Songbeads

Tuesday, 16 October 2012

Mismatched Earring Swap

A few weeks back, I signed up to be part of Diana's Mismatched Art Bead Earring Swap, and got partnered up with the lovely Jayne of Mama's Got To Doodle. Now, unfortunately as I am over here in the UK and she is over there in the US, Jayne's earrings haven't quite made their way over here quite yet.....damn you, customs! So I'm sharing Jayne's picture of the earrings I made here - handmade lampwork beads by Moogin, leather flowers, freshwater pearls and copper. I will post when my earrings have arrived so you can see what lovelies Jayne has no doubt created!

This is a blog hop, so do take a minute or two if you have them to hop around these talented folk's spaces:

Diana Ptaszynski www.urbangirlstudios.com your hostess

Lisa Liddy www.lisaliddy.wordpress.com

Kari Asbury http://www.hippiechickdesign.blogspot.com

Jayne Capps http://mamasgottodoodle.blogspot.com

Rebecca Anderson http://www.songbeads.blogspot.com

Lesley Watthttp://www.thegossipinggoddess.blogspot.com

Lori Bowring Michaudhttp://www.artfullyornamental.blogspot.com

Renetha Stanziano http://www.lamplightcrafts.blogspot.com

Holly Westfall http://www.silverrosedesigns.blogspot.com

Theresa Fosdick http://www.thoughtful-notions.blogspot.com

Ali McCarthy http://www.northwoodscreativestudio.blogspot.com

Shai Williams http://shaihasramblings.blogspot.com

Iveth Caruso http://creativeatelier.net

Carolyn Collins www.sparklingwaterstudio.com

Elaine Ray www.elaineray.blogspot.com

Kristen Stevens http://kristen-beadjourney.blogspot.com

Charlene Jacka http://clay-space.com

Jan Onipenco www.MoltenMayhem.typepad.com

Stephanie Woods www.rainydaydesigns.com

Eleanor Burian-Mohr www.cornerstoregoddessjewelry.blogspot.com

Shelby Foxwell www.sundownbeaddesigns.blogspot.com

Pam Sears www.crazycreativecorner.blogspot.com

Mary Harding www.maryhardingjewelrybeadblog.blogspot.com

Lisa Johnson www.whimsywonders.blogspot.com

Kashmira Patel www.sadafulee.blogspot.com

Penny Neville www.copperpennydesigns.blogspot.com

Dee Elgie www.cherryobsidia.blogspot.co.uk

Sarah Small www.bysalla.blogspot.com

Carolyn Lawson www.carolynscreationswa.blogspot.com

Karin Slaton www.backstorybeads.blogspot.com

Ashleigh Becker www.seladesignsjewelry.blogspot.com

Kay Hand www.creativetangent.blogspot.com

Rana L Wilson http://ranaleadesigns.blogspot.com

Sandra McGriff www.skyescreativechaos.blogspot.com

Dawn Pierro www.turtlemoondesigns.me

Shelley Graham Turner www.shelleygrahamturner.blogspot.com

Karen Mitchell www.overthemoon-design.com

Melissa Trudinger www.beadrecipes.wordpress.com

Sunday, 14 October 2012

Brit Pack Beaders: Materials Reveal

Welcome back to the Brit Pack Beaders Design Team. Our latest challenge is well underway, with the final reveal happening on the 24th October - mark your diaries! Just in case you've forgotten who exactly we are, here's a quick recap.

from l to r: Lesley, me, Claire, Jo and Bo.

Check out this post for the full story.

This time around, it was my turn to select our inspiration piece. I hunted around for a bit, but I eventually chose a piece by one of my very favourite artists - Margaret MacDonald. You may know Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Scottish architect, designer and artist, and one of the Glasgow Four, of whom Margaret MacDonald was also a part. MacDonald and Mackintosh were also married, and whilst you can very much see their mutual influence, each has a style of their own. I find MacDonald's use of colour and form simply mesmerising, and I hope that if you like the work I have selected, you will be inspired to seek out more of her art.

Here is the piece I selected, The Red Rose and the White Rose:

And without further ado, here are the beautiful materials I have to work with.

Focals from Bo, stringing materials from Lesley, connectors/charms from Jo and accent beads from Claire. What a beautiful selection of materials to work with. Aren't you just the teeniest bit envious? ;-)

Where is the clasp, I hear you cry? Well, I am off for a very impromptu weekend at my parents-in-law, and it is true of me that if I can forget something, I will.....it is my job to provide the clasps, and the one I made for myself is currently sitting on the kitchen table at home......You'll just have to check out what I sent everyone else!

Lesley
Claire
Bo
Jo

Please join us here again for our full reveal, on the 24th October.

Saturday, 13 October 2012

PIF Giveaway Winners!

Congratulations to Sammy, Leigh, Kat, Claire, Heidi, Jules and Sandra - you are the winners in my PIF Giveaway! You should all have received an email from me with details - if not, then check your spam and leave a comment here to let me know. Hurrah!

I leave you with a new listing from yesterday....

Frost Gardenia

available in my etsy shop now....

Tuesday, 9 October 2012

and the winner is.....

...Przadka!

Congratulations - send me over your address and I will post your surprise bead soup out to you :-)

Thanks everyone for playing along! you still have a chance to win a prize from me.....check out this post for details.....;-)

Sunday, 7 October 2012

Pay It Forward

***Remember to leave your email address in the comments!!! If I cannot contact you, you cannot win.:-( ***

Recently, Pip held a little PIF giveaway on her blog, and I was one of the (very!) lucky ones to get my comment in on time. And so without further ado, here's your chance to win a gift from me......it goes like this....

I’ll send a surprise gift to the first three commenters on this blog post. Plus I will select another three at random to also receive surprises....The gift will be a handmade surprise by me and will be sent to you some time in the next 365 days (yep, mystery gift at a mystery time).

To complete signing up you MUST play along too. To do this you must blog a similar post and pledge to make a surprise gift for the first three people who comment on it. So, do you want to play? Comment below and I’ll sent a thoughtful handmade gift to the first three people who do.Just how much fun is this?! So, what are you waiting for - get commenting!

Here’s what you need to do, leave me a comment and make sure you include your email address in the comment if your profile doesn’t include it already. If I cannot contact your easily, unfortunately that will mean your comment will be discounted. And that would make me very sad.

I’ll email you for your snail mail address and a ask a few questions (likes/dislikes, favourite colours, sizes general stuff like that).

Friday, 5 October 2012

Art Bead Scene Today

Hop over to Art Bead Scene today to check out my post on sharing your skills and teaching. Includes details of my upcoming classes at The Big Bead Show on the 20th October!

Monday, 1 October 2012

Bead Soup Book Blog Hop Week!

Phew, don't try to say that quickly! Welcome to the most wonderful and gracious Lori Anderson's celebratory week, all geared around her awesome book, Bead Soup.

This is a fun week of blog hopping, giveaways, prizes including beads, tutorials and much, much more. Are you excited to play along? Because you should be. You definitely should be.

I was invited to be a part of this fantastic project to be part of the international crowd within this book. I didn't wait to say yes.....Lori used my bead soup to make some really gorgeous jewellery. (I deliberately chose her signature pink and purple colours, especially for her, by the way. Hope she liked them!)Here's a peek at what I sent Lori.

Can't wait to see what she created with it.....are you intrigued????

Living in the UK, my copy of the book is still swimming it's way across the atlantic to me. But I've seen extracts from the book, and believe me, you won't be disappointed. Lori's brainchild, the Bead Soup Blog Party has been running for a few years now. The idea behind it is that two bead-loving strangers get paired up, and send each other a secret bead soup - a focal, a clasp and some co-ordinating beads. You then turn it into something lovely and post about it on your blog.....it not only is a whole load of fun, but it really stretches each and every one of us creatively. You get beads that someone else has selected but have to turn them into something YOU are happy with....I have participated almost every time and have never been disappointed with the creative push it has given me. This book shows just what can happen when jewellery is created with beads unseen.....a riot of styles, colour and design. I am so excited for my copy to arrive and I hope you will be inspired by this week to grab yourself a copy!

Blending a bead soup is a fun project in itself. I like to work on one in a slightly different way from some folk. I put a little of this, a little of that in.....usually starting with a colour scheme in mind, I throw in whatever feels right, rather than equal measures of things. There are always one-off surprises in my bead soups! I think this might be because it's a similar way to how I design. I often work with selections of whatever happens to be on my table/desk etc. Sometimes things land together fortuitously, and you know it was meant to be........I hope my soups are like that too - little pockets of mixed up beady joy, just waiting to become jewellery.

And so in celebration of this fabulous book, I am giving away a specially blended soup, perfectly seasoned here in the UK. The giveaway is open to anyone who wishes to participate - UK-based or anywhere else in the world! I would love to send this soup out to you, and see what you transform it into.....Just leave a comment here to take part. Here's super-sneak peek.....

Here's what you've got in store both today, and over the rest of the week. So many goodies to be won! And don't forget to tune in on the 9th for the grand reveal of all the lucky winners...

Lori Anderson -- http://www.PrettyThingsBlog.com

Rebecca Anderson -- http://www.songbeads.blogspot.com *you are here!*

Barbara Bechtel --

http://secondsurf.com/wordpress/

Tuesday, October 2nd

Lori Anderson -- www.PrettyThingsBlog.com

Kerry Bogert -- http://kabsconcepts.com/wp/

Melanie Brooks -- http://earthenwood-beads.blogspot.com

Jennifer Cameron -- http://glassaddictions.blogspot.com

Wednesday, October 3rd

Lori Anderson -- www.PrettyThingsBlog.com

Diane Cook -- www.rosa-josies.blogspot.com