Bead soup blog party reveal and giveaway

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art beads, bead earrings, Bead Soup Blog Party, beads, BSBP, embroidered pendant, floral necklace, giveaway, green and purple necklace, polymer clay, purple earrings

Welcome to my reveal for the 8th Bead Soup Blog Party. To continue the bead sharing, I’m giving away a set of handmade beads (keep reading to the bottom of this post for details). Here is the lovely bead soup sent to me sent to me by my partner Wendy Chamberlain.

My first thoughts when I saw the delicious mix of purple beads and silver caps was “Earrings!” (I LOVE making earrings.)

But I cried, “The point of the blog party is to use the focal and the clasp…”

“But look, the beads are all in pairs. Earrings!”

It was obvious to me that the pretty clasp and the pendant belonged together in the same necklace, so I decided to make some polymer clay beads inspired by the embroidery on the pendant. That way I could make the necklace and still have the mixed beads to play with for earrings. 🙂

I also used some green dyed lava cube beads that matched the colour of the leaves on the pendant and some silver seed beads.

I love the texture that the crochet beads give.

And then I made some earrings… 16 pairs in fact!

Thank you Wendy for the wonderful beads, and thank you Lori for all your hard work organising the party. Now have a look at what all the other participants have made, I know I will.

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Giveaway Time!

* EDIT – Giveaway is now closed. *

Luckily I was able to stop making earring before I used all the polymer clay beads I had made, so I am giving away a set of 8 ‘Embroidered Pearl’ beads. Just let me know in the comments that you would like to be included in the draw (join in even if you are international). I’ll announce the winner by 1st June 2014.

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Bead Soup Blog Party delay

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Bead Soup Blog Party, beads, BSBP

Unfortunately the reveal date for the Bead Soup Blog Party has been postponed by a week, so you will need to check back on the 10th May 2014. As well as showing you what I have made with the beautiful bead soup I received there will be a set of beads up for grabs. So for now, here is a hint of what I made…

See you then 😉

8th Bead Soup Blog Party Partner

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Bead Soup Blog Party, beads, BSBP, doll clothes, miniature, teddy bear, Wendy Chamberlain

I was lucky enough to catch the one day sign up for this year’s Bead Soup Blog Party. (I decided to skip last year since it was too close to baby’s due date.)

I got my partner a few days ago, but I’ve been having trouble with the internet so I haven’t attempted a blog entry before now. My partner is Wendy Chamberlain who amazingly is also an ex South African now living in England. She is a textile artist making the most engaging miniature teddy bears with wonderful details of beading and embroidery.

Here are some of my favourites…

Joachem

So remember at the start of the year I said I wanted to “think bigger”? Well, in addition to making my sister’s wedding dress, I have become a little bit obsessed with making dolls clothes. Purely for my daughter of course… I don’t find myself thinking “I can’t give her that to PLAY with, she’ll ruin it!”… or “Perhaps I need ANOTHER doll for me so I can make clothes while she’s playing/sleeping”… certainly not! But the question is, now that I have seen Wendy’s delicate, detailed work should I continue with my initial chunky bead soup plan, or rethink something along the lines of miniature flower garden? I know one purpose of the blog party is to have a nudge out of our comfort zone… but I don’t want to cross the line into DIScomfort.

More Bead Soup

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bead soup, beads, BSBP

Today is the third reveal for the Bead Soup Blog Party. I was in the second reveal on 11 August.

Head over to Lori’s blog to find the list of participants (be sure to scroll down to the 3rd reveal) and have a look at all the wonderful creations.

Bead Soup Partner

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bead, Bead Soup Blog Party, bracelet, BSBP, earring, necklace, soutache

I am really excited to be taking part in the next Bead Soup Blog party and I have just been given my partner – Dorota Żerańska in Poland. Her blog is full of beautiful colours and intricate techniques. Here is a taste…

There are 399 participants this time so there will be three reveal dates. We are in the second wave – 11 August 2012. See you then.

Time mismanagement

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52 earrings, bead, BSBP, earring, polymer clay

What do you do when you look after a baby full-time, can’t keep up with the housework, spend all day doing laundry and are trying to pack your house for moving? Sign up for jewellery challenges – obviously!

Since September I have been determined to enter the next Bead Soup Blog party. This time it is going to be on a lottery system, so I may not even get to participate, therefore it’s not going to take up any time at all. Honestly. Registration is now open, but really forget I mentioned it – there’s only 200 places and I want one! 🙂

In addition to this I discovered a new challenge for 2012 on Flickr – 52 pairs or earrings a year, only hours after thinking my earring set was a bit lacking with only 4 photos. I even had a pair of beads I had put aside to make into earrings, but I hadn’t got round to it.

I am hoping the challenge will give me some focus to complete items, without stressing me out too much and making me feel that desperate panicked “HAVE to” i.e. become work. Also I struggle to photograph earrings, so hopefully by the end of the year I’ll be better at that.

Garden through Lace Earrings by Cate van Alphen

The inspiration behind these beads is viewing a garden through lace curtains. The beads are polymer clay with a layer of floral paper covered with polymer clay lace cane in transparent and white. I was worried the paper layer would make them intolerant of water, so I dunked them in water for about half an hour with no ill effects (so I would think they are at least splash resistant).

Another birthday, another wishpot

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BSBP, kumihimo, polymer clay, toggle, wishpot

This is simply a “what I’ve been doing” post (I do find these interesting on other people’s blogs, so maybe someone else will find this interesting).

So… I have made another wishpot – this time in purple as requested by the recipient (I love purple so this was no problem). 🙂

Purple Wishpot by Cate van Alphen

Probably the most time consuming part was the cord which I braided myself (using a kumihimo disk).

Following the Bead Soup Blog Party (which I am STILL looking through) I realize that a clasp can (and should) be much more than a cheap finding you add on at the end. Therefore I made a matching toggle with polymer clay and wove two different ribbons into the kumihimo braid as I worked to form loops along the whole length. This means the necklace can be worn at different lengths (by selecting a ribbon loop where you want to join) and the toggle can be a decorative element in it’s own right.

Purple Wishpot by Cate van Alphen

P.S. Happy Birthday 😉

Late discovery

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Bead Soup Blog Party, BSBP

I haven’t had much time for making new things as we have been redoing our bathroom. However I have discovered the Bead Soup Blog Party, and I have been sustaining myself looking through all the entries. My initial disappointment that I didn’t discover it early enough to participate has been replaced by the prospect that there will be another one. Hopefully I will be organised enough to register. (Hopefully with the new lottery format I will be able to participate!)

Off to hop!