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. 

An InLinkz Link-up

Micheals Beading Challenge Blog Hop with a Twist

Are you ready for a big dose of color and bead inspiration? I'm so exited to announce that Lorelei Eurto and I are co-hosting another Michael's Beading Challenge Blog Hop.

And we want you to play along!

Go to your Michael's craft store and buy these beads. This week, for an extra incentive to play along, the Bead Gallery beads are 40% off! There is an extra 25% coupon off even sale items today. Check the coupon page for details.

The bead details:

So here are the rules: 

You must have a blog to participate. It's a blog hop! 

Don't have one but want to start one? Lorelei has a nice ecourse on setting up a blogger blog from start to finish. Get it here. 

Use the beads shown here, and you can add in up to 2 additional bead types to your design. 

And the twist? Let's also support small businesses. 

If you are able, have your +2 types of beads from a beadmaker, local bead store or indie bead seller online. Your +2 beads can be ones you pick up for the challenge or ones in your stash. Make sure you include a shout out to the small business that you are supporting in your blog post.

Create any piece of jewelry you like, with the beads, using your own choice of focal.  If you want to make a necklace, and some matching bracelet and earrings... the sky is the limit.

Choose any design you like, using any technique - that'll be the fun part of the whole thing- to see what different things you can do with these same beads.

Not to worry! If you find similar beads somewhere like Hobby Lobby, go ahead and use 'em.  Seeing what everyone does with similar beads, is half the fun. If you can't find a particular bead strand at Michael's you can substitute a similar one. 

Reveal Date: December 18th

If you want to participate -  Come to my blog the morning of December 18th (reveal Day) and use the Link Up tool to add your blog links. I find this to be the easiest way to keep track of all the participants. So mark your calendars, buy the beads, create beautiful things, and get your blog posts ready for December 18th for a great hop. 

We know it's a crazy busy time of year - use the challenge to make a gift or two. You'll have an interesting blog post and an item checked off your holiday gift list - get two things done at once! 

Please feel free to leave comments on this post, or questions too.

Psst...like that color palette above? Check out the new issue of Step by Step Wire to see my contribution to as the new Color Canvas guru! 

(In case you are wondering, this isn't a sponsored post by Michael's or Halcraft Beads. Just two creative girls looking for a way to connect with our beady friends and share some inspiration!)