December Monthly Blog Tour

"Architecture is a visual art, and the buildings speak for themselves."

~ Julia Morgan, architect, best known for her work on the Hearst Castle

There are buildings that just speak for themselves. The Chrysler Building in New York City is at the top of the list. The classic art deco style and the strong geometric patterns are so beautiful and iconic.

This month's challenge brought out the inner-architect in each of you. Building a stunning structure with plays on pattern and color, you wow us with your ability to translate the inspiration art each month and morph it into something completely unique and one-of-a-kind-you!

First up, Miss Shannon Chomanczuk of For My Sweet Daughter (above) turned a lovely button with an architectural fluted flair into a stunning pendant. I never would have thought to do that! And the grays with flashes of blue really play up the steel cladding on the Chrysler.

Mary Ellen of Bee Tree by m.e. really had to challenge herself and make a piece that was more geometric than free-form and no flowers! But what a stunning collar desing you made! This will be perfect to ring in the new year as it looks just like the Chrysler building crown all lit up.

Playing up the brilliant blue sky are the lampwork glass beads that Katherine of Catherine's Dreams. These beads with the classic combination of turquoise and black really work with the silver chain and accents.

Jill Palumbo (above) is learning to speak Spanish, so her tutorial on how she made this beautiful polymer clay pendant and matching earrings is written entirely in Spanish! The steps she went through to make the details is outstanding. Now that is what I call talented multi-tasking!

Miss Molly Alexander of Beautifully Broken Me got her inner steampunk Diva on with a unique design of metalwork echoing the terraced windows on the structure. Molly stamped and patina-ed and etched and soldered and wire wrapped her creation. The detail in this piece is amazing.

Bringing to life the hood ornament gargoyles on the building, Pamela of Klassy Jools made those details come to life with her stunning pendant design.

I love versatility. Cece Cormier (above), aka The Beading Yogini, has created a clever necklace with lovely blue gear shapes that she created herself from borosilicate glass (when can I buy some of these, Miss Cece?). This necklace can be worn several ways making it a truly functional piece of art.

Representing a classic American icon was no trouble at all for Miss Lynda the SCDiva. She used the filigree setting and the cathedral beads with their silver caps to mimic the art deco lines of the structure. And nothing is more American than Uncle Sam, right?

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From all the ABS Editors, I would like to take this opportunity to thank each and every one of you.

The reason that we do this is to inspire others to find the joy of self-expression in creating, to share our passion for working with art beads, to bring together creative souls in a like-minded community.

But you give us so much more.

You show us innovation and inventiveness.
You exhibit an awesome attention to detail.
You introduce us to new products and talented art bead artists.
You show us how one little spark of inspiration can be turned into as many varied ideas as there are people reading this blog.

For this, we thank you.

If you have joined us for a challenge this year, you know how creatively freeing it can be. We invite you back to join us in sharing your talents. If you haven't yet jumped in to join the challenges, we sincerely hope that you might join us in 2012. There will be many wonderful sparks to your creativity to come. We wish you the most creatively inspired new year!