beautifully broken me: Michaels

12/17/10

Let's Hop!

It's that time again! The talented Lorelei Eurto issued a second Michael's Reader's challenge, and today is the reveal!

Here's how it works: Lorelei picks out beads and chain at her local Michael's store, posts pictures of her finds, and whoever wants to participate purchases the same items, adds two additional beads or colors, adds their own focal and clasp and posts pictures of their pieces and links to the other participants' sites.

Here are the items she picked out (aren't they beautiful?):

And here is my finished piece, called "On The Fringe":

I took cues from the beautiful turquoises and blues reflected in the peacock-hued potato pearls and the warm tones of the mother of pearl ovals, adding teal, gunmetal and black seed beads and tawny antiqued copper accents, making up many, many, many, many (you get the idea) charms that dangle like fringe from the gunmetal chain.

For fun, I added some extra 'fringe' coming off of the larger loop, adding more movement to the piece.

Thanks so much for organizing this fun challenge Lorelei! Now take some time and check out the other participants' creations and get ready for some serious eye candy!

12/16/10

Are You Ready To Hop?

Here is a teaser preview of tomorrow's Michael's Blog Hop:

Tune in tomorrow for the finished piece! For more information about this hop, check out Lorelei Eurto's blog: http://lorelei1141.blogspot.com/

10/27/10

Has It Really Been This Long?

Hello! I feel like I've been absent for ages! I've been out with the crud that's going around - yuk! It's had me unmotivated and really tired, and blogging was the last thing I wanted to do. But now I'm back up and (slowly) going, and wanted to share a quick post before I go clean the house and do laundry...

So, I had beads left over from Lorelei's Michael's Challenge, and wanted to use them up with another design:

Nothing too fancy, but I wanted to include the two design elements I wasn't able to incorporate in my first design: The small green pearls and the dreaded white chain (lol).

I'm surprised and pleasantly pleased with how this turned out. I made sure to frame the white chain with a dark copper chain and the green pearls, and it really takes the stark contrast down a few notches.

Well, that's it for now! If you want to purchase this necklace, it will be for sale in my etsy shop shortly!

10/17/10

Lorelei's Michael's Blog Hop

I wanted to share a really fun Blog Hop that Lorelei Eurto has going on her blog:

Lorelei had anyone who wanted to participate in this blog hop to go to Michael's and purchase these beads (don't you just love all the different colors and textures?):

Participants were then to create a piece of jewelry using all of the beads and the chain and then post pictures of what they made.

So, without further ado, here is my challenge piece:

I've had the collage/ICE Resin focal made for quite some time, and have been waiting for a project in which to use it. the colors from this challenge perfectly suited the old-fashioned but modern feel of my focal, and I jumped right in.

I have to admit, I tried and tried (and tried, and tried, and tried), but couldn't work in the white chain or tiny green pearls (ask my husband - I think he saw about 10 incarnations of this necklace before I finally admitted defeat!).

What a fun challenge! I encourage you to go over to Lorelei's blog and to the blogs listed below to check out the amazing jewelry made with these beads:

Mary Harding

Hilary of Fryestyle

For My Sweet Daughter

My Life Under the Bus

Kristie of DreamSomeDesigns

Erin of Treasuresfound

Beading by Malin de Koning

Nayas Organized Chaos

Crafty Hope

Rosebud For the Love of Beads

Thanks so much Lorelei for hosting this fun hop!

10/15/10

The Michael's Blog Hop

Lorelei Eurto is hosting a blog hop, and I wanted to give you a sneak peek at what it is all about! Lorelei asked all artists who wanted to participate in this blog hop to go to Michael's and purchase these specific bead strands:

We were to create a piece of jewelry using all of these beads in some way and unveil them on our blogs on Sunday. Come back then to see how I used the beads in my piece, and for links to all the other participating artists' blogs to see their jewelry as well!

Pages

SOCIAL MEDIA

Let's Hop!

Are You Ready To Hop?

Has It Really Been This Long?

Lorelei's Michael's Blog Hop

The Michael's Blog Hop