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: Taking Time

Taking time ....literally

Ready for my closeup, Mr DeMille!

This week's prompt from Sally Russick at Studio Sublime is "Take Time."

I thought about how to portray this concept... taking time out of my busy life just for me. And I realized that it's not such an unusual thing for me to do. Because my kids are grown, and I don't have a physically active job, time for me might be taking a walk with  my dog, Bebop or in the warmer weather, joining my husband on a yard sale expedition. 

I got my inspiration for this week's prompt from one of the items I picked up last summer. 

We saw an ad on Craig's List for a variety of items including old construction and furniture remnants. And the farm holding the sale was right up the road from our house. I walk past it on my walks. 

Around back are some greenhouses, and in one of them, they had what was left from a relative's furniture restoration business. Ooo lala! French antiques! However the antiques looked more like the piece you see here, made into a pendant, than anything you could sit on.  

I did buy several of these pieces, but there was something much bigger calling to me from a dusty corner. I walked by it several times, and finally pulled it out to take a second and third look. Yup, just as I thought - completely useless. But I had to get it. I had to take TIME for me. 

This object, so rusty and dusty, just barely recognizable as a former time piece, was once part of a grandfather clock. Now it sits in my living room reminding me to TAKE TIME. 

Go visit Sally's blog and meet the rest of the photographers.