Bead Soup Blog Hop Reveal

What did I do with all those beautiful beads my bead partner Debbie Davis  sent to me?

Well, today is the day to bring my soup finished and show it to the three hundred and ninty nine  plus members who took part in this bead soup party,  like me.  Before everything,  I bow to our organizer Lori Anderson who had conducted this whole thing and gave us this wonderful opportunity.

Here are my goodies.

Few weeks ago my partner Debbie sent me these wonderful beads.

With the focal:

I was excited to see the donut shell .  I had bought a fantastic tutorial from an amazing wire artist named Donna Spadafore.  .  You can find this in her Gailavira etsy store.  I did not have any donut bead.  So I decided to try it here first.  I thoroughly enjoyed the challenge, even though you'll see my novice work there.  But this is my first try with this complicated design.

I knew that I'd use the heishi beads with this shell pendant.  But after finishing I am having doubt - probably the shell pendant did not need this extra adornment.  It was pretty enough to start with.  What do you think?


With the clasp:

The clasp is so pretty I wanted it to be shown in the front.and  I wanted  to use the green agate beads she sent with the cute filigree connectors.  So, in the beginning this is what I made.  It was a long necklace about 30" long.


But it kind of missed the oomph!  It was too plain.  So I broke it and spent a whole afternoon staring as that torn  piece.  I knew I did not have much time .  I grabbed my design journal and started to doodle.

How about having  chains in one side and something...something on the other?  Now something what?

 Then I found that  I had these mini malachite chips that raised their hands to be part of it.  I told them I'll think it over,  they have some chance as they are green too but can't promise yet.

 You can see from my diary that I was a bit scared to take this leap.  I like asymmetry more than symmetry but then there has to be a  rhythm, a  balance .  I just don't want to be too radical and make it tacky!

However, I tried it.

 Still not quite sure until wore it.

Not too bad.  I can carry this.

Oh, I forgot about the earrings.  Here they are.  I know I'll be using them a lot.

So what do you think?

This blog hop was my second one.  I enjoyed it intensely and it gave me a chance to take risk and jump out of my usual style, and comfort zone.  That is an important part in this journey of being a jewelry artist ( wanna be artist )  I think,  with all its agony and ecstasy.

Be sure to check out all the other artists who were part of this party world wide and you may find some amazing jewelry that you never saw before.

Thank you for dropping by.  Your comments will be my treasures.

Whole wheat zucchini bread with honey and friendship

It's so nice to cook with a friend.

Whole wheat zucchini bread with honey and only 190 cal ( 5 PPV)

My friend Ann has the most amazing vegetable garden.  Her veggie patch is such sun kissed that my shade shy one  is kind of jealous.  More so,  because I am thinking that  next year I might do volunteer gardening in her soil with my favorites  veggies like the Persian cucumber and Thai chillies.

Ann had a back surgery recently so I help her with the harvesting part where you have to bend down; and what enormous jewels do I find.  There are so many zucchinies that we could feed the whole neighborhood, except that  theses neighbors are also blessed or overwhelmed with their own crops now.

So,  we decided to make some zucchini bread.  We made three loaves that have 36 servings!

The best part was the time spent together while the bread was cooking in the oven.  We shared stories from our past and plotted ideas for future projects while totally being in the present...the sweet aroma of the goody cooking there, did not let us forget that.

I learned how you can dry things without using a drainer board that eats up space on your counter top and this little shelf has  dual purpose to hold things when not on duty to dry things. Isn't that cool and green?

And you may use zip loc bags instead of buying containers to hold your packet of flour or crackers.  The zip loc bag can help if the paper flour bag gets a hole, it  protects  from bugs and  it lets you see clearly what's inside and it is always there in your kitchen.

Now our yummy treat...MMM. and just 5 PPV - totally worth it.  This is what I ate this morning for breakfast  with a glass of milk and half a banana and felt no guilt  at all.