Jewelry Swap Update!

As many of you know, I participated in a jewelry swap over at Beadativity

I was paired up with Kelly, and I sent her the following questions in order to see what she liked, and I then created a piece based on her answers.

Okay, here are the answers...
The Basics:
1. Would you prefer a bracelet, necklace, earrings, or other?
I like necklaces the best.
1.b If necklace, choker, collarbone, big giant thing that can wrap several times, lariat? If choker, neck size?
I would like a lariat.

2. Are there any colors you prefer?
My favorite colors are blues and greens.
2.b any colors you hate?
I don't have any colors I hate.
3. Any metals you prefer?
I like silver and copper the best.
3.b any metals you hate?
I don't hate any metals, but I don't wear gold very often.

A little more difficult:
1. Big and bold, sleek and sophisticated, light and airy, ebby and flowy?
I like stuff that is ebby and flowy, and kind of organic.
2. Everyday casual? Work Wear? Night life? Pajama Friendly?
Definitely everyday casual! I rarely dress up.

The fun stuff:
1. With which famous beader/jeweller do you most identify, in a jewelry sort of way? I really like Kerry Bogert's stuff. It's so fun and whimsical!
2. The best movie type is...?
This probably sounds silly, but I really like kids movies... Harry Potter, Disney, Pixar, anything fun that takes me away from the stresses of daily life for a little while.
3. The infamous hot dog necklace of Etsy was: Quirky? Gross? Practical? A conversation starter? Other?
Quirky and funky.
4. Is it possible to ever pair red and green and not think Christmas?
Hmmm... tough one. It may be possible if other colors are included or if the textures are right, but I think I would usually think of Christmas.
5. Winter, spring, summer, fall?
FALL!!!!!!!

From her answers, I knew I was going to work in blues, greens, and greys, and I had the perfect focal. It's this vintage(?) blue-y grey flowery thingie that I got at Beadwildered Women in Nyack, NY.



I also used some acrylic leaves from Pat Catan's in Monroeville, PA, evil silver peanut beads that I blogged about previously from Beyond Beads North in Spokane...as you can see, this piece was well travelled before it was even started...little did I know... :)

As soon as I heard lariat, I knew I was going to try my hand at Kumihimo braiding. I bought a little foam disk from Walmart that came as part of a friendship bracelet kit, and used a couple Bullet Sinkers from the fishing aisle as center weights. I strung green AB beads, silver peanut beads, blue-grey triangles, and teal-lined clear seed beads on 6-lb fireline, wrapped each around a spool and went to Kumihimo town.

After I'd got the chain finished, how to end it...I beaded a toggle loop, initially thinking of going that route, then embellished that with more peanuts and a leaf. I threaded the other end of the chain through that then added fringe to the other end, and the flower, and some crystals, and a few drops, and more leaves, and...


And then what happened?

Then I couldn't stop myself. Inspired by Laura McCabe's Grape Leaf Earrings, I made some matching earrings...


Then I lovingly packed everything up and Fedexed it to Kelly. Except that I wrote down the wrong house number. (insert expetives here and there as necessary). About a week after the piece was supposed to have arrived, it came back to my hotel. It had gone from New Jersey to Florida back to New Jersey...and so I sent it back to Florida, double checking the address, and tracking it and crossing my fingers and hoping that it made it! And it did. And it likes its new home :)


And this is the piece I created for her. Which she likes, so I'm incredibly happy. Kelly, it was awesome to make this piece for you and I hope you enjoy it for ages to come!