beads by breul

Saturday, March 31, 2012

Colors of Spring Design Challenge

(Novica giveaway announced tomorrow)


Margarita, Cabaret, Sweet Lilac, Drift Wood,
Solar Power, Bell Flower, Starfish,
Cockatoo, Tangerine Tango

What do all of these beautiful colors have in common?

Sally Russick of the Studio Sublime,
that's what.

Sally invited a group of us to play along. 
 We each got to choose what color we wanted and 
she created, enameled and sent them off.

I got my fav, tangerine tango!
And some beautiful turquoise enameled beads also. 

(forgot to take a before picture, so picture something wonderful
in your  mind)

I had to laugh about my color choice because when I look
at my jewelry a huge chunk of it is tangerine and turquoise, or
thereabouts. :) 

Ok, ok, I am rambling. Moving on.
I strung and unstrung, match and unmatched several
times before I hit upon what I wanted to make. 

Here it is.
Antiqued copper chain, yellow czech flowers, Sally's beautiful beads,
one of MissFickleMedia's circle's (love her work) and turquoise czech
flower beads. Throw in a few seed beads and there you have it.


Luscious!



I used the Sally's turquoise cylinder beads and some tangerine
czech flowers for earrings. 

Thank you Sally! This was a blast.

Please visit these other amazing artists to see what they created
for the Colors of Spring Design Challenge.



Host: Sally RussickMargarita
Therese Frank
Kim BenderCabaret
JLynn Jewels
Christine AltmillerSweet Lilac
Cherrie Fick
Jenny VidbergDriftwood
Sabine Dittrich
Hope SmithermanSolar Power
Nicole Rennell
Erin Fickert-Rowland Bell Flower
Patti Vanderbloemen
Kristi BowmanStarfish
Shannon Chomanczuk
Elisabeth AuldCockatoo
Alice Peterson
Donna BradleySodalite Blue
Kristi Harrison
Cilla WatkinsTangerine Tango
Lesley Watt
Maryanne Gross
Susan Kennedy
Courtney White Breul




Posted by Courtney Breul at 7:57 AM 21 comments

Monday, March 26, 2012

A wonderful giveaway!

Happy Monday and what better way to start your
Monday than with a giveaway!

The generous folks at NOVICA have given me a gift certificate to
give to one of you.

Please go to www.NOVICA.com and take a look
at the wonderful items that are there. 
This is a National Geographic site and is so amazing.

I am having a really hard time deciding what to get,
thinking of this though!!!!

So summery and fun!

I will draw a name on Saturday, so please
leave a comment to be entered!

Good Luck

Posted by Courtney Breul at 1:37 PM 16 comments
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Sunday, March 25, 2012

Echo Creative Club

Can you believe it is the third month of this
wonderfulness?

Jeannie of jkdjewelry started this in January
and I was lucky enough to be able to play.

So, this month I got one of her wonderful 
polymer sand dollars.
(I have been drooling over these for a loooong while now)

Love this. 
I knew that I wanted to create something simple and peaceful
while  doing justice to Jeannie's wonderful piece.

I had a good idea of what I wanted, it was just coming up with the
materials needed.  Nothing a quick trip to my LBS wouldn't cure.

Once I had everything, it all came together really 
quickly and I am loving this piece.




Antiqued brass chain, hand wrapped amazonite, czech crystals, green and turq. glass pearls 
along with Jeannie's wonderful polymer sand dollar. It has a simple lobster claw clasp.

Thank you Jeannie, for allowing me to play.

Please visit the below blogs to see 
what amazing pieces the others have created.

Cindy Cima Edwards http://www.cindycima.com
Courtney Breul http://beadsbybreul.blogspot.com - you are here! :)


And of course Jeannie




Posted by Courtney Breul at 8:53 AM 15 comments

Sunday, March 18, 2012

I.Heart.Macro

Flame.

I apologize it has been a full week since I have posted.
Life has gotten in the way.

Please hop over to Lori's blog
to see more macro goodness.



Posted by Courtney Breul at 8:47 AM 8 comments

Sunday, March 11, 2012

I.Heart.Macro


Please hop on over to Lori's blog
to see more macro goodness.

Remember to set your clocks this morning.

Happy Sunday.
Posted by Courtney Breul at 9:21 AM 12 comments

Friday, March 9, 2012

Echo Creative Club

If you are here to view my bead soup please click here.



Now for March's Echo Creative Club
Look what I got from Jeannie


I got a Sand Dollar! 
*jumps up and down*

Ideas are flowing right now!
Posted by Courtney Breul at 5:01 AM 2 comments

Saturday, March 3, 2012

Woo Hoo! It's Soup Time

Can you believe it?
Soup time already! :)

The amazing Lori Anderson of Pretty Things fame
has organized the lot of us again.
200 of us to be exact. And I was lucky enough to
get into this draw.

I was paired with Dana Hickey.
Her work is amazing. The details, the wire work, stunning.

She sent me this amazing coppery goodness.


I love that her blog is called MagpieApproved!
This stash is so sparkly and shiney, perfect for a magpie! :)


Look at the detail here. The wire wrapping, the beads. 
How does she do it? Amazing! 
She must have really good eyes and incredible
patience. 

Now, this particular bead soup was a real challenge for me.
But that is part of why I do this. I like being pushed outside of 
my box, my comfort zone. It is good for me. :)

I love copper, it's one of my new favorite metals.
But for some reason, I just couldn't make anything work.
I got out beads, bought beads, moved beads around my table
(something I am really, really good at).
Strung, unstrung, wrapped, unwrapped.
You get the picture. But at some point, something
just clicked and I  knew exactly what I had to do.
And I did it! :)

I really wanted to do her work justice. 
She took the time to create for me and I wanted to honor that.


Ok, ok. Enough words.
Here it is.



I ended up with chain, glorious chain.

The stunning clasp.

I wire wrapped some red beads, antique lace colored pearls 
and the garnets that Dana sent me into
the various chains.


If you will forgive, I think I ROCKED IT!

Thank you Dana, for your delicious soup ingredients.
And thank you Lori for organizing all of us!


Now, I hope you aren't full because there is so much
more soup to partake of. Whether it is a sip, a cup or an 
entire bowl!

Just look at all the different flavors of soup we get to taste!
Grab your spoon and napkin
(or cup of tea) and enjoy.


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
28.  Courtney Breul and Dana Hickey  You are here!


32.  Dee Elgie (UK) and Joanne Lockwood (UK)
33.  Dian Hierschel (Germany) and Eniko Fabian (Austria)
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)
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)
65.  Kristina Johansson (Sweden) and Penny Neville (Canada)
66.  Krisztina Erlaki-Toth (Hungary) and Nicole Keller (Germany)


76.  Lori Finney (Canada) and Marie-Noel Voyer-Cramp (Canada)
78.  Marta Kaczerowska (Poland) and Milla Starchik (Canada)
83.  Michelle Jensen and Sandra Young (Canada)
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)
Posted by Courtney Breul at 7:30 AM 68 comments
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