GIft #1060: Muffin Tin Challenge

Welcome to the results of the Muffin Tin Challenge, hosted by Heather Powers of Humblebeads.  At the start of the year, she hosts a challenge to fill a muffin tin with beaded projects and make as many as you can.  This is my first year to jump in and I really enjoyed the push it gave me to create as many pieces of jewelry as possible.  And tonight you get a tour of my projects over the last week or so.  Here’s how I started the challenge:  muffin tin loaded.

The first projects I created were also fulfilling other challenges for the Art Bead Scene and my personal calendar challenge ( I need to finish up a few months from last year!)  The star of this collection is the enameled mushroom by Anne Gardanne.

The necklace is paired with jasper rounds, Czech beads, Czech flowers, and a disc bead from Humblebeads.  And it’s finished off with faux leather cording.

I love the earrings for this necklace so much.  The colors are very striking and the Humblebeads disc beads are so rich in color and pattern.  They just needed a few golden floral drops to finish them off.

I had some leftover beads and made a coordinating bracelet using the other matching disc bead from the necklace.

Next up was a pair of simple earrings I needed to make to go with the November Art Bead Scene necklace I made last fall.  I ran out of time to do earrings before Christmas activities set in.  These are made with tiny silver owl charms that are similar to the Green Girl owl I used in my necklace.

Also last fall I was working on a necklace using some tourmaline beads that I purchased at the bead show.  I didn’t have a design that I loved, so I put it in the muffin tin challenge to rework elements of the design and get it finished.

I’m very pleased with its simple elegance.  The brass leaf was a charm that I bought from a vendor at the bead show who had tons of great hand-made findings, charms, and pendants.

The earrings I made to match the necklace are delicate with little lacy leaves hanging from the leftover tourmaline beads.

The next set of projects I made were from a couple of kits that I purchased from Humblebeads to go with an online fall retreat class she hosted.  Things got busy and I hadn’t had time to complete all the classes.  These are made from her bangle bracelet tutorial and I made all six in a few hours.  My favorite part was attaching the beads at the end.

This bracelet set is full of dark purples and  and accented with leaves, acorns, and squirrels.

This is a more summery set, with peach and yellow beads, sweet bird nest, and little flowers.  I can’t wait to wear them!

My last set of jewelry is hot off the pliers as I just finished it up a few moments ago.  The focal point of this necklace is an amazing fall birch scene by Humblebeads that was in a bead pack I bought last year.  I’ve been admiring it for some time and found a perfect set of glass beads in my stash.

The piece was originally a toggle, and I tried to use it as a working toggle, but that disrupted the design flow and made the necklace look awkward.  Instead, I wired the toggle bar in place and used it as a pendant.  I accented the beads with tiny navy seed beads, to bring out the blue in the pendant.   To give some interest and break up the beads a bit, I added a birch bead on one side and a navy bird and wood chip.  Those are also from Humblebeads.

And finally, here are the earrings I made: birch beads, Czech glass, and brass leaves (also from the bead show).

I’m really pleased with this set too.  I love the golden hues of autumn and the birch scene in the pendant just makes me so happy.  As much as this reminds me of my favorite season, I don’t think I’ll be waiting till fall to wear it.

14 pieces of jewelry done in about a week!  Thank you all for stopping by to see the creative excitement and the finished pieces.  I’m already looking forward to doing this again next year.

Blessings to you,

Sarah