Saturday, August 27, 2011

Fab "ingredients" for Bead Soup 2011!


Check out these fabulous pearls, beads and cool focal glass bead that I received from my Bead Soup partner, Karen Tremblay !!  Pearls are my absolute favorite  (they're my birthstone) and the free-form beads in this collection are out of this world.  I can't wait to start designing some new jewelry for JJ :-) 



I sent a collection of some of my lampworked beads along with some spacer beads and an assortment of contrasting beads and am excited to see what Karen makes from them.  We're not supposed to show our offerings until the big unveiling day so here's what I sent with major editing, thanks to http://www.picnik.com/ -- a fantastic and FREE photo editing program that I just learned about.  Enjoy!



The Bead Soup Party is Saturday, September 17th -- click here to see a full list of all the participants. 

Monday, August 1, 2011

Bead Soup is Back!!!

I'm so excited -- it's Bead Soup time again and Lori Anderson will once again use her tremendous project management skills and creative juices to launch yet another Beaded Jewelry exchange extravaganza!  Last year I was teamed up with the uber-talented Karen Williams of Seattle, WA who really challenged me and my beadmaking skills with her beautiful earth-toned seed beads and beaded centerpiece.  I still get compliments each and every time I wear my beautiful necklace and earrings!

The whole concept of the Bead Soup exchange is to push the envelope of each participants comfort zone and make us use materials/styles/colors/concepts we don't normally use.  We each send out a package containing our bead/design offerings to another Bead Souper and they send us their own personalized offering in return.  Honestly -- the anticipation is like waiting for Santa to arrive so you can open your presents :-)

Guess I'd better get busy in the studio and start torching some awesome beads for my partner -- in the meantime feel free to check out some of the previous Bead Soup "Recipes" !  Lori will be coming out with a book in October, 2012 and I hope one of my humble designs or beads might just make the cut.