Swaps and exchanges – beadrecipes

It’s (Bead Soup Blog) Party Time!

March 25, 2017 Melissa

It’s finally reveal day for the Bead Soup Blog Party: Bead Hoarders Edition!

When I received my bead soup from Denise Milward a few weeks ago, I was sure I would use the big striped agate focal first, and struggle with the yellow agate pendant. But then I saw a Design Seeds palette that gave me the perfect colour inspiration for the yellow pendant and I ended up struggling with the striped pendant instead!

Just to remind you, here’s the soup Denise sent me:

Here’s the palette that inspired me — that yellow is just about a perfect match for the pendant isn’t it?

Palette by Design Seeds { flora hues } image via: @botanical_tales

I knew I had some amethyst in my stash of gemstones, and I was delighted to find a strand of faceted oval stones. As I was going through a box of mixed beads, I also came across a bag of vintage Czech glass rounds in that very same deep amber yellow (I believe Lennis Carrier gave them to me in a swap a couple of years ago). I knotted them on lavender waxed linen to make a very simple but striking necklace.

So once I got that necklace out of the way, it was time to tackle the big striped agate pendant. I fiddled around for quite a while, trying different combinations of beads, including the honey-coloured matte agate rounds and the tiny carnelian beads that Denise had sent along with the pendants. I added some ceramic rounds made by Natalie McKenna and some wooden beads that I’ve had for ages. Then I found some big agate beads that my sister had brought me back from Vietnam or Laos that provided the weight the necklace needed to balance the size of the pendant. But it still needed something, the colours were too similar. And then I remembered the turquoise turtles, and added a couple — and suddenly it all fell into place!

I made a pair of asymmetric earrings with a couple more of the turtles and two more of the painted wooden rounds. I think they’re pretty cute, don’t you?

And here are all three pieces together!

I still have quite a few bits and bobs from Denise’s soup. I think the embellishment Denise made from daggers and rounds would look great stitched onto a cuff bracelet, but the leather cuffs I have are not wide enough. Perhaps it would work on a denim cuff if I can get some darker denim. Stay tuned for that!

Thank you so much for the beautiful bead soup Denise, I’ve had loads of fun with it, and I’m pretty pleased with the pieces I made from it. I’m looking forward to seeing what you made with the soup I sent you. (Denise is posting on Pinterest right here.)

Somewhere around 160 beaders and jewellery designers have joined in this round of the Bead Soup Blog Party, and none of it would have happened without Lori Anderson. I’ll be spending much of my spare time in the next week visiting all of the BSBP blogs and I hope you have time to look at a few too. Here’s a list of all of the blogs — and the odd Pinterest board too!

Lori Anderson :: Hostess

Melissa Trudinger :: You are here!

Marianna DeLuca Wehner

Terry Jeanette Carter

Donna Hoblit Ann Schroeder

Kelly Hosford Patterson

Dyanne Everett-Cantrell

Michelle Escano Caballero

Natalie Ettinger

Valerie Norton

Rachel Mallis

Denise Milward :: My partner

Robin Lynne Showstack

Blog Hops and Challenges, Swaps and exchanges

Soup, soup, beautiful bead soup!

March 7, 2017 Melissa

The Bead Soup Blog Party has begun, with the exchange of bead soups! Denise got hers early last week while mine showed up at the end of the week. And I have to say, I think we were both quite chuffed with what we got.

Denise sent me a lovely selection of beads, inspired by my name, Melissa, which means honey or honey bee in Greek. The beads span a palette of delicate oranges and yellows as well as earthy tones, plus a set of turquoise blue turtles for contrast. The beads include carnelian, coral, dyed agates and jasper, to set off two gorgeous stone focals, one a larged striped agate and the other a mustard-coloured agate, She threw in some of her favourite one- and two-holed beads and another small beadwoven focal that I think she made.

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The colours remind me of the Australian desert landscapes, which may lead me to some inspiration!

As to the beads I sent Denise, well, they had an Australian flavour of sorts. I picked beads by some of my favourite Australian beadmakers, including a big beautiful ceramic focal by Natali Fletcher-Jones, that I have been hoarding for a while, plus some earring charms by Melissa Gabelle, another local clay artist whose work I tend to squirrel away. These two ceramic artists are among my very favourites, and both of them keep tempting me with more and more lovely beads, which they sell through various groups on Facebook including Australian Art Beads, Handmade Alchemy and Handmade Beads and Findings, among others.

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I added several lengths of sari silk in colours that and a selection of Czech beads in different sizes and shapes in coordinating hues. Finally, there is also a brass dragonfly clasp that is similar to one I received in my very first bead soup! I hope you really enjoy playing with this soup Denise, I had fun putting it together for you!

Ok, so now we both have until 25 March to create with our bead soups. I’d better get cracking!

Beads, Blog Hops and Challenges, Swaps and exchanges

Beads of Courage and the Art Charm Exchange

September 30, 2016 Melissa

A couple of years ago, I joined in the Art Charm Exchange, a swap and auction organized by Jen Cameron to raise money for Beads of Courage. This year Jen decided to run it again (the last time she will do so), and I jumped right in to take part again.

Beads of Courage is a program based in the US, which enables seriously ill children to collect beads representing milestones and procedures. The organization behind it runs a number of different programs, including commissioning special beads to be made by artists each year.

Jen’s Beads of Courage Art Charm Swap is a benefit for Beads of Courage, involving a big group of jewellery designers and bead makers from the US and around the world. Each participant provides 11 art charms made with handmade components such as lampwork beads or ceramic, polymer or metal clay, or mixed media. One charm is kept aside to auction off on eBay, and the remaining 10 are distributed amongst 10 of the other artists.

The charm auctions were meant to start today, but Jen has run into a snag there and has delayed the auction while she works out the best way forward.

Each year, Jen chooses a theme for the charms, and this year it was Fairytales. I thought about various different things I could do but in the end, I kept coming back to the idea of a book. After a bit of a search on Etsy and Pinterest for inspiration, I purchased some little brass book locket charms that were exactly the right size, with a bezel on both sides when the locket was open. I also found some digital book covers I could use to embellish the lockets. So I got to work. First the covers were glued onto the lockets using mod podge, and covered with several more coats. I love how the brush I use to apply the mod podge gives the covers a texture. I had two different versions of the cover, one says Enchanted and the other says English Fairy Tales.

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Inside the locket I glued a slip of paper with the words Once Upon a Time and Happily Ever After into the bezels and then used a small amount of ice resin to partially fill the bezels. I was careful as I didn’t want to overfill the bezels and I was a bit worried that the resin would flow into the innards of the locket and then out the corners, but it all worked just fine!

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Finally I added a tiny key and a petite glass flower to the charms, and made sure they each had jump rings. Here’s a picture of the whole collection.

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I sent them off and waited impatiently to receive my collection of charms back. I’ll post about what I received in a separate post, perhaps when the auctions go live. In the mean time, hop around to see what others made inspired by the fairytale theme.

Alenka Obid
Andrea Glick
Angelique Gentry
Brooke Bock
Caroline Dewison
Cassi Paslick
Catherine van Alphen
Charlene Jacka
Helena Hatten
Jen Cameron
Jenny Davies-Reazor
Kathy Lindemer
Leona Smith
Lesley Watt
Lori Anderson
Marianne Baxter
Melissa Trudinger <– me!
Michelle McCarthy
Patty Miller
Shai Williams
Sheila Prosterman
Susan Kennedy
Terri Del Signore
Vanessa Gilkes

Beads, Swaps and exchanges

This is Halloween

November 6, 2015 Melissa

Or rather, that was Halloween! Blink and you miss things these days! Well, in our case, a horde of children descended on our house to go trick or treating in our neighbourhood (how nice that it was a Saturday night!), that’s my excuse anyway.

But I thought I would show you a few scary bits and pieces that I celebrated the season with! I took part in a Halloween jewellery swap. My partner and I had to make each other some Halloween jewellery. I had actually ordered a rather snazzy lampwork sugar skull focal just before I went away on my big adventure, but sadly it didn’t survive the trip in the post (which was literally just across town), so the artist, Pauline Delaney, kindly offered to make me a new one. Complicating it all was the fact that the first skull was sent in good time for me to receive it before I left on holiday but then took more than a week to travel across town (happily Pauline is local). So I didn’t find out until I got back from my trip, and then it took a little while for Pauline to make and send the replacement.

Anyway. It all got sorted nicely and my skull arrived in the mail. The next challenge was to work out what to do with it. I have to admit to having a bit of designers’ block on what to do. I pulled out lots of beads but couldn’t come up with something I liked. So I turned to Pinterest and went looking for inspiration. And what do you know! I found it! After seeing some skull beads (mostly in earrings I admit) with tasselled skirts, I played around and came up with a sari silk tassel to match the flowers on the back of the skull, flowing from a Fallen Angel Brass black tulip bead cap. The accompanying beads went into a wire wrapped necklace along with a few Czech glass flowers, and Vintaj Arte Metal chain.

While I was in the mood for skulls, I also put together a few pairs of cute earrings, featuring some tiny dyed howlite skulls with floral skirts. A pair of these plus the necklace went off in the mail to my swap partner Janeen, who lives in California.

And on Monday, Dia de los Muertos, aka Day of the Dead (the Mexican holiday which celebrates and honours the dead), I received a marvellous necklace and earrings from Janeen (she received her package that day too!). The necklace she sent me features polymer clay skulls by Staci Louise Smith, and I love it! Thanks again Janeen!

Beads, Swaps and exchanges

BeadFest part 4 — the people and the swaps

October 10, 2015 Melissa

One last BeadFest post and then I’m done, promise! This time I want to mention a few of the people I met at BeadFest and afterwards. I’ve been involved in the beading/jewellery design online community for a few years now, blogging, taking part in challenges, swapping beads and chatting on Facebook. So it was fabulous to meet some of the people I have talked to over the last few years.

I took with me a little stash of art beads from some of my favourite Aussie beadmakers—Natalie Fletcher-Jones, Melissa Gabelle (a new discovery), Pauline Delaney, and more to swap with friends I met on my travels (by the way, these three beadmakers are very active on FB bead groups including Australian Art Beads which is a great page for buying beads). I should have taken a picture of it all before I left, but alas, I didn’t.

One of the people I was really hoping to meet was Lori Anderson. As luck would have it, we walked into each other right outside the expo hall, as she was arriving with her son Zach and I was leaving. Of course I knew her immediately from her pink hair! We chatted happily for 10-15 minutes, and had hoped to catch up later that day or the next day, but unfortunately she was unwell and had to leave before we managed to meet up again. Lori gifted me a lovely bag stuffed full of beads and toggles (and I later sent her a bag of beads too, as I didn’t happen to have them on me that day). Sadly, I didn’t think to take a photo of Lori at the time, but here’s a picture of the gift!

I had lunch another day with Heather Powers, who is the creative soul behind Humblebeads. We had such a good chat! Some of the beads I showed in my last post came from a swap I did with Heather.

At Jenny Davies-Reazor‘s booth, I met not just Jenny but several of the other Art Jewelry Elements bloggers too—Lesley Watt (who came over from the UK to attend the show), Diana Ptaszynski and Linda Landig (who took photos but managed to stay out of one herself!). There were definitely swapsies involved with Jenny, Lesley and Diana, and they kindly allowed me to rest my poor tired feet behind their stand.

Michelle McCarthy and I had already arranged to do a swap through a swap group we belong to, and decided to do it in person at the show.

And here’s a picture of me and Marsha Neal, just because!

After BeadFest there were a few more chances to meet people and to swap beads via the mail with friends I didn’t get a chance to meet in person.

Lennis Carrier sent me a fabulous selection of art beads, almost all of them with a few coordinating Czech beads as well. We had hoped to catch up in person, but she ended up helping out a friend on the other side of the country instead of coming to BeadFest.

Cory Tompkins sent me a lovely selection of her polymer clay creations, and a stash of other bits and bobs as well. Aren’t those polymer sugar skulls awesome?!

A few weeks after BeadFest I went roadtripping through the southwest with my family and we had dinner with Gina Hockett, another friend from my bead swap group. She gifted me some lovely turquoise cabs (from Judy McCourt), some lampwork beads, and a bracelet and earrings too, as well as some petrified wood pieces for my kids (collected from outside the national park of course!).

It was wonderful to meet online friends in real life, even if it was only for a short time—I will be back! And of course, I would love to see some of my beady friends in Australia one day…

Beads, Classes and new techniques, Swaps and exchanges

Bead Fest or bust!

July 23, 2015 Melissa

view from the deck — The view across the valley, Marble Colorado

I’m off on a big overseas family holiday to the US in a couple of weeks, to visit the Rocky Mountains in Colorado with family, roadtrip through the Southwest to show the kids the Grand Canyon and other amazing things! There’ll be a few days in New Orleans, a week of Orlando adventures at Walt Disney World and The Wizarding World of Harry Potter (my kids are so excited!) at Universal Orlando and a week in the San Francisco Bay Area where my husband and I lived for quite a few years.

But one of the things I am most looking forward to is Bead Fest! I have been dying to go to either Bead Fest or Bead and Button — the two biggest bead shows in the US — since I first heard about them. We have bead shows in Australia of course, but they are much much smaller and only offer a handful or two of classes, not a whole week’s worth. So I’m booked in for a couple of longer classes — enameling with Sara Lukkonen and fold forming with Marti Brown, and also a couple of 45 minute classes featuring some techniques I’m keen to learn. I’m really hoping to meet some of my online bead friends too.

And then there’s the bead shopping of course. Oh the shopping. Just looking at the list of vendors is enough to make me start drooling.

Of course the Aussie dollar has gone south this year, was it really only a couple of years ago that it was on par with the US dollar? Well, now it’s below 75 cents, and the prognosis isn’t good. Sigh. So I’ll be madly converting and calculating prices while I’m there, and focusing on things that I can’t get at a reasonable price here. Oh and art beads of course!!

If anyone wants to recommend bead shops in the Rockies (especially around Glenwood Springs), the Southwest (we’ll be vaguely working our way from Marble CO, through Moab, Cortez, Gallup, along Route 66 to Flagstaff, to Sedona and the Grand Canyon, and finally Vegas, baby!), New Orleans, maybe Orlando (although I think we’ll be mostly doing theme parks, no time for beads there) and the Bay Area (SF and Berkeley/Oakland area), I’d be very grateful.

I’d love to set up some bead swaps with anyone who is going to be at Bead Fest — I’ll bring you some of my favourite Aussie art beads (pssst, did anyone mention Peruzi?) if you like and you can swap for some of your favourites in return. What do you think? Leave me a comment or message me through Facebook or email me (the address is on this blog’s About page).

Also, stay tuned for a SALE later this month! I just need to load a few more things on my Etsy shop. It would be nice to have an excuse to spend a bit of money on new beads after all!

Beads, Blog Hops and Challenges, Swaps and exchanges

Bead Peeps Swap’n’Hop

May 2, 2015May 2, 2015 Melissa

The day has arrived for the Bead Peeps Swap’n’Hop reveal. This blog hop is hosted by Linda Anderson and the Facebook group Bead Peeps, and like other bead soup-style blog hops, participants were paired up and asked to exchange a selection of beads including at least one artisan-made bead, a nice clasp and some coordinating beads.

My partner this time around is Niky Sayers, a UK-based designer and metalsmith who makes the most fabulous jewellery. I’m really looking forward to seeing what she has made using the bead soup I sent her. She treated me to a lovely selection of artisan goodies including some of her own delicious goodies—a clasp, a connector and a bead made from coins, and more.

The first piece I made featured the gorgeous chocolate clay and turquoise heart focal made by Gaea and the 6mm serpentine rondelles. I added some Czech glass coins and flowers and some supersoft chocolate brown deerhide lace, which simply ties into a bow at the back of the neck.

Next up is a pair of earrings featuring two Kylie Parry birds—not quite the same, but similar—perched on top of Niky’s sweet little copper mushroom headpins. The earwires are antiqued copper from The Curious Bead Shop.

And then finally is a rather special necklace I’m calling the Bowerbird, after the Australian bird that collects all sorts of bits and bobs to decorate its bower to entice a mate. I’ve created a necklace featuring a collection of bits and bobs from my art bead hoard, all linked together.

I’ve used several things from the soup, including two of Niky’s coin components (the copper farthing-based clasp and connector), as well as the enamel script bead by Blue Antiquities, the aqua Karen Totten beads and the Bo Hulley fly connector. Niky’s connector features a lampwork headpin by Jennifer Cameron in deep pinky purples and yellow, which goes well with the pink and yellow lampwork beads from Michelle Mahre. A Gaea love nest bead plus the coordinating beads from the bundle, and a Gaea rainbow wave bead are also in there, and I’ve also included a Humblebeads polymer clay house bead and a tiny charm from Jade Scott. Rounding out the art beads are 2 copper beads with a violet patina, two copper rings with a violet patina and two antiqued copper rings, all from Miss Fickle Media. Finally, I’ve added in tumbled fluorite nuggets and a selection of Czech glass beads in a variety of shapes and colours.

The resulting necklace is an eclectic collection, that I think would happily grace a bowerbird’s nest, or my neck! It was super-hard to photograph in its entirety though!

Thank you Niky for sending me such a delicious soup! I still have a few pieces yet to use, and I’m looking forward to finding the right pieces to feature them in. And thank you to Linda and Bead Peeps for hosting the hop! There are loads of participants listed below, so pick a few to go and visit!

Finally, if you’re looking for a new blog hop challenge, consider my Epic Inspirations Blog Hop, which has a reveal date in early June.

Bead Peeps Swap N Hop 2015 Partner List

Our Hostess: Linda Anderson http//:fromTheBeadBoard.blogspot.com

Linda Anderson http://fromTheBeadBoard.blogspot.com
Marica Zammit http://www.beadlovelies.com

Linda Anderson http://fromTheBeadBoard.blogspot.com
Jessica Hocutt https://faithfamilyandadventure.wordpress.com

Kristina Hahn Eleniak http://www.peacockandlime.wordpress.com
Debbie Jeffries http://wordpress/debrasdivinedesigns/blog.com

Rosantia Petkova http://bairozan.blogspot.com/
Shalini Austin http://jewellerybyshalini.co.uk/my-blog/

Catherine La Vite http://drygulchbeadsandjewelry.blogspot.com
Annica Larsson http://zestyfrog.wordpress.com/

Lori Schneider http://beadaddicted.blogspot.com/
Divya N http://www.jewelsofsayuri.com

Mowse Doyle http://mowsemadethis.blogspot.com
Fay Wolfenden http://torchfairy.blogspot.com

Kathy Lindemer http://bay-moon-design.blogspot.com/
Claire Fabian http://saraccino.blogspot.de/

Janice Warden Bergeron http://thejewelryroom.blogspot.ca
Natalie Davidson http://www.northshoredays.com

Deb Fortin http://www.studiok24.blogspot.ca
Inge von Roos http://ingetraud.wordpress.com

Karen Mitchell http://overthemoon-design.com
Robin Reed http://willowdragon.blogspot.com

Marie Covert http://thistledown-and-swaddlings.blogspot.com/
Alicia Marinache http://www.allprettythings.ca

Nan Smith http://www.wirednan.blogspot.ca
Johana Nunez http://artincendi.com

Kelly Hosford Patterson http://travelingsideshow.blogspot.com/
Lori Blanchard http://alainnjewelry.WordPress.com

Sue Kennedy http://suebeads.blogspot.com
Shai Williams http://shaihasramblings.com

Niky Sayers http://silverniknats.blogspot.co.uk
Melissa Trudinger https://beadrecipes.wordpress.com <– ME!

Candida Castleberry http://www.spunsugarbeadworks.blogspot.com
Erin Guest http://www.renlish.com

Nicole Rennell http://nicolerennell.com/blog
Ien Temaluru http://ienmaginationsjewelry.wordpress.com

Robin Showstack http://heartsdesiresjewelryforyou.blogspot.com/
Sam Waghorn http://palemooncreation.blogspot.co.uk

Marianne Baxter http://www.simplyseablimejewelry.blogspot.com
Elsie Deliz-Fonseca http://ladelizchica.blogspot.com

Shai Williams http://shaihasramblings.com
Lee Koopman http://stregajewellry.wordpress.com

Jayne Capps http://mamasgottodoodle.blogspot.com
Marti Conrad http://marticsclay.blogspot.com

Tina Bosh http://bookbug-somanybookssolittletime.blogspot.com/
Eleanor Thomas http://woolywireetc.blogspot.com

Jeanne Steck http://www.gemsbyjeannemarie.blogspot.com
Gloria Allen http://www.wingsandbeads.blogspot.com

Rachel Mallis http://www.mintmonarch.com/#!blog/c1jlz
Andrea Glick http://zenithjade.blogspot.com/

Stephanie Stamper http://skwds.blogspot.com
Chris Haussler http://pixybugdesigns.blogspot.com

Betony Maiden http://www.beadwenches.blogspot.com/
Kari Asbury http://hippiechickjewelrydesign.com/blog/

Jenny Kyrlach http://anafiassa.blogspot.com/
Colleen Foley http://colleenfoleycreations.blogspot.com

Marybeth Rich http://forestofjewels.blogspot.com/
Marcy Lamberson http://www.StudioMarcy.blogspot.com

Dyanne Everett-Cantrell http://www.deelitefuljewelrycreations.blogspot.com
Ginny Lones http://www.Skippingintotheunknown.blogspot.com

Maria Rosa Sharrow http://willowstreetshops.blogspot.com
Loretta Carstensen http://designsbyloretta.blogspot.com

Dolores Raml http://craftydscreations.wordpress.com
Michelle McCarthy http://www.fireflydesignstudio.blogspot.com

Louise McCormick-Glazier http://jewelrytreasuresbylouise.blogspot.com/
Heather Richter http://desertjewelrydesigns.blogspot.com

Tammy Adams http://www.paisleylizard.com/blog/
Shirley Moore http://beadsandbread.blogspot.com

Seed Beaders

Susanne Stelljes http://pearlify.blogspot.de
Sheila Prosterman http://catswithbeads.blogspot.com

Pallavi Asher http://kalaabhushan.blogspot.in/
Jami Shipp http://celebratinglifewithdamamashipp.blogspot.com

Peggy Kosier http://www.kosydesigns.blogspot.ca/
Andra Weber http://andrasjoyfuljourney.blogspot.com

Catherine King http://catherines-musings.blogspot.com
Krafty Max http://kraftymax.com

Sierra Barrett http://giraffecanhas.wordpress.com
Lois Sherwood http://thiznthat5454blog.wordpress.com

Katy Heider http://onthepondcreations.blogspot.com
Rebecca Robertson (White) http://morganafeycreations.121hub.com/

Heather Richter http://desertjewelrydesigns.blogspot.com
Brandy Collier http://bhjewelry.wordpress.com

Stephanie Haussler http://www.pixybugdesigns.blogspot.com
Lori Blanchard http://alainnjewelry.WordPress.com

Kathleen Breeding http://99bobotw.blogspot.com
Becky Pancake http://beckypancakebeaddesigns.blogspot.com

Renetha Stanziano http://lamplightcrafts.blogspot.com/
Tami Norris https://jewelrybytami.wordpress.com/

Ginger Bishop http://lilmummylikes.blogspot.com/
Peggy Johnson http://charmbarn.blogspot.com

Beads, Blog Hops and Challenges, Swaps and exchanges

Bead Peeps Swap’n’Hop: You’ve got mail!

March 17, 2015 Melissa

A lovely package showed up in my mailbox yesterday, all the way from England. A bundle of awesome goodies from Niky Sayers, my partner in the Bead Peeps Swap’n’Hop. And she has totally spoiled me with goodies!

Here’s what I saw when I opened the package …

Then after the letter was removed:

And here is what was in those intriguing packages!

So, the big heart in the middle is a Gaea ceramic heart in a lovely soft aqua on chocolate brown clay. To the right of the heart is an awesome enamel scrip bead from Blue Antiquities, a pair of ceramic beads by Karen Totten and a fly connector by Bo Hulley. Below the heart is a trio of tiny lampwork drops by Laura Sparling — they are like little double droplets. Over on the far right are 4 faceted fossilized coral coin beads plus 2 fossilized wood beads. A strand of Serpentine rondelles, again in shades of aqua and copper.

And then there are the gorgeous components made by Niky herself! A pair of copper mushroom headpins, a copper roll bead and a copper safety pin (I have plans for you, little pin!). And finally some coin-creations: a sixpence bead, a farthing clasp (I love the little wren adorning the coin!) and a farthing connector featuring a headpin by Jen Cameron! Oh I love Niky’s coin components!

The colours Niky has picked are absolutely me, and I can’t wait to get started with these beauties! I’ve already got some ideas rattling around my head.

Reveal day is 2 May. It’s sooner than you (and I) think!

Beads, Blog Hops and Challenges, Swaps and exchanges

Meet my Swap’n’Hop Partner: Niky Sayers

March 2, 2015 Melissa

I’m taking part in the Bead Peeps Swap’n’Hop, a riff on the popular “swap beads with a partner and make something”-style blog challenges. I was thrilled to discover that my assigned swap partner is Niky Sayers of Silver NikNats. Niky is a super-talented, self taught jewellery designer and metalsmith in the UK.

I’ve been following Niky’s blog for a while, and I just love her work. We share a love of art beads, among other things. And I wish I could do the things she does with metal and gemstones!

She has been playing with old coins, making fabulous lockets, pendants and clasps from shillings and sixpence and farthing coins, which she sells on Etsy. I love how she combines the old coins with the sparkly gems.

And I love this set of rings she made recently for Sally Russick’s Make a Statement Challenge, using one of Jen Cameron’s headpins.

Her earrings are tiny works of art, inspired by—and indeed fit for—a princess. This pair was inspired by Cinderella.

So now I’m looking at my own collection of art beads and thinking about what I could send Niky. I’ve got a few ideas, and hopefully will have something in the mail for her by the end of the week. Can’t wait to see what you’ve picked out for me Niky, I’m sure it’ll be amazing!

Beads, Blog Hops and Challenges, Swaps and exchanges

Art Charm Exchange: the charms I received!

November 30, 2014 Melissa

Last week I showed you the charms I contributed to the Beads of Courage Art Charm Exchange. So I thought it was only fair I should show you the beautiful charms I received too. There were ten in total, as one of the artists made 2 charms, (plus I received one of my own back, so 11 altogether). And I have to say, they are all really, really beautiful!

The first three here are from Andrea Glick (Zenith Jade Creations), Toltec Jewels (who sent two charms!) and Lennis Carrier (Windbent).

These three charms from left to right are from Lesley Watt (THEA Elements), Kristi Bowman (Kristi Bowman Design) and Jenny Davies-Reazor.

And finally these three charms are from Terri Delsignore (Artisticaos), Cate van Alphen (Fulgorine) and Vanessa Gilkes (Culturezine).

All of these charms and more are available in the auction, which is happening right now on eBay! There are still a few bargains available, and bidding ends on Monday night East Coast US time. What are you waiting for??