Navigare Necesse

Today we have a guest poster on Earrings Everyday.

Debora Portela of Tribalis

In the first century BC, the Roman general Pompey encouraged afraid sailors to bring food from Africa to Rome during severe storms, inaugurating the phrase 'Navigare Necesse, non est vivere necesse' ( To sail is necessary;to live is not necessary). Since then others have used this sentence with different meanings, like Fernando Pessoa, Portugues poet which transforms it into a song of creation. Said him: ' I want to me the spirit of this sentence", confining the sense of his life to the process of artistic creation.

Tribalis on Etsy

Tribalis on Facebook

Simplicity

Simplicity. 

Sometimes all you need is a hint of color.

Spring by cindybeads featuring a mint nail polish

Aqua glazed ceramic balls by Cindy's Art & Soul, wrapped in fine silver wire, dangling from hand forged sterling silver ear wires with tiny, faceted Amazonite stones. 

Available at ArtandSoulJewelry.com

Boho Leather

I haven't had much time to create lately. I just got a new puppy and I swear it's like having a newborn and a toddler all rolled into one! I am exhausted, but he is totally worth it. Anyway, as soon as I received these Boho Leather wedgies by Melinda Orr Designs, I had to sit down and make something. They are just so cool and fun to play around with.

                      And this is who has been taking up most of my time lately, meet Rudy Abner.

Be sure to stop back next Friday (April 3) for our next Inspiration challenge by Erin Prais-Hintz!

Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend!

Kristy Abner

Kristy's Kreations

Todays featured earrings are available here. 

Throwback Thursday - Concho Flowers

Happy Thursday everyone!  I am posting a pair of earrings I made almost a year ago, but that haven't seen much light of day!

These were created with raw brass concho stampings that I torch-fire enameled with a transparent enamel.  I embellished them with sweet Czech glass flowers and hand-wrought sterling earwires.

These little flowers are so cute but can be a bear to get to hang straight since they are like little shank buttons.   Back around the time I created these, I devised a way to secure them and wrote a quick tutorial on Art Jewelry Elements, here!  

I have a bunch more of these cool brass conchos in oval and rounds that I need to enamel and make more!  These look great with my uniform of jeans, big shirt and boots and are in my shop!

Melissa Meman

Knots And Dots Earrings

My time in Oaxaca, Mexico has almost come to an end. I'm feeling a little sad about that, though there are definitely some things at home that I am missing by now.

The earrings that I am sharing today, carry a little bit of Oaxaca with them.  See those fun turquoise knotted beads?  I got them at a bead store here.  I've never seen anything similar in the States.

Actually, these earrings are quite international.  In addition to the Mexican knots, the dotted ceramic beads and the brass flowers were made in the U.K. by Bo Hulley and Lesley Watt, respectively.  The brass wire was made in the U.S. and the earrings were made by a gringa residing in Mexico!

The vivid colors of Mexico have been very inspiring to me.  The Knots and Dots Earrings echo the colors of this building I passed last week.  The orange in the building in much more intense than the orange glaze that Bo used on her beads, but it is clearly the same color family as in these earrings.

I have been building a stand-alone website for my jewelry and art beads, this past month. You can reach it by going to http://www.LindaLandig.com.  You will find the Knots and Dots Earrings there.  Have a look around.  I hope you like my new digs!

This will be my last post from Oaxaca.  I'll be writing from the States, in two weeks when I post again.  Till then, adios!

Linda

Linda Landig Jewelry

Denim Ready Set Go

With Fancy Heels. by s-elle featuring retro posters

 Boho Blues Handmade Earrings 

Featuring handmade ceramic beads 

with Denim blue glaze by Cindy's Art & Soul.

Wrapped in fine silver wire 

with hand forged silver bead caps, 

paired with flashy blue Spectrolite gemstones. 

Handcrafted sterling silver ear wires are 

stamped with tiny accent images. 

 

Carefree days

We had a snow storm again last night... 

I am soooooooo ready for the carefree days of Summer! How about you??

Inspired by a Polyvore set that I've put together, I went with the 'fringe' route this weekend :)

Marliata Glass Earrings with Hemp Cords and Sterling Silver

Wild flowers... hot sun.... the breeze dancing in your hair..... your feet in the sand... 

Carefree Summer days (hopefully coming soon!) :)

Carefree Beach Set by nathalie-lesage featuring a shoulder strap bag

I have designed these 4" long earrings using a gorgeous pair of berrylicious artisan glass beads from Little Crow (I don't have a link, as I have not seen a shop for her anymore for a few years anywhere online - does anyone know what happened to her?), some variegated hemp cords in shades of purple, dark pink, sky blue and dark blue, and Bali Silver dotted beads, and sterling accent beads:

 

Glass Earrings With Hemp Knots and Sterling Silver by Nathalie Lesage

These long earrings are extremely lightweight and full of spirit!

You can find these listed HERE in my Nathalie Lesage online store. ** For my American friends, now is a good time to shop on my website, as the Canadian Dollar is quite a bit lower than the US Dollar, your US Price gives you a great discount at the moment! It's a great time to shop at http://www.NatLJ.com

Wishing you a beautiful day... 

Nathalie

 

We're All Ears :: March Reveal

When I first spotted these pictures I was captivated by the bubbles of dew. So mesmerizing how they magnify everything. And I love the way they cling to these minute insects looking like they are adorned with crystal jewels! Do you think that the insects are bothered by this? I wonder if it affects their vision. I think it makes them look even more fascinating!

Beads from Kristen Stevens, Marsha Neal, Marcie Abney, Meital Plotnik and mystery glass

I just knew that glass beads would be the way to go for this challenge. So I sorted through my stash and came up with these lovelies. But I also found some beaded beads that really captured my imagination as they reminded me of the eyes filled with dew.

I wanted to not only use the colors and the dew drops as my inspiration but also the beauty of the dragonfly. To mimic the segmented body, I used these ceramic spike head pins by Marsha Neal in a soft lavender color. I quite like that each one is a little bit different, hand of the maker and all. I tried putting other art beads with them, but they competed too much. So I went with a funky spiky spacer and some bling-y rhinestone rondelle beads, topped off with a shimmering crystal. I call these "Graceful Flight" for the beautiful movements of dragonflies.

Did you know that a dragonfly's eyes have over 30,000 faceted lenses in them? Each one of those units or facets is called Ommatidium. Each facet forms a picture, sort of like a giant jigsaw puzzle, that allows the dragonfly to process the scene in front of it. I thought that these beaded beads from Kristen Stevens was like those 30,000 facets. They are reading very brown in this photo, but they have this beautiful purpley iridescent shimmer. I paired them with some Swarovski crystals in an opal star shine shade. Did you notice the cutest little headpins I found in my stash? Teeny, tiny sterling silver dragonflies! What luck! I call these "Ommatidia" to honor the incredible vision of these insects.

That dew! They are what drew me to those pictures. The dew drops covering their iridescent orbs looked like crystal encrusted chandeliers. I have a LOT of lampwork glass beads, but I really couldn't find what I was looking for in my stash (how can that be!?). And then I remembered that not long ago I bid on some pretty lampwork glass on a Facebook page that posts auctions (Lampwork Beads for Sale?! I can't recall!). I thought the beads were so pretty and I may have been the only one that bid on them. Meital Plotnik is the artist and she is from Israel. They took a little bit to get here, but they were worth it! There is a soft swirling green and blue underlying all the raised dots in peach, tangerine, rose and mint. I paired them with some crystals and bead caps and these pretty pearl head pins from my stash (I really have more than I know what to do with!). I call these "A Drop of Dew" as those beads remind me of the image of the dew on the eyes of the dragonflies.

I feel really bad that I don't know the name of the artist who created these glass beauties. They look like tiny galaxies swirling inside! I pulled out the jade green color with some palace green opal Swarovski crystals. I happened to have these tiny brass open links sitting there. I thought they reminded me of the translucent wings of the dragonflies. These wings are filled with a polymer substance called chitin (KY-tin) and veins. They are incredibly strong and if the species lacks any color in them, they appear to be glassy, as if they are invisible windows. Did you know that the dragonfly's wings can work independently of one another? They look so fragile but yet are so very strong and versatile despite being "Invisible Wings."

So, that is it for me. Whew! That was a lot for me! You may have noticed that there was one bead (the beaded links from Marcie Abney) that I failed to use. I simply ran out of time. So I will tuck these away for another day...

I am looking forward to seeing what you will share with this inspiration!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Let's see what you created!
Please take the time to hop around to the participants.  

Leave kind, encouraging comments.
Visit their shops. Make new friends! 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

An InLinkz Link-up
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Get the InLinkz code for your blog!

get the InLinkz code

Swaying

Recently I've shared a couple of posts with earrings that were made for a Stacked Earrings blog hop initiated by Malin de Koning. All the participants enjoyed the challenge so much, we decided to make it a regular thing. This time it was my turn to select and send the beads out. Here's one of the pairs that I made.

These were one of the last pairs I made and one of the pairs with which I was most pleased. I thought I'd made all the earrings I was going to make when I came up with the idea of putting some of the stacked beads on a skinny vintage chain link. It gives the earrings an appealing and unusual movement. The dotty lampwork spacers are from Cat Lampwork and I've mixed them with pearls, Indonesian glass, Greek ceramics and Czech glass, including some crackled glass rounds which I thought I'd never find a use for!

Before I go, I must give you a quick reminder that this month's We're All Ears Blog Hop is happening tomorrow.  Erin has found some stunning images to inspire your designs. I'm hoping to have a go myself.  Have you got yours made yet?

Bye for now, Claire

www.somethingtodo.etsy.com

www.somethingtodowithyourhands.com

Feeling Bulb-ous

I may jinx us all by saying this, but I think Spring is here. Yes, we may have more freezing nights, maybe even a stray dusting of snow, but for the most part, I think the "great thaw" and the sunshine are here to stay for the next 7-8 months.

 
On Monday it was 70F here in Ohio, so I was out hopping around in the yard clearing out dead plant material from last year and making way for the all the wee spring bulbs poking through the mess. Snowdrops, crocus, wild iris, species tulips, allium - all beautiful hues of purple and green. 

crocus from my yard

 

So when trying to decide on which earrings to post about today, my eye went straight to this bulby springy pair. The beautiful crocus purple of NuminosityBead's lampwork glass beads just pops against the crusty crubbly muted background of dark verdigris and soft moss. I reversed the direction of the stack and threw in some ancient Roman glass, ratty old metal, wood, and artful wire wrapping. 

 





I hope you've had some sunshine and balmy weather in your neck of the woods this week. It does the soul good :)


Happy Wednesday!

Nikki
LoveRoot on Esty

Emerald Isle Rustic

Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone!!! Lively greens with rustic copper drops are a color combination that can't miss, and what could be more appropriate for St. Paddy's Day? I'm sure you all recognize the gorgeous copper components made by our own Kristi Bowman. In this design, I use faceted ovals of chalk turquoise that have been dyed a luscious shamrock green, along with tiny dangles of green onyx in a deeper shade of green that blends well and adds more dimension to the design.

You can almost smell the lush green fields and the musty earth after a rain shower. Ireland looks so alive!!! This country is on my list of places I would love to visit. If I were there now, I would put on my mud boots and take a long walk in the country soaking up all the freshness of spring. After the long walk, I might be thirsty and stop off for a pint in honor of the day?

Gloria Ewing

Chrysalis Too on Etsy
Chrysalis Tribal Jewelry

Jellyfish

Maybe not the prettiest name for a pair of earrings
but that is what they look like so that's what I'm calling them.
 Pretty Jellyfish of course!

The copper pieces have Sea Urchin or Snakeskin Texture.

Jellyfish

Originally I had pretty little faceted orange agates in mind but I decided to go with these very rustic Jasper beads and I love how it looks with the copper. In the center are some Copper Ammonite Cocoons I made some time ago. Nobody bought them so I decided to use them and they work great with this look.

These earrings are available HERE in my webstore.

Kristi

KristiBowmanDesign.com

KristiBowmanDesign.Etsy

Periwinkle Drops

Periwinkle is my new favorite color. I didn't give it much thought until my friends and I discovered an old book that my mom had called, "Color Me Beautiful" by Carole Jackson. Apparently in the late seventies and early eighties women had "Color Me Beautiful" parties where they had their skin, eye and hair coloring analyzed and they would then be a season. Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter. I knew my mom was an autumn and I just assumed that I was too. My friend (who happened to be a natural at this after reading this book and finding even more info on it via the internet) told me that I was wrong, that I am a summer. Summer? My least favorite season (I know, oddball here-but I hate the heat)! But after reading up on what colors to wear, jewelry, make up, etc. well...I gave in. She was right. I was doing most everything wrong (of course!)...well, except turquoise I had that on my side. I bought a periwinkle blouse and got so many compliments on it. Who knew? Periwinkle is my color.

If you are curious now as to what season you are, well here's a link to help you get starte

The original book and hey look, it's on Amazon!

                                        You will find these earrings here on my website.

Thanks for stopping by, would love to have a comment from you!

Have a great weekend,

Kristy Abner

Kristy's Kreations

Luminous Éire

Éire

Lately I have found myself awash in all manner of green stones and green artisan-made treasures--it must be the approach of St. Patrick's Day, already working its magic! In particular, I must have been in a green trance when I made my most recent purchases from Jana Bližňáková of Happy Fish With Heart, because there was a trio of glorious green charms waiting for me when I opened my package! And then I thought to myself, well, there is some good timing, because soon we will be celebrating all things green and Irish.

I can't help but think of Ireland when I look at these earrings--the varied green hues and the rustic shapes, and Jana's charms like old Celtic arrowheads. I had the pleasure of visiting Ireland on a bicycle trip in 2004, and the pictures don't lie--it is a velvety green paradise!

Photo near Ballyieragh, County Cork, by Pam Brophy, via Wikipedia 

I loved the wild feel of the countryside, especially the miles and miles of painstakingly stacked stone fences--for someone who loves rocks and rustic stuff, it was heaven!

Photo by Eckhard Pecher of Inis Oírr, Aran Islands, via Wikipedia

My day on the island of Inishmor during that trip, among the ancient rocks and emerald grass, must have been floating in my subconscious when I put these together, and Jana's charms were a wonderful inspiration!

Ceramic charms, prehnite nuggets, freshwater pearls, and both fine and sterling silver

You can see more of my work at my Etsy shop.

Wild Flower Earrings

These earrings were originally going to be much simpler.  Just the gorgeous lampwork beads by Judith Billig and the ceramic charms by Joan Miller.

 But as I was putting the first earring together, my eyes fell on those turquoise Czech glass flowers and I began to wonder if they would nestle nicely into the top hole on the ceramic charms.  They did!  The brown markings on the charms remind me of a vining plant, so the flowers just seemed to belong with them.  And then I added the three little, orange, matte glass beads, all knotted on brown Irish waxed linen.

The colors in these earrings and the flowers remind me of the wild flowers that bloom on the lower slopes of Mt. Rainier in the late summer.  The ground is carpeted with a riot of low growing flowers that amaze me every time I see them.

The "Wild Flower" earrings are available at Linda Landig Jewelry

Linda

Linda Landig Jewelry