Bead Soup Has Arrived And Other Awesome Things

I am SOOOO excited!  My bead Soup Mix has arrived and it is AMAZING!  I have been blessed with the most amazing artist for a bead soup partner - Melinda Orr.

For those of you who aren't familiar with her work, Melinda is a phenomenal metal smith and jewelry artist.  She makes handmade copper components with the most amazing patinas, and I've gotta say, her style is right up my alley!  I received her package yesterday, and boy, am I spoiled!

Here is where I started unwrapping:

Such cute dragonfly paper...

Oooooo!  Look at these fun little baggies chock full of goodies!

From the peach baggie:  gorgeous beads to compliment all the other components.

From the top blue baggie, handmade copper components that turn over to reveal...

This stunning patina!  (Sorry - my photo editor just plain didn't want to get the colors right in this  picture - the colors are so incredible rich!)

The top baggie also had these wonderful  components:  handmade bead caps, fasteners, copper rivets, and large oval connectors along with the domed glass circles to go with the cool artwork for mixed-media pieces.

The bottom baggie contained a beautiful handmade clasp with the gorgeous patina of the other components, 2 fun textured copper circles, copper beads and spacers, lovely Sue Beads lampwork beads form Sue Kennedy and a sweet bird charm from Lisa Petraka.

My Bead Soup cup runneth over!

Now that you've seen what I received, I can show you what I sent to Melinda:

I made the focal and clasp using seed beads and copper; the large lampwork beads are from EB Bead and Metal Works; the small turquoise lampwork beads are from Blue Seraphim; and I sent some cute hot pink Czech pressed glass bellflowers and some funky blue and yellow glass beads I found on an out-of-town trip.

The focal I sent Melinda is from a new series I am making using mixed media collage with seed beading techniques.  Here's some of the others I'll be putting up in my Etsy shop soon:

I love how these turned out, and have some more in the works right now.  In fact, I made one that completely reminded me of my friend, Patty Gasparino, and I sent it to her, asking if she would be willing to make something with it and post it on her blog.  Here is her gorgeous design:

Love's Letter Lost

Isn't is fabulous?  You can read more about this piece on her blog, My Life Under The Bus.

So, BIG thank yous to Melinda and Patty - you ladies are completely amazing!

For more information on the Bead Soup Blog Hop, check out Lori Anderson's blog, Pretty Things.

Bead Table Wednesday

I don't have a whole lot of beads out on my table today, but I do want to share a quick project I did yesterday with you. 

I am taking a Bible study right now, and one of the things we are doing is keeping a prayer journal.  I am - quite possibly - the world's worst journal-keeper, so I've decided to make my journal more fun to keep.  

I pulled out my well-worn copy of "Pretty Little Things" by Sally Jean Alexander for some inspiration, and, starting out with one of these:

...a plain old composition book...

...I turned it into this:

Front 

Front 

Back

Definitely more fun - now I don't have any excuses!

On another note, if you haven't already, hop on over to Grateful Living to see what Patty Gasparino of My Life Under The Bus is grateful for today.