ZnetShows Creative Spark Summer 2016 Reveal

As I mentioned in my previous goal review post, I'd been busy with the ZnetShows.com e-magazine, Creative Spark. The virtual publication is now live and ready to inspire. I know you've got to come in from the Summer heat at some time, so why not peruse these virtual pages while you're at it? If you're impatient, you can follow this link to go straight to Creative Spark Summer 2016 to see all the designs.

Creative Spark  Summer 2016

While I edit the publication and manage the social media for ZnetShows.com, I'm also a designer for them. So, you'll find some of my designs within the pages. The whole theme for this magazine was to promote some of the new bead shapes and styles. As such, I divided it up by those categories. When I first saw a few of the beads, I immediately saw particular designs.

First up were the cultured sea glass top-drilled teardrop nugget pendants. When I saw the two sizes of the pendants, I knew I wanted to created a layered necklace. It took some finagling, but this beauty finally came together with some tubes and Chinese crystal beads, all from ZnetShows.com.

While I had the jet black sea glass beads out, I decided to play with altering them. Clear nail polish was a quick and easy way to give them some shine. I simply added dots to one side of the teardrop nuggets and a stripe (as best as I could) around the tube beads.

The double-hole flat freeform pendants also struck a chord with me from the first moment I saw them. I just had to make them into bracelets. Initially, I knew that the matte nature of the cultured sea glass leaned perfectly toward casual-wear. Using leather flowed naturally from that idea. It took a little force to get the leather through the holes (because I was too lazy to go find thinner leather), but I totally got these to work. As well, I learned to make adjustable knots so these could fit any number of wrist sizes. Oh, and I couldn't help myself again from altering at least one of them. I simply stamped a text stamp with some permanent ink onto one of the pendants. Because these are flat, it was a perfect base for stamping.

Once the leather ones were made, I decided to attempt to dress up the cultured sea glass a bit. Use of Chinese crystal beads in a rondelle shape made it easy. I used the light aqua 'coke' bottle seafoam-colored glass but wanted to make them match the crystals a bit more. As such, I altered two of the pendants with alcohol inks. The original-colored one is in the center of the picture below. Each of the bracelets work great on their own or stacked together. The construction of them also makes it easy to link all the bracelets together for one long wrap bracelet.

Even after making all that jewelry, I still had plenty of pendants left on my desk. With some E6000 glue, I quickly dressed up a square candle votive from the Dollar Tree. It totally matches the upcycled TV stand in our living room. It's no surprise that that's where the votive now lives.

My designs are just a few of the ones you'll find in Creative Spark Summer 2016. If you want more information on the beads I used, there are direct links to the products inside the magazine. Click over to see more, or use the viewer below to flip through the pages. I know you'll find something that inspires you.


Let me know what you think of the e-magazine and if you have any questions about how I created my designs, please don't hesitate to ask!

Creative Spark Summer 2015 contribution and other news

Things are finally starting to fall into place and settle down some in my corner of the world. I can see once again and things with the new house are coming together - now to actually pack for the move in a few weeks.. .and pray that our current house sells soon! I was also able to finish the e-magazine for ZnetShows.com. This Summer 2015 issue features their cultured sea glass beads and is packed with a ton of inspiration. You can totally see all the hard work the designers put into this issue. I so appreciate all their time and effort!

Creative Spark Summer 2015

I also contributed to the e-magazine's upcycled jewelry section (surprise, surprise!). I picked a simple palette of teal, clear, moonstone, and black.

The beads I picked out from ZnetShows.com

Knowing that the Summer issue focused on sea glass, this brought thoughts of the beach to mind. I instinctively pulled out my (large) selection of seashells and selected a few.

The handful of shells I decided to use in my first piece for the magazine.

I cleaned the shells and tried to make the jingle shells a little more sturdy with some nail polish. From there, I made a chain with the small sea glass beads, Chinese crystals, and silver non-tarnish wire. Using silver tone jumprings, I hung the fabulous sea glass marquise spindles and diamond-shaped pendants from the chain.

For my next piece, I was inspired by my key collection. I picked one at random and shined it up a bit. Next, I plunged into the bits and bobs of broken jewelry I have stashed and picked out a piece of filigree that matched fairly close and fit over the key well.

Found key and filigree piece

Once I had the filigree attached to the key, I wire-wrapped the 4mm moonstone opal cultured sea glass around the key with 24g dark annealed steel wire. The chain is made from more of the sea glass beads and Chinese crystal rondelles with 20g steel wire. As well, I used gunmetal headpins to create a few dangles of all of the beads to hang in front of the filigree.

It's elegant and fabulous!

Finally, I was compelled to pull out some buttons. I sorted through my button cards to find some with summery, cute character.

Aren't these adorable?

With some antiqued brass jump rings and handmade ear wires, these became great earrings with the crystal sea glass diamonds.

Beachy and unique too!

I included some tips for working with upcycled materials and more information in Creative Spark Summer 2015 that you'll have to go there to read. I'd love to know what you think of it and/or my contributions.

Hopefully, I'm back. . .but with the big move and all the renovations we have to make, I can't promise anything. Though, I'd really like to keep y'all in the loop. Stay tuned to see what happens next!

Creative Spark Winter 2015 Reveal

The fact that I'm getting back on track can only mean one thing: the newest issue of ZnetShows' Creative Spark e-magazine has been released! For those that don't know, I work as the Social Media Manager for ZnetShows.com (specializing in wholesale beads). ZnetShows makes their own cultured sea glass. They also have a beautiful selection of Chinese crystal beads and glass pearls. Those are their specialties. However, they have have a great selection of gemstones, base metal pieces, and more. Anyway. . .enough about all that. The new issue is out!

 

The main focus of the issue is using the cultured sea glass to make icy winter designs. However, there are also some easy earring tutorials and designs made with the new cultured sea porcelain. In addition to the designs, there's insight from the designers, yoga for beaders, and some info on how to rock Twitter. It's a great issue!

I'd really love to know what you think about Creative Spark Winter 2015, so feel free to leave a comment here, on the ZnetShows blog, and/or on the ZnetShows facebook page!

Whoops Blog Hop

For the last issue of ZnetShows' Creative Spark magazine, Cynthia Machata (Of Antiquity Travelers) picked out some beautiful gray pearls from ZnetShows' huge Glass Pearl selection. (Huge is a key word here. . .) Cynthia openly admits that she has trouble with measurements so when the 16mm pearls arrived and were so large, she was surprised. Whoops!

After creating her design for the magazine, Cynthia realized that she was challenged by the size and would likely not use up both strands of the beads on her own. Instead of just shelving the beads, she e-mailed several bead bloggy friends and asked if they would be interested in working with her "Whoops" beads. I was included in that list. I'll admit that the size of the beads and my limited time had me hesitant to join the challenge. However since I do love a good challenge, I decided to play along.

The beads are definitely larger than what I'm used to working with too, but that didn't stop me from coming up with design ideas. Actually, I had my own "Whoops" as I initially envisioned using one of these big, beautiful beads as the focal for a statement ring. It definitely would have been gorgeous too, if I had ANY skill at making rings with wire. Alas, it didn't turn out at all as I had envisioned and was soon cut apart for my next idea.

In working toward my next design idea, I was happy to discover that I had a stockpile of 4mm pearls in the same gray color and some 6mm glass pearls in dark gray, both from ZnetShows.com. I planned to pair the pearls with silvertone chain. However, while picking out the silvertone chain, I was drawn to a length of gunmetal chain and couldn't resist taking it home too. Once home, it was obvious that the gunmetal chain was the way to go. Vintaj 24g Arte Metal wire was then used to connect the pearls to each other and the chain. Here are my results.

I used all the pearls from Cynthia in this necklace. I know it's also a little simple for my usual style. While I wanted to incorporate something a little more.  . . upcycled  (like the pieces Christine sent me), these pearls really make their own statement so I left them alone.

I'm glad that I jumped on board with this challenge because the end product turned out so beautifully. I'm anxious to see what the other participants did with their large pearls. You can check it out too by following these links.

Hostess: Cynthia at Antiquity Travelers

Bobbie at BeadSong Jewelry
Christine at One Kiss Creations
Linda at Lindy's Designs
Therese at Therese's Treasures
Val at Miss Val's Creations

Thank you Cynthia for including me. It was that perfect balance of a challenge and inspiration.
I hope all of you like what I made, but would love to hear what you think either way.

ZnetShows' Creative Spark Fall 2014

Hey guys! I apologize for my absence the last week or so. I've been busy! It's time again for the ZnetShows' Creative Spark online magazine and I've been working my tooshie off for ZnetShows.com getting it ready for public eyes. Today's the day it's revealed!

I do hope you find some inspiration in it as there's quite a bit of eye candy! I don't have any of my own pieces in it as I was pretty focused on just getting it published. However, I'm pretty proud of this newest issue. What do you think?

Hidden Craft Room Treasures

Whew, it's been a crazy month! Between my grandmother's hospital stay, Grand Assembly, and working on Creative Spark I just haven't had any time for much else. There's been no jewelry-making and only the basic house cleaning. In fact, all the time spent in the craft room has been on the computer. Today I got a chance to clear some of the clutter that's piled up around the house and in the craft room. In doing so, I discovered stock piles of supplies I've gotten and simply tossed in the craft room. 

 There was a large bag of goodies I'd ordered with a gift certificate from ZnetShows.

This innocent-looking box of 'beads' sent to me from my childhood best friend was hidden under my desk.

Here's a look inside that box. . .at least one of the layer of stuff. I'll try to show off the wonders inside later.

I also had a bag full of supplies we bought when we found a  discount store that was selling off the items from an Ace Hardware that had closed. It was like a toy store!

Now that I can walk through the craft room again, I can't wait to get my hands on some of these treasures and all the other amazing supplies I've had stashed away. First we're going to enjoy what's left of the weekend with a paddle in the river. But, I'm actually looking forward to Monday!

Summer Days & Nights Blog Hop and reveal of Creative Spark Summer 2014

Smack in the middle of May I showed off what my fun ingredients were for ZnetShows latest challenge. We were given the task of making at least one casual piece and one dressy piece for this Summer Days & Nights Challenge. As well, the designs were to be revealed in the newest issue of Creative Spark, the Summer 2014 issue. First, let me remind you of the luscious sea glass I received.

I'll admit right off that I had a hard time with the challenge. The additional sea glass bead colors I was sent threw me for a loop. However, I knew when I selected my colors that I would want the smoky quartz for the nighttime piece. It took some playing with the bottle-curved diamond pendants and moving them around on my desk before I came up with an idea.

I coated the 'back' (convex) sides of three of the diamonds with silver leaf and sealed them. They are a little ragged and torn, but I like the touch of rustic imperfection to them. In addition, I hung some faceted black glass beads from the same chain as in the necklace to add just a touch more sparkle and shine to the matte glass. I think they're just right for a dressy occasion.

From there it was on to the rest of the beads I was sent and the amber hues that seemed to really challenge me. Finally I just mixed all the beads together on my table and an idea began to formulate of making a long necklace on knotted waxed linen cord. I even started on the necklace, but ended up cutting the whole thing apart because it just wasn't working for me. After moving the beads and the chocolate brown waxed linen around a little more, I was struck with inspiration.

I made a kumihimo rope with the waxed linen cord for the length of the necklace. As for the pendant and clasp, I knotted a few of the cultured sea glass pieces together including the desert and turquoise bay fancy rings, the opaque blue opal thin rondelles, and the amber teardrop to make a pendant. On the other side of the rope, I attached the light sapphire hour glass bead as  a toggle. With the rings on either end of the pendant, this necklace is convertible.

I will admit that this was indeed a challenge for me because of the mix of colors I received. However, I always enjoy this type of learning opportunity as it allows me to think outside my own little creative box. As well, I think the necklaces I made are pretty cool. The sea glass from ZnetShows definitely lends itself to summer designs and is a lot of fun to use in designs. As well, there is such a huge variety of colors and shapes that there's a little something for everyone!

Anyway, both of the pieces I made appear in Creative Spark Summer 2014. 

Make sure you check out this newest issue as well as the blog hop going on over at the ZnetShows blog to celebrate this reveal.

Amy Severino of AmyBeads

Andrea Trank of Heaven Lane Creations

Becky Pancake of Becky Pancake Bead Designs

BobbieRafferty of BeadSong

BR Kuhlman of Mixed Mayhem Studios

Charlie Jacka of Clay-Space

Christie Murrow of Charis Designs Jewelry

Christina Miles of Wings N Scales

Christine Stonefield of Sweet Girl Design

Cynthia Machata of Antiquity Travelers

Cynthia Riggs of Cynth's Blog

Donetta Farrington of Simply Gorgeous

Hope Smitherman of CraftyHope

Kashmira Patel of Sadafulee

Kathy Lindemer of Bay Moon Design

Kay Thomerson of Kayz Kreationz

Kelly Patterson of Travelling Sideshow

Klaudete Koon of Only Road

Lee Koopman of Strega Jewellry

Lisa Lodge of Grateful Artist/Pine Ridge Treasures

Renetha Stanziano of Lamplight Crafts

Sandra Washington of To the Moon and Stars and Back

Shaiha Williams of Shaiha's Ramblings

Sheryl Stephens of Babble Bead

Stephanie Haussler of Pixybug Designs

Tammie Everly of TTE Designs

Thanks so much for swinging by! Now that this issue is out, I'm hoping to get back to regular life and posting. We'll see how that works out for me. 

My Materials for the ZnetShows Summer Challenge

~If you haven't signed up for my GIVEAWAY, you totally should. Just go visit my 1000th post and leave a comment.~

Now that I'm FINALLY starting to get things/tasks squared away in the craft room/business department, I can get back to the fun part of being a jewelry designer - designing jewelry! Right now, I've got these Cultured Sea Glass Beads from ZnetShows.com spread across my workspace.

I'm working on their summer challenge of designing a day and an evening piece with the cultured sea glass. We were given the freedom to choose two of the many sea glass colors and were also sent an exciting array of other colors. I chose the Smoky Quartz and Opaque Blue Opal (below, though the opal blue just isn't coming through in my photos.)

I've got quite a few ideas rolling around, but nothing really solid yet. That's probably what I get for taking so long of a break from creating - inspiration overload. Now it's back to staring at these beauties and dreaming of what I can make them become. Shoot, maybe I can even get something made soon.

ZnetShows' Creative Spark 2014

Many of you might not know it, but I'm currently the Social Media Manager for ZnetShows. Part of this job includes the quarterly publication of our online magazine, "Creative Spark." The Spring issue was released just this morning, and I'd love it if you took the time to see what the designers and myself have worked so hard on over the past month or so.

Click to view Creative Spark - Spring 2014 on GLOSSI.COM

Let me know what you think!!

ZnetShows' Creative Spark Glossi for Winter 13-14

The last few weeks I've been preoccupied with creating another issue of Creative Spark for ZnetShows. It was a ton of work, but getting to feature the fabulous designers of the ZnetShows Team is definitely worth it. Inside Creative Spark is all kinds of beautiful pearl inspiration, some tutorials, peeks into creative spaces (including my own), and so much more. You should definitely go take a look.

Click to view Creative Spark Winter 13-14 on GLOSSI.COM

ZnetShows is also having a giveaway for simply sharing the Glossi. Information about the giveaway is on the ZnetShows Blog.

The Monster that Ate All My Time is Revealed (no worries; it's a fluffy, friendly monster)

Borrowing a line from the creepy robot/computer, GLaDOS, in Portal 2, "Oh, there you are."
Wait, that should be "Oh, here I am!"
I'd love to share some beautiful pictures of sandy beaches and frozen drinks as an explanation for my absence, but alas. . .no. I will explain that I recently took on a role with ZnetShows and have been working pretty hard to put out their first Glossi as well as make my own pieces for it and write up a bio to include in there as well. It's been a roller coaster ride, both scary and fun at the same time.

I was really happy with the pieces I made from the "Rings & Bling" challenge theme and thought I oughta share some of the other pictures I took of them for a better look.

These simple crystal and metal bow earrings are just too cute for words.

I'll admit that I hard a hard time with the skull chain, but I really love the patina I added to it.

The way these came together make me think of little fairies. . .three-legged fairies, but fairies nonetheless.

This bracelet is not really my usual style, but I still find it really cool. Maybe I need to re-make my usual style!

I worked forever on figuring out what to do with those little sea glass rings. I knew I wanted to alter them somehow and pouring resin into that one on the focal worked out just right.

These earrings were by far my favorite of the bunch. I'm not usually into making more elegant/evening wear pieces, but I love these. I especially like how the rings fit within one another so that they crisscross.

And, I just had to share another picture of them so you can see the luscious teal color a little better.

For more pictures of these as well as a whole bunch of other amazing designers' work, go check out Creative Spark and see what ate up so much of my time lately.

Click to view Fall 2013 Creative Spark on GLOSSI.COM

While I know I could have kept on editing it and editing it, I'm still pretty proud of how it turned out. Of course, not all the credit goes to me. There's a whole team of designers whose work and input really MADE the Glossi. Thanks to all of y'all! :)

Up to My Elbows in Challenges

There's a lot going on over here in the Craft Room lately. I've got a plethora of beads and challenges up my sleeve.

I went ahead and bought the beads for Lorelei's new Michael's Challenge, but the deadline is Tuesday and I still don't know what I'm going to make. Agggghhhhh!!!!

I better get on the ball if that's going to happen.

I was also one of the lucky three randomly selected to participate in Art Jewelry Elements' August Component of the Month. This month's artist is Melissa Meman and the component was one of her Melismatic Molten Morsels. It was a complete surprise which morsel we would each receive and I was so happy to see mine.

The morsel came without holes in it, but you can plainly see that I couldn't wait to take a picture before punching holes just where I wanted them. I can be an inpatient soul at times.

Lastly, ZnetShows is having a challenge for some of their design team. Here's what I received. I'll fill you in more about the challenge a little later on.

So, you can see I'm a busy girl. Yet. . .here I sit writing a blog post, hoping that inspiration will strike (and SOON!) What should you be working on instead of reading blogs?

ZnetShows June Challenge Beads Received

I've received some more awesome beads in the mail from ZnetShows. Design Team members were offered the chance to be partnered up, pick beads for their partner as inspired by the beach, and design with those beads.

By happy chance I ended up with two partners. . .that means TWO sets of beads for me!

Christine Stonefield of Sweet Girl Design is my first partner.  And here's the lovely selection of beads she picked out.

My second partner is Kelly Patterson of PyxeeStyx~Traveling Sideshow. She picked out a wonderfully eclectic mix of beads and chain.

I've already started designing with both sets of these beautiful beads. Our reveals are to be on or before July 6th as there will be a Blog Hop of all the designs at the ZnetShows Blog on July 6th. As well, there's going to be a GIVEAWAY involved. Make sure to check back for more details!