3rd Do-Over Challenge-- REVEAL/PARTY!

... Okay, so I feel like a complete moron. I totally thought the hop/reveal was today-- so I'm a day late to the party!

(Next time I should probably write the deadline on my calendar, instead of in my head...)

It's all for the best, really. I wasn't feeling that great yesterday, health-wise, so I spent the whole day recuperating and resting. I'm feeling much better today-- albeit a little sheepish about the mix-up.

So I have been RIDICULOUSLY excited about this reveal. A while back, I received a package in the mail~ a necklace from Jeannie, as a participant in her third do-over challenge. All of us who participated, received one of her older pieces, one that she made when she first started doing jewelry-- in her words, an "old, tired piece" that she "won't" sell-- and our challenge was to transform it into something different and new.

Here is the piece I received:

The glass colors are VERY subtle-- I had to put the piece against my watercolor paper, to show the color of the piece! In reality, it's much less bright. It's more like a watered-down shade, more like a white glass with a slight tint of color.

I loved the construction of her necklace, but the beads themselves were very pale-- and those who know me, know that I don't "do" pale pieces. I love color, and love bright things. It was definitely a challenge for me! But here is the piece that it became:

I figured, since I photographed the original on plain paper, it's only fair to do the same to mine~

I absolutely LOVE this necklace, and I'm so proud of myself! I had never done the wrapping technique used in both her necklace and mine, so it was quite the learning experience for me. I used brass wire and brass links-- and in addition to the faceted glass from Jeannie's piece, I threw in some crystal beads (faceted, slightly smaller-- you can see them flanking the off-white and blue beads) that I got from Suma and some beads that were VERY special to me!

I was so proud of this piece that as soon as I finished it, I woke Hubby up to show him!

The small square beads (between the green, purple, pink and blue ones) were absolutely perfect for this, since they only came in those four colors! I got them *years* ago, when I was only twelve-- my grandmother gave me a gift card to a bead shop near her house, but the items I sold back then weren't "right" for the beads. I've held onto them for years, waiting to find the right project to use them. And I am SO GLAD for that... because they were beyond perfect for this necklace!!!

You can see the square beads and the small faceted crystals much better in these next couple of photos~

I wish I remembered what the squares were made out of!

Oh, and I almost forgot-- in addition to doing over Jeannie's jewelry, I also took apart one that my mom gave me-- the large amber-colored glass beads, between the blues towards the bottom, were taken from a bracelet that was past its prime:

It's got three sections to it, design-wise~ this is one side, the one I took the beads from! See what I mean?

The center cabochon and brass focal bead is another "special" item for me. A local handmade jeweler used to sell her items once a year out of her house, and my mom and I always went. She was so impressed with my interest in the jewelry that she gave me (and I bought) BAGS full of metal pieces that were fixed up by her. This center piece was one of them-- like the square beads, it was one of those things that I'd held on to, waiting for the perfect piece of jewelry to come along. And here it was, and here it is!

Close-up of the focal "bead"-- it's more like a component, but details-shmetails...

I absolutely love this piece-- I am so proud of myself and of the work! I was originally planning on selling the finished piece, but now that I've seen it I think I'm going to keep it for my own collection. I have a few outfits that will be completely completed by this-- and I put aside a few purple beads to put together some earrings, to match! I just have to wait for some brass ear wires to arrive...

Looks like it's time for me to do some hopping, and catch up on the A to Z when I'm done with that~ see you later!

A to Z, 2012-- R is for...

Reading!

I'm an avid reader. I love books-- I love the way they feel, I love to learn, and I love experiencing new worlds and new ideas. My childhood nickname was "Belle"~ as in, the Beauty from "Beauty and the Beast~ the one whose nose is always stuck in a book.

I own over 1,000 novels and books of poetry... even more if you include books from my former classroom and my own childhood, and even more than that if you include reference books and art books.

I'm currently reading two books:

Borrowed from my mother-in-law...

... and this one, purchased by me!

Although the second one is much more applicable to this blog, the first one (and all others by the same author) is DEFINITELY worth a mention on here as a hysterically funny "must-read" book! While it's absolutely worth the purchase, take a click over here to see the website that began it all. The author of the book has graciously left a great deal of the content on his website, so you'll be able to read it before you buy it- Woo-hoo! My favorite is the segment about Aunt Jenny, but the whole thing is AB-SO-LUTELY HY-STERICAL. If you've got an offbeat sense of humor and/or a love of all things food, you will not be able to resist cracking a smile with this book and the others in its series!

I don't want to spend too much time writing today-- suffice to say that the second book is so much fun to read! I'm starting to get into polymer clay, to make my own beads, and this has been an invaluable resource... perfect for me, because I'm not a COMPLETE beginner (I dabbled in it when I was a little girl), but I'm also not ready for those super-fancy inspiring books for experts.

I am WAY BEHIND with my blogging-- as one of my friends said recently, I can't do it all... I can only do what I can do. So here I am, doing what I can. Next up, the letter "S"~

A to Z, 2012-- O is for...

The OCEAN!

This photo (Copyright TJ Wasik) was taken by one of my best friends, on a trip to the USVI. The water was such a gorgeous color of blue!

So those of you who know me, know that I'm a water-baby through and through. Even though I was the slowest child on earth to learn how to swim (I don't think I took my swimmies off until I turned seven!), I've always loved being in the water and I practically grew up in the ocean.

Look at me-- a nautical natural! Ahoy, mateys and Mickeys! Of course I look like a natural on the water... I am a Cancer, after all, and that makes me a crab baby! Just look at those "claws", expertly holding onto my food~

See, my grandparents had a boat. Every summer, I would visit them-- sometimes with my mom and dad and brother, sometimes on my own. We would ride over to a nearby barrier island, park in the marina, and stay for as long as we liked. There was the bay (shown above, older my shoulder), there was the ocean (not pictured above), there was sand as far as the eye could see. We had boogie boards and money for ice cream cones, and when I was tired of playing in the water there were parks next to the marina, with swings and slides and monkey bars.

The ocean was where I got to spend time with my family and read as many books as I liked. But most importantly, the ocean was where I learned not just how to make jewelry, but where I grew to love it and learned how to sell it!

(I'll talk more about that at a later date. If I put it in this blog post, it would be longer than some of Hemmingway's short stories!)

In any case, the ocean is a place that fills me with joy. When I am there, I am filled with a warm and blissful calm. When I am thinking about it, I can't help but smile.

And most importantly for this blog, it inspires me artistically.

A to Z, 2012-- K is for...

KNITTING, of "kourse"!

This photo was taken a while back-- I've made much more progress on this project since then-- but I just HAD to show off this picture because I love the skirt I'm wearing!!!

I learned how to knit when I was only three years-old. My mother taught me how, probably after I begged so much that my voice was hoarse. I remember that she was knitting a lot back then, and I wanted to be just like her. I made a small red square.

... Well... half of a small red square.

... Well... okay, it was way less than half a square. Mommy cast-on and knit half of it to get it started and show me, then helped me for a few rows, then I did a few rows on my own... and then she did the bind-off.

But the point is, I learned. And I was pretty good for my age-- I made a lap blanket for Barbie! And then promptly forgot all about the process, until I was seven and she re-taught me. It's like riding a bike, she said. Once you learn you never forget.

Which was good to know, since she had to re-teach me again when I was turned ten, and yet again when I turned fifteen. By the time I got to college, I was probably the world's most expert beginner when it came to knitting!

I re-learned for the millionth time as a freshman, volunteering to knit items for homeless people. Yarn and needles were provided. Picture an entire room of people who were learning how to knit, just to accomplish the purpose of keeping some complete strangers warm in the winter. It was equal parts inspiring and ridiculous, since hardly anyone there knew what they were doing.

Thankfully I remembered what I was doing pretty quickly, and realized that wow, I actually had a knack for this! Not only did I have a knack for it, I was damn good! I was amazing! Swell! Wonderful! Impressive, even!

... and then I realized that while I had actually managed to knit the whole scarf up, it was all kinds of misshapen and icky. The kind of a project that only a mother could be proud of.

Which she was, by the way. Of course.

In any case, since I'd learned so many times throughout the years, I became quite good quite fast. I ended up teaching all my friends how to knit, at some point or another, and became known as the girl who always had yarn in her purse. I brought my yarn and needles to my brother's hockey games... to movie nights at college... to friend's houses... on the bus and train... at the baseball fields... if you can name it, I knit there at one time or another.

And I basically haven't stopped knitting since.

Now, as a special "thank you" to my blog readers, I have here a knitting pattern that I'm going to share with you all! YAAAAAYYYYY!!!

A to Z, 2012-- C is for...

COOKIE!

(Okay, so this post is not *actually* all about cookies~ but I couldn't help it~ what can I say, the tiny child trapped inside my adult body just can't associate the letter C with anything else! Talk about word associations that just won't die...)

So since C does not stand for cookie, in this instance, it must stand for something else. Now what could that be?

For the longest time, I had the whole thing planned out and set up. C was SUPPOSED to be for Cables. But then today happened.

I had two doctors appointments today, two very important appointments, and I ended up being out of the house all day. It was a great day-- I was able to go to the bead shop AND the metal shop AND my favorite food chain of all time.

I absolutely *love* eating at Pret, and they're all over the city. The food is good and fresh, and it has my latest culinary addiction-- Brie cheese. Specifically in the form of a sandwich, with tomato and fresh basil. YUMM-O!

Anyway, back to the letter C.

As I mentioned above, I ended up at the metal shop... my first time there. And OH MY GOODNESS! I found metal components that really bring me back to my childhood, things that spoke to me as an artist, things that inspired me to create.

Among other things, I bought my first CABOCHON. And some filigree to wrap it up.

As long as I'm recovered from the day's activities, I'll be putting this together tomorrow. It's my first one, so I'm hoping it turns out as pretty as I imagine it to be in my head~!

 And that, my dear friends, is the story of how the letter C became associated with something completely different and unexpected and new.

Stay tuned tomorrow for more alphabet-ty goodness~ and don't forget to sign up for my giveaway from a few posts back!