Art Jewelry Elements: Tree Challenge

I am a huge fan of all the Talent gathered over at Art Jewelry Elements.

I am talking Talent with a capital T.

They generally offer a challenge each month and invite others to play along.  

I have on occasion and am doing so again this month.

The challenge this month is trees.

Well, I knew this would be the perfect challenge for me.

A while back I made a tree stamp from polymer clay.

And here are the new, naked beads.

It is one of my all time favorite stamps to use.

I love how the beads and components look.

So I knew I could use some of those for this challenge.

So here you go....

A Fairy Tale Forest necklace...

Here is one of those tree beads all dressed up...

And a little woodland fox too...

The key focal and magic bead are just what this necklace needs.

But then I had to make a fairy forest too.

   Flowers say fairy to me.

So I added some polymer beads and flower focals made from real flowers.

And last but not least, this little tree has a bee friend and a vintage inspired focal.

Join the team for more tree-inspired goodness:

Jennifer Stout Cameron

Lesley Watt

Jenny Davies-Reazor

Laney Mead

Niky Sayors

Cooky Schock

Cathy Spivey Mendola

Caroline Dewison

And the other guests:

Karin Grosset Grange

Merja Sundstrom

Cindy Martin Shaw

Allison L Norfleet Bruenger

Melissa Trudinger

Kathy Lindemer

Gloria Allen

Shai Williams

Tammy Adams

Mona Arnott

Terry Del Signore

Thanks for stopping by....

Buried Treasure Challenge

One of my very favorite blogs is Art Jewelry Elements.

I love that several of my favorite artists are gathered in one place and share things regularly that inspire me.

Recently Jenny Davies-Reazor challenged everyone to use some of our art bead stash.

This is right up my alley.

2016 is the year I dig into all the things I have been "saving".

This is why...

I have decided this little quote says it all.

So I dug into some beautiful components that Melinda Barnett sent me.

You can find her blog, Bees On Pie here.

I was saving them because they were so pretty.

She had sent these lovely clay disk components so I incorporated them into this necklace that has my hopes for the year.

Each disk is hand-stamped with a quality or characteristic like honesty, courage, peace, faith, health.

Things we might want or aspire to have or be.

I made a chain of my own wire heart links and added her components.

The two red bar pieces are from Melinda as well.

And then I finished it off with some silk.

I love silk.

I actually increased my stash of silk recently with a big order of luscious colors.

So this necklace will definitely be one of my favorite pieces this year.

I used components made by a dear friend.

I love the overall design.

It has my hopes for the year.

And it is a reminder to use the things you love.

I also made one more piece for the challenge.

This bracelet also uses a focal from Melinda Barnett.

I believe this one is made from paper clay. 

 It is very light and wearable.

I added my wire links and some silk that I hand dyed.

So that is a great beginning for a new year.

I hope you make something gorgeous with pieces you love as well.

Thanks for stopping by....