Grow Your Blog Party & Giveaway

Welcome to the Grow Your Blog Party! Someone had posted about this on a beading Facebook page, and I couldn't pass up the opportunity. Thank you to Vicki for being a wonderful hostess. If you look at the amazing list on her blog, you'll find it's grouped according to the number of followers so be sure to visit and follow the ones that pique your interest.

My name is Christie. I'm a wife of 26 years, a mom to three beautiful daughters and experiencing my first year as an empty nester. I'm finding it has its pros and cons for sure! I've always loved to do crafts and was into scrapbooking for awhile until I was introduced to beading through a friend of my sister. I was hooked! After making gifts for family and friends, this hobby segued into a small business and keeps on going. A couple of years ago I had the privilege of teaching jewelry lessons at a large craft store and that was a wonderful experience. Now I teach private lessons in the small town I live near, and my regulars have become family. They continue to want to learn new things and push me to keep expanding my repertoire- it's a win/win situation!

I'm an avid pinner and have lots of great boards- especially jewelry related things. You can check them out here on Pinterest. I'm also on Instagram where my user name is CharisDesigns. Twiiter is something I'm still trying to figure out but you can follow me as @CharisDJewelry.  I have a shop on Etsy as well as a Facebook business page, Charis Designs

Here's some pictures of  some favorite jewelry I've made:

Merry Mermain

Consider the Lilies

Autumn Splendor

Floral Fantasy

Smokey Mountains

and my absolute favorite....

Orchid Beauty

 Several of these were pieces that I made for blog hops, which I love participating in. Autumn Splendor and Orchid Beauty are still for sale- please contact me if you're interested.

With Valentines' Day around the corner, how about a giveaway of some Valentine earrings? Just leave a comment below ( with a valid email) and tell me something special you'll do for your valentine this year (family friendly please!).  Of course, I'm always looking for new followers too ;) I'll pick a random winner on February 1st.

Lots of other blogs to visit, so off I go- hoping your day is filled with splashes of grace and dashes of joy

Christie

Into The Forest Blog Hop

It's time for another blog hop hosted by Lisa Lodge- this time the theme is Into The Forest. I was given a combination of beige/tan stone beads, green crystal and some crystals in beige colors. Unfortunately, yours truly forgot to take a picture of all but the green ones-sorry about that!

 Aren't they pretty?

I've been loving playing with brass lately, so when I saw these three beads, I realized they line up perfectly for a chain pendant... and I was right :) Making a chain tassel is always fun too. The brass bowl is from India, where I grew up, and it seemed fitting to photograph the necklace with it, being that this piece reminded me of necklaces from there. I called this pendant "Aranya" which is the Hindi word for forest, in honor of the hop. 

Aranya

Here's another look- it's pretty long, but I'm pleased with it.

I still had the tan and brown stones to work with, and while I was in Michaels I spotted some Art-i-cake chain, and fell in love with it. The combination of antique brass and crystal spacers kept calling my name, and upon arriving home, realized it could pair perfectly with the beads Lisa had sent. After figuring how to wrangle them with some antique brass wire, voila! Loving the combo of the sparkly, the chain and the beads.

Woodsy Glam

There are still a couple of links which will become earrings very soon, and it needs a clasp which will also happen this week. What about those pretty green beads, you ask? Well, there are plans for them as well, but last weekend I was given an opportunity to put some earrings into a prom dress shop, and that took up a lot more time than I expected, but very welcomed! They were delivered yesterday, so now I can (literally) wrap up some loose ends.

There's a lot more jewelry peeps who participated in this blog hop, so be sure to check them out.  Thanks again, Lisa, for being a wonderful hostess. Hope your weekend is filled with splashes of grace and dashes of joy!

Here's the list of participants:

Your hostess:  Lisa Lodge, A Grateful Artist

Melissa Trudinger, Bead Recipes

Kathy Zeigler Lindemer, Bay Moon Design

Eleanor Burian Moore, The Charmed Life

Jo-Ann Woolverton, It's a Beadiful Creation

Chris Eisenberg, Wanderware

Christine Stonefield, Sweet Girl Design

Carolyn Lawson, Carolyn's Creations

Janine Lucas, Esfera Travel Blog

Jasvanti Patel, Jewelry by Jasvanti

Shaiha Williams,   Shaiha's Ramblings

Kay Thomerson, Kayz Kreationz

Karla Morgan, Texas Pepper Jams

Veralynne Malone, Designed by Vera

Toltec  Jewels, Jewel School Friends

Christie Searle Murrow, (you're here) Charis Designs Jewelry

Molly Alexander, Beautifully Broken Me

Monique Urquhart, A Half-Baked Notion

Janet Bocciardi, Honey from the Bee

Dini Bruinsma, Angaza by Changes

Heather Richter, Desert Jewelry Designs

Christina Miles, Wings n Scales

Elizabeth Engriser, Bead Contagion

Alice Peterson, Alice Dreaming

Alicia Marinache, All the Pretty Things

Kay Mallery,TBD

Catherine Yvonne King, Catherine's Musings

Alice Craddick, Alice's Beads and Baubles

Ema Kilroy, Ema K Designs