If you're looking for Week 17 of the
Focus on Life: 52 Photos Challenge - Click HERE!
First, a super hearty thank you to our hostess, Lori Anderson who puts together the best "Soup Parties" on the planet! Lori's knack for bringing people together from all over the world is just phenomenal and with this, the 7th Bead Soup Blog Party, there are 541 participants in 28 countries on 4 continents having fun creating fabulous designs of all kinds with heaps of 'beads soups' that were traded out between partners. With three 'Reveals' over the last few weeks in order to accommodate everyone who wanted to play along, my hat's off to Lori (and her hubby!) for all the hard work and coordinating efforts this huge bead party takes to make it such a success!!
And so now, with out further ado,...
Lori paired me with the uber-talented
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| My Bead Soup Partner, Francesca Watson |
Francesca and I shared our 'Bead Soups' we sent each other in our posts, here and here.
I'll say it again - she's super sweet - and the Bead Soup Francesca sent me was just over the top, filled to the brim of my bowl with yummy bead-goodness!
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| Bead Soup I received from Francesca! |
Remember?!!
Bead Soup is meant to get you to step out of your comfort zone and try new things. Try as I might to step out of my comfort zone, my lack of skills kept me from accomplishing the things that were inside of my head (which looked really cool in my brain, by the way!) and so my pieces were assembled, taken apart, re-assembled,....
However, I was having lots of fun playing around with all the beads Francesca had sent and was truly enjoying all their wonderful colors and shapes.
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| Click Photos To Enlarge ;-) |
The first necklace I finished has the beautiful stone pendant that Francesca sent along with several of the gemstone beads she sent as well. I love the colors and texture and how this necklace feels when it's on (it feels fabulous!!).
I really wanted to somehow make a brass backing/bezel for it in order to highlight it a bit more, but I need to get some thinner gauge metal sheet to do this. The sheet I have is so thick I can't cut it w/anything but a jewelry saw and (luckily) I'm out of saw blades (because my sawing skills are horrible. That's a compliment, trust me!). My hubby says this one has my sister written all over it - color and texture wise - and I think he's right!
Here's the earrings I created to go with the necklace.
I REALLY like these!
Next, I took the amazing copper enameled (2nd) focal pendant that Francesca sent me and played around with it. I actually thought that most of the beads she sent would look fabulous all knotted in waxed linen in a multi-strand necklace with this focal. They did look fabulous all knotted, but again, the design just wasn't doing it for me, so that's another one of the designs that got scrapped.
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| Click Photos to Enlarge! :-) |
I ended up creating these tube-shaped paper beads from a magazine add that had a picture of the Grand Canyon it - the colors match perfectly and really (my opinion here) let the focal pendant take center stage. I also used the third focal that Francesca sent me - the carved, dyed horn bead - as one of the beads in the necklace - I just LOVE this bead! It was hard not to make that bead the focal of a hand-knotted/beaded type of wrap bracelet, let me tell you, but I was trying to steer away from my 'usual' here,....at least a tiny bit anyway!
I'm so in love with this necklace!
These colors,...totally my colors!!
I could wear this every day of the week!!
And then this bracelet is where I used the super fabulous clasp that Francesca made herself and sent me. These aren't colors I usually work with or wear, but I'm finding them fun and they were much easier to work with than I thought they would be. (Green really does go w/everything!)
I decided after all the 're-dos' I had w/the necklaces, that I deserved a nice, simple (design-wise) new bracelet all my own! I strung the bracelet on waxed linen and it feels so good on. I'm wearing this one right now, along with the earrings, too. (well, as I write this post I have it on!)
I've got a ton (yes a TON) of beads left over from the wonderful bead soup that Francesca sent me and I've got a couple of bracelets and earrings in the works using them, but nothing to show off as of yet.
I want to thank Francesca for sending such a lovely soup recipe to me and for allowing me to step out of my box a bit and try some shapes and colors of beads that I don't normally try and also for the wonderful focal pendants and clasp she sent me - I couldn't have asked for components that were more beautiful or fun!
Please stop by Francesca's Blog and see what she has cooked up with the beads I sent her - I know it will be wonderful - her designs always are!
and see the 3rd Reveal Participants with their links so you can hop around the 'world' (literally) and drool over all the amazing soups that everyone else has simmering!
Have fun!
Until Next Time,
Peace, Love and Bead Soup Fun!
Cheers,
~Shel~
