We're All Ears: April 2018: Paradise Calling

For this month's We're All Ears challenge over on the Earrings Everyday blog, Erin got inspired by the Bead Cruise!  (You can read about my adventures on this year's cruise HERE if you want to learn more.) 

Having just returned from tropical climes to about 16 inches of new snow in Minnesota, I was perfectly content to go back to my happy place (if only in my mind) this week to design some beach/Caribbean inspired earrings.  I even used some of the beads and charms that I made in Heather Powers polymer clay class!

I'll start off a little simple with two pairs of earrings featuring patinated brass charms that I picked up a while back from Lima Beads.  Each of them also features Czech glass, plated hematite, and Vintaj Natural brass.

Next up, a little trio of earrings using different versions of Heather Power's starfish charms.  I have another pair similar to these that I made for myself a few year's ago with the whitewashed version of these charms... I get tons of compliments on them so it made sense to just whip up variations on a theme.  Plus, I needed to make room for all the new pretties I bought from Heather on the Bead Cruise's Bead Bazaar night!  Each pair features lampwork glass and either Czech or cultured sea glass.  The lampwork glass in the right hand pair is by Mermaid Glass... sadly, I'm unsure of the artist for the other two but they were a gift from my sweet husband.

When I was fishing all those little starfish out of my Humblebeads drawer, another set of charms also caught my eye.  I snagged these little pineapples ages ago and decided it was high time (or maybe high tide??) to use them!  I used some orange and green Czech glass to pull out the colors of the pineapples.  These are super fun and make me think of fun fruity cocktails!

Last, but not least, I made two pairs of earrings with some of the fruits of my polymer clay class with Heather on the Bead Cruise.  I wasn't going to let those babies gather dust with this challenge on the horizon!  The first pair uses my attempt at disc beads with leaf canes and the second pair features two of the leaf charms that I made from the cane ends where it became a little more distorted.

Thanks for stopping by to see my tropical paradise inspired earrings!  Pop on over to the Earrings Everyday blog HERE to see what everyone else was inspired to make this month!

We're All Ears: June 2015

I missed out on last month's We're All Ears Challenge but I'm back in action for June!  To kick off summer, Erin Prais-Hintz picked tide and rock pools to get our creative juices going.  Here are some awesome retro illustrations pictures that she shared with us and you can check out her original post HERE if you'd like to know more.

ILLUSTRATION BY HASHIME MURAYAMA

ILLUSTRATION BY THEO CARRERAS

I would love to say that I immediately starting working on my projects, but those of you who know me realize that that would almost never happen.  Eleventh hour panic designing is my specialty when it comes to challenges!  Hey, whatever works, right?

Anyway, I knew that I had lots of yummy sea life beads and charms... tons to choose from... so I started dragging things out to see what went best together best.

The first design to gel was this one with more of a prehistoric tide pool feel.  I've had these little ammonite shaped Czech glass beads languishing in my stash for a while.  I pulled a couple out and paired them with some dyed coral and copper plated "limpet" bead caps.

The second pair I made used some "sea glass" nuggets that I picked up last month in Asheville, NC and some sand dollar charms from Vintaj.  (For the record, I really wish they would bring these back in the smaller size, but whatever.)

Next up, I grabbed these fun textured ceramic charms from Jenny Davis-Reazor that I got in my Bead Cruise goody bag this year.  I thought they had a sort of coral-y feel to them.  I used the same dyed coral beads and limpet bead caps as in my first pair but in silver this time.

When digging for the coral beads, I unearthed these multi-colored Czech glass coin beads.  The color and the shape spoke to me for this challenge.  I kept it really simple... I just wire wrapped the beads and added some shell charms to the bottom.

I'd already more than made up for missing last month's challenge, but I wasn't done yet!  I picked out some Firelily borosilicate glass that had an undersea feel to them and paired them with some new brass fern pieces that reminded me of kelp or the white tendril-y thing at the top of the second inspiration picture.

Last but certainly not least, I decided to finally do something with these sweet little starfish charms that I bought from Heather Powers on the Bead Cruise this year.  The polymer clay Humblebeads are so lightweight making them a perfect complement to the weightier lampwork beads from Mermaid Glass.  I love, love, love how these turned out and might not be able to part with them!

Whew, that's it for me this month!  All these little ear bobs (except the Humblebeads starfish ones!) will find their way to Unearthed Arts for sale next week.  Make sure to check out what everyone else made too...

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New Earring Monday '15: Weeks 17 & 18

The theme of this week's New Earring Monday post is designs created for magazine submissions that weren't accepted... hey, it happens!  While you always want everything you submit to be accepted by a publication, that's just not reality.  The way I look at it, the worst thing that can happen by making something specifically to submit for a magazine is that they don't want it and you have a fabulous piece of jewelry to sell (or to keep for yourself!).  Really, it's a win win situation and they only way you are going to get published is to put yourself out there and try.

Anyway, I made both of these pairs in the flurry of activity that was the Muffin Tin Challenge hosted by Heather Powers of Humblebeads.  (You can read my post about that and see my overflowing muffin tin HERE.)  The timing of her challenge was perfect since deadlines were looming for two different magazines.  Both of these earring pairs were for consideration for Create Jewelry Magazine, a yearly special issue that Interweave publishes that focuses around color palettes.

The highlight of the first pair is the fun, bright lampwork from Tanya McGuire.  I paired her luscious beads with some Czech glass pinch beads, dyed agate, and brass.  I love how cheerful these are!

My second pair is far more subdued in the color department.  These feature lampwork from Mermaid Glass paired with Czech glass, pewter, and silver plated components on sterling silver ear wires.  They look really great with one of the necklaces I made for the same magazine (and also rejected) but I can't reveal that one quite yet.  I'm hoping to shop it around to a different magazine... we'll see what comes of that!

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