Friday, March 2, 2012

Yippee! Join us for Bead Soup Blog Hop/Reveal

Hello and welcome to Bead Soup Blog Party!  I am so excited to see everyone's designs.  My blog partner is Helene Goldberg.  She lives in Melbourne, Australia.  Helene has a busy life looking after her mum and her new grandson as well as juggling her own household commitments.  She is a crafty lady - check out her blog - she sews, knits and quilts as well as jewellery making and card making. My beading goodies consisted of two sizes of turquoise beads, two sizes of zebra jasper beads, tiny brown glass beads, silver spacer beads, silver toggle clasp and gorgeous metal flower focal.  I love the flower focal because it is very different from the beads I usually buy.  I haven't designed with silver components for a very long time so I had to venture outside of my sometimes narrow creating box to think of ways to incorporate them with my existing bead stash. This is good!  I like and need to be challenged.  Thank you Helene :)   
Bead Soup lovelies!

Here are my designs.  The first is a necklace using the scrummy flower focal.  I wanted to create a frame for the focal and I love the jingly jangly noise the beads make when you pick this necklace up.


Shabby Chic Rose Necklace
Blue Bear Bracelet
The blue bear bracelet uses turquoise beads, zebra jasper beads,
large silver beads from my stash, brass disc beads and brass bead
caps.  The little blue bear was waiting patiently in my bead stash. I
thought he was ideal for this bracelet.  At first I wasn't sure about
the silver and brass together but I think it works and I won't be
frightened to use that combination again.   
Turquoise Earrings

The turquoise earrings are very simple.  I paired the turquoise beads with a carved bone bead.  


 
After the Rain Bracelet


I used the silver spacer beads in the "After the Rain" bracelet.  They are paired with Czech glass beads, the small turquoise beads and a blue seaglass bead.  I made a simple S hook for the clasp.  The brass is blank is textured and has a scarab attached to it.  
Shabby Chic Rose Necklace

Thank you so much to Lori Anderson for organizing this amazing Bead Soup Blog Party.  She is truly an awesome lady.  Thanks also to my wonderful bead soup partner Helene for sending such a gorgeous selection of Bead Soup to play with. 

Click on a name below to visit other participating blogs.  Thanks for visiting and have fun blog hopping! ~ Karen :)

Hostess, Lori Anderson Special Book Sneak Peeks, Cindy Wimmer
1.  Adlinah Kamsir (Singapore) and Hajer Waheed (Kingdom of Bahrain)
2. Adrienn Lukacs (Hungary) and Agata Grygiel (Poland)
3.  Agi Kiss (Hungary) and Carolien Muller-Genger (the Netherlands)
4.  Agnes Asztalos (Hungary) and B.R. Kuhlman
7.  Alicia Marinache (Canada) and Dita Basu
15.  Bonnie Coursolle (Canada) and Fay Wolfenden (Canada)
16.  Carmel McGinley (Australia) and Tracy Stillman (Australia)
21.  Cheryl Brown (Canada) and Diana Ptaszynski
22.  Christina Stofmeel (the Netherlands) and Eva Kovacs (Hungary)
24.  Cilla Watkins (Canada) and Elaine Robitaille (Canada)
25.  Sabrina Straub (Switzerland) and Kathy Combs
32.  Dee Elgie (UK) and Joanne Lockwood (UK)
33.  Dian Hierschel (Germany) and Eniko Fabian (Austria)
37.  Doris Stumpf (Germany) and Eszter Czibulyas (Hungary)
39.  Elke Leonhardt-Rath (Germany) and Marjolein Trewavas (UK)
41.  Erika Nooteboom (the Netherlands) and Giorgia Rossini (Italy)
43.  Evelyn Duberry (Canada) and Gaea Cannaday
45.  Ginger Bishop (military, Okinawa) and Martina Nagele (Germany)
48.  Helene Goldberg (Australia) and Karen Vincent
54.  Joanna Matuszczyk (Poland) and Julianna Kis (Hungary)
55.  Joanne Tinley (UK) and Michaela Pabeschitz (Austria)
65.  Kristina Johansson (Sweden) and Penny Neville (Canada)
66.  Krisztina Erlaki-Toth (Hungary) and Nicole Keller (Germany)
76.  Lori Finney (Canada) and Marie-Noel Voyer-Cramp (Canada)
78.  Marta Kaczerowska (Poland) and Milla Starchik (Canada)
83.  Michelle Jensen and Sandra Young (Canada)
92.  Rosa Maria Cuevas (Mexico) and Tejae Floyde
93.  Sabine Dittrich (Germany) and Sally Russick
95.  Shanti Johnson and Tracy Mok (Canada)
97.  Sonya Stille and Traci Zeller (Canada)
98.  Stefanie Teufel (Germany) and Tania Hagen (New Zealand)

59 comments:

  1. Karen, I'm blown away by what you've done! I adore your necklace! I think it's beautiful how you've created a frame for the rose! And I just love the bracelets too! And the earrings! Stunning! I clearly have so much to learn, and your creations are teaching me so much! I'm really keen to have another go with making jewellery now. I am so glad that you had fun with what I sent you. Thanks for being such an awesome partner! I hope to learn more and more from you! And thanks to Lori! This has been a blast, not to mention an extraordinary learning curve!!!

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    1. Thank you so much for your very kind compliments Helene!! I am very happy that you like my designs. You sent me such a wonderful selection of beads to work. This has been a fantastic experience for me too! I love the sense of community and friendship surrounding this Bead Soup Party and I still have so much to learn. Hopefully we can learn from each other along the way. Thanks again - you are a fantastic blog partner!

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  2. Your pieces are beautiful, so well balanced and subtly striking! :)

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    1. Hi Cherry,
      Thanks much. You are very kind. I have never made a necklace with so many wrapped beads before! I think that's what I love about beading, you never know where the beads are going to take you. I had a blast! Thank you for stopping by!

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  3. Lovely pieces - and I like how the bear found his home. Perfect! :)

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    1. Hi Heidi,
      Thanks so much! Isn't it great that my little blue bear found his home? He's been patiently waiting amongst all his other beadie friends for quite some time.Lol! I'm so glad I got to use him :) Thank you for dropping by!

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  4. I really love them!
    I'm another partecipant from Italy, I'm trying to visit all of you.
    this was really a great experience!
    ciao ciao

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    1. Hi Jo, Thank you for your kind comment. Wow! I have a lot of blog hopping to do this morning. I had a really fun time too! Have a wonderful day! :)

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  5. So very pretty! I especially like the Blue Bear Bracelet, I think the silver and brass combination really Does work. Fabulous :) x

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    1. Thank you jojosbeads :) The Blue Bear Bracelet is one of my favs too! I started it several times Lol! It took me a little while to be able to look at the silver and brass combination. I am so used to working with just brass and I love it's earthiness and colour. I am so glad I ventured out of my little box and paired the two together because I really do like the combination now. Thank you so much for your lovely compliments and for stopping by!

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  6. Your 'Shabby Chic Necklace' is not so shabby. I love the chunky, free-style design.

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  7. You've made one yummy bead soup collection. The blue bear bracelet is so pretty! And you're so right about mixing and matching silver and brass. I'm going to have to do that soon - I've been a matchy-matchy kind of gal till now. Thanks for the inspiration.

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  8. Love the colors that she sent to you!! You did a beautiful job creating so many pieces! I love the rain bracelet! :) I thought I was following your blog, but didn't find myself here, so I added me today! Happy Saturday!! :)

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  9. just love the colors and designs, wonderful job!

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  10. Blue bear bracelet and shabby chic necklace are stunning.

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  11. Love the shabby chic necklace. I love the way it makes music when you wear it and the bright colors. Super!!

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  12. that 'really has a lovely vintage feel , I bet it's fun to wear!

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  13. Movement & sound are such a fun element to add to jewelry. I love turquoise and brown together. You've made some really fun pieces :)

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  14. What a beautiful soup to work with!! :) You truly did it justice. . .gorgeous as always. Love them all!! ♥

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  15. They are all so pretty, my favorite is your After the Rain Bracelet!

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  16. Oh, wow! That rose is so yummy looking I could just eat it! You are a fantastic designer! Love all the pieces. I like that little touch of ribbon on the bracelet too.

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  17. Beautiful, nicely done work!!!

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  18. Very pretty soup. I love the bear bracelet!!

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  19. I do love me some blue and you definitely gave it to me! ;)

    That shabby rose necklace is just lovely and my favorite of all the pieces you made. Wonderful job overall though!

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  20. wonderful.. Running out of words to describe all the great things i have found in this swap. I would wear it all! I am drawn to the bracelet with the scarab

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  21. great soup mix,love the colors and designs

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  22. I love dangly things, and I love blue and brown together! You did a great job!

    I hope you'll join me again in the summer!

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  23. love the color combo--and especially the after the rain bracelet! great work!

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  24. very nice pieces Karen!
    happy hopping!

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  25. I love the After the Rain Bracelet!! Very nice work!

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  26. I'm totally into shabbychic! LOOOOOOOOVE your bracelets!

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  27. I want that necklace!
    The colors, the texture, the balance of it; perfection!

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  28. I love your 'After the Rain' bracelet. It is so soothing.

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  29. Lovin' the color palette you had to work with. You did a smashing job with all of your pieces.

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  30. Turquoise is a wonderful colour to work with. I really love your "after the rain"-Bracelet. It's very nice designed!

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  31. Such a pretty color palette and design. I love the bracelets especially.

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  32. Very pretty necklace and bracelet! The colors are gorgeous!

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  33. Beautiful work. After the rain is my favorite!

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  34. Beautiful collection! Great color combination (one of my favorites). I especially like the bracelet; the stamped "Rain" tag adds a really special touch.

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  35. Wonderful pieces, love the necklace. I like to hear the noise of beads moving when I walk too. Those beads are a perfect frame for the rose. Nice work.

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  36. I love the color combination it is so calming to me. I love all the pieces, but I'm drawn to the bracelet "After the Rain". I love multi-stand bracelets. Cheers!
    Lori D.

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  37. The colors of your bead soup are my favorite. I love all the pieces you made, but my favorite is the 'After the Rain' bracelet.

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  38. Everything is beautiful! I love that little turquoise bear charm in the bracelet! That is so sweet! And combining the metals was a good choice! The multi-strand bracelet is yet another favorite of mine! Great job!

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  39. The Shabby chic rose necklace is luscious!
    I also love the bracelets and earrings!

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  40. Love all of your pieces. Turquoise is fun to work with. And love the chocolate rose. One of my fav colors.

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  41. My Wordpress ID wouldn't take. Had to use my Google ID..

    Donna
    http://thisyearsdozen.wordpress.com/

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  42. Lovely jewellery! My fave's the rain bracelet, really like the colours and design. Great job!

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  43. Very nice pieces. The Bear bracelet is very cute. And I really like the After the Rain bracelet with the textured metal blank and chain. Great.

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  44. I like both pieces very much. The fullness of the necklace is wonderful and the bracelet is adorable. Love the bear bead on it. Great job!

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  45. Thank you so much to everyone for all the lovely and very kind comments. They mean so much to me. I am still blog hopping and am blown away by all the beautiful designs I am seeing. This has been a wonderful experience. Enjoy your evening ~ Karen xx

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  46. I really love everything that you've made, especially the shabby chic rose. It was lovely to see the two very different pieces that you and Helene made with the same rose.

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  47. Karen, you made a wonderful set! Like Jo mentioned - it is lovely to see how you and Helene came up with two completely different designs using the same focal. I love everything: the colours are gorgeous, the little bear is perfect!

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  48. The shabby chic necklace is soooo nice! I like how you framed the rose and the palette is so gorgeous.

    Ambra

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  49. Sorry I am so late to the party - still working my way through the Bead Soup! All your creations are lovely. I esp love the bracelet with the bear.

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  50. *gasp* KAREN! I love it all!!!!!! I am like totally giddy over your creations! "After the Rain" is totally my favorite, but I love everything. You took the ingredients she gave you and made gourmet milady, truly inspired!!

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  51. Love the after the rain braclet!! The necklace IS a show piece, everyone would take notice, very beautiful.

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  52. I love the Shabby necklace it is so beautiful, one of my favorites!
    Sonya

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  53. Lovely combination of necklace and bracelet.Thanks for sharing.
    Jewellers in Chandigarh

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