Micheals Beading Challenge with a Twist Blog Hop Reveal

Welcome to the Micheals Beading Challenge with a Twist! The twist was to support your local bead shop, small bead business or beadmaker with your creations using the above beads from Micheals. I know it's a crazy busy time, so I hope a few of you have decided to join me and play along! I teamed up with my friend Lorelei again for this challenge so head over to her blog and see what she has created! 

So without further ado here are my creations for the challenge. 

First up I created a necklace with one of my bezel pendants of willow branches. It has such a wintry feel and matched the colors of the challenge beads perfectly. I wanted to keep my techniques simple for these projects and what could be simpler than stringing - it's always fun to puzzle out a pleasing design. 

I used a component from Green Girl Studios as my clasp for my twist piece for the necklace. I borrowed a little branch toggle from another GG clasp. One tip: attach your toggle bar with chain or 2-3 jump rings so that your clasp will lay flat and not bunch up on top of your beads. 

At first I thought it was a waste to use such a great clasp in the back, but then I thought "um J-Lo would agree that having some assets in the back can be the best thing in the world!" So I went with the fancy clasp that maybe only the wearer will see, but it makes the necklace! (Does that date me that I thought of J-Lo instead of Kim Kardashian? Perhaps!)

I went with two stands of beading wire to have the double stand of round beads to beef up the design and mimic the roundness of the pendant. I also added a little etched jump ring to the pendant, I thought it needed just a touch of texture there. 

My next design is a bracelet that uses just a few of the beads from the challenge and my "Twist" beads are a lovely set of ceramic beads from White Clover Kiln and a two of my polymer clay beads. 

I love how the crackle effect of both of the Michaels beads add an icy feel. If you saw my wintry inspiration that inspired the challenge, I think you'd agree that this piece best captures the feeling of that inspiration photo. Again, super easy design with simple loops of steel wire to link the beads together. 

And my last piece, doesn't really fit with the challenge since I just used one bead, but what the hey. It's my party so I will break the rules. The earrings feature lampwork beads from Gardanne and my polymer clay disks. I made some tiny tassels from brass chain. 

So that's what I created, I can't wait to see what other bloggers have created. Add you link with the InLinkz tool below. 

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