Upcycling :: Fall Inpsired

A few months back, Hope Smitherman who works with ZnetShows ask a few of us if we'd be interested in doing some Fall designs for the new Fall issue of Creative Spark. The themes were 'inspired by Fall' or using 'upcycled materials' in our pieces.

Well, I knew immediately that the upcycled one was for me. I had in mind that I was going to use an old key that I found up in our camp in the Adirondacks. I was thinking about leather and grey pearls for a dress-up Boho look. 

Now I know a few of you (Christine in particular) who are going to laugh at this next bit of information. I saw the grey pearls and thought perfect! .... um yeah, and when they arrived they were not just large, they were huge. Well at least based on what was in my mind. Yep, didn't pay any attention to the diameter size ... because that is what I do. 

So plan B was in order. I did actually like these grey pearls, but they needed a more substantial idea that made them the star. But now I needed something else upcycled for my theme. I remembered that I had some old basting tape I scavenged from one of the drawers in my mom's desk sewing machine. I liked this option as it was more rustic looking than pulling out the expected silk ribbon. I created a chain between the pearls and hammered out a piece of silver for the focal. I was finally happy with this one.

On to the next. One of the items I got from Znet Shows was some leaf chain. I really love this stuff. It is fun, a bit whimsical and very Fall. Nice combo in my opinion. I had been holding on to some acorns for about a year. The Bead Girl (aka Anne, my apprentice) started collecting these last Fall. Every few days she'd come home and pull out a few from her pocket. We stuffed them in can as she collected them, and forgot about them. I pulled them out last August to find a fine film of mildew on them .... oh gees, these are real and I should have dried them. Note to self. So we buffed off the mold and laid them out for about 2 weeks. Worked perfectly. I made a little copper loop and a coil bead cap. Then glued it right on top of the acorn. And now I had acorn beads! My kids tease me all the time saying that I think everything is a bead. Well maybe not eeeeverything, but lots of things.

This post is feeling like a list of true confessions today. So one of the other things I ordered from Znet Shows was some jasper polished stones. And guess what happened? Yep the opposite of the pearls. When they arrived they were much smaller than I thought and I could not get my cording through them. Seriously, I need to pay attention to the bead sizes. I had in mind that I was going to use them with these pretty copper filigree charms. I decided to just make some simple earrings using a pretty champaign quartz briolettes. So I have some jasper stones I need to get to work on and think of a more delicate design with my stones. I am hopeless when it comes to bead sizes.