Challenge of Literature Blog Hop Reveal!

Erin Prais-Hintz, the lovely lady behind this blog challenge says, "Reading can transport you to a million different places and that is what this challenge is all about."

When I signed up for this challenge, I was nearing the end of the Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paolini. I don't know if this series has replaced my previous favorite book but the characters are wonderful. Especially Saphira, the dragon. (Side note: If you get the chance, this series is FANTASTIC in audio.)

Saphira, on the cover of the first book, Eragon

One of my favorite parts of the series is when Saphira loses a scale. The following excerpt is from the fourth book in the series, Inheritance.

"You're fine," said Eragon, exasperated. “Stop worrying. There’s nothing you can do about it anyway.” 

     Saphira growled and continued to study her image in the lake. She turned her head from side to side, then exhaled heavily, releasing a cloud of smoke that drifted out

over the water like a small, lost thundercloud.

     Are you sure? she asked, and looked toward him. What if it doesn’t grow back?

     “Dragons grow new scales all the time. You know that.”

     Yes, but I’ve never lost one before!

     He did not bother to hide his smile; he knew she would sense his amusement. “You shouldn’t be so upset. It wasn’t very big.” Reaching out, he traced the diamond-shaped hole on the left side of her snout, where the object of her consternation had so recently been ensconced. The gap in her sparkling armor was no larger than the end of his thumb and about an inch deep. At the bottom of it, her leathery blue hide was visible.

     Curious, he touched her skin with the tip of his index finger. It felt warm and smooth, like the belly of a calf. Saphira snorted and pulled her head away from him. Stop that; it tickles.

I'm not sure what Eragon did with the dragon scale, but I started thinking that the jeweled scales from Christopher Paolini's dragons would probably make beautiful jewelry.

So...

I took some glittery scrapbook cardstock and punched out two dragonscales. Take some copper wire and wire wrap some yellow crystals. Take even more copper wire and make some jump rings. Now, I bought some sequins and I'm pretending they're baby dragon scales. Attach them together with those jump rings you made aaaand...

Pretty earrings. They sparkle like you would not believe. I wore them on Wednesday and they're super light because I used sequins instead of glass beads. And they're deliciously long, but that could be because I have a short neck :P

I imagine my dragon would have been teal. I would have named her Chaiti, the Hindi word for "teal."

Won't you join Chaiti and me while we go blog hopping? Here are the other participants of the Challenge of Literature Blog Hop!

Erin Prais-Hintz

Rebecca Anderson

**Rose Binoya** [YOU ARE HERE!]

Lori Bowring Michaud

Shannon Chomanszuk

Marlene Cupo

Jenny Davies-Reazor

Kim Dworak

Beth Emery

Therese Frank

Amy Freeland

K Hutchinson

Jennifer Justman

Susan Kennedy

Linda Landig

Lisa Lodge

Lisa Lowe

Kirsi Luostarinen

Beth McCord

Melissa Meman

Sharon Misuraco

Tracey Nanstad

Melinda Orr

Kashmira Patel

Alice Peterson

Sally Russick

Niky Sayers

Pam Sears

Amy Severino

Tracy Stillman

Emma Todd

Melissa Trudinger

Lesley Watt

Shai Williams

Odd Hours

Sometimes, I get a little crazy and get a creative jolt in the middle of the night. Last night, this is what my bead table looked like at 3:17AM.

My mind wandered while I was taking pictures with my phone and ended up playing with the camera...

Here is the final necklace. I love that pendant. I bought that shell pendant a loooong time ago. When I first started this beady adventure. I stumbled upon it while going through my stash and am so happy I've finally worked it into a project. ^_^

Just a Touch of Red

I make a lot of bracelets. And thought I would make the heart clasp (from this post) into a necklace... but... well... I just couldn't help myself. Lol.

Doesn't it make a lovely bracelet?

And I especially love the red flower. I love how it just pops out against the blue-green.

Listed here! And don't forget. Use coupon code "LOVE2012" for 20% off. :)

Happy Saturday!

Honeydew Love

No Printer Tray Tuesday today. I got distracted with other projects yesterday and absolutely forgot that today was Tuesday (has that ever happened to you??).

Remember last week's Monday Muses? It featured some lovely pieces in honeydew green.

Well. I found some seed beads in my stash in that color!

And of course I found some memory wire as well... an unopened pack that was just SCREAMING out that I needed to use it.

Señor Elephante here is super shiny. And also loves the color honeydew... or did he say he likes eating honeydew? I can't remember.

I also made these earrings (decidedly NOT honeydew, but still pretty). HUGE hoops wire wrapped with dark teal seed beads with lovely crystal dangles in the same shade.

These have inspired me to try my hand at making bangles!... which I admit, I've thought of before but somehow, I never tried.

Printer Tray Tuesday will be back next week! Back to the beading table I go!

UPDATE & CORRECTION: Jenny's Earrings

Here are some better pictures of the earrings I made for my cousin's daughter, Jenny.

I posted in my previous blog that "miracle beads" were made from glass. I was wrong. Quoted from jewelrymaking-beads-library.com: "Miracle beads, also known as Magic Beads, are super-intriguing because they seem to glow in natural light. They also have the optical illusion of having a bead within a bead. Hence the name for these beads.

These magic beads are a form of plastic beads. They are normally very bright and made from some form of fiberglass material. The bead is sprayed repeatedly with a reflective material and finished with an outer clear coating. It is these layers that create the tantalizing illusion of a bead within a bead. It is also what makes the beads seem to glow in natural light." In the picture I posted, you can definitely see the "glow" in the flash picture on the right.

I also took better pictures of the teal earrings I made. I'm noticing that I enjoy hanging beads on jump rings. I've done this a few times before on other earrings I've made for myself and friends. I'm not sure I like that I'm repeating stuff a lot. But someone said that maybe it could be like "my thing." *shrug* meh. I think I want a different "my thing."

Jenny's Earrings

I think its appropriate that the first post for this blog be of earrings I was asked to make. Well... maybe not really asked but told "I would like some earrings... my favorite color is teal."

I started beading maybe a month and a half ago. So when my cousin's daughter said she'd like some earrings, I just about burst with excitement and ran out and bought "teal" beads the first chance I got. Well... when I got home, I thought, "Hm. What exactly is teal? Are these really teal?"

Sitting there, looking at these beads... I couldn't really tell. The big ones were probably teal... the little ones, I bought really because they were kinda blue but I was drawn to what they were called ("Miracle Bead"). So I was faced with the horrifying thought that maybe Jenny won't like what I made her! How crushing would it be if the first earrings I was asked to make weren't what they wanted.

Wikipedia to the rescue. After Wiki-ing "teal," this is what popped up, "Teal is a medium blue-green color, although it is more blue than green. It is named after the common teal, a member of the duck family, whose eyes are surrounded by the color." There's the teal ducky... huh. Is that teal? *I* personally think that's green.
**quack**

Btw. I'm very glad that Wikipedia decided that they should add a swatch of what people think the color looks like. That color is less green than the teal-ducky color. And more blue.

The miracle beads are nothing close to teal, but the big beads match pretty good... sooo YAY!

Here are the completed earrings. I need to get my SLR out and take better pictures, but I think this is ok for now. The earrings on the bottle are the miracle beads. As you can see, the light bounces off of whatever material that is inside and basically glows. Very pretty.

The earrings hanging off the sheet are also made of glass (miracle beads are glass, I believe... did I mention that already?). They're a bit more bold and not as delicate as the little earrings, BUT, they're TEAL! Huzzah.

... PSST... Jenny... if you're reading this... you owe me a bracelet :P
J/K.

OH yeah. Both pairs are on sterling silver earring wires. I'm not sure if Jenny is allergic to metal. Thought it best to play it safe.