Vote for our Staff Challenge entries!

We have occasional staff challenges here. They are always crafty (we've never had a foosball challenge, or a cooking challenge) and they are always fun. Sometimes we have a specific item that has to  be incorporated into the project, some times we have a theme, sometimes we have a color palette. 

This month, we had a word. The word was 'bedizen.'

Years ago, before there was an Ornamentea, there was a company called Bedizen Ornaments. I started it in my kitchen, making jewelry for a local boutique and lamp shades for an interior designer. I started doing wholesale shows, then hired some handy folks to help me, then sold designs to Anthropologie and other large chains, then enticed my husband to quit his job and work with beads. He helped me to create Ornamentea, and the business shifted a bit. We stopped making jewelry for catalogs and department stores. We started teaching classes and selling just the ingredients. That word, 'bedizen' was the name I chose for the business way-back-when as I didn't know how else to unite jewelry and lampshades, and I liked the fact that there was a 'z' in the word, and I liked that it had a vague meaning to most people. When we moved the business from making jewelry (we abandoned the lamp shades very early!) to selling the parts, we kept the Bedizen name as our 'official' incorporated name.

So, there's that. And there's that word. 

Bedizen.

The photos below are how five staff members interpreted the word. There is a lot on the line; the winner gets to have me work for them for a whole day, plus SERIOUS bragging rights with their co-workers. Also, I will probably take everyone out for drinks at the winner's choice of watering hole. Shh, they don't know that last part! 

You need to help us out by voting. Just click on the # of your favorite project in the column on the right hand side. It's easy. You can also share this with your friends and family and get them to vote. The winner will thank you. 

#1 one features a hand-made silver wire chain with Swarovski crystals. The pendant elements are custom-cut lucite with decopaged images from the crown jewels of some fancy country. 

#2 features a soldered central glass bevel, tab-set in copper, with dried dogwood flower, hammered and formed copper wire 'petals' around the central element and a red silk duiponi ribbon necklace. 

#3 features detailed micro-macrame strands mixed with trade beads, glass pearls, wood and chain links in a multi-strand style.

#4 features a triple strand of chain, ball-chain and hand-knotted neon pearls with hammered jump rings and a glass-bottle pendant holding a suspended elephant charm.

#5 features a felted and embellished doll with coiled-wire crown, beaded accents, tiered ribbon skirt and a floral beaded strap handle. 

Voting will continue through midnight, October 31st. Winner will be announced via our newsletter. 

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