We're Moving!

So just a quick post to let you know I've moved my blog over to my website. I'm excited about this move and am very please with how the new website is coming together. I hope you will join me for future blog hops, fun and upcoming events at my new site Hippie Chick Jewelry & Design.
~Kari

2nd Annual Bead Hoarders Blog Hop...Reveal Time!!!

Once again Lori Anderson invites us to stop hoarding and start creating! Many of us beady people tend to hoard, stash, squirrel or otherwise keep a tight grip on many of the lovely beads we acquire. So Lori is challenging us again to pull out those gorgeous beads and use them...it's time to create some gorgeous designs! I must say last time I participated in this hop I went creative crazy. I was very inspired. This time I am in the middle of a 6 day...that's right SIX...show that spreads over 2 weekends and started right after Thanksgiving! I do this show every year and every year I tell my family this will be the last year...that started about 10 years ago! Anyway, the long and the short is I only created one necklace this time around and I am writing this post just after 11pm with my hubby reminding over the shoulder it will be bedtime soon because tomorrow is an early morning. Oh the life of an artist!

Beads from the "collection" (my preferred term...hoarder seems so ugly for such beauty) are the stunning seahorse pendant from Nan Emmett of Spirited Earth and boro beads from Firelily. The seaglass is new from Lisa Lodge of Pine Ridge Treasures. She holds some wonderful destash and bead challenge kits and events in her Facebook group. The piece is finished with copper chain, one of my handmade spiral clasps. All the copper is antiqued and sealed by me.

I wore this piece to my show today. I haven't decided if I will list it my shop or keep it for myself...I still have enough beads in my stash to make another and at least 3 more seahorse pendants from Nan...maybe I should sell this one! LOL! Well that's it for me...I'm off to bed soon for a busy day tomorrow. I will hop around next week while I am trying to recover from this show craziness :) Please visit Lori's blog here for a complete list of participants...I know there will be tons of gorgeous eye candy to see! ~Kari

Moon Garden Blog Hop Reveal

It's that time again! Another Andrew Thornton Design Challenge reveal. This month's palette was inspired by moonstone and labradorite. The kit contains gorgeous shades of grey, peach, white and flashes of blue. I love these gemstones so naturally I had to participate. Here is a before picture of what we received...as usual Andrew provided a ton of gorgeous beads to inspire!

I take all my pictures on a white background so of course the white beads don't show up as well in this picture but I think you get the idea. As usual, we also received a mystery component...isn't it beautiful?

It really has all the colors of the kit and is very beautiful...this picture didn't quite do it justice. So as many of you know from my last few posts...life is hectic these days. Well...it hasn't really slowed down and now a show right around the corner! So needless to say I had many ideas for this kit but in the end really only accomplished 3 finished designs. But I did try a little something new so that's something! First up the something new...

I've been wanting to try out some new things with wire and this kit had several beads I thought would be perfect for trying out some spiral type pedants. I do like how they turned so I will be playing a bit more with this design.

I'm not sure yet how I want to use these pendants...I'm not a big fan of the ball chain look that many use. I'll likely do something beaded or one of my bead/ribbon styles but for now they just sit as pendants. I also made a bracelet...suitable of course for stacking with other bracelets! I know shocking ;)

Everything is from the bead kit except the antiqued copper wire and the snap clasp. I really love the way this one turned out. definitely looking at making more in this asymmetrical stack style. As has been my trend lately, I used the mystery component from the kit. I really love the size Andrew has been making them. Perfect for a necklace or bracelet design...although I'm favoring bracelets lately.

Well that's it for me this time! Hope you enjoyed your stop here today. Thanks to Andrew for putting together these inspiring kits! Don't forget to visit the links below to see everyone else's creations. ~Kari

Paula Kramer
Carolyn Lawson
Carole Carlson
Alice Peterson
Kari Asbury
Tammy Bowman
Shaiha Williams

On Andrew Thornton's Blog:
Andrew Thornton
Crystal Lombardo Farrell
Geri Colgrove
Laurie Carpenter
Alison Herrington
Naama Eisenstein
Laurel Ross

Metal and Clay Blog Hop...FINALLY! It's reveal time!

I stumbled across Lisa Lodge's facebook group Pine Ridge Treasures just in time to get in on this wonderful blog hop featuring components from Sharyl McMillian-Nelson of Metapolies. It was a great opportunity to get some of Sharyl's components and be surprised...I love beady surprises! Lisa offers lots of blog and creative challenge kits so come join us for some beady fun. You can visit Sharyl's shop by clicking above or connect with her on facebook here to catch the latest news, sales and new offerings available! Now lets get on with the reveal!

First up...a look at what I received. 2 gorgeous metal charms by Sharyl. They are hand embossed copper with a gorgeous icy blue patina. Lisa also included a strand of white glass pearls and pumpkin shaped copper beads to complete my kit. I know kits were sent at random but seriously ...it's like they both knew exactly what I would love and made it happen! There were plenty of materials and the charms were large enough I could have split them up and done necklace designs but they really spoke to me for earrings...

I added waxed linen in rust, a small sterling daisy spacer...I love mixing metals, especially silver and copper...a bit of copper chain and a pair of my handmade copper ear wires. I love the finished look...they are a bit bold, with a bit of movement and the feel of sitting near a warm fire on an icy, cold winter evening!

Aren't they just delish! I do have plans to use the rest of the pearls and copper beads in one of my stack style bracelets but that will be another day. Thanks for stopping by today and sharing again in my creative process. I hope you will visit the other participants listed below and spread the blog love! ~Kari

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

Earrings, Earrings, Earrings....Midnight Magic Revealed!

It's that time again! Andrew Thornton put together a special Halloween edition design kit called Midnight Magic...on 13 magical kits available and today is the big reveal! Here is a picture of the goodies we received.

and as with every kit...Andrew included a wonderful mystery component.

I had a lot of inspired ideas for this kit but I have several irons in the fire right now so to speak so I didn't get as much completed as I hoped for...but in an unusual turn for me it's all earrings this time! I only used beads and bead caps from the kit. The only additions I made are copper wire, brass wire and Vintaj findings for each pair. This first pair is VERY long at about 4.5 inches.

I love the way the copper in this pairs gives them a fall caramel apple feel...I love caramel apples at Halloween!

and this last pair another warm autumn feel...

So that's it for me this time. Andrew is working on a gallery set up today so it will be later this evening before his post is up with a complete list of participants. Please visit the links below to see what everyone created. Have a safe and happy Halloween! ~Kari


Kari Asbury
Shaiha Williams
Tammy Bowman

On Andrew Thornton's Blog:
Andrew Thornton
Alison Herrington
Laurel Ross
Geri Colgrove

Royal Feather...Reveal Time!

It't that time again to enjoy another design challenge and blog hop hosted by the wonderful Andrew Thornton! If you are not familiar with Andrew's design challenge kits you can visit his blog here for the details. Now on to the good stuff...

I usually take pictures of the kit when I receive it but this time...OOPS! forgot that part...or if I took them, I stored them in a super secret folder on my computer. If you want to see what was in the kit you can check it out here. So I really love purples and greens so I was excited to grab this one up. I played with design possibilities for several days but in the end settle on bracelets...LOTS of them! 

They are all tied on Irish waxed linen...some have plum, some olive, and some emerald green. The plum came with the kit all other colors are from my own supply. I used brass snap clasps from my supplies and one artisan charm...I'll give you the details when we get to that picture. 

Everything else is from the kit...I love how each bracelet is beautiful alone but also look great in any combination together...makes for lot of versatility...which I love in my jewelry! Isn't the polymer crown charm fantastic? Andrew made it as our mystery component this time. It has a lovely shimmer that kind of shows in the picture although never as dazzling as it is in person.

Remember that artisan charm I mentioned earlier? I won 3rd place in the ACM Jewelry Designer Contest held in July...if you have not checked out this group on Facebook you really should...tons of beady goodness all in one great location. We've also started a marketplace to shop all these lovely bead artists. Anyway...long story, longer...HAHA! I got to choose $10 worth of goodies from one of our artists shops. I chose Linda Landig...she makes wonderful ceramic goodies. I asked her to surprise. This fantastic charm is ONE of the goodies she sent me. It is a perfect element for the dark greens of this kit! and the perfect size for a bracelet charm :)

This is the first bracelet I made ...funny it's the last I'm showing. I love this combination the luster in the green beads is perfect with the dark plum color. 

I also made earrings to match this bracelet...the picture of them alone was not loading correctly...so had to resort to just sharing the picture of the pair...

and a picture of all the bracelets together...lovely combination, don't you think? So that's it for me this time. Thank you once again to Andrew for putting together wonderful kits full of inspiration and beady goodness! I hope you will check out the other participants below and see what lovelies they created! ~Kari

Kari Asbury

Ann Schroeder

Sarajo Wentling

Christina Porter

Tammy Bowman

Tara Linda

On Andrew Thornton's blog:

Andrew Thornton

Margriet Schnabel 

Keisha Russell 

Tara Linda 

Alison Herrington 

Laurel Ross 

Marcia Gilbert 

Joanne Goldberg 

Crystal Lombardo Farrell 

Cheryl Lee Tucker

Autumn Night Sky Challenge Reveal...

I love this image Lisa of Pine Ridge Treasures has been sharing as we approach the reveal date for the Autumn Night Sky bead challenge. This is my first reveal with one of Lisa's kits ...I have at least 1 each month with her from now through December. So stay tuned for lots of fun stuff! But first...it's time to see the Autumn Night Sky...

I always to snap a picture when I receive any design kits but in this case I somehow missed doing that so this picture is after I made my pieces but shows all the types of beads I received...the kit was actually very generous with 2 strands of the pearls and 2 strands of the crystals!

I have to be honest I don't work with a lot of glass pearls ...but I knew going into these challenges that many of them will contain glass pearls...so comes the challenge for me! I have been very into stack and wrap bracelets the last several months. The style just works for me...simple or extravagant or any where in between depending on how you feel that day.

I used crystals and pearls from the kit and added plum Irish waxed linen and a silver snap clasp for this triple wrap bracelet. I love it! It also goes really nicely with several bracelets I made from my Dark Bloom challenge kit from Andrew Thornton...so kudos for coordinating pieces! It's also long enough to wear as a necklace...so the options are really endless.

I also made a pair of coordinating earrings. I don't wear a lot of earrings but I always tend to make them to coordinate with my designs, especially bracelets. All beads are from the kit and I've again used the plum Irish waxed linen. I also added a pair of my twisted copper jump rings and copper ear wires. I really love these deep rich colors and everything has just the right touch of sparkle!

I have really enjoyed my first design kit from Lisa and look forward to the coming months sharing my other kits and designs with you...most of them are done at this point...so now just waiting for time to share...the anticipation is killing me! Not all of these challenges are blog hops...several are just sharing your designs in the facebook albums on the Pine Ridge Treasure page, which you can find here. I will be blogging on each challenge as well as sharing in the albums...part of my efforts to get in the habit of blogging more regularly :)

So I hope you'll check out the Facebook album to see what everyone else created...my next reveal is Royal Feather (Andrew Thornton) on October 16...hope to see you then! ~Kari