My Bead Soup Blog Party Prize is here!

If you recall, my Sparkly Scrap Shell won the Out of the Box Award in the fabulous Ms Lori Anderson's 7th Bead Soup Blog Party. 

Despite the pain and medical horrors she's been through in the past months, Lori managed to find the time and energy to pick a selection of beads from her own stash and mail them off to me. 

This is what I received:

A bagful of beads wrapped in pretty packaging and a card.

I couldn't get past the pretty tissue paper the beads were wrapped in. 

Isn't it pretty? And such an unusual print too. I've put it aside in the hopes of using it in some of my resin experiments. 

And now on to the beads!

Lori sent a gorgeous collection of beads and findings that included gemstones, vintage lucite, handmade glass, polymer clay, glass, pewter and cotton. Here's a closer look without the plastic baggies.

You'll notice the Barbara Bechtel (Second Surf) key pendant smack dab in the pic. I've only ever drooled over her work from afar, so to actually own a bead of hers feels amazing. I am so very lucky! And it's all due to Lori's generosity - I can't thank you enough Lori! I'm going to have so much fun playing with what you sent. 

Bead Hoarders Blog Hop Reveal

Hello. My name is Adlinah. And I'm a bead hoarder. 

Lori Anderson's brainwave to hold a bead hoarders blog hop was the perfect opportunity for me to come out of the closet. For too long, I've hidden behind the excuse that I needed beads and more beads because darn it! I'm a jewellery maker and I need my materials! 

The truth is, I'm more of a bead collector - a bead curator (hah!) if you will - than I am a designer or artist. The only time I make lots and lots of jewellery is when I'm playing in a blog hop (usually ones organised by the ever-fantastic Lori), where a mix of inspiration and last-minute panic combine to help me produce several pieces. 

If anyone's interested in my...ahem...collection, here's a quick glimpse of some of it:

                               Ceramic beads I've been hoarding since forever

                                Mostly glass, some polymer clay and paper beads

I'm hoping this Blog Hop will be the first step in my treatment and recovery. Despite my fears, I managed to make use of a few (well, only 3 to be accurate) hoarded beads without suffering any painful or embarrassing side-effects. No tears or teeth-gnashing at all! 

So, on to the Reveal! I chose to use some polymer clay bird beads by UK artist Angela Pyke of BeadMeUpButtercup and a lampwork glass focal by Susan Farley of SkholtGlass. 

Angela's work is new to me but I love her birdie beads with their white-washed finish. I decided the birds would make a cute pair of earrings, especially paired with some pretty Czech glass beads.

Next up was a focal by Susan Farley. Now, I love Susan's work - I've amassed several of her focal pendants over the last 4 years and have also given away some of her beads to my BSBP partners in the past. After lots of hand-wringing, I chose to use her Spring Flowering Tree focal bead. I gave it a tassel of beads and strung the resulting pendant on a brass chain to which I added Swarovski crystals.

Both reveal pieces will go into my Etsy shop. They need to go and live in other homes apart from mine :-).

Now that I've learnt I can part with my hoard, I'll be more conscientious about actually using the beads I purchase. I want to thank everyone for reading through this post and of course, Lori for this brilliant Blog Hop. With the help of more such Blog Hops, I'll be well on the way to thwarting my hoarding tendencies. 

I'm off to check out what Lori and the other participants created. If you'd like to join me, please click here.