Showing posts with label Challenge. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Challenge. Show all posts

Saturday, February 2, 2013

Wellness Words Jewelry Challenge

Today's post is about Tracy Statler's Wellness Words Jewelry Challenge from her blog Make Bracelets! I love all of Tracy's blog posts and it's one of the few that I follow - I usually learn something from each one of them and I look forward to getting and email that there is a new one to read.

Tracy's challenge was to come up with an inspirational word or phrase in an area of your life where you want to make positive change. My word: Persist.  I have been working on finishing things that I start!

I knew I wanted to stamp my word on a strip of brass, which I had on hand. Another word I could have used - "Practice," because good, clear, even stamping isn't one of my strengths. You can probably tell by the position of the I.

Friday night was a prime example of persistence. I waited until the last minute finish this necklace (maybe my phrase should have been "Stop Procrastinating") and I thought about just saying to heck with the deadline. I mean, I had the phrase piece done. But I stuck with it for once!

However, it was too late to get a good photo. There is always a hitch, isn't there? So you are getting the best photo I could take tonight. I promise to get a better photo of the whole necklace, because it looks pretty good and there's lots more goodies to see than just this section.

EDITED: I'm back with more photos of the rest of the necklace. Originally, I was going to have the "Persist" Brass segment hang from the art bead and then the dangles hang from that, but it turned out way too long and in the end, I like it as part of the necklace anyway. The brass flowers were a plain connector that I colored with Vintaj Patinas and Tim Holtz Adirondack Alcohol Inks.The remainder of the necklace is finished with a combination of Picasso finish beads and Tiger Eye tube beads on the left, and Brown Glass bead, a polka-dot Lampwork Art bead, and Blue Peruvian Opal stick beads on the right.  The back end of the necklace ends with a brass chain and a toggle (OK fine! It *will* end with a chain and toggle, I promise!)

Complete necklace (left); Pendant and Dangle detail (right)

Please visit everyone else who participated in this challenge.
acreativeforce.blogspot.com
alankarshilpa.blogspot.com
allprettythings.ca
anniamaebisuteria.blogspot.com.es/
apolymerpenchant.com
beadlolabead.blogspot.com/
beadrecipes.wordpress.com
centsations.wordpress.com
clay-space.com/
creativeatelier.net
elliesbijoux.com
emakdesigns.com
erinsiegel.com
etsy.com/shop/shamaen
facebook.com/hotsouthernmessdesigns
facebook.com/soquilidesigns
fairiesmarket.blogspot.com
firstimpressiondesign.blogspot.com
gemsbyjudy.com
glasstastreasures.blogspot.com
handcraftedserenity.blogspot.com
humblebeads.blogspot.com
facebook.com/azuresunshines
facebook.com/whdalaska
jeanetteblix.com
kimmykats.com
kymhunterdesigns.blogspot.com
lisayangjewelry.com
macmillanmarie.blogspot.com
makebraceletsblog.com
miabellasoul.com
misheldesigns.com
mycreativechallenge.blogspot.com
noseycritters.blogspot.com
pixiloo.blogspot.com
sandivolpe.com
sharonsjewelrygarden.blogspot.com
shaterra.etsy.com
shinylittlethings.blogspot.com
shymedesign.se
shymessmycken.blogspot.se
simpleearthcreations.com
soultosubstance.com
suebeads.com
sunshinebliss.com
sweetbeadstudio.com
sweetwillowdesigns.blogspot.com
thebeadingyogini.com
thestudiosublime.com
treasures-found.blogspot.com
twitter.com/ldymlivelystone
vault31.blogspot.com
veradesigns.blogspot.com

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Berries & Leaves - Artisan Whimsy's November Challenge

Artisan Whimsy is a great website for creative folks to connect. It was created by 3 ladies from our Facebook group Creative Bead Chat. If you aren't a member yet, you should head over to both and join us!  Every month, they host a challenge. This month, it's Berries and Leaves. Perfect for the Holidays!

 
 

I have been on a nature kick with Fall in full swing. Mo, my 2 year old Bassett/Cockapoo mix, and I walk around our neighborhood park every day! I pick up acorns, dandelions, bark just to mention a few - and I take photos. Tons of photos (thank goodness for digital photos). I use my phone when I forget my camera...those don't always turn out the best, but sometimes you get lucky. Mo is wonderful when I stop and start shooting the same flower from 12 different angles - she just stops and sits down, patiently waiting for me to finish. That's pretty hard for a high-energy dog to do!

Here are my favorites from my last "Photo Shoot."
My photos from Louisville Park in Columbia, MO

I decided to use one or more of these as the basis for a piece of jewelry for the Berries and Leaves challenge, so I started playing in Picasa. Picasa is a free photo editing software. It works for almost every photo editing function I need. Plus, did I mention it's FREE?!

I love the milkweed pod and seed photos, I think I really managed to capture how they were blowing in the wind that day. But when I sized them down to create a pendant - down to a mere 1 to 1 1/2 inches tall - all of the detail was lost! So those photos are going to have to be used in a different way.

Next I decided to work with the Winterberry photo. It is a species of holly that grows wild in Missouri, all over our park.. It was the perfect green and red for a holiday pendant. I spiked up the color in Picasa and shrunk it down to fit in a round bezel I had in my stash.

My new color printer makes great color copies, but it's an Injet - which runs like crazy if I were to put resin or paper glaze over it. I did an internet search on how to set inkjet color, and the answer is - Krylon fixative spray (gotta love Google)! I got some today, and sprayed the photos I printed out. After they dried, I coated the paper with Alene's Paper Glaze. Last, I put the coated photo into the bezel and topped it with another coat of Paper Glaze.

Ta Da! Winterberry Pendant

I decided to keep the necklace simple and topped it with a cluster of olive green and red Swarovski crystals and an 18" brass chain.

Finished necklace with Swarovski crystal cluster
 
And so I have entered and completed my first Artisan Whimsy challenge. Tune in tomorrow for my "No Berries and Leaves" challenge piece, using the Tree photo above.