Bead Peeps - Swap 'N Hop

I just realized I never talked about one of the challenges that comes up soon. A new (to me, at least) group, Bead Peeps is hosting a Swap 'N Hop challenge (very similar to Lori's wonderful BSBPs from the past). The idea is exactly the same: you register, you get partnered, you swap goodies, you make things with your package of goodies, you post your results.

The sign-ups were all the way back in January, the swaps took place at the end of February, early March. The reveal itself is on Saturday!! Screetch... I never talked about my amazing partner! or about what she sent me or I sent her. Apologies to all.

I'll take a moment now to rectify that.

I first was partnered with Tammy Adams of Paisley Lizard. Why 'at first'? because apparently there was a mistake made during pairing and Tammy was not to be my partner. Sad face. However, I got another, equally wonderful partner: Maire of Thistledown. Happy face!

Maire and I exchanged a few emails, trying to learn more about each other. We found lots of similarities, some crazy ones too :) And we figured out we both have the same eclectic style, loving metal and stones and what-not.

I put together my package: not a very big one, I am afraid, but all items were very dear to me: a ceramic leaf from Marla's Mud, a glass cab by one of the CC7A artists, Therese's Treasure, a few brass elements, etched by myself, polymer clay by Tina @ Bead Comber, a shell I picked in Myrtle Beach a couple of summers back, and a few accompanying elements.

The package from Maire gave both of us some palpitations - somehow Canada Post messed up their info an on USPS' side it showed that the package is lost somewhere here, in the city. Luckily for us, it was at the post office, just not marked as such.

I came home and started getting through my treasure - and what a treasure box it was!

She painted the box! With spring elements, that were more than welcome in our crazy end of March / beginning of April (it's still barely over 10 C here).

She added a sparkly card...

... and some cute items from her son to mine. The funniest part is that the state key chain is made in... Canada! :)

And then I started to unwrap goodies:

Beads in all sort of sizes, shapes, and colours, plus resin cabs she made - love them!

Somehow our minds really worked on the exact same wave length! The colours we sent each other were similar, the components too - look at the beach elements... in the same pink as the ones I sent her! isn't that funny? Mother of pearl components, beautiful glass and a couple of ceramic tubes I fell in love with.

More beautiful beads, along with some wood / nutshell carved ones.

More polymer clay (made by my lovely partner), more beautiful colours, some beautiful turquoise like beads, and a hunk of sari silk! I hoard cherish the silk whenever I can get my hands on it!

Wire and findings, including a couple of clasps, and brass elements she cut and etched and hammered herself. Look at those oak leaves and the tree of life! Absolutely in love! One of my favourite symbols is the tree of life, and the Celtic-like depiction is perfect, as I love all thing Celt as well :)

My family always teases me (in a loving way) when I get a package - I get so excited and happy! This time was no different, I almost jumped and I sure annoyed my boys with the 'oh, wow!' that came after unwrapping each little package.

I have already started to work on them (of course, we are just 5 days away from the reveal!!) and I absolutely love what comes from them. I will not be able to use everything by Saturday, but I will hopefully make justice to the generosity and kindness of my partner!

Thank you, Maire, again!

And to you, my lovely visitor, my thanks for stopping by today - please make sure you come again on Saturday, it's going to be an amazing party!

CC7A April - Spring pastels; the reveal

Hello and welcome to my (lately) very sporadic online presence :)

Today the lovely Creative Continuum of 7 Artists group is presenting the reveal for April, 'Spring pastels', hosted by yours truly. The picture I chose is one of an Easter basket, with pastel eggs (traditionally they should be red, bat that's next to impossible to achieve here :) although I aim every year).

I had a few ideas on what I wanted, but, alas, no time! The term ends this month, and the exams needed grading, my thesis needed writing, and my family needed tending. So my fabulous idea had to take a waiting :) But now I needed another one, one simpler and hopefully as effective.

It had to involve metal. But after that - I was lost. I tried the lucite flowers I had... nope, not working well. I had a few gorgeous polymer clay flowers, but in the wrong colours, there was nothing remotely pastel about them. Stones, gemstones, crystals... nothing was getting together. Maybe because our spring isn't much of a spring yet and definitely *not* pastel.

I actually ended up putting out almost everything I could get my hands on - until my eyes fell on... an item I never used :) Now was the perfect time.

Please allow me to present you the piece that surprised me. Thoroughly.

Buttons :) I honestly never thought I'd be using them like this (although I bought them 2 summers ago for a jewelry piece... then decided they don't work together well). I wish I had take a picture of the frame behind them, the cutest thing ever. But I was so excited to have the buttons, that I simply went on 'sewing' them on until it was too late to do anything about it. I should have patina-ed both the frame and the hook, and I might get to that point. So far I just like the playfulness of the piece.

P.S. The elephant came with me from our February trip (I still haven't wrote about the trips we had this year, I will one day). It was 'living' on my mantle and seemed a perfect match for the 'framed buttons'.

With this, my friends, I will let you visit the rest of the group and see what beauties they made:

Alicia (April host) ~ you are here

Therese (May host)

Sally (June host)

Monique (August)

Cynthia (September)

Emma (October)

Christine (November)

Thank you for stopping by! Make sure you have a wonderful, very pastel spring :)

The Creative Continuum of 7 Artists - 2015

Hello again, and welcome to another monthly installment of the CC7A, 2015 edition!

In case you missed it last year, it's a small group of very talented artists, from Canada and US, and we meet 7 moths of the year to have fun and do what we love most: create.

Last year we based our creation on the same small package of items we sent each other. This year, being a tad crazier for me re: schedule, the format will change slightly.
For 2015 what we do is pick an image and get inspired by it.

I will host April and today I am revealing the picture we will all use:

It is April and both my friends and I celebrate Easter (they all did last Sunday, we, as Orthodox, will celebrate this coming Sunday), so a basket of our Easter eggs from last year seems fitted. The palette is just a guiding idea, I am quite enamoured by that pink Easter Cactus bloom in the background. as a side comment, all my cacti is in bloom... again... and they were in bloom at Christmas too! I don't think they can make up their mind on what holiday cacti they are :)

The reveal for these monthly get-together is the 26th - hence I am inviting you to come back at least on the 26th to see what everybody created with my eclectically colourful  picture.

The CC7A composition:

Alicia (April host) ~ you are here

Therese (May host)

Sally (June host)

Monique (August)

Cynthia (September)

Emma (October)

Christine (November)

... yes, I know how to count the months, we have all decided July is mostly a crazy summer month, with vacations and kids out of school... so we have decided to keep this fun and not very stressful, and skip July altogether.