Friday, November 2, 2012

Bare Branches Blog Hop

Heather Powers, artist and owner of Humblebeads, put together a blog hop featuring her gorgeous beads and a mix of other beads, sari silk ribbon, and brass charms.

The day I received my kit, I put together my bracelet!  It really was easy to find inspiration with Heather's beads and bead mix.  I used the focal bead and wire wrapped it to the brass branch focal sent in my kit.  On one side of the bracelet, I used a large link chain and wove the sari silk ribbon back and forth and knotted large hole pearls from the kit on the ends of the ribbon.  I added bead dangles from the bead mix and Heather's lovely polymer round beads.  I thought I would add a bit of whimsy with a  bird and a pair binocular brass charms.  Who doesn't look at nature during a hike in the woods! 
On the other side of the bracelet I used a smaller link rollo chain and designed it more like a charm bracelet.  Using the beads and brass pieces from my soup mix, I created several charm dangles.

I liked the bracelet design so much, I created a pair of earrings from my bead mix.  At that point the group deserved to be finished out with a pendant.  I ordered another from Heather a couple days later for the pendant.  I used the left over Czech glass from the bead soup, added a wood slice bead, a brass acorn charm, a willowy Vintaj leaf from my stash and a couple natural stone and crystal beads to finish out the dangle.  On the earrings, I used Heather's polymer beads, brass bead caps, and Czech glass from the mix.  The bead caps stuck out away from the beads so I used my pliers and molded them around the bead so they were more tight fitting.  Don't want earrings to be tangled in hair or clothing!


Here is another creative photo of the pendant and earrings.  Dusk was approaching and the natural light was dying so the rush was on to get a good picture for my blog post!
The orange pumpkin sets off the teal of Heather's beads nicely!  This picture also shows the wooden bead slice and the natural stones and crystals I used from my bead stash.  I may still tie a piece of the leftover ribbon on the pendant, and since time was short I need to actually finish the chain on the necklace with a clasp. I just draped it for the photo!
Be sure to stop by the other Blog Hop participants to see what they have created with Heather's Bare Branches Bead Soup Mix!




6 comments:

Heather Powers said...

Stephanie these are great. I love the whimsical touch for the bird and binoculars - how fun. The bracelet is a lush collection of beads, it looks great on. Perfect matching earrings and bracelet. The way the brass fern curves around the focal bead is perfect, I'm glad you picked up a second one - it worked out great! Thanks for joining in the hop.

Michael and Cherrie Fick said...

Love the bracelet. I always love adding dangles, this bracelet is very pretty that way.

Wendy said...

Just stunning, thanks for the inspiration

Maplegirl said...

That bracelet is wonderful. Lots of beads and charms make the eye travel around it so. I can see why you got inspired to make coordinating pieces. Great job!
Andrea

TesoriTrovati said...

So cute that little birdie with the binoculars! I like that you got so inspired to make a necklace you had to go shopping again. You are my kind of people! ;-) I do like how that little brass leaf is floating on the lentil bead. Pretty! Enjoy the day. Erin

Becky Pancake said...

Very interesting pieces. The bird & binoculars were a fun touch. You picked well using the fern leaf and I like the dangles.

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