EST Weekly Challenge entry - Marie Antoinette

Today I would like to show you my entry for this week's European Street Team Challenge. This time the hostess is loddelina and she picked very interesting theme - Marie Antoinette.

It took me three days to create this piece. I thought I won't be able to manage in time, as I was missing some supplies to finish the piece, but then the miracle happened and at the last moment I got the package. Yay! :)

So, here is the necklace I created for the challenge.

My inspiration came from a painting of young Marie Antoinette, and I decided to make something romantic and delicate, instead of crazy and over the top.

This necklace feels very luxurious, because of detailed cameo, osmina shell cabochons, freshwater pearls, Japanese seed beads and great amount of glass pearls. And I don't want to take it off! :))

It can be worn as a choker or as tight necklace, depending on the mood and outfit. The necklace is now available in my Etsy store, you can also find more pictures there.

You can see all the entries here.

Enjoy your weekend!

xo,

My EST Challenge entry

Here is my entry for this week's challenge. The theme is Morocco, so I created these bright and daring Flavors of Morocco earrings.

Spicy mix of deep blue mountain "jade" cabochons, yellow, red, bronze and violet seed beads, copper findings, howlite "turquoise" drops and soft ultrasuede.

You can check all the gorgeous entries here.

Thank you for looking! ;)

xo,

And the winner is...

And the winner of the pin-up challenge is.....

creationsbyeve

and the crochet yellow rose bobby-pins!

I have to say that all your entries were both imaginative and beautiful. I really enjoyed seeing what different things everyone came up with and how the pin-up theme was interpreted. Having said that, these little retro roses stole my heart!

Congratulations to creationsbyeve! Can't wait for the new challenge! It will be hosted on Evelyn's blog.

Gia

xxx

European Street Team Challenge

As you all know the winner of last week's challenge is Gia from oneperfectday. She doesn't have a blog of her own yet, so this week's challenge will also be hosted on my blog.

Now I'll give the word to Gia to tell you about the new topic.

Having the great joy of picking this weeks theme and looking for a summery topic that would fit the heatwave we have been having here in Greece, my thoughts turned to swimsuits, the beach and summer colours.
So it was no contest realy: scantily clad women, brilliant summer colours and glamour as well?
It had to be a Gil Elvgren pin-up!

Gil Elvgren was one of the most popular of the pin-up artists of the 20th century with a career spaning over four and a half decades, and my personal favourite. His girls and women were not so much femme fatales as gorgeous girls-next-door, glamourous as can be with a playful glint in their eye.
Please use these images to inspire you to create what you will.
I can't wait to see what comes in.

Also a big thank you to helmitahra blog for hosting the challenge again!!

You can send your entries to oneperfectday through Etsy convo.

Good luck and great inspiration to everybody!

UPDATE!

As many of our wonderful team members are on holiday, the new deadline for the challenge is Monday, August 9.

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Here's the very first entry of the Pin-up challenge by zsazsazsu.
It's a beautiful modern, minimalistic necklace to adorn the voluptuous cleavage of our pin-up and bring her straight into the 21st century!

Our second entry is from LeelaBijou .It's the Full Of Roses necklace inspired by the red colour that Gil Elvgren favoured.
Wouldn't it look great on any pin-up?

Next entry in is helmitahra's Nobody Can Pinch Me Brooch.
She's used part of Gil Elvgren's 1946 Nobody Can Pinch Me poster, black velvet ribbon and all the appropriate pin-up trimmings to make a clever pin-up brooch!

Our next entry is by sexyhandmade.The flirty, flouncy mixed red Gil Elvegren pin-up hand cuff is appropriately embellished with a lovely red flower as well as a cocktail charm- both musts for a pin-up.

Now here comes Staroftheeast's entry Pin it up Girl Necklace brooch. Pin-up style with a twist using Barbie the original pin-up girl and genuine pin-up accesories in a startlingly original way!

The BroochBoutique has entered The Large Sparkling Black Tulle Corsage brooch. This black tulle extravaganza, complete with the necessary glittering touch of pearl and beads would be proudly added to any pin-ups wardrobe.

And here is my very own take on the pin-up: florals, stripes, polka dots, curves,reds and whites and of course ruffles! I give you the Pin-Up Purse In Reds by oneperfectday!

The following entry is Cowgirl Glamour.Bib Necklace. Fluxplay has taken a Gil Elvgren pin-up cowgirl and re-cycled her to a modern-day Western-style acessory_all the time keeping the original pin-up as well as it's freshness.

Next comes Nancyvdboom with a locket designed to rest on a pin-up's luscious cleavage.
It's double-sided and it has two tiny oil paintings of -what else- a pin-up! Two long pin-up legs on one side and a signature red pin-up pout on the other.

The following entry is Toosis' Gold Coated Silver Ring With Black Onyx And Pearl. Our first ring entry to grace the beautiful pin-up's hands and add to the glamour girl's sparkle.

And next is alatvian with her entry- Your Majesty- a pair of gold and crystal earings that dangle and shimmer. Another touch of allure for our pin-up.

Up next is Yellow crochet Roses Hairpins by creationsbyeve.
Bright yellow crocheted roses modelled by our very own pin-up herself. What a great pin-up accessory!

One more entry for our challenge comes from nauli. It's a handmade cd case titled Kiss From A Pin-Up Girl in a typical pin-up combination of red and white and sealed with a pin-up's signature red lipstick!

Just before the closing of this challenge comes an entry by arctida. It's the Darlene necklace with citrine, garnet and rubies inspired by Gil Elvgren's Darleen pin-up and made with those plunging pin-up cleavages in mind.

And the winner is...

It was such an honor to host last week's challenge! All entries are stunning! Each of them is so thoughtful and unique that it was extremely hard to pick just one. After long discussion with my man we decided to pick one of the beautiful cuffs... So, the winner is...

oneperfectday

Congratulations!!!

Unfortunately I don't know the blog address the next challenge will be hosted on, but as soon as I get reply from our winner, I'll let you know. ;)

I would like to thank all of you, wonderful participants, for the time and effort that you put in this challenge! You are great, guys! Love you all!!!

xo,

European Street Team Challenge

Wow! This was unexpected! For the first time I won the EST challenge. Last week it was hosted by wonderful Staroftheeast. Big thanks to you and your friend for picking my diving turtle! ;)

Now I know how hard it is to pick a fun and challenging theme. I believe picking a winner will be even harder! :))

As I'm still in a mood for a great vacation this week's topic is gonna be...

In the Magic Castle

Photo credit to Robert D Bruce

Let's travel all around the world (or maybe just to the corner of own dreams) and visit old and majestic castles of different periods, countries and styles. I would like to see anything related to the castle - maybe a beautiful princess who lives in it, or a unique piece of furniture in one of the rooms, or a beautiful garden around it, or maybe something that is happening inside the castle, or just the building itself. Wherever your imagination takes you.

To enter the challenge you have to be a member of European Street Team and the item has to be newly listed. You can send your entries through convo on Etsy or via e-mail. No other restrictions apply! Just let your imagination fly! ;)

I'll be waiting for your beautiful entries!

The winner will be announced on Monday, July 26, after 22:00 (UTC +02:00)

xo,

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Let's welcome the first entry! It's a Delicate white necklace by zsazsazsu1963. This fragile necklace was inspired by castle of Chenonceau that Sandra visited last month.


The second entry is a pair of original pinback buttons by SoleDeVita. Solvita used two entrance tickets to Bauska Castle in Latvia to make these lovely Key of the Castle buttons.



The third entry comes from Kreativlink, and it's Magic Castle - Journal, Notebook, Diary. I already see a beautiful princess writing her secret diary in this romantic journal. :)


The next entry, which is already number four, arrived from Riga, from sexyhandmade. Please, welcome Emerald Queen - adjustable hand cuff. It looks rich and royal. ;)

Entry number five is from oneperfectday. And we all know that there is no castle without a queen. So, the next piece for this challenge is The White Queen Cuff.

The sixth entry is a very intriguing Magic Castle - crocheted bracelet cuff with brain coral and pearls by staroftheeast. Sand castles are also magic! ;)

The seventh entry comes from kraplap and it is Dark Battlements Necklace. The sewn-together buttons resemble a row of battlements on the castle. But my man said it looks like a shiny armor. :)

The Dive Pendant and EST Challenge

Let me start from far away... One of my favorite seed bead artists is Heidi Kummli. She creates amazing beadwork pieces inspired by nature and Native American culture. In one of recent Bead and Button magazines there was Heidi's tutorial on bead embroidered bracelet with rubber animals. I've always wanted to create something with same feel and charm.

And then when I saw this week's theme for European Street Team challenge I couldn't resist trying to create something fun and a bit different.
So, here is the pendant I made for the Animal challenge hosted by wonderful Star of the East.


I called this piece The Dive. It has large fan shaped bamboo stone cabochon, small oval carnelian cabochon, variety of Japanese seed beads and rubber turtle from my nephew's toy box. ;) He was very generous and sacrificed the turtle for artistic purpose. :)
The pendant is backed with artificial leather and it hangs from brown twisted silk rope. First I thought to add some fringe to it, but the pendant turned out to be quite large and fringe would just make it too heavy.

I'm quite satisfied with the result, and I have more rubber and ceramic animals in my stash to put in the beadwork. :)

You can check all entries of European Street Team weekly challenge here.
Good luck to all the participants! ;)

xo,

EST weekly challenge - Out of the Space

This week I decided to take part in European Street Team Weekly Challenge. Last week's winner SoleDeVita picked a wonderful theme - Out of the Space, and it was hard to stay away from this mysterious topic.

Here is my entry - Blue Galaxy - Brooch


You can check other entries in Solvita's blog.

xo,

Monday Moodboard

First morning in a long time I woke up with a sun shining straight in my bedroom.

Here is my very first Monday Moodboard - Sunshine in Finland.

All the piece are by artists from Finland.

Bon bon earrings by stellakim

Sunny crochet pouch by sofiasobeide

Enigma long skirt by vaisto

Golden dahlia flower ring by karuski

For more go to fleurfatale's blog.

xo,

My first EST Challenge entry

This week I finally got some courage and entered my first European Street Team Challenge. The theme was picked by wonderful Dutch artist Nancy, who won last week's challenge with her Tiny Sun Acrylic Oilpainting. You can check it here.

This week the theme was "Winding". I made this brooch-tie and called it Long Way Up.

Central black onyx cabochon surrounded with Japanese seed beads and backed with soft ultrasuede, plus, elegant lace element embellished with tiny size 15 seed beads in sparkling bronze colour.

You can check all the lovely challenge entries in Nancy's blog.

Wishing you all a very nice weekend!

xo,