Beads of Courage Art Charm Swap and Auction

I have been participating the last few years with the Art Charm Swap and Auction.  This years theme is fairy tales.  Well, I am a bit rusty with this subject, so I Goggled it and a whole list came up. Some I was familiar with, some I never heard of, and some I didn't realize were a fairy tale!  The fairy tale I chose falls into the third category - not realizing it was a fairy tale!  Alice in Wonderland with the little white bunny with pink eyes that lured Alice down the rabbit hole.

I made the charm out of white ceramic clay and painted the eyes and ears pink.  I used a silver plated bead cap to help hide the wire and finished the charm with a faceted pink crystal and silver plated round spacer bead.  I think he's a cutie!  I would follow him down a rabbit hole, too!

I really enjoy receiving the swap charms from 10 participants.  This is what I received:

The best part, though, is raising money for Beads of Courage.  I had the priviledge a few year ago of visiting their corporate headquarters in Tucson, AZ.  Each charm will be auctioned off with 100% of the proceeds being donated.  If you aren't familiar with Beads of Courage, you can read about them here http://www.beadsofcourage.org

I will be back to let you know more about the auction - how it will work, the site you can find it on, and with the direct link to take you there.

Thank you to our Hostess, Jennifer Cameron of Glass Addictions.  She has the huge job of coordinating all the behind the scenes stuff as well as running the auctions.  She rocks!  Please hop around to all the other blogs to see more charms and the read about inspiration behind each one.

charm swap blog hop li

Alenka Obid

Andrea Glick

Angelique Gentry

Brooke Bock

Caroline Dewison

Cassi Paslick

Catherine van Alphen

Charlene Jacka

Helena Hatten

Jen Cameron

Jenny Davies-Reazor

Kathy Lindemer

Leona Smith

Lesley Watt

Lori Anderson

Marianne Baxter

Melissa Trudinger

Michelle McCarthy

Patty Miller

Shai Williams

Sheila Prosterman

Susan Kennedy

Terri Del Signore

Vanessa Gilkes

Olympic Inspired Jewelry

When I think of the Olympics this past summer, I think of the rings used in the logo.  Those rings have been used for as long as I can remember.  This year's tropical setting in Rio, also makes me think of tropical beaches in shades of teal, turquoise and beige.

I used the rings as my inspiration and the colors of Rio to make these ceramic hoop earrings paired with lamp work glass beads:

Then I took closed hammered rings and wire wrapped orphan ceramic and lamp work beads in between them to form a 30" over the head necklace.  I love that I was able to use these beads and make a one of a kind design, too!

Thank you to Melissa Trudinger for hostessesing our challenge!  To see how my friends used the Olympics as the inspiration for their jewelry designs, please visit:

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