I like Halloween. It’s only just becoming a popular holiday in Australia, largely driven by the big retailers, but my kids have a lot of fun planning their costumes and going out trick-or-treating. And I have fond memories of living in the San Francisco Bay Area, where the local drag queens celebrated for at least a week, and the Halloween parade in the Castro was legendary for its excesses.
Today’s blog hop—the Day of the Dead and Halloween Jewellery blog hop—is brought to you by Diana Ptaszynski of Suburban Girl Studio. The challenge—to make jewellery with a Halloween/Day of the Dead theme using at least one art bead in each piece made.
For all my intentions, I only had time to make one piece. I used one of Natalie Fletcher‘s ceramic sugar skull pendants to make a necklace—it is similar to the one I used last year for my Mexican-themed Challenge of Travel piece. If you want to know more about Mexico’s Dia de los Muertos/Day of the Dead celebrations, I wrote a bit about it in that post.
Anyway, instead of using silver components like last time, I decided to go a bit darker, with dark metal chain and findings. I had some lovely big orange lampwork beads from Puddle Glass Art that said Halloween pumpkin to me, and some dyed fire agate rondelles in vibrant pinks, blues, purples and oranges. The chain came from the Vintaj Arte Metal range and the twisted link was from Fallen Angel Brass.
There are more than 40 participants in this blog hop, so please go and visit a few of them!
Diana Ptaszynski http://www.suburbangirlstudio.com <–HOSTESS!!
Staci Smith http://www.stacilouiseoriginals.com/
Kathleen Breeding http://99bobotw.blogspot.com
Sue Kennedy ww.suebeads.blogspot.com
Dianne Miller http://www.artbydianne.blogspot.com
Lisa Liddy http://www.lisaliddy.wordpress.com
Toltec Jewels http://www.JewelSchoolFriends.com
Linda Landig http://www.LindasBeadBlog.com
Laura Medeiros http://www.zoeowyn.blogspot.com
Veralynne Malone http://www.veradesigns.blogspot.com
Lynn Jobber http://thecreativeklutz.blogspot.co.uk
Michelle McCarthy http://www.fireflydesignstudio.blogspot.com
Karen Totten http://www.starryroadstudio.blogspot.com
Jayne Capps https://mamasgottodoodle.blogspot.com
Jenny Davies-Reazor http://jdaviesreazor.com/blog
Joan Miller http://metalmudandsand.blogspot.com/
Melissa Meman http://melissameman.blogspot.com
Melissa Trudinger http://www.beadrecipes.wordpress.com <– YOU ARE HERE!!!
Kari Asbury http://hippiechickdesign.blogspot.com
Inge von Roos http://www.ingetraud.wordpress.com
Andrea Glick http://zenithjade.blogspot.com
Stephanie LaRosa http://Www.stringaholic.blogspot.com
Lola Surwillo http://www.beadlolabead.com
Jennifer Cameron http://glassaddictions.com/blog
Diane Hawkey http://dianehawkey.blogspot.com
Kristi Harrison http://kristibasket-itsanewday.blogspot.com
Nicole Valentine Rimmer http://www.nvalentine.blogspot.com
Tanya Goodwin http://www.Pixiloo.blogspot.com
Shai Williams http://shaihasramblings.blogspot.com/
Sandra McGriff http://skyescreativechaos.blogspot.com
Sarajo Wentling http://www.sjdesignsjewelry.blogspot.com
Marie Covert http://thistledown-and-swaddlings.blogspot.com
Lisa Stukel http://www.carefreejewelrybylisa.blogspot.com
Laurie Vyselaar http://www.Lefthandjewelry.wordpress.com
Sherri Stokey http://www.knotjustmacrame.com
Pam Traub http://www.klassyjoolz.blogspot.com
Lori Dorrington http://lorisglassworks.blogspot.com
Kristen Stevens http://kristen-beadjourney.blogspot.com
Eleanor Burian-Mohr http://cornerstoregoddessjewelry.blogspot.com
Sally Russick http://thestudiosublime.com
Dawn M. Gallop http://www.flipflopsandpoptarts.com
Christine Damm http://storiestheytell.blogspot.com
beadrecipes 
Nice use of colors other than orange– great piece! Also, thanks for the memories of SF Bay Area’s Hallowe’en– I lived in Berzerkeley for 20 years. Happy Hallowe’en!!
My favorite vacation in the world was in the 1990′ – a week in San Franciso- LOVED IT! Your necklace is fabulous – love the orange beads!! And the sugar skull is awesome! Happy Halloween!
Love the vibrant colors in your design, Sugar Skulls are always so colorful, you’ve captured the look and feel of the Day of the Dead perfectly.
Cheers!
Lori in Atlanta
That’s a fun, vibrant piece! Thanks for participating!
perfectly sugar skull- bright and fun
Beautiful necklace – the darker chain and findings really make those bright colors pop. Really pretty!
Love the bright colors and that sugar skull. And I like the contrast between the colorful beads and the dark chain. A perfect piece for the day of the dead
I love the colors in your necklace. Definitely a fun piece!
Fun! Very Day of the Dead; which is really a celebration.
Super cute and fun, love the colors and the chain just fit perfect together…Happy Halloween!
wow gorgeous work! Love it!
Love the bright festive colors.
What a bright and happy necklace. It will be sure to steal the show.
Great necklace! I love the bright colors with the dark metals. The whole thing is just Day of the Dead perfection.
Yea! Fun skulls not dreary black or silver with red eyes!!!
Such happy colors! It’s a feel-good necklace.
Great necklace! I adore the pendant and all the fun colors
Love all the colors and the adorable sugar skull! Great job!
Really like your necklace, I have a fondness for skulls, but the colors of the beads just pop out at you!!! Really fun!
Perfect color palette! That skull is so cute – it looks like a sugar cookie!
You always make such a wonderful and vibrant necklace. I love how you combine the colors with this dark chain. Very Elegant.
Sweet necklace!
I love your necklace. The colors are wonderful. Good luck with your Etsy shop!