My Soup is Finished!

My Bead Soup swap partner,  Sharon Palac, sent me a beautiful yellow enameled disk and some swirly hand hammered links and toggle (she also sent some beads that I'm going to incorporate into a bracelet and earrings----check back for those!).  I love the colors of the piece I created. They remind me of a hot summer day. Be sure to click on the pictures so that you can zoom in to see the details in Sharon's hammered swirls and the bits of copper and leather accents I threw in! I hope that I did Sharon's artwork justice. Let me know what you think! 

A look at the ingredients for my "Bead Soup"

Here are the ingredients my creative partner, Sharon Palac, sent me for our swap.  You will have to check back on Friday, June 25th for the Big Reveal! 

Here's another great giveaway.....

The ladies over at EB Bead and Metal Works have some beautiful enameled art.  Please check them out and leave a comment for a chance to win a bowl!
http://ebbeadandmetalworks.blogspot.com/2010/06/our-first-giveaway.html

If you love beads, you have to check this out!

An amazing fellow artist, Denise Yezbak Moore, is having an awesome bead giveaway in honor of Bead Soup week.  Pop on over to her blog, which is beautiful, and read all about it!
Best bead giveaway ever!

Soup's On!!

As I've mentioned before, I'm so excited to be a part of a fun, creative group called "Bead Soup".  The head "chef" is Lori Anderson.  She created a group of almost 100 cooks (participants) whom she paired up and then each "cook" swapped "ingredients" (beads) with their assigned partner.......fun, right?!  Each artist is assigned a reveal date beginning on Saturday, June 18th (yes, I know it was yesterday and I'm a little behind) and running for the next 8 days.  Thankfully, I'm not assigned to "reveal" my soup until June 25th (whew!!).  Mine is still simmering.  Two things about this that I've enjoyed the most........One is that I really enjoy visiting each blog to see what that artist has created with the beads. I love seeing all the different expressions of creativity out there.....it's amazing!  And for me, receiving a bunch of random beads and toggle and having to create something with it pushes me to stretch my creative wings.   So, here is the link to all of the participants and their blogs.  Please visit them and leave a comment if you can. 
 http://www.prettythingsblog.com/

Ahhhh! Springtime in my garden......

   

A menagerie of plants and such........

Here's just a hint......

I am so excited to be a part of this fun bead swap called Bead Soup Blog Party. 
Check it out here: http://lorianderson.blogspot.com/2010/04/bead-soup-blog-party-is-here.html  I mailed out my bundle of goodies to my partner, Sharon, last week.  I hope she likes it and better yet, I can't wait to see what she does with it!  Since I don't want to spoil the surprise for her, I'm only posting a hint of what I sent........
My swap partner is an amazing metal artist http://sharonsjewelrygarden.blogspot.com/  I am anxiously awaiting my package from her!  This is going to be so much fun!!  Check back soon to see what I get.  I'll be posting pictures here.