Suddenly Spring Blog Hop...

 When I heard that Michelle Mach was hosting another challenge, I jumped at the opportunity.  She has a knack of creating unique challenges that always push my creative thinking.  For the "Suddenly Spring" challenge, she sent out a readymade bracelet that we had to cannibalize and repurpose in our own designs.  The bracelet was strung up on elastic stretchy cording and had bright blue crystals and crystal encrusted rondelles.

I thought this would be a piece of cake.  And for the most part, it was pretty easy to create a design that I was happy with.  However, I did run into some design "issues".  One of them was dealing with the "blueness" of the blue.  It was quite assertive and really stole the show.  I wanted to mute it a bit, but didn't want to sacrifice too much of that vivid spring sky vibe.

I paired the blue crystals with some Picasso finish Czech glass rondelles and colored headpins that I made in a fun fringe of dangles.  The Czech glass helped to add a touch of the green and subtle brown that I wanted to bring in and tone down the "bling" factor.  Even after I added the opaque glass, the crystals were still a little BLUE... so I added a secondary layer of dangles using seafoam-turquoise-colored Czech glass beads.  It did the trick to tone down the blue and tie it into the rest of the piece. For the rest of the piece, I used a slightly more green shade of the Czech glass with the crystal encrusted rondelles for the base of the necklace.  For the toggle, I used a sweet, sterling silver floral toggle that I had here at Allegory Gallery.

 I think what really says SPRING about this piece is the awesome polymer clay pendant from Heather Powers of Humble Beads.  The bird pendant really says it all!  Fortunately, I was able to work with the beads from the bracelet and some additional Czech glass to make them all match harmoniously with the polymer component.

I had a lot of fun working with this challenge and want to THANK Michelle Mach for organizing it!  I know it's a lot of work to put these things on and she did a wonderful job!  Way to go Michelle!

Curious about what the other participants made?  Check it out:

Michelle - Beads & Books [Hostess]

Andrew - The Writing & Art of Andrew Thornton

Christa - Adventures of One Beady Woman

Dita - Alankarshilpa

Donetta - Simply Gorgeous

Erin - Erin Siegel Jewelry

Heather - As I Bead It

Jean - Snap Out of It Jean - There's Beading to Be Done!

Karen - Over the Moon Design

Kate - We Can Make That At Home

Kay - Palm Coast Art

Kim - CianciBlue

Kristina - Wild Roses and Blackberries

Linda - Lindy's Designs

Lisa - Pine Ridge Treasures

Marlene - Amazing Designs by Marlene

Michelle - Reverie & Revival

Pam - The Crazy Creative Corner

Renetha - Lamplight Crafts

Sharyl - Catchenthesun

Terry - Pink Chapeau Vintage Jewelry

Therese  - Therese's Treasures
Pamela - Someday Beads