Monday, December 29, 2014

New Earring Monday: Weeks 51 & 52

Here we are at the end of the year... my final New Earring Monday post for 2014.  Part of me is a little amazed that I managed to keep this series going all year long.  I love making earrings and this has been a great way to always keep moving forward at a steady pace.  I plan to keep going with New Earring Monday next year and am going to try to get other folks to play along too.

Since this was my first Minnesota Christmas without snow on the ground (and I've been here since 2000), I thought I'd focus on some snowflake designs for this final reveal of the year.

First up, a pair of subtle snowflake earrings in Vintaj Arte Metal.  The Arte Metal seems to be the hardest of the Vintaj altered blanks (although I haven't tried the pewter).  I attempted to emboss these blanks with a plastic scrap-booking embossing folder meant for paper without annealing the metal first.  The impression ended up being much less distinct than I'd hoped for, but still interesting.


And for my last week of earrings for 2014, I've got another variation on the sets that I shared last time.  These are little aqua colored snowflakes with Swarovski and Chinese crystal dangles.  I liked the mix of opaque and transparent crystals and the sparkle that they add to the design.  Sorry for the picture quality on this one... I accidentally deleted my original photo and had to snap another one last minute in less than great lighting.)


Thanks to all of you who have followed my adventures in earrings this year with my New Earring Monday posts.  I'm looking forward to sharing even more fun earrings with you all next year and hopefully getting some other jewelry makers involved!

If you are reading this and are interested in playing along with me in 2015, the next reveal will be Monday, January 12th.  I plan on doing an InLinkz link up where you can share your creations and link to your blog.  It's super simple to play along... just make one pair of earrings a week and share them on your blog every two weeks.  I try to do something a little different and dip into my art beads with some regularity, but make and share whatever type of earrings you want!

I hope you'll join me in two weeks... until then have a happy and safe New Year!

10 comments:

  1. I just love the snowflake earrings!! And I would love to jump in and participate!

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    1. Thanks, Marybeth! I hope you will play along... even if you can't play each time, feel free to jump in as you are able!

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  2. I'd love to join in! I've been in kind of a rut, so this could be a great challenge for me. Beyond that - it's great to see another awesome Minnesota designer! We really ARE the cream of the crop, here! =)

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    1. I hope you will join me... the more the merrier! I've found that design challenges are a great way to keep me moving forward and help keep me out of slumps. Speaking of challenges, I'd better get back to working on Heather Powers' Muffin Tin challenge! (And yay for "meeting" another MN designer!)

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  3. I may just join you! I did a pair of earrings a week one other year and it really improved my designs and it was fun.

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    1. I hope you do, Kathy! It was my love of the AJE earring challenge that led me to keep going with my own thing. The Earrings Everyday "We're All Ears" challenge is great (and I love having the interesting inspiration pieces each month) but I wanted to do more. :) Happy creating!

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  4. I'd love to join.. Making earrings are one of my favorite things to make.
    Fay

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    1. Woo hoo! I'm so thrilled that folks are interested in playing along. I had fun this year but it was lonely doing it by myself. :)

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  5. Hi Sarajo: Happy New Year! These are so lovely. I've enjoyed reading about them. I think I will create along as well, though they do not really fit on my food blog. We'll see where I can post them.

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  6. I love the idea and hopefully will be able to join in February.

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