Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Silk Color Palette - Marsha Neal Challenge


I should be dealing with the piles of papers I have just sorted, however seeing that Marsha Neal has this silk color challenge going on, I thought that would be MUCH more fun to do tonight than sort.

I've been obsessed with landscaping.  We've just ripped out our yucky front and side yard and will be installing a California Native (and water-wise) garden over the next few months.  My landscape color palette is Orange, Purple and Chartreuse with bits of grays and greens thrown in.  So, of COURSE that inspired my color palette for this challenge.



I LOVE this combination and it works so well with the style of my 1927 Spanish Revival Bungalow.  Now I want to hang long strands of these silk colors from the front porch to act as outdoor curtains!  What a wild idea (and not in any way practical).  

Oh, look at all those papers strewn over my bed.  I'd better get back to work!




Giveaway Alert

Giveaway alert!

Three, yes THREE beautiful sets of art beads are being given away over on Lorelei's Blog.

I've thrown my name in the hat to win.  You should too!

Thursday, June 7, 2012

New Blog Challenge - Jewelry Designs from Nature

Just when I needed a reason to get back to my bead table, I get chosen for a fantastic challenge!  

One of my (almost) daily blog reads is the fantastic Art Bead Scene blog.  Heather Powers of Humblebeads has based this challenge he beautiful book Jewelry Designs from Nature.


Here's what the 10 participants will be doing (and YAY, I'm one of them!)

This is a creative blog challenge.  10 winners will be sent a packet and have a few weeks to create a piece of jewelry inspired by their packets.  On July 6th we'll have a blog hop featuring the results.  We'll also have voting for your favorite challenge piece during the blog hop and giveaway beads from the book!
The Challenge:
I'm going to pick 10 participants randomly from the comments below.  Each participant will receive a packet that contains:
1. A few Humblebeads featured in the book2. A nature-inspired poem3. A photo for color and design inspiration
The packets will be themed and you could get a garden, woodlands or sea set!

I'll take some photos of whatever I get in my packet.  I'm excited to see where this will take me!


Friday, May 18, 2012

Spring Shows Galore

I've been a little crazy prepping for 4 upcoming shows I have on my schedule.

First up THIS SUNDAY is the wonderful Patchwork Indie Arts and Craft Festival.



This is followed a week later by the Patchwork Santa Ana in their NEW location is a really cool area of Santa Ana.

Then on June 1st and 2nd is the Uptown Village Market.


This is a show I am Presenting and Coordinating with the Expo Arts Center and Bella Cosa Boutique.  We did our first show in December and it was jam packed!  We've got a LOT of really great vendors this year and we've already got some wonderful press rolling in.

I just hope I have enough jewelry and accessories to last through 4 shows!  Finding studio time has been a challenge lately.  PreFurred Pet Care (my other company) is doing quite well, but that means it is taking up a great deal of time.  I can't complain about success, though.

So, if you're local to Southern California, come out and see me at one of these shows!  I've got a whole new bunch of lovelies that are just waiting to find homes with people who appreciate one-of-a-kind art jewelry.

See you soon!

Lisa

Monday, April 23, 2012

Bracelet Challenge

Tracy over at Making Bracelets Blog put together an idea for a great blog hop. Bracelet stacks are super trendy at the moment and it's a trend that keeps going. We were challenged to create a bracelet stack using bracelets we made combined with bracelets we already had (not necessarily our own designs).

There are 80 participants in this hop! This time I'm presenting it to you semi low tech. I'm out in Joshua Tree (again) and am almost completely off the grid. I have no wifi but a few bars of coverage on my phone, so please pardon the iPhone photos and short descriptions (and the photos that I can't place in the appropriate location).  [Edit - I'm back home so I fixed things.]



My starting point for the challenge was 3 fabulous bakelite bracelets my wonderful husband got me for my birthday. Scrumptious colors, aren't they?



From there it was just pilfering my stash for beads and components to modernize the look. There are several styles here and I've been quite bracelet addicted recently, so I keep coming up with new styles to make.



But, I couldn't stop there. I had to get a blue/teal collection going as well. An amazing vintage beetle bracelet was my starting point.




Please visit the other bloggers who participated in this challenge:













Friday, April 6, 2012

Glass Headpin Challenge Reveal!


Remember these lovely glass headpins?  I won a set during a giveaway over on Lorelei's Blog last month.  



The glass headpins were made by Anne of Gardanne Beads.   The headpins not only have a beautiful glass piece on one end, but a bead has been drawn on the other end of the pin.  What does "Drawing a Bead" mean?  Well, I've actually done this in my limited experience with torch firing enamel.  Basically, you torch the end of the metal, which melts into a lovely ball.  Here's a better picture that shows the ends of the headpins.



Normally, I would use a headpin to string beads on, but with the ball on one end, only large beads can fit.  But, I took one look at the head pins I got a decided I wasn't going to use them the traditional way.  

But, first, I needed to get out my torch, and draw some more beads on the end of a wire.  I was experimenting with some Blue Steel colored Parawire since the headpins I got were the blue one's on the left.  But Parawire doesn't seem to react to the flame the same way an uncoated wire does.

So, I went back to an uncoated copper wire and torched that.  That wire responded just like I thought it would and some lovely bead balls appeared on the ends.  (It is a bonus that the wire gets a beautiful charred patina on it as well.)

I have had flowers on the brain lately.  I'm getting ready to landscape my front yard (I've ONLY lived here 12 years!) and I remembered I had purchased some Vintage Meadow Artworks hand painted lucite trumpet flowers a while back.  These babies are hard to come by and I have been hoarding the 4 sets I bought, waiting for the perfect project or two.  Well, the blue flowers were a dream match to the headpins.  I used both ends of the headpin, added a few tendrils of the copper wire I had torched, mixed in a few findings (bead caps from Vintaj and copper ear wire I made) and Voila!




I really love these.  I'm a sucker for Fuchsia and these remind me of those beautiful blossoms.  I also loved that I had an "excuse" to get out the torch and play a bit.  I haven't had nearly enough time to just experiment with techniques I have learned but not mastered.  

Visit Anne's Etsy Shop and pick up some headpins of your own to play with.  She updates her shop every Wednesday and there are lots of great goodies to choose from.

And, Thank You Lorelei for hosting another great challenge!  It's always a pleasure to participate.

Now, go see what other lovelies were created by the other blog hop participants.

Lisa






Sunday, April 1, 2012

ABS Challenge - My Window in Montmartre

This has been a ROUGH week (or 2).  I have a very sick kitty with a dire prognosis and I've had gobs of work keeping me very busy (no complaints about the work part - it's a nice problem to have for a new business).  Needless to say, my ABS Challenge piece sat on my desk with a whopping 2 things to finish before I could photograph it!  Well, I'm not going to make the cut for the challenge, but I can at least show you my final piece and dream about Paris for a bit.

Here is the inspiration piece by the wonderful Vincent Van Gogh.


Ahhhhh, Paris and my favorite place in Paris - Montmartre. I've gone there in my mind MANY times this week and it has been good for my soul.

We've traveled to Paris twice.  The first trip we stayed in Montmartre, just off the little square where the Guimard-designed Abbessess Metro station entrance is.


Our room in our hotel - the charming Hotel Regyn Montmartre - look out over the city towards the Eifel Tower.  Buskers were always playing in the square, so the sounds of French music being played on the accordion always wafted into our room.  There was always a cat or two sitting in the window sills of the apartments and, just around the corner, one of the last of the 2 remaining windmills sat halfway up the hillside.



I would do anything to transport myself to Montmartre right this very second, but photos, memories and this necklace will have to do for now.

My Window in Montmartre:






The artist beads used in this piece are:
Red Enamel Pinwheel - Jade Scott
Ceramic Dot and Lentil Beads - Elaine Ray via Ornamentea
Glass Flower - Mermaid Glass

BTW, I have watched 2 wonderful films lately that take places in Paris.
Midnight in Paris - the charming Woody Allen film that has an amazing love letter to Paris set to music.
Hugo - Martin Scorsese's 2011 Oscar Nom that I LOVED.

Of course, if I really want a Montmartre fix, I watch Amelie.

What's your favorite Paris film?