Showing posts with label Mostly Metal Challenge. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mostly Metal Challenge. Show all posts

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Mostly Metal Challenge

Metal Love Jewelry Collection
Hi Everyone! Today is reveal day for Michelle Mach's Mostly Metal Challenge. We had 3 challenge kits to choose from with mostly metal components in them. Each kit had a theme and a metal color of either antique brass, gold filigree or gunmetal. Aside from all the metal parts, each kit also came with a few beads and some luscious fibers, which was my favorite part! You know me, throw some ribbon or cord in there and I'm all about it. 
 I chose the Gunmetal Love kit shown above. (Red cord and beads not shown.) 

I liked the overall look of this kit and I had a few ideas for some of the components as soon as I saw them. I ended up using 4 items from the kit: the black metal key ring, the large heart pendant, the red cording and the two ornate bead caps. 
I decided that I wanted to create a collection of pieces that looked chic together as a grouping. Each design in itself is very simple, but they enhance each other put together. I really enjoyed mixing the metal finishes in each piece. Each piece of jewelry has a combination of copper and silver metals. 

Peace Made with Love Charm Necklace
The large split ring/key ring and red cord were from the kit. I made them into a simple charm necklace. I'm such a sucker for charm necklace. Always have been. What I love about this is the large key ring is perfect for making a necklace like this. The charms can easily be taken on and off the split ring without the use of any tools. These charms can be switched out anytime for other charms for a different look. How cool is that? It seems so simple and obvious, but I don't think I've thought of doing this before. I WILL be on the look out for more key rings like this one to make more charm necklaces! Can't help myself.

Our Hearts Beat as One Chain Necklace
Very simple design, but I like the simplicity and symbolism. "Two hearts beating as one." The heart pendant was from the kit. I added the Miss Fickle Media antiqued copper ball chain and the two heart charms. One in copper, one in silver. 

Teal Tassel Earrings
How fun are these? The ornate bead caps were from the kit. I used them as "Cone" findings and made these cool tassel earrings with some teal colored embroidery floss. These earrings are super lightweight and add lots of drama to any outfit.
I hope you enjoyed my challenge pieces! Now, have fun hopping around to see what the others created with their kits.

Here's the list of the participating jewelry designers:
Antique Brass Romantic
Filigree Fun
Gunmetal Love

Thursday, August 11, 2011

Bead Soup and August Happenings

A special THANK YOU goes out to Lori Anderson for hosting another amazing Bead Soup Blog Party! It gets bigger and better every time. It's an honor to be apart of this renowned event. Here's a sneak-peek teaser of the bead soup I sent my partner, Anna Sabina of Total Escape Clay Studio. She is a polymer clay bead artist and I can't wait to see what she sends along.

And now, here's a list of a few beady events coming up in the month of August:

Tuesday, August 16th - Michelle Mach's Mostly Metal Challenge -
 I'm participating! I can't wait to see what the other participants made with Michelle's mostly metal bead kits! I choose the Gunmetal Love kit. I'm pretty excited about the jewelry I made for this, so be sure to stop by my blog on Tuesday to see what I created.

Friday-Sunday, August 19th-21st - BEAD FEST Philadelphia -
I'm finally going this year!!! I'm so super excited! I'm mostly looking forward to seeing all my beady friends there. What was that, you said?...What about all the beads lying around? Ah, well...those are a nice bonus, too ;0 Can't wait to see my friend and co-author, Lorelei and Nancy and Kelley, too. I'll be meeting TONS of new beady friends from the beading and blogging community that I've been wanting to meet for years. I. CAN. NOT. WAIT. Are you going? Will I see you there? Please let me know if you will be there, I would love say Hi.

Saturday, August 27th - Lorelei's Shadow Box Challenge -
I missed out on this one, but I'm really looking forward to seeing what everyone does with those enameled boxes from C-Koop Beads.


Monday, August 29th - Andrew Thornton's August Reader's Challenge -
Geesh, another one I missed this time. I'm excited to see the results from the ones that did participate, though. It's always fun to see what others create. I like Andrew's idea of creating bead kits for the challenges. It's always interesting to see different ideas come to life from the same components. I really enjoy having a limited pool of materials to work with. Sometimes that makes it much easier to be creative. I will be on the look out for Andrew's September challenge kits to participate next month!