Summer Color Surprise Blog Hop

Lisa Lodge of Pine Ridge Treasures decided she had too many beads last month, so she held a destash sale. Those of us lucky enough to snag one of her "goody bags" were then offered the chance to create something with at least half of the beads we were sent. Hence the birth of the Summer Color Surprise Challenge.  Each of us received a particular color selection, which we did not know of in advance, and here is mine.

RED, RED, RED! It is not a color I work in often, and I don't know why. The beads she sent were eye-catching, several of which quickly became my favorites. I fell in love with the Lucite flowers, but my absolute favorite were the faux cloisonne rounds.

Strength Bead from BOC

Lampwork Bead from Lisa

Among all the treasures, was the cutest lampwork deer head, I think, and was hoping to have it made into a piece, not only for this hop, but for the Beads of Courage Design Challenge. This organization provides art in medicine for children hospitalized with serious illnesses. I am still waiting, however, for the bead I purchased to complete it.

With those pretty cloisonne beads always on my mind, it was the first thing I decided to work with. They didn't need much to create a fitting necklace.

I did some matching polymer clay beads in a gold color with faux leaves and combined them with one of Lisa's red nuggets as the focal and metal tube links I got from A Grain of Sand, which had been waiting for just the right bead, and these were them!

The next thing I chose to work with were flattened ovals streaked with red and pink. I had some polymer clay striped pillow beads and decided to combine the two for this bracelet.

That left me with a lovely gold flecked lampwork lentil focal, red glass swirls, all those pretty red tube and round beads, and of course, those Lucite flowers. Too much for another bracelet, so I combined them with seed and bugle beads, left to me in my mother's stash, and more polymer clay flowers (gilded roses this time). The stamens in the Lucite flowers are polymer clay with crushed red glass embedded.

Here you have my latest floral creation!

It turned out RED, RED, RED, but at the last moment I decided to tone it down just a bit with with a wash of acrylic Pearlcoat, and gold leaf accents.

Hope I have done justice to Lisa's stash, which I am so glad is MINE now. Here is the list of jewelry artists who received other colors of summer goodies. Enjoy the Hop!

Your Host: Lisa Lodge
Audrey Belanger
Lisa Boucher
Eleanor Burian-Mohr
Marlene Cupo --- You are here
Marla Gibson
Alicia Marinache
Inge von Ross
Stephanie Stamper
Diane Valasek

AND the best part is, Lisa is doing another challenge in October, with 20 participants this time. For the details, go here: My Bead Table Blog Hop