6th Do Over Challenge Reveal!

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This is my second attempt to take a piece of jewelry sent by Jeannie Dukic, and change it into something more awesome than the original. That was tough this time, because I really liked the original.  Or, originals, as Jeannie sent along earrings and a memory wire bracelet.

The originals

Green fresh water pearls...the color shows better here. 

I thought the necklace and coordinating pieces were lovely. It reminded me of something you would make for a wedding. For the brides maids to wear with their pastel dresses and dyed-to-match shoes. So I took the design and tried to feature the pearls a little more, and the crystals a little less, and I changed the metal color from silver to copper, with a little help from some Beadalon Satin Copper Color beading wire, and Miyuki cube beads in a matte metallic khaki iris finish. I did not use the round silver spacer beads, so I had to take apart the bracelet to harvest the pearls.  

What do you think? 

This single strand necklace owes a lot to the original design.

I added a pair of earrings. 

Detail on the earrings. 

Now, I have to admit that last week, for this blog hop: Seed Bead and Metal Blog Hop,  I sneaked a few of the freshwater pearls to enhance my design. In a similar spirit, I used the bonus beads I received as part of that project in these earrings. 

What's this? The fresh Water Pearls show up here, too!

Here's a list of participants in the 6th Do Over Challenge! Hop on over and visit with Jeannie and the others, and see what they have made. 


Jeannie K Dukic (Challenge Host)
Penny Houghton
Susan Delaney
Becky Pancake
Therese Frank
Donetta Farrington
Molly Alexander
Mowse Doyle
Renetha Stanziano
Ginger Davis Allman
Kathy Richardson
Christie Murrow
Veralynne Malone
Shai Williams
Beti Horvath <<<---- You are here
Linda Britt
Miranda Ackerley
Mischelle Andrade
Tracy Stillman
Charlene Bausinger
Deana Hager

Focus on Life: In the Shadows

...or are we...

This week's Focus on Life prompt from Sally Russick asks us to capture the interplay of light and shadows. Even though the title implies that the shadows are what we should concentrate on, I found that the sunny day when I went out with my camera taught me how shadows emphasize the light. 

Of course, I managed to sneak in some beautiful fall color!

See the light and shadow that the others have found.

Seed Bead and Metal Blog Hop

Hop number 1 of 2

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Welcome to my Seed Bead and Metal blog hop reveal post. The Hop is sponsored by Sharyl of Sharyl's Jewelry & Reflections and Shirley of Beads and Bread. 

Sharyl supplied us with beautiful metal components, and Shirley hand crafted some astounding beaded elements. We would not know what we would be receiving until the package arrived. Th arrival the same week of a package from Jeannie Dukic for her Do-over Challenge just made things more fun, but presented a bit of a dilemma.  

You see the fresh water pearls in Jeannie's package went so perfectly with the green in Shirley's beaded components. And Jeannie's reveal is not until next week! While I don't want to jump the gun on the second blog hop. I could not resist using a few pearls in this design. 

Here is what I received:

A Pretty Package!

 

Goodies inside

I didn't find use for the extras Sharyl send for this project, but you can bet this ribbon will get put to good use, as will the extra beads!

These coordinated so beautifully!

Finished project

You can see the pale green pearls that came in Jeanie's Do-Over Package! 

All I had to add were some assorted copper metallic seed beads, Some wire, and those pretty pale green fresh water pearls. I love the colors in the focal and the beads, they are perfect with the seed beads and wire!

Here is a list of the other participants, I can't wait to see what they created!

Seed Bead and Metal Blog Hop 

Sharyl McMillian-Nelson -- 

Sharyl's Jewelry & Reflections  (*Co-Host)

   Candy Wham --  (Participant posting on Sharyl's blog) 

   Angi Mullis -- (Participant posting on Sharyl's blog)  

Shirley Moore -- Beads and Bread       (*Co-Host)     

       

                                           

Laren Dee Barton --  Laren Dee Designs     

Beti Horvath  --   Stringing Fool      <<<------You are here           

Tanya Goodwin -- A Work in Progress       

Marybeth Rich -- Forest of Jewels                 

Amy Severino  -- AmyBeads                         

Carolyn's Creations -- Carolyn's Creations   

Toltec Jewels --  Jewel School Friends   

Focus on life: All in a day

A fabulously ordinary day!

What did Sally Russick of The Studio Sublime send us this week to help stretch our picture taking muscles? "All in a day!" Take pictures documenting 24 hours. 

Got to admit, I'm only covering about 12 hours of  the Columbus Day holiday. 

But it was interesting trying to get a feel for my day in this way!

Morning Coffee, Facebook and organizing - guilty pleasure, Rachel Ray.  Wait, where did that kitty come from?

More organizing.....and a new home for tools.

Helping my daughter with her photo shoot.  

Harvest! The planters are just for fun. 

Organizing jewelry - a beauty shot, some "almost done" projects, and some projects using altered components. 

Dinner, using stuff from the freezer, and a final cup - tea this time!

So, what would you choose to document? Let's see what the other Focus on Life participants did with this challenge. 

Focus on Life: Trying to Make a Connection

Finding Connections Everywhere.

The Focus on Life theme for the week was "Connections." Easy? Well, looking at practically anything can reveal practically infinite connections. 

"We all have, make and witness connections every day."  ~said Sally in her prompt.

I went back to the vaults for this one. Here are some examples of connections I found.....

Some connections yet to be made.

Full of connections, the bridge makes a connection too. 

Sally's connections are sorely stressed. 

Trace the connections.

Indoor webs are less organized but still connected!

Spider webs, and ultimate in classy connections. 

Thank you Sally Russick, for encouraging us to THINK!

Check here to see others work:

Focus on life: Smile!

The smile post that almost wasn't.

This week did not start out well. Monday morning we decided to call the power company because we were having some trouble with our circuit breakers tripping, and other odd things. 

The power company worker took a look at our meter panel, and unceremoniously cut off the power to the whole house. Not the result we were hoping for. Or expected. 

For the greater part of the next three days, we were without power, water and, although we would not have needed it, heat. Not a lot of smiling going on here at that time.

When I thought about Sally Russick's assignment to "Give us a smile," I seriously considered not doing anything. 

But, as you can see, our electrician and the power company finally got together, and this lovely new meter, meter pan, and wire mast were the result. Sometimes, the most ordinary things can make you smile. 

Thanks to my daughter Sara, and husband Jim for posing with me for some goofy celebratory shots!

For some more smiles, check out the other participants' blogs.