Wonder and Whimsy Monthly Challenge - August Reveal

It's the last Friday of the month... which means it's time for me to reveal what I've been working on for this month's Wonder and Whimsy Monthly Challenge! Woo-hoo!

To jog your memory, my challenge this month was to tackle these UFOs:

...Unfinished Objects, that is.

For this challenge, I picked out twelve projects that I had designed but never finished and put them in the above muffin tin. 

Now, full disclaimer: I didn't finish all of them... but I actually came pretty close! I finished nine of them. Nine! Those are nine necklaces that I didn't have at the beginning of the month... and that's with going on vacation. I'm so incredibly pleased.

I have lots of pictures to show, so without further ado: here are the nine necklaces I made!

Necklace 1:
Glass, shell, and a dyed stone pendant

Necklace 2:
Magnesite, wood, glass, goldstone, and a manmade pendant

Necklace 3:
Glass, ceramic, and lapis lazuli pendant

Necklace 4:
Rhodonite with rhodonite

Necklace 5:
Copper, glass, and dyed agate... oh, and I wire-wrapped the bail

Necklace 6:
Ruby in fuchsite, glass, morganite, and glass

Necklace 7:
Glass, wood, and a resin pendant

And now, for the two grand finales!

...also know as: the two full tassel necklaces that I was able to finish.

Necklace 8
Lapis, pearl, garnet, brass, and a limited edition Wonder Woman charm

And, last but not least, we have Necklace 9.

This one is a continuation from June's Monthly Challenge, where I wanted to make a necklace based on this gorgeous sunset I saw at the ocean:

Here is the final piece:

Necklace 9
Agate, glass, amethyst, shell, pearl, and ceramic

For fun, here are those very same beads, against an ocean backdrop:

Phew! There you go... those are all of the pieces that I finished for this challenge. 

As I said, I'm really quite pleased. Some of those necklaces have been on my worktable for years--with the Wonder Woman being unfinished the longest. (It was a gift to me from me, and just kept taking the back seat to projects with concrete deadlines.) It makes me so, so happy to finally have the finished pieces... and it also makes me happy to see how much I was able to accomplish this month!

Thank you so much for stopping by today to see what I made... I know that I kept the commentary to a minimum, but hopefully you still enjoyed seeing the pictures. I certainly enjoyed showing them!

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone! :)

Pretty Palettes - August Reveal

What's on my beading table today? Why, this month's Pretty Palette!

...Which I finished just in time for today's reveal. :)

This particular Pretty Palette was perfect for the end of summer/beginning of Autumn:

I love the combination of cream and orange and brownish blackish grey... Since I spent some of this month on vacation in the woods, I keep looking at this palette and thinking of a campfire. So, that was actually my main inspiration for my creations.

Overall, I made two items for this challenge. The colors I went with a bit more stark than those in the above palette--going with the campfire theme, it just seemed appropriate.

First up, I made a pair of earrings:

They are made with red agate teardrops, paired with pearl, blackstone, glass, and vintage acrylic. Oh, and silver plated metal--I thought it matched the greyish silver found in the palette.

I also decided to make a necklace. Now, I really wanted to make a full tassel necklace, but I found myself pressed for time.

So! I made a half-tassel instead:

The materials are the same as those found in the earrings--just assembled slightly differently to make a tassel instead of a dangly cluster. I really, really like the way it turned out... I should remember to do more half-tassels in the future. :)

So, there you go! Those are the items that I was able to make for this month's Pretty Palettes challenge. Even though time seems to prohibit me from doing as many challenges as I would like, I'm still grateful that I got a chance to do this one. What a nice way to usher in Autumn!

Thank you so much for stopping by to see what I made... Have a wonderful day, everyone!

Friday's Worktable

My goodness... it's Friday already? Looks like time got away from me this week. 

Still, I suppose that happens the week after vacation. I'm slowly getting back into the swing of things, after a week relaxing in a forest.

As for my worktable, I don't have much to show for this week. Mostly I've been working on my monthly challenge. (As of right now, I've finished 4 of the 12 projects. I hope to do more, but at least that's 4 that I didn't have finished at the beginning of the month!) 

Oh, and I've been getting more items uploaded to my store. (What did I just say about getting back into the swing of things? Hah!) 

Just for fun, here are the four items that I just posted yesterday and today:

I made those quite awhile ago... excited to finally share them with the world. They can be found here, if you're interested.  

Thanks so much for stopping by today to see what I've been up to! I look forward to showing off all sorts of pretty things next week!

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!

Wonder and Whimsy Monthly Challenge - August Edition

I'm leaving on vacation tomorrow (yay!).

In the midst of the packing frenzy, I wanted to make sure that I announce this month's challenge. It's a pretty straight-forward one... My challenge this month is to finish up some of my UFOs.

UFO stands for Unfinished Objects... namely, these particular Unfinished Objects:

Those are 12 projects that I've had planned--and some of them, even partially assembled--for the last few months. Before I take on any more big projects, I really really need to start clearing out some of the backlog. (This is what happens when there's a month or two where I haven't been able to make jewelry, due to my thumb or my concussion.)

Now, I seriously don't think I will finish all of those... After all, there are at least 3 signature tassel necklaces planned in that muffin tin. So, my realistic goal is to finish up at least 4 of those projects--any more than that will be a happy bonus. (And, knowing me, there will probably be 1 or 2 side projects I take on anyway. Hah!)

Thanks so much for stopping by today to see what I'm up to... Please stop by on Friday, August 30th to see what I end up finishing for this challenge.

Until then, have a wonderful day, everyone!

Hello, August!

August is proving to be a busy month. 

Not that I'm complaining, though... I get to go on a family vacation next week! Hurray! There is a lot to get done between now and then, but it'll definitely be worth it. :)

As for my current worktable, it's a little cluttered right now with potential projects. Not only am I starting to pick projects to take with me on my vacation, my husband took me on a surprise bead shopping trip last week (yay!!) and I have some new goodies to play with... including these gorgeous 10mm amethyst rounds:

Aren't they just lovely? 

...I am a very happy (and spoiled!) little jewelry designer.

Thanks everyone for stopping by today! I hope to announce my monthly challenge this Friday, so feel free to stop by then to see what I'm going to be making this month.

Until then, have a wonderful day everyone! :)