6th Bead Soup Blog Party - Bead Soup in pictures

Bead Soup Blog Party

I've been off the grid for awhile. Blame it on busy work and social schedule. Today I've finally managed to dedicate my time to my jewellery making. Amidst my supposedly busy schedule I've managed to take part in Lori Anderson's annual Bead Soup Blog Party. It's already on its 6th year and boy do we have tons of participants this year! Lori has informed that we have a total of 400 participants from all over the world this round. That's like a huge, huge amount of blogs to visit. But it'll be so great to find so many new jewellery artists and make new friends.

For those uninitiated, a bead soup party involves you creating a soup of beads and swapping them with your partner. Using the beads your partner sent, you have to dig into your creative minds and hands to make something worthy of the gorgeous beads.

My partner is the wonderfully easy-going Adlinah Kamsir from DreamStruck Designs of Singapore. I'm not sure if Lori purposely picked us to be partners because we're neighbouring countries (I'm from Malaysia which is just north of Singapore), but we were pretty thrilled to be partners because the delivery time was cut much shorter. However, it still took us about a week to receive each other's bead soup.

Anyway, when I got my package from Adlinah, I was super-excited!!! But having received it on Tuesday, meant I would not have the time to photograph the beads until the weekend. But the weekend's here so here are the pictures! Adlinah really took into consideration as to what beads would provide me with a challenge.

The bead soup came packaged in a beautiful white box tied with a shoelace-like ribbon. Beads and finding were neatly packed in zip-lock bags together with descriptions.

Aren't the colours so pretty? Definitely a challenge because the beads are all so delicate and I seldom work with antique gold findings. 

Clockwise from top-left: Focal lampwork glass pendant and resin pendant (made by Adlinah herself!); Swarovski crystal beads -rose water opal,  Fired polished rounds -chartreuse & milky pink, Ceramic star beads -lime green; Green rubber o-rings, Cloisonne beads, Ceramic rounds -Keith O'Connor; Czech glass flowers, Lampwork glass rondelles

Clockwise from top-left: Yellow AB seed beads; Pink faux suede cord, Shell rectangels -Japan, Pink sew-on glass beads; Ornate flower pewter clasp, Stamped metal blank (made by Adlinah!), Antique gold metal spaces, Vintage copper butterfly lockets, Gold faux metal plastic beads

Quite a stash don't you think?? Love every bit of the bead soup. Can't wait to start creating something worthy of these gorgeous beads! Big thank you to Adlinah!

You can visit her blog here: DreamStruck Designs and see what beads I sent her...

Happy Beading everyone!




ps. vintage background used for photo collage is by http://paintresseye.deviantart.com
and photo border brushes are by http://withmycamera.deviantart.com/

Black Dahlia Flower Earrings

Black Dahlia

ER126 - Black Dahlia
Rhodium-plated earring studs with bullet clutch and comfort discs ear backs, Pointed black petals with silver trimmings and clear rhinestone centre

Please see picture to compare size of black dahlia flower earring studs with 50 cent MYR coin.

1 pair available only.
~ RM37.00 ~

Butterly, Hearts and Rose Stud Earrings

Spring Love

** 2 pairs still AVAILABLE**
** SOLD 1 pair **
ER125 - Spring Love
4-piece rhodium-plated earring studs with clear rubber earnuts – Golden hearts outlined x2, Enamel-plated light green buttlerfly with gold trimmings, Apricot rose cabochon on gold flower filligree
Please see picture to compare size of darling earring studs with 5 cent MYR coin
3 pairs available.
~ RM13.00 ~

Lily Belle Flower Earrings (Coral Pink)

Lily Belle (Coral Pink)

ER124 - Lily Belle (Coral Pink)

Rhodium-plated earring studs with double rubber earnuts, Enamel-plated dark coral pink flower with gold trimming and rhinestone centre
Please see picture to compare size of darling earring studs with 5 cent MYR coin
Only 1 pair available.

~ RM13.00 ~

Lily Belle Flower Earrings (White)

Lily Belle (White)

ER123 - Lily Belle (White)

Rhodium-plated earring studs with double rubber earnuts, Enamel-plated white flower with gold trimming and rhinestone centre
Please see picture to compare size of darling earring studs with 5 cent MYR coin
Only 1 pair available.

~ RM13.00 ~

Lily Belle Flower Earrings (Black)

Lily Belle (Black)

** RESERVED for Geri **
ER122 - Lily Belle (Black)

Rhodium-plated earring studs with double rubber earnuts, Enamel-plated black flower with gold trimming and rhinestone centre
Please see picture to compare size of darling earring studs with 5 cent MYR coin
Only 1 pair available.

~ RM13.00 ~

Pearl Blossoms Bracelet (White)

Pearl Blossoms (White)

BR053 - Pearl Blossoms (White))

White chiffon flower blossoms, Matte iridescent white faux pearl, Double chunky chain bangle interwoven with cream white satin ribbon, Lobster clasp
7 inches + 2 inches extension chain
2 units available only.

~ RM30.00 ~

Pearl Blossoms Bracelet (Pink)

Pearl Blossoms (Pink)

** 1 piece still AVAILABLE **
** 1 piece SOLD **
BR052 - Pearl Blossoms (Pink)

Pale peach chiffon flower blossoms, Matte iridescent white faux pearl, Double chunky chain bangle interwoven with pale peach pink satin ribbon, Lobster clasp
7 inches + 2 inches extension chain
2 units available only.

~ RM30.00 ~

Pearl Blossoms Bracelet (Black)

Pearl Blossoms (Black)

** SOLD **
BR051 - Pearl Blossoms (Black)

Black chiffon flower blossoms, Matte iridescent white faux pearl, Double chunky chain bangle interwoven with black satin ribbon, Lobster clasp
7 inches + 2 inches extension chain
1 unit available only.

~ RM30.00 ~

Cute White Bunny & Carrot Earrings

Adorable bunnies anyone?? Happy Easter!!



Miss Hops Alot

ER121 - Miss Hops Alot

Rhodium-plated earring studs with double clear rubber earnuts, Enamel-plated white rabbit with rhinestone eyes and tail with gold trimmings, Enamel-plated orange and green carrot with gold trimmings
Please see picture to compare size of darling earring studs with 5 cent MYR coin
2 pairs available.

~ RM15.00 ~

Gold Bunny & Carrot Earrings

Floppy Loppy

ER120 - Floppy Loppy

Rhodium-plated earring studs with double clear rubber earnuts, Gold rabbit with diamante ribbon bow, Enamel-plated orange and green carrot
Please see picture to compare size of darling earring studs with 5 cent MYR coin
1 pair available only.

~ RM15.00 ~

Collective Creative Canape

So this year... looking to expand my jewellery making skills and to gain new inspiration, I joined the Bead Soup Cafe group founded by Lori Anderson of http://www.prettythingsblog.com. The group is made of jewellery makers of all sorts from all over the world. Everyone in the group is certainly very talented and inspiring. Many of them make jewellery for a living and I'm very humbled that they would accept someone much younger and only a small-time hobbyist as part of their group.

Lori Anderson organises bead soup parties from time to time and by the time I found out about it, I had already missed the deadline to participate in her latest bead soup party. Later on, Keri Lee Sereika of http://www.pinklemonade.typepad.com decided to host a smaller scale bead soup party called the Collective Creative Canape which I immediately took the chance to join. 

Basically a bead soup party involves you creating a soup of beads and swapping them with your partner. Using the beads your partner sent, you have to dig into your creative minds and hands to make something worthy of the gorgeous beads.

My partner is Cindy Wimmer Muse and she sent me a beautiful stash of glorious pink beads and a hand-knitted mini scarf which is such a thoughtful gift. Although at that time, Cindy didn't know that Malaysia is actually a tropical country and a scarf is little use to me while I'm here. We had our own funny conversation over that!! 

I'm actually not a big fan of pink so it certainly was a challenge and I must say I absolutely loved that Cindy sent me earring findings that I don't usually work with. So for this canape, I created my first ever chandelier earrings and I'm very happy with how it turned out. She also sent me a lace piece which I've not used yet because I haven't figured out how to attach chains or jump rings to such a delicate fabric. If anyone has any ideas please let me know.

 Bead Soup from Cindy

 Triple-layered chain and pink bracelet

I'm not totally happy with this creation... so I might rework this one!

 

Nature-inspired pink necklace with gorgeous focal piece. I'm really not sure how Cindy know that I like dragonflies because we didn't discuss it at all but it's certainly a strange coincidence that I have a dragonfly tattoo and she decides to send  a focal piece with dragonflies on it!

My first ever handmade chandelier earrings!! My favourite creation out of all these. 

So now I'm gonna do my blog hop through all the other participants and you can too here:

Keri Lee Sereika www.pinklemonade.typepad.com

Beth Emery www.storiesbyindigoheart.blogspot.com

Niki Meiners www.nikimeiners.wordpress.com

Karan Parker www.karanskrafts.blogspot.com

Liz DeLuca www.creativeartyfacts.blogspot.com

Lynne Bowland www.islandgirlsinsights.blogspot.com

Judy Turner www.silver-rains.blogspot.com

Erin Grant www.Erinsjewelrycreations.blogspot.com

Bryna Lumb www.brynasbeadbox.blogspot.com

Rochelle Brisson www.acreativechelle.blogspot.com

Linda Youkman www.lindysdesigns.blogspot.com

Cheryl Foiles www.getyourbeadon.com

Kelli Jacobson www.CreativeMoonJewelryAndThings.com

Elena Gianni www.ilmondodipucci.blogspot.com

Tania Hagen www.pelimadesign.blogspot.co.nz

Cindy Muse www.cindyshandworkcrafts.blogspot.com

Stephanie Woods www.skwds.blogspot.com

Lisa Lodge www.pineridgetreasures.blogspot.com

 

Would like to extend special thanks to Keri Lee for organising this with great finesse and my friendly partner Cindy for the beautiful bead soup.

Fukubukuro Giveaway Winners...

Thank you all who participated in Little Maketto's Fukubukuro Giveaway contest.

This is the first time I'm using the Rafflecopter Widget to manage the contest entries and I must say that it is very simple to use and it definitely helped me keep all your entries in checked. I was overwhelmed by the final number of entries that was way over 500, but after my checking and verification it whittled down to about 440 entries. This is because many participants did not follow all the instructions carefully and left certain requirements out. It wouldn't be fair to those who entered as per instructions so I had to delete those incomplete entries. Some of you may have received some personal reminders from me to authenticate your entries and I thank you for following through.

The Rafflecopter Widget uses random.org to pick the winners so as long as your entries were legit, they were automatically entered in the draw. So enough about the technicalities of the contest, let's just get down the winners...

The winners (in no particular order) of the Little Maketto Fukubukuro Giveaway are (drumroll):

.

.

.

1) Ezza of gregarious_gurlz

2) Syafika of syafikamnhmn

 

3) Bebe of sleepybeauty

To the three Fukubukuro winners, a huge congratulations to you!!! I'll be dropping a winner's email which you must acknowledge by Thursday 29th March 2012. After which, I do not receive a reply from you, your prize will be forfeited and I will choose another winner from the existing entries. Also, in case I did not mention this before, each Fukubukuro grab bag contain different items. So your Fukubukuro grab bag will be different from the other winners. I've worked hard to make sure they are worth about the same (RM215) but the items in it are unique to each.

To those who did not win anything this round, fret not, because I had so much fun with this giveaway I hope to run another soon. Maybe at the end of the year as an xmas giveaway again?? What do you think?

Thank you to one and all who participated and making Little Maketto Fukubukuro Giveaway a success!

PS. Any criticisms about the giveaway, please leave a comment or send me an email to let me know. What you liked about it, what you didn't like about it and what you hope to see in future Little Maketto Giveaways! I listen to all advice…

Rainbow Baubles Necklace

9gag stole my soul early last year. I've since tried to pick up pieces of myself and I'm less of a 9gag addict now. But recently I've been quite inspired but the Puking Rainbow and Nyan Cat memes. So I've come up with some rainbow accessories! 

Puking Rainbow

Nyan Cat

Also St Patrick's Day is coming soon… It's not a big holiday here in Malaysia, but you can bet many of the pubs and bars are going to cash in on this very Irish holiday… so here's a gorgeous St Patrick rainbow cake tutorial I came across…

And without further ado, here are the Rainbow inspired accessories...

Rainbow Baubles Necklace

(wonder beads glow in this picture is due to picture taken with flash)

NE047 - Rainbow Baubles Necklace

 Wonder beads in blue, purple, red, pink, yellow & green, Faux pearls in blue, purple, red, pink, yellow, green,Oval links cable chain, Toggle clasp
Length of chain: 23.5 inches (59.5cm)
Limited remakes available.

~ RM40.00 ~

Rainbow Baubles Bracelet

Rainbow Baubles Bracelet

** SOLD 1 piece **
 BR050 - Rainbow Baubles Bracelet

  Wonder beads in blue, purple, red, pink, yellow & green, Faux pearls in blue, purple, red, pink, yellow, green, Tapered oval links cable chain, Toggle clasp
Length of chain: 7 inches
Limited remakes available.

~ RM28.00 ~

Fukubukuro Giveaway

It's been such a long time since Little Maketto's last giveaway, no?
To celebrate Little Maketto's third birthday this month, I thought why not have a one-of-a-kind Little Maketto Fukubukuro Giveaway for all customers, followers and visitors!

What's a Fukubukuro Giveaway you ask?
Fukubukuro (福袋) comes form the Japanese words fuku (福) meaning luck and fukuro (袋) bag. Put those two words together and Fukubukuro means Lucky Bag. It is actually a Japanese custom where merchants make grab bags with mystery contents and sell them for huge discounts on New Year's Day. The Japanese go crazy for the Fukubukuro and often queue in long lines hours before the store opens to get the best bags.

I've always been fascinated with the idea of this mystery bag surprise so I thought why not let Little Maketto followers experience one. Instead of a Fukubukuro purchase, Little Maketto's birthday celebration is a giveaway, so no purchase is necessary.

As it is a Fukubukuro, I'm not suppose to reveal the contents of Little Maketto's Fukubukuro but I'll tell you this much... some of the items are old stock from Little Maketto blogshop that has not found a new home yet, some are new handmade items yet to make an appearance in the blogshop and some are just really cool imported gifts. Each Fukubukuro will contain a good mix items worth about RM215 (inclusive of postage, international participants please see fine print) and since it's LM's third birthday, I'm giving three Little Maketto Fukubukuro away. Intrigued yet?

It's really easy to participate. Just log in to the Rafflecopter widget below via your Facebook or register an ID and follow the instructions. To submit an entry you just have to comment on this blog post, but I recommend to at least "Like" Little Maketto as that will immediately gain you 5 more entries. Each person can earn up to 25 entries and since it's a random raffle, the more entries you submit the higher chances you get to win a Little Maketto Fukuburo. If you're already a Little Maketto follower here and on Facebook, this raffle contest is super easy for you!!


a Rafflecopter giveaway


As much as I hate to do this, here's the very reasonable fine print...
• Only completed and verified entries will be submitted to drawing (so make sure you follow the conditions stated!)
• Please post one comment per person so everyone gets a fair chance.
• Prizes and postage to the winners are borne by Little Maketto, with the exception of international winners by which postage will be borne by the winner him/herself.
• Prizes are not exchangeable for cash or be substituted.
• Contest ends Malaysia time 12:01:00 p.m. Saturday March 24, 2012. (12:01:00 a.m. Saturday March 24 EST)
• Winners will be chosen 25 March and results announced 26 March 2012.
• Winners will be notified via email and must acknowledge by 29 March 2012 otherwise the prize is forfeited and a new winner will be selected.

Musical Pearls Bracelet

The Grammy awards have all been handed out and wonderful performances brought joy to our ears... Special tribute to a legendary music artiste, Whitney Houston brought a flow tears and memories... With grammy season over, music doesn't have to die with the new update of music-themed jewellery here. Take your pick from a subtle pair of music note earrings or glam your outfit with a chunky golden electric guitar necklace. Or why not bring a jingle to wrist with the musical pearls?



Musical Pearls

BR049 - Musical Pearls

   Rhinestone studded silver chrome double quaver notes charm, Silver bell charm, Swarovski crystal pearls in white, Swarovski bicone crystals in clear aurora borealis, Single faceted black agate round bead, Toggle clasp
Length of chain: 7 inches
Double quaver music notes charm is about the size of 5 cent MYR coin.
Limited remakes available.

~ RM37.00 ~

Silver diamond headphones necklace

Laugh, Dance, Listen

NE046 - Laugh, Dance, Listen

Rhinestone studded earpieces on silver chromed headphone pendant, Diamond-cut ball chain necklace, Lobster clasp
Length of chain: 17 inches
Please see picture to compare size of darling pendant with 5 cent MYR coin
1 unit available only.

~ RM36.00 ~