Focus on Life: Create Art!

Our prompt for this week was 'Create Art'. How very appropriate! I had originally wanted to create something other than jewelry. It's not often that I get the time to experiment with other art types, and this week was not that time.
At the least, I pushed myself to use a different technique and materials for this necklace... A button and loop made out of seed beads for the clasp, as well as some black cotton ribbon. The photo I took shows a sketch of the design and a mostly completed necklace, I just need to find my sewing kit to attach the button to the ribbon :)

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Summer Starfish Necklace

Above is a picture of my sketch book in which I used one of Design Seeds awesome color palettes to put together this bright and summery necklace.

Made with Serpentine and dyed Quartz gemstones, blue vintage lucite and two handmade orange lampwork beads. Plated pendant and lobster claw clasp.

What a tangled web we weave

(Source: Wikimedia Commons)

Earlier this week, I was invited to a Fresh Connections meeting hosted at the Incite Center for Holistic Therapy in Norwich, CT.  The center and its practitioners allowed the Fresh Connections group of women to come in and experience what they have to offer! We each got to have mini sessions for massage, reflexology, qi gong, and meditation through zentangle art. The zentangle method is a fun and relaxing way of creating beautiful images from repetitive patterns. It's surprisingly easy; even those in our group without an artistic background made great images! Here is what I made with just a few minutes of instruction:

I had a lot of fun learning to zentangle and meeting all the lovely and inspirational women through this networking event! There may even be some of my jewelry available for sale at the Incite Center soon!

Challenge Complete!

Yesterday I finished my January Earring Challenge. Whew, what a challenge it was! It was interesting to see how daily life effected my creative side. I was very excited and motivated in the beginning, but started to lose steam about a third of the way through. I pushed onward, even if my earrings were very simple for a few days. I was able to get my enthusiasm back for the last week or so, and tried to go out with a bang!

What I learned:
1. I like to switch up my work. Towards the end of the month I was getting very antsy! I am proud that I stuck with this challenge, but can't wait to make a damn necklace!

2. I need to use my sketchbook more! Throughout the month, I kept a sheet for brainstorming and sketching out possible designs. Some of the designs are totally new to me, others were specific to beads I already have. I found this to be particularly helpful on days when I struggled to create something.

3. Photography. I have always struggled with taking good photos, but with time and practice, I am getting better. Having to take so many photos, with inadequate natural lighting because of the season, I was really forced to work with my lighting and displays. I learned what worked and what didn't. Now, I can take photos quicker and with less editing.

I had a lot of fun with this and will certainly be doing another challenge soon!

Purple pearls

My sketchbook. Working out a few designs!

Day 7 Earrings. Sterling silver and purple pearls

Jewelry Art Journal

Here is a recent spread I did in my art journal. The right page started with an old article I had about using paintings as inspiration for designing a necklace. I found a few paintings I liked and made a color palette for future designs. The left page is a few clippings of jewelry I liked, all in turquoise and teal colors. I used a stamp and brushes to add some paint in similar colors. Then added notes and doodles with a marker.

Feeling the itch

Looking for this?
Bead Soup Blog Party - The reveal (Part I)
Bead Soup Blog Party - A second helping (Part II)


For a while now, I have been wanting to do more. I used to paint. I do know how to sew. Why not incorporate polymer clay into my jewelry designs? But of course, I always have some excuse about time or what not. The other day I decided I was going to start an art journal. It's a lot less intimidating then taking on a large project and I believe it could be beneficial to me in a therapeutic way right now.

An art journal is basically a visual diary. In it you record your thoughts, as well as, draw, paint or add embellishments to the pages. I want this blog to be about more than just my jewelry. I want it to represent all of me. So I'm going to be sharing my art journal pages here. I hope that anyone with a passion for art can enjoy them.

Art Journal: Page 1

This is my first page of my first art journal. The lower right corner is kinda a mess up. But that's one thing I want to learn from this: to accept the imperfections. That may be harder than I thought!