Bead Soup Blog Hop Tour

I hope you've been following along with the Bead Soup Blog hop this week, if not you can catch up here.  Tomorrow Lori is giving away her grand prize - so don't wait!

I was so honored when Lori asked me to participate in the Bead Soup book.  I always feel a bit like a loving Grandma when I see Lori's success of the blog hop and her book.  You see, it was this little post that Lori mentions in her book that sparked her idea.  Do you know my greatest thrill in life is to inspire others to be creative?  I feel like my little seed planted all those years ago grew into something pretty amazing that has inspired a whole community of beads.   Thank you Lori!

Above was the soup that I sent in, which ended up in the very talented hands of Cindy Wimmer.  You can read about her creation and see a sneak peek here.

This is the yummy helping of soup that Nan Emmett of Spirited Earth sent to me.  I'm a big fan of Nan's, so I was excited to get something so earthy and delightful.  I named my project Vegetable Garden Soup because the colors reminded me of juicy tomatoes, potatoes and zucchini.  The bee adds a nice narrative to the garden story of the design. 

I was a little worried that maybe my design was too simple, it uses a basic wire-working technique.  But just like with the recipes that are your favorite, some recipes are easy and great for everyday and some recipes are tricky like souffles and baked Alaska.  I hope this project inspires that fun and easy everyday feel that readers can borrow again and again for their inspiration.  I loved it when Sandra Young sent me a link to her blog post showing off her design inspired by my project.  Mission accomplished!

That metaphor of a recipe collection that spans from simple and everyday to elegant and decadent - that pretty much sums up the projects in the book.  The creativity of the 26 beaders that participated in the book stuns me.  I love that Lori broke down the creative process of designing that you could use when working with your bead mixes.  This book is a heaping serving of inspiration and highly recommend it!

My prize that I'm giving away this week - a $30 gift certificate to Humblebeads.com. (this is for my website only)  To enter to win leave a comment below. I'll pick a winner on Friday, October 12th.

Click here to read the details and join along!