I’m finally sitting down to post!! We have had a whirlwind of activity lately with the arrival of our new pets farm animals-goats, sheep, and coming soon to a plot near you-llamas and lapacas! Whew! Ok, enough of my excuses. I have been partnered for the 7th Bead Soup Blog Hop with a wonderful lampwork artist, Elizabeth Bunn of Confessions of a Lampworkaholic and Elizabeth Beads on Etsy! I was very excited, and just knew I would receive a wonderfully delicious soup after visiting both her blog and Etsy shop. Sure enough, a package arrived with a stunning lampwork focal and huge rondelles, nifty rectangular pearls, little peacock rondelles, sparkly faceted topaz Swarovski crystal and a sweet pearl clasp!

I have SO many ideas!! Fortunately, we are in the final reveal, April 14th, which will give me plenty of time to come up with all sorts of fun designs that I truly hope does the gorgeous lampwork justice. The funny thing about the soup I received, is that it is a very similar color scheme I chose to work with when creating a soup for Liz. Blue is the color often believed to soothe and calm, instilling serenity and peace. It has been known to lower blood pressure and pulse.  It also conveys confidence and stability. Lately, I have been more confident, finding peace with a few troubling decisions I have been mulling over, and have allowed myself to relax and let go of some fears I had been clinging to. With that in mind, I made the unconscious choice of many blues in my soup to Liz:

A copper infused soup, indeed. I wire-wrapped a donut, and hand made two clasps and jumprings. Not everyone works with copper, so I wanted to help provide anything Liz might need. I oxidized all the coppers beads, tubes, clasps and the pendant with LOS and buffed away. I can’t wait to see what Liz creates!!

Participating in blog hops is just one of the things I love to do to connect with other artists, other people who create from the heart, and have not only found their passion but harnessed it and learned to run free with it. They provide a feel of camaraderie, a sense of being part of something so much bigger then me. A feeling that sometimes, we can find like-minded people in the world who all share a love of beautiful things, and a love of creating. I hope you have found your passion, too. And if not, please don’t ever stop looking for it. =^..^=