Saturday, June 27, 2015

The set of jewelry that I am posting today was created from a kit by Lisa Lodge. The challenge is called Summer Waters. The sea glass is sold by www.znetshows.com/ I chose a green sand dollar as the focal on the necklace. It is accented with an aqua teardrop, which reminded me of water, from my stash and a teal pearl that I reclaimed from a garage sale necklace. The bail is a two hole silver metal piece from the kit. I used green sea glass 6mm rounds and puffed coins from the kit, as well as aqua barrel nuggets and pacific blue shells. The opaque blue opal button heishi are from my stash. The necklace is finished with silver chain and a simple silver toggle clasp. The matching bracelet uses the same beads as the necklace but the color on the shells is teal. The end links were made from more of the garage sale pearls with aqua colored stone chips and fire polished faceted round beads. The bracelet clasp is from the kit. There are also a pair of earrings from the green sand dollars and aqua teardrops. To me this set definitely says summer waters. The starfish that I used as a prop came from my husband's Grandma. In  1948 she took a trip around the country and this came home with her. Here is a link to the other participants with blog posts http://www.gratefulartist.blogspot.com/2015/06/summer-waters-blog-hop-link-list.html
There are also people who are posting to Lisa's facebook page. You can see those at https://www.facebook.com/events/638019132993272/
Thank you Lisa for another fun challenge.

Saturday, June 6, 2015

I have been wanting to try shibori ribbon bead embroidery for  a long time. When Therese announced that bead embroidery was the technique for the A Time To Stitch 7 Challenge I signed up right away. Bead embroidery is my favorite technique to use. This necklace is the result of my effort. I started out to make a cuff bracelet but I found that it was too narrow to show the shibori silk  to best effect. The aqua teal turquoise family are my favorite colors so I found silk in that colorway. I thoroughly enjoyed this challenge. I bezeled the stone with size 11's and 15's. I used purple 15's to accent the silk. I used pearls in purple and aqua to edge the focal. I had some vintage nailheads in purple from a friend who has passed away so they were used for the next row on the purple side. The beads that were used on the aqua side came from a garage sale as well as the two tone bead at the bottom of the piece. I made wire links in aqua and purple for the straps. I am pleased with how this necklace turned out and I hope that you like it too. To see what everyone else made for this challenge please click on this link  http://theresestreasures59.blogspot.com/    I want to thank Therese and Christine for hosting this fun challenge.