Saturday, March 3, 2012


Welcome to the March 2012 Bead Soup Blog Party!


It's a Bead Soup Blog Party?

 Each is paired up with another jewelry designer and tasked with sending a focal and clasp.
Using the focal and the clasp was mandatory, but we could use anything from our own stash to round out the rest, and choose to use the coordinating beads or not.

I was partnered with Molly Alexander ~ So funny that right after I received my pieces from here, I opened my BEAD TRENDS and saw she was the featured Artist last summer ~ It was nice to get to know her work a bit better. I hope you'll hop over to see what she created wit h my pieces ~ So excited I'm sure it will be truly amazing. Here's her post and blog ~ Click here
I received wonderful a hand beaded soul pendant and clasp which I totally love~ 



As well as Artisan glass beads and pretty little pink flower beads ~
I used a bit of everything in this design ~ 

I wanted to design around the Pendant..."soul" The first thing I thought of is "Hey Soul Sister by Train really liked the idea.  

I created the "Hey" bail in copper as well as the the sister link ~ 

The clasp is so beautiful...I almost hated to use it in the back 

I created wire wrapped florettes to add some interesting shapes  ~ I'm excited to create more of these! 

I dangled 3 little pink flower beads for each of my kids and one on top for my sister ~ 

This was a first.....tube riveting ~ Got it right on the first try....I love this and will wear it all the time ~ 
A GIVEAWAY!
I hope you comment to be entered to win this beautiful necklace ~ 
Share on your blog, facebook or tweet for extra entries 
Winner will be chosen next weekend ~


Thanks Molly and Lori ~ Had fun creating! 

Please take some time to check out Lori's blog, Pretty Things, as well as the other participants in this blog hop:

Hostess, Lori Anderson Special Book Sneak Peeks, Cindy Wimmer 

1.  Adlinah Kamsir (Singapore) and Hajer Waheed(Kingdom of Bahrain)
2. Adrienn Lukacs (Hungary) and Agata Grygiel(Poland)
3.  Agi Kiss (Hungary) and Carolien Muller-Genger(the Netherlands)
4.  Agnes Asztalos (Hungary) and B.R. Kuhlman
7.  Alicia Marinache (Canada) and Dita Basu
15.  Bonnie Coursolle (Canada) and Fay Wolfenden(Canada)
16.  Carmel McGinley (Australia) and Tracy Stillman(Australia)
21.  Cheryl Brown (Canada) and Diana Ptaszynski
22.  Christina Stofmeel (the Netherlands) and Eva Kovacs (Hungary)
24.  Cilla Watkins (Canada) and Elaine Robitaille(Canada)
25.  Sabrina Straub (Switzerland) and Kathy Combs
32.  Dee Elgie (UK) and Joanne Lockwood (UK)
33.  Dian Hierschel (Germany) and Eniko Fabian(Austria)
34.  Diane Cook and Lyn Foley
35.  Donna Bohler and Lisa Lodge
37.  Doris Stumpf (Germany) and Eszter Czibulyas(Hungary)
39.  Elke Leonhardt-Rath (Germany) and Marjolein Trewavas (UK)
41.  Erika Nooteboom (the Netherlands) and Giorgia Rossini (Italy)
42.  Erin Grant and Jean Wells
43.  Evelyn Duberry (Canada) and Gaea Cannaday
45.  Ginger Bishop (military, Okinawa) and Martina Nagele (Germany)
48.  Helene Goldberg (Australia) and Karen Vincent
54.  Joanna Matuszczyk (Poland) and Julianna Kis(Hungary)
55.  Joanne Tinley (UK) and Michaela Pabeschitz(Austria)
57.  Karen Hess and Linda Landig
65.  Kristina Johansson (Sweden) and Penny Neville(Canada)
66.  Krisztina Erlaki-Toth (Hungary) and Nicole Keller (Germany)
67.  Lara Lutrick and Lisa Suver
68.  Laura DeMoya and Lisa Hanna
 72.  Lisa Liddy and Marion Simmons
76.  Lori Finney (Canada) and Marie-Noel Voyer-Cramp (Canada)
78.  Marta Kaczerowska (Poland) and Milla Starchik(Canada)
81.  Melinda Orr and Molly Alexander (you are here!)
83.  Michelle Jensen and Sandra Young (Canada)
84.  Nan Emmett and Nicole Valentine-Rimmer(Canada)
87.  Pam Hurst and Rebekah Payne
89.  Rebecca Anderson (UK) and Lori Anderson
92.  Rosa Maria Cuevas (Mexico) and Tejae Floyde
93.  Sabine Dittrich (Germany) and Sally Russick
95.  Shanti Johnson and Tracy Mok (Canada)
97.  Sonya Stille and Traci Zeller (Canada)
98.  Stefanie Teufel (Germany) and Tania Hagen(New Zealand)
100.  Terri Wlaschin and Wendy Blum

87 comments:

kristibasket said...

Ohhh I love Love Love that necklace and ring!! Just my style, full of color, and beautiful!! :)

liz hopkins said...

Sweet!! The colors are great!!!

Cece Cormier said...

Great necklace!

horimarika said...

Such a great job again! Melinda, I really love your work and style!

Beetique said...

Everything looks so good. You're so talented. I love copper too.

Ashleigh Becker said...

That ring is awesome! Love the necklace too! Your new Patinas are fantastic!

CS said...

Love the necklace and the song. Very creative use of the pieces and using the song as inspiration to come up with a great piece!

The ring is very cool! Hope you will do a tutoria.l on the technique

Michelle W said...

Ooooohhhhhhh! I love the design of the necklace! I love the idea of hanging 3 beads down for each of your kids. The ring is neat as well, I really like the copper on top.

Unknown said...

Oh Melinda I am truly jealous that you were paired up with Molly. She is a spectacular artist and so sweet. I know you made her proud by totally rockin out this soup!!!!!

Mary Harding said...

Wonderful necklace. Love the Music connection and how you created those pieces to go with it.

Pam Chesbro said...

Wow, coolest ring! Love your creations and your use of your fine soup.

KristiBowmanDesign said...

Fabulous creations Melinda, love them and the giveaway necklace too!!!!!!!

rockcreekcreations said...

I love what you did with your bead soup. I especially like how even though the colors she sent would go very well with your patina, you stayed outside of that box. I love the simple copper pieces paired with the focal.

moonlitfantaseas said...

I really love your soul sister necklace!

Anonymous said...

I am digging the soul sister necklace. Really like the colors in the ring as well. I'd love to win the pretty necklace for the giveaway!

elisabeth said...

Great necklaces and love the ring - how fun!

beautifullybrokenme said...

Melinda, I absolutely love your soul sister necklace! The florettes add so much whimsy and texture to the piece. My favorite part of the necklace is the dangling flowers representing your children and your sister, making this such a personal treasure.

The ring is amazing, and I am going to sit down and figure out how to make one for myself!

Thanks for being a wonderful soup partner!

:) Molly

Moobie Grace said...

Goodness, that pendant is awesome...and your necklace design is spot on!! I have to say, that gorgeous blue ring is calling my name!

Hazel Ward said...

Great use of those yummy, fresh colours, and the whole mix of all those different elements and textures is wonderful. (The ring is amazing too!)

(I'm not entering the giveaway btw...I just wanted to comment on this lovely piece :D)

Ann said...

Great textures and colors. I like the story that goes with it too.

Tanya said...

That is just gorgeous. I Love the colors and the wire work. I can't wait to see what you do with that idea in the future.

Cindy Cima said...

Love the focal and toggle clasp you received! The necklace you made with them is great! Love that ring!!
The giveaway necklace is really cool too!

Michelle said...

OH I love the color of that giveway pendant! The way you used it really says "you must have me..
you must have me... you must have me" lol
Your bead soup piece is outstanding too!

Regina said...

I can understand why you did not want to hide the toggle in the back, it is beautiful, and so is the focal. great design, lovely colors. Love it!

Anonymous said...

Fabulous necklace and I love the ring too. The blues and coppers just sing together.

Tracy said...

I love the vibrancy of the primary colours in your necklace design, and the riveted ring is incredibly cute. Beautiful work! :)

Unknown said...

What a great set of bead soup!

Susan Marling said...

You did a great job with the necklace - so much to look at in it!! I am a ring junky so I loved that too. Great work.

rmar261783@aol.com

Susan Marling said...

You did a great job with the necklace - so much to look at in it!! I am a ring junky so I loved that too. Great work.

rmar261783@aol.com

Lori Anderson said...

Awesome! I love the stamped pieces (and the idea behind them) and you did a marvelous job! I love your giveaway piece, too!!!!


I hope you'll join me again in the summer!

Baking Beads in the Keys said...

Melinda: This is rocking gorgeous!! So many hand created beautiful beads and components it in, I hardly knew where to fix my eyes.

Alice said...

A gorgeous, colorful and playful necklace! I love the clever 'hey' bail and the 'sister' metal link. Your ring is terrific! I'd love to learn how to make them someday. I'd also like to win the lovely necklace!

Marie Cramp said...

I need to learn how to make those flowers! Love that!! Everything you made is wonderful as always. I am completely in love with that ring!!

Jenn said...

I love that interesting and beautiful necklace and all the other pieces you made. So beautiful! Looking forward to watching your work in the future.

Anonymous said...

I LOVE the ring! Great job! Suzette

Patti Vanderbloemen said...

Your work is so freakin' amazing! You are a wizard in the workshop! I truly cannot find the words ... so creative! Love it all!

Lori Bowring Michaud said...

Nice twist incorporating the stamped metal pieces in the necklace, Melinda. Lovely piece!

SwallowtailJewellery said...

Beautiful necklace, love the pendant and toggle. Love all the copper accents and the ring is gorgeous :)

lunedreams said...

Wow I love what you do with wire. Love how you wrapped the beads in this piece! Love the deep teal blue with the goldenrod and olive--and then the little pop of berry! Just the right hint of sweetness. Those florets are genius. The seed beaded elements added a really nice changeup in texture to the whole piece. Sweet soup, really strikingly cooked up!

Wendy said...

Really creative and unique designs! Love the colors and how you combined all of the different elements!

Alpha-Mom said...

Oh, I love Train! How wonderfully fun that you created that first necklace by playing off that song. And those little symbolic dangles was so touching and perfect. Wonderful soup!

Karyn B
http://plussizebangles.com/blog

Metal Me This said...

Beautiful necklace, Melinda. And I love the ring!

Shyme said...

Beautiful necklace! Love when words/messages are incorporated!

adlinah said...

Well done on that tube riveting! The ring looks great! You made some really fun pieces with your bead soup.

Linda Younkman said...

Love what you did with your pieces. The stamped copper piece is really cool. Great color combo.

MoonRae said...

So many beautiful colors!!so many beautiful pieces!! I'm quite inspired by all you wonderful artisans!
Thaks so much for sharing with us
~Sharon~

Cory said...

Love the necklace, but I want the ring...Great colors and textures.

vonna said...

Melinda, how pretty and you added such a touch of fun and whimsy with your copper stampings! Perfect!

Cathie Carroll said...

That ring is gorgeous and your wrapped flowers are adorable.

I want!

Joanne said...

I love that song too! And I love your designs. Truly inspired :) x

Anonymous said...

I love these, Melinda! There are so many interesting design elements. The wire wrapped florettes are very cool and add a lot of visual interest. I like how you personalized the sister link you made, with flowers representing your children and your sister. The colors are so vibrant. Everything about it is so delicious!

Chelles said...

I love the stamped "sister", such a great addition to the mix. And wrapping those beads into a flower shape - genius!

Giorgia Rossini said...

I love what you did from your soup!
ciao dall'Italia

Jennifer Cameron said...

Amazing gorgeous pieces Melinda! Love them and love the sentiment of the necklace. I would wear that ring all the time too.

la mar de bonita said...

Melinda, I love your design! The mixture of several materials gives it a very special charme!

Anonymous said...

Woo hoo a ring!! I love it! I make wire rings and I am excited to see someone else make one. I have some soup that I need to finish working on and I think one of my beads needs to be a ring! The necklace is so unique. The florettes, the stamping, just everything is so detailed!

Off the Beadin' Path said...

So interesting to see how you designed with someone else's components!! Excellent outcome, just beautiful, the colors play well together with lots of energy! Thanks for chance to have that gorgeous giveaway Necklace, too!

Kathleen Lange Klik said...

Oh my goodness, the necklace is so much fun. So many artistic elements! I really like your wire work, especially where you created flowers by connecting beads together, so clever. I really like the colors, textures and flow of the design. Love the ring too :) Great work!

Jean A. Wells said...

I love your necklace. I especially love those green flowers you made. They are beautiful. Great job!

Brittany Kuhlman, COC, CPC, CCC said...

I love all the textures and colors of your necklace! And man, that ring! Totally awesome. ♥

Alicia said...

Melinda, that's such a lovely necklace you've designed there! I love the flowers symbolizing your children and your sister, it makes it personal. I agree it's a shame to hide the clasp to the back - you can always bring it up front (between those 2 flowers will be a nice place) :)

Sharyl said...

Both pieces are just excellent! So many wonderful places for the eyes to land on that necklace. It takes a while to discover all the components. It's just so creative. Love that ring too! It does look like a "wear every day" sort of ring. It would be perfect with everything!

DESPINA said...

Amazing, anti-depressant colors!! I love them!!

DESPINA
deb_oro@yahoo.gr

Joanna-Gloria said...

An amazing job.
I adore the ring and the necklace, spectacular.

Joanna-Gloria, yana_ven@yahoo.gr

SoulsFireDesigns said...

Melinda!!! *gasp* This may be my favorite piece so far! I am in awe, the two of you should work together more often! So inspired! I love that song and it's funny because when I saw the focal it is exactly what I was thinking of too LOL. SO perfect! And that ring is just fantastic!

Mary Anne said...

I love the idea of designing a necklace around the lyrics of a favorite song! Nice necklace, I just love the pendant.

Loris Glassworks said...

Wow, what a fun design and so colorful! I love what you did with your soup ingredients. Cheers!
Lori D.

roomforchange said...

The hand beaded soul pendant and clasp are totaly amazing and I totally love what you made with them.
Fantastic!!

Jean said...

WOW love the beads, the the color, love the wire work, love the copper... did I mention I love it!!

Jean A. Wells said...

I took another look at your necklace and this time I saw things I didn't even see the first time. I just noticed the "Sister" link. That has meaning for me as me and my FIVE sisters (SIX total) are very close. I don't know what I would do without them.

I have blogged about your giveaway on my blog at http://www.jeanawells.blogspot.com.


jeanawells@kc.rr.com

Jean A. Wells said...

Have commented on facebook about your giveaway. I have been trying to upload links on facebook with no luck today. I know, it is terrible. It just won't work!

http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Jean-A-Wells-Handcrafted-Artisan-Jewelry/200195113401272

Maneki said...

Lovely and fun jewellery! I really like the colours and the nice details, like those green wire-wrapped flowers in the necklace.

Pelima Jewellery Design said...

Love... Love ... Love They are gorgeous :)

Kat BM said...

I love your wire and metal work! way to go making the piece yours!

Shai Williams said...

I love that song! And that necklace is righteous sista.

Stacey said...

You work is terrific Melinda!!! I love every bit of it but that ring in my favorite - it is so awesome!!

CraftyHope said...

First off. . .I love that Train song. Secondly, I was curious as to what you would do with Molly's cool pendant and I wasn't disappointed. You totally ROCKED it!! I love how much fun and color you infused into that one piece. As well, your ring is pretty rockin' too!

Rebecca said...

SO beautiful! One of the coolest designs I've seen so far. I love all the seemingly disparate elements you have brought together, they work so well!

Stories They Tell said...

Hey Melinda, your piece is the most inspired I've seen from this BSBP! So imaginative. Every element was carefully thought out and arranged. I love how you brought it from concept through execution -- you told a story-- and so now it's so much more than just a pretty piece. Your handmade elements are so different and interesting. I adore those "florettes"-- I'm going to send you some polymer beads so you can make me some of those! Your metalwork is outstanding. Great, great work!

Elizabeth said...

Wow! What a fabulous focal and I love love what you did with it!!!

Kari Carrigan said...

Love the Soul Sister necklace! It is so whimsical and fun!

Sandi Volpe said...

Fabulous, love the colors!!!

dreaminofbeads / SAS Jewelry Designs said...

I am so amazed at how really ccool your necklace is....I love the idea of it. It is simply stunning!
Sonya

Cornerstoregoddess said...

I'm in love with the florettes.

Lisa Michele Creations said...

Wow...amazing work!

Unknown said...


Thanks for sharing the idea there would be some apprehensions from segment but i am up for it.
Construction Supplies

Unknown said...

All other participants will be offering a giveaway on their blogs and discounts in their online stores.

lifestyle jewelry in Canada

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