Bead Soup Blog Party… again!

As you all probably already know, I'm really trying to bring jewelry making back into my regular routine this year—over the past few years it's become almost entirely overrun by bead making and while I so enjoy making beads, I've been wanting to do a bit more with my little creations. I'd love to continue exploring and expanding my jewelry style and also start using more of the lovely art beads made by all the various talented bead creators out there.

So… I signed up for the Bead Soup Blog Party! This is my second time joining up and I'm sure it will be just as fun, if not more.

Our fabulous hostess, Lori Anderson, paired me up with the talented seed beader, Shirley Moore of Beads and Bread. Remember when I mentioned that I'd love to try out bead crochet this year? I do love to use seed beads to accent my work and I know it would be so much fun to go a little further with that, and so when I found out I was paired up with a seed beader, of course I was excited!

Here's a small sampling of what Shirley creates…

All so gorgeous and beautifully made, aren't they?

We chatted back and forth a bit sharing what we each like and how we're working to develop our unique styles.

Shirley said at first that she wasn't sure how to challenge me…

and then this is what arrived in the mail…

I was totally surprised! Wow! What a different color palette and style than I'm used to—bright pinks, white, silver, and a huge load of sparkle. I couldn't have picked a more challenging soup myself.

Shirley admitted that she thought the focal was a little crazy—different, yes, but I'm not so sure on crazy. I love the form and detail.

Shirley made my clasp too—I love handmade clasps!

Czech glass, beaded beads (made by Shirley, of course), and some cute metal rectangle charms from Sharyl's Jewelry on ArtFire.

  Sparkle, sparkle, and more sparkle. 

I adore ceramics, so this pretty ring from MarlasMud is a happy addition to my collection.

Bright white funky flowers—I think I know what I want to do with these already. It will probably involve wire-working and maybe some fiber… and, that's all I can tell you for now. ;-)



Shirley, as I said before, I am totally blown away by my soup—this is all so completely new to me! You hit the nail so square on its head that I might just panic. But why panic when there are new beads to play with, right?


So now I'm doing a lot of thinking—how do all these new elements fit into my current style? Do I somehow incorporate them together? Do I leave behind what's really familiar to me and branch off in a new direction? Choices, choices!

And lastly, for an extra surprise Shirley included these lovely earrings…

Pretty golden-yellow and all mine.

Thank you for everything Shirley! This is going to be a fun party, for sure!