Button Swap Blog Hop Reveal!

Happy Mother's day to all the moms and grandmas out there, as well as those who mother others!

Today is the reveal for the Button Swap hosted by Miss Cindy Wimmer of Sweet Bead Studio. Cindy and I connected instantly online, especially since we seem to be two of the few that are up past midnight creating! I had the good fortune to meet her at the ArtBliss in March 2011. She is just as warm and lovely as you would expect her to be, and so very talented!

{some vintage plastic, metal, mother of pearl, wood, resin and three special buttons created just for me from Diana!}

I knew with some deadlines looming that I had to get right on top of creating for the swap so I did show a sneak peek the other day. I lucked out with my partner, Diana Ptaszynski of Suburban Girl Studio. She makes really awesome ceramic components. So of course in addition to the vintage buttons she sent me, there were three that she made herself!

I ended up making a bracelet, a necklace and a bangle set with some of the buttons. That big wood one keeps coming out to play on my bead table, but I have yet to find the right friends to pair it with... for another day I suppose.

Since there is a lot of hopping to do, I will get right to it (I know, hard for me!).

{Glint of Green}

Yesterday the twig was brown and bare;
To-day the glint of green is there;
Tomorrow will be leaflets spare;
I know no thing so wondrous fair,
No miracle so strangely rare.
I wonder what will next be there!
~L.H. Bailey

Spring is busting out all over the dang place. The trees were bare for what seemed like a nanosecond and then they were full of rustling green confetti on the breeze. The grass has sprung up tall and lanky already so early this year. I was inspired by the growing greens all around me with this design.

For this piece I used two of the mother of pearl buttons that Diana gifted me. One had a nice shank on the back so I knew that would be the clasp. The other has some nice carved cuts in it. I wanted that to show. In my stash I found the first thing that I ever etched: a hand drawn motif on an off center donut shape. It was still raw, so I polished it up and used some patina to bring out the details, buffing up the copper and sealing it. I found this pretty spring green swirly vine ceramic pendant from Marsha Neal Studio and it just seemed like the perfect fit. I paired that with crisp green kyanite shards, moonstone briolettes and aqua chalcedony ovals.

{Stepping Stones & Stumbling Blocks}

"The only difference between stumbling blocks and stepping stones is the way you use them."
~ Anonymous 

I really like this quote. I have to remember this, that perspective is everything. For this one I knew that I wanted to use one of Diana's special buttons in this piece. And the shape of that beat up wood button was just so intriguing. I made it the clasp with some vintage cut glass beads in a rich bronze color that were salvaged from a defunct necklace. Add to that a polymer clay lentil bead from Heather Powers of Humblebeads in soft sage green, a faceted ceramic bead in a rich mustard from Diane Hawkey, rounded square wood nuggets (the stumbling blocks ;-), some cool rings made from tiny sage green dyed seashells, and some funky chain from the Lipstick Ranch.

{The Sea is Calling}

 The Sea is calling on you:
Jump off the Boat!
And submerge yourself
In my fine waters.

~Rumi

You know those commercials where they show 'real' people on the street who pick up a seashell that is ringing and they hear, "Hello! This is the sea calling!" I was thinking of that the whole time I made this! I really was quite smitten with that quaint little anchor button. I wanted to make a stack of bangles to showcase it. I created one bangle with the button and wire wrapped and knotted with a twine. I then wire wrapped tiny seashells and some river stones on it. The second bangle featured a pretty polymer clay starfish from Humblebeads. I wrapped a wire filled with a pretty matte finish slate blue peanut bead around the brass wire bass. The third bangle (because I believe that everything is better in threes) has some pretty shell beads and a brass seahorse. I like the way the brass wire looks, but unfortunately it is really heavy with the shells and spins around too much, so I will be reworking that. 

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Thank you for stopping by! Thank you to my sweet partner and new bead buddy Diana Ptaszynski of Suburban Girl Studio, and the lovely hostess Miss Cindy of Sweet Bead Studio for coming up with the idea for this fun swap and hop. You can find a complete list of pairings on Cindy's blog - start hopping!