Bead Soup Party Mini Bead Swap REVEAL!!!!

Once upon a time...
That line has been used in so many beautiful fairytale stories. It brings to mind a lovely princess, a brave and strong prince, a fierce but interesting dragon, and a castle with a moat filled with man eating snails, VERY BIG MAN EATING SNAILS.  Or not, as this case happens to be.  My fairytale does not have a prince or a princess or those creepy snails.  Instead my tale has an Elephant, named uh, Ollie.  Ollie is living in the "Arabian Nights" type fairytale instead of the Prince vs. Snails type of story.  So without further ado, let me introduce Ollie the Elephant to you.

Bead Package from my partner, Sandy Richardson.

This isn't Ollie, she is a good friend of Ollie though.  Fanny the Elephant came from Sandy, my Swap partner, along with a lovely mix of crystals, antique brass spacers, coppery bi-cones, and a bag of seed beads.  Fanny got her own story, she was designed into a bracelet that matches Ollie's necklace.

Fanny's Charm Bracelet

When I saw Fanny, I knew I had to add to her group of friends and went on the hunt to Etsy to find a few more Elephants for our story.  In Fanny's bracelet you can see a couple tiny, elephants.  I also used those in my earring design.

Ollie's Arabian Jewel Necklace

This is Ollie.  She and Fanny go well together as they both love BLING and SPARKLE (and let's face it, who doesn't?)!  For Ollie's necklace, I used two strands of chain and LOTS of headpins to make dangles from the beads Sandy sent me and a mixture of other crystals, Czech glass, and miscellaneous beads.   Between the bracelet, necklace, and earrings there are almost 100 head pins used!!  I have been wire wrapping myself silly this week!

Me with Ollie and Fanny

The earrings didn't photograph well, so here I am modeling the Arabian Jewel set for you.  I REALLY love how it came together.  Now that you have visited with Ollie and Fanny, stop by the other blogs participating in the Fairytale Bead Mini swap!  Here are the links:

Lori Anderson, Pretty Things

Rebecca Anderson, Song Beads

Courtney Breul, Beads By Breul 

Loretta Carstensen, Designs by Loretta

Evelyn Hall, Dragon Lady Evelyn

my partner> Sandy Richardson, Sandy's Coloring Box

Dana James, Dana's Jewelry Design

Tara Plote, Newbie Beader

Christine Brandel, A Hot Piece of Glass

Lisa Sittniewski, Alterity Art

Joanna Matuszczyk, Filcowe

Jenni Connolly, Jenni Bead

Geneva Collins, Torque Story

Elisabeth Auld, Beads For Busy Gals

Sally Russick, Wireworked

Mary McGraw, MK's Creative Musings

Norma Turvey, Moonlit Fantaseas

Erin Prais-Hintz, Treasures Found 

You are here~Stephanie Haussler, Pixybug Designs 

Shai Williams, Shaia's Ramblings

Johanna Rhodes, Fire Phoenix Creations

Sandi Lee James, Do Be Do Bead Do

Sweet Addy Designs

Valerie Norton, Hot Fused Glass 

My Bead Story for Sandy

The Treasure Trove of Beady Goodies!

 I added a couple photos of the items I sent to Sandy!  Can't wait to see what she makes with them!