DVD Tutorial Giveaway!

So.... Lori from Pretty Things Blog is having a giveaway! She reviewed Scott David Plumlee's how-to DVD's for making wire jewellery and chain maille and now she's giving three of those DVD's to some lucky people. I started making wire jewellery awhile ago but didn't really get too into it because silver wire was hard to come by locally and I just didn't have the $$$$. Bought the hammer, a wigjig, and some cheap wire too.  Even got my dad, who's an engineer, to get me a big block of metal from work so I have something hard to hammer on. Chain maille has always fascinated me. Just how much detail goes into making one of those jewellery pieces.

If you want a chance to enter click HERE!

Bead Soup Blog Party: The reveal!

Hosted by Lori Anderson

It's Bead Soup Blog Party time!!!!!!!!
This is the longest post I've ever written but it's also the most exciting. Last month, I got to participate in my first ever Bead Soup Blog Party. What happens is each participant gets paired with a partner and they exchange a 'soup' of beads. The partners are meant to challenge each other by getting her to work outside her comfort level.  This was definitely a challenge for me as I've never worked with copper or brass before.

When I first got my package from Shanti Johnson, I immediately loved the colors.  It was so bright and orange-y and pretty.  My next thought was "What am I going to do with these????????"
  

My delicious soup from Shanti

It took a while but I started working with the brass 'hope' focal  first. This is what I made with the brass materials but it was too simple and I didn't like it, so I took it apart.

I have a soft spot for butterflies so naturally the orange butterfly beads were one of my favourites in the mix. They became the focals for this necklace:

Copper leaf toggle clasp.  So pretty!

Other than the two butterfly stone beads, I used some turquoise stones, brown wooden beads that went will with some orange rondelles. I love the leaf toggle, so I used that in this piece.

As I looked at the rest of the beads, I really couldn't figure out what to do. I've never used copper before. My main material for my jewellery pieces were silver and pearls. As I finished that butterfly piece I actually ran out of copper materials.  So I thought, "Why can't I mix colours together?" and that's how this necklace came about: A mixture of copper and silver.  haha...  I know, I cheated.

This necklace was made from a two-toned Swarovski crystal and one of the focal rings from Shanti. Isn't it beautiful?

This necklace is now on sale in my Etsy store. Just click on the link below.





This brass bracelet uses the really cute elephant clasp and some brass rings.  I thought, I would just add a litte bit of me to at least one piece, so I decided to sprinkle it with some white, creamrose, and bronze Swarovski pearls.

I started my beading hobby by making earrings and I can't believe through this whole bead soup, I only made one pair of earrings.  These are the pretty turquoise stones with brass chains.

Well, that's all I had time to make.  It was such a learning process and so much fun.  I'll be blog hopping now.  First hop will be to my partner, Shanti, who gave me all those wonderful beads.  Here is what I gave here.  Click to see her post of what she made with my soup. www.sunshinebliss.com

Here's all the participants of BSBP:

Visit my Pinterest (will be updated once I get to all the posts) to see all the awesome creations or visit each persons blog below.