voting for the September EBW Challenge

I'm pushing back my feature and link list posts this week for the EBW Challenge.  Treasury round up will resume next week.  Voting started today for the September EBW Challenge Lions, Tigers, and Bears Oh My.  It runs through September 15.  You can vote at the blog by clicking here.  Click on the pictures in the mosaic to visit the Etsy listings.  Please check out all of the entries and vote for your favorite.

Here is my entry again.

It's still available for sale here.

As always, there are a lot of gorgeous entries for this challenge.  Here are a few of my favorites.

Jacquie used a similar color combination to my own.  I love the way she made the lion paw prints.
Beaded Embroidered Cuff - On the Way to Emerald City by AngelqueCreations

The ruby slippers are too cute!  And focal is a perfect pairing with the colors in this piece.
The Yellow Brick Road Leading to the Emerald City with a Pair of Ruby Slippers in the Foreground by enchantedbeads

I love this artistic interpretation of the theme.
Tigers on the Yellow Brick Road Bangle Beadwoven Bracelet by MaryTDesigns

September EBW Challenge Piece

The September EBW Challenge them is Lions, Tigers, and Bears, Oh My.  You can read more about it here.  I've already discussed this challenge a little bit in a couple previous posts so I'll try not to repeat too much information.  For this theme, we can take any element of the lions, tigers, and bears theme and pair it with any other element from The Wizard of Oz.  I'm not sure how I came up with this so quickly, but I decided to create a yellow brick road surrounded by emerald green with a lion just starting up the path.

I'm still on a right angle weave kick so I used the same base that I did for my last two challenge pieces.  You'd think that after making three right angle weave embellished pieces so close together, I would be ready to move on, but I'm not sure that I am.  I think that it would be neat to make another one and write a pattern for it.  I may wait a bit to do that, though.  Anyway, it was still fun making another right angle weave base and embellishing it.

As I said in my first post about the beads, I was originally thinking of using Swarovskis, but when I went to Michael's, these other beads sets caught my eye.  I would go with something smaller for embellishment in the future because the beadwork got pretty tight at the end.  It was difficult getting the clasp done.  It was still worth it, though, because I love these beads.  I think that the bright colorful look completely fits with the Wizard of Oz.

As a result of the beadweaving getting tighter than my previous two embellished right angle pieces, this piece curved a little, which made it tough to photograph.  When it started curving, I was worried that it would end up like this piece, but it didn't.  This curving is much less severe, and as a result, the cuff is much more comfortable.  If this weren't for a challenge, which requires that we list our pieces on Etsy, I might be tempted to keep it.

Thanks again to Sharla for the paw print charm!  It's the perfect touch for this piece.

I think that for my pattern right angle cuff, I'll go back to some of my stand by colors such as turquoise and purple.  If anyone wants to see anything in particular, let me know.

My Wizard of Oz cuff is available here.  I'll have more information about voting next month.

in the works this week and other updates

I've spent most of this past week working on my design piece for Kristie's team reveal, which is on Friday.  Here are a couple sneak peaks of my champagne herringbone rope for it.

The September EBW Challenge theme is Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My.  You can read more about it here.   You can take any element of lions, tigers, and bears and pair it with any element from The Wizard of Oz.  I am still obsessed with my right angle weave base that I've used for my last two challenge pieces.  I was planning on using Swarovskis as embellishment with a similar base for this challenge.  I had to go to Michael's last week to get something for my design piece and I picked up these beads instead.

I have used Swarovskis a few times, mostly because of the Art Beads blogging program.  They are neat, but they honestly aren't my favorite.  These beads won't have the same bling that the Swarovskis, too, but they will definitely be more colorful and fun, which also fits with this theme.  I am also very proud of the fact that I got out of Michael's only spending $16.  I had a 25% off everything coupon which helped.  Always go to Michael's with a coupon!

I finished my design piece on Sunday and have started working on my Wizard of Oz piece.

I asked Sharla if she had any good resources for paw print charms.  She very generously offered to send me one from her own collection.  Thanks Sharla!  It's on its way right now.  It will be my animal component for this piece.


Also, catching up, I finally found the picture of myself wearing one of Yvonne's pendants.  This picture is from November 2008.

And Patrice from The Soap Seduction gave me this award last week.  Thanks Patrice!  That's very sweet.