Sharyl's Bead Packet Challenge

Here I am with another challenge reveal :-)

This time it is for a challenge my dear friend Sharyl had posted on her blog. Sharyl was curious to see what people with different skills, different design aesthetics and different styles would make out of the SAME set of beads. With this in mind, she picked 5 of us and sent us 16 beads. Enough to make anything at all...earrings, bracelets, necklace, anklet, rings...anything at all. Here's what she sent us:

The rules were quite simple. We needed to use at least two styles of beads she sent us, and then we were free to add whatever we liked to it.

I loved the teardrops. From the moment I saw them! So obviously, those are what I used first. Then to pick the second bead, I needed to decide what I wanted to make. I didn't feel a necklace idea forming. Bracelets are still hard. So I went with earrings.

Ok, one decision made. I glanced into my work-tray and saw a silver chain with a white crystal attached to one end, and a green crystal to the other. Part of another something that never happened, I couldn't remember what it was supposed to be. I decided to use that idea..crystal and chain. And I thought I will experiment using the silver chain, although the beads clearly asked for something brown or antique brass.

Back to picking the second bead...I picked the teal ones. Just like that :-) And then assembled everything together. I liked the design, but the silver tone bothered me. I put it aside, and it stayed that way for a LONG time.

A couple weeks ago, I met with my "crafty" friends at our monthly craft meet. I took this piece along to get an opinion. My friend suggested gold. I was a bit reluctant at first, only because I was trying something unconventional with the silver, and antique brass was my next choice. But she insisted it will look MUCH better than antique brass. I relented and this is what we designed together :-)

She was ABSOLUTELY right! The gold brought out the colors so much better than antique brass would.

While I was making it, my friend said, oh, I want something like this too! So I told her I could have this very pair...and thus this pair got sold during the creation process itself! Then she asked me if I could make her a necklace to go with it as well. Sure, I had all the beads right there, and agreed to do it. She was giving me pointers about what she wanted, all the while making sure it adhered to the rules of the challenge! So very sweet! I told her not to worry about the challenge, since the earrings are enough for the entry. But we did keep that in mind, and added one more bead from Sharyl's packet in the necklace. She wanted something asymmetric, so here's what we came up with. The thirs bead-style is on the chain. The necklace design is completely hers...although she refused to take credit saying it was simply inspired by the earrings.

The photographs do NO justice to this set. The colors just don't look right :( I had given it to her before I looked at the pics I had taken, so I am going to have to live with these. I really need to work on my photography setup and skills!

My friend proudly wore it for her wedding anniversary, which of course makes me beam with pride :-)

I still have a few beads left from Sharyl's packet, hope to use them with something soon!

Thank you Sharyl for hosting this and for sending out these beauties.

Here's the list of all participants, can't wait to see what they have come up with!

Marie-Noel Voyer-Cramp (Skye Jewels)

http://skyejewels.blogspot.com/

Kristi Jaro (Curiosities by K)

http://curiositiesbyk.blogspot.com/

Shirley Moore (Beads and Bread)
http://www.beadsandbread.blogspot.com/

Therese Frank (Therese's Treasures)

http://theresestreasures59.blogspot.com/

Kashmira Patel (Sadafulee) <== You are here

http://sadafulee.blogspot.com/

Sharyl McMillian-Nelson, Host (Sharyl's Jewelry & Reflections) http://www.sharylsjewelry.blogspot.com/