Last September, hubby and I spent a few days visiting my mother and step father in Montana. While we were there, I got an email from Fire Mountain Gems that contained info about a Swarovski crystal contest. I adore Swarovski crystals, I’d marry them if it was legal to marry inanimate objects, so I knew I had to enter this contest. However, the deadline was only about two weeks after we got home and I would have to design it, order beads, create it and then mail a CD of photos to FMG all before the deadline. Hubby was on board with me entering this contest – I’ve been wanting to enter one of FMG’s contests for years but would either miss the deadline or not have the money to buy supplies. So, right there in our hotel room in Helena Montana with the horribly tacky comforter and curtains, I sketched out a design for an elaborate choker and I ordered my supplies before we even drove back to Oregon. That might have something to do with why one of the colors I picked was Montana blue.

I really wanted to do something spectacular for this contest, so I used an idea that had been floating around in my head for awhile: a choker with lots of beaded loops draped over each other as the center piece. I used these lovely spacer beads that let you go from three strands to one strand and vice versa so that the sides of the choker would be three strands and the center would be one strand of loops. I needed “wow” colors so I used fuchsia and Montana blue with silver delica seed beads to accent the entire piece. This was one of those pieces that turned out exactly how I pictured it in my head and that made me giggle with happiness and accomplishment.

About a month later, a letter from Fire Mountain Gems was waiting in my mailbox. Before I even unfolded it, I saw the words: “Congratulations, Sarah.” and did a inner happy dance – okay, I did one for real too as soon as I was back inside. Turns out, they wanted me to send in the actual necklace (the entry only contained photos) for the second round of judging. Which I did. And then worried about it arriving in one piece. And worried that I only got in the second round of judging because they had one last place to fill. And worried that someone would break into FMG and steal just my necklace before it got a chance to be judged. As time went on and I didn’t hear anything back, I worried that they forgot about me. It was three months before I got any notification which came in the form of my choker being sent back with a Certificate of Participation and a gift certificate for $10! No, that doesn’t mean I won, that was just their “Thanks for Entering” prize. The cool thing, however, is photos of my piece are now in their Gallery of Designs forever.

Oh, and I also learned that my Montana Fusion choker is actually a “Bib Style Necklace”. Whatever. It’s still gorgeous.

Montana Fusion Bib Style Necklace
Montana Fusion Bib Style Necklace (Original Piece) 4 of 4
Length – from end to end is 14 1/2″. Available for $138.