ZNETShows Summer Challenge Blog Hop

Back in April I was notified that as part of the ZNETshows Design team I was part of a new challenge. This one was a Summer challenge.  The theme was 'Summer Days and Nights' and focused on their Cultured Sea Glass. We were to go to ZNETshows website and pick out the 2 colors we'd like to design with to design a daytime 'casual' set and a nightime 'dressy' set.  We were also sent a few other colors, beads, findings to go along with the sea glass we chose. I was interested in working with their red and black seaglass, so sent off my choices.  I thought I had a picture of the stash I received, but I can't seem to find it on my compurter. But what I received in the following pieces was the red sea glass, black sea glass and purple tube beads. The other beads I had received from previous ZNETshows challenge.  But these are the beads I used:

For the Dressy set these are the products I used :

Purple barrel nugget beads found here:

Jet Black Barrel beads here:

Glass pearls, Clear crystals and Oval Purple and Black beads (a type of dyed jasper).

For the Daytime set:

Anklet

Sand dollar beads in red, here:

Hourglass beads here

Earrings:

Small concave square here

Fish here:

These were all fun to play with. I hope you like what I made for my Dressy Nighttime set and my Casual Daytime set. 

Daytime (casual): This is 'Fun in the Sun at the Beach'

Nightime (dressy): This is Evening Mystique

Be sure to check out ZNETshows website for great sea glass and other beads, the ZNETshows blog for more about the design team and the other participants and the new ZNETshows magazine that has more about the design challenge and participants also.

ZNETshows Winter Pearl Challenge

As part of the ZNETshows design team, our newest challenge was for the Winter Glossi.  It is a Winter Pearls Challenge.  We were to pick out 3 pearl items and 2 other items, either crystals or base metal.  These are the items I picked:

Pearls

BDS1868-17 glass pearls teardrop round Beads 0 Raspberry Color K0588  9x7mm 

BDS1894-22 glass pearls round Beads 0 -off white K0822   16mm 

BDS1923-02FIVE glass pearls rice Beads 0 Butter Color K0121(15.5-in-str)  6x4mm   and

Crystals

RT250-05AB Chinese crystal designer glass cube Beads faceted 05AB-Cherry Red AB (50-pc-str)  4mm

 Base Metal

M0513-AS Base Metal Alloy leaf Necklace antique silver tone Chains-antique silver  about 3-9mm 

I have always wanted some of that leaf chain to work with, so this was a great opportunity.  Now I knew those 16mm round glass pearls would be large, but I guess I didn't realize HOW large. LOL  I had googled the size and it just didn't register, I guess, because when I received them, I was in shock for a little while.  I hadn't ever worked with something that large and round.  So, this has been a little bit of a challenge for me.  Here's a picture of what I picked and received.

I knew I wanted to make a sweet pair of earrings with that leaf chain and some of the small rice pearls and the cherry red glass cubes. I love the way these turned out.

And I finally decided I wanted to make a bracelet with some of the large round Pearls.  During all this time, my son and daughter-in-law have been here visiting and helping us do some work on the ranch, so I've been limited in my time to work on my designs.  But she suggested I use some of my pink silk/fiber in my bracelet and necklace design.  So I got it out, cut it up, accordion folded it and punched through it with a large darning needle and strung it between the Raspberry teardrop pearls and the large Off-white Pearls.  I added a small silver toggle clasp and love the way it turned out.

The necklace has been giving me fits, though. I just haven't liked any design I've come up with so far.  But I finally decided to try this. I strung some of the large Off-white Pearls with the Raspberry teardrops and the pink fiber.  Then in the center I added a section of the leaf chain as the focal with the small Red glass cubes and the Butter rice pearls as dangles.  I think I like the way it turned out.  Hopefully ZNET and Hope will like it too and feature it in the ZNETshows Winter Pearl Challenge Glossi coming out in December.

To see more of my Jewelry or Stained Glass, Mosaics and Fused Glass items for your Home and Garden, check out my shop, KayzKreationz.

ZNETshows Keychain Lightning Round

Another great ZNETshows challenge. I was contacted a few weeks back by Hope of Crafty Hope and ZNETshows about doing a lightning round challenge with their Keychain hooks.  The idea was, we pick out 2 beads and they'll send them along with some of the keychain hooks for us to design something with.  They got delayed a little because the keychain hooks were out of stock. But I finally received them last Thursday and got to work.  I ran into a snag with my first design and am still working on it, but I got my other 2 designs finished and am presenting them here for you to see and let me know what you think.  I chose these Black Matte faceted glass bead crystals and these Orange and Cream faceted glass rondelles crystals.  I wired wrapped and attached to some silver chain I had, the Orange and Cream crystals along with some black seed beads and oval beads I had.  I attached those 3 to the bottom of the Black Faceted Crystal and Orange and Cream crystal and then attached everything to the Keychain.  This is my Black and Orange 'Chained' keychain, zipper pull or purse bling.  I prefer them as purse bling. 

My second design is my 'Tribal' keychain, zipper pull or purse bling.  Again, I prefer Purse Bling. LOL.  I hammered the end of silver colored wire, then strung the Orange and Cream crystals, the Black Faceted Crystal the and the black seed beads and oval bead I had on one of each of the 'tribal' wires. I then hammered the other end and did a simple loop to attach them to the keychain.  In between each of the 3 'tribal' wires, I hammered more silver colored wire in shorter lengths, did a simple loop and attached them in between the 'tribal' wires.  I also wire-wrapped one of the Orange and Cream crystals and attached it to the loop on the bottom of the Center 'tribal' wire for a little more dangle and bling.  Hope you like my Keychains/Purse Bling.  They are available for $17 each with free shipping till the end of the week.  Just comment here on my blog if you're interested.

KayzKreationz Purse Bling, Zipper Pull, Keychain

For more of my Beaded Wire-wrapped Jewelry and Stained Glass, Mosaics and Fused Glass Kreationz for your Home and Garden, check out my shop, KayzKreationz.

ZNETshows Partner Picks Summer Challenge and Giveaway

Once again, I've been fortunate to be chosen as a designer for ZNETshows. This time it was a little different, though.  We were partnered up and the partner chose beads from a list to send to us and then we were challenged to design something with them. I was partnered with Rachel Baron, who has been nursing a broken hand for the last few weeks. But she's hoping to have something created for the reveal and hop. Please check out her blog RBaronDesigns and see what she created.  I didn't get the memo to her in time though, that I DON'T DO BLUE!  LOL, so as you can see, most of my beads were Blue.  I'm becoming pretty proficient at designing with blue though, since my last several challenges have included Blue.  This is what I received:

 Blue Square Cultured Sea Glass Nuggets, code S45
Khaki Round Glass Pearls, code BDS1618
Labradorite Oval Pendant Grade AAA, code PT513
Meridian Blue Chinese Crystal Rectangle Glass Beads, code RS176
Blue/Turquoise Bay Cultured Sea Glass Conch Shell Beads, code S29
Antique Brass Base Metal Conch Shell charms, code M0078-AB  and
Antique Brass Base Metal Starfish charms, code M0477-AB   Aren't they all great and very Summery and Beachy?  In fact that was the theme for this challenge.  We were to think 'The Beach' for our designs.  So here's what I created. 
First with some freeform Blue Cultured Sea Glass beads I had for another challenge, I created my Beach bracelet, using the Antique Brass Starfish and Conch Shell charms. I think it turned out great.

Next, I used the Blue Square Nugget Cultured Sea Glass, the Meridian Blue Chinese Crystal and the Khaki Glass Pearls to string 3 strands. Then I used some Silver Plated chain I had, took it apart and made links to attach links of the Blue Chinese Crystal and Khaki beads and the Blue Sea Glass and Khaki beads. I also used the Labradorite Pendant as an extra focal in between all the chain and strung a long necklace. 

 Finally I used some Wine cooler bottle caps I had that seemed very beachy to me with the Palm trees on them and hung a Blue Conch Shell bead along with a Starfish and Conch Shell charm from them to make some fun Beach earrings. 

I still have a few beads left and will be creating more beach item with them later.  Hope you like my Kreationz.  Be sure to check out ZNETshows.com for their great wholesale beads. 
And now for the GIVEAWAY!  Run to ZNETshows blog to see all the participants on Saturday, July 6th and to enter the contest for some of their beads so you can make your own Beach Kreationz.
If you're looking for these pieces or more of my Wire-wrapped, Bead jewelry or Stained Glass, Mosaics and Fused Glass Kreationz for your Home and Garden, check out my shop, KayzKreationz.

Another ZNETshows Challenge-Artisan Whimsy 5x5 challenge

About a month ago, Artisan Whimsy had a post about a challenge for 5 people.  After you signed up, if you were picked you received a 5 piece set of ZNETshows Cultured Beach Sea Glass beads to design with.  I wasn't picked in the first round, but then Bill Zhang of ZNET decided to send a pack to everyone that had signed up whether they were picked or not. WooHoo!  In case you can't tell, I love their Cultured Sea Glass beads.  Anyway, this is the pack I received. (Yes, I actually remembered to take a picture before I started creating this time. LOL)  If you've read my blog posts before you remember I don't usually work with Blue.  But these freeform blue seaglass beads just seemed to cry out to be a bracelet.  It's a very simple design, but I like the look of it and the beachy sea critter dangles (also from ZNETshows) to make a fun, summery, beachy bracelet.  I did a simple copper wire wrap/loop in each bead, connected them all with some bronze jump rings I had, (I love mixing metals), used a copper ring I had for the toggle and made my own copper S-clasp for a closure.  Then I dangled 2 bronze starfish and 2 bronze conch shell dangles from each jump ring in between the seaglass beads.  Next, I took the 2 green rectangular beads and the 2 white square beads and layered them. I used some small green beads I had and wire-wrapped/wove them around the jump ring that attached them to the earwires and finished off with a spiral with the copper wire.  Finally I took the green fishbone beads and the small green beads that were in between them on the strand, along with some light green faceted beads I'd gotten from ZNET in an earlier design challenge and strung them with some copper bead caps and copper shell beads. In the center I added a bronze pendant bale. I then strung the 2 green conch shell beads on some copper chain along with 2 of the small green beads and one light green beads with copper bead caps on copper wire and made the focal for the necklace. I had this funky copper chain and attached the sea glass beaded centerpiece to the chain and used the simple copper clasp that came with it to finish it off.  All in all I am very happy with the way all three pieces turned out. I'm still working on a pair of fishbone earrings to match the necklace, but ran out of time.  Hope you enjoy my designs.  ZNETshows mainly offers wholesale beads, but you can also buy retail, so if you're looking for your own Cultured Sea Glass or other beads (like the starfish and conch shell metal beads in my bracelet) check out their site, ZNETshows.

 

 Looking for more of my Wire-wrapped, Beaded Jewelry or Stained Glass, Mosaics or Fused Glass Kreationz for you Home and Garden?  Check out my shop, KayzKreationz.

Blog hop starts Monday with the inlinkz links you see below.

ZNETshows Baby Conch beads and Challenge

I love ZNETshows Cultured Sea Glass. I've participated in several of their challenges and design contests. This time around, they sent a few of us some of their new Baby Conch shell beads. these are adorable.  And as usual, I forgot to take a picture of the conch shells before my muse decided to start creating with them. I am running a little behind though, because I was in the middle of a big job on our small Texas ranch. (See the post before this one)  And I'm actually still working on that. Have several things still to do. But I did get 2 projects done with my Baby Conch shells.  Here's a picture of the 3 I have left. I used 3 just like this, in a light pink, light purple and pale yellow/orange in my brooch and 2 gorgeous dark orange conch shells in the earrings I created. I dug through my stash and found some coordinating beads that I thought would set off the Orange shells great.  I wanted lots of dangles to go along with the Conch shells.  And I've been wanting to create another pin/brooch for a while, so I got this Kilt pin out with the three loops, got one of each of the 3 other colors ZNET sent me and set to work finding coordinating beads for the brooch to create lots of dangles to go with the shell beads. I think they turned out great. What do you think?  Does it feel summery/beachy enough and show off the Conch shells well?  Be sure to check out ZNETshows website. They offer wholesale beads, but do retail also.  They also carry tons of other beads besides their Cultured Sea Glass. But I'm in love with their seaglass.  Without further ado, here's my pieces.  First, the rest of the shells they sent me. (I have 3 left to create another piece):

 Then, the earrings and the pin I created with the shells.

For any of my Beaded, Wire-wrapped jewelry or my Stained Glass, Mosaics or Fused Glass Kreationz for your home or garden, check out my shop, KayzKreationz. Thanks.

I'm Sooo Excited! Work around the Ranch

Remember the song, 'I'm so excited, and I just can't hide it'?  That's how I feel right now.  We've lived on our small ranch in Central Texas for 17 years and in all that time I've never had a sidewalk to walk on to get to my car, the end of the house, out the back door or anything.  Well, this week and last we'd reserved to do a bunch of work around our house. For several years we've had a problem with 'critters' getting under our house. The worst are the skunks. I can't tell you how many times we've been woke up in the middle of the night by the smell of a skunk spraying because they got scared, mad or whatever. And it's ALWAYS under our bedroom. :(  Back in March our friends came up and helped us redo all around the bottom of the house with new skirting to keep the main part of the house unaccessible.  However, we still had the bottom/around the deck open so critters could still get under the house.  So last week, we took down all the rocks around the bottom of the deck, built framework, attached aluminum flashing down to dirt level, then restacked the rocks around the bottom to give it a more finished look.  We also built some new steps out of 250-300 pound limestone rock we had to replace the old wooden ones that kept giving and were actually trying to come apart.  But, to redo the front of the deck involved moving my Sage and Rosemary plants that had been there for at least 10 years. Now these were supposed to be Prostrate Rosemary, but as you can see from the pictures below, no one told them that. They were at least 3-4 feet tall and wider. I had started out with 2 Rosemary plants and dug up at least 5. I replanted them out by our yard fence and hoping they all make it. 3 of them look pretty good, but not sure about the last 2.  We'll see. The hummingbirds, butterflies, bees and other birds love them when they bloom, so really hope they are ok.  While we were at it, we decided since the front of the house and yard was already torn up, we ought to go ahead and make a sidewalk from the deck to the end of the house and across the end in front of where we park our trucks.  I had checked out stepping stones and we decided the red brick looking ones would match everything the best.  It took 60 stones to make this and we'll be going back this week to get about 30 more so we can go ahead and carry the walkway/sidewalk around the back of the house to the back door. That way we can get all the way around the end of the house on a walkway instead of in the grass/mud. That way my high heels can stay cleaner and I have less of a chance of tripping/stumbling over the uneven ground and rocks in the yard.  No matter how much I rake, we still have rocks. Seems to be the only thing I can 'grow' well with all the grasshoppers around.  So here's a couple of pictures of what it looked like when we started and what it looks like now. I have plant to replant the front bed with some drift roses that actually do stay fairly small, some daylilies and guara for the wildlife and that way it won't cover up all the rock work we did. I'll post pictures of the finished bed after it's done.  Now I need to work on getting my pots planted so I can put them up along the front of the house and my flower bed in the back around and between some cedar trees. I'm trying to eliminate some flower beds to make it easier to take care of the yard.
Stay tuned, I'll also be posting another book review for Kalmbach, 2 video reviews for Interweave and some Sea Glass blog hop/challenges I'm participating in for ZNETshows, plus a Seasons blog hop for Pine Ridge Treasures.  Got a lot on my plate right now.  If you're interested in any Stained Glass, Mosaics, Fused Glass Kreationz for your Home or Garden check out my shop, KayzKreationz. I'm working on getting more listed, plus my Beaded, Wire-wrapped Jewelry. I've also had a little help on the grasshopper front this week since we've done this work. This guy's been visiting the yard every night for grasshopper dinner. Yay!

ZNETshows Design Team-Round 2-Diamonds in the Rough

UPDATE:  Voting has started and 2 of my designs got picked for their contest. the 2 on the bottom left. my Herringbone wrap bracelet and earring set and my Shel/Pink Rhodonite necklace from my BSBP reveal! please go to their page and click 'like' on the pictures to vote.  https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151568712344523.1073741840.87744049522&type=1

Well, they must have liked my designs for Round one with their Cultured Sea glass, because about a month ago, Bill Zhang of ZNETshows e-mailed asking if I'd be interested in participating in Round 2 of their designing.  They were asking us to pick up to 10 different beads/stones/focals from their supplies that often times get overlooked in designing and jewelry making.  They would add a few extra things to go along with our picks and mail them out for us to start designing with.  He knew a lot of us were involved with Lori Anderson's BSBP party with our reveal this month (mine is on the 27th) so we were to get him our designs after that and in time for their May newsletter.  Unfortunately, I got so excited when I got my box and wanted to start designing right away and forgot to take a picture of the stash before I started. But as I go through my designs I'll let you know what I used from ZNETshows and then have a picture at the end of what's left that I didn't get used, YET.  But my goal is to use everything they sent me.  So here goes.  I actually was able to use some of their stones and focals with my Bead Soup Blog Party designs, so this was great.  My first piece used this fantastic Square Shell MOP focal (code PDG257-05)  along with the Pink Rhodonite puff beads (code BDG44-16)  hey sent me. I also used some pink and white freshwater pearls and the clasp my BSBP partner sent me to finish off my Sweet Sixteen necklace.

Next, I used the Green African Silver Leaf puff beads (code BDS1517-09) along with their Pineapple Glass Quartz Oval puff beads (code BDG46-52) and a great Fan Shell pendant/focal (code PDG78-03).  I added some Bronze colored chain I had and wound some green leather and pink rattail cord through it for a pop of color. Then I attached an adorable Bronze dragonfly toggle clasp I had to finish it off. I also used the African Silver Leaf beads and Pineapple Quartz with a piece of the chain for a pair of earrings and a bracelet to match and finished off the lobster claw clasp on the bracelet with a bronze key.  I haven't decided what to call this set. Any ideas?

After that I tried a new technique and did a herringbone wrap with silver wire on the Purple Dyed Mexican Zebra Jasper oval puffed beads (code BDS1577-17) for a bracelet.  I don't think it turned out too bad for the first time.  I added some purple/white onyx beads I had as links in between the wire wrapped Zebra jasper and added a silver colored toggle clasp.  Then I wrapped a pair of the Zebra jasper beads for a set of earrings and added more Onyx beads and some purple glass daggers I had as drops.  Don't have a name for this set yet either.  Do we see a trend here? LOL

After that I used some more of the African Silver Leaf beads, this time they were round (code BDS1517-14) and some more Pineapple glass, also round (code BDG58-45) and made a 3 strand graduated bracelet and pair of earrings.

And finally my favorite and my husband's.  This necklace used their Agate Oval Focal (code BDS1216-07) and some Heat treated Carnelian free form beads (code BDG98-12).  I wire wrapped the beads with copper wire, trying to make the copper wire match a line in the Agate.  Then I made my own Copper wire wrapped beads to go in between each of the Carnelian and the Agate.  I also made all my own jump rings and added a little pop of color with some gold seed beads on the jump rings on either side of the Agate Focal.  Then I made my own Copper Spiral links and clasp to finish off the necklace. I'm still working on some earrings to match and probably a bracelet, but I ran out of time.  Although this one was a lot of work, I love the way it turned out.  Not sure if I'll sell this one or not.  The others will be available in either my Etsy shop, KayzKreation, here on my blog, or my facebook page, KayzKreationzGlassKreationz.  So watch there if you're interested in any of the pieces.

If you're interested in any of the beads shown here that ZNETshows sent me, be sure to check out their site, ZNETshows.  They sell mostly 'wholesale beads', but you can get a retail account.  Don't forget to check out their znetshowsblog on Friday with all the participants and links to their blogs/posts. And after that they'll have a contest on their znetshows facebook page. You can vote for your favorite and the winners get a prize! Yay!

And finally, here's what I had left, that I haven't gotten to use yet, but I have plans for it all. I love that shell flower focal and the fire agate beads. I have ideas for them, just need to implement them.

I'm on the Design Team for ZNETSHOWS

About 3 weeks ago, Bill from ZNETSHOWS contacted me, saying he really liked my blog and my jewelry 'kreationz'.  He was getting ready for the Tucson Gem Mall and he said, although they make great 'sea glass' items they don't design very well.  So he was looking for some designers to send a sample box of their sea glass and crystal components.  In exchange, we would design jewelry with the pieces, send him our pictures, and if our designs were chosen, they would pay for us to ship the jewelry to them and they would display it at the Tucson Gem Mall show.  We would also need to send a business card or two and have ID tags on our jewelry to identify it as ours.  This sounded like a great opportunity and so much fun, so I agreed.  I eagerly awaited my package and here it is.  It contained some clear faceted crystal beads, some light green faceted beads, etched and smooth 'sea glass' pendants, some light teal dagger beads and chips, some light green oval beads and some silver heart and square components.  Aren't they great?

I started thinking about what I could do with them and immediately came up with the idea for my Romance Dangle Earrings.  I checked out a couple of color palettes and really liked the pink with the light green for these earrings.  Then I got the idea of using some silk/nylon ribbons I had just made and squishing them together in between some of the glass beads and the silver square beads for this Romance Bracelet.  I checked another color palette and loved the oranges with the light greens. It reminded me of Autumn, so out came Sweet Autumn necklace with the small orange agate beads from my stash, the light green faceted beads, the clear faceted crystal beads and the silver hearts.  I had 3 silver/pewter leaves that I color/patina'd with some patina inks I've been playing with and attached them.  Then I had this remnant of this great ruffly ribbon that just seemed to call out to be in this necklace. I was actually only going to use a small piece of it and attach a heart toggle clasp I had, but I think it like it long like this. It will slip right over your head. Finally, I had 3 more light green large beads/pendants and decided to wrap them with copper and add the orange agate beads for another fall/autumn themed bracelet. It also has 3 little dangles on the lobster claw clasp.  It's call All Wrapped Up. 

So I've sent my pictures in and hopefully, my designs will be chosen and taken to Tucson for display. I can't wait to hear whether they're good enough.  When they're returned to me, they'll be available either in my Etsy shop, KayzKreationz, here on my blog or on my facebook page, KayzKreationzGlassKreationz.  So be sure to check back.  Do you like them? And if you're looking for some great Cultured Sea Glass Beads to design with be sure to check out ZNETSHOWS.  And be sure to check out the other design team members HERE.