5/31/2018

Art Elements Design Challenge and Blog Hop - Tide Pools

This challenge is not to be confused with the Oldies but Goodies one which usually turns up here on Thursdays. When my friend Laney posted about the May challenge on the Art Elements site, I spontaneously decided to jump in as a guest, to inspire me and to give my blog a little kick, too.
The theme was Tidepools, and Lesley from the Art Elements team showed some beautiful inspirations to us in this post.

Now for the first surprise - I'm not really a beach girl. I don't live anywhere near the sea and I am not the sort of person that goes ooh and aah when they see a sandy beach with palms.
It's not as if I have never been on a beach, though. An absolutely obligatory part of each trip to the Bay Area for example was one day on a particular beach. We are not talking beautiful sand and deep blue ocean here. We are talking the kind that overwhelmed me because all you could see was water and all I could think about all the fascinating and terrible creatures that may be out there. I can always blame "Jaws" for that feeling (even though it's an old favorite of mine, "Jaws", not the feeling). While I wouldn't have readily jumped into the ocean for that very reason, I really enjoyed the rest - looking for nice shells, walking in the shallow water, trying to defend our picnic from the seagulls.
Of course there were other beaches, too.
And there was the beach in Wales we never found. I still think they put that sign up to lure us into that field with the big herd of cows to get trampled. No, seriously, we just didn't find the way after trying this path and that road and finally we headed back and ended up in a tea room instead. Not the worst alternative if you ask me. It was so hot that day, I couldn't have walked another step, not for the most beautiful beach in the world!

I can't even say if I have ever seen a tide pool with my own eyes although I had a very clear idea of it. I immediately knew I wanted to put something on a bead loomed bracelet base in one of my favorite colors, gunmetal AB. Of course there's only so much space on a bracelet and I had to decide what to put on it.
This is the result.
The green seaglass comes from a Danish beach. A friend brought it home for me. The little snail shells and the sea shell are from Italian and Greek beaches and were a gift from a co-worker. And of course there had to be pearls to kind of tie all of those elements together and a mix of grey lined and metallic ice blue seed beads to hold them down.



There are so many talented people who are a part of this blog hop, I hope you'll take the chance to see what they created. I'll do my best to catch up this weekend.
And a big thank you to Art Elements for letting me participate as a guest!

Guests

Raven - Kelly - Kathy - Tammy - Alyson - Elaine - Mischelle - Deborah - Anita - Jill - Shirlee - Sarajo - Melissa - Jenny

AE Team Members

Caroline - Cathy - Claire - Jen - Laney - Lesley - Marsha - Niky - Sue  - Lindsay - Jenny

26 comments:

  1. Looks like you and beaches have a cautious friendship going! :) I love the beautiful bracelet, and the beachy adornments. The colors work really well together.

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    1. Cautious friendship - I really like that!
      Thank you!

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  2. For someone who's never seen a tide pool you came up with a wonderful design. Thank you for joining in the design challenge.

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    1. Thank you for letting me join in! I hope it won't be the last time.

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    2. I hope so too!! What a wonderful surprise to see your fantastic work in this blog challenge. I am so glad it inspired you, I love your work and even more hearing about your memories and creative process. I love your finished piece, but then I am a huge fan of all your work 😉 x

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  3. Lovely bracelet, and I really love your post and sense of humor! Thanks for joining in!

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  4. Your bracelet looks wonderful and all the elements work so well together! :)

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  5. Gotta love gunmetal!! Awesome bracelet, hope to see you in more challenges.
    Alysen

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    1. One of my staple colors for sure!
      Thank you.

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  6. What a lovely bracelet! The gunmetal beads as a base for your elements are the perfect color for the theme. I love how you added the beaded pieces on top of the loomed bracelet.

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  7. Beautiful beadwork! Sounds like we have a lot in common about beaches...I am not a lay in the sand and fry till I am crispy person (partly because I would burn in 10 seconds and look like a very angry lobster). I also adore beads/beading! I love the colors you picked and most especially that it has sentimental value. Fab work!

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    1. At least I have the official excuse not to be in the sun for health reasons ;-)
      Thank you very much. The piece of seaglass is even more precious to me because my friend has passed away since.

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  8. What a charming bracelet, I really love sea glass and the film Jaws totally ruined the sea for me too!

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    1. I love sharks, but I think we were not made for the same spot to be in :-D
      Thank you!

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  9. Wonderful design love how you encased the piece of sea-glass and the shell!

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  10. I'm fascinated at how you incorporated the shells and glass. Lovely bracelet.

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  11. Sea glass is such a great selection! I love the shells and pearls - to me it looks like barnacles encrusted on a surface! Thanks for joining us at AE this month!

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    1. Thank you!
      Looking forward to the next challenge.

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  12. Wonderful work... I love the sea glass focal!

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  13. Really cool combination of elements in your bracelet!

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