Spring Fever Challenge

Color makes me happy, and this pile o' loveliness was too alluring to ignore. So back in February when it was most definitely winter outside, Miss Lesley offered a chance to play in the Spring Fever Design challenge that she cooked up with some other lovely ladies. I could not sign up fast enough. You see, winter has been lingering on far too long. And just when the grass was greening up and the birds were starting to chirp, this happened....

Sunday... there was grass.
Monday... there was sticky, drippy, clumpy, heavy snow!
Pretty... for December. Not so much for April 14th!

ARGH!

So playing with these fresh springy beads made me feel a teensy bit better. Thank you to Miss Lesley of THEA Elements, Miss Caroline of Blueberri Beads and Miss Claire of Smitten Beads for the happy dose of pretty that the shared with me! Of course, I neglected to snap a picture of all of this before I dug in, so you will have to see if you can pick out my random bunch from the pile o' fun pictured below.

That is a whole lot of happy right there! How can you not smile when faced with this awesomeness?

I started with this little birdie bead from Miss Caroline. Little tulips adorn the creamy body. So stinkin' cute! I just recently purchased some vintage Lucite fiber optic top drilled beads from a destash that were the perfect match to the pink flowers. And it just so happened that I had a strand of top drilled pearls in a fresh citrus green sitting on my table. I have been wanting to use this adorable little beaded link for eons. I believe this is from my friend Miss Kristen Stevens. That is sort of the blinged out 'nest.' I finished it off with a little strip of the dyed sari silk ribbon in a lovely sage to mauve shade and a rhinestone connector clasp. I call this Nestling In as this is just what the birdies are trying to do around here! That is, before the snow!

I really am not a big fan of pink. But there were these lovely pink ceramic rounds from Miss Lesley in the mix. Also sitting on my messy desk space were these new gunmetal spike dangles. I like to mix opposites in my work... the pink is soft and girly and the black spikes are hard and more masculine. And to keep it from being too goth-preppy I added these bling balls that were also just sitting there. (Clearly, I have a lot of beads that I never put away after I buy them!). I am calling these The Softer Side of Tough as this has a great balance of hard and soft, round and spiky, matte and sparkly.

And finally, I had time to make this necklace I am calling Pick a Posie. I used the other wee birdie and the leaf bead from Miss Caroline. I have these little wooden flower spacers that are really cute. These spacers are the result of me digging in the clearance bins at Walmart. Clearly, no bead goes unloved in my world. They were stacked together spacing out some horrendous acrylic beads but I saw the possibilities in them (and threw out the beads they were supposed to highlight!). Goes to show that there is potential in everything! I wanted to highlight the daisy shape by weaving them in and out with some lime green SoftFlex beading wire in Chrysoprase. As luck would have it, I happened upon a cream ceramic flower from Lisa Peters Art that has the same exact shape. You can't really tell in this picture, but there are tiny gold dots all over the surface. The back is the rest of the sari silk ribbon from Miss Claire and some more of those rhinestone connector clasps that I totally love (I think I bought every one in every color they had when they were for sale at Michaels last year!).

I haven't been up to the task of making much in the past month or so as I have been focused on some family matters, so it felt good to have something light a fire under me! Wouldn't these make great gifts for Mothers' Day? If you are interested in any of these creations, please let me know! Otherwise,  I will be putting them in my website shortly.


I feel pretty good that I used almost all of the pieces that were sent to me. I only have the heart shaped pendant with a rose on it and one little dottie mauve barrel bead spacer from Miss Lesley left over (see below).

Instead of letting them languish in the depths of my overstuffed studio, I am going to give them away! I figure that if we all pass a bit of sunshine around there might be enough warmth to melt the snow and bring on the real flowers! The only way to enter is to leave a comment on this post and it only takes one comment to win (but please be sure that I can contact you via email by turning that feature on in your profile or putting it in the comment!). I will select a winner of the pendant and bead (and who knows what else will make its way in the package!) next week!

Please check out all the other participants and get your dose of spring fever!

Lesley Watt - http://thegossipinggoddess.blogspot.co.uk

Caroline Dewison - http://www.blueberribeads.co.uk 

Emma Quinn - http://jewellerybyemmaquinn.blogspot.co.uk

Kathy Lindemer - http://bay-moon-design.blogspot.co.uk 

Vicky Roberts - http://thebeadshopliverpool.blogspot.co.uk

Lori Bowring Michaud - http://artfullyornamental.blogspot.com/

Leigh Thow - http://jewellrleigh.blogspot.co.uk

Ailsa Jackson - http://katzjewellery.blogspot.co.uk/

Steph L - http://stringaholic.blogspot.co.uk/

Kristi Harrison - http://kristibasket-itsanewday.blogspot.co.uk/

Merja - http://helmiriippuvuus.blogspot.fi

Lucy Haslam - http://faerystone.blogspot.co.uk/

Penny Neville - http://copperpennydesigns.blogspot.co.uk/

Linda - http://earth-shinedesigns.blogspot.co.uk/

Kristen Stewart - http://kristen-beadjourney.blogspot.co.uk/

Erin Prais – Hintz – http://treasures-found.blogspot.co.uk/ < you are here
Klassy Joolz - http://klassyjoolz.blogspot.co.uk/

Jenny Argyle - http://keithagnestutorialsdesigns.blogspot.co.uk

Shaiha - http://shaihasramblings.blogspot.com

Claire Lockwood - http://www.somethingtodowithyourhands.com/

Patti Gasparino - http://www.mylifeunderthebus.typepad.com/

Suhana Hart - http://www.buttonedupbeads.blogspot.co.uk

Toltec Jewels - JewelSchoolFriends.com