Sunday, October 17, 2010

Lorelei's Reader Bead Challenge Reveal!

This is an exciting day! Everyone who is participating in Lorelei Eurto's beading challenge are sharing their masterpieces today. The premise was that we would all get the same beads (or as close to the same as possible) at Michael's craft store and try to make something of our own with them and then share these creations at the set deadline. Here's what I came up with:


The only part of this set that was for the challenge is the necklace. I thought perhaps everyone in my town was participating, because I was only able to get one kind of bead exactly the same---the carved wooden rectangles. I did find some of the new jade rounds; they were smaller than Lorelei's, but I got them anyway. There weren't any of the fancy white cinnabar beads or black ones, either. I did find some beads of carved bone-like material that had a similar look (not exactly the same, unfortunately), so I went with those. I didn't bother with trying to find similar black ones because Lorelei had said the challenge was to use white anyway. It was still sad. :( I found the little pearls, but in a tarnished gold color instead of the green. There weren't any of the large white pearls (I was really disappointed about this because I had just seen them there like two weeks before the challenge!). For my two chosen beads, I picked sea opal rondelles to go with the white theme and some tiny burnished gold seed beads to kind of go with the little pearls. We were allowed to use our own focal and our own components, although we were supposed to include the white enameled chain, which they did have. I was so happy they had it! I made my focal of one enameled white metal rose to go with the chain, antiqued brass filigree, two white felt flowers, and a mother-of-pearl drop as kind of an apology for not finding the large white pearls. After I made the necklace, I went to another bead store and they had large white pearls just like the ones Lorelei found at Michael's!! So I bought them and made a consolation bracelet. At that point I figured might as well go the whole way, so I made earrings to match the focal. It might be nice as a wedding set or something; for some reason it keeps reminding me of mermaids. XD

The following really awesome folks are also participating in this challenge, so please take a moment or two to check out their designs as well!

Mary Harding
Hilary of Fryestyle
For My Sweet Daughter
My Life Under the Bus
Kristie of DreamSomeDesigns
Linda's Bead Blog & Meanderings
Copper Diem

Andrew Thornton
TyneBodenNecklaces
Raida of HavanaBeads
Erin of Treasuresfound
Molly of BeautifullyBrokenMe
Beading by Malin de Koning

AuntieAnnie
Gr8Findings
Deborah M Purdy
Spirited Earth

Erin Siegel Jewelry
beads by breul
Beads for Busy Gals
Cynths Blog
Nayas Organized Chaos
Crafty Hope

Rosebud For the Love of Beads
Peacock Fairy
Elysian Studio Art
Designs by Debi
sweet girl design
http://2catchahummingbird.blogspot.com
Lorelei Eurto

Silver Rose Designs
Tropic Beads
Imaginative Jewelry
Magnolia Attic
Jeni Smathers
Glass Addictions 


Congrats, everyone! Great challenge. :)

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30 comments:

Linda Landig said...

I'm sorry you couldn't find all the beads. It must have been frustrating. I had to go to 2 different Michaels in 2 different towns, but I was lucky to find it all. Your jewelry turned out awesome, though. I esp. like the addition of the sea opal rounds. I hadn't thought of adding a light blue, but it looks terrific! Great combination.

KristiBowmanDesign said...

Really beautiful pieces!! Makes mine seem very simple but I'm just happy I was able to participate.

Lorelei Eurto said...

soooo pretty! I am sorry to hear you couldn't get your hands on the beads. I think it might be easier next time we do this, but I'll have to be wise at what i pick from fusionbeads.com so that they have enough stock for everyone!
Great job, thanks for playing!

My Life Under the Bus said...

Yes I also went to 2 michaels and still had to pull from my stash - but you did a great job and made a whole set !!!! Totally impressive : ) - Happy Blog Hopping!!!

AuntieAnnie said...

Very feminine and nice. I'm really enjoying looking at the variety of designs.

Erin Siegel said...

Yes, I two had an awful time finding the beads. I only used two of Lorelei's picks in my piece. This is a lovely set! Beautiful job balancing the white chain with the white enamel flower pendant. Love the vintage feel of your jewelry set!

*Debi* said...

Beautiful! Love your focal :) Thanks for sharing! :)

Mellisa said...

So feminine and vintagey! Lovely work :)

CraftyHope said...

Glad to know I wasn't the only one who had a tough time finding all the beads. After trips to two different store, I came up very close. You did a great job of sticking with it and improvising. It's a beautiful necklace and the whole set together is just lovely.

Heather said...

The flower focals add a real vintage look, very nice. Your design is nicely balanced. You made the white chain work with your addition of the white flowers!! Bravo.

Spirited Earth said...

lovely piece,
i had to make several trips to michael's to get this stash..fortunately i have one not too far away.

Deborah said...

Beautiful pieces! I love the design of your necklace and the focal!

Yeli said...

Great necklace. I love the bracelet too.
I also did not find some of the beads, but was lucky to find the irreplaceable ones.

Unknown said...

Now your Necklace is just lovely and what a wonderful original twist you have put to this Challenge. Really there is alot to talk about on this Lovely creation! So well done and worthy!!

Unknown said...

Pretty! Very elegant!

Elysian Studios said...

Very vintage chic! Love the flower focal, and I enjoyed your story! Great job!

Rebecca said...

You've done such a great job despite your difficulties in finding the same materials - I love it! The roses are just perfect.

Amy F said...

very romantic! love this piece!

TesoriTrovati said...

You must have one busy Michaels! I love that you put your own flair into this and translated it the best that you could with the materials. That is why it is called a challenge, eh? Thanks for sharing your inspiration with us.
Enjoy the day!
Erin

rosebud101 said...

I love what you did with the beads! The result is wonderful! Nice job!

Janea aka Naya said...

I love the romantic influence that you are creating.

Andrew Thornton said...

Love how you've created an edgy, but feminine piece. It's delicate, but still modern with some sass. The white roses also pair really well with the chain. Bravo!

Holly said...

Your focal is simply beautiful! I love how you found those white metal roses to match the white chain too. (That chain really threw me...) And you did indeed go all out with the full matching set! So cool.

fanciful devices said...

i love your extremely unique, girly take on this. and i too love the full set of goodies. so sweet!

Christine said...

Beautiful set! Very vintage & romantic ~ it would make for a lovely wedding set!

Raida said...

What a beautiful set. I just love the flowers, wonderful job!

beautifullybrokenme said...

What a fun set! The roses are the perfect compliment to the chain, and really add a beautifully romantic feel to the overall design. I agree with you that the set would be perfect for a bride (or a mermaid - lol). Great job!

Courtney Breul said...

Great pieces. Your focal is absolutely wonderful. I also had extra pieces and created more than just the necklace - fun!

Jennifer Cameron said...

Great substitutions! Everything works so cohesively together. I adore the focal too.

Anonymous said...

I LOVE that rose jewelry set! You really make the most beautiful jewelry.

(Psst... I'm having a giveaway in my blog and want to tell about it to those who have commented my blog so that they can take part and have a chance to win :) )