Now, it is my turn!

What a great weekend it has been. 

Lori Anderson of Pretty Things and event coordinator, had this great idea to extend the Bead Soup Party over an 8 day period allowing us to visit with all of the 97 bloggers who took part in the second bead swap party. I have been blog hopping since Saturday, and then again on Sunday having a wonderful time. On weekdays, my day time job gets in the way, but I get back to blog hopping in the evenings!

It has been great to be able to stop and savor the unique soups of all my fellow cooks, and now it is my turn.....

As you already know, Missficklemedia, Shannon is my bead soup swap partner, and here is what she sent me...

Please check my previous posting for the delightful details of the goodies I received from her.

After I recovered from my swoon, I could not take my eyes off the glorious Shibuichi clasp from Green Girl Studios and the stunning Artistic Jasper focal.  I saw it in my dreams. I wanted to capture the warmth and grandeur of the clasp and the beauty and richness of the jasper in my necklace. So I searched my stash of beads and found wine red burgundy freshwater pearls, both round and horizontal stick shaped, then some dark bronzy green round freshwater pearls. I decided to use these darker jewel-tones in my necklace, and here it is....

I also threw in some hand-cut faceted Garnets for an additional sparkle.

And some bronze chain to one side.

The clasp had to come out front, I was not hiding it in the back.

I hope you like it! I am very pleased, no, I am thrilled with it.

Thank you Shannon.

Shannon reveals her creations, yes she made four of them on the 24th, can't wait to see them!

I am saving the other beads I received from Shannon for another time as I did not have the time to make any more pieces for this round of blogging.

But I did make a pair of earrings from some of the beads I received and I am going to give them away to one lucky blogger.

Please leave a comment on this posting and you will be entered in the drawing to win this pair of earrings to commemorate this wonderful 2nd Bead Soup Party.

The earrings are made of pink Rhodonite teardrops and rondelles, brown Chalcedony faceted rondelles and champagne colored round freshwater pearls, all dangling from gold-filled ear wires.

Good Luck and thank you for visiting.

Thank you, Lori for putting together this wonderful event.

Soup, Shannon and Shibuichi

As some of you already know, my Bead Soup Swap Partner is Shannon LeVart aka missficklemedia. Shannon is a multi-talented lady, a wife and mom, who hosts three online shops for her wonderful creations. Her innovative and colorful jewelry components can be seen for sale at missficklemedia.com. Her unique jewelry findings are of hand forged metal and display colorful patinas, her speciality! Her finished jewelry can be found at her shops Slevart and themoonlitforest. Get to know Shannon (like I did) and her creative thoughts better by reading her blog and the interview with her at Beads of Clay. She also is one of the finalists in the Bead Star 2010 contest, check out her entries, and if you have not already voted, now is your chance.

Let me now show you what the mail man brought me from Shannon. The packaging says it all! She is comfortable creating with any medium, hence the name missficklemedia. I felt honored, and a twinge of guilt for my run of the mill packing - sending my goodies in little polythene bags. But the package was well received and she liked my selection and that is all that matters.

And inside was......
a strand of cream freshwater pearls,
some Rhodonite teardrops,
some brown Chalcedony faceted rondelles,
a grand oval focal bead of Artistic Jasper,
and the crown jewel..
a beautiful Shibuichi Sunflower and Leaf clasp from Green Girl Studios. I just about swooned...

I have shopped at Green Girl Studios for their Pewter focal beads and clasps and wondered what Shibuichi was all about. I had never heard that word before I visited GGSs. Having received this clasp, I figured now was the time to find out. Shi-bu-ichi, means one fourth (or quarter) in Japanese. Traditionally this alloy contained one fourth silver (and three fourths copper), hence the name. The Copper oxidizes and creates the beautiful patina, the silver, I understand stays pretty much unchanged. Just magnificent!

Now got to sit down to create...

Thank you, Shannon, I love my stash. Check out what she thinks of my jewelry styling (kind words, indeed) and see what I sent her at her blog. Can't wait to see what she creates!