We're All Ears February Challenge

Our inspiration are lovely flower girls created by Lim Zhi

Malaysian artist and photographer Lim Zhi Wei (a.k.a Limzy) is the creator of these whimsical flower girls. She has a passion for turning every day objects into things of delicate beauty. For 2015, Limzy created a very limited run of a calendar of her Flowergirls. How marvelous would it be to gaze on those dreamy beauties every day of the year! The beauty of this art is that it is ephemeral. It will not last. Yet Limzy has captured the essence of the bloom in such a spectacularly unique way and preserved it in her prints. You can follow Lim Zhi Wei on Instagram and Facebook or on her blog, Love, Limzy.

There are several flower girls to choose from

I chose these because I love Calla lilies.

'Calla Lily'

 Beautiful drops from Scorched Earth

Disk beads from Twinstar. 

And sweet polymer beads from Graceful Willow

Please visit the Earrings Everyday blog to see more of  the art and the earrings 

The Challenge of Music

I always enjoy Erin's challenges and she comes up with great ideas to stretch our minds and creativity.

Having been born in the early 1960's  with so many great songs in the '60's and '70's (the best two decades for music in my opinion) it was difficult to choose just one song.

So I started looking at the bands in these two decades.

The Beatles, The Beach Boys, Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Jimi Hindrix, The Who, The Doors, Led Zepplin, The Eagles, Jefferson Airplane, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Pink Floyd and so many more. Still too many to choose from. In fact it makes my head spin.

Then I remembered the Coca-Cola Song I heard so often as a child and did a little research.

In 1971 the song was born one foggy day in London and ended with 500 people from around the world singing the song on a hilltop in Italy.

You can read more about the makings of the commercial and hear the song by clicking the link below.

http://www.coca-colacompany.com/stories/coke-lore-hilltop-story

My piece was inspired by the people of different lands, different colors ,different religions and ideals who stood together on that hill all brought together with a simple bottle of Coca-Cola.

The world would be a better place if we could just love more and hate less.

'Perfect Harmony'
Lava beads, ancient carnelian, red jasper, carved bone bead, ceramic beads by Eclectic Prairie
Lampwork beads by Lynda Bead Dreams and Twinstar and one wood bead.

Check out Erin's blog to see what the other participants made.

AJE Earring Challenge

  Sunday is the reveal for weeks 27 and 28 of the Art Jewelry Elements year long Earring Challenge. In keeping with my theme of featuring a bead artist each week for as long as I can, I have made two pairs with beads from Petra of Scorched Earth. Check out her etsy shop, you'll be glad you did!  

'Let Freedom Ring' made with Petra's colorful drops, lampwork beads from Twinstar, and Vintaj components.

 

'Drifter' with Petra's rustic daggers, Vintaj components, and lampwork beads from  Something New4 you (I lost track of her since she sold on ebay and would love to find her again.  If anyone knows how to find her I would be greatful.)

  Just like the days of summer go by so quickly, it seems like we just started this challenge.  Yet here we are just over half way through the year. Thank you for sticking with me as I show off my earrings.  And please visit the AJE blog to see more wonderful earrings.

Sun and Sea Challenge

Today is the reveal day for the Creative Bead Chat's Sun and Sea Challenge. Six wonderful artists donated beads for this event, and I was one of the lucky winners! Here's what we received.



This necklace is made with Marla James fabulous ceramic focal. I wanted this to be a simple design so the focal stood out. I added hammered chain from Andrew Thornton's Spring Challenge which reminded me of little bubbles, Swarovski Crystals, Swarovski coral glass pearl beads, a sterling clasp and donut bail.


'Andros Barrier Reef'



Earrings made with MOP ovals and handmade hammered copper rings from Melinda Orr, Swarovski crystals, and copper freshwater pearls.


'Sea Maiden'

This necklace is made with Karyn Lewis-Bonfiglio's pretty blue swirled polymer beads, a leftover MOP oval from Melinda Orr, two little orange ceramic beads from Karen Totten, an ebony flower bead from Keirsten Giles bead swap, Melinda Orr's handmade copper clasp, and Vintaj components.


'The Big Island'

These earrings are made with Kathleen's colorful lampwork beads, etched copper charms from Melinda Orr, and brass earwires.


'Long Hot Summer'

And just to cool things off a bit, here is a simple little bracelet made using two of Karen Totten's blue ceramic tube beads, a handful of lampwork spacers from Twinstar, faceted aqua beads, tiny faceted dyed jade beads, lapis rondelles, and sterling silver.


'Cool Waters'



These earrings are made with two of Karen Totten's blue ceramic beads, and the left-over hammered chain from Andrew Thornton's Spring Challenge.


'Splash'

Though we had plenty of time to make jewelry, I didn't get to the lovely wood tile bead from Jlynn, and I still have a couple hammered rings and copper beadcaps from Melinda that didn't find their way into a piece.

I want to thank all the ladies who generously gave their own beads just so we could play. I had a wonderful time with this challenge. I hope you will visit the artist who gave us beads to play with, and also visit the designers listed below to what they created with the same beads.

Aimees Jewelry Treasures
Yay Jewelry
CSW Designs
Alice Dreaming you're here!
Creative Thoughts From Cindy

Finally Friday

It's Finally Friday, and the inspiration this week is Sweet Tones from Design Seeds. The colors are definately sweet and they remind me of eating cotton candy at the fair. These earrings are made with cute dotted lampwork beads, which I've had for a long time now and have lost track of the artist. Also included are Czech ruby deep cut beads, two sweet little aqua lampwork spacers from Twinstar, and sterling silver.


'Cotton Candy Summer'




Thanks for stopping by, and be sure to visit Shannons blog for her Finally Friday project. And I know she would be thrilled if you played along. The more, the merrier!

Have a fabulous weekend!

Finally Friday

If you are coming here to see the reveal for Erin's Challenge of Literature you can find it by clicking on this link.




The Design Seeds inspiration for this week is ‘Urchin Tones’. I was very excited as I had been holding onto a polymer sea urchin connector waiting for just the right time to use it. So I lined up all the beads on my bead mat and they looked amazing. Unfortunately when I started putting the piece together, the polymer connector broke at the hole. I was heartbroken, as this was THE perfect piece for this project. Also, this was the second polymer piece in two weeks that has broken at the hole. Maybe I was too rough on them. But I noticed the urchin was very soft, even though I’ve had it for several months. I don’t know much about polymer clay, but I’m thinking I will stick to only round polymer beads in the future. Here's what it looked like all lined up.



So I switched out the polymer connector with a Vintaj Brass Sand Dollar. I wasn't sure if it would work since I already connected the beads with silver wire. It looks OK as it picks up the browns in the beads beside the Sand Dollar.



Below is the broken connector and the tiny pieces that broke off. I did try and salvage the connector by sanding and gluing those tiny pieces together, but you can see the cracks just a bit. Next I’ll glue the urchin to a piece of metal and see if it can be salvaged. Crossing my fingers…..



This piece includes lampwork beads by Twinstar, a drilled river rock I snatched from the Sisterhood of the Traveling Bead Box, a Vintaj Brass Sand Dollar, sterling clasp, and silver filled wire.





Yes, I do know it's not Friday, but tomorrow is the reveal date for the Andrew's Spring Challenge so I'm doing this one early. Thanks so much for stopping by. Please visit Shannon’s blog tomorrow to see what she made, and to play along next week.