Lorelei's Michaels Challenge

The talented Miss Lorelei does these challenges from time to time where she picks a set of beads from Michaels or some other retail bead store, and challenges her readers to make something. I cannot say no to a good challenge, and despite the fact that I have yet to even start on my own Challenge of Travel jewelry, I had to do this! Plus, I live like 1.2 miles from Michaels so I had no excuse.

I have to say that I was very intrigued by the color palette. Miss Lorelei is a wiz with color. She has a way of combining colors that is surprising and fresh. This palette was no different. Although I will admit to being stumped just a tad. I have had these beads on my table for weeks, since I bought them right away the next day after Lorelei announced the challenge. But of course I waited until last night to begin!

When I went shopping for the beads she picked out, I could find some but not others. So I substituted the green pearls for the jade rounds, since I only found one strand and the color was a bit too washed out for my taste. I liked the bright green and the wonky holes in these pearls. I did find the blue and white rounds that she had, but I also spotted all these other ones. I really liked the shape of the saucers and the pattern on the tiny rounds. So I took some creative liberties. ;-)

I will admit that the owl button was hard to find and when I got it I was stumped by what I would do with it. It needed something as it was quite tiny, and the eyes are so hollow. I knew that I wanted it to be the focal, so I made it into one. Actually, I made it into four in different colorways: navy, olive, cyclamen opal and greige.

I remembered that I had some Crystal Clay lying around from some previous projects, and a lot of flat backed hot fix chatons from when I worked for the Jolee's Jewels line a few years ago. And of course I have bezels galore in my studio! So I set off to make the focals. But those eyes were so hollow and empty! Why not make them yellow, like all my owls? Aha! I put the larger golden amber colored chatons UNDER the button to give that hint of a surprise.

I started with using what was described on the Bead Landing package as 'green waxed cotton cord' with the blue and white beads. Um. No. This is definitely not waxed. If you want that, you should head to Lorelei's Jewelry Accord shop. She has the most delicious array of colors. If you like using fibers, you must check out what she has in store for you. I just didn't have time at the last minute the night before to order some. But I know that I should have a better array of colors on hand.

Originally, I was just going to string the saucer beads on the cord and tie knots, but I noticed that they had the prettiest star shape when I turned it on the side. That changed the plans. It was a struggle to make this cord work through the holes, but I love that it brings that pop of green over to this side. I don't know about you, but when I do something like this with fiber, I always cut off too little and then end up scrapping it and I hate to wasted things like that! My first attempt was on the other side, and I was using about 14" of cord. Too small! So I cut it all off, said a few choice words and started over on the other side with at least 36" of cord. That is my tip to you... overestimate the amount of cord you will need by 3x. ;-)

[The Wisdom of Last Minutes]

For the owl focal I went with the one with the blue crystals and the golden eyes, per my daughter's suggestion that it brings out the blue (although in this light it looks more black - trust me that it is blue). I think she is right. I call this 'The Wisdom of Last Minutes' because I literally didn't start on this until about 8pm yesterday and I am quite delighted with the way it turned out, despite all the curse words I lobbed at those blue and white beads and that cord.

[Forest Sentry]

Of course as soon as I crimped the last crimp, I looked down on the table and saw that I hadn't even touched the strand of dark amber colored shell disks. Doh! I had a wee little polymer clay owl pendant from Heather Powers at Humblebeads lying there (a Humblebead is always lying close by ;-) and since the other piece has an owl-y flair I thought that I would whip up a little memory wire bracelet with this charm. It looks like this wise fellow is watching over the forest like a sentry and keeping an eye on things. A few more curse words were flung at the pearls with their wonky holes that made my memory wire lose its focus. But I pushed on.

[Safari Stars]

And of course, today is my day over at Earrings Everyday and I didn't have anything prepared. So I created these earrings with some of the leftovers. A few more naughty words were hurled at the non-waxed cotton cord. But I triumphed!

And so to celebrate the fact that I got to bed before 1am and was so prolific with the things that I managed to create, I would like to giveaway this wee blingy owl pendant to someone who leaves a comment answering the following question:

Do you work better at the last minute or
are you the sort that gets it done right away?

Do tell!

No, seriously.
Because I have a sickness that makes me wait until the very last minute
and I would like to know how to break myself of that bad habit. ;-)

[And be sure that I have a way to contact you either in your comment or in your profile
because you can't win if I can't find you!]