Build a Line Challenge from B'sue Boutiques, Alexandra Sefton, Part #3

It's finally here--The Final Reveal of my whole New Jewelry Line for the Build a Line Challenge Class I've been taking for the past 3 months from the incomparable Brenda Sue Lansdowne--our mentor,  teacher and wonderful guide through this amazing journey!

 Brenda has so generously shared her vast experience and wisdom with us, and been such an inspiration to the other 55 classmates and me.  It's been fun, it's been agonizing-- sometimes I thought I'd never come up with 5 cohesive pieces for a new line at different price points with my theme of: Imagine the Colors of Nature, using components from Brenda Sue's shop.  I've learned more than I even realize at this point!  Just like life! Over the next few days and month, I will be listing these pieces for sale in my etsy shop and at craft shows!  Be sure to visit often and watch for special offers from me on Imaginary Jewelry on Facebook.

 The photos above show the first part of my colorful metal line, with a necklace and earring set, and 2 brooches that can be converted to necklaces and also can be worn in different directions!  These and the following photos show how I layered color after color on metal for the first part of my line (big new learning experience for me!).  The 2nd part of my line includes adjustable bracelets, rings and accessories such as key rings, etc.   The whole line incorporates pearls and nature elements as you can see!

This photo shows 2 big oval necklace and earring sets, in the same hand-painted on metal style, with pearls, crystals and nature elements.

Here are some smaller necklaces at lower price points, with all kinds of earring possibilities: owls, cats, birds, butterflies, flowers, leaves, etc.

Here are 2 "feather" or leaf necklaces showing the different ways to wear them.

This is the 2nd part of my line showing different varieties of adjustable bracelets and rings, with lots and lots of dangles, in pearls, swarovski crystals, charms and so on.  The first photo shows how you can order a bracelet at 3 price points:  many dangles, medium and just a few!  These bracelets can be stacked with others too for a stylish look! The adjustable rings and bracelets are so comfortable because they are a complete circle and don't pinch your skin.

These are my hand-painted blue leaves in an adjustable bracelet, adjustable ring and earrings.  Each can be purchased separately or as a set.

Here are some of the varieties of  adjustable finger rings that I will be offering.  These are in gold or silver, with owls, cats, swallows and so on--and just for fun a Steampunk gear, key and lock ring!

Next are the silver and antique brass key rings with choices of words and dangles in different colors.  These can also be bag charms or put on backpacks or belts!

And finally, here are some fancier necklaces:  first The Flying Swallows necklace with swarovski crystals and pearls, which can be done with different colors of crystals and pearls.

 Next, three Falling Leaves necklaces in different colors and metals, with pearls, crystals, etc.

And last, my fave:  The Swirly Gig Necklace in antique brass with swarovski Capri blue crystals and teardrop pearls.

Hope you enjoyed the show!  In upcoming blogs I'll go into more detail about the pieces and what I've been learning.  Be sure to leave me comments here so I can do a Happy Dance!  And the links below will take you hopping to the other 55 participants' lines of incredible creations.  Live large and love living!  <3<3<3



Visit the links below to see all the wonderful people participating in the blog hop:

Brenda Sue Lansdowne, B'sue Boutiques : Jewelry Making Outside the Box

Marcia Tuzzolino : Aurora Designs

Jann Tague : Clever Designs by Jann

Judy King : Apt to Wander Studio

Linzi Alford : Magpie in the Sky, Spoil Heap Tales

Cynthia Wainscott : Exotic Peru

Carole Carlson : Beadsophisticate

Lynn Stinten : Dragonzwench

Marica Zammit : Bead Lovelies

Catherine Shattuck : VRBrose

Michaele Collie : The Vintage Gem

Mary Craig : Jewelry Alchemy

Lee Koopman : Strega Jewelry

Erin Whitacre : Shattered Time Jewelry

Monica Casady : MJCasady Copper Works

Leila West : Leila Nicole Designs

Cindy Peterson : Howling Dog Jewelry

Leila Belcher : Leila Bee Designs

Gloria Allen : Wings and Beads

Pamela Anger : Novegatti Designs

Tammy Adams : Paisley Lizard

Lynda O'Mara : LOmara Creative

Elizabeth Hildreth : MadScientistsDesigns

Dana Hickey : Wind Dancer Studios

Janet Calardo : Jan Lea Designs

Maria Clark : Sweet Willow Designs

Lori Beekman : B. Accessorized

Jennifer Kroeger : Relic Charm

Amy Jorgensen : Hoarder's Corner

Robin Reed : Artistry: Handcrafted Bead Designs

Ingrid Anderson : Lilis Gems

Louise O'Shields : Desire Divine Jewels

Susan Killam : Killam Creative

Mary Katherine Deis : The Rose Sword: Artisan and Vintage Collectible Jewelry

Nike Bottalico : Nike Bottalico

Susan Bowerman : Woodside Wireworks

Kristy Le : Kristy Le Trendy Jewelry Designs

Jan Peters : Stylized Vintage

Mitzie Crider : Needful Luxuries Occasional Blog

Gina Hockett : Freestyle Elements

Linda Anderson : From the Bead Board

Alexandra Sefton : Imaginary Jewelry and Altered Art

Melida Boman : The Journey of Pens and Things

Teresa Shurter : TreeZ's Treasurs

Melissa Latimer : Smithed Up

Renee Hong : Fine and Dandy Jewelry and Art

Nadine Edris : Moondance Jewelry

Lori Meyer : Parisienne Girl

Jennifer Merrill Williams : Artists of All Stripes

Denise Lussier Poirier : Jewelry by Denise

Renee Allen : Small Stuff Design

Autumn Adams : Autumn Dawns

Elizabeth Owens : 1996 Shabby Lane

Kat BarronMiller : Midnight Kat Productions Art Jewelry

Sandra Ballard : Mama San's Mojo

Coral Law : ab:coraldesign

Wait for it--look for it!!

It's only 2 days now until the final reveal of my all-new jewelry line with many choices for you!  The end of the 3 month B'sue Boutiques Challenge class that I've been taking approaches!!  And are you wondering what all those little pearl dangles are for?  NOT for cha cha bracelets--haha!  You'll just have to come to my final Blog Hop and see all my beauties!!

Be sure to visit www.wilywolverine.blogspot.com on Friday and after!  You can also follow the links at the end of the blog post to hop to all the other wonderful participants' new lines!  And be sure to read Brenda Sue Lansdowne's blog about this Challenge--she is our FABULOUS teacher and mentor who shared so much time, wisdom and experience with us.  Or you can visit her shop of  fine quality goodies all made in the U.S.  (bsueboutiques.com)

Build A Line Challenge from B'sue Boutiques, Alexandra Sefton, Part 2

Greetings from Freddie, my green helper, the Endangered N.W. tree octopus!  He says this 3 month Build a Line Challenge from B'sue Boutiques has been, and is a roller coaster!  Ups and downs, tearing hair out, doing the happy dance, it's all been happening for me and the lucky 54 other wonderful jewelry designers who are doing this challenge with Brenda Sue Lansdowne--our incredibly funny, kind and generous teacher.

Are you ready for the 1st big reveal?  I  have a terrible fear of heights, but I jumped way out of my comfort zone and learned to do assemblage jewelry, colorizing metal and so much more.  Here I have some of the pieces from the new line I've designed:  Imagine the Colors of Nature.  In the next month, the first of these pieces will be appearing for sale in my Etsy shop.

Yes, that IS a different theme than I blogged about last time! As anyone familiar with the creative process knows, you don't always end up with exactly what you imagined in the beginning.  And as Bob Ross said, "there are no mistakes, just happy little accidents," or in my case, happy BIG accidents!

In the next two weeks I will blog more about how I created these pieces. But for now, you can see that there are 2 parts to my line:  (1)  The Nature Brights Line: copper, silver, gold and brass assemblage pieces and hand painted metals with: leaves and flowers, birds, dragonflies, and butterflies. Some pieces can be adjustable to brooches, many will have matching earrings as an option.  (2)  The Mini Cha Nature Line: incorporates the same nature elements as above,  but in adjustable bracelets and mini rings with leaves, pearls, birds, mini lockets, flowers and more.  I have many other colors planned--a lovely denim blue, teal, magenta, pink and much more to be seen at the final reveal!

This is my first time learning and experimenting with colors on metal and assemblage jewelry!  I had so much fun using patina paints and lumiere paints with their "halo" colors and pearlescents--almost a leafing effect when you mix the colors.  It took some time to figure out which colors worked well together but eventually I settled on the colorway for my line.

March 20 is our final Blog Hop and I will have surprise pieces for the rest of my new line that no one has even seen yet!  On that day, you will be able to see my complete line of delicious colors and mini chas!!

I'd be delighted if you'd leave comments for me--and have fun hopping on to see the other participants' new lines by clicking on the links below.  Live large and enjoy!!!  <3<3<3



Visit the links below to see all the wonderful people participating in the blog hop:

Brenda Sue Lansdowne, B'sue Boutiques : Jewelry Making Outside the Box

Marcia Tuzzolino : Aurora Designs

Jann Tague : Clever Designs by Jann

Judy King : Apt to Wander Studio

Linzi Alford : Magpie in the Sky, Spoil Heap Tales

Cynthia Wainscott : Exotic Peru

Carole Carlson : Beadsophisticate

Lynn Stinten : Dragonzwench

Marica Zammit : Bead Lovelies

Catherine Shattuck : VRBrose

Michaele Collie : The Vintage Gem

Mary Craig : Jewelry Alchemy

Lee Koopman : Strega Jewelry

Erin Whitacre : Shattered Time Jewelry

Monica Casady : MJCasady Copper Works

Leila West : Leila Nicole Designs

Cindy Peterson : Howling Dog Jewelry

Leila Belcher : Leila Bee Designs

Gloria Allen : Wings and Beads

Pamela Anger : Novegatti Designs

Tammy Adams : Paisley Lizard

Lynda O'Mara : LOmara Creative

Elizabeth Hildreth : MadScientistsDesigns

Dana Hickey : Wind Dancer Studios

Janet Calardo : Jan Lea Designs

Maria Clark : Sweet Willow Designs

Lori Beekman : B. Accessorized

Jennifer Kroeger : Relic Charm

Amy Jorgensen : Hoarder's Corner

Robin Reed : Artistry: Handcrafted Bead Designs

Ingrid Anderson : Lilis Gems

Louise O'Shields : Desire Divine Jewels

Susan Killam : Killam Creative

Mary Katherine Deis : The Rose Sword: Artisan and Vintage Collectible Jewelry

Nike Bottalico : Nike Bottalico

Susan Bowerman : Woodside Wireworks

Kristy Le : Kristy Le Trendy Jewelry Designs

Jan Peters : Stylized Vintage

Mitzie Crider : Needful Luxuries Occasional Blog

Gina Hockett : Freestyle Elements

Linda Anderson : From the Bead Board

Alexandra Sefton : Imaginary Jewelry and Altered Art

Melida Boman : The Journey of Pens and Things

Teresa Shurter : TreeZ's Treasurs

Melissa Latimer : Smithed Up

Renee Hong : Fine and Dandy Jewelry and Art

Nadine Edris : Moondance Jewelry

Lori Meyer : Parisienne Girl

Jennifer Merrill Williams : Artists of All Stripes

Denise Lussier Poirier : Jewelry by Denise

Renee Allen : Small Stuff Design

Autumn Adams : Autumn Dawns

Elizabeth Owens : 1996 Shabby Lane

Kat BarronMiller : Midnight Kat Productions Art Jewelry

Sandra Ballard : Mama San's Mojo

Coral Law : ab:coraldesign

Build A Line Challenge from B'sue Boutiques, Alexandra Sefton Part 1

¡Hola! I'm Alexandra Sefton of Imaginary Jewelry and Altered Art, and I'm tickled pink to share with you the first Blog Hop of the Build A Line Challenge from B'sue Boutiques.  Here in Part #1, I get to reveal my secret theme for the Challenge and tell you a bit about myself and why I chose to do this 3 month master class with 57 other wonderful jewelry artists.

At the end of the 3 months, and in the 3rd Blog Hop, we will get to reveal the 5 finished pieces of our new line!  Before I tell you about my theme, here's a bit about me:  my career was teaching 5th-6th grade and then High School Spanish, but now that I'm retired I finally get to find myself and my passion, which is creating beautiful jewelry and altered art pieces.  It seems I'm a student now, and there's no end of fun, new friendships to be found, and  new things to learn.  Most of what I've learned about life, I've learned from my cats (LOL).  Many wonderful fur buckets have come and gone through the years, but here is my current creative staff: the big black and white guy is Edward ScissorPaws and he's a big talker and purrer.  The little one is Moki, and the green one is Freddie my 8 armed muse!

When you go to my Etsy shop you'll find that I LOVE colors!  I could eat and drink them all day and all night.  Most of my jewelry is made with artisan lampwork glass and polymer clay, lots of crystal bling, Czech glass, and  other elements.  Here are some favorite things I've made, including my specialty: cha cha dangle bracelets.

So--my theme is: Time to Imagine--Nature.  With this new Challenge, I wanted to create a metal nature line that would incorporate different metals, lots of birds, leaves, flowers, trees, squirrels, foxes and so on.  My greatest passion, at the root of my being, is the natural world God has created for us.  I love to walk, imagine and explore the outdoors, and see all the plants, flowers and wildlife. Here are some of the wonderful components, mostly from B'sue Boutiques, that I might
be using. (www.bsueboutiques.com) I hope this line will make people happy and want to fly with the birds!  Thanks for reading!  <3



Visit the links below to see all the wonderful people participating in the blog hop:

Brenda Sue Lansdowne, B'sue Boutiques : Jewelry Making Outside the Box

Marcia Tuzzolino : Aurora Designs

Jann Tague : Clever Designs by Jann

Judy King : Apt to Wander Studio

Linzi Alford : Magpie in the Sky, Spoil Heap Tales

Cynthia Wainscott : Exotic Peru

Carole Carlson : Beadsophisticate

Lynn Stinten : Dragonzwench

Marica Zammit : Bead Lovelies

Catherine Shattuck : VRBrose

Michaele Collie : The Vintage Gem

Mary Craig : Jewelry Alchemy

Lee Koopman : Strega Jewelry

Erin Whitacre : Shattered Time Jewelry

Monica Casady : MJCasady Copper Works

Leila West : Leila Nicole Designs

Cindy Peterson : Howling Dog Jewelry

Leila Belcher : Leila Bee Designs

Gloria Allen : Wings and Beads

Pamela Anger : Novegatti Designs

Tammy Adams : Paisley Lizard

Lynda O'Mara : LOmara Creative

Elizabeth Hildreth : MadScientistsDesigns

Dana Hickey : Wind Dancer Studios

Janet Calardo : Jan Lea Designs

Maria Clark : Sweet Willow Designs

Lori Beekman : B. Accessorized

Jennifer Kroeger : Relic Charm

Amy Jorgensen : Hoarder's Corner

Robin Reed : Artistry: Handcrafted Bead Designs

Ingrid Anderson : Lilis Gems

Louise O'Shields : Desire Divine Jewels

Susan Killam : Killam Creative

Mary Katherine Deis : The Rose Sword: Artisan and Vintage Collectible Jewelry

Nike Bottalico : Nike Bottalico

Susan Bowerman : Woodside Wireworks

Kristy Le : Kristy Le Trendy Jewelry Designs

Jan Peters : Stylized Vintage

Mitzie Crider : Needful Luxuries Occasional Blog

Gina Hockett : Freestyle Elements

Linda Anderson : From the Bead Board

Alexandra Sefton : Imaginary Jewelry and Altered Art

Melida Boman : The Journey of Pens and Things

Teresa Shurter : TreeZ's Treasurs

Melissa Latimer : Smithed Up

Renee Hong : Fine and Dandy Jewelry and Art

Nadine Edris : Moondance Jewelry

Lori Meyer : Parisienne Girl

Jennifer Merrill Williams : Artists of All Stripes

Denise Lussier Poirier : Jewelry by Denise

Renee Allen : Small Stuff Design

Autumn Adams : Autumn Dawns

Elizabeth Owens : 1996 Shabby Lane

Kat BarronMiller : Midnight Kat Productions Art Jewelry

Sandra Ballard : Mama San's Mojo

Coral Law : ab:coraldesign

In Like Flynn--whoever he was!

Well, I took the plunge and now am officially in the B'sue Boutiques Build a Line Challenge with 57 other excited, looney folks!!  Each one of us has come up with a theme and will be building a line of jewelry with a distinctive style all our own to go with that theme.  Right now it's all very hush hush--we don't even know what the other participants are doing!  But we are having our first Blog Hop on Jan. 23!  I'm so excited!  I've never had a blog before and never done a Blog Hop and they sound like so much fun.  There will be more info forthcoming and you will be able to follow our hop along with us.  Until next time--Live large and have fun!

If you want to see more, visit her wonderful shop or check her out on facebook!

Hello all you wonderful friends, beaders, artists, and everyone out there and Happy New Year!  It certainly is flying time again--great visual imaging!  Time to fly into a new year full of happy (we hope) surprises.  Time to open the door and fall out of our comfort zones.  Time to let our spirits soar.

This year brings me a HUGE challenge--way far out of my comfort zone and very exciting!  No, it's not the challenge of learning not to use so many exclamation marks!  And not the challenge of cleaning up the house or even my magic room where I create in a tiny space because every possible surface (tables, shelves, walls, floor--you get the picture...)  is covered with stuff, stuff and more stuff for the over-stuffed.

It's the B'Sue Boutiques Build a Line Challenge!  My next blog post will have a photo and tell you more details.  But we have 3 months to work with Brenda Sue Lansdowne and the incredible people at B'sue Boutiques Creative Group to learn branding and building a product line to promote our creations and learn how to get the word out to more people about how much fun it is!  I can't reveal yet what I'll be creating--it's a secret for now-- but I will be blogging about it along the way and sharing lots of fun things with you, including how I got into this crazy life in the first place!

As time flies by, I will also be introducing you to some favorite lampwork glass, polymer clay and jewelry designers, and creators, in case you hadn't seen their work or would like to know more about it. And I'll be talking about time and flies--I mean flying and lots of other fun stuff. So stay tuned.  May you all live large and fly high to your dreams!   TTFN   <3