Pine Ridge Treasures Jasper Intrigue Challenge

My apologies, but my blog for the Jasper Intrigue Challenge will be late due to a family medical emergency.

Pine Ridge Treasures Checkerboard Blog Hop

The lovely Lisa Lodge has done it again!  She is a wonderful blog hop hostess & created another beautiful kit of awesome beadiness.  Her theme this time was checkerboard...red, black, and white.  When I received the beads, I first thought of football...UGA football.  Here in the south, there's sweet tea, grits, collard greens, and college football!  Of course, UGA's colors are red and black!  Here are the beads I received:

As you can tell, it was an extremely ample supply and pleasing mixture of cultured sea glass, pearls, and plated metal.  I knew right away what I wanted to make with some of the beads.  Some time back, I saw a memory wire bracelet project on BeadStyle Magazine's website.  I have never used memory wire and really wanted to try it.  Let's just say I learned a very valuable lesson within the first 2 minutes...that memory sure will snap back on you if you're not paying attention!  And that it will cause a little damage to whatever it hits.  I still have a nice bruise.  This was the result when I the memory wire "jumped up and bit me" as Forrest Gump said: 

I can tell you that it definitely smarts when that memory wire injects itself into your skin!  I was on my lunch break at work when I incurred the jewelry-making injury and it was so hard not to yell and cry a few obscenities (seriously, it nicked a vein right in the bend of my fanger...not fun).  Anyway, I finally succeeded in making the memory wire bracelet and here's the result:

The colors remind me of UGA football.  My uncle is a die-hard fan so I grew up watching Satutday college football and by Georgia birth right, I'm a UGA fan as well (sorry Dad...he's a UAB fan).  Let me know if you notice the one thing I goofed on with the memory wire bracelet.  I'm a bit of an OCD perfectionist so it drives me nuts knowing I messed up.  Guess I'll just have to keep it myself!  Such a shame I have to keep it...said no one ever!

Next, I wanted to make a necklace with the cultured sea glass.  However, I wanted it to be monochromatic and clear/white so it could be worn with any outfit without a color commitment.  I wanted it to be a little simplistic but with a little sparkly somin keeping with the checkerboard theme, I added some square crystals I bought from one of Lisa's destash events some time back.  Here's what I came up with:

The picture doesn't really do the crystals justice.  It reminds me of fresh snowfall...so clean and pure!

I also wanted to make some earrings and a bracelet with some of the remaining beads but I just couldn't get them to pull together to my liking.  I worked and reworked, and worked on them some more, all to no avail.  And the keys...I love them!  I just couldn't figure out what to do with them.  It's like my creative juices had been drinking and got dehydrated!  I still want to bring them all to fruition and will post them when I do.  Hint: I'm trying to use some sari silk, which I've never before used.

In keeping with blog tradition, there are some other extremely talented ladies who I'm sure created some scrumptious goodies from their kits.  Now, won't you hop on over to the other ladies' blogs to see what they've created?  Start clicking below!

Your hostess:  Lisa Lodge, A Grateful Artist

Jo-Ann Woolverton, It's a Beadiful Creation

Carolyn Lawson, Carolyn's Creations

Toltec  Jewels, Jewel School Friends

Heather Richter, Desert Jewelry Designs

Candida Elkins Castleberry, Spun Sugar Beadworks

Kathleen Breeding, 99 Bottles of Beads on the Wall

Mischelle Fanucchi, Micheladas Musings

Becky Pancake, Becky Pancake Bead Designs

Kari Asbury, Hippie Chick Design

Susan Anderson, La Main Tresor

Kathy Lindemer, Bay Moon Design

Ann Schroeder, Bead Love

Kim Dworak, Cianci Blue

Margaret Pelech, Margaret Pelech's Blog

Lisa Prewitt Knappenberger, LiRaysa Designs

Annette Rivers, Mama Owls Mess

Carol Briody, A Beads Life

Miranda Ackerley, MirandAck

Marybeth Rich, A Few Words from within the Pines

Karin Grosset Grange (France), Ginkgo et Coquelicot

Katrina Scuderi Taylor, I Wanna Go Out

Pine Ridge Treasures Clay & Metal Blog Hop

Welcome to my first ever blog!  First, a huge thank to you Lisa Lodge for not only hosting this wonderful hop, but for reassuring me that I could actually create a blog!  She was even nice enough to spend some of her valuable time talking me through creating a blog since I was pretty ignorant about the whole process.  I'm not a spring chicken so I didn't grow up with all the fancy dancy technology of today's age (hey, don't judge...one day you'll say the same thing!).  Now on to the hop...

I arrived home one day to find the anticipated blog hop package in my mailbox.  As usual, I listened to the hubby say "How many more beads do you need?"  He's apparently a slow learner because a beader will NEVER have enough beads (do I hear a loud applause?).  Then the hubby got to listen to me squeal with delight and I got the ever-annoying eye roll.  Now, take a look at why I squealed with delight:

As usual, beady scrumptiousness!  I instantly loved the gorgeous metal pendant made by Sharyl McMillian-Nelson!  Be sure to check out her stores at http://www.artfire.com/ext/shop/studio/SharylsJewelry and https://www.etsy.com/shop/Metapolies.  She has some most wonderful items created by her own two hands.  That's impressive!  I also fell in love with the purple/orchid crystals supplied by Lisa.  I'm always a sucker for anything sparkly (yes. I was THAT child of my parents who always wanted sequins or sparkles on her clothing).  Be sure to check out Lisa at http://www.zibbet.com/pineridgetreasures.

I didn't want to add a lot of extra beads to what I'd already received because I didn't want to take away from that beautiful metal pendant.  I'm still in awe that Sharyl made it by hand!  I wanted to keep the necklace simple and let the pendant speak for itself so here's what I came up with:

I didn't want to add a lot to the pendant & beautiful crystals, I merely wanted to enhance what I saw in the pendant.  It reminds of what little snowfall we get here in the south. You know, the kind in which a dusting will bring a major city to a complete halt!  It brings back memories of when I was a child and we got several inches of ice & snow in the 70's, stuck at home with no power for almost a week, and trying to convince our parents we could play outside all day and not get sick.  It was during that rare time that I would stand outside in the snow and ice and watch the colors dance around on the snow and look oh so sparkly!  That's what Sharyl's pendant reminds me of...that wonderful feeling of seeing something so bright white reflect all the colors the world has to offer.  Beauty at its best!

I had so much fun with my first blog and hope you did too!  Please be sure to check out all the other wonderful creations by these fabulous ladies...so hop on over to their blogs!

Your hostess:  Lisa Lodge, A Grateful Artist

Melissa Trudinger, Bead Recipes

Jo-Ann Woolverton, It's a Beadiful Creation

Carolyn Lawson, Carolyn's Creations

Shaiha Williams,   Shaiha's Ramblings

Toltec Jewels, Jewel School Friends

Heather Richter, Desert Jewelry Designs

Marybeth Rich, A Few Words from within the Pines

Kim Dworak, Cianci Blue

Karen Grosset Grange, Ginkgo et Coquelicot

Ann Schroeder, Bead Love

Lisa Prewitt Knappenberger, LiRaysa Designs

Carol Briody, A Beads Life

Miranda Ackerley, MirandAck

Kari Asbury, Hippie Chick Design

Susan Anderson, La Main Tresor

LeAnne Loftus, First Impression Design

Leithleach Seodra, Alainn Jewelry