Christine has really blessed me with a fabulous SOUP.

Her  card, the perfect message for this exchange...... read on

I imagine, therefore I am free
Dreaming is an act of pure imagination
Growth contains happiness
Create it is the spirit that creates
Become to live is to be slowly born.

Her letter, describing the history of beads ......

Turquoise flower hoarded for several years (artist unknown).  Also included some triangle wooden beads, a few top drilled crystals and a strand of 2mm firepolished, and turquoise stones.  She also loves turquoise and it's MY birthstone.  What a nice combination of beads. I love them.

Lampwork beads purchased when (mystery artist) was closing her shop.  Her intended earrings didn't materialize.  ooooh lucky me.  I love these colors, and the coordinating beads of kelly green crystals, black roundels and amethyst faceted rounds will be fun to work with.

Seaglass, seaglass and more seaglass from ZnetShows.  She loves working with this and wanted to share some with me.  Again, how lucky I am.  I do wirewrapping and always wanted to try working with seaglass. Stay tuned....

And every bracelet or necklace needs some kind of claps.  She covered that too with 3 choices.  

Thank you so much Christine.....

Anticipation. Bead Soupers, tic tic tic... the clock keeps ticking....

In anticipation of my package arrival next Tuesday from my Bead Soup partner Christine, I have been practicing new ideas, techniques.  Crocheting and knitting have never come easy to me (too tight in the shoulders, too cramped in the hands and too challenging to read and figure out the patterns, stitches, etc).  This year I did successfully finish a couple of dish rags that cheer up my kitchen.  Since I have mastered the chain stitch and since I do have a lot of (cheapy) colorful beads (and am still trying to reduce my stash) I decided to make a couple of long strings of beads and use as necklaces or whatever.  Here is my finished product, picture taken on a South facing sunny day, through the window.  Lucky me.

Color wheel was just that.  I used my color wheel to artfully string on beads that were close to the color wheel pattern in the correct order, and single crocheted each into place, one at a time.  I had a different size hook than pattern called for so in no time at all I used up all the white yarn.  Oh well, you can still wrap it twice around neck and use button closure.

Then I went for my RED stash - love these 2 colors together.  GREEN cord was a left over from another (unfinished) project, so I went to town on that one too.  Am happy with the way they turned out - love all the different colors, shapes, sizes of beads in each necklace.  I leave them in my south facing window and watch the sun shine on each - brings me a little joy (and I actually finished something... yea.)

Enjoy your sunny day, where ever you are.

Joyfully yours

Bead Soup, Hoarders Edition 2017 Partners Announced.... (drum roll please)

Just read the name of my Bead Soup Partner for 2017.  I'm  all ready (overachiever), beads packed, notes written, and all I need is an address and I'm ready to go.

BEAD PARTNER IS:  CHRISTINE STONEFIELD.

More soon.  Can't wait to e-meet her.

Turquoise, copper and earth tones, a nice combo.  Still experimenting with wire wrapping techniques from
the book mentioned in a previous post.  I have so much wire, so many beads so much inspiration.  I do love the simplicity of this piece built on really heavy copper wire, accented by 4mm beads and stones.

joyfully delicious!

Blue Moon Sun Catcher

Large Sun Catcher

Lately I've been trying to use up beads, all different sizes, colors, shapes, eras, prices.  I found a great source at the dollar store, florist section.  12 g wire, soft and pliable, great for making shapes.   It comes in gold, purple, red and apple green. This is my 5th one, all different ... this is one of the more simple designs, at 8" long.  Not sure what to do with them, other than gifts. Any ideas?  As an aside, this same exact wire is sold on Amazon for $4.95.  Check out your local dollar store for some real deals.

My process:

sketch a simple design (then do your own thing)
Shaped the wire
chose a combo of complimentary beads
started wire wrapping with large seed beads and silver tone wire
used purple wire for 2nd wrap
painted Vintaj moon lady, punched hole at bottom and hung a bead
Swarovski crystals, seeds, fluorite teardrop, and lots of other beads
added some metal swirls at the top and wrapped some beads in there too