Andrew Thornton's Spring Challenge

Yes, three posts in two days. Unusual for me, I know. I was starting to think I had bit off more than I could chew by signing up for two challenges and Shannon’s weekly 'Finally Fridays' challenges. On the other hand I need this kind of push to keep me at the bead table.


From Andrew's Blog

Andrew collaborated with Lima Beads and came up with a lovely spring inspired kit for this challenge. I just clicked ‘add to cart’, and soon the kit was traveling to my mail box. The kit includes the sweetest bunny toggle from Green Girls, a tiny pewter bunny charm from Tierra Cast, a darling ceramic bird charm from Earthenwood Studio, a little tagua nut large hole bead, a pair of Lucite leaf charms, a hammered chain, two tubes of seed beads, and a variety of Czech beads.

I like to get some mileage out of kits like this and spread the goodness around to several pieces. The first piece I made was this bracelet made with four of the faceted fire polished Czech beads from the kit, some vintage green beads, wasabi deep cut Czech beads, green Druk glass beads, a dyed howlite tube bead, Vintaj chain and components, and some sweet lampwork spacer beads.


'Lime-A-Rita'

The second piece, another bracelet (which I’ve been making a lot of lately) includes the apple green Czech beads, a large turquoise dyed howlite bead, lampwork beads from Twinstar and Lynda’s Bead Dreams, a polymer bead from Heather Powers, a Bali bead and sterling silver spacers and clasp.


'A Gentle Breeze'

These earrings include the Lucite leaves and a couple of the Czech beads from the kit, plus triangle wood beads and a variety of Vintaj chain.


'Jungle Fever'

The inspiration for this last piece came when I saw a little bird on our porch with a wad of fiber in her beak ready to use it to build her nest. This necklace is made with the sweet ceramic bird, a peach colored ‘sugared’ lampwork bead from Fire & Fibers, Vintaj components, and a silk dangle from a destash over at Objects and Elements. I’m thinking I need something more on the chain, so I might take it apart and redo just the chain part. Also, I don’t have a name for this one. Any ideas?



I didn’t get a chance to use the chain, the bunny charm, tagua nut bead, the tiny green glass beads, the seed beads or the bunny clasp. But I hope to make something with these soon. Thanks for stopping by. Please visit Andrew’s blog for the list of participants.

Logical Nonsence

'The time has come, the Walrus said,
To talk of many things:
Of shoes and ships and sealing-wax
Of cabbages and kings
And why the sea is boiling hot
And whether pigs have wings.'
~Lewis Carroll

My grandfather was constantly quoting little ditties like this. He led a rather colorful life as a young man; orphaned at age 5 where he was then contracted out as a hired hand. He later worked as a carnival barker and a clown, just to name a couple. I believe he was also in the Navy, if that tatoo he had on his arm was any indication. I wish I could go back in time and ask him to tell me all about his life. He would tell the most interesting stories about being related to Daniel Boone, and being part Native Indian, but then again, he was a bit senile in his old age, so it's anyone's guess. I've been trying to track down his family history through Ancestry.com for a few years now, and having a time of it. Seriously, searching geneaology sites can be both frustrating and rewarding, and it certainly takes a lot of time.

So the title of this post really tells it like it is; a bit of this and that.

First, let me share some goodies I received in the mail recently.

This is a set of beads I received from Sally Russick for the upcoming 'Colors of Spring' Blog hop on March 31st. The beads are sitting on my bead table waiting for inspiration to strike--which I hope happens soon, 'cause I'm running out of time.



This pile of goodies came from Linda Larson at Objects and Elements as part of her destash. Just look at all the goodies!



These lovely headpins came from Lorelei as part of a Headpin challenge--the reveal date is set for April 7th. The headpins were made by Gardanne. As you can see, they have a balled end opposite the glass bead end, which makes for a challenge all its own--at least for me.



I won these gorgeous enameled earrings from Melissa Memann as part of the recent
Earrings Everyday blog giveaway. I love the pretty pinkish lavender colors.



This amazing resin pendant was handcrafted by Lynn Davis, which I won in a recent giveaway. I love the gorgeous antique look of it!



Yep, I feel pretty lucky after winning all these goodies. My grandfather was a teeny part Irish (at least that's what Ancestry.com says), and maybe I got a bit of Luck O' The Irish meself. Here's another ditty that grandpa used to recite. When I looked up the origin I was surprised to learn it was an old negro riddle. I'm guessing he probably worked with several negro slaves during his youth. I know he was shuffled around to many homes to work. See if you can figure out what item the riddle is referring to.

Round as a biscuit
Busy as a bee
Prettiest thing you ever did see





The answer is a watch. If you made it down this far, I commend you!