Bead Cruise: I wanna go!!!!

 I just found out about the existence of bead cruises. A week long cruise filled with everything you would enjoy on a cruise ship PLUS beading workshops, design challenges and meeting other beaders. Why would you not want to go!

For more info about the Bead Cruise click here: www.beadcruise.com

Speaking of cruises, I just came back from my very first cruise with my family. The best part of the cruise is the food. Imagine, all you can eat fine dining everyday. I'm not a big meat eater but their steak was 'melting' in my mouth. Here are some pics from my trip.

Disneyland

Did I mention that the food was fantastic??

Smoked salmon and apricots...  Mmmmmm!

and......

I joined another blog hop! For this challenge, the participants will choose one colour and create something using all the tints, shades, and tones of that one colour.  I just taught a unit to my Grade 1's about colour value. Guess what colour I'm going to use?

Join me on May 5th for the "One Crayon Color Challenge"!

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.

Beading to Beat Autism

So far the bead soup is still brewing.  I've finished one necklace that I'm very happy with and a few other pieces that needs more work. I think I'm going to need a few more pins but I'm doing pretty well using all the scrap wires.  I think my next piece, I'm going to add some pearls onto it. Just a touch of "me" in these pieces.

Report cards were sent home last week, so weekends are a bit more relaxing.  More time to make jewellery and work on my Bead Soup!

Two weeks ago, a couple of colleagues and I started a beading club at my school for Grades 3-5. It all started when I found out about "Beading to Beat Autism".  A 14 year old girl from Kentucky raised money for an Autism treatment for her little brother just by selling beaded bracelets that she made.  Now she has taken on the mission of raising money to build a foundation center for Autism research. You can read more about her story on the link below or watch the video to find out how you can get your own "Michala's Kit".

www.beadingtobeatautism.org/

So far, our beading club has 30 or so girls participating and making bracelets. They're even bringing in their own beads to donate to this great cause. Maybe a few more weeks from now, we'll be able to sell them to the rest of the school and community!  

Beautiful Butterflies....

Back in December, my hubby and I decided to take a weekend trip to Niagara Falls.  The trip was two-fold: See Etsy sellers in the Niagara Holiday Market and see butterflies at the Butterfly Conservatory.  The Holiday Market was smaller than we expected but it was kinda nice to experience a market since I want to be in a craft show sometime in the future.

The next day we went to visit the Butterfly Conservatory.  The place was swarming with butterflies, fluttering around your head. You had to be careful where you step or an unsuspecting flutterer would become a smushed bug.  There were a few of those on the floor.
Here's a few of my favourite pics I took with my DSLR. If you want to see more pictures of the butterflies, visit my Photobucket.

Bead Soup Blog Party: My beads have arrived!!!!

My partner Shanti Johnson and I shipped our beads at the same time, so, of course we got them at the same time. Except I "got" mine a few days later cause it was cold and snowy this week and no one wanted to walk/drive the "long" distance to the mailbox that was down the street. But, yesterday, I went to check the mailbox and was so excited to see the package that I literally danced/jumped all the way back home. 

Shanti sent me a beautiful bead soup mix. I love the colours and the toggles. Here's the soup of beads and some closer shots. 

The mixture had two orange butterfly focal beads which I can't wait to use.  I love butterflies and I'm always looking for more butterflies to make into jewellery. There's also a leaf toggle and a cute little elephant clasp. Another favourite are the orange rondelle beads. Love them! 

Not sure what I'm going to do with it yet but it is definitely going to take me out of my comfort zone of pearls and bridal jewellery making. Can't wait to get started!

Did you notice the editing done on the pictures? I just discovered an updated version of Picassa that integrated Picnik's editing tools.  Love it!

Remember the Bead Soup Blog Hop is on March 3rd! 
Also, visit Shanti's blog to see what I sent her!
And of course, go check out Lori Anderson's blog, the host of this party.

Packaging my Jewellery

I've gone through many changes when it comes to packaging my jewellery.  In the beginning, I used organza bags where the earrings would just hang from handmade cards.  But I thought it didn't look nice enough and also it could easily be damaged during shipping.

 

So, I switched to using kraft boxes.  These boxes worked very well, but I guess I was picky on how it should be presented. I went from ribbon to paper ribbon but was never satisfied with how it looked.

Now, I'm using these black boxes and I like them so much better.  It looks a lot more professional and classy. Just the way I like it. :) What do you think?