New Bead Soup arrived............

I am participating in another bead soup blog party and I just got my "bead" soup from my partner, Kris Binsfield from Cherish Designs.  After the excitement tearing open the outer package I found these, yeah.....

and so I opened them to find this..

In box 1, the long box was this wonderful group of beads and chain..

In box 2, was this awesome group of beads, chain, etc...

with this amazing focal pendant made by Kris.....

so I am off to stir up my soup and see what I can create!

If you are interested, here is a sneak peak of the soup I sent my partner, but she needs to reveal the rest, until later.......

Life Inspired, what exactly does that mean???

I had a real hard time coming up with a tag line for my jewelry.  Still not sure it describes my jewelry, but it does describe my business.

A few weeks ago, I got an email from a soldier oversees that his wife's birthday and their anniversary was coming up and could I make something for her.  So, I had my mission, I asked a few questions and was off planning, creating and more.  The more was I wrapped the gift and hand delivered it to her at her job.  I got to shed a few happy tears with her. This experience and hoping that I have made a small difference in someone's day, is priceless.

And this, is what I mean by life inspired, getting to be a part of these special moments in peoples lives, getting to be just a small piece of joy in a gift for a special day, event, time, etc..  If my jewelry or I can make someone's day a bit brighter, happier, or even more tolerable (in the case of sad life events), that is what it is all about for me.

Recently, I made lots of fingerprint charms for Mother's Day gifts, I am currently working on some wedding jewelry and a gift for a new mother, so this is where the line, life inspired jewelry comes from.

A new gift on it's way to Rachael Ray

I was lucky enough to be included in a special gifting to Rachael Ray.  She loves handmade and loves jewelry, a great fit for me.  I will be sending this necklace on to her next week!

I am really loving working with the bronze metal clay, the warm color for spring and summer is just delightful and the colored beads and pearls just look so pretty with it!

Have a great week and Happy Spring!

BEAD SOUP BLOG PARTY REVEAL

It is finally here, the Bead Soup Blog Party, 200 people were paired up and exchanged a bead soup.  Thank you Lori Anderson for hosting this wonderful event.  Each of us mixed our soup to cook up some unique items to show off today!  My partner was Rebekah Payne, Tree Wing Studio,  and she sent me some of her incredible polymer clay beads and some others.

These beads are so far out of my comfort zone.  I work mostly with silver and gemstones, so I really had to get a feel for the beads.  I can say, after a few minutes, I was totally in love.  They are so fun and colorful and playful, I was having a blast!  I started with this wonderful focal, and designed around it. Little did she know that a daisy reminds me of my mom, so this focal was speaking to me the minute I got it!

Rebekah was very generous with the beads so I was able to make a long necklace, bracelet and earrings. I still have a few beads left, but I have this incredible set now!

 

I hope you enjoy the pictures, please make sure to leave a comment, as I will be doing a giveaway of a special piece of jewelry on March 15th, the drawing will be from all comments left on this post!

Now I am off to see everyone else's bead soup!  If you would like to join the Bead Soup Blog Party, just follow this list, click on the names, enjoy the party!  

Hostess, Lori Anderson


Special Book Sneak Peeks, Cindy Wimmer

1.  Adlinah Kamsir (Singapore) and Hajer Waheed (Kingdom of Bahrain)

2. Adrienn Lukacs (Hungary) and Agata Grygiel (Poland)

3.  Agi Kiss (Hungary) and Carolien Muller-Genger (the Netherlands)

4.  Agnes Asztalos (Hungary) and B.R. Kuhlman

5.  Alesha Conklin and Becki Mendivil

6.  Alice Peterson and Carol Dillman

7.  Alicia Marinache (Canada) and Dita Basu

8.  Amanda Dittloff and Brandy Thomason McNair

9.  Amanda Tibbetts and Andrea Trank

10.  Amy Freeland and Kay Mallery 
11.  Andra Weber and Christine Murrow

12.  Ann Sherwood and Diane Welte

13.  Barbara Bechtel and Kerry Bogert

14.  Barbara Lewis and Cat Pruitt

15.  Bonnie Coursolle (Canada) and Fay Wolfenden (Canada)

16.  Carmel McGinley (Australia) and Tracy Stillman (Australia)

17.  Cassie Donlen and Deryn Mentock

18.  Cathie Carroll and Janel Dudley

19.  Cece Cormier and Morwyn Mullins

20.  Charlene Jacka and Christina Hickman

21.  Cheryl Brown (Canada) and Diana Ptaszynski

22.  Christina Stofmeel (the Netherlands) and Eva Kovacs (Hungary)

23.  Christine Damm and Deb Brooks

24.  Cilla Watkins (Canada) and Elaine Robitaille (Canada)

25.  Sabrina Straub (Switzerland) and Kathy Combs

26.  Cindy Cima Edwards and Eleanor Burian-Mohr

27.  Cory Celaya and Rhea Freitieg

28.  Courtney Breul and Dana Hickey

29.  Cynthia Abner and Jennifer Boreck

30.  Cynthia Tucker and Jean Peter

31.  Debbie Goering and Heidi Post

32.  Dee Elgie (UK) and Joanne Lockwood (UK)

33.  Dian Hierschel (Germany) and Eniko Fabian (Austria)

34.  Diane Cook and Lyn Foley

35.  Donna Bohler and Lisa Lodge

36.  Donna Millard and Kiersten Giles

37.  Doris Stumpf (Germany) and Eszter Czibulyas (Hungary)

38.  Elisabeth Auld and Eva Sherman

39.  Elke Leonhardt-Rath (Germany) and Marjolein Trewavas (UK)

40.  Ema Kilroy and Laurie Keefe-Cecere

41.  Erika Nooteboom (the Netherlands) and Giorgia Rossini (Italy)

42.  Erin Grant and Jean Wells

43.  Evelyn Duberry (Canada) and Gaea Cannaday

44.  Genea Crivello-Knable and Heather Powers

45.  Ginger Bishop (military, Okinawa) and Martina Nagele (Germany)

46.  Heidi Kingman and Lori Greenberg

47.  Helen Kemp and Lisa Wangeman

48.  Helene Goldberg (Australia) and Karen Vincent

49.  Jamie Hogsett and Jeannie Dukic

50.  Jeanette Ryan and Jelveh Jaferian
51.  Jennifer Cameron and Tania Spivey

52.  Jennifer Justman and Kari Carrigan

53.  Jennifer Tough and Lorelei Eurto

54.  Joanna Matuszczyk (Poland) and Julianna Kis (Hungary)

55.  Joanne Tinley (UK) and Michaela Pabeschitz (Austria)

56.  Julie Anne Leggett and Kelley Fogle

57.  Karen Hess and Linda Landig

58.  Karyn Bonfiglio and Kathleen Lange Klik

59.  Kashmira Patel and Kat White

60.  Kat Barron Miller and Kelly Morgan
61.  Kathy Lindemer and Rose Binoya

62.  Krafty Max and Sandra Miller

63.  Kristen Latimer and Pam Ferrari

64.  Kristie Roeder and Lea Avroch

65.  Kristina Johansson (Sweden) and Penny Neville (Canada)

66.  Krisztina Erlaki-Toth (Hungary) and Nicole Keller (Germany)

67.  Lara Lutrick and Lisa Suver

68.  Laura DeMoya and Lisa Hanna

69.  Libby Leuchtman and Melanie Brooks

70.  Linda Koch and Rosemarie Cowit

71.  Lisa Chapman and Menka Gupta

 72.  Lisa Liddy and Marion Simmons

73.  Lori Anderson and Marcie Abney

74.  Lori Bowring-Michaud and Mary Govaars

75.  Lori Dorrington and Maria Rosa Sharrow

76.  Lori Finney (Canada) and Marie-Noel Voyer-Cramp (Canada)

77.  Lynn Bennett and Mandi Ainsworth

78.  Marta Kaczerowska (Poland) and Milla Starchik (Canada)

79.  Mary Harding and Shannon LeVart

80.  Mary Jane Dodd and Stacey Curry
81.  Melinda Orr and Molly Alexander

82.  Melissa Meman and Michelle Escano-Caballaro

83.  Michelle Jensen and Sandra Young (Canada)

84.  Nan Emmett and Nicole Valentine-Rimmer (Canada)

85.  Nancy Boylan and Suzette Bentley

86.  Natasha Lutes and Patti Vanderbloemen

87.  Pam Hurst and Rebekah Payne

88.  Patty Miller and Sara Rhoades

89.  Rebecca Anderson (UK) and Lori Anderson
90.  Rebecca Sirevaag and Sharon Driscoll

91.  Rochelle Brisson and Shannon Chomanczuk

92.  Rosa Maria Cuevas (Mexico) and Tejae Floyde

93.  Sabine Dittrich (Germany) and Sally Russick

94.  Sandi Volpe and Sarah/Saturday Sequins

95.  Shanti Johnson and Tracy Mok (Canada)

96.  Skylar Brez and Theresa Buchle

97.  Sonya Stille and Traci Zeller (Canada)

98.  Stefanie Teufel (Germany) and Tania Hagen (New Zealand)

99.  Stephanie LaRosa and Vonna Maslanka

100.  Terri Wlaschin and Wendy Blum

Oscar Weekend

It was a whirlwind of a weekend, starting on Thursday.  I got a call from the local ABC station to see if I could do a follow up story on my jewelry in the Oscar bags on Friday, so on Friday morning I went to the station for a short piece and then they filmed in my studio on Friday afternoon.  You can see a clip of the filming here:  Indianapolis RTV Channel 6 News Coverage

Then the gift lounge was on Friday and Saturday, so I was glued to my computer all day to see who was getting the gift bags.  I should find out soon who got the bags and who now owns one of my necklaces.  A few names I do know are Penny Marshall, Sugar Ray Leonard, Tess Hunt, and Marcia Gay Harden.  Here is a picture of The Artisan Group display at the GBK Luxury Gift Lounge.

on Saturday I participated in a Local Art Fair in Bloomington present by Bloom magazine, that was a great event! And finally, Sunday, I watched the Oscars, now I need to go to the movies and see some of these films.  

All in all, a great experience, stay tuned to see pictures of the gift lounge after I receive them!  What did you do this past weekend?