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

Hopping on a Sunny Day

Transferring Sunlight to Jewelry.

Another Pine Ridge Treasures blog hop is here! The participants ordered a surprise package of beads and coordinating metal pieces from Lisa Lodge, which portray the theme of "A Sunny Day." I actually managed to grab a pretty nice picture of the package contents when they arrived. 

Pretty nice, huh?

My first creation was this:

It's a sun. Or a flower. A pendant. Or a suncatcher. Look at the pretty green wire! I like it, but can't really figure out what to do with it. I'll put it aside, and think about it. 

Yellow earrings with green wire. 

These earrings came next. I again used the green wire, with the pretty yellow drops, and some flower shaped spacers from my stash. 

When I next picked up the beads, I started to understand that a lot of my sunny days were appreciated by looking at sunlight through the foliage that surrounds our home in the country. 

Sun filtered through the leaves. 

And the tiny little iridescent green beads in my kit really mimicked that sunshine-through-the-leaves effect.  I set to work designing a necklace with the delicate green pendant I made from some of the faux beach glass included. And those little green sunshine beads. 

Looks like a Sunny Day to me!

I strung the beads, then attached chain to the ends for an adjustable fit. A little butterfly charm finishes the clasp. 

Some earrings to go with the theme. 

First, a little beachy look, with seahorse charms, and wire that coordinates with the pretty blue beads. 

The seahorses aren't shown to their best advantage, but you get the idea. 

 These are meant to coordinate with the necklace, but look great on their own. 

More glass and little flower connectors. 

 The sun-through leaves theme again. Also meant to coordinate with the necklace. 

See how the little green beads catch the light? 

Thank you Lisa for hosting this Hop. Can't wait to see others' take on the Sunny Day!

Here's where to find the other blog hop participants:

Your hostess:  Lisa Lodge, A Grateful Artist

Kim Dworak, Cianci Blue

Shaiha Williams, Shaiha’s Ramblings

Becky Pancake, Becky Pancake Bead Designs

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

Veralynne Malone, Designed by Vera

Rosee Hanemaayer, Silver Penny Artisans

Gloria Allen, Gloria Allen Designs

Chris Eisenberg, Wanderware

Stephanie McGinley, TBD

Carolyn Lawson, Carolyns Creations

Pine Ridge Treasures - I Wish it Were Summer

Time for some forward thinking!

When I signed up for the Blog Hop "I Wish it Were Summer" sponsored by Lisa Lodge of A Grateful Artist-Pine Ridge Treasures, I thought that by the time the blog hop arrived, I would be more than ready for Summer, since winter would be almost over. Well, here it is, and although Summer sounds good to me, I don't have that longing a hard winter inspires. We have been very lucky to get hardly any snow, and few super cold days. 

So the other day I settled in to create a little summer. I combined beads from the bag Lisa sent with a few more beads from other collections of hers, and a few things, like acrylic flowers, and out popped a bracelet and some earrings.  

My wondrous new set of beads.

I love the cool but summery look of this bracelet! The flower clasp just nails it!

Bracelet in cool summer colors. 

The cool look again, but this time in a pair of small but swing-y earrings. 

Love me some blue and green. 

These little earrings are light, colorful and so fun!

These green beads look good this some flower petal bead caps.

These green beads go perfectly with some purple beads from my stash.

Simple but so succulent! 

So we finally get to the garden! I have lots of these acrylic flower beads, and they look so good with these colors. 

Lovely bell flowers!

Thanks for taking a look into the possibilities of summer!

Now, you can take a look at the rest of the items made for this challenge. 

Your hostess:  Lisa Lodge, A Grateful Artist

Kari Asbury, Hippie Chick Design

Kim Dworak, Cianci Blue

Shaiha Williams, Shaiha’s Ramblings

Becky Pancake, Becky Pancake Bead Designs

Beti Horvath, Stringing Fool Jewelry <<< You are here!

Jacqui Kipfer, Seven Oaks Jewellery

Rosee Hanemaayer, Silver Penny Artisans

6th Do Over Challenge Reveal!

Looking for Focus on Life?  It's Here, or just scroll down.

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: Growth and Change

Watching things grow.

Our prompt from Sally Russick of The Studio Sublime this week is Growth and Change. 

I decided to look for pictures that I have taken of my little potted pepper.

I seem to have concentrated on the beginning, but the end is pretty spectacular - and I am still waiting for it to turn completely red, so I can pick it!

Little plants in early June. 

Five Days Later: Blossoms!

And here is the little pepper.

Two months later, I am looking forward to the harvest. 

A few months ago I noted that farmers needed an abundance of hope. Even with the smallest garden, you also have to have an abundance of patience.

Follow the links to see what others have found to trace....

Focus on: Growing Green!!!

Where can you look and NOT see green?

My world is green. Everywhere you look, everything that either should, and in some cases should not be green, is green around here. So responding to Sally Russick's prompt "Green" was not very hard. 

You may remember these babies from Our Focus on Macro posting.

Sempervivum dormant

Sempervivum growing, day by day

Some other selections from the container garden - and green containers!

To see more greenery, stop by Sally's blog, The Studio Sublime.