Tuesday, November 11, 2014

Octoberfest...in November?

Octoberfest..oh dear..I am so sooooo late.  Can we please have 'November-fest'!????

We've been beyond busy at work, much of everything has gone by-the-wayside.  Many days have escaped without me hugging one of these as well (That's my girl, Cherry. She loves hugs):


However, I am determined to keep my promise to Rita of jewelschoolfriends.com regarding her Octoberfest Blog Hop!

A few months ago, I received brilliant orange beads from Lisa Lodge of Pine Ridge Studios as part of a set from her upcoming Sparkle Challenge.  Remember this set from one of my prior posts?:


Orange is a great happy sunny color, which I've typically shied-away from in jewelry, clothing, home furnishings..or beads.  My husband is 'the great lover' of orange.  He is totally utterly nuts about orange, Halloween is his favorite holiday.  So, I must admit, when I opened this package, there was a moment of 'surprised panic'.  Orange beads!?..what am I going to do with these?!  Gorgeous, sparkling, but Orange!?  uhh oh...I'm in trouble for sure.

Fast-forward to an unplanned stop at the nearest Michaels store one night after work.  You know those wonderfully-guilty opportunities...running about 40 minutes ahead of schedule (unheard-of, right?), you're nearing the turn-off lane for the shopping center (should I?  No! I shouldn't!...Oh what the heck)....and in you go, despite having tons of supplies and stuff at home!  YAY..'me' time!

Strolling around the store, I wandered into the bead aisle.  A few moments later, a strand of super-sparkly beads caught my eye.  Totally 'uber-super' sparkly, come-hither beads. Guess what?..these were orange-based, too.  Just like that, it all came together.

They call these 'Challenges' for a reason.  Try a new color, a new style, a new technique.  I pulled out bronze wire, a bit of vintage bronze chain, a cute bronze clasp (ok, not october-ish, but I love this one!), and suddenly developed a new fondness for wire-wrapping.  Wire-wrapping never existed in my repertoire before.  I always seemed to struggle with wire, of any sort.  However, thanks to an excellent tutorial from Melissa Meman of Melismatic and ArtJewelryElements, something 'clicked' and I 'totally-get wire-wrapping' now (thank you, Melissa!).  Please, check-out all of the fantastic tutorials at ArtJewelryElements (AJE) if you are struggling..they cover many topics, the directions are clear/concise/well-written and are beautifully photographed.  Lots of fun, too!

To 'wrap-this-up':
1.  I am totally desperately late for Octoberfest;
2.  I am early for Sparkle Challenge (don't worry, I have many more pieces created from this excellent bead set in preparation for the December Challenge reveal date);
3.  I am completely in love with this new necklace and with wire!!!


Thank you all for bearing with me, for stopping by (again), and many thanks to Rita, Lisa, Melissa!
Carol

2 comments:

  1. What a fabulous necklace, I love orange and I love wire, besides, the spots of grey/blue give some depth and mystery, you definitely managed your challenge!

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  2. Good job Carol. Kudos to you for working with orange and learning wire wrapping. Your necklace does indeed speak fall.

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