Exploring the French Countryside

Hopping with Pine Ridge Treasures

Another Blog Hop from Pine Ridge Treasures. This time, I went literal and did some research on just what the French countryside looks like. I had been expecting a different color way from the selection of beads in this hop. Turns out, these are colors that fit very well with the theme.

Here is what Lisa Lodge sent us: 

Here are some of the images of the French Countryside that appealed to me:

And the jewelry that was inspired by those pictures:

Do you love these blue doors and shutters? 

They were a real surprise to me. They seem to turn up everywhere.  (Can you tell I have never been to France? ) I found some square blue beads, and this metal piece, which I blackened with some metal patina. I combined them with the black beads, crystals and elaborate toggle clasp from Lisa's bead collection, and voilà! I love the blue and black. Little bead earrings complete the look.

Next, my little wine grape pendant. 

I love the little silver leaves, and they go well with the little "grape" amethyst beads I found. And I knew I was saving that cork for something!

But wait, there's more......

My salute to lavender. I even included a little picture of my late season lavender bush blooming. Dreamy green beads from the collection, and some blue beads from my stash, combined with some silver wire and chain, give this set a light and airy look. 

And finally, the earrings that inspired a necklace. 

I was fooling around with some beads from the collection to make a pair of earrings, and liked them so much, I made a necklace to match. These are all beads from Lisa, and are a reflection of all my French Countryside pictures. 

I can't wait to see what the others have made!

Your hostess:  Lisa Lodge, A Grateful Artist

Kim Dworak, Cianci Blue

Beti Horvath, Stringing Fool Jewelry

Shaiha Williams, Shaiha’s Ramblings

Karin Grosset Grange, Ginkgo et Coquelicot

Becky Pancake, Becky Pancake Bead Designs

Ann Schroeder, Bead Love

Transformation

I subject my own work to a do-over challenge. 

I have been trying to clean up, rearrange and finish things. In the process of doing that, I found things like this. It was actually in a bag of things that had fallen on the floor, swept up, and were waiting to be sorted.  

Cute little rosebud pendant made with polymer clay, but it's a little bumpy, and do you see that the color from the red clay has transferred onto the white? 

I used some acrylic craft paint, and finished it with some embossing powder and Mod Poge Dimensional magic. 

Not sure where this is going, but it is a great start for something that had been going to go into the garbage!

Oh yes, and that IS the top of a Jeannie Dukic box top I used as a photo background. The finished piece still needs some work - I used a very thin wire as a loop at the top...it would never hold up as a pendant. Also, it was not quite cured when I snapped this picture. You can see some opaque areas on the glaze that went away eventually.