Bead Soup Party is coming!

the array of awesome beads that Diane sent me
gorgeous focals. love them both. the pink one reminds me of both a sunrise and lotus, simultaneously
These faceted beads are my fave. These are one of the things I've salivated over for a long time. They are cotton candy colors!
I'm participating in the Bead Soup Party, which is a bead swap hosted by the amazing Lori Anderson whom I met after she purchased some of my beads. The Bead Soup Party is comprised of dozens of talented bead and jewelry designers and I couldn't help but joining in. If you look over <-----there to the left margin up at the top, you will find a link.

Lori, who coordinates the enormous task of hosting and pairing everyone up, assigned as my partner, Diane Hawkey, and I couldn't be more thrilled. If you want to see what I sent Diane, go here. THIS, is what Diane sent to me. Diane makes ALL KINDS OF STUFF, but is probably best well known for her lovely ceramic beads and pendants.

I can't wait to make something from all the amazing stuff she sent me. I'm relatively new to the beading and jewelry world, and I use mostly my own beads when I make jewelry, so it is a real treat to get to experience making jewelry with other artist's beads. I can tell already that I'm going to be buying more artist beads and designing more pieces that feature not only my own artisan beads, but also others.

delicate and lovely

Just had to take a moment to show you what arrived on my doorstep 2 weeks (no,can't be that long now!) ago and now I'm finally posting it! Another of my too pretty for words art swaps from the A Year Of Color blog hosted by Kari Ramstrom aka Artsy Mama.

My partner for this summer themed collage swap was Elise. She has a *gorgeous* little etsy shop and blog, all showcasing her amazing vintage finds. Not only are they adorable but they are packaged just so, as evident by the way my collage was boxed up. I literally didn't want to open it up! So, as not to disturb the lovely ribbon, pretty tissue and frippery.

There is this whole CLASS of artists out there who have an amazing sense of light airy color palette. Beautiful pastels, carefully chosen bits of metallic ephemera, all light as a feather and so feminine and pretty. Elise is one of them and I am *green* with envy. Me, even if I set out to do this, it ends up gaudy and colorful, like a circus. This is my curse. I just roll with it.

We chose a garden theme on an 8" square and I'm pleased as a Cheshire cat. There's a photo of me grinning like one, that Mike took when I opened it, but I'll spare you the drama...

You can see the collage I made for Elise here.

my great reap of swappiness....

clockwise from left; a cool old salt water taffy box filled with pastel paints and shimmery buttons, a flowery suitcase with an awesome filigreed handle that held many delights, a beautiful bird plate from anthropologie (Marlene works there part time *sigh*green with envy*could that be the most perfect part time job ever?), darling candy embellishments
clockwise from left; new jersey salt water taffy, colorful old school candy dots, a beautiful hand embellished candle inspired by a year of color tutorial by Kari, a set of pretty custard cups in lovely pastel colors, and a vintage iridescent teacup

I just couldn't wait to put up these pictures of the great items my swap partner, Marlene, sent my for the "All That I Love" swap hosted by Kari Ramstrom over at the Year of Color blog. This was my very first swap ever and I was a little apprehensive about it but I decided to give it a shot. I'm not sure that my own package equaled the one that Marlene sent me, but I did my best! Since the swap was pretty personal and up to each swap duo to decide their theme within a certain criteria, Marlene & I decided to make the theme of our swap "Salt Water Taffy". We both live near the ocean and we both have a love of all things pastel and pretty. If you compare my items and the items she sent me, I think it all turned out smashing!

p.s. i just realized I left out a photo of the awesome assemblage she sent me ~probably because it is already propped on my shelf above my desk~ but i will give it a post soon, or you can definitely check it out on the flickr soon.

sending the goods....

closeup of wreath
all the goods arranged together
I'm really excited about how this turned out! almost don't want to let it go....
I wanted to post pictures of the pretty little items I sent for the "All that I love" swap hosted by The "year of color" blog hosted by artsy mama. The swap was pretty liberal in that Kari aka artsy mama, let us work with our swap partner to get to know them and really exchange things that we thought each other would like. My partner, Marlene, exchanged ideas back and forth and we decided we would exchange items based on the idea, Salt Water Taffy. Both Marlene and I live near the shore and both enjoy the color scheme that salt water taffy evokes.

I made an adorable Katie Runnels -inspired wreath, replete with salt water taffy colors, perfect for spring decorating, included a handmade heart ornament that i made from canvas, one of my junk ornaments, and a small box of bits and baubles that she can -hopefully- use in her crafts. I also included some cute vintage inspired valentines and some hot chocolate, until spring breaks up there in the frigid north...