Last Friday in February - The stumped designer

Today is the last Friday in February. Do you know what that means?

It is Artisan Clay reveal day :-)

I am so excited to show you this necklace because I struggled with it. Yes that's right I was stumped. I had no clue what I was going to make.

It went something like this...
Hmm. I could make earrings.
That might be cool but you said you were going to push yourself creatively this year.
Yes but it's due in 3 days and I have to work at the salon those days and earrings would be easy.
Yes but you didn't want to do easy.
Ugh I know but what. A necklace? Yikes!
Go look at your bead stash.
Ok, ok, I'm going.
Yes that's me talking to myself. I do that from time to time.

This month I received 2 of these circle recycled glass pendants from Kristie's Shop, Artisan Clay.
I have received these before in another Design Challenge, remember these?
For My Sweet Daughter May 2011
I left them on the counter for a few days while I sketched what I wanted to do. Then I got sick and took a week off from everything. I barely even touched Facebook so you know I was really sick ;-)

The design all started when I found these 2 polymer clay beads from Barbara Bechtel of Floridity. The brown and lime green were the perfect compliment and rustic feeling I was going for.
Now what to pair with them? I knew I wanted a circle or circle like object. I pulled out all my circles from Vintaj and different ceramic artists but nothing seemed to work. Then during my drive home from work the other day it hit me. I had this awesome bronze ammonite connector donut from Staci Louise at SLArtisanAccents. Perfect!

Then I went to my collection of smoky quartz beads and found this faceted round bead and this funky nugget which I love but rarely use hoard.
I was struggling with the final part of the necklace because the bead I had in place was so not working.  I called over my business advisor, my husband, and I pulled out several different lampwork beads. I was striking out till I remembered this tiny box of beads I had from Pink Beach. Bingo! I grabbed the brown and raku beads and started working.

I wanted to make the connections sturdy so I used a double loop technique with 22 gauge wire and I did a messy wire wrap to add to the rustic feeling.
I connected the segments to each other so that visually they worked as one unit. I find separating them with jump rings gives a different feeling (which I love for my other pieces).
I wire wrapped the donut with 22 gauge wire to make it a connector and attached it right to the pendant, then got to adding the other elements.
On the Pink Beach bead I textured (beat to heck) 2-10mm  Vintaj natural brass washers. Then I wrapped wire around the Vintaj hook clasp.
Through the 2 etched jump rings I threaded silk from Marsha Neal of MarshNealStudio in a beautiful pumpkin color, tied 2 knots, trimmed the silk and I was d-o-n-e.

Thank you for visiting and be sure to check out the other participants.

~Shannon

Now if you have read to all the way down here I have a surprise for you. I got 2 of these pendants. I only used one. I am going to give the other one away to a random reader who leaves a comment telling me how much they love what I made, or hated it let's be honest here. I will use random.org to help me pick a winner on Monday 2/27, although I can be bribed with pie and chocolate ;-)

What I am cooking up

This has been a crazy week.
I know a cold is my bodies way of telling me to slow down but I am pretty slow all the time anyway. If I slow down anymore I am going to be moving backwards. Lol
But seriously, I didn't think I was doing too much till I sat to write this post.
Here are some things I am working on:

Bead Soup due March 3rd.
I got my beads from my partner Rochelle Brisson of Sea Chelles Design, visit her blog here A Creative Chelle. Out of my comfort zone for sure but that's the fun part of these hops!

The Challenge of Music due Feb 29th. I have a song picked but haven't started working on my piece yet. All I am gonna tell you is that I love Adele ;-)

Blog Hop February 29th

Artisan Clay due February 25th:

Got my beads at the end of last week and have been too sick to work with them yet.

Echo Creative Club due Feb 25th:

Got my beads, made an awesome necklace, took pictures, working on the blog post this afternoon :-)

Andrew Thornton's February Challenge also due Feb 25th:

Necklace finished, photographed and I am working on some other pieces because this kit was huge.

The colors of spring blog hop due March 31st. Got my beads, have been sketching what I want to make but haven't had a chance to make anything yet.

And finally I am a member of the Allegory Design Team due Feb 28th.
My pieces are made and photographed, now all I need to do is write up the instructions and get them to Andrew :-)




Whew! I can now see why I got sick. I love all these challenges and they push me creatively but I think I may have over done it for February. I have never been pushed so far creatively though and that is fueling my fire. All of the pieces I have been sent are out of my comfort zone and that is awesome. I hope you will keep following me to see what I have made for each of these challenges.

~Shannon

Artisan Clay Fashion Show

Instead of the regular Artisan Clay Design Team Last Friday of the Month post we are having an Artisan Clay Fashion Show! We are showcasing the work of Kristie Roeder in jewelry. The best part? You can join in. Visit the Artisan Clay blog and add the link to your blog post featuring Artisan Clay components used in jewelry to the linky.

Here are some of the pieces I have made using Kristie's components.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you'll check out the other participating blogs.
EDIT: I forgot to add that if you stop over to Kristie's blog and leave a comment which focal was you favorite from all the participating blogs you will be entered to win a component of Kristie's from my friend Staci's personal collection.

~Shannon

Last Friday in August

Welcome to the Artisan Clay Design Team Reveal Day!

I received the most awesome pendant. I love the colors in the glaze Kristie used and the u shape made it the perfect pendant for a choker style necklace. I rarely do chokers but I love how this turned out.

I went to JoAnne's Fabrics with a friend a few weeks ago and bought a big bag of plastic flowers. I promptly organized them into baggies by color. One flower escaped my attempts to corral my bead hoard and remained on my table top. It's this little convict that is now front and center in the necklace.

When I received the pendant I placed it on my table top waiting for inspiration. The little flower worked perfectly with the pendant. I also round up some beads from MaryAnn Carroll and my favorite silk from Marsh Neal Studio.

I am so glad that we are having some sunshine this morning so I could take photos because it is looking like the weekend will be a washout with Hurricane Irene taking aim at NY :-/
Be safe everyone.
I am off to the grocery store to stock up on essentials - chips and ice cream.
~Shannon

Last Friday in July

In the salon I work 3 days a week. On the last day I work for a particular month I will pause at the end of the work day to reflect on the events of that month and to plan things for the following month.
Yesterday was that day. As most of you know 2 weeks ago I lost my cat of 9 years. That was a very difficult part of the month of July but July wasn't all that bad. Despite the sadness in my heart at his passing I would say July was a pretty great month.
I was able to participate in 3 design challenges! J-Lynn Jewels, Chinook (which will be revealed soon) and today's reveal Artisan Clay.
I am still high from receiving my first piece of jewelry being in a print publication (Bead Trends) and I had a piece of jewelry in an e-magazine (Everyday Bracelets) So awesome!!!
I was able to attend a bead show, buy some truly awesome beads, and spend a wonderful day with my husband. Speaking of my husband, we celebrated our 10 year Anniversary in July! He took me for lobster and crab legs right on the Hudson River. It was a wonderful evening, the food was delicious and the view was amazing. We live minutes from the river and seldom get to go down there because the restaurants are very pricy, so it was such a nice treat.
We had a wonderful time with new and old friends at a barbeque to support a friend who is running for a political position.
On Monday night I was listening to Nail Talk Radio and won a $1500.00 Gellish gel color kit from Harmony Nails! It contains 72 colors, all the supplies needed and the LED lamp! This kit will be life changing for me and so wonderful for my salon and the future growth of my salon. I am still in shock that I actually won. You see there were 2 of us named Shannon on the call so I thought for sure they meant her.
I hope that the month of August will hold many more special moments for my family and I. I will be celebrating my 35th birthday in about 2 weeks. I hope to achieve my goal of submitting designs to magazines every month for the rest of the year and I hope to spend more time on both my salon and my jewelry.
What did you do in July?
What are your plan for August?

Now I want to reveal my design for the Artisan Clay Design team:

 I chose the beautiful purple donut bead because I knew the color would present a challenge and the shape. I rarely use purple and I have never worked with this shape before. This necklace is inspired by the designs of one of my friends Staci Klinger Smith of StaciLouise she uses this shape in many of the pieces I admire in her shop. How'd I do Staci? Thanks for being an inspiration!!!

 I hope you'll take a second today to reflect on July, plan for August and visit the other members of the Artisan Clay Design Team.

~Shannon

 

Last Friday In June

Where did the time go?
I feel like the last month (and the last 2 years) have flown by.
My daughter celebrated her 2nd Birthday on Wednesday with a trip to Build A Bear and Bugaboo Creek.
It was not the zoo trip we had planned, the weather in NY has been horrible, but we made the best day we could.
Onto the reveal!
This month we were able to pick the pendant we wanted to work with. I kept looking at this one thinking it looked like whiskers. I have never worked with a bead like this so I figured what the heck?! and chose the chunky square! Whew so out of my comfort zone but it was love at first site. But I had no idea what I was going to do.
Here is the necklace I made:

Necklace with Vintaj Chain and Silk Ribbon

Swarovski Crystals dangle off the bottom of the pendant

A handmade head pin captures the 2 Bead Sisters lampwork bead withing the square

Be sure to check out what everyone else made!!!
~Shannon



get the InLinkz code

Last Friday In May

It is the very last Friday in May :-(
Next month at this time I will have a 2 year old. The time is flying by.
The good thing about the last Friday of the month is the Artisan Clay Design Team Reveal!!!

We were given these beads:

Aren't they amazing?!

I immediately thought "oh earrings" but then didn't want to be too simple. So I made a complicated earring out of them, epic fail. They almost ripped my ear off, waaaayyy too heavy. So I cute them apart and thought "I can make 2 of the same, like BFF necklaces" So I made the first necklace.

I think it is pretty cool. I made a coil and wire wrapped the pendant, added jump rings, silk from Marsha Neal Studio, a lampwork bead from Amanda of Sea Shore Glass and Vintaj chain and bead caps. I did that one last week and figured I had a whole week to make the other one.

Then I had a dream about a tree entwined by beautiful, leafy vines dripping with dew. I got right to work and came up with this piece. I love the twisting Vinatj wire and the sprinkling of tiny Swarovski crystals.

Love!

Doesn't it remind you of a vine?

I was also so excited to have been given the necklace from Jeannie in my last post because the peridot chips were the perfect addition to this necklace. I also used up the rest of my silk from Marsha :-)

I hope you like the 2 necklaces I made and I hope you will check out the other artists pieces and see what they did with their pendants from Kristie.
Thanks for stopping by!

~Shannon






Marcie Abney

Shannon Chomanczuk <---you're there! :-)

Carol Dean Sharpe

Staci Louise Smith


Jen Velasquez

Susan Kennedy

Penny Neville 

and the woman who made all these beauties: Kristie Roeder

Here is the Inlinz.com gadget link-

Last Friday in April

Happy Last Friday in April!

Today is the first reveal day for the Artisan Clay Design Team. The team will be revealing what they made on the last Friday of the month.

Each of the members of the design team were given a handmade bead from Kristie Roeder, the extremely talented artist behind Artisan Clay. I first met Kristie during the Beads of Clay event last year and was paired up with her this year for the Button Blog Hop. Kristie is so sweet and has daughters so we connected right away.

I am sure you want me to get on with the reveal so here goes:

I turned this awesome link into a bracelet connector added matte fire agate, aquamarine, green adventurine, glass flowers, a swarovski crystal and a handmade clasp.

I went through many, many head pins trying to get the flowers in the front to look just right. I added and took away several flowers and crystals to come to the conclusion that just 2 on each side were perfect. I made my own head pins with fine silver wire and the clasp is from 16 gauge Vintage Bronze wire.

Remember these earrings? They are the ones I revealed on Monday. I made them to go with this bracelet.

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you will visit the other members blogs to see what they have made with their pieces.

~Shannon