Forest Bead Soup

Some of the last few posts have been about the bead swap I was involved with. This is the last of the posts about Lori Anderson's October 2018 Bead Swap with Donna M Hoblit of VeraDonna Treasures. 

I've done several of these swaps, and this time I did it with a bit of a twist. It is something that I've been wanting to do. 

When I picked out beads for my partner, I kept the same things, because I wanted to create and see how different our pieces are. It is so interesting to see how you can give a group of people the same exact thing to make something, and wind up with as many different things as individuals.

So, let me first introduce what I sent Donna...

Tiger Eye Chips

I love to beach comb and make jewelry out my finds. I decided to send her one of the shell pieces I found on Cocoa Beach. I wire wrapped it using copper wire.

Green Sea Glass Beads

Green Crystals

Champagne Square Crystal Beads

Some interesting glass beads

Some more interesting glass beads

A couple of star crystals.

An owl bead

Gold tone bead caps

Gold tone feather charms

...and this piece. Sorry, not sure what it is called, but it is usually used in necklaces. 

Here is the color palette I used. I love these colors; reminds me of the place where my husband's family is from in Tennessee. 

Okay...so what did I do with all this?

The first thing I did was make this owl ornament.

Since the shell was made by Mother Nature, I could not duplicate it exactly. I chose a similar shell from my stash and wire wrapped it with copper wire. I then added it to this necklace I made using the beads in stations. 

I love to make necklaces this way...putting the beads in stations, because I think is shows off the beads better. 

Hope you like what I did with these beads. I love the natural, organic look, and these definitely fit into that look.

One last thing I did send Donna was....

one of my crochet waterproof, adjustable, surfer style bracelets, in autism awareness colors. Since I have two nephews who live with autism, I always like to share the awareness. 

My Oct 2018 Bead Swap

Several years ago, I was able to participate, for the first time, in a bead challenge called....BEAD SOUP. Lori Anderson is the creator of this fun idea. I have had the privilege of participating quite a few times now...and I enjoy each one.

Goodies from Donna Hobbit

So..,you might be wondering how this works. Well, after submitting your info...name, address, url to your blog, and whether or not you want to ship to another country or not, you are paired up with another jewelry designer.

lavender seaglass beads

The two of you then converse, and get to know each other a bit. Then the fun begins...you get to swap beads with each other. You send them some pretties, and you get pretties from your partner.

Ancient Roman Glass

After receiving your beads,  you create and blog about it.

ceramic bracelet bar

This swap is a bit different, though. Previously, we were to send particular items such as a focal and clasp. This time, we had four different color palettes to choose from. 

ceramic bracelet bar

My bead swap partner, Donna M. Hoblit of VeraDonna Treasures chose the beach palette....PERFECT!!!! 

 I love the colors, and unusual things she sent.

ceramic bracelet bar

I sent her the forest colors...

and will be blogging about that at a later date. I will try to remember to come back here and link to the blog when I get it written. I plan to wait awhile because I did a challenge within a challenge, so to speak. You see, I kept the same beads I sent her, and created something with them. She is going out of the country for a couple of weeks, and I want to give her time to get back and do her own creating before I post what I did. I think it will be interesting to see how different or how similar our individual creations will be with the same beads.

lampwork beads

But back to the beauties Donna sent me. Thank you, Donna! Everything is so lovely! Stay tune for the reveal, and my explanation of my creations next week....Yes, I already have them done, and I absolutely love them!

....ok....I can't stand it...here is a sneak peak....

Ancient Roman Glass and Freshwater Pearls using copper and silver tone spacer beads and findings....I love to mix my metals...