Design Team Reveal

I am so excited to tell you this awesome news. My online friend Kristie Roeder of Artisan Clay put a call out for a new Design Team she was starting. I applied and waited patiently (yeah right I checked my e-mail like a zillion times) to find out if I had been added to her team. Guess what? I was!

How awesome are these?

I am a member of the Artisan Clay Design Team and I couldn't be more excited.
The other super cool thing is that Kristie and I are button swap partners and I had won a component of her's last year during Beads of Clay so I am familiar with her work.
I love her pieces because they are different than what I would pick myself but that is the awesome part of it. I will be stretched creatively and that is definitely a good thing. :-)
Kristie is a very talented artist and I cannot wait to see what we are going to be getting to play with. Stay tuned because I would love if you would follow along this journey with me, I have a feeling it is going to be awesome!

Check out the announcement here: Artisan Clay Blog
and check out Kristie's work here: Artisan Clay on Etsy

~Shannon

Week 9- 52 weeks

I have been behind the 8 ball in my goal of actually completing 52 Weeks of Blogging Click here to view more details.
I am on week 9, which is where I left off. I got side tracked by the Bead Soup Blog party and by the fact that week 9 was difficult to answer.

The inspiration for week 9 is to document the second stage of creating a new project. I have been stuck on what to show you all that would be interesting and an actual second stage. So what's a girl to do?

Before LOS

After LOS

She shows you what happens when you put your etched copper pendant into a liver of sulfur bath. They come out all black and pretty yucky looking. That's what I wanted. It is this step that leads to the look I am going for in my pieces, it gives the etching depth and an aged look.
--->thanks Kristi for pointing out that I didn't tell you that to get the finished look below I had to sand off most of the black<---
The pictures below are the pieces from Saturday's session. On Sunday I made another 4 pieces and as I write this I have another 5 in the etching process.

My Favorite!

So what do you think? Do you have a favorite? Watch my etsy site because I am actually going to part with some of these beauties, yes you heard correctly some of these will be put up for sale this week!

~Shannon
Ready to start your own 52 Weeks of blogging?
Click here to visit Tara Gentile - Scoutie Girl.

Bead Table Wednesday 3/23/11

Welcome to another addition of Bead Table Wednesday. I can only show you a tiny piece of my table today because I have a piece in the works and I don't want to spoil it.
As some will notice right away that is a dragonfly from Nancy Schindler of Round Rabbit. I am trying to use up a lot of Nancy's pieces before her next update. She is having one today that I am not counting so I can buy a few things.

I hope you will stop by the flickr group at http://www.flickr.com/groups/1601463@N21/ and check out the rest of the groups tables.
Thanks for stopping by!
~Shannon

Hello

I t has been a while since I have blogged so I wanted to give you some pictures of some jewelry I have been working on before I fall into bed. Oh and I got my sink and dishwasher! Finally, it has been 5 years since I had a "real" kitchen sink so I am so happy with how it turned out. (Thanks hubby)

 

Good Night

~Shannon 

I am a Winner

For Valentine's Day EtesyMom Street Team had a scavenger hunt. It was tricky but I was up to the challenge. It took me 2 days to find all the little hearts, flowers and cherubs hidden in the sponsors etsy shops. I found out that I was one of the winners but was not told what I won. I figured it was an item from one of the sponsors.
A small box arrived at my house about 2 weeks ago. I had no idea what it was and we were in the middle of making dinner so I set it aside and forgot about it for a few days. Crazy right?! Well I about died when I finally opened the box because inside there wasn't one gift but seven!
Here's what I won:

Hat from Cape Cod Caps by cmc designs

I crochet but I don't make hats. My daughter loves crochet hats so she grabbed this hat out of the box before I even realized what it was. It is soft and beautiful and very well made. Thank you to http://cmcdesigns.etsy.com.

Medium cosmetic bag from zoegirldesigns

Anyone that knows me knows I love to change my purses often. I am able to do this because I keep all my things in little cosmetic bags so this amazingly adorable bag will be quickly put to good use. It's even better because it's handmade! Thank you so much Donna!
Visit: http://www.zoegirldesigns.etsy.com

Card and gift tag from Homemade by Amanda

I do not make cards because they are a lot of work so I can appreciate the amount of time this took. Thank you Amanda. Visit: http://www.homemadebyamanda.etsy.com

Earrings from quirefly

These earrings are adorable. The picture isn't the best I am sorry. The ear wires are handmade black steel, so cool. Thank you quirefly. Visit: http://www.quirefly.etsy.com

Bracelet from Beachside Treasures

I have a little girl that loves jewelry so as soon as I opened this box I was smitten with this little bracelet. It is so lovely and it sparkles in the light. Thank you Meg, this bracelet is so beautiful!
Visit: http://www.beachsidetreasures.com

From Baby Swank

Meagan from Baby Swank sent Marigold seeds. I had to laugh when I saw these because when my daughter was born my husband started talking about having a garden one for him and one for her and I. I showed him the seeds and he just smiled. Thank you Meagan. Visit: http://www.babyswank.etsy.com

Ring from aprikotdesigns

Okay Heather I have to hand it to you, your icon was the hardest for me to find. I spent a ton of time clicking around your etsy page so I was pretty excited to get something of yours. I love this ring and smile every time I see it thinking of finding your icon. Haha, thank you Heather.
Visit: http://www.aprikotdesigns.etsy.com

A huge thank you to all these Etsymoms this was a great surprise and I had a ton of fun participating in the scavenger hunt.
I hope my readers will take a second to visit some of these (or all) of these sponsors and see their shops.

Happy Monday!
~Shannon

Bead Table Wednesday 3/9/11

Happy Wednesday.
I am lucky I get to go to the salon late today so I can bring you Bead Table Wednesday.
If you would like to check out what everyone else has on their table visit http://www.flickr.com/groups/1601463@N21/

Here is my table this morning. Last night I finished working an a few pieces and decided to go through some of my Nancy Schindler pieces. Yes, these are only a few of them I have a problem. I think I might need rehab. The glass beads are from Amanda of Sea Shore Glass.

Thanks for taking a peak at my bead table. 

See you next Wednesday for the next installment of BEad Table Wednesday!

~Shannon

Beady Goodness

On Saturday my husband drove me to The Innovative Beads Expo in Fishkill, NY. This is a bead show I regularly attend since I started beading. I have come to know several of the vendors and I look forward to visiting with them every year. We walked into the show and I started to look around, within minutes my husband became overwhelmed and started yelling so he took the baby and I had 1 hour to shop and here are the goodies I bought:

J&M Gems 'n' Things jmbeads.com

I grabbed these matte pink fire agates as soon as I walked in the door. I know what I am going to make with them and can't wait to have time. I fell in love with the blond wood and faceted aquamarine and replaced a few other things I had run out of.

Eureka Crystal Beads eurekacrystalbeads.com

I must say I look forward to visiting this booth every year. The family that runs this booth are some of the nicest people I have ever met, they are so outgoing and helpful that it makes it a great experience. They have tutorials for their jewelry that is on display so you can visit their website and get the tutorials. They also had all the new Swarovski colors which were great to see in person. I also love their selection of glass flowers so I always grad those first. It's funny because that's when other shoppers gather because they want what you have. The flowers are loose in bowls near the register so I grab the bowl and start picking through for the colors I want. This year I bought almost all blue and purple which is strange because I almost never but blue anything.
I also grabbed these purple teardrops, new Swarovski crystals and more cream and white pearls.

Kabela

Kabela

Kabela

Kabela is another booth I love to visit! This couple is so sweet and I was so excited to have met them back before they started getting their items into Fusion and Artbeads because when they did I was super proud of them. Their products are beautiful and they are always willing to offer suggestions and tutorials. She even prodded me to try something I would have never picked up on my own and now I can wait to try! I cannot say enough nice things about them so if you get a chance please check them out.

Park Ave Beads

I walked by this booth a few times before a little bronzite round caught my eye. None of the other vendors had bronzite rounds and I love bronzite and have no rounds left in my stash. I grabbed up some more river stone strands in 3 different sizes and a strand of honey jasper.

Expo USA

I love these glass teardrops and needed some closed sterling jumprings. Hmmm, more blue.

2BeadSisters.com

2BeadSisters.com

Last stop, The 2 Bead Sisters. I first saw their beads at a bead store in Suffern, NY and fell in love. I then met them in person at The Innovative Bead Expo and liked their beads even more. I don't know about you but I support nice people and people I like or have a connection with. I have stopped buying beads from people who are rude, stuck up and have a bad attitude.
Anyway, the middle row of beads are the first thing at their booth I picked up along with the tube focal bead. I carried them around for a loooong time while other shoppers hovered over my find. These were the only ones like this. The loose beads at the top were only $2.00 each and tossed in a bowl. These are orphans and most do not have mates but I know exactly what I am going to do with them. The flat beads at the bottom were calling me from another bowl of beads $5.00 and up. These happened to be $6.00 each and are beautiful and um, blue.



I guess I am influenced by the seasons because this shopping trip was all about blue. I cannot wait to have time to make some things with these beads. I hope you enjoyed our bead shopping trip together. I look forward to showing you what I make with all these goodies!
~Shannon

Week-8

I skipped week 8 in my 52 weeks of blogging last Saturday to bring you bead soup so I am going to write my week 8 tonight and my week 9 as soon as I can.
Week 8 is all about being inspired by or frustrated by the seasons.
I am definitely inspired by the seasons. I find that my designs will often follow what is going on outside my window.
Here are a few things I have created with seasonal inspiration.

Fall

Summer

Summer

Fall

Fall

Summer

Fall

Spring

Spring

Summer

 

 

Winter

Winter

Winter

Spring

Are you inspired to create by the seasons? How do the seasons influence you creatively?
~Shannon

Spring Rain

The picture for the Art Bead Scene February Challenge made me long for spring.

Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose by John Singer Sargent 

68.50 inch wide x 60.50 inch high

 

 

 

 

I was driving down the street last week and could see the first signs of spring, daffodil tips starting to peek up from the ground and green grass in between the patches of snow. These first signs of spring make my heart sing. They remind me that winter will come to an end and that longer, warmer days are around the corner.

I decided immediately that I wanted to make a piece for the February Art Bead Scene challenge when I saw this picture. I went to work on the pendant immediately.

The square blank is from Vintaj, I got out my alcohol inks and started layering several different colors. After the inks dried I stamped a flower image on the blank. To add depth and shine I covered the whole thing with Ice Resin.

I made the necklace with Vintaj chain, Vintaj bead caps, Swaroski Crystals, blue and purple flowers, and Swarovski pearls.

 

This picture doesn't show off how beautiful the pendant really is and how much depth the resin gives. 

I hope the groundhog was right and we do have an early spring, I know I can't wait!

 

~Shannon