New Earring Monday: Weeks 47 and 48

As another year of New Earring Monday posts winds down, I hope that you all had a very Happy Thanksgiving last week.  I think I may still be in a turkey coma, but earrings wait for no man (or bird!)  This is a very special New Earring Monday for me since, in addition to the two pairs I'm sharing here on my blog, I'm also a guest blogger over at Earrings Everyday today!  I'm so honored to have been asked to do a post for one of my favorite blogs about my favorite thing to make.  I hope you'll check out that post HERE.

When I got the invitation to be a guest blogger I wasn't sure exactly what I wanted to share over there so I worked up a few different pairs.  For this installment of New Earring Monday I'm sharing the other two pairs that were under consideration.

First up, I received a couple of ceramic headpins from the talented Mary Harding (thanks, Mary!!).  The colors made me think of some photos of tulips we took on a trip to Amsterdam and I ran with that idea.  Here is a little taste of my inspiration.

Since the headpins were mismatched, I went for asymmetry but tried to keep things pretty balanced.  Sometimes it feels like I have all the flower beads, so I knew that I could find suitable "tulips" to top my little earring stacks in colors to coordinate with the headpins.  To round things out, I chose a piece of faceted carnelian (one of my faves!) and an English cut Czech glass bead plus silver plated bead caps and wavy discs.  I realize that mismatched can be challenging for some customers, but hopefully these little cuties will find a good home.  Personally, I'm just proud of myself for getting brave and actually using fancy headpins instead of being terrified of messing them up! 

My second pair is a rare foray into making post style earrings.  I bought these cute copper plated flower earrings from Ezel Findings when Lima Beads was discontinuing them.  (Not only are they adorable, but I also appreciate that the post itself is sterling... great for folks with metal sensitivities.)  Anyway, I attached lengths of decorative leaf chain to the loop on the bottom of the flowers and then further embellished the chain with some tiny crystals in a teal and bronze color.

Now it's your turn!  Please add your links to your own earring creation in the comments.  I love seeing what everyone else is making too!

Holiday Open House Details

My holiday open house is back again this year after taking a year off!  Please stop by to check out my new handmade jewelry designs.  Feel free to bring your friends if you like... the more the merrier!

Sunday, December 6th 12:00 - 5:00 pm

1966 Fountain Lane, Waconia, MN 55387

952-442-8272

Jewelry always makes a great gift for others... or yourself!  There's still time for special orders too.

We will have beverages and light snacks.  Eric will tending bar (including serving up his homebrew) to make it guy friendly.

If you are on Facebook, check out the event page for my Open House HERE to get sneak peeks at what I'll have for sale.  I'll be adding regularly over the next week!

  

We're All Ears November 2015

This month for the We're All Ears challenge, Erin has inspired us to make earrings based on all the unique shapes of seed pods!  You can read more about why she had seed pods on the brain over on the Earrings Everyday blog HERE.

Here are some of the cool vintage botanical prints that Erin shared with us to get us going:

The first thing that came to my mind for this challenge were some copper plated pewter poppy pods from Nunn Design.  (I have them in silver too but that didn't feel very forest floor!)  I paired them with some fun swirled Czech glass coin beads.   These are a bit on the heavy side for earrings, so they won't be for everyone!

My second two pairs of earrings may be more spore or mushroom like than pod themed, but hopefully it's not too big of a stretch!  I received both the orangey-red speckled ceramic beads and the green and gold wood beads in a shipment from Blueberry Cove Beads.  For the orangey pair I mixed in some Czech glass drops and tiny rondelles.  For the green pair I added some faceted agate beads to the wood and copper plated findings.   

I hope you'll stop by the Earrings Everyday blog to see what everyone else was inspired to create this month!

New Earring Monday: Weeks 45 and 46

The year just keeps marching on... finding us at weeks 45 and 46!  The last couple of weeks have been busy ones in my world.  We've seen our friends' play, caught the new James Bond movie, gone to two concerts, and had a whole weekend of birthday fun for my sweet husband.  On the jewelry business front, I participated in a small craft show at my husband's workplace and delivered a collection of jewelry to the West Side Perk coffeehouse in Bloomington.

My first pair of earrings this week were designed to compliment my newest necklace design that was made in response to this month's Art Bead Scene challenge.  (If you missed that post, you can check it out HERE.)  I didn't want the earrings to be too matchy matchy with the necklace so I started with the same leaf shape but in turquoise with a Picasso finish.  This pair is a twist on an earring design that I haven't made in a long time.  I pulled in some dark read Czech glass beads and plated hematite to round out the design.

Next up is a special order that a friend requested.  They are destined to be a gift so I won't out who they were made for!  My friend brought me the little "drink me" charms and asked me to make some Alice in Wonderland themed earrings.  Today is seriously dreary making winter photography even more challenging than usual so you can't really tell that the jet beads have shiny polka dots on the otherwise matte surface.  I chose them because I felt they give a playful feel to the red and black design.  I'm hoping my friend loves them... otherwise it will be back to the drawing board!

 

My Inlinkz account isn't playing nice today but I still want to see your earring creations!  Please share you link in the comments so I can pop by and see what you've been busy making!

Art Bead Scene November 2015

This month's Art Bead Scene challenge inspiration is a lovely muted fall floral silk screened by Marguerite Zorach.  I find the colors quite striking and have a number of art beads in my stash that would work well this month... this could be another month of multiple entries for me depending on how my month goes.  You can find out more about the artwork and the artist over on the ABS blog HERE.

Autumn flowers

by Marguerite Zorach

I've been a member of the Simple Truths Sampler Club that Erin Prais-Hintz offers through her company Tesori Trovati for quite some time now.  For the last couple of years, Erin has committed to making something inspired by the Art Bead Scene monthly challenge for the club each month.  Sadly, many of her little treasures are languishing in my art bead cabinet (mostly because I want to keep them all for myself!) but that is not the fate of this month's offering!  (By the way, Erin does currently have spots in the Sampler Club... find out more about it HERE.)

This month Sampler Club members got a tiny peak at the November artwork a couple of days early since she sent them out with the October selections.  Because I had such early access to her pendant, I knew I wanted to make something with it before attempting anything else.  Here's the pendant that I received... she calls them "Love, Autumn."

It's hard to tell in my photo, but there is a fabulous pearlescence to the pendant that helped drive my bead selection for this project.  I really wanted to break out of my normal design mode and play with a mix of bead shapes and colors... all in a (gasp) asymmetrical design.  I chose a mix of mostly Czech glass beads that pulled out the various colors from the pendant and the painting that inspired it.  I was fortunate to have some plated hematite beads that echoed the pearly blue in the pendant with their metallic sheen.  To round things out I also threw in some brass beads and gemstones (red wood lace stone?).  Originally, I was thinking I'd use waxed linen for my stringing material, but it was quickly apparent to me that I would be better off using beading wire. 

Without further ado, here is my finished necklace!  I'm pleased as punch with how this one turned out.  How do you think I did?

New Earring Monday: Weeks 43 and 44

>Happy New Earring Monday and welcome to November!  I really thought that October was going to move at a more leisurely pace, but that's not really how it went down.  I think that it might be time to admit that life will probably always be a whirlwind!  Despite that fact, I vow to try and savor every moment and experience I can... two more months to enjoy what 2015 has to offer.

I'm super excited to share this first pair of earrings for this installment.  While digging around in my messing studio for something else entirely, I stumbled upon a pack of cool silver colored filigree pieces that I bought from my friend Marcia when she was destashing some items she no longer needed.  Even though I'd looked at this pack many times before, suddenly the light bulb went on and I had a clear idea of what I wanted to try with them.  

I pulled out some Arte Metal rectangle blanks from Vintaj and matching rivets and then sat down with my hole punch pliers and my hammer... and bingo!  I would love to make another pair, but I seem to have lost the filigree pieces in my mess of a space.  (I really hope that Marcia doesn't read this!!)  It may be past time to do some studio clean up... maybe next week.

I decided to keep with a riveting theme for my second pair of earrings... I really don't play enough with this technique and I really should do more!  This time I mixed copper and Arte Metal for a leafy pair that feels like fall to me.

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