Saturday, July 6, 2013

ZnetShows Summer Design Challenge

Hello Everyone!  It is time for the ZnetShows Summer Design Challenge.  I feel very honored to be asked again by Hope to design for their company.  This time the twist is that Hope partnered us up with another designer and they chose our beads for us from a huge selection that Bill picked out.  My partner is Donetta Farrington, a talented jewelry designer and creator from Portland, Oregon.  We emailed each other a couple of times before selecting the beads.  I found out that she used to live in Dover, DE (I live 45 min. from there.) and I have an Uncle who lives near her.  Our global world keeps getting smaller and smaller.  Please click on Donetta's name and visit her blog site.  She created some fantastic pieces of jewelry from the kit I chose for her.

Now without futher ado,  this is the kit Donetta chose for me:

Stone -- Jasper Marquis
Sea glass--  23 mm aqua rings
Pearl-- 3mm white pearls
Metal-- antiqued silver leaf chain
Crystal- Mint julep mix
Extras-  gemstone triangle beads
 and seafoam green sea glass pebbles

Oh my goodness, she did a fantastic job picking out for me.  I love the colors and got so excited to start designing.  I knew immediately that I wanted to incorporate a spiral stitch using the crystals, pearls and pebbles, but Donetta threw me for a loop with the aqua rings. I kept looking at them trying to imagine them with the seafoam pebbles and the crystals.  I fiddled with the some more then it dawned on me I had the perfect crystals from ZnetShows last challenge and hmmm the metal leaves then hmmm a pair of earrings were born.




The jasper marquis called to me and said "I want to be a bracelet."  I figured that if stones were going to talk to me I had better answer so the bracelet was formed, but it seemed to be missing something.  After taking it apart five times I realized that they needed the crystals and leaf charms from the leaf chain so I started taking apart the chain and wrapping the crystals.  I just love the bracelet and can't wait to show it off.






Finally, I finished my first idea-- the spiral necklace using the crystals, pearls ,and  pebbles.From my stash, I found mother-of-pearl chips, seafoam sea glass nuggets, and the perfect seafoam green seed beads.
A closeup of the spiral
The finished necklace

Special thanks to Bill and Hope for giving me this opportunity to design again for them.  Their web site is awesome and their products are fantastic with very excellent prices.  Please visit ZnetShows, Inc. you will not be disappointed!  Be sure to visit their blog ZnetShows.blogspot.com to see all the participants in this challenge. 



15 comments:

  1. Great beads - love the colors and love your designs!

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  2. LOVE all your designs...great colors to work with too... I am an earring freak and I love how you took the chain apart and used it to make the earrings stand out..and on the bracelet too...NICE!

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  3. Your designs came out beautifully! I think the earrings are my favorite. I love the glass loops!

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  4. Beautiful designs!! I love leaf charms and crystals in your bracelet!

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  5. Great spiral necklace, I keep thinking I should try a few more multi strand necklaces. Love the colors.

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  6. Andra! What a fabulous job you did with "our" beads! The beautiful earrings are to die for...I want them! Now I'm on a mission to buy some of the sea glass rings (I won't copy what you did, but I hope you don't mind if I use you for inspiration). The bracelet is lovely, and I'm happy that you listened to the jasper. It is perfect with the crystals and leaf chain. The necklace, of course, is amazing. In fact, YOU are amazing! I'm tickled that a couple of Delaware girls got to bond over such beautiful beads.

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  7. Beautiful, beautiful work! Love the spiral necklace!Awesome work with your set of beads.

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  8. Andra your designs are great. Isn't it interesting to see all the different ways the same beads can be used? The earrings are my favorite.

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  9. Love the colors! you really captured the beach theme!

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  10. Lovely beads and lovely creations! I love it when our beads speak to us! :)

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  11. What I really love about your creations is that it captures the Northwest, which is a mixture of the greens for its fabulous trees out there. My favorite is the necklace.

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  12. I love those earrings and the chain you used. But all your pieces are fantastic. Love the texture in the necklace.

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  13. As always, just gorgeous! You have such a sense of balance and style to your work Andra. Pat

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  14. I love what you did with the earrings with the antiqued silver leaf chain and sea glass ring. I love dangle earrings and those are just gorgeous.

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  15. I'm glad I'm not the only one having conversations with my beads :) Can't decide which I like best. Kudos!

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