I love jewelry blog hops as they nudge me to expand my range. I don't however usually end up with two on one day. I struggled with just how I was going to show off them both and finally decided to do just one post and to put them in the order that I signed up for them. So warning, this is going to be a longer post.
Creative Chaos Design Challenge
This was a fun challenge where Skye of Creative Chaos sent out four little bags of goodies to four of us to use in a design. Here is a pic of what she sent us.
The goal was to use something from each bag and to use as much as you could of the goodies. I didn't quite succeed as I turned a good friend's wonderfully creative thirteen year old loose with the goodies. She came up with a necklace that I absolutely love. All good there except she then left to stay with her father for three months and I can't find the rest of the goodies which I planned on making a couple more pieces with. Anyways without further babble, let me show you what Alanna came up with,
Now be sure to check out what everyone else came up with.
Cup of Bead Soup
Now this one was my surprise hop. Lori Anderson of Pretty Things has a blog challenge that occurs a few times a year where she stretches her wings by working with designers of some wonderful handmade beads and invites a few of us to take the journey with her. The designer of the gorgeous lampwork focal bead is Lea Avroch and I will be sharing her various sites where you can see more of her work down below.
This is the fabulous bead that I started out with. And I had plans on making it into a necklace and so I did. But once I had to together, I found that it was just too fussy and didn't highlight this treasure. So I changed plans and actually finished it up a couple days ago. I decided that I wanted to make a bracelet so that I could actually see and admire the bead. I ended up with two bracelets that can be worn together and apart.
Along with the focal from Lea, I also used sapphires and faceted blue topaz. It only seems fitting to use a precious gemstone with this treasure. I picked up the sapphires at Magpie Gemstones which I highly recommend. The clasp on the second bracelet is from AZ Lampwork Beads.
Now be sure to check out what the other participants came up with.
Lori of Pretty Things
Marlene of Amazing Designs by Marlene
Shaiha of Shaiha's Ramblings
To be able to see more of Lea's work please visit her sites.
And for more information on upcoming Cup Of Bead Soup hops and to check out the past ones, click here.