LamplightCrafts

Update:  Link to winner ... Glass, Craft & Artful Goodness: GIVEAWAY!!! - $90 to Spend in my Etsy Store : I am living a life full of gratitude and abundance and would like to show some of that gratitude to the wonderful people that have followed...

Lorelei's Blog: Unicorne Beads: A Giveaway : If you've been around the beading community a while, you've probably seen these tear-drop shaped beads from Unicorne Beads . These   Han...

Autumn-Inspired Challenge! Toltec Jewels of  Jewel School Friends , is hosting an autumn- inspired challenge.  This challenge came with choices! * Create an Autumn Inspired Treat! *Make a Fall craft. *Create a cool bead.  *Design Halloween jewelry. *Design Autumnal jewelry. *Decorate your home or yard. *Write a poem, dance or sing. I decided to make a pair of earrings, specifically mismatched earrings. I have been hooked on mismatched earrings since Diana’s challenge ( Suburban GirlStudio ).  Although our family doesn’t celebrate Halloween, someone may want a pair of Halloween earrings designed by me.  It could happen.  The skulls are dyed howlite, lampies by DFJ Lampwork (Ebay) and unfortunately, I don't remember where I got the black lampwork disks for the party hats.  I also used swarovski crystals and czech rondelles.  Here are my October Fest earrings: Hop on over to the next October Fest blog.  List ...

And what were you hoping to see?  Artisan Whimsy challenge completed.  Here is my little owl, and I think I will call him Gollum, because cute he isn't. He is made with polymer clay and jump rings surround those crazy eyes.  I attempted to make a friend for Gollum, but he hasn't been to the oven yet. Click on the Hooters Button above to see more hooters! Have I said how much I love challenges?  Well I do. Happy Hooting! Renetha

In celebration of Lori Anderson's new Bead Soup book, Kalmbach decided to throw  Bead Soup Party.  Bead shops from all over were asked to donate beads for jewelry designers interested in attending the Bead Soup Party.  Invitations were sent out and the challenge began!  Yeah! I received bead soup from Safire Beads and Things , Madison, Ohio. This particular bead shop is about a 4 hour drive from my home in Kettering.  Carole Ohl, the owner of the best bead shop ever, STASH , not only sent out beads for party goers, but she also received bead soup from another shop in Ohio.  How cool is that? Each party goer is supposed to make a necklace from their bead soups.  My bead soup was a mixture of Czech beads in deep reds, browns, golds and greens.  I started by washing the beads off, picking out the icky ingredients, and added ingredients from my own recipe.  I was going to do a bit of bead embroidery using the eagle moon pendant, but I ju...

Art Bead Scene hosts a monthly challenge for jewelry artists.  This month's inspiration artwork is Revolving by Kirt Schwitters and completed in 1919.  It is an assemblage piece made with wood, metal, cord, cardboard, wool, wire, leather, and oil paints on canvas. As everyone knows, not all monitors see the same colors.  I see coppers, blues, greens, yellows, oranges, and a smidge of white.  I can't say I like all assemblage art, but I really like Schwitters extreme multi-media work. Starting the challenge:  First I took apart a belt from a junk jewelry box I purchased on Ebay.  Lots of vintage jewelry pieces and beads!  But I was mostly excited at finding the belt.  Below is a picture of all the wonderful components. I chose the metal disks, and decided to make earrings.  I also used the Vintaj patinas for the first time.  I think I did alright.  I also used tiny lampwork beads by Carolyn Harmon, Miami Valley Lampwork...

Jeannie of Jewelry by Jeannie  posted a challenge for jewelry artists.  The challenge--receive one of Jeannie's jewelry designs (that she considers boring) and turn it into something amazing.  Easy?  Not.  Challenging?  Yes!  Here is the bracelet I received. The first thing I noticed about the design is the clasp.  It is beautiful, but to large for something so light and airy as the 3mm rondelles and size 11 seed beads.  I thought about making one of Thea's famous jump ring bracelet or something using a lampwork bead from Beads By Lampwork, Ebay .  Humm, how did those light lime green rondelles get in there?  Well, the original bracelet could use some color for this makeover.   Then, I had another idea:  Pearls!  Color:  Dark gray to match the clasp. Right angle weave using the rondelles as the embellishment.  Well the purple rondelles didn't pop out enough against the dark gray pearls. ...

         These are the earrings from my swap partner Holly Westfall, Silver Rose Designs ! Participants were randomly assigned a swap partner and the challenge was to create one pair of mismatched art bead earrings for them.  Each earring must contain at least one art bead (If you need clarification on art beads, please visit Art Bead Scene).  Also stop by Art Jewelry Elements today to read Diana's article about mismatched earrings.  I believe that Diana will be hosting another challenge for the next Mismatched Monday.  Stay tuned!  Click on the title for the link to Surban Girl Studio.     THANK YOU DIANA FOR HOSTING A FUN CHALLENGE! List of all Participants! Diana Ptaszynski  http://www.suburbangirlstudio.com (Hostess!) Lisa Liddy http://www.lisaliddy.wordpress.com Kari Asbury  http://www.hippiechickdesign.blogspot.com Jayne Capps  http://mamasgottodoodle.blogspot.com Rebecca...

Gail Accinelli Kashmira Patel Pine Ridge Treasures Lori Schneider Lady Grey Robin Reed Jasper's Gems: November Giveaway Challenge : Everyone loves a giveaway and challenges often stimulate creativity in directions we might not have considered going using components we ma...

For your chance at the Art Bead Love Tour Chain, click on the link below for details. Chinook Jewelry Blog: The Art Bead Love Tour Giveaway Time!! :  So after ever so carefully going through the Art Bead Love chain (a gazillion times!), I've made my selections and additions and it's ready...

I love the sound of leaves blowing across the pavement.  I love watching the leaves fall one by one to the ground.  I also love the crunching sound of the leaves as I step on them during a walk around my backyard.  More leaves will fall this weekend as the trees are pelted by rain.  I also love the trees and vines once they are bare of leaves.  Just check out these pics of the knotted vines wrapped around our wrought iron fencing. Next time I will post pics using my wide angle macro lens!

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I was browsing through a few blogs this morning and stopped by the Art Bead Scene Blog , host of those wonderful monthly challenges, and this is what I read: Welcome to Studio Saturday! Each week one of our contributors gives you a sneak peek into their studio, creative process or inspirations. We ask a related question of our readers and hope you'll leave comments! As an incentive we offer a free prize each week to bribe you to use that keyboard. The following week we choose a random winner.  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  This weeks winner is Renetha of Lamplight Crafts.   Congratulations!   You have won a pair of recycled aluminum can earrings from Tari at Creative Impressions in Clay . Send Tari an e-mail with your address and she will get it right out to you.  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  This week we visit the studio of Erin Prais-Hintz of Tesori Trovati Jewelry . Soooooo...get going.  Stop by ABS f...

Fall, Need I say More: