"Sunshine Lotus" Earrings Tutorial in Wirework Magazine Spring 2015

It's here, it's HERE! Did you receive your copy?! I'm so excited that our "Sunshine Lotus" earrings tutorial is in the latest Wirework Magazine for Spring of 2015! I will be listing the pair that was featured in the magazine in my Genea C-K jewelry shop soon. Keep an eye out for that ;) So where can you get all of these wonderful supplies to make these amazing earrings?

Genea Beads- Spiral Earh Stones "Sunshine Peach" , Starry Road Studio- Hammered Copper Hoops 

Wooly Wire Etc.- "Sunrise" Wooly Wire, Miss Fickle Media- Copper Ball Headpins.

Now let's take a step backwards and see where this design originated...

Do you remember these earrings that I created for the 8th  Bead Soup Blog Party? I used these gorgeous polymer clay hearts by Jael's Jewels, Copper hammered Rings from Starry Road Studio, and Wooly Wire from Wooly Wire etc. I called this design "Loving Lotus Rays". 

Here is what the earrings look like worn. They are super LONG and look very large due to all of their negative space. They are actually very light weight for their size :) 

The next pair that I created I made for my friend, Melissa. She was going through chemo at the time and starting to lose her hair. I thought I would make her  a FABULOUS pair of earrings to take her mind off of her hair. Her favorite colors are ivory and orange so I used my Spiral Beach Stones "White Sands" beads and the "Sunrise" Wooly Wire. 

I was really quite taken by this wooly wire so I decided to pair it with my Spiral Earth Stones "Sunhine Peach" beads and the "Sunshine Lotus Ray's" earrings were born! My good friend and fellow bead maker, Cassie Donlen had told me that Wirework Magazine was taking submissions. So I hopped on over and submitted my beauties. They were accepted and published as the "Sunshine Lotus" earrings you see below :D

I would LOVE to see your creations with this tutorial! So please feel free to e-mail me or stop on by my page on facebook to share!

Thanks so much for stopping by! 

xoxo Genea

P.S. If you are wondering what Leeloo's doctor results were you can check my comment at the bottom of my last blog. xoxo

Jael has received her soup!

Hello friends!

Well Jael has received her soup so I will post photos of what I sent! 

I like doing themes when I send soup so I did a Sea Urchin theme. The sea urchin themed beads are one of my most fantastical glass beads and are also on the cover of the current issue of Bead Design Studio March/April 2014! I figured this was the way to go with my soup this time around!

So here are the beads: Silvered fossil spacers- a new glass color I picked up wrapped in a gorgeous silvered ivory band. This is a new design and I loved it so well I used the same base for the NEW "Rainbow Urchin Silver Sand" Wing Dings! I create them specifically for this soup cause Wing Dings on their own are awesome, but add an urchin and they are just out of this world! It wouldn't be complete without one of my "Ocean Urchin Egg" focals and a "Rainbow Urchin" clasp! Jael's clasp is a button style clasp. I had this base prepped so I thought I would try out a button style as well. It turned out awesome so I may make more in the future. You can't have an entire set of  urchin beads without a glass headpin so I created the "Ocean Urchin" "Innies" and "Outies" style headpins. I just love this collection of beads! I can't wait to see what Jael does with it!

I also sent along some of my favorites! I sent a few colors of recycled sari silk, some cable chain from rings & things, and of course, Raku Wooly Wire that was made especially to match my raku beads :D!

You can check out her post about her soup she received from me here. I didn't click a ton of photos of the entire soup as I wanted to rush it out in the mail, but Jael took some wonderful photos of opening her soup! 

I can't wait to receive my soup from her and will post when it arrives in the mail :D

See ya soon!

xo Genea

Bead Soup Blog Party 8- My partner Jael Thorp from Jael's Art Jewels!

Hello friends!

Bead Soup Blog Party 8 is upon us! Meet my partner, Jael Thorp of Jael's Art Jewels!

Meet Jael!

She makes the most amazing polymer clay creations!

Check out her GORGEOUS "Mandala Style Doodle" hearts! These are some SEXY beads huh? HUBBA, HUBBA! ;)

Check out these beautiful face tiles! They look like little boards of wood embellished with a flower sun looking face!

I just LOVE these bezel set pieces as well! LOVE the hearts and love the wonderful flow of the circular and rectangular pieces in the middle row. They are all gorgeous!

I am really lucky to have such a talented partner!

You can check our her Artfire shop here.

I can't wait to see the serving of soup she sends my way!

Stay tuned!

xo Genea

Lori Anderson- Amazing People that Enrich Your Life

Hello friends!

Today I want to tell you a story about how Lori Anderson has enriched my life. If you don't already know her she is the master mind behind the Pretty Things Blog and the Bead Soup Blog Party. I first met Lori through the BSBP. I have the privilege of being paired up with these amazing artists through this super creative and fun hop: Mary Harding, Gail Vanderster-Zwang, Heather Powers. 

Lori is an amazing person. She brings creative people together. I can't even imagine how hard it must be to, time after time, do these GIANT blog hops for all of us to come together an enjoy. She is a creative soul and fantastic designer. I had the pleasure of seeing some of Lori's amazing designs when I participated in her Cup of Bead Soup.

One of Lori's designs using beads from my cup of bead soup. 

Lori's bracelet created from my cup of bead soup.

So when I talk about her "bringing people together" I have her to thank for bringing one of my beady besties and me together. Staci and I met through the first BSBP in which  I participated. We loved each others beads immediately and messaged to tell one another. That message turned into a trade, which was the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

These were the very first beads Staci and I traded. 

This first little sprout flourished into a more branches and leaves that bloomed into a collaboration.

That collaboration grew into doing a HUGE bead show together. Staci and me at Bead Fest Philly 2013.

I just love this girl to bits! I am so lucky to call her my friend and it's all because of YOU, Lori!

It was so nice to finally meet you at Bead Fest! To be able to thank the person that has enriched my life and connected me to this amazing group of artists I call friends. Thank you for everything you do Lori! We love you girl!!

To see how Lori has enriched others around her check our our post in Bead Soup Cafe. Stop by and tell Lori how she has changed your life!

xo Genea

5th Bead Soup Blog Party Reveal!- Genea Beads and Humble Beads

Hello friends! 

Wow can you believe today is the reveal date?! Me either! Well I will attempt to keep this short as I know there are a bagillion blogs to see(ok so not really a bagillion ;)

Heather sent me not only one amazing helping of soup, but 2! One was my challenge set with more muted colors and the other was some gorgeous bright colors!

 

Here was the first set of soup I received from Heather. I worked on my challenge set first thinking it was only fair ;)

These earrings came together quickly and easily. I even used the ribbon she had tied up my soup packages with. Why leave anything to waste? ;)

Well I must say my soup sure did give me a challenge. I muddled with a design for quite a few days.

 

I got stuck here. I really wanted to use this gorgeous heart focal with a bird on  a nest, but it was just so small and delicate against the clasp and the other beads in the necklace. 

I had planned on using the larger winter bird and egg to create some sort of simple necklace with just those 2 beads and some branch or nest as the focal. Hmm... I pulled out my wire and began to wrap, and wrap, and WRAP....

 

I fashioned this lovely wire nest and wove in some feathers. I strung on my dove and created a wire bail! My focal piece for my design!!

 

Here is is on white. It was really hard to get a great shot since each piece is light and dark so no background was really fitting. This photo doesn't even really do it justice at all for how AMAZING it is!

 

I just love the way everything turned out. These soft muted colors remind me of how things look outside now. It's these soft muted colors of the remnants of winter and the promise of spring :) 

 

Here you can see the finished necklace with the earrings from above!

Soup helping number 2!

 

Ahhh nice and comfortable! BRIGHT COLORS. Now the tealish turquoise is definitely one of my favs, but this ruby pink, although not one of my go to colors, is totally gorgeous! I just love these 2 colors together! I was excited about this set because for one, it was easier and I had a lot more bead sin my bead box to match ;)

 

Here you can see my necklace in the works. I wanted to create another incredible piece with these beauties so I decided to say on that nature theme by creating a wire woven wreath as a connector for the center of the necklace! I also wanted to incorporate some feathers into this design. I took my nice large egg and placed into into this gorgeous flower cup, a few feathers and DONE!

Here is a close-up of the Heather's willow pendant bead and my wreath. I wove in feathers, and wrapped on some leaves and flowers :D I'm so excited for just how well everything worked out and how GORGEOUS it turned out!

BUT... these colors inspired to make some designs to match. I added some of my "Cream Rainbow Ribbon" spacers to start and decided to create some other beads to add to the design.

 

Here are the beads I created to match. See how well this color glass matches Heather's bead on the right? I just love this Creation is Messy color called, Mermaid. It's a wonderful blue teal! I even did some etching and shiny stuff with these beads to better match the color of Heather's branch beads! So much fun! You can read more about how these designs came about in this post.

 

I also dabbled in this wonderful ruby pink glass to match those other fantastic willow beads Heather sent. I got on a roll so I made some extras for my shop as well.

 

So after the creation of my matching beads, away I went adding them into my design. I even used the ribbon Heather used to tie up this soup as well! Why let such pretty ribbon go to waste?!

 

Here you can see a lovely close-up of the flower cup with the egg and feathers inside :D I just love how the gorgeous Czech glass beads heather sent go so well with my lampwork beads and her gorgeous work as well!

 

The finished necklace! *GASP* OMG, isn't it BEAUTIFUL?! Do you ever look at a piece after you have created it and can't believe that YOU made it? Yep, that's what both of my soup pieces felt like!

 

What is a gorgeous necklace without some matching EARRINGS?!

Well I hope you enjoyed reading about the creation of my Bead Soup jewelry!

I want to thank Heather for her very generous soups, for all of the love and care that went into her packaging and presentation of her works, and for very sweet messaged through out this last party!

A huge thank you to, Lori as well for putting on these wonderful hops, and connecting us with such wonderful partners and wonderful participants!

Here is the soup I sent Heather! Now that you have seen what I created, please stop on by her blog to see what incredible creation she has made!

 

Love Heather's soup beads? I will be adding beads like her soup beads in my shop as we speak!(11:15pm)

Want to see what everyone else created? Please stop by and see the other BSBP artists by visiting Lori's page here!

Thanks for stopping by! Happy Hopping!

xo Genea

Bead Soup inspired beads in the shop!

Hello friends!

Well I am super excited about my new designs for the 5th Bead Soup Blog Party! I got to creating some wonderful beads for my designs and thought I would make some extras to share!  I even got into some ACID! Well maybe not the type that first comes to mind ;) I think you will just LOVE my new gooides, I know I do!

Here are the soup beads from Heather that inspired me for this new run of beads. 

Ok so you are confused as to why I'm sharing my bead inspiration here instead of on reveal day? Well you all know I am a details person and on the hop day my posts tend to get really long with details. I figured I would break it up this way and share about the beads now and the finished designs for the post date in an attempt to keep my blog short(ha ha).

 

Here is used our lovely transparent hot pink glass, Rubino Oro(Ruby Gold). I did the stripey design first, but it was too design oriented and Heather's beads are much more organic in style. I did my "Dersert Serpent" design since I thought it would be a lovely compliment to Heather's soup beads. 

Now here is where the excitement comes in. I loved the Hot pink above for my design, but in my opinion it's not so pretty etched. So I picked out of my very FAVORITE Messy glass colors, Mermaid. If you zoom in on the pic you can see the difference in shiny and etched. Oh and did you notice that the bubble button dot is SHINY?! >:D  Heather's teal bead is this cross of turquoise and teal so I knew that Mermaid was my color choice since it's also a teal, but more on the blue end.  I thought I would etch the glass to get it closer to matching Heather's beads. 

I love the mix of shiny and matte so I put a layer of nail polish over the bubble button dot to protect it from the etching acid. You let the polish dry, etch the bead and then remove the nail polish. VIOLA! Shiny and etchy bead = SUPER SWEET!

So that leads us to the new goodies in the shop!

 

Desert Serpent Jewel- Ok so this one was actually inspired by my bead swap with Staci of Artisan Accents.  Back for our bead swap she asked if I made the "Desert Serpent" beads in a focal size. Oh, well no, but that's a great idea! So here it is, only with a Jewel dot center :D

 

Desert Serpent Jewel "Tourmaline"- Can't decide? Love "little bits". Well here ya go! A little of everything in matte and shiny!

Speaking of Tourmaline, did you see the bracelet Malin made with my wing ding in tourmaline colors?

 

Pretty huh? :)

Desert Jewel "Mermaid" Mmmm yummy matte and shiny! So pretty!

 

Desert Serpent Jewel "Mermaid"- Focal size! Woo hoo!

 

Desert Serpent Jewel "Mermaid" set. "normal" size lentils in a set of 3. Yummo! 

Well I suppose I should get going. Mom has been patiently waiting to go on a walk with me today. It's so beautiful and sunny outside and in my basement room it's FREEZING! Time to go thaw in the sun! See you soon!

Thanks for stopping by!

xo Genea

Soup Received!

Hello friends!

I bet you are super excited to see what I received from my BSBP partner, Heather Powers!

My dad handed me my package that came in the mail from Heather. I snatched it out of his hands and proceeded to tear into the package. I realized I should snap some pictures as I excitedly tore through the package so I grabbed my camera and snapped and layed things out in the island in my parents kitchen.

 

As you may know I am a sucker for details. I loved the cuttle little doodle Heather drew on the outside of my envelope :)

 

Inside the package were these lovely little brown paper bags tied with lovely ribbons and a card.

 

Awww how sweet! A lovely handmade card celebrating Heather's home town <3 The card is by Lief Design.

Inside the card Heather's note revealed that in the contents of the gray ribbon package was my "stretching my color palette" challenge in muted and pastel color scheme.

 

Here is a shot of those cute little paper bags. Remember, I'm a sucker for details and cute organizational packaging. I was at Michael's the other day and found these lovely little bags for sale! I was tempted to pick some up, but decided to pass them by. I believe it was a set of 25 bags for like $2-3 bucks(if you decide you need some!) ;)

 

These were the treasures I found in the first little brown bag! WOW! They are even more amazing in person(which is usually the case since pictures can never truly capture art works awesomeness!)  Just look at all of the lovely little details in the beads! The top rounds and barrel bead are made with canes and the flower pendant looks like it was maybe pressed, carved, sanded and painted! So awesome! I'm just so impressed with Heather's unique and amazing style!

 

Upon opening the next 2 little brown bags I found these other treasures! A very beautiful heart bead with a bird sitting on a nest with an egg, a feather, bird and speckled egg in the top right corner. In the bottom left corner a wonderful selection of smoky quartz rounds, lucite flowers, pressed Czech glass rondelles and leaves and a gorgeous sunflower clasp by Green Girl Studios! I think the heart shaped pendant with the bird in the next is my favorite from this set. The details are just incredible and it's so teeny so I am, again, so impressed with Heather's artistic skill! She must have an incredibly steady hand to detail such a wonderful little work of art. The painting on the bead is just lovely too with a wonderful watercolor looking effect for the sky that is a soft blue and green and the bird and nest being a light to darker brown!

 

Here is a wonderful detail shot I stole from Heather's Etsy shop. This is very similar to my pendant. You can find this beauty in her shop here Meadowlark Pendant Midnight Song .

 

Inside my teal ribbon tied bags were these amazing beads! I don't know if you can really tell from the photo, but the beads are a wonderful deep blue turquoise and a very vibrant magenta with some touches of brown! They are SOOOOO pretty! Heather is just so stinkin' talented! 

 

Here are the other beads that were inside the teal ribbon set. Some gorgeous matching pressed Czech glass beads (and acrylic beads from Vintage Meadow Artwork by Heather French) and a beautiful button clasp by Mamacita Beadworks. Heather really has a wonderful eye for color as you can see by her pieces and the complimentary extra beads! 

I decided to dive into my challenge pastel/muted mix first! I have them happily sitting on my bead mat waiting to be made into something.

HEATHER'S SOUP FROM ME...

Ok so you saw the teaser photo of Heather's bead, but how about we put it into focus?

 

Here is the mixture of beads I sent with Heather's soup. I knew this was WAY outside of her normal colors so I tried to send a lot of little things for her to use in her design since she probably didn't have many of these colors in her bead box. From top left to right: Large lucite hoops and handmade painted plexi glass by Yvonne Irvin-Faus of My ELEMENTS, a mixture of some very colorful fun shaped pressed Czech glass beads from my many bead shop travels(daggers, spades, drops, faceted rounds, and rondelles), a mixture of many sizes of aluminum jump rings, and a wonderful mix of: pixies, 8's, rubber o's and lucite hoops from My ELEMENTS.

 

I sent some of my favs to Heather for her design! You know me and my "little bits," I had to send: a bead-inside-a-bead-hollow focal, a flower heart button, some swirly spacers, wing dings and some spiral pod glass headpins! My girls from our Bead Babe's group on Facebook told me I should really give Heather a challenge and send her beads in my bright colors palette. Apparently the new HOT Pantone color for this year is Tangerine Tango, which looks like a bright orangey coral to me(luckily I have boat loads of an odd lot in just the perfect hue!).

 

Here is a close-up of her bead-inside-a-bead-hollow :)

 

Here is one last shot of the full soup serving!

If you are looking for beads like these I am sad to say that after my moving sale I am pretty wiped out. Don't worry though! My studio is back up and I will begin re-stocking my goodies soon!

Thanks so much for stopping by to  check out our soups! I hope you have fun designing with yours!

See you soon!

xo Genea