The 8th Bead Soup knocked on my door

A little bit later than it should have been, my amazing Bead Soup partner Rosantia and I finally sent each other our soups.
Mine arrived this morning in only a couple of days!

I think images will speak louder than words here. Better to just look at the beads, or I will write an endless list of adjectives that wouldn't convey how I feel anyway.

My super sweet partner Rosantia is at her first Party, yet she can put up a terrific soup like this:

What we have here is an arrangement of cool ceramic beads, that I love so much, so SO much. The shade of green is perfect and also look at those complementing lampwork beads.

Two words: POLKA DOTS. Love them.

Then yellow quartz  and green chrysocolla12 mm beads.

Something funny: I love to find healing properties of crystals online. It said chrysocolla crystal has "an energy that helps to calm the nervous person who has difficulty in keeping silent"...seriously??! That's perfect for me!

Some beautiful copper chains and bead caps, as well as coordinated cords that I so much needed, having left my stash in Milan.

Then look at those crazy beads. Covered in washi paper, handmade by her, just gorgeous. Can you feel my Japan-radar activating?!

A beautiful Greek casting antiqued copper toggle clasp, with a cool patina treatment, the right compromise between the copper elements and the aqua-green beads, right?!
Then let's have some drum roll before I introduce the gorgeous focal I received.
Here it is

A ceramic birdie from Shaterra. Need I say more?!
I am so overwhelmed right now that I can only keep looking at this soup and hope to make some order in my mind to decide what to use first.

A huge thank you to Rosantia and hope your soup comes fast!

In the meanwhile head to the BSBP board to see what everybody else has received from their partners!

8th Bead Soup Party Partner

Hello everybody!
I am finally writing again about beads, and bead parties.
That time of the year has come and I have a new partner for the amazing Bead Soup Blog Party, which reached the 8th edition and has as usual hundreds of partecipants.

Without further ado let me introduce my Bulgarian Partner, Rosantia Petkova.
She is a 360° crafter and likes to experiment with every kind of material and shape. And I am not talking only about beads.

Let me show you some of her works:

Textile necklace, how clever is that?!!

Crocheted earrings

Gorgeous color choices here!

It is always inspiring to have partners who like to play with new materials and love challenges, I am so curious of how things will develop!

We are both still "stirring" our soups and adding the final touches, so stay tuned for more news about the soup!

In the meanwhile jump to the official Bead Soup blog to see who the other partecipants are and what they're up to!

7th Bead Soup Blog Party® contest

I am truly honored (and pretty confused since it's 2 am here) to announce that my Red Lady necklace is one of the winners of the 7th Bead Soup Blog Party contest!!!

The fact that I was chosen by Nina Design together with another amazing artist as Malin de Koning, who I absolutely adore, is already a big prize for me.

Please take a moment to look at ALL the winners here, there are 46 of them and all are astonishing creations!

I would like to thank someone before I pass out asleep:

-first of all Lori McDaniel Anderson, the mind and body behind the Bead Soup Blog Party - because it takes a whole lot of energy and physical strength to do all that's required for such a big event with more than 500 partecipants, and she made all of this despite a lot of problems. She's a warrior and we all appreciated her big efforts to make this party such an amazing experience for all of us.

-Nina Design, one of the jurors who chose my piece, a huge honor I wasn't expecting at all!

-my partner Dorota, who sent me that amazing cabochon which led me to bead embroidery in the first place, and a lot of other goodies that stimulated my creativity. Knowing you was a big pleasure dear Dorota, you are such a nice, creative and generous person!

-last but not least, my wonderful boyfriend.
He often makes fun of me saying "I'm going to throw away all your beads!" but actually always pushes me to explore my creativity and bears the presence of all these tiny little things everywhere. I've become much more tidier with time and we don't find beads in our meals or bed anymore, but still he hears me swearing whenever I accidentally pour beads on the floor, and he still loves me.

Thanks for visiting everybody and for taking the time to write kind, thoughtful comments!

BSBP 3rd item: The Cherry Blossom necklace

If you are still hopping on the BSBP second reveal, here is the link . I'm showing my BSBP pieces one by one all over the week, here is the 3rd.

Since I saw these little leaves in my BSBP box I knew I was going to use them, I just didn't know HOW.
I also loved those 6mm pink beads and wanted something to celebrate spring...somehow I found myself making donuts with them and realized they looked like flowers!

The next step was thinking how to assemble them together. I wanted another knotted necklace, simple, something that could resemble an actual twig of cherry tree.
While on Flickr I saw these chain maille "beads" and I thought they would look great made with dark bronze rings...and then, playing with beaded beads, I realized I could complete the necklace with some beaded cherries.

A simple necklace but it has almost become my favorite!

BSBP 2nd item: The Green Leaf set

If you are still hopping on the BSBP second reveal, here is the link . I'm showing my BSBP pieces one by one all over the week, here is the second one.

My partner has been generous to provide me with multiple focals and 2 toggles, both floreal.
One of the focals was this beautiful leaf

She sent a huge variety of green beads: crystals, big rondelles, green turquoise, glass little leaves...

I wanted to use the rondelles but didn't know how. I decided to knot them with some grey waxed thread instead of a plain stringing.

I also decided I didn't want a symmetrical necklace, so I needed something different on the other side; I made some beaded beads with the green crystals and brown seed beads, also I made 2 more with orange/lime beads from the previous neclace to give some contrast.

As usual the final part of a necklace is always the most difficult for me. There were already so many different elements, I didn't want the necklace to be too crowded, and I didn't want to sacrifice some beautiful stones in a part of it that is usually hidden by hair.

I suddenly remembered a gift from a fellow beader: sari silk ribbon!

I loved the contrast of this mustard colored silk. I was saving it for something special...I think I waited until the perfect moment. Plus it is really comfortable to wear on such a sensitive part of the body.

I also made this simple knotted bracelet

with some lilac and a beaded bead in contrast color. I was inspired by my spring bracelets and so I made one more 

I love so much these big lentil beads, both color and shape attract me.

Stay tuned for more details on my BSBP pieces!

BSBP 1st item: Red Lady Necklace

If you are still hopping on the BSBP second reveal, here is the link . I'm showing my BSBP pieces one by one all over the week, here is the first one.

When I first opened the box from Dorota, my Bead Soup partner, the first item I saw (and the biggest) was this amazing embroidered focal.

I fell in love with it instantly and I decided I needed something big to celebrate this gift and my partner's ability.
So i decided to give a serious chance to bead embroidery.
I had bought some bead backing almost 2 years ago from Nicole Campanella, and was eager to use it.
I had some old orange cabochons, looking like rivolis, I started bezelling them using the beads Dorota provided me with (gorgeous, and a lot of them). She also sent those little red pearls she had used on the focal.

I started with some round, floral motif using the orange freshwater pearls on the first rounds and some old golden pearls I had bought 5 years ago on the second.
And then, I got blocked.
I didn't know how to go on. After 10 days working on other pieces, I decided to connect what I had made with the focal using the little yellow seed beads.
Then I thought about going on with the same motif without the rivoli. How to do so? I tried some beaded donut and made 2 with the same beads from the 2nd floral motif. Then I made 2 more donuts, only very small to have a fading effect. I decided for a simple magnetic toggle because I have a sensitive neck and just used 2 red agate beads to embellish it.

How do I look?

Bead Soup Party 2nd reveal: here I am!

I'm so thrilled this day has come!
This is my first Bead Soup Blog Party and I was lucky to have a European partner, so soups arrived within a week! I had a lot of time to think about each of these creations, but you know: best ideas come at the very last moment!
My partner is Dorota Żerańska from Poland and she was hugely generous with her soup:

My whole production is dedicated to Spring!
I tried to use as much as I could adding just indispensable things. And I committed to working with techniques I had never used before. Like bead embroidery.
So here is the first one, which I call Red Lady necklace:

I had never made a piece like this.When you have such an amazing, bold focal, you can either keep it the most simple you can, or you need to go even bolder. So I created embroidered matching pieces (Dorota had sent some of the beads she had used to bezel the focal cabochon) adding only some golden beads and orange rivolis. I started with bigger, richer pieces and made a dwindling effect with some RAW rings up to the small toggle.

Second piece, the Leaf necklace, also featuring something I never used before: sari silk ribbons and knotting with waxed thread.

I used this gorgeous leaf focal here and also one of the two toggles. Look at the amazing variety of green stones in here...I made some beaded beads with the crystals in the soup and the seed beads I had used in the Red lady necklace, which are orange with a lime green lining, to break all this green nuances. I also made a matching bracelet adding a beaded bead:

and using the same knotting technique, mixing some lilac for a change.
Made another one with these other gorgeous lentil beads

Third necklace, I made some more beaded donuts like the smallest of the first necklace.
I only used beads from the soup and just added some chain maille beads...yes! I tried chain maille for the first time! I know it's nothing special, but jump rings are my sworn enemies, so it's a big deal for me.
What I made is a Cherry Blossom Necklace:

...and looks like in the end a couple of blossoms actually produced some fruit!

Forth necklace, the MultisPring necklace made with some of the remaining beads from the first one:

I used another focal here, put it on one side and on the other there's a ceramic connector from ScorchedEarth, which was the perfect color. The news here is the leather cord I've had in my stash forever and never used before.

Last but not least, the main clasp!
Too beautiful to put it on the back of a necklace, too simple on a multistring bracelet, I changed my mind a thousand times on how to use it; finally I decided for something to complete it, some embroidered leaves

But then I found this old ceramic green flower which looked similar and decided, in the end, to put the toggle in the back. The beautiful freshwater pearls and green crystal from the soup complete the piece and match both the flowers.

This is all for now! I still have plenty of soup left, so I'll produce more until it's finished!
I'll blog about every piece in a more detailed way, one each day, so stay tuned if you'd like to know more about the creative process.
Thank you so much Dorota for being so generous and open to communication, and...for sending chocolate! LOL that is why I love swapping. You get to know some really amazing people!
And BIG thanks to Lori Anderson, our amazing hostess!
Now go see what my partner made and take a nice blog hopping on all the other partecipants, you'll find the list here!!!

BSBP 2nd reveal postponed

The 2nd and third reveal of the Bead Soup Blog Party have been postponed of one week.
I'm sorry for the main reason, but glad we can all have some more time to enjoy last week reveal and have 7 more days to make stuff!
In the meanwhile I took this pic

Not good yet, but better. My model failed me, so I used my old seamstress dummy.
Get ready to vote for the EBW challenge in 1 week!

Easter hopping

Happy Easter everybody! This morning I finished my first blog hopping and I was delighted - and a bit overwhelmed by a hundred illegible captchas

Source: Pinterest

I'm starting to think I'm not human after all! I will look at all the pieces again slower on the Soup Pinterest Board to ponder on all the wonderful, amazing things I've seen. I want to thank every person involved in this first reveal who has taken the time to come on this blog and say thanks for my comments. How thoughtful is that?!! How did you find the time?! I'm so touched. My soup reveal is next saturday and I haven't completed everything yet, but I already have 4 pieces ready to show. I didn't want to sacrifice the EBW monthly competition or any idea that was popping into my head while working at the soup, so I didn't use 100% of my time for it. But I already feel proud of all the new things I have learned. Please come to our Bead Soup Blog Party, here is the link where you can find the complete list of blogs!

7th Bead Soup Blog Party - First reveal!

I'm so excited to announce the day has come for a whole bunch of wonderful creations to be revealed! Let's get the Soup party started!

Source: Pinterest

Get ready for some blog hopping: here is the list. Today 161 people are revealing their creative use of their swapped stash and I'm starting right away 'cause curiosity is killing me! Have fun!!!

Can't show you.

What are doing today? Oh well...finishing one of the many pieces for the Bead Soup Blog Party. But I can't show you until April 6th. And also, making an amazing piece for next Etsy Beadweavers challenge, the theme is so exciting: “Shades of Scheherazade”. You can't see it until I finish it though...and it's going to take a while. Oh, and I'm participating in the annual spring swap too, but the reveal will be after April 30th, so I can't show this piece either. A bit frustrating! The thing is, I'm going to finish them all within tuesday because I don't want to pack my ever-growing collection of beads in my suitcase. I would like to be able to bring something from the south this time, to make the coming back to Milan less sour.

Source: Pinterest

And this is never possible with half my bag full of bead supplies. So everything must be finished, photographed, packed and eventually sent within tuesday.AND (I should add) the house must be cleaned, laundry must be made and suitcases must be packed and... I'm going back to beading.

Can tab bracelet

Instead of working on my soup, as it should be, I made an experiment to be sure about the toggle clasp I sent to my BSBP partner.
Since I wanted something unexpected and different I beaded a toggle using, of course, a can tab.
I made another one and used it in a bracelet and made some matching beaded beads

I love the result! The toggle works just fine and I like the simmetry of the bracelet.
I have a thin wrist, so it fits perfectly and doesn't move; I should consider adding one more bead for larger wrists.

Soup arrived in Poland!

My soup for Dorota has just been unpacked by her!
That was soooo fast, I was worried about the snow but looks like it didn't matter.
Yesterday it's been snowing hard the whole day and this morning too, so it is time for a REAL soup - also these last weeks I enjoyed soups a lot being sick and all.
I usually make chicken soup, adding some vegetables to have more vitamins and flavour. But I also love a typical Italian minestrone, with lot of parmigiano in it (how funny it is to crave for something that you've been hating for your whole childhood - and more?!)
I asked Dorota to send me a Polish recipe for a soup and will publish it when I'll get my own bead soup here.
So stay tuned :)

A European soup

It's about time to talk about my partner for the 7th Bead Soup Party!
Now that contact has been made, let me introduce Dorota properly.
She's from Poland and she's a talented seed beader both with beadweaving

and crochet

and also very good at soutache, as you can see

(I'll never have the courage to try soutache!)

She told me she's really into flamenco, which I love, and let me sneak peek a picture of her - I'm not a stalker but it's nice to associate faces to names! Plus, I had my reasons...which you'll understand lately.
I hope the snow won't slow down our soups travel because we both need something to warm up our days!
Even though it took longer, snow arrived in the north of Italy tonight and will be go on for a couple of days, so I'm seeing a lot of beads in the near future. And tea.

Logged off

Yesterday I had to send my laptop away to be fixed, and the reason is so stupid I'm even more pissed off.
My BF laptop is slow and has a lot of issues and his tablet, well, let's say I don't really get along with touch devices...plus no photoshop (with a mouse I mean!!!), problem with writing more than a sentence and...did I mention I don't like touch devices? Only my Kindle touch is "friendly" to me.
Guess I'll have a month full of free time (no Pinterest is one of the main reasons why) which I mean to spend reading more, working out at the gym to fix my back once and for all and, of course, beading.

source: Pinterest

I'll try to update the blog regularly somehow, since I'm working on two custom orders which I really want to show off, and the Bead Soup is on its way both towards me and my partner Dorota.
Can't wait for this month to pass!

Bead Soup Party, here I come!

I'm finally taking part in the Bead Soup Party! When I first discovered about it, it was already on. The following time I wasn't picked. Third time I was on holiday and moving a lot, so I didn't partecipate, even though it had become open to anybody. So this is the right time! In the meantime I have partecipated in a couple of swaps and have "warmed up" for this. I'm finishing to cook my soup right now after a couple of rough weeks: stomach problems first, a very bad back pain last week and, just when I had recovered completely, a terrible pharyngitis I'm dealing with right now.

source: Pinterest

Seems like you get thousands of ideas when you aren't able to bead at all, so I'm eager to go back to my table and create something after too much bed. My partner is Dorota Żerańska and I can't wait to start this adventure!