This year’s Bead Soup Blog Party challenge is all about love & heart!
Lori Anderson – the mastermind behind Bead Soup – designated the theme of this swap to send something treasured to another, to spread the kindness and love, “… to feel like a true giving of the heart. Paying love forward to a person you may not even know.” What a sweet sentiment.
Our partner packages were to be shipped out on Valentine’s day (Was this a coincidence? I think not!)
So, what did I send my partner? A treasured polymer clay Heart focal piece by Anastasia of Dreams & Elements. I knew as soon as Lori announced her theme, that this was the piece – that it fit the theme perfectly – and that it was meant to be passed on …
(and included with the polymer clay heart, were a few other little pieces to help get the creative flow going … some turquoise chips, beautiful wooly wire, twilight cultured potato pearls, tiny pyrite hearts (I sense a trend here!), black & cream lampwork spacer beads by Burnt Glass Studio, vintage tribal tube beads and some vintage khaki glass beads)
Normally I would have written a whole separate post earlier, to introduce my partner Claire Fabian of Saraccino – to tell you that she loves nature, organic textures and found objects – whose style is tribal and has an ancient vibe – that creating helps her de-stress from her day job doing research in Leipzig, Germany – that she creates the most wonderful, earthy, organic pieces (just one look at her instagram feed and you’ll see what I mean!) … and to share what I had received … but unfortunately, her package to me may have opted to take the scenic route for now … to travel around and have an adventure of it’s own … to see what is to be seen in this beautiful world of ours! My hope is that once it has finished it’s walk-about, it will decide to find it’s way here, to it’s new home, and that I can share it with you then.
In the meantime, still wanting to be a part of the party and to play along, I’ve chosen to create some pieces using other items that I have been hoarding for some time … vintage and upcycled coins. They are mostly from around Europe (including some from trips to Germany – where Claire is from), and include some amazing coin beads made by my previous bead soup partner and friend Niky Sayers. Since our pairing in 2014 – I have commissioned Niky a few times, to make clasps for a series of Canadian (and American) penny wrap bracelets, and she has so graciously gifted me special treats (wonderful buttons and beads) along the way – all of which I have collected and admired for years – squirreling them away – waiting for a special moment to use them, and guess what?! This is it! What a perfect opportunity to do them justice. 
I used three of Niky’s coin beads – a Canadian penny, a sweet wren British farthing, and an Irish peacock penny (!) in these colourful tassel necklaces.
Loving the bohemian/gypsy/hippie vibe … I also made a few more necklaces …
… using my old, hoarded coins – German pfennigs, French centimes, a Dutch guilder and a Cuban centavos – doming and hole punching each to create the start of the focal piece.
I handmade each of the tassels using various colours of embroidery floss, and then embellished them all with a mixture of either rhinestones, amethyst beads, moss agate, aventurine, turquoise, copper or seed beads and brass chain to create a little bit of an accent and add to the folksy feel.
I just love all of the bright colours (and apparently, so does my cat, Loco – I actually caught him carrying one off after I had set them all up to be photographed and left to get my camera!)
I have not heard from Claire since she received her goodies, but I hope that she’s had a chance to create – and am really looking forward to what she does with her bead soup mix! Let’s go have a look at her site to find out …
And to see the rest of the Bead Soup participants (and there are A LOT!), have a look at the end of this (our amazing hostess – Lori‘s) post for the full list … or see below ↓↓↓ (you might just want to grab a cup of coffee first, and then sit back, relax and admire all of the awesome creativeness!)
Thank you so much to Lori, for creating, organizing and continuing on with her Bead Soup Blog Party!
Enjoy!
Lori Anderson :: our amazing Hostess
Claire Fabian – that’s my partner
Kristina Hahn Eleniak – that’s me!
