Muffin Tin Jewelry Challenge Winner

What's cooking hot stuff?

Obviously a whole lot of creativity and talent were cooking last week.  I threw down a crazy gauntlet of a challenge and our community rose up and blew me away!  At first I wasn't going to do a blog hop type of post for today, because we have our awesome Monthly Challenge blog tour in a few days, but you guys deserve a little link love if you finished this one.  Doing the challenge myself last week, I know what a crazy amount of work went into finishing, especially if you had other things going on. 

So here are the creative bakers:

Confessions of a Bead Hoarder 

Nicole's Jewelry Creations

Grubbi

Tell Your Girlfriends

Jenn Judd Rocks

Beadsong Jewelry

No Stone Unstrung

Krisit Bowman Design

Plus Size Bangles

Elysian Studios

Tropical Blonde

Green Shoot Jewellery Designs

Songbeads

For My Sweet Daughter

Shaterra Clay

ErtheFae's Meandering Thoughts

Sandi Volpe

My Life Under the Bus

Magical Melted Glass

Crafty Hope

Maybe Just Perhaps

SilverRose Designs

ChaoticSkye

Linda's Bead Blog & Meanderings

I noticed that some of you mentioned this helped in the design process and that they would use the muffin method again to help increase their productivity - that's enough to make you want to raid your baking pan cupboard!  I also noticed that several of you took the muffin tin while you traveled and one brave blogger even completed the challenge while moving. 

So I think this challenge accomplished everything I set out to do - inspire, help you narrow down design choices, give you some portability and create a body of work in short amount of time! 

I tip my baker's hat to you - ha, did you picture me with a baker's hat - giving you a little nod?  Or maybe I should curtsy in an apron - either way know that I am very proud of the artists who jumped in last week.

What - you want me to announce a winner?  Well, it just so happens that one has been randomly chosen from all the qualifying entries - SilverRose Designs!!!  Congratulations!  Please email me your address, I have quite an amazing prize to send to you.

Holly finished 12 pieces with a mix of earrings, bracelets and necklaces.  All sprinkled with lot of art beads - love seeing that - and a heaping dose of creativity while stirring in the pot the mix of taking care of her family.

Now, let's go find some real muffins or cupcakes and celebrate while we check out every one's blog posts! 

Muffin Tin Jewelry Challenge

Do you look in your bead stash and want to sit down to create but find yourself overwhelmed by years of purchases and too many choices?  My dear auntie was in need of inspiration for some upcoming shows so I suggested this muffin challenge to her as a way of breaking through being overwhelmed by a stuffed craft room. 

The challenge is simple:

Fill the cup of a muffin tin with everything you need for one project - so the focal bead, accents, chain, findings - whatever you would need to complete one project and put that in one cup.  Repeat with the other 11 cups.  You now have 12 projects in a portable container ready for you to put together.  Grab your pliers/tools and sit somewhere comfy with your muffin tin and put each piece together knowing all your choices have already been made - your mission is to simply arrange those beads in a sassy design and complete those 12 projects as quickly as possible!

So let's play!  Grab a muffin tin and put together 12 projects by June 27th (Midnight CT).  Yes, 12 projects in a week - you can do it!  Take a photo of your muffin tin and one photo of all 12 projects - blog, facebook or add it to a free album like Flickr and share the link below.  On the 28th, I will pick one winner to receive a Bead & Button grab bag from me valued at over $75, it will include art beads and some awesome goodies from the show.

*Addendum - if you complete 6 projects you can enter!

Pictured above are Rosanne's treasures from Bead & Button and include art beads from: Golem Beads, Vintage Meadows, Lisa Peters and Humblebeads.

Color Challenge Winner!

First, thanks to everyone who entered the Turquoise Color Challenge sponsored by Margie Deeb and Humblebeads.  Your creations were amazing and it was fun to see how different everyone interprets the same color palette.

Our grand prize winner is:

Lyn Foley!

Margie commented on Lyn's use of color, "The artist has made this Spring palette dance. Rather than choosing a dominant color, she splashes the entire bracelet with all the palette members. Her choreography alternates between staccato-like dots and undulating squiggles, creating a festive, playful rhythm."

Lyn has won 2 years worth of Color Reports from Margie Deeb and a $50 gift certificate to Humblebeads.com.

You can see Lyn's work on her website, http://www.lynfoley.com/.

We have two other finalists:

Gretchen Coats

Anna Lear

And they have won - bragging rights!  Congrats to our winners and special thanks to our judges:

Marcia DeCoster

Jane Dickerson

Lorelei Eurto

I created a Flickr group with all the entries, you can view them here.

Create on Demand

Some of us like the thrill of a little healthy competition to get the creative juices flowing.  Others just like the chance to win awesome prizes. And some need a deadline to get things done.  Here is a list of upcoming and soon due challenges to get that muse off her rear and at the worktable!

ABS March Monthly Challenge - today by midnight!

ABS Color Challenge Contest - April 1st - tomorrow

Bead Dreams - April 5th

Vintaj April Challenge - Spring Riverbed - April 9th

Beads of Clay Neutrals Challenge - April 16th

BeadStar - April 30th

1000 Steampunk Inspirations book call for entries - deadline June 1st

If you know of any others, please leave a comment and I will add them to the list.  Happy Creating!

(Deadlines button from Allegrae)

Turquoise Color Challenge

We have teamed up with color expert Margie Deeb for a special color challenge contest!  We have three judges who will select a winner based on creativity, aesthetics, use of color, and wearability.  Our judges include Marcia DeCoster, Jane Dickerson and Lorelei Eurto.


Below you’ll see a palette from Margie Deeb’s Spring/Summer 2010 Color Report for Bead & Jewelry Artists.

For the challenge, use the following colors in anything you want, in any proportions you want. An art bead, a bead or component made by an artist or yourself, needs to be included in your design.

Read the guidelines and submission information here.

DEADLINE: April 1st, 2010.

PRIZE: Winner will receive a year’s worth (2) of Margie Deeb’s Color Report for Bead & Jewelry Artists and a $50 gift certificate from Humblebeads.com.
 

Be sure to check out Margie's Spring/Summer 2010 Color Repot for Bead & Jewelry Designers.  See examples of jewelry and color palettes based on Pantone's color forecast in this 23 page booklet.  I love this invaluable resource, it's a great inspiration!

 

About the Judges:

Marcia DeCoster is a popular instructor who teaches all over the world.  Last year she one of Beadwork magazine's featured "Designers of the Year".  She is also the author of Marcia DeCoster's Beaded Opulence.

 

Jane Dickerson is a freelance writer and designer.  You may know her as the former Editor of Step by Step Beads, Creative Jewelry, and Bead Star magazines. Jane is also the author of Chain Style: 50 Contemporary Jewelry Designs (Interweave Press, 2009).

 

Lorelei Eurto is a popular designer, ABS editor and avid blogger.  Her work has appeared in countless magazines and books including Chain Style and Enchanted Adornment.

 

About Margie Deeb:

Artist, designer, musician, and color expert Margie Deeb is the author of several beading books, including the popular The Beader’s Guide to Color and The Beader’s Color Palette. Her color palette book was named the Best Craft How-To Book of 2009 by the prestigious Library Journal. 

 

Visit Margie's website for a wealth of color information and inspiration!

Pull Out the Beads!

You have two days left to enter our monthly challenge.  You could make something fun and funky to wear for Halloween that would do double duty for this month's theme!  Above is a piece I worked up based on the inspiration painting. The deadline is October 31st.

And speaking of challenges, I have a fun one on my blog this week.  It based on The Best of Stringing magazine's Fun with Focals article.  Check out the rules and see this week's assignments.  Play along to win $50 to Humblebeads.com.  Click here for a quick and easy drawing to win a subscription to Stringing Magazine!  Deadline for the challenge and drawing is November 6th.

The Motherlode Giveaway Round-up!

First, let's start with a little book review and a surprise giveaway here at the Art Bead Scene!

Contemporary Copper Jewelry by Sharilyn Miller

Love the look of wire jewelry? Want to learn great metalworking techniques and complex wire-wrapping? Then you'll want to pick up a copy of Sharilyn's newest book.

This book is filled with helpful step-by-step photos for the projects, clear instructions and a great chapter on the basic techniques. The projects are both modern and ancient in influence with beads used throughout the projects. With each project Sharilyn has included extra tips and ideas to take your design to the next level.

I have a copy, compliments of Interweave Press, to giveaway to one lucky winner. Leave a comment to this post for a chance to win. I will draw a random winner on Friday, so don't delay! (Be sure to leave your email address if you don't have a blog, we'll need to be able to reach the winner.)

And now, here is a round-up of blog giveaways that you don't want to miss this week!

*Nancy of Round Rabbit is giving away a ring featuring her ceramic work. Check them out!

*Art Bead Scene editor, Lorelei Eurto is sponsoring a Green Girl Studio giveaway on her blog, ribbit.

*Vintaj has gone prize crazy and will be drawing 5 winners each week and all you have to do is a leave a comment on one of their blog posts during the week. Check out the details here.

*On my blog I have teamed up with Bead Trends to celebrate being their Featured Designer for October. The prizes are a $30 gift certificate to Humblebeads.com and a 6-month subscription to Bead Trends magazine.

Good luck and happy beading!

Use the Muse III

Scarlett Lanson is hosting another round of the Use the Muse design contest.

You purchase this amazing kit that features a surprise "muse" bead that must be incorporated into the design. The muse is kept a secret until the big reveal day. You know we love a good creative challenge and this one not only offers inspiration but a some great beady prizes.

Visit her blog for the details and check out the winners from the last challenge.

Green Girl Studio Winner!

Okay, so you have been waiting all day, right? The winner is Nancy aka BagLady! Congrats Nancy, please email me your address.

A huge thanks to everyone who spread the word, that was by far our most popular giveaway. Not surprising - who doesn't love Green Girl? They go with just everything! And a big thanks to Green Girl Studios for sharing such a great prize with us.

It was wonderful to hear from so many readers who are little shy about commenting. We LOVE comments here on the ABS and we LOVE hearing from our readers. Thanks for supporting our blog. (Yes, I got a little excited there!)

Green Girl Studios Giveaway!

The good folks over at Green Girl Studios sent us this awesome little collection of mermaid charms and pendants as a fun giveaway for our readers! How perfect, since waves and the ocean are this month's inspiration. This giveaway is separate from our monthly challenge. In fact we are making it so easy to win, everyone has a chance!

How can I win that sweet stash?
Your name can be entered into our drawing twice.

One entry: leave a comment to this post. Yep, it's that easy!

A bonus entry: blog, facebook or twitter about this post and leave a comment to let us know you did the deed!

I will draw one random name on Monday. So you have until Sunday night to enter.

You know those beads are calling your name!

Did you know that Green Girl Studio's is hosting a mixed media design contest to celebrate the release of Cynthia's book, Enchanted Adornments?

Here are the details, deadline is October 1st.

And don't forget:

You have 5 days left to enter Soft Flex's Flex Your Creativity contest featuring their Trios wire combinations. Deadline is September 1st!

Enter the Art Bead Scene's monthly challenge to win bead from Elaine Ray and Patty Lakinsmith. Deadline is August 31st.

And spaces are filling up on the Bead Cruise, don't get left behind! Grab those beads and head to the high seas for 7 days of beading fun with me and our instructors: Melanie Brooks, Margie Deebs, Barb Switzer, Bevelry Herman and Mary Hettmansperger. Visit the website for all the details.

Time is Running Out

Pendant by ExpeditionD

Nothing like a deadline to spur on a rush of creativity, right? I know some of my best work comes from working under pressure. Here are some fast approaching deadlines, don't miss out on the fun!

Art Bead Scene Monthly Challenge - deadline Midnight tonight!

Bead Star Contest - deadline May 1st

Win $50 in free beads from Humblebeads - deadline noon tomorrow (no creativity needed, only a good memory!)

Need some breathing room to let your muse settle? Soft Flex has a new design contest using their Trio color wire sets. You have until September 1st to enter the Flex Your Creativity Beading Contest. (Thanks Andrew)

Are you the next Bead Star?

There is still time to enter the Bead Star competition for 2009! You can read the rules here.

Tips for winning entries:
1. Follow the rules carefully! Stringing and wire work designs are the focus of this annual publication, so the entries must follow the guidelines.
2. Pick your strongest designs for each category. Not sure which ones are your best, ask a few of your friends or do a poll on your blog. Enter in more than one category.
3. Take the best photos you can, your entries are judged by the readers based on those photos.
4. Make sure your design is original.
5. Use unusual focal beads/materials.
6. Go for an over-the-top design that is beyond what you normally create. (Unless all your work is over-the-top!)
7. Have fun while creating and don't stress about coming up with a "winning" design!

Two New Contests

Jangles is hosting a design contest with great prizes! There are three Jangles gift certificate prizes to be won, plus free advertisement for everyone who enters. Jump on over to the Jangles blog for the scoop and good luck...


Plaid is hosting a spring craft contest. Submit your favorite spring craft projects for some cool prizes. For more information go to the Plaid website.

Let the Muse Play

Speaking of the winter blahs, here are two more contests to get your creative gears turning.

Scarlett Lanson, has put together a fun contest, entitled "Use the Muse". Participants purchase a kit that contains a beautiful color palette of beads and a secret "muse" bead. The contest is open to stringers & beadweavers. Kits need to be ordered by 2/28 with the deadline March 16th. Scarlett has put together some beautiful prizes filled with crystals and brass components. To read more about this creative challenge, visit Scarlett's website.

Eni Oken's Jewelry Lessons website is hosting a Valentine themed contest with a long list of prizes! The contest is open to any medium or technique, as long 80% is handmade by you. Wire-workers, beadmakers and metalsmiths are among the current contest entries. Hurry though, the deadline to submit your entry is February 1st!

And don't forget you only have a few more days to enter the Art Bead Scene's monthly challenge.

Jewelry and Bead Competitions

Start those pliers twirling and the beads flying, there are a quite a few competitions to enter this spring. Give it try, you just never know what might happen!

Your Design Rocks from Rings & Things - entries accepted 2/1 - 2/28

Bead Dreams from Bead & Button - deadline 4/6

Fire Mountain Gems' Beading Contest - deadline 4/15

Bead Star from Interweave Press - deadline 5/1

Bead Arts Award from Step by Step Beads - deadline 5/1

Know of any other contests? We'd love to hear about them!

Bead Scoop - Book 'Em

Call for Entries to Beadwork’s Beaded Book Exhibition
Beadwork announces their sixth international juried competition and exhibition: The Beaded Book! Alter a book, re-create a favorite character, bead a page of text, or make whatever your imagination can conjure up relating to beads and books. Show your passion for books and beads in one creative effort. Entry period: August 1-December 18, 2008. Read the complete rules. The winning entries will be published in a gallery in Beadwork magazine and the actual works will be exhibited at Bead Fest Santa Fe (March 12–15, 2009) and Bead Fest Philadelphia (August 20–23, 2009).

Here are a few of my current creations inspired by books:

Dandelion Wine Beads, take their namesake from Ray Bradbury's novel.

Bookplates are popping up as Secret Garden Pendants, an interesting mixed media creation after a little shopping in my local scrapbook store.

I'd love to see your jewelry or beads that have been inspired by books. Leave a link in the comments for a chance to be featured in an upcoming post.

Bead Scoop - Contests & Challenges

This is a quick post with some news you might like to know, if you haven't already heard.

First, voting for Bead Star is now open! You can vote for your favorite in each category. The winners will be in the new Bead Star magazine. Yes, those are my entries in the photo, I'm shameless.

My work can be found in the Hearts category, #6 and Pearls #3. Melissa Lee, our guest editor is also in the Pearls category, she is #17.

Other art bead scene friends that have pieces entered are Andrew Thornton, Jennifer Stumpf and Gaea. So many choices! But hurry, voting ends June 18th.

And speaking of last minute, today is last day to enter the Beading Daily Shopping Spree. Pop over and do that right now. I'll wait...

Okay, now that you are back, here are two more. These ones take a little more creativity.
Submit your book inspired bead projects to Beadworks' Beaded Book Exhibition. You can read the guidelines here.

And the month is half-way over, but still plenty of time to enter the ABS Monthly Challenge. One lucky entry will be chosen to win a signed copy of Lisa Kan's book and some of the pearls that she carries in her online shop!

Bead Scoop - Bead Star Competition

It's time to let your art bead collection shine!

The Bead Star challenge will reward the best and brightest bead jewelry designers from around the US and Canada with amazing prizes, professional recognition, and the chance to appear in Interweave’s newest, most original and anticipated special issue magazine ever, Bead Star! Every project showcased in the magazine will be a winning design and the coveted cover piece will feature our ultimate Bead Star’s winning project.

The deadline to enter an original beaded jewelry design is May 6th. The “polls” will be open from June 12th – June 18th on BeadingDaily.com.

The judges will be the readers of Beading Daily. They will cast their votes for their favorite designs among submissions in each of nine design element categories: Crystals, Seed Beads, Glass, Pearls, Stones, Metals, Plastics, Under $25, and Designs with a Heart. Winners will have the chance to donate their projects to an auction benefiting the American Heart Association's women's heart health initiatives.

*25% of your design in any category can be other materials, including art beads! With the Under $25 and Designs with a Heart you can use more of a mixed media collection as long as they fit the other requirements. The designs must be created using simply stringing techniques, much like the projects in Stringing magazine.

A first-place, second-place, and third-place winner and two honorable mentions will be selected in each category. One Grand Prize winner will be selected by the Grand Prize sponsor from the first-place category winners. This Grand Prize Winner will receive a trip for two to beautiful Santa Fe for Bead Expo 2009, win $1500 in cool beading stuff from our grand prize sponsor, Fire Mountain Gems, and see his or her design featured on the cover of Bead Star magazine! This grand prize has a value of $5000.

Visit www.Beadingdaily.com/beadstar for complete contest rules.

Some heart-felt inspiration from our editors:

Cindy Gimbrone

Earthenwood Studios


Creative Impressions in Clay

Humblebeads

Glass Bead Design Challenge

Here is a competition sponsored by Beading Daily and Stephanie Sersich:

Design in one of three categories (earrings, bracelets, necklaces) using at least 50% of any type of glass beads. Simple as that. Enter your designs by March 2nd, 2008 and be eligible to win an autographed copy of lampwork artist and jewelry designer Stephanie Sersich's new book, Designing Jewelry with Glass Beads. Plus, Stephanie will pick her favorite design out of all the entries and her "author's choice" will receive an autographed book, plus a beautiful handcrafted lampwork pendant bead crafted by Stephanie herself!

Visit Beading Daily for detailed rules and information on how to enter.

Call for Entries - Your Designs Rock!

Gather up your Rings and Things supplies and start creating for the 2008 Your Designs Rock contest. After all, you could win $750.00 in store credit at Rings and Things if you are the Grand Prixe winner! There are also $250.00 prizes available for the six category winners.

If you work in Glass, Gemstones, Mostly Metal, Polymer Metal, Metal Clay or Alternative Materials you qualify to enter. The deadline for entries is February 28, 2008 and the guidelines can be seen here.