Strut Your Stuff Winner for APRIL!!!!

* please scroll down for the newest prizes and rules.

The winner for April is -  

Cathie Carroll Congratulations!!!

She submitted

She says about this piece:

"I found this little pearl in my hand and wanted to showcase it's almost heart shaped beauty. It's so delicate, I thought that putting in a larger piece would overwhelm. Fine silver wire wraps the pearl in place and makes it important.

The blue of the patina is so soft and mesmerizing, it became to me a meditation piece."

AND

"I never know what's going to happen in the patina process. I have a good idea what can happen, but then I pull a piece out and the next step can change.

This chain was so beautiful, I wanted it to be the star. I added soem mica powder for shimmer made a simple oversized clasp and voila! Somehting that can stand on it own or layer with more dramatic pieces."

And look at this piece!

"Years ago I saw a handmade chain in a magazine and it's been lurking in the back of my mind ever since. I finally slurged on flat Sterling wire and then held my breath as I cut it up into small bits. I torched the ends and folded them over each other. I made a chain!

For my 1st handmade chain, I wanted something really special. The Kanji disc is a kitchen sink piece. I etched Chinese poetry. I liked it but wanted more age. I tried hammering which helped, but a patina bath and mica gave me the colors, pits, and marks of time that I wanted."

And for those of you who may be new here, this is a re-cap of what Strut Your Stuff is all about, and how you can win:

STRUT YOUR STUFF - Love My Art Jewelry

A place for jewelry and bead artists to show off their jewelry creations using all handmade components.

Monthly Challenge Rules

1. Take pictures of your current creation and upload it to our flickr pool. (up to 3 per submission). Look for your work to be added to the group when it meets the rules of the challenge.

2. Leave a description of your thought process while creating your jewelry or beads/components. We really want everyone to share their creative thinking so please make sure that you share.

3. Since we are a group promoting "creating handmade with handmade," your jewelry should consist of at least 75% handmade. This doesn't mean that you have to create everything that goes into your piece. You could use beads/components created by other artists. Please give credit to that artist in your description.

4. If your submission will be loose beads/components, it may include any medium that you prefer to make those in. These submissions would also require a description of your creative thought process.

5. You may submit as many pieces as you like in a month, but please note that your name will be put in the hat once for the end of monthly giveaway. And in fairness, you can be chosen only once for designer of the week.

6. This challenge begins the first Monday of each month. Winners from the previous month will be announced the first Monday of the following month. For example May's challenge starts 5/7/12 and the winner announced the first Monday in June. Have fun, show off!!

We have some WONDERFUL prizes for May, generously donated by:

Marla James - Marla's Mud

Julie Holmes - Zenamels

What will you be struttin' this month?

Art Spark Designer of the Week

by D'Arsie Manzella

Our featured designer this week is Izzy Winterhart with her beautiful interpretation of the word 'Contain'.

Thank you Izzy for your entry! And remember there is one more week to upload your design to our Art Spark flickr group for a chance to win some gorgeous handmade beads and components by our generous sponsors!

Please take a moment to be inspired both by Izzy's design and her meaningful description of her work and inspiration.

Have a creative day!

Contain

LMAJ Art Spark May Challenge

Contain

The Universe contains

the mystery of the Moon,

the love of the Earth,

the glow of the Stars,

the warmth of the Sun

and so much more.

No matter how vast our Universe,

it is Spirit that gently threads us all together.

Looping over and around

weaving, lacing and embracing

us in the beauty of it all.

*ART SPARK* creative challenge for May.

by D'Arsie Manzella



On the Road Again

I'm packing. Putting all my belongings in boxes once again to travel the distance from South to North. Back to my homeland, the rolling hills and gorgeous lakes of Western New York. Each item is being wrapped and contained. As I go through the process I wish my possessions a safe journey- until we meet again.

Recently my grandfather passed away. Straight away after hearing of his death, I had a strong desire to create hand folded paper boxes. I didn't really know what I was doing when I started, it's not something I commonly do, but all other creative projects stopped and my quiet time was spent with these beautiful little boxes. I realize now that I was trying to contain my grief.

There are many ways that containers change or affect our lives. Notes arrive in bottles, boxes take us up into tall buildings, heaven wafts out from our morning coffee can. They contain surprises, treasures and mysteries. Sometimes they hold our hearts, sometimes our fears.

So I bring you, from beneath my stack of paper boxes, this month's *Art Spark* challenge. It's a little bit different and a whole lot of fun...

~May you always be inspired by the beauty of your experience~

~*~

*ART SPARK*challenge

Here's a challenge that we can all get fired up about! I'm saying "we" because we will be playing along. The first Monday of each month one of our members will present a challenge. The challenge is designed to not only get you thinking creatively, but also sharing your process and learning from each other.

The creative sparks will be flying all month. One or more entries will be chosen by the "challenge" artist to shine on our blog the next two subsequent Mondays. On the 4th Monday, the winning entry will be chosen and showcased on the Love My Art Jewelry blog for one month and the Love My Art Jewelry website for 1 year with links to your shops or blogs.

Can it get any hotter? You better believe it! These wonderful components were graciously donated by Staci Smith at Staci Louise Originals and will be awarded to the winner at the end of the challenge!

As will these fabulous pieces from Sue Kennedy of SueBeads!

Thank you so much ladies for your support.

We invite you to play along and try out our challenges. This month's challenge is......

~Create a piece of jewelry, art bead or component that illustrates the word 'CONTAIN'~

'Contain' as a verb is defined as: to include, hold
Synonyms include:accomodate, be composed of, comprehend, comprise, consist of, embody, embrace, encompass, have, have capacity for, hold, incorporate, involve, take in\

 

~Once you have your creation ready, here is what you do:

1. Take pictures of your creation and upload it to our flickr account.

2. Leave a description of your thought process while creating your jewelry or beads/components. We really want everyone to share their creative thinking so please make sure that you description is thorough.

3. Since we are a group promoting 'creating handmade with handmade', your jewelry consist of at least 75% handmade. This doesn't mean that you have to create everything that goes into your piece. You could use beads/components created by other artists. Please give credit to that artist in your description.

4. If your submission will be loose beads/components, it may include any medium that you prefer to make those in. These submissions would also require a description of your creative thought process.

5. Please only one submission piece per artist. Multiple views of the work are allowed and encouraged.

6. Have fun an come back often to check out the entries!

7. Links to our flickr site can be found on the blog sidebar.