Floral Holiday Bog Hop Celebrates December Holiday

Bay Moon Design floral necklace represents the Mexican holiday of Las Posadas

When I looked at the beads in my kit, the first holiday that I connected them with was the Mexican holiday of Las Posados. The colors of the beads remind me of the poinsettias and dahlias found in Mexico. I knew that I wanted to create those flowers.

Bead kit that I had to work with

I have been anxious to work with a necklace blank. I purchased one form B'sue Boutiques. I also wanted to bring out the green in the leaves of the flowers with some green silk ribbon that I had from my "Down by the River Collection" of silks by Marsha Neal Studio. I just also used lots of 2 inch sterling silverhead pins and a 3 inch head pin for the white ceramic forcal as well as an F crochet hook for the ribbon. I used sterling silver earwires because they were easy to bend around the blank.

Head Pins, Crochet Hook, Necklace Blank, and Silk Ribbon Were Used Along with the Bead Kit

I used sterling silver ear wire to create the flowers and to attach them as well as the leaves to the frame. After I used a small bead and head pin to go through each flower, I wrapped the pin head around the frame of the necklace blank. From my silk ribbon stash I pulled 2 green colored 2 mm silks from Marsha Neal Studio's "Down by the River" collection. If you follow my blog, you will remember that I entered her contest to create and name a silk ribbon collection. I am proud to say that I put this particular collection together in the Spring. I used an F crochet hook to make slip stitches with the ribbon. I attached one crocheted ribbon to the left side of the necklace bland and one to the right side. I love how the silk looks with the colors in the necklace.

Religious Tiles and Statues Are Common throughout Mexico

A wonderful Mexican Christmas tradition, las posadas literally translates in English as "the inns" or "the lodgings" and symbolizes the Biblical journey of Mary and Joseph as they searched for shelter in Bethlehem before the birth of Jesus. This 9 day celebration lasts from December 16 to Christmas Eve and includes a candle-lit procession of children and parents reenacting Mary and Joseph's journey through Bethlehem.


The holiday ritual includes a colorful pageant of kids costumed as Joseph, Mary, angels, shepherds and the Three Wise Men - who travel from house to house. They are curtly refused at every door until the entourage is welcomed at a prearranged home with a fiesta including music, food and piñatas.

Secular Decorations Are Common

Last year my family and I spent Christmas in Isla Mujeres, Mexico. We enjoyed watching a Christmas parade that reminded me a lot of the Christmas parades in my small hometown of Lewes, Delaware. It was interesting to see the Christmas decorations in Mexico. They were mix of religious and secular.

Natural Beauty of Isla Mujeres, Mexico

I found lots of sea glass right outside the home that we stayed in. Everyday I walked the beach collecting sea glass. Since returning I have created a couple of necklaces with this sea glass.

Sea Glass Necklace by Bay Moon Design

Isla Mujeres' s Gorgeous Coastline

Floral Holiday Blog Hop


I want to thank Lisa Lodge for organizing this blog hop. It was a lot of fun and a challenge. The necklace blank was new to me and I found it easy to use.

Please visit the other blogs that took this challenge. I would love for my readers to leave comments on my blog and their blogs.


Your Host: Lisa Lodge, Grateful Artist (Pine Ridge Treasures)





Courtney Breul, Beads by Breul





Jeannie Dukic, Jeannie's Blog





Kimberly Flood, Goddesses and Beads





Mary Govaars, MLH Jewelry Designs





Tanya Goodwin, A Work in Progress





Kathy Lindemer, Bay Moon Design





Alicia Marinache, All the Pretty Things





Cheri Reed, Creative Designs by Cheri





Toltec Jewels, Jewel School Friends





Rana Wilson, Definitive Designs by R. Wilson

Tea is the Cup of Life

Teapot earrings displayed on my favorite tea cup

I have four tea cups like the one above.  I keep 1 of the 4 in my "jewelry room" where I go to create my jewelry and cards.  I use it as a photo prop because it provides a nice white background for earrings to hang from and I love the rich look of the gold trim on it.  The other 3 are in the kitchen and I use them to drink my tea in my "jewelry room".  I find the tea and crafting relaxing.  These are special cups to me because they were given to me by my husband's grandmother about 45 years ago.  I love items that are connected with family.

I enjoy tea even more when someone else makes it.  My girlfriends and I enjoy going to tea rooms to be waited on and sample different kinds of teas as well as catch up on gossip. 

Tea Pot Earrings in my Etsy store

It was after one of these visits to a tea room that I started to make items connected to tea for my Etsy  store and craft fairs.  I realized that a lot of tea drinkers love to have reminders of tea.

Whimsical Tea Theme Card

I have made earrings and cards to celebrate tea.  I have several humorous cards with "Tea is the Cup of Life" on the front.  I love the humorous saying inside which reads "A woman is like a tea bag. You never know how strong she is until she gets into some hot water.--Eleanor Roosevelt". 

I hope that all the tea drinkers find a special tea from Santa on the 25th!

Support Handmade and Local

Support the United States Economy by buying local on Etsy

Do you look at where items that you purchase are made?  I find it amazing that most of what I look at is made outside of the United States.  No wonder there is so much unemployment and underemployment in the U.S.   As the holiday shopping season gets underway, consider trying to keep some of your hard earned money in the United States.  Also, consider buying handmade and local from Etsy on Cyber Monday.  There are lots of artisans from Delaware selling on Etsy.  

Items displayed are from Etsy shops of DE, MD, and PA. 

 

  These are some of the variety of handmade items made by local artisans and available through Etsy.  We have a thread you can look at on Etsy.com for our Delaware Etsy Street Team Members that are offering sales on Black Friday through Cyber Monday 2012.

Bay Moon Design Etsy Shop is offering 10% off through Monday with coupon code DESTFF10

  If you are in Lewes, Delaware next weekend stop in the local stores to see some great items.  Also, handmade artisan items will be on sale at the Children's Beach House and the Lewes Yacht Club.  I will be at the Lewes Yacht Club all day Saturday with artisan jewelry and handmade cards.

Today is Support Local Owned Business.  Here are a few reasons why:

1.  Preserve Local Character and Prosperity in an increasingly homogenized world.

2. Build a Strong Community

3. Help Keep Local Decision-Making

4.  Keep Dollars in the Local Economy

5.  Create Local Jobs and Wages

6.  Entrepreneurship Fuels America's Economic Innovation and Prosperity

7.  Environmental Sustainability

8.  Product Diversity

What is next on my blog?   

Floral Holiday Blog is next Saturday Dec. 1

 Next Saturday, see what I did with a kit of beads that I was sent.

Bead Kit sent to Bay Moon Design

 This kit consists of lucite flowers and beads, Czech glass leaves, and some miscellaneous beads.  The kits were randomly assigned.  We are to relate what we make to a December holiday.

I combine the above items with the beads in the kit to create my jewelry for the blog hop.

 

Stop by to see what holiday I select and what I create.  Between now and then consider shopping local.

 

Holiday Craft Fair Tips 2012

Baywood Craft Fair 2012 in Delaware

The holiday craft fair season is upon us.  The last week I was at Baywood Club House in Delaware.  What a gorgeous place to spend the day and what a wonderful event!   We had 39 vendors participating, we raised $459 for charity, the winner of the 50/50 drawing took $228 home with her and we estimate that over 800 people came through this year.  Sonia Koplowicz deserves all of the credit for organizing this wonderful event.  

Bay Moon Display at Baywood Holiday Craft and Collectables Fair

Each year I create a few new items for my craft fairs.  I also work on improving my table displays.  I want to pass on some pointers.  The above photo has some ideas that I will pass on.   You will see several frames with earrings in them on my table.  I located some inexpensive frames and removed the glass.  I cut gold Stampin' Up card stock to be used as the backings and used a punch and semi-circular Stampin' Up punch to create the slit and holes for the earrings.  I got lots of comments on the displays of the earring and I sold more earrings than normal.  One customer even wanted to keep the frame to present the earrings to the recipient of the gift.  Most were happy to let me keep the frames.  I also bought some inexpensive LED battery operated candles that I bought at Michaels.  They helped to draw attention to my table and create a holiday mood.

Leaf and Berry Scarf Pin by Bay Moon Design

A new item that I have at my craft fairs and in my Etsy Store is a scarf pin or lapel pin.  This leaf and berry one was created for the Berries and Leaves Challenge sponsored by Artisan Whimsey.  THe challenge is to create a jewelry component or a finished piece of jewelry using the Berries and Leaves theme.  The oval metal piece has a leaf embossed on it. A rich copper colored artisan bead by Humblebeads also has a leaf pattern in white on it. There is a copper bead at the top and tan swarovski crystal that are the berries.  I used a 3 inch head pin to stack the beads on the top.  I then placed a bead crimp and soldered it to the head pin.  I used my Stampin' Up' Big Shot to emboss a Vinjah blank.  There is a YouTube Video available to help you with that part.

 

The last thing that I did was hammer the end of the stick pin to harden it and flatten it.  I have to give Heather Powers at Humblebeads credit for the stick pin idea.  I adapted my pin from directions that she sent out in her newsletter. 

Packaging and Display Are Important Elements

This year I focused on creating some packaging to help display my items.  I developed packaging to showcase the Scarf pins.  I used Stampin' Up card stock that I ran through my printer and punched a few holes to attach my scarf pins, pendants and some special earrings.  This helped to keep the items from getting lost visually on the table and help the customers recognize what they were.

My UK Inspiration Challenge is Isle of Wight

I created a necklace for the UK Inspiration Challenge sponsored by the UK Blog Team.  The UK blog team challenged beaders to design a piece of jewelry or a jewelry component inspired by one of their home towns (or home counties!).  They posted a photo that represented the areas that they are from and we could select one area as our inspiration.  I selected the Isle of Wight.  Teresa Hulley is the member of the UK Blog team from the Isle of Wight.  She makes gorgeous beads. 

Sea glass from the Isle of Wight

The Isle of Wight is a county and the largest island in England.  It is located in the English Channel.  The island has many resorts which have been holiday destinations since Victorian times.  It was home to the poet Tenyson and to Queen Victoria, who built her summer residence and final home Osborne House.   The island's maritime and industrial history encompasses boat building, sail making, the manufacture  of the world's first hovercraft and the testing and development of Britain's space rockets. The island is rich with wildlife. Sea glass and sea shells are common there.

Isle of Wight is identified in red on this map ***

I have always been fascinated by castles particularly since we have none in the United States.  I discovered Carisbrooke Castle on the Isle of Wight.  It was the strongest castle on the Island.  It has served of use for over 800 years.  There are traces of a Roman fort underneath the later buildings. Charles I was imprisoned there before his trial.

Sea Glass Necklace Inspired by photo of entrance of Carisbrooke Castle, Isle of Wight

I used the photo of Carisbrooke Castle in the collage above to served to create my color palette of white, brown, and beige.  These colors are prominent in the historic buildings and natural resources of the Isle.  I wanted to include sea glass  and sea shells to connect the necklace to represent the Islands connection to water.  I pulled the sea glass from my collection and used some ceramic sea shells from Suburban Girl Studio.    I spotted the focal in a bead destash of Lisa Lodge. She has the ability to create a great color palette of beads so I love to see what she is getting rid of or offering for a blog hop.  She is involved in this blog hop too.  I got a good laugh when I visited her post and discovered that she selected the Isle of Wight also and is using a completely different color palette based on the flag.

I enjoyed participating and learned more about the UK!  My mother immigrated to the United States from Great Britain and I still have relatives there.  I am trying to build my knowledge of my roots and this blog hop contributed to it.

Please take a look at everyone's creations:

The Hosts 

Lesley Watt Gossiping Goddess

Rebecca Anderson Songbeads

Pippa Chandler Pip's Jewellery

Teresa Hulley Bo Hulley Beads

Natalie McKenna Grubbi

Jo Tinley Daisychain Designs

Dorset

Gale White Bantering Bird on Flickr

Ginger Bishop Lilmummylikes

Cece Cormier The Beading Yogini

Therese Frank Therese’s Treasures

Cilla Watkins Tell Your Girlfriends

Sherry Baun

Kay Toodles and Binks

Edinburgh

Therese Frank Therese’s Treasures

Kashmira Patel Sadafulee

Caroline Dewison Blueberribeads

Pam Sears Crazy Creative Corner

Sherry Baun

Leigh Thow Jewellrleigh

Lucy Haslam

Bath

Cynthia Machata  http://antiquitytravelers.blogspot.com

Pam Sears Crazy Creative Corner

Sherry Baun

Isle of Wight

Duane Clark Bizzy Bead

Sharyl McMillian-Nelson Sharyl's Jewelry

Leigh Thow Jewellrleigh

Jean Wright Just Beadey

D Lynne Bowland Islandgirl’s Insights

Lisa Lodge Pine Ridge Treasures 

Sherry Baun
Kathy Lindemer Bay Moon Design

Liverpool

Jean A. Wells  http://www.jeanawells.blogspot.com

Shalini Austin   Jewellery by Shalini

Doris Stumpf Glaszwerg

Sherry Baun

Lennis C Windbent

Southampton

Sherri Stokey Knot Just Macramé

Sherry Baun

Leigh Thow Jewellrleigh

***This is one of the images forming part of the Valued image set: Locator maps of the Ceremonial counties of England on Wikimedia Commons. The image set has been assessed under the valued image set criteria and is considered the most valued set on Commons within the scope:

Locator maps of the Ceremonial counties of England

Beads by Kaz Baildon for ME!

Kaz Baildon's beads

Lesley Watt is a very talented bead artist from Doset, United Kingdom.  She has a wonderful blog called the Gossiping Goddess.  Don't you just love the name of her blog!  I have admired her jewelry in her Etsy shop.  She also makes gorgeous beads.  Her very talented bead making friend Kaz Baildon recently had a major overhaul of her studio to make way for some new projects she is planning and in the process she destashed a huge haul of lampwork beads in Lesley's direction.  Lesley being the generous person that she is held a drawing and set up a blog hop.  The recipients of the beads will use them to create a piece of jewellery, accessory or ornament and share this at a blog hop on Wednesday 12th December.

I have been drawn to receive free beads and take part in the design challenge on December 12th.
I am very excited about it!

Next Monday November 12,  I will blog about my jewelry that I am creating for the UK Inspiration Challenge sponsored by the UK Blog Team.  The UK blog team challenged beaders to design a piece of jewelry or a jewelry component inspired by one of their home towns (or home counties!).

Dorset, Edinburgh, Bath, Isle of Wight, Liverpool, South Hampton are represented in this collage.

They posted a photo that represented the areas that they are from and we could select one area as our inspiration.  I selected the Isle of Wight because I knew less about it then the other areas.  This called for some research! I found a photo of the Isle of Wight to serve as my inspiration for my jewelry.

Entrance to Carisbrooke Castle, Isle of WIght

I hope you will visit my blog on November 12 to see my piece.  Right now it is a pile of beads on my table!  Will I finish it on time?  What will I create?