7th Annual Bead Soup Blog Party

I have participated in a few of these delightful parties put on by the wonderful Lori Anderson of Pretty Things.  And let me tell you that she puts on such a kick ass party that it has had to be split into three reveals or phases.  I am in the third reveal and then there is no more until next year. :(

To make sure that everyone, which includes over 500 jewelry designers, is on  the same page Lori has set up some ground rules.  She pairs us up and we are required to send our partners a focal and a clasp which can't be a lobster claw.  Most of us also send along some other beads and components that compliment the focal.  Once we receive our 'soup' we then get to play and come up with some rather unique designs using the focal and clasp.

I was lucky to end up with two partners for this reveal; Bonnie of Jasper's Gems and Laura of Blue Antiquities.  They are both such wonderful woman and I have really enjoyed the opportunity to connect with them.  Be sure to head over to their blogs to see what they have made with the goodies that I sent to them.

Since I do have two partners this post is going to be a tad bit long so be forewarned.  I am going to highlight Bonnie first as she was my first partner.  Oh and let me apologize up front for my dress form.  She is rather new to me and though she wears her years well, she really does need a turtleneck.  But have you ever tried to find a turtleneck in the spring?

Just a reminder of what Bonnie sent me.  I have never worked with coral but I just love the colors and the properties of it. The coral is so rich that I felt really special.  And there is that to die for clasp that I just couldn't hide.

In this necklace, I used the coral focal and some of the matching beads from Bonnie.  I added the freshwater pearls, the gold findings and the clasp.  The pearls themselves are a pale apricot but for the life of me I couldn't get that to show up in the pictures.

I have a friend that is having a lot of health issues and since coral is such a healing stone (for lack of a better word) I made her up a charm.  I got the coral from my soup and I provided the turquoise goddess and the copper.

And here is that wonderful clasp.  In fact that was the only thing that I used from my bead soup for this necklace.  I provided the chain, the crystals and the silk ribbon from my own stash.  The button on the other side is from Marsha Neal Studios.

And now onto my second partner, Laura.  She certainly spoiled me with a lot of goodies including two focals that I could choose from.  I was so excited that I forgot to take a picture so I borrowed this one off of Laura's blog.

This has to be my favorite piece out of the batch.  It is a longer necklace which is just my style.  From the soup that Laura sent me, I used the focal, the brass ring and the faceted blue beads.  I provided the chains, the silk ribbon and the clasp.

The brass clasp that Laura sent just screamed Asian to me so I listened.  In this necklace I used the clasp and the beads from the soup.  The rest came from my stash.

I don't usually do yellow but what came to mind for this necklace was the fabulous paisley focal that I had won from Jewelry by Jeannie.  I used the blue ceramic beads as well as the rolled paper ones from my soup.  Everything else came from my stash.

And last but not least is this pair of earrings.  I love the look of ear wires that have beads on them so I decided that it was finally time to give it a try myself.  The long aqua beads and the the oval ones are from Laura.  The crystal, the enameled headpin from Sue Beads and the copper is from my own stash.  I am also giving this pair of earrings away to one lucky person who comments on this post.

Now be sure to check out what my partners cooked up as well as everyone else that participated.  Just click here to be taken to the listing.