Lorelei's Shadowbox Challenge

Back in July, Lorelei (who, btw, invited me to be her roomie at Philly Bead Fest this past weekend, and I am SO glad she did!) had a giveaway on her blog for 23 spots in her Shadowbox Challenge, and I was one of the lucky winners! The wonderful enameled shadowboxes were created by C-Koop Beads whose booth I had the pleasure of visiting while at Bead Fest. As soon as I saw the shadowboxes, I envisioned various miniature scenes in them. Some of you may already know that I used to work at a dollhouse shop, and I made dollhouse miniatures for many years before I made jewelry. I think this is why the Shadowbox Challenge really appealed to me. 

As usual, I waited until last minute to work on mine, but an idea came to me almost immediately. I remembered a small 3-D owl bead that I had picked up in NC and chose to use it in my scene. I also found a tiny Vintaj moon charm in my stash and decided to do a scene of an owl in a tree with the moon in the background.

I used very fine 28 gauge wire to wire the owl to a branch that I picked off one of our bushes. My shadowbox came with two holes on top and one on the bottom, so I strung the wire through the top holes to make a loop to hang it from and dangled the moon charm from one hole. At first I dangled a brass star charm from the bottom hole, but then decided to use a glass leaf headpin by Anne of Gardanne Beads (who I had the pleasure of meeting and hanging out with in Philly also) instead. I think it looks much better. 

I was planning to do a combination of beads, chain, wire wrapping and/or ribbon, but when I spotted my rusty orange sari silk and tied it onto the pendant, I realized it was perfect by itself. The pendant has so much going on that I decided it was better to keep it simple. Afterwards, when I was photographing it, I realized it looks like a Halloween design! I did not intend to do that, but I must subconsciously be excited for fall, my favorite season.

Thanks for checking out my design! Now go see all the fabulous creations from the other 22 participants! I can't wait to see all the creative designs.

2. Ann Rishell

3. Malin de Koning

4. Gray Girl Studios

5. Maria Grimes

6. Beads of Busy Gals- Elizabeth

7. The Silly Pearl

8. Shay Stone- Shays creative journey

9. LissC

10. the Beading Yogini

11. Grubbi

12. Jenny Davies- Reazor

13. Beth of Elizabeth Williams

14. Artybecca

15. Stefanies Sammelsurium

16. KreativeKsapylet

17. Shirley - Beads & Bread

18. Hilary Frye- FryeStyle

19. Heather Wynn Millican

20. Staci Louise Originals

21. Suzette- Ellie's Bijoux

22. Marina - Fanciful Devices

23. Andrew Thornton

Thank you Lorelei and C-Koop for the awesome and fun jewelry challenge!! 

Stay tuned for my blog post on my trip to Philly for Bead Fest...I'm still unpacking all my goodies in between house showings!