Lorelei Eurto's Blog, page 49

Mamacita Beadworks shop update!

Www.mamacitabeadworks.etsy.com
Be sure to stop by D'arsie's shop update this morning at 10 am est. she 'll be posting lots of new things and I am stoked to see what she has in store for us !! 

Classic Bead bundle WINNER Announced

Congratulations goes to Geaux Greene for winning the Classic Bead trio! Thank you all for playing!

A New Reader Challenge: Book

Welcome to my newest blog challenge!

The last time I saw Sara Lukkonen of C Koop Beads, we talked about doing another blog challenge and Sara picked out these brand new enameled book components that she has recently developed.

She has sent me 12 books, and I'll be participating so I have 11 open spots to fill. Please be sure to read this entire post and all rules before commenting.

There are some rules for this challenge, as there are for every beading challenge. But Sara has requested that a few requirements be met first. Don't worry, it'll still be FUN!

1. At last three items used in your finished design must come from your local bead store.  Items noted and referenced to the store. And if you don't have a bead store in your area, it's okay to use your local craft supply store as well such as Michael's or Hobby Lobby etc.- referenced the same way.

2. The challenge is going to be judged by Sara's local bead store via pictures.  And there will be 1 winner! The winner will receive $100 of C-Koop components of their choice!

 3. You will share your "story" behind your creation. You can either blog about your story or send the text on to me, or Sara.

 example of finished books...

Here's how this will work. If you would like to participate, I will be choosing 11 random participants.  Please leave 1 comment each on this post to enter.  International participants are welcome to enter too! I will then send the books to each participant via first class USPS mail.

Participants will receive a random color.

I will need the 11 participants to send me their mailing address once chosen. Please check back on Friday to see if you have been chosen. I will not spend a lot of time trying to hunt you down. If you don't contact me, I will have to choose another playeer to take your place.

I will pick the players for this challenge on Friday October 25th, and the deadline for your finished pieces will be November 25th. You have 1 month to finish your project.

another example of finished journals
Sara will be sharing all photos of your finished projects on her Facebook page, and that's where the judging will take place.

Story telling is a huge part of jewelry design in a lot of ways, so this process should be fun! The challenge will be to create a piece of jewelry around your finished "book".  Good Luck to all!


Please leave one comment on this post and tell me why you would like to participate!

Classic Bead Giveaway

Tracee Dock of The Classic Bead has donated a few pendants for a bead giveaway on my blog! Pretty stinkin' awesome of her, I'd say!

To enter this drawing, just leave a comment on this post and I will pick 1 random winner on Wednesday October 23rd and announce it that morning.

Good Luck to Everyone!

Salt Market, Syracuse NY

Yesterday I went to Syracuse to check out the Salt Market, a local artisan market featuring about 17 vendors. I wanted to see what it was all about because I have applied 2 times now and have yet to get in.  So I just wanted to see what types of jewelry they had there and what the scene was like. I was truly impressed!! What a great collection of really talented people! I felt like I was in a big city event like the ones I've seen featured online like Renegade.

The jewelry was phenomenal. I saw a lot of great metalwork, some wood, leather jewelry, and even glass. Every booth was beautiful and of course I got sucked in and bought a few things.

 A gorgeous collection of pottery from Jen Gandee! Jen was friendly and you could just see her passion in each and every piece! I chose this cute tumbler (I've started collecting tumblers- so if you see any cute ones let me know!) and a sweet pendant with the same beautiful colors.  I can't wait to create a piece around this gorgeous component!




I fell head over heels for the jewelry from Penelope Rakov. I wanted this awesome necklace too but had already blown my budget by the time I had gotten to her booth. We chatted for a while and she was so very friendly and accommodating! I can't wait to save my pennies so I can finally get a necklace. These coral earrings are great too, with her signature Murrini caning technique! She has a great video on her website showing the process!

 It was awesome to say Hi to my online FB friend Helen of Secret Lentil Clothing. She's got the best fingerless gloves and I got a new pair with some pretty detailing on the wrists.  Gorgeous colors! She is always so fun to chat with.

Another great jewelry artist I found was Marisa Krol of Interstellar Love Craft Jewelry. Really cool matte finish on her pieces, and I saw quite a few things I could see myself wearing of hers, on a daily basis. But I did buy this amazing O ring. I absolutely love it!

Some other really great vendors that I saw that you should check out are:
The Knotty Owl, Smock Paper, Lisa Barker Photography,  LostGirl Metalworks,  Laurel O'Brien,  Sophia Sophia, Hannah Graeper Pottery

In the Kitchen: Zucchini Rollatini

Joe and I absolutely LOVE to cook and try new things in the kitchen. I was flipping through the October issue of Martha Stewart and found this recipe and knew right away that I had to try it. I remembered I had seen it and snagged the ingredients for tonight's dinner. And can I just say- WOW. Totally outstanding! Joe told me "This is definitely in the top 3 best things you've made!" So, I figured I should share the love. Thank you to Martha Stewart, or her recipe writers, or wherever she found this one. It's a goodie.

My notes:
*it is challenging to cut the zucchini in thin slices.  There wasn't anything mentioned about peeling the skin so I kept it on but we didn't notice it affected the recipe at all.

*Martha says in the recipe to stand the rolls up with the pinwheel side down. Mine wouldn't stand up this way so I just laid them down on their sides in the sauce and it was still totally amazing.

*I used a spicy Fra Diavolo sauce and really loved the extra kick but the recipe only calls for "tomato sauce" of your choice.
 
* I used just plain old sliced moz cheese from the cheese section of the grocery store. It was not "fresh".



Zucchini Rollatini

Active time: 35 min. Total time: 45 min. Makes 12 Serves: 4
Omit the prosciutto if you want a vegetarian dish.

2 large zucchini (8-10 inches long) cut lengthwise into twelve 1/2 inch slices
Coarse salt and fresh ground pepper
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil plus more as needed
5-6 oz. thinly sliced prosciutto
1 lb. fresh mozzarella cheese thinly sliced
24 large fresh basil leaves plus more for garnish
Tomato sauce - I used a full jar but the recipe says 1-1/2 -2 cups of tomato sauce


I served mine with a side of spaghetti and used the extra sauce for it.

1. Preheat oven to 425. Season zucchini with salt and pepper on both sides.  heat a large skillet over medium high heat. Blot moisture from zucchini. Swirl oil in the skillet, and cook zucchini slices in 2 single layer batches, adding more oil in between batches as needed, until golden brown- about 2 min. on each side.

2. Top each strip of zucchini with a piece of prosciutto torn to fit, a slice of moz cheese cut to fit, and 2 basil leaves. Roll each stack into a pinwheel and spear it with a toothpick to hold it together.

3. Place tomato sauce in the 8:inch diameter baking dish( or divide among 4 ramekins)  {Note: I did mine in a large oven safe skillet with small handles on both sides and it baked beautifully)
Place rollatini pinwheel side down side by side in the dish and remove the toothpicks. 
Bake until cheese is bubbling. 10-12 min. Before serving garnish with basil.

Be Wise

When I got this pendant from Nancy of Round Rabbit Extra I knew right away that I was going to use it horizontally instead of vertically.  Something about those 2 holes, open up a whole plethora of possibilities in terms of design.  Part of the fun, for me, is crafting something new and unique out of something that is typically "just a pendant". Nancy's pieces usually lend well to this notion of layering with other components.  I've got some palpitations for these little beads from yesterday's update. I have a couple of these ordered and can't get them fast enough.

This necklace incorporates some brass rollo chain and some leather cording. I kept the necklace part fairly simple because I knew I was going to be adding some other components to the pendant and I wanted that to be the main focus of this piece.

First I was going to use wire to attach the owl inside that inside hole of the pendant but didn't want to damage the porcelain and so, I grabbed some trusty linen cording instead in a coordinating dark burgundy color.

After I thought about it awhile and played around with different knotting, I decided it might be nice to add some text element to this design that played off the owl so I created this crescent piece out of silver nickel sheet. I popped some holes into each side of the crescent with an oval shaped Euro punch. As I was playing around with different techniques, I thought at first I would use a jump ring to attach the crescent to the pendant. But a 7mm jump ring was too small. I punch a bigger hole in the right side of the crescent and then found that I didn't like the large jump ring afterall. Now I had this big unsightly hole at the right side.

Problem solving happening at this point, I decided to use linen cording and use the knot in the cording to cover that larger hole. Dangling 2 pieces down, and attaching these cool star beads, it became kind of a moon/star/owl thing and I really liked the outcome.

That smaller outside hole acts as the toggle for a toggle bar from Vintaj Brass.

This necklace is available for sale at Etsy or my webstore.

Round Rabbit

You have a date today. With a talented girl by the name of Nancy Adams.Meet up with her at 12:00 Noon est. for a pendantupdate at her Big Cartel store.
While there, you'll be astounded by the talent that oozes fromthis artist's fingers. She has crafted this batch of pendantsabove, and has hand-painted the glaze with tiny brushes.
You are not going to want to miss out. But beware,you GOTTA be quick!
Happy Shopping!

Happy Columbus Day!

www.loreleieurtojewelry.etsy.com

http://loreleieurtojewelry.indiemade.com/store

Something Wicked

“Everything that happens before Death is what counts.” 
- Ray Bradbury, Something Wicked This Way Comes