Art of Awareness Blog Hop 2015 hosted by Lori Anderson

A blog hop presented by:

Lori Anderson

of 

Pretty Things

and

Heather Millican

of

Swoondimples

^_^

So! The purpose of this blog hop is to raise awareness for your favorite CAUSE. Since I believe so strongly in so many, I couldn't choose just one. The bead I chose for the hop says simply, "Love Bravely..." I think this falls true for those people attached to a cause and those who love said persons. It can be a hard journey!

I would like to dedicate this blog entry of mine to my friends and family who are fighting and perhaps struggling. I'm here for you! *mad love*

So, on to my design...

Here's an up-close view of the pendant/charm made by Heather Millican of Swoondimples! Isn't it lovely? A lot of the beads that Heather made by hand (!!!) have a saying on the front and an awareness ribbon on the back, with the color of the bead representing the color of a cause. You can see some of those lovely awareness-specific beads by visiting other blogs in the hop! For me, it was very important not to be limited to one specific cause. It's very hard for me to just pick one, because everyone and their battles are IMPORTANT.

Here are the matching earrings! The earwires were hand-crafted by Shelley Grahm Turner of Tori Sophia Designs. She galaxy wrapped the amazonite cubes! :) The other beads are faceted AB crystal and enameled headpins (store bought) in dark teal blue.

 The necklace is made from lovely white AB ribbon (which didn't photograph well); the ribbon ends were bought from The Beehive group on facebook- as were the little bars- the beads are lovely light teal glass pearl and more of that faceted AB crystal. ^_^ The clasp is brass with inlaid Swarovski crystals. Mostly copper findings!

Pretty and delicate!

You can view the participant list by CLICKING HERE. :)

Thank you for stopping by!

~Andrea of ZenithJade Creations

2nd Annual Bead Hoarder's Blog Hop!

This blog hop is hosted by Lori McDaniel Anderson of the Pretty Things Blog. :) You can view the participant list by clicking HERE. (Almost 100 people signed up for the hop!)

I've been having a pretty rough last couple of days. The stress of the holidays is really hard on me, as it is a LOT of other people. I feel fortunate though because I am just about DONE with my Christmas shopping- most of it was done online so I didn't have to jostle with a lot of other people, (which is great because my immune system can't handle "teh sick" again) and I don't very much like crowds...

So! Making something Friday night and yesterday was ROUGH.

Regardless, I did make a couple of things that are worth sharing. :) Go me for managing to pull through the mental ick!

The first thing I made was Thursday, and it's one of my signature Waterfall Necklaces (with a matching pair of earrings, woo!)...

 You can see one of my new hoarded beads, (it came in a set of 10!), front and center. It has the swirly on it and is a lovely blue/purple color. I got it from one of Lori's destashes, and is made by, *drumroll please*, Maryse Fritzsch-Thillens of Glass Bead Art!

 You can see lots of Swarovski, glass pearls, a leather bead, some high quality China crystal, a blue chalcedony briolette, and some glass beads. Next to no stones, which is VERY unusual for me... and only glass pearls, no real ones, which is also very rare.

 Here's another view... It sure turned out well! :) I'm very pleased!

On to Friday night's project, (just before the deadline!)-

 The hoarded goods used in this necklace are Michelle McCarthy's/Firefly Design Studio Owl Pendant (with included dangles), and some lovely Czech glass beads in silver & clear...

 I made matching earrings for this set too...

 Here is the whole necklace + earrings! I used more faceted China glass in two shapes of teal, some sea sediment turquoise type of stuff in ovals near the owl, silver seed beads, teal triangle seed beads, Michelle's lovely owl, and the Czech glass silver/clear beads. It's another blue necklace and earring set! LOL!

Thanks for reading and hopping! I hope you enjoy looking at what I made for the blog hop. :)