Cupcake Challenge

Here are the results of my muffin tin or cupcake (for me!) challenge.

The idea was to fill your muffin tin (or selection of cups in my case) with a selection of co-ordinating beads. Your job was then to make jewellery from the selected beads. No tricky bead decisions to make, just put them together in a pretty manner! 

I did a couple of switches after making up these cups - the central row, two furthest left. Bead choices made in the dark, when I checked again in the morning, they just didn't quite go....

I was surprised at just how much I liked this method of working - I'll definitely be using it again. There were quite a few benefits. 

1) I used quite a few beads that I'd been hoarding and either not been able to quite bring myself to use them, or hadn't been quite sure how to use them (such as the SummersStudios heart bead).

2) It was great way to focus on creating. On quite a few occasions, I was more than happy with exactly the beads I had selected and could see immediately how I wanted to them to go together. 

3) Putting all the pieces together has created a bit of a snapshot of my style and particularly my love of colour! And brilliantly, although there was a lot of turquoise (only to be expected where I'm concerned) I did branch out into some other colour schemes.

So I think I'll try working this way again - very productive and instructive.

Here's a collage of the art beads I used in some of these pieces. 

In no particular order, they are

turquoise egg and nest charm: Humblebeads

red heart ceramic charm: SummersStudioEtc

green polymer bird bead: Floridity

polymer roses: Elise Canning

purple willow teardrop charm: Humblebeads

lily pad patinated charm: MissFickleMedia

polymer egg charm: Humblebeads

red polka dot lampwork beads: BeadsByLaura

pink and purple lily bead: Humblebeads
Teardrop leaf clasp - DaisyChainDesigns
pale peach lamowork - Moogin

I also used hand dyed ribbon by Sowzere Designs but forgot to snap a close up. Photos not the best....the light was doing me no favours and I knew I had to get this post done quickly....looking forward to seeing what others have done!I've created:

4 pairs of earrings

1 necklace

1 pendant 

6 bracelets

Hurrah! A very productive few days. Thanks Heather!

Still supping up the soup...

How's everyone's hopping week been? I must confess, I still have about 80 blogs to go....I'll get there in the end though, I am determined to stop in and say hi to everyone who participated! Lots of awesomeness I have spotted to far and am looking forward to some more. 

Thought I would share with you a little loveliness that came in the post this week. Firstly, some lovely faceted citrine from precioussparklebeads

One of my favourite stones at the moment - I am not really a yellow person but I just love citrine in really delicate shades like this one.

Next up, a favourite of mine - a wee blue birdie from SummersStudioEtc

I adore these....something about the combination of birds, porcelain and this particular shade of blue makes me want to sing...

Next up, another staple favourite but in a new patina...Easter Sunday links from MissFickleMedia...

I can't tell you just how gorgeous this patina is in real life!! 

And last but definitely not least, some beautiful rustic clay beads from HodgePodgeArts

These are a bit of a departure for me - I am usually more a porcelain girl than a rustic earthy clay one, but these are gorgeous - chunky and delicious! I've already used most of them up in a project I can't show you as yet...and really enjoyed the challenge. 

Anyway, I hope you liked my spring themed arrivals! All photos are by the artisans themselves...what can I say, they just take a better picture than me!! Please check out all these wonderful artists' sites if you have the time and drool over their beady goodness.