What Inspires you? Beading contest

Chris finally felt well enough this afternoon and the Sun was briefly out for him to take some pictures of the piece I have been working on for the Artbeads.com beading contest: What Inspires you? The picture I used for inspiration was one that Chris took while we were on vacation in Kauai. We loved the Napali Coastline from both from the waterline (Captain Andy's tour) to a leisure drive to the end of the road. Most people were content just to stand at the viewing point and snapping pictures, but we are never the kind to just let someone else dictate what a "perfect" view was, so we hiked a little way down the trail making use to #1, keep our mouths closed as every step was one more fantastic view that made our jaws drop & we didn't want to trip, and # 2 again with the fantastic views we had to make sure we didn't walk off the trail and slide down the mountain side. Then looking up we saw the mist climbing down the slopes engulfing us in a surreal world of color and scents. We happened upon this scene with wild growing ferns perched upon the edge of the mountain. Chris took many pictures while I admired the creatures scurrying around the base of the plants.


At home, I decided to try my hand at a big beaded collar. I've never done one successfully before and usually gave up, but this time that picture just haunted me. After ordering beads from Artbeads.com's Blogger promotion, I worked on this piece by piece until I was ready to put it all together. I liked it, but the actually neck piece roping was too flimsy for a large piece of bead embroidery, so I did a little tinkering by twisting three strung ropes together making the visual trip from the collar to the toggle more gradual. It worked, I think. So here is the list of the beads that I used from Artbeads.com. I added in a few more of my own including all the Delicas to complete the lizard.


DB0507 Lovely Delicas in Rose/Green/Gold
GCRD-OAM A beautiful Cabochon dangling from the main collar
TBRD8-514F Scrumptious Raku Bronze Plum size 8 seed beads
TBRD11-2110 Wonderful gilt lined goldenrod beads in size 11 and 8
TBRD8-2110
FPSMAME-GDR4 and all framed with these delicious 4mm matte firepolish beads

Disclosure...As a reviewer of products at Artbeads.com, I receive the cab/seed beads/fire polish above free of charge. I have been asked to review these products and give my honest opinion of the products...positive or negative. I am not being compensated by Artbeads.com for my endorsement as it pertains to the products received and reviewed.