp and made three pairs of earrings all different so depending on how sassy you want to be you could get several looks.

These last two are close ups.  Don't you just love the cute sea shells in orange sea glass that hang from the first pair of earrings on the left.

Please comment and then hop on over to the rest of the participants at Lori Lodge's Pine Ridge Treasures   Beach Hop Blog Party! 

Thanks for taking a peek.  If your looking for my post on the Bead Soup Blog Party scroll down just a few entries and you can comment there too.

Marianne

Ocean Blog Hop

The Ocean Blog Hop starts this weekend May 31st.  I am in the first reveal so stop by my blog to see what I made!   Remember the orange and white soup I received......well come see what happened to it.

The Reveal! Bead Soup Blog Party

The Reveal is happening now!
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Remember what my partner Marti Conrad sent to me in this really cute packaging:  I immediately thought of my friend Jeannie who made my husband Gary a yo-yo quilt when we got married. Jeannie is such an excellent quilter. We all spent many hours making over 500 yo yo's.  I vowed I would never make another one until I saw the packaging! 

Marti loves buttons so as soon as I took these little packages out of the box I remembered I had these cute buttons made out of polymer clay ( I am sorry I don't remember the artist) that look like quilting squares:

So from the packaging and my buttons I made this necklace after I made yo-yo's out of the blue jean wrappers for my friend Jeannie!

 

 I just love how it turned out.  I even used the yarn Marti tied it in.  I also used the adorable heart clasp in the necklace because it went so well with it. The clasp was made by Jean Wells especially for Marti to send to me. The clasp is handmade in copper.

Now the actual Bead Soup!

Marti sent me a huge array of beads and a beautiful focal

 

 Here is the focal and clasp by themselves.  The focal is so unusual you have to visit Marti's blog to see her inspiration.  I think she totally nailed it!

I never work with gemstones but this soup was so colorful and had so many different textures it was really fun to step outside the box and come up with a necklace. I added some gold links and a gold clasp.  Here is my finished piece. Reminds me of summer which is just around the corner.

I also made 4 different earring sets so you could wear different pairs depending on your mood:)  I added some chain from my stash and a couple of beads. I have enough beads to later make a bracelet!

I promised earlier that I would be giving away the second bead soup I made for my partner.  If you make a comment to this post I will randomly select the person who will receive this special Soup that features one of my new copper focals. I am not going to reveal it just yet but I think you will enjoy it.  (I may even include one of my fused glass pendants:)  Drawing will be held on June 15th so everyone has a chance to enter.

Also please visit our wonderful leader Lori Anderson who started this event and does all the work to keep track of everybody, match partners and keeps us up to date which is no small feat because there are almost 500 of us.
Here is where you can find the list of participants.  Bead Soup 8 participants  Please visit as many as you can.
Enjoy,
Marianne

Bead Soup Blog Party Update

Wow I finished my Bead Soup and I just wanted to give you a little tease.  This is from a group of buttons that I got a couple of years ago. (I have been scouring my purchases to find out who the artist is) I originally bought them to make my friend Jeannie a necklace.  She is a quilter who has made two quilts for us.  One when my husband and I got married 25 years ago, a yo-yo quilt and on our 20th anniversary a beautiful bright batik fabric quilt.  So I have been thinking about a necklace for a long time and still never could figure anything out.  I was going to include it in my partner's soup because Marti collects buttons, but it didn't seem to go with my soup to her.  So here is the blue button that I incorporated in my soup.....BUT you have to come back on the reveal date on May 3rd to see what I did with it.

Isn't this cute!

Sonoma Coast Event! Please join me.....

I will be participating in this event so if you are in the Northern California Coast Area this weekend stop by my booth and say hi.  Many artists, wineries, music and restaurants are participating also.

Hope to see you there.
Marianne

Hooked On PMC

I took a class on bezels and bails in PMC last weekend with my friend Vicki.  We had so much fun.  I made two pendants and refinished a pendant I made a long time ago.  We will be having several play dates this month to work in Bronze and copper.  The class was all silver and I was especially interested in adding my glass with the PMC.

Here is the first after firing but before setting and clean up.  This first photo is the setting that I added my glass piece to.  The second one I added a pink jasper to.  You will also see the finished piece front and back.

 

This is one that I did about 4 years ago and I shined it all up and I like it more now.










Stay tuned for more PMC work.
Marianne

Received My Soup Today

I received my Bead Soup today!  So excited to get started. This is my fourth Bead Soup Bead Party participation.  You get teamed with a partner anywhere in the world and you exchange a "Bead Soup which you have to use the Focal and the Clasp.  Most bead partners send coordinating beads to go with those two items.  I normally send two soups but my partner didn't want lots of beads to be sent because she is new to jewelry making.  So I will be giving a Bead Soup away after the reveal.  The winner will be selected randomly from people who make comments on my reveal.  More on the contest later.

Back to my Bead Soup, Marti Conrad my partner went all out on her cute packaging!

So cute little tied up packages in blue denim!  I immediately thought of my friend Jeanie who makes just lovely quilts.



 Then on to whats in the packaging.  These beautiful candy colored beads go so well with the greens in the gemstones.  Kinda way out of my comfort zone using gemstones but I love these colors.  So Spring!  She also included these really cute vintage looking connectors on the left.  Not really connectors but I am blanking on what there called right now.

Finally look at this beautiful clasp that Marti made herself, out of clay. Just beautiful.  The clasp is handmade by Jean Wells.

Stay tuned for my reveal on May 3rd to see what I did with these beads.

Bead Soup Blog Party

I received my partner for the Bead Soup Blog Party and her name is Marti Conrad and if you click on her name you will be taken to her blog. I mailed her soup today so when we both receive I will post the pictures of the Bead Soup I sent her.  She makes wonderful clay pieces that I am sure you will enjoy,  Check out her ETSY shop.
Looking forward to getting my soup.  Always a fun time for me waiting in anticipation, designing a piece.  I usually end up changing my mind and re-doing several times!  I always wonder what color I will be working in and what the focal will look like.  I usually end up donating all my pieces when I am done to different charitable groups where I live.
Well stay tuned!

The Color Orange

A few days ago I told you how I don't like the color orange. Well the very next day a friend of mine posted this on Facebook:

Orange is a power color. It is one of the healing colors. It is said to increase the craving for food. It also stimulates enthusiasm and creativity. Orange means vitality with endurance. People who like orange are usually thoughtful and sincere. Lady luck's color is orange. I have been told that if a change of any kind is needed in life, just burn an orange candle for 7 nights.

Orange Energy:

While red is associated with fiery heat, orange is associated with the benign warmth of the sun. A dynamic color to be sure, orange offers a more thoughtful control than explosive red. Curiosity is a driving characteristic of orange, and with it comes exploration of new things.

Put some orange in your life when you want:
to spice things up when you feel time is dragging
to become more involved in something
to increase creativity
relief from things becoming too serious. 

Who knew....I guess I will be working on that orange curiosity!
Marianne

New Blog Hop

I am participating in a new Blog Hop sponsored by Pine Ridge Treasures.  This one is a little different than the Bead Soup Blog Hop because you actually buy a kit and get sent a Bead Soup that you create a wearable art piece.  This one is called the "The Ocean Blog Hop". So I requested my kit and it arrived and I thought Oh No, not orange....This is probably my least favorite color, ha ha!  However the focal is just great and the beads are unbelievable!  Actually the color is growing on me.  I guess I just never thought that orange goes with the ocean and I was waiting for my wonderful blues and greens to show up, but duh coral....  This is why I love doing these blog hops because you get out of your comfort zone and restart your creativity in a totally new way.  So here is my "Soup".

 So here it is and as you can see there is some beautiful pieces of faux beach glass, these wonderful white barrel beads that have some unusual texture to them, kind of a sandy feel to them some great clear clear crystal daggers, some creamy flat beads and an incredible array of other items.

This focal isn't it just adorable?  The fish has some gorgeous colors of Turquoise and pink and golden  brownish tones.
I will be posting some of my progress as I work through a design for the finished piece.  My reveal date is May 31st so don't miss it.
Marianne

Creative New Year

I can't believe I haven't posted since May.  I unfortunately had loads of health issues last year including my New Year's eve broken arm 2012.  I still have limited feeling in my fingers but I hope within next few months that will clear up.  I am starting on a complete renewal of my creativity, my business and my life.  We will be selling our home this year and I will be quitting my day job!  I will be concentrating on my jewelry business full time as well as enjoying my husband and my life more.
Here is a beautiful sunset last week where we live.

I know it will be hard to leave this beautiful view but it is time to start anew.

I have been working on some new designs in my abstract painted designs.  These will be on my website in the next few weeks but here is a preview of two of them.

I really enjoy painting on glass.  How do you think they turned out?  What kind of necklace would you design for these.  I usually sell them with a chain necklace but I am thinking of embellishing a few of these and maybe wire wrapping some.  I have all different colors and I am experimenting with combined colors and dichroic glass.  I also am attempting to use some copper components I purchased from Wild Hare Design to combine with my glass.  I wasn't able to do much due to my arm so mostly I just burned up a piece while experimenting haha!
Stay tuned for some exciting new work and look for my involvement with Lori Anderson's Bead Soup Blog party later in the Spring.