Soup's On - Bead Soup, That Is!

Woohoo!!!  Check out the loot my Bead Soup partner, Marianna Boylan, sent to me!   There are pearls and dragons blood jasper and sparkling crystals and I love the little flower on the metal branch.  That ceramic mermaid pendant is by Gaea, and the lampwork was done by Marianna herself!  Let me get you a closer shot of the lampwork glass bead.

Isn't that pretty!  See I told you she was talented.  Well I did!  You don't remember that part?  Really?  Go back to this post and reread it.  I'll wait here until you get back so I can say "I told you so".  And be sure to come back on May 3rd to see what I made with my soup!

The Winner of My Micro Macrame Owl Necklace is...

Andrea G!!!  Congratulations to Andrea for winning my micro macrame owl necklace and many thanks to all of you who took advantage of my birthday sale and made it a huge success!  Watch your mailbox, Andrea, as this little guy will be headed your way.

It's My Party But the Gifts Are For YOU!

Yep, this is the big one, folks... the dreaded half-century mark.  I've spent more than a few minutes trying to figure out how the heck this happened.  I mean, sure, I knew I'd get old eventually.  I just didn't know it was going to happen quite so quickly.  Somehow the little sands in my hourglass started falling faster and faster and faster and then all of the sudden - POOF!  I'm fifty (pronounced "fiddy" to make it sound more hip and less old).  I'm still trying to process this whole development and decide just how to deal with it.  Part of me wants to go with this:

But mostly, this is how I feel:

Either way, I guess I have no say in the matter.  It is what it is, so let's make the best of it!  PARTY!  Since I can't afford to fly you all here to celebrate with me, here's the alternative:  I'm having a sale.  Now, before you think "big deal, a sale...", stick with me for a minute.  In honor of my 50th birthday, it seems appropriate to have a 50% off sale on all the tutorials in my Etsy shop!  

Yep, that's half off any and all of the tutorials listed in my Etsy Shop, so if there are any you've had your eye on, this is your chance!  But this is a BIG birthday, so I think we need more sale...  How about a discount on top of that?  (By the way, you don't need a code for the 50% off tutorials - they are already marked down for you.)  I'm thinking we'll do an extra 10% off orders over $30 or 15% off orders over $50 (there's that number again!) or 20% off orders over $100!!!  Here are all the codes from which to choose:

The small print (in regular size print, actually, because we 50-year-olds can't read that itty bitty stuff):  code must be entered at checkout to receive the discount, not applicable to previous orders, codes expire at midnight on 3/24/2014.

Now back to the PARTY!  What's a party without a gift?  I think we should have a giveaway gift, so here it is:

This little guy is about 4.25" from the top of his head to the bottom of the tail (tassel?).  I knotted him in nylon bead cord in a light and a dark purple and chartreuse green for some fun.  He's got tagua nut beads for eyes and a sweet little rice pearl for a beak.  The length of the necklace is 16.5" (not including the owl pendant) and the lobster clasp is sterling silver.  Want another look?

Yes, folks, this handy-dandy, super-duper, one of a kind (so far at least), original design from Sherri Stokey of Knot Just Macrame micro macrame owl necklace is going to belong to one of you when this party is finished.  And you don't even have to stay and help clean up to win him.  Just enter with the widget below and when March 26th rolls around, I'll pick one lucky winner.  Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

My Partner for the 8th Annual Bead Soup Blog Party

I don't know if you know this, but Lori Anderson hosts the party of the year for jewelry designers/bloggers - the Bead Soup Blog Party.  Seriously.  I'd been following her parties before I started this blog and was always so envious because it looked like everyone was having so much fun.  Once I'd started this blog, the first thing I did was to sign up for her next part and I haven't missed one since.  

My partner this year is Marianna Boylan of Star Girl Jewelry.  She says she does some wire work and some polymer work and a "whole lot of glass".  I did a little stalking and boy, does she make some pretty things.  She gave me permission to swipe a couple photos to share with you, so feast your eyes on these:

And you know how I am about beach things, so you can guess how I feel about this set:

Then I found this clasp and thought I'd died and gone to heaven.

You can find more of her work in her Etsy shop, too.  So what kind of bead "soup" does one send to someone as multi-talented as Marianna.  Good question.  We chatted for a bit and when she mentioned she loves owls, I knew I had the perfect thing. 

The ceramic owl is from SuzieQBeads and I thought it would make a great focal for Marianna.  I added a couple of choices for the clasp - an over-sized brass lobster clasp and a flame painted copper toggle from OregonMadeJewelry.  Then I filled out the soup with an eclectic assortment of beads with everything from Swarovski crystals and pearls to Czech glass and gemstones.  And, of course, everything is in shades of teal and turquoise with bits of tan and caramel because those are my very favorite colors.  This is a soup I would send my very best friend.  Heck, it's a soup I'd love to keep myself!

And remember that first micro macrame owl I made and said it was a gift?  I made it for Marianna.

My soup from her should be arriving any day now, and the mail carrier will probably get sick of seeing me at the mailbox until then.  I can't wait to see what she sent and I can't wait to see what she makes from the soup I sent to her.  The big reveal for the Bead Soup Blog Party is May 3rd, 2014, so mark your calendars.  If you want to know more about the party, Lori has all the details.

If you just can't stand it and you need something to tide you over until the reveal, you can review last year's party. I was paired with the uber talented Julie Cannon of Studio Juls  and you can see what I did with her gorgeous lampwork beads and the rest of what she sent me here.  

And Then There Were Owls

Everybody has seen a macrame owl.  If you're of my generation, you probably saw one of them in person.  A great big thing with knots the size of your fist taking up half a wall somewhere (yes, mostly likely surrounded by avocado green and/or gold, but let's not get cliche here).  I thought the poor macrame owl needed a little updating, so I decided to try my own design for one in micro macrame.

  

 This is the first one I made.  He was a little gift for someone.  But you know me - I can't leave well enough alone. I had to try making one in... you guessed it... teal.  Teal and turquoise and tan, actually.

 It is kind of trippy to watch an owl emerge.  It probably wouldn't be such a kick if I had a plan going in, but I'm much more a by-the-seat-of-my-pants kind of gal, so I never know for sure where a piece might end up.  This guy, for example, ended up with a body shape that almost reminds me of a heart.

 I hadn't really seen that coming.  He's a little larger than the first owl, too.  I made him into a necklace and I thought with the size of him, he could stand something fairly substantial.  I dug through my hoard of teal and turquoise colored beads and knotted a fun necklace for him.

It's a bunch of my favorite things all tied together!  I definitely think there are more owls in my future.

Micro Macrame Without Rules

An experiment in free form micro macrame knotting or a pattern gone horribly awry?  You decided.  I think I like it.  I played around with some free form a while back (remember this post?) and then sort of went away from it for a while.  Here lately I haven't been wanting to conform to the rules of normalcy (go ahead - have your fun with that one).  I've just been sitting down with some string and letting the knotting go where it may.  No plan, no sketch, no preconceived notion of where it might end up.

It feels right.  I love the texture on this turquoise piece and how it somehow feels like beachy waves.  I decided to play up that angle when I added the pop of bright orange with the howlite starfish bead.

This purple number reminded me of a butterfly somehow.  A deformed, modern art butterfly, maybe...  Or a bat.  But it seemed like it needed a little "something", too, so I added a Czech glass flower.  Just one.

I really like how just that one little bead seems like the perfect accent.  The perfect shoes to go with the perfect outfit kind of thing.

If you're looking for me, I'll be over there outside of the box.  Coloring outside the lines.

An Easy Micro Macrame Earring Class

If you're looking for an easy little project, these micro macrame earrings might be just the thing for you.  My new class at CraftArtEdu.com covers how to make them, step by step.  I've included videos and scads of photos like this:

I get so up close and personal in the photographs that you can detail every broken fingernail, dry skin cell and hangnail.  What can I say - I suffer for my art.  There are even some really nice close ups featuring my flesh-toned band aid:

Oh, yeah.  Look at that - that picture is a great shot of the bandage (chopped my finger instead of the celery) and the great hangnails.  But the need for a manicure aside, the photos in the tutorial will be very helpful in context, I promise.  You'll be making your own little tiny work-of-art earrings in no time.

Just to sweeten the pot a little, the nice folks over at CraftArtEdu.com are having a little sale on not only this new class, but all of my classes there (20% off through midnight CT, Thursday, March 6, 2014).  If you haven't been there to check them out yet, you really should go.  No really, go.  I'll wait here...  

Are you back?  Did you see I have my own little Micro Macrame section over there?  I'm pretty proud of that section.  I've put a lot of time and effort into making those classes the best that I can.  I really do try to make them as thorough and detailed as possible and my goal is to make you feel like you're taking a class with me in person.  BUT... this is even better.  You can pause me and rewind me and replay me all you want and I won't even yell at you.  That's a deal you can't beat.  Add in the 20% off and even I want to buy my classes.