We're All Ears: March Inspiration

In addition to everything else that I'm attempting to do this month, I really really wanted to play along with the monthly inspiration put forth by the Earrings Everday blog, called the We're All Ears challenge.

This month's inspiration was the beautiful, beautiful art often found on the ceilings of mosques. The intricate geometric patterns and rich colors really caught my attention, especially the ones featured in this particular picture (for other beautiful pictures, be sure to check out the photographer's Instagram):

Not my picture!
Ceiling of Hazrate-Masomeh's mosque in Qom, Iran, courtesy of Mehrdad Rasoulifard (@m1rasoulifard).
I was introduced to this picture on the Earrings Everyday blog.

From this inspiration, these are the earrings that I made:

To make them, I used carnelian teardrops paired with lapis lazuli and mother-of-pearl, accented by silver-plated metal (to echo all of the white in the inspiration picture).

They aren't completely how I envisioned them, but I am still pleased with how they turned out. After all, it's pretty hard to go wrong when using such beautiful materials--and when inspired by such a lovely picture! :)

Thank you so much for stopping by... Next week is going to be another busy one, full of jewelry making and reveals! I have a lot of happy things planned--we'll just have to see how many of them I get to do! (I have so many things to show, both for my Monthly Challenge and the FusionBeads 30 Day Bead Challenge, as well as two other challenges that I'll hopefully finish this weekend. Whee!)

Happy Friday, everyone!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I'm part of many beading-centric Facebook groups, one of which is called the Bead Soup Cafe. 

So, why am I bringing this up today? Well, an inspiration picture was compiled and posted to this particular group, and it was suggested that we use it as a springboard to make a jewelry design.

It really is a lovely inspiration picture--and quite appropriate for today: 

Celtic and green--just lovely!
And, yes, quite appropriate for St. Patrick's Day.

And, inspired by the picture, here are the two pieces that I made!

Yep, I made a pair of earrings and a bracelet--made in shades of brass, antique gold, and (of course) green.

The green beads in question are actually acrylic... lovely and lightweight, and with just the right amount of drape. The mottled appearance makes me think of moss and the countryside. In fact, when I went to make the earrings, the only thing I knew was that I wanted to use those particular green beads.

However, when I was searching through my stash, I found the celtic knot components... And, from there, the earrings practically made themselves.

I still had some green beads left, so I decided to make a bracelet, too. They were just the right size to make a wrap bracelet, so that's what I did.

The button I used for the bracelet closure is vintage, and I was super excited to find it in my stash. And you can see why--the weave pattern also reminds me of celtic knots. 

And, for fun, here is a bonus shot of the bracelet being worn:

Yes, that is my wrist.
And I'm standing in the doorway of my craft room.

So, there you go! Some lovely St. Patrick's Day jewelry, inspired by a lovely picture. I always love finding jewelry inspiration in photographs and other such media... And this was no exception!

Thanks so much for stopping by! 

I hope you have a wonderful Thursday, everyone!

Wednesday's Worktable

I honestly feel like I have a zillion* things on my plate right now. 

So, what did I do today?

...I procrastinated.

Ah, yes, the time-honored tradition of procrastination. You see, instead of working on said zillion projects, I randomly started doing something else entirely: making beads out of a phonebook. You read that right... Phonebook. 

I found the aforementioned phonebook while I was rooting through some boxes yesterday... I had originally saved it for packing material (really good for packing dishes, in case you're wondering), but decided it might be better suited for a more glamorous purpose:

Beads!
...Drying phonebook paper-pulp beads.

To make the above beads, I roughly followed the directions found on this website... Although, really, I mostly made it up as I went along. (And, as a side-note, this was not my first time doing this... Last month, I used the same method to make some beads out of a different type of packing paper. I'll post about those at some point, hopefully. Same general idea, though.)

The process itself was rather simple. I started off by ripping sheets of the phone book into shreds:

Then I poured boiling water over them and let them soak for a few hours. 

Then, once they had soaked for a nice long time, I transferred the wet mushy pulp into the food processor and gave it a few pulses. (My husband jokes that I never use our food processor for actual food, only craft materials... And, yeah, it's true.)

I then took the processed pulp, squeezed the excess water out of it (seen on the left), and then added some ModPodge (seen on the right). The directions I linked to above suggest Elmers or any type of glue that dries clear, just as a binder... And, since ModPodge was what I had on hand, it's what I used.

I kneaded it together by hand, and this is what the resulting mush looked like:

And then for the fun (tedious) part: making the beads, one a time. They aren't perfectly round, because I formed them with my fingertips... Rolling them made them fall apart, so I had to pinch them into shape. 

Half of the finished beads... I made enough to fill two cookie trays.

Then, I let the beads sit for about a half hour. Once they dried just a bit, I went through and added the holes with a toothpick. 

One. At. A. Time.

This was the time that I realized that I had made a huge batch--adding the holes took more than an hour.

Holes added! And now, to sit and dry completely.

Once they are dry, I'm going to sand down the rough edges and paint them. I'm really looking forward to that part... Oh, the possibilities!

...So, that's what I've been doing today instead of working on all of the other projects I wanted to do. Still, it was a great deal of fun... And working with them is something to look forward to, once my schedule clears up a bit!

Happy Wednesday, everyone!

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* - Yes, a zillion. That's the highly scientific measurement of things that I need to do. *grin*

Wednesday's Worktable

Today's worktable is brought to you from on the road!

Seriously... I'm spending the day with my friend, and am beading over at her apartment.* Because that's how we roll. :)

Still, I actually wasn't going to work on anything new today. In fact, my plan was simply to chip away at my Monthly Challenge projects (I'm on #4!). But then, we stopped at Michaels after breakfast. And then I remembered that I wanted to do the FusionBeads challenge** for today, which involves making a charm bracelet or bangle.

...And then I found some adorable teacup charms, and I suddenly knew exactly what I wanted to do.

All of my materials, gathered together on my to-go beading mat.

Teacups? Roses? Clocks? Whatever might I be making.

Well, let me show you... This is what I was making:

That? Is a charm bangle based on one of my favorite all-time Disney movies, Beauty and the Beast. Talking teacups, a magic rose, and a limited time to break the spell--all of which I tried to capture in this bracelet.

Bracelet close-up!

In fact, I liked the Beauty and the Beast theme so much, I decided to make a matching necklace and pair of earrings, too. (You're so surprised, I'm sure!)

When the earrings are being worn, the roses dangle directly in front of the plates, which causes a really neat framed effect. 

My personal favorite touch is the teacup on dangling from the clasp.

So, there you go! A Beauty and the Beast jewelry set, made on location at my friend's apartment. Have beads, will travel!

I hope everyone is having a good day... I know that I am. 

Happy Wednesday, everyone!

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* - And I'm writing this blog entry at her apartment, too. Woo!

** - I've actually done every day of the FusionBeads 30 Day Bead Challenge so far, I just haven't gotten a chance to post here yet. You can always follow my progress on Instagram, though, if you're super interested. *grin*

Jenny Monthly Challenge - 2 Year Anniversary!

Believe it or not, the Jenny Monthly Challenge was started in March of 2014. That means that I've been doing this for two years... And I've made some pretty cool stuff in that time!

So, to celebrate, I decided to do something rather special for this month's challenge. 

What I'm doing is actually an adaptation of another challenge that I saw online: the Muffin Tin Challenge. While I'm not entirely sure who started it, I came upon the concept through the Humblebeads blog. I never seem to catch it when she hosts the challenge, but I thought it would be fun to do something similar for this month. 

I have had more than one person ask why I have a muffin tin in my craft room.

  
What is this Muffin Tin Challenge, you ask?

The idea is simple... fill up a muffin tin, where each cup has all of the components (beads, findings, etc.) for a single project. Then, once you've assembled the pieces, finish those projects as quickly as possible.

After all, instead of doing one project this month--why not try to do 12? Heh.

And now that you know what the challenge is, here is my muffin tin!

I spent a good portion of February picking out the projects to put in the cups. I tried to get a nice variety of colors and textures and materials--and even got my husband's input when I was stuck. (Those glass lemon and lime slices on the top right? That was one of his additions.) 

There's Swarovski crystal, there's gemstones, there's glass, there's vintage ceramic, there's even a genuine fossil shark tooth!

Now, while I don't think I'm going to get through all 12 projects in the original challenge's timeline (one week!), I'm going to see just how many of these I can get done in a month. I'll post them as I finish them--including up-close pictures of the components, so you get to see what I'm working with.

This should be fun! I'm actually pretty excited about this challenge... It's quite a bit to do, but that's part of appeal. Time to start making things!

Be sure to stop by throughout the month to see how I'm doing!

Happy 2nd Anniversary, Jenny Monthly Challenges!

Wednesday's Worktable...

...and Day 2 of the FusionBeads 30 Day Challenge!

I had another project that I had planned to do today, but today's assignment for the above challenge caught my attention: to make something with our favorite color of Swarovski crystals. 

Now, while they specifically say make something with rounds or bicones or rondelles, I pulled out a rivoli set that I've been saving for just the right moment.

Apparently, today was the right moment.

The rivolis are in the front... Their color is crystal heliotrope, and they are gorgeous.
Absolutely gorgeous.

I pulled out the lapis lazuli, amethyst, rainbow moonstone, and Chinese crystal to see if I could make anything worthy of such loveliness. 

Here's what I came up with:

Lapis and crystal.

I used everything except the rainbow moonstone.

I love the earrings. I'm not completely sure what I think about the necklace just yet. I definitely like it (I'm currently wearing it!), but may end up tweaking it at some point. Maybe if I can find some darker amethyst, and maybe incorporate some more lapis... Still, what a delicious dilemma to have. It's hard to go wrong when you start off with such lovely crystal!

So, there you go... That's what I'm working on today. That, and my personal March Monthly Challenge--which I should be posting about tomorrow or Friday. Exciting times!

Thanks for stopping by today... I hope everyone is having a lovely Wednesday!

Day 1 - FusionBeads 30 Day Bead Challenge

While I don't think I'm going to do all of these challenges,* I couldn't pass up today's assignment: make a pair of earrings.

So, here you go! 

A pair of earrings for Day 1 of the FusionBeads 30 Day Bead Challenge!

Ta-da!

Simple and bright, these earrings make me think of warm days and sunshine. I'm definitely counting down the days until Spring!

Have a nice night, everyone!

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* - Although, who knows. I might just be that crazy. *grin*

Hello, March!

Happy National Craft Month!

Yep, March is National Craft Month! ...Which I totally didn't know until this morning, when I sat down to write this entry. (And if I did know it before, apparently I forgot and am re-learning it now. Heh.)

Random bead shot!
...Included for no other reason than I like random bead shots,
even if I've already technically posted them before.

I am super excited to charge into a bunch of different projects this month--my Monthly Challenge, for instance, as well as various other challenges that I'm hoping to sign up for. (Perhaps another Pretty Palettes? Perhaps the We're All Ears Challenge over at Earrings Everyday? Perhaps doing a few days of the Fusion Beads March Bead Challenge? The possibilities!) 

And who knows... I might even finish up some projects that are languishing, half-made, on my craft table!

Remember this project? Yep, still not done.

As you can probably tell, I'm anticipating that this is going to be a very busy month... And that is exciting to me. I just hope that I don't end up biting off more than I can chew--I almost overdid it in February, and I gotta stay realistic. 

Heh. We'll see how that goes.

So, goodbye February, and hello March!

Have a wonderful month, everyone... Stay tuned for my crafty endeavors!