It's My Sea of Dreams: beach

I have found that the fear of something is worse than actually doing it.

Getting started creating jewelry was a daunting task for me. I really had no idea what type of jewelry I wanted to create and no way to make my work stand out from the amazing crowd of jewelry designers already out there.

I started out with simple wire wrapping techniques, like the earrings above.

Then I started creating my own links and findings and added that skill to my wire wrapping techniques.

Then a friend showed me her collection of sea glass and told me where she went to collect it. I almost didn't start creating my sea glass jewelry because I was afraid to jump into a new technique.

I watched countless videos of different wire wrapping techniques and decided that I needed to start somewhere and that starting was better than just sitting there. These earrings above were one of my first sets and I was quite proud of them!

Figuring out how to have a loop at two ends of a piece of sea glass was a real challenge. It took many times trying and re-trying, but that's how you learn best.

Somewhere along the way, I realized that I wasn't afraid to try new techniques anymore. I jumped in with both feet into the beading pool...and check out these designs!

Starting anything new can be scary. But unless you take that first step, you'll never know how far you can go!

Growing up, we lived a bike ride away from East Point Lighthouse. It's located on a little inlet off the Deleware Bay in Heislerville, NJ and is an amazing place to visit.

The ocean has always been a special place for me to go...the smell of the salt in the air, the sound of the waves crashing along the beach...I love everything about it!

This blog hop has been put together by Lisa Lodge and there are about 20 of us participating. Lisa sent each of us a beautiful selection of beads, either "Sand" (tans, creams, oranges and browns) or "Sea" (blues, greens and purples).

As you can see, my selection of beads was inspired by the sea. Isn't this an amazing selection to work with?!?

(I have to admit, there are a few beads I didn't use in this challenge because they just didn't work in the designs I created, but I have some ideas I've been doodling that will showcase them perfectly!)

I love long earrings! (I have long hair and small, delicate earrings tend to get lost in it all.) I like creating earrings with a bit of sparkle and movement.

This wasn't the original design, however. I planned to make these earrings dangle with lots of these amazing triangle beads and some of the round blue and green beads. But when I put these on to start the design, I was struck by their simple beauty. So I left the design alone instead of trying to make it fit the image in my head.

Charm bracelets are a favorite of mine to create and I really love the sparkle of this one! I originally started with a silver chain, but the clasp Lisa sent looked so much better with the gunmetal chain. I used a combination of black head pins and dull silver head pins just because I didn't want it to become too dark.

The smallest beads on the bracelet are my favorite of the whole bunch. They are small triangle-shaped glass beads that have blue and green and yellow hues. They are so small and I wanted to create a piece where they were an important part of the design, not just an accent to the larger beads.

This necklace was actually the first piece I created. I wanted to make a longer length necklace than I usually do (it ended up being 30 inches!)

I love the milky round beads that were part of my "Sea." They compliment the bright blues and greens of the other beads.

This is my favorite creation of this challenge! I wire wrapped alternating clear and blue beads for the main part of the necklace. I added a silver toggle clasp that reminded me of the life preservers on boats and kept with the nautical theme.

I love the front section of the necklace! I took the long beads, the rest of those little triangle beads, some blue beads, two rondelles and a bunch of daisy spacers and strung them together. I tried wrapping them into sections but just didn't like the look.

Here is the list of the other people who are a part of this blog hop...I hope you are able to check out the amazing jewelry they created with their kits!

Eleanor Burian-Mohr, The Charmed Life

Mary Govaars, MLH Jewelry Designs

Tanya Goodwin, A Work in Progress

Kathy Lindemer, Bay Moon Design

Toltec Jewels, Jewel School Friends

Sharyl McMillian-Nelson, Sharyl's Jewelry

Marla Gibson, Spice Box Designs

Melissa Trudinger, Bead Recipes

Dot Lewallen, Speedie Beadie

Ema Kilroy, Ema K Designs

Kim Booth, The Pink Martini Boutique

Jami Shipp, Celebrating Life