New Earring Monday '15: Weeks 29 and 30

Happy New Earring Monday, everyone!  Every year I, foolishly, think that things will settle down... that next summer won't be as crazy, etc.  Every year I am WRONG... dead wrong.  Well this year is no different.  The last few weeks have been nuts and there's really no end to that in sight for now.

I have not been as diligent about making sure that I get plenty of studio time lately, but I did make time to fulfill a special order for my friend Andrea.  I was honored that she asked me to make a jewelry set for her to wear to her daughter's upcoming wedding.  Here it is!

The set started with Andrea picking out a lovely purple and silver lampwork bead from Beadygirl Beads.  I added in some lampwork spacers from both Beadygirl Beads and the Spacer Bead Shop, amethyst, ametrine, and crystal to complete the necklace.  For the earrings, I went dangly... Andrea has short hair and these will show off great!  Faceted ametrine rondelles are paired with amethyst teardrops and some sterling and Swarovski crystal ear wires from TierraCast.

Adding to all the travel and other fun things my husband and I have been up to, I also really need to be in production mode for my biggest show of the year... Edge of the Big Woods Art Wander.  (Twin Cities friends, I hope you'll check it out!)  So, to that end, my second pair of earrings for this week is really a whole batch of my best selling chiclet earrings!  Not exactly innovative or new for me design-wise, but it is a small dent in the work that needs to get done in the next two months for me to be something that resembles ready for my show!  Thanks for humoring me (and letting me bend my own challenge rules)!

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AJE Earring Challenge - Weeks 47 & 48

I can't believe that this year (and the Art Jewelry Elements Earring Challenge) is almost over!  It's time for another earring reveal and another two pairs of earrings made with artisan made components.

I was going to save these two holiday/seasonal themed pairs until the next reveal (and closer to Christmas) but I've been too busy prepping for my Holiday Open House that's going on this afternoon to get two more pairs done.

I've been playing with resin and holiday scrapbook papers again.  I've really been having a blast (and perhaps making up for lost time) ever since I got the correct sized small circle paper punch!

First up is a little set of snowflakes in silver plated bezels from Nunn Design.  I added little mint alabaster Swarovski crystals dangling on sterling silver headpins and used sterling ear wires accented with more crystal for some winter sparkle.

Week 47: Snowflake Sparkle

My second pair just might be one of my favorite things I've made this season.  I love the combination of the swirling peppermint print paper (it's got a little bit of glitter in there too from the paper) with the swirled red and white lampwork beads from the Spacer Bead Shop.

Week 48: Peppermint Swirls

Well, I'm off to finish getting set up for my sale today.  Maybe these little lovelies will sell...if not I'll get them up in my Etsy shop ASAP!

AJE Earring Challenge - Weeks 45 & 46

I've been radio silent again lately due to lots of stuff going on in my personal life and with my day job at the library.  Luckily I have a nice stretch of time off for the Thanksgiving holiday so I hope to be getting a lot of new jewelry made in the coming week.  Fingers crossed!

Time just keeps speeding by and it's already time to share another two pairs of earrings for the Art Jewelry Elements Earring Challenge.  I really haven't gotten too much made lately, but I did manage to get my earrings done.  The challenge (for those of you who are unfamiliar) is to make on pair of earrings each week using at least one artisan made component or bead.  

First up is a pair that's a little bigger than I normally tend to go.  I used some cute little spotted lampwork beads from Michelle Bryant at The Spacer Bead Shop as my starting point.  (These were more freebies from my order... I've used more of the free sets than the ones I paid for so far!)  As soon as I saw this pair I knew that I wanted them to dangle from the Vintaj Bohemian Teardrop pieces I had recently purchased.  I added in a mix of glass and crystal beads in colors that coordinated with those lampies to finish off my design.

Week 45

My second pair is on a smaller scale size wise and once again uses lampwork from The Spacer Bead Shop... this time with a pair of beads I actually bought!  I kept these pretty small and simple with the lampwork just dangling from some small TierraCast blackend hammered rings.  There's a little jet crystal for a tiny bit of sparkle.

Week 46

AJE Earring Challenge - Weeks 43 & 44

Happy Sunday!  It's earring time once again with the AJE Earring Challenge reveal.  For those of you new to these posts, the challenge is to make and share a pair of earrings that use at least one artisan made component.

This week I'm showcasing two pairs using cute little lampwork beads from Michelle Bryant at The Spacer Bead Shop on Etsy.  Truth be told, neither set of lampies were the ones that I actually bought from Michelle... they were unexpected thank you beads.  Such a nice surprise when I tore into my package!

I kept it pretty simple this for this reveal... just adding the little lampwork beads to silver plated or pewter findings.  Enjoy!

Week 43

Week 44

Halloween - Day of the Dead Blog Hop!

Halloween has always been one of my favorite holidays, so I just couldn't resist joining in the fun when Diana Ptaszynski from Suburban Girl Studio put out the call for a blog hop around Halloween and/or Day of the Dead!  Part of her challenge was to include at least one art bead in each design.

When I think Day of the Dead, I think sugar skulls, flowers, and bright colors.  I originally wasn't as focused on the Day of the Dead aspect of the challenge, but I knew I had some Green Girl Pewter sugar skulls (and other skulls!).  When I started looking at my art beads, I found that I was draw to a super bright and fun lampwork glass bead by Beadygirl Beads and I thought it would work great with the pewter.  I added in some other colorful lampwork beads from The Spacer Bead Shop and some Vintaj arte metal chain and other blackened pieces, and here's the result!

I got so excited by the Green Girl skull pieces that I had that I decided to make a second Day of the Dead necklace.  This time I used some faux cinnabar, lampwork lovelies by both Tanya McGuire and the Spacer Bead Shop, and a silver plated ring by TierraCast.  I used Vintaj arte metal wire for my links again, but this time used silver plated antique silver chain from Nunn Design.

I'm not 100% sure if these designs count as art beads, but I'm going to include them anyway.  I had some fun with some subtly seasonal scrapbook paper and some copper plated bezels.  I love the way this spider set turned out!  I had hoped to get some other Halloween themed things done, but my travels this month got in my way.

Big thanks to Diana for thinking up and organizing this fun blog hop!  All of these pieces are available in my Etsy shop.  Click HERE to check it out.

You can see all the other great jewelry that my fellow participants made too, please consider hopping around to see everyone's great stuff!

Diana Ptaszynski   

Staci Smith  

Kathleen Breeding  

Sue Kennedy  

Dianne Miller  

Lisa Liddy  

Toltec Jewels  

Linda Landig  

Laura Medeiros  

Veralynne Malone  

Lynn Jobber  

Michelle McCarthy  

Karen Totten  

Jayne Capps  

Jenny Davies-Reazor  

Joan Miller  

Melissa Meman  

Melissa Trudinger  

Kari Asbury 

Inge von Roos  

Andrea Glick  

Stephanie LaRosa  

Lola Surwillo  

Jennifer Cameron  

Diane Hawkey  

Kristi Harrison  

Nicole Valentine Rimmer  

Tanya Goodwin  

Shai Williams  

Sandra McGriff  

Sarajo Wentling   You are here!

Marie Covert  

Lisa Stukel  

Laurie Vyselaar  

Sherri Stokey  

Pam Traub  

Lori Dorrington  

Kristen Stevens  

Eleanor Burian-Mohr  

Sally Russick  

Dawn M. Gallop  

Christine Damm