Amazing amazonite

Hello folks.
I hope you are all enjoying good summer weather, hopefully a holiday already.

Here in lovely, sunny Greece my daytime job is currently wreaking havoc with my creative bead time. No playing with beads for me at the moment.
So I show you some earrings I made a while back. I think perfectly summery earrings.

With beautiful carved amazonite and handmade lampwork beads by Debbie Sanders. Debbie is making such gorgeous glass beads, please check her out.

Thank you for stopping by. These are now available in my shop.
We here at Earrings Everyday love love love to read your comments. So please, don't be shy and write some, also on the posts of my wonderful colleagues.
I wish you a wonderful day with lots of joy, sunshine and happiness.

Janine

Esfera Jewelry

My etsy shop

My website/blog

My facebook page

Happy Fishes

Happy Fishes

Well, I was on a Jana Bližňáková bender when these little guys came to be--they are graduates from my hoard of Happy Fish supplies. I adore ceramic charms, especially Jana's! Here I've combined them with copper torpedo beads I hammered and antiqued for a little extra interest, sterling silver wire, tiny seed beads in translucent aqua, and a couple of turquoise Czech glass beads on my handcrafted earwires. These are so summery, they make me think of a Bahamian vacation! (Which I need.)

I just love the crackled glaze on these sweet little guys. Be sure to check out both Jana's webstore, and her Etsy shop, where she has loads of fabulous goodies available! You can follow Jana's studio doings at her Facebook page as well.

I wish you all a great summer!

Keirsten (guest contributor, Lunedesigns at Etsy)

Give Peace a Chance

I love peace signs. Just an ol' hippie girl at heart, as Kim Rogers tells me. ;) I can't pass up a good peace sign element, and Kristi Bowman-Gruel's of KristiBowmanDesign are certainly all that!

How grand life would be if the symbol was all we needed to create a state of peace. I've long tried to understand human beings and the societies they create, and why, why, why, can we not just get along? Truly, we certainly are in need of some peace. All we can do at our level is to start with the "man in the mirror." Okay. Off the soapbox.

"Give Peace a Chance"

The BEST things come in small packages. I love these sweet, rustic coppery elements!

Nothing shows off copper better, in my opinion, than turquoise. They just seem to be made for each other. The Lampwork glass beads are by Leese Mahoney of GlassByLeese. The remaining elements are glass. The red disks are more of a crimson leaning color than is shown in the pic. Small yellow and turquoise glass, all wrapped with oxidized copper, hanging from black Niobium ear wires. Copper accent beads as well.

I could work all day with Kristi's copper. But I would have to make time for her polymer pieces. This pair was recently listed. They have fun and summer written all over them!

Caged Hibiscus

Thank you, Kristi, for such great pieces to work with!

Thank you for taking the time to stop by! We appreciate it. Comments are also greatly appreciated.

Have a great day!

Norbel Marolla
She Flies Again Etsy Shop
She Flies Again on Facebook
You can find me on Instagram

Bohemian summer

Hello. Today I like to share with you some earrings I made quite a while back.
For these I didn’t use art beads, just beautiful Czech glass in lovely colors and other components.

I think these are perfect for summer, don’t you think? 








Thank you for stopping by. These are now available in my shop.
I wish you a wonderful day with lots of joy, sunshine and happiness.

Janine

Esfera Jewelry

My etsy shop

My website/blog

My facebook page

Polyclay and Lampwork Team Up

I was so delighted to have been able to attend a polymer clay technique class by Christine Damm of The Stories They Tell at Art On The Farm in Vermont this early summer.

With polymer clay you can achieve quite a bit of length without adding too much weight to your designs.

The poly clay parts are actually headpins I formed and with the coloring and veneer technique I learned I was ready to go big using the pieces as a canvas for texture and color.

I simply paired them with a set of lampwork beads that I had on hand that I had made.

I didn't sell the beads as a pair because the the dimensions weren't the same but I'm not afraid to use them together myself!

These babies are over 3 and a half inches long  (9 cm)

 I'm looking forward to making more of these headpins so that if I get enough of  a good stash of them i'll be willing to part with some to sell.

Imagine the possibilities!

thanks for stopping by

Kimberly Rogers

www.numinositybeads.etsy.com

The Little Flapper Girls

Now the Flapper was my kind of woman;  Light-hearted, nonconformists who eagerly tried new clothing styles not to mention challenging traditional ideas of behavior by wearing make-up, publicly drinking, smoking & acting unladylike.  

They sported a short bobbed do, wore lipstick, rouge and short fringed skirts, giving the title, "It Girl".

That is exactly what this fun, free spirited design reminds me of. These have become a huge hit.  I wasn't sure how they were going to be perceived, but I sold 4 pair, 2 to the same customer; one for her and the other a gift.  Who would not love to fashion these little gals!!

The hand painted wood heads are so darn cute, each one slightly different.  I bought the brass flower beads off ETSY and hand painted them in girly pink, of course, folded over some soft copper flower caps and finished them with copper findings.  Ball end headpins strung with rounds of cream Howlite serve as tiny swinging feet.

I was provided a little gift with my next head order, Its a BOY!! 

OMG, how cute is he? Now you have it, a Flapper Couple ♥

These are totally out of my design style, but I had such a great time working with them, I hope the trend continues.

Thanks for taking the time to stop by, share a comment or two if you can and we will see you again July 6th.  

My ETSY Shop- Y.u.c.c.a. B.l.o.o.m.

Jana + Wire = Fun!

Hello! And depending on where you live, Happy Summer! And Happy close to the end of June, if it's not summer for you. ;)

Copper wire is one of my favorite things to work with; ceramics made by Jana Bliznakova of HappyFishThings are another favorite.

These beautifully painted ceramic bars were resting in an open box with many other wonderful pieces I'd just received from Jana. 

I sat down to play with wire. A little soldering fun sounded like a very good idea that day. A bit of fire play is invigorating! I played with spirals and hoops, triangles and ovals, teardrops and a shape trying to be squares, hearts and birds, but nothing was catching my attention. It's been a bit of a down time for me creatively after having to let go of our almost 13-year-old Lab; she was a beautiful girl, Angel, and a constant, loving companion throughout those years. The muse doesn't seem to be able to break through the emptiness just yet.

As I was wrapping the wire 'round and 'round a pair of step pliers, these pieces caught my eye and I thought, hmmm, I can offset the open end of the pattern on these, which felt right to me.

Jana + Wire = Fun

Halfway through the first earring, I noticed the pattern on the second piece was identical, not a mirror image. Oh No!!!! my symmetrical leaning brain alarm sounded. How do I do this then? Do I wire the second one on the same side as the first, balancing the open side of the design. . . . . which absolutely felt wrong to me. So no, of course I was going to wire the second one on the opposite side. 

Either way, I was going to end up with an alarm going off. :) But I have slowly learned to ignore that alarm, firmly burying it and its silly notions, feeling totally comfortable that the two pieces aren't identical. Thanks to many of the Oh-So-Talented Jewelry Designers here on EE, as well as others, I now am okay with it, and may even prefer them that way! That was not the case a few years ago. I suspect I would have scrapped the idea altogether and moved on. The one thing we know about life on this planet is that things will always change. That's a good thing. ;)

Jana + Wire = Fun

The red beads I paired with the ceramics are natural Red Sandalwood Seeds. They grow this vibrant shade of red. I had never seen them before, and purchased these at the very cool TheFickleBead shop on Etsy. Debbie is the shop owner, a wonderful lady to work with; customer service is at the top!

The earrings below weren't made for today's post, but I wanted to show you another Jana/Wire pair. I melt looking at the primitive, soft blue sun design. 

Soft Blue Primitive Suns

I hope you have a happy week, filled with love, laughter and peace of mind.

Thank you for stopping by! I will be back on the 5th of July. 

Angel Baby

Norbel Marolla

She Flies Again Etsy Shop 

She Flies Again Facebook 

Clay and Cord

I recently made my first purchase from NadiaTerra in Bulgaria. Love her style with a matte shabby chic look and lots of new, fun and interesting bead shapes. Like the ones I used in these earrings for instance, they have no holes, just a groove all around. Very interesting!

Earrings for hot summer's days. Looking great with tanned skin, a casual white shirt, worn jeans and brown leather sandals.

Ingredients:
Wonderful handmade terracotta clay beads with engobe patina and without holes by NadiaTerra
Irish waxed linen cord
Pewter rings
Heavily oxidized sterling silver handmade earring hooks

All my best,
Malin de Koning
www.beadingbymalindekoning.blogspot.com

We're All Ears :: June Reveal

The strawberry. A delicious taste of summer.

[Photo credit :: Benil Benjamin :: Unsplash]

I have memories of my mother taking us out the the U-Pick strawberry fields nearby our hometown very early on a June morning. Once I had kids of my own I made sure that we did this trek a few times as well. I remember that they would give us shallow cardboard boxes and drive us by tractor out to a distant row mounded over with lush green plants. Each row would have multiple pickers all hunched over with big floppy hats eagerly gripping the bright red berries. As a kid it was a feast! More berries went in my belly than in my flat! At the end of your row, you got to take your flats to the farm to be weighed. Then it was home to wash and process all the juicy goodness, usually into canned preserves. 

And then there were the treats. Fresh berries piled on pancakes, overflowing over ice cream and floating in my cereal. And the desserts... pies and strawberry shortcake, or mixed with rhubarb from grandma's garden in a fluffy trifle. Yum!

I still haven't had my first strawberry shortcake of the season, but I did see that they are advertising it! Yea! So when I get home on Sunday night from the second of my trips this month, I think I know where I will be celebrating!

Since I haven't had any fresh strawberries...yet...I thought that I would make some of my own in anticipation. I found these wonderful headpins in my stash...I am quite certain that I got them last year at the Bead & Button show, but for the life of me, I cannot remember who they belong to. I thought that they looked very much like strawberries, but even more so once I added the little hand-painted bead caps. I call these "Fragaria" for the genus of the species that is more commonly known as the garden strawberry.

And I really liked the tiny little green berries in this picture, so I made those as well, aptly named, "Unripe."

Perfect adornment for berry-picking days!

I found a web page that had 14 facts about strawberries that I thought were really interesting. How many of these were new to you?

1. Strawberries are the only fruit that wear their seeds on the outside. The average berry is adorned with some 200 of them. No wonder it only takes one bite to get seeds stuck in your teeth.
2. Strawberries aren’t true berries, like blueberries or even grapes. Technically, a berry has its seeds on the inside. And, to be über technical, each seed on a strawberry is considered by botanists to be its own separate fruit. Whoa, meta!
3. Strawberries are members of the rose family. Should you come upon a bush of them growing, you’ll see: they smell as sweet as they taste.
4. The strawberry plant is a perennial. This means if you plant one now, it will come back next year and the following and the year after that. It may not bear fruit immediately, but once it does, it will remain productive for about five years.
5. Americans eat an average of three-and-a-half pounds of fresh strawberries each per year. It’s closer to five pounds if you count frozen ones. In a study, more than half of nine-year-olds picked strawberries as their favorite fruit. They’re nature’s candy!
6. Belgium has a museum dedicated to strawberries. In the gift shop at Le Musée de la Fraise (The Strawberry Museum), you can buy everything from strawberry jam to strawberry beer.
7. Native Americans ate strawberries long before European settlers arrived. As spring’s first fruit, they were a treat, eaten freshly picked or baked into cornbread.
8. The ancient Romans thought strawberries had medicinal powers. They used them to treat everything from depression to fainting to fever, kidney stones, bad breath and sore throats.
9. Sex & Strawberries? In France, where they’re believed to be an aphrodisiac, strawberries are served to newlyweds at traditional wedding breakfasts in the form of a creamy sweet soup.
10. Strawberries are believed to help reduce the risk of heart disease and certain cancers. They are low in calories and high in vitamins C, B6, K, fiber, folic acid, potassium and amino acids.
11. Strawberries contain high levels of nitrate. This has been shown to increase blood and oxygen flow to the muscles. Research suggests that people who load up on strawberries before exercising have greater endurance and burn more calories.
12. California produces some 80% of the strawberries in the U.S. They grow about 2 billion pounds of the heart-shaped fruits per year. Every state in the U.S. and every province in Canada grows their own.
13. To store fresh strawberries, wash them and cut the stem away. However, if you plan to keep them in the fridge for a few days, wait until before you eat them to clean them. Rinsing them speeds up spoiling.
14. Strawberries can also be pickled. Especially when picked green or unripe. If your berries are overripe, make jam!

Now it is your turn! Show off your best berry baubles!

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On the Edge

I'm on the edge. The edge of a vacation, that is. 

That delicious pre-vacation period where you're ALMOST THERE and are filled with the anticipation of having time to step away, breathe, clear your mind, get yourself out of the workweek rut.  My mom always said that the pre-vacation is better than the vacation itself. Part of me doesn't want to believe that, but there certainly is something to be said for it. 

Next week my other half and I are headed to the mountains of West Virginia. We stayed in a cabin for one day last year as we were passing through, and it struck such a chord with us that we vowed to come back this year and stay for more than just a day. The cabins are nestled at the foot of a towering cliff, and a clear, clean river winds its way past the base. Last year we saw a bald eagle soaring right above our heads. I was even able to convince my husband (who is not afraid of heights, definitely not afraid of heights, no, never) to climb the nearby mountain with me. We got to the top with a mixture of exhilaration and sheer white-knuckled terror. Quite a memorable combination!

We toured one of the region's many caves and experienced TD, or "total darkness"---where the guide leads you deep into the cave, gives you fair warning, and then turns out all the lights. If you've never experienced that kind of sensory deprivation, it's incredible. That is, unless you're claustrophobic or scared of the dark or have a fear of being trapped underground. Yeah, probably not so good for that.

We also spent a couple hours walking next to the river, which was filled with tons of perfectly rounded, water-smoothed rocks. Each rock was glazed with a soft, slippery layer of mossy-green algae. And when I say slippery, I mean, "Nikki fell on her ass while trying to cross the river". Hey, I at least had to give it a try. That's just me. 

The green lushness of those memories from last year remind me of this pair of polybells I made a while ago. I took polymer clay, formed it into two rough poddy bells, textured them against some piece of random organic matter, cured them in the oven, hand painted them with acrylics, and then sealed them. The mossy green pockets, slate blue peaks, and silver-kissed highlights bring to mind a deep craggy forest.

Hope you have a wonderful week while I'm off playing mountain woman!

Happy Wednesday,
Nikki 
LoveRoot on Etsy

Sea Glass Love Sea Glass Earrings

I've been infatuated (in love?) with sea glass forever, I think. I love it as much as any bead or button. Maybe more so. Every piece is unique. Even if I manage to find the perfect piece in the just right shade of green (or whatever color I am seeking) finding another to match is a near impossible task. That's why when I do find two that go together, whether it be for size, color or shape, I am thrilled. And momentarily find peace. Until next time... and search again. 

This set features olive green, natural (found) sea glass, with carved (or etched) agate beads in a dark tomato red color that pairs well with micro-faceted garnet gemstones and tiny Swarovski crystals that dangle from pure silver nugget charms. Ear wires are handcrafted with over sized silver nugget, hammered ends. 

Are you interested in drilling your own sea glass? I have written up some helpful tips here: http://earrings-everyday.blogspot.com/2015/10/drilling-sea-glass-my-experience-by.html

Hula hoops

Today I will keep it short and simple with these colorful earrings :)



- Lampwork glass rings: Earthshine Beads
- Polymer clay beads: Margit Boehmer 
- Brass beads, rings, bead caps and earwires
- Swarovski crystal

Thank you for stopping by. These are now available in my shop.
I wish you a wonderful day with lots of joy, sunshine and happiness.

Janine

Esfera Jewelry

My etsy shop

My website/blog

My facebook page

Sea and Earth

I'm delighted to have gotten my hands on some of Darlene Fortier House's and Sasha Crow's components recently. I actually won the stamped soldered abalone shapes from Sasha in a giveaway and made a custom order with Darlene from ArtisticRejuvenations for these lovely enameled shapes.

Just a little iridized metallic pyrite and we've got ourselves a dandy pair that brings me right back to Maine with the pearly sheen and mussel shell speckled purples.

You can find Sasha Crow here and on facebook here

 You can find Darlene's torch enameled components here

Enjoy your week and thanks for looking at my latest creations!

Kimberly Rogers

www.numinositybeads.etsy.com

www.facebook.com/numinositybeads

www.facebook.com/groups/967164829979604

https://www.instagram.com/numinosity/

What's in a Face?

Hello! And Happy June.

I don't have a lot of clear early childhood memories, but there are a handful that I have always remembered, for whatever bizarre reason as they don't seem to connect to anything major at all, and one of them has to do with faces. I was a very young girl, obviously working on expanding my mind, which it certainly needed based on the thoughts I was having. :) I remember clearly pondering and being perplexed by the fact that every person on the planet looked so different, when we all have two eyes, a nose and a mouth. Remember, I was really, really young. :) But that was the beginning of my fascination with faces, their expressions, and my emotional reactions to them. Not just human faces; I'm fascinated by canines, felines, other primates. Faces in photographs, paintings, sketches, I love them all.

So it was no surprise to me when I found myself gravitating to faces in jewelry components as well. And there is so much to choose from. 

Today's earrings are "Serene Faces" made by Andrea Salkowe of Josephine Beads. They are, indeed, serene, and this pair is graced with a beautiful, high-gloss, golden brown glaze with shadows and shadings of deep brown. Simply beautiful. The glaze seems to almost sparkle.

"What's in a Face"

Initially these earrings were a fiesta of color, and they were fun, but they had lost some of their serenity, and I wanted them to stay serene. So a two-color palette is where I landed. I used varying shades of brown aged glass beads, natural Turquoise disk stones and matte finish, opaque turquoise glass beads, with one rogue red glass bead on each, all wound on ball-tip headpins I made with 20 gauge copper wire, and 22 gauge copper wire was used to wrap above the faces. 

As an aside, I generally don't like working with 22 gauge copper wire. Even though the wire I use is "half hard," 22 gauge is "wimpy," even when work hardened. But many things, like these Turquoise disks, won't fit on 20 gauge. They just require a little extra TLC.  And Black Lip Shell heishi beads sit atop the Turquoise disks.

What's in a Face?

Thought I'd also share with you my current little stash of Face Beads. All of them are ceramic. The artisans who made them are Jana Bliznakova of Happy Fish Things; Petra Carpreau of Scorched Earth on Etsy; Andrea Salkowe of Josephine Beads; Nadia Karepencheva of Nadia Terra. I have a whole lot of fun to look forward to! :)

Fun Fun Fun!

Thank you so much for taking the time to take a look. We appreciate it! I'll be back on the 21st of June. 'Til then, I wish you all days filled with sunshine, peace & joy. 

Norbel Marolla
She Flies Again on Etsy
She Flies Again on Facebook
She Flies Again on Amazon Handmade

Swedish Druzy

Check out those wonderful druzy beads i got just the other day. I wanted to showcase them with all their glitter and exciting shapes. Hang them just simply from a great looking thin chain with some messy wrapping, and have them dangling a lot when being worn. 

Ingredients:

Blue and yellow/gold druzy crystal nuggets with electroplated coating

Messy wrapped oxidezed copper wire

Verdigris patinated copper chain by MissFickleMedia

Handmade oxidized copper earring hooks

And some extra info:
My earrings are extra suitable to wear on a day like this. As today, the 6th of June, is the Swedish National Day. And the Swedish flag is blue and yellow. Below a very typical view from the countryside of Sweden on a beautiful summer's day. We do love our flag.

All my best,

Malin
www.beadingbymalindekoning.blogspot.com

SparaSparaSparaSpara

We're All Ears :: June Inspiration

We have a local ice cream place that is only open from March-October called Belt's Soft Serve. It is a well-documented tradition that people line up overnight in March, braving the frigid temperatures by camping out in the parking lot to be one of the first customers when they open. And the last night they are open has crowds stretching around the block for hours. It is THE place to be seen in town, and is pretty tasty, too!

[Photo credit :: Christian Widell :: Unsplash]

They have cones that are like 3 feet tall and all sorts of yummies including their own home-made peanut butter cups, brownies and cookie dough for flurries. They also use a lot of local produce throughout the season, and that is awesome.

[Photo credit :: veeterzy :: Unsplash]

I do not go there often, so when I do it has to be special. I wait all year for the small window of opportunity to get a home-made strawberry shortcake sundae. A home-baked shortbread cake riding a mound of creamy soft-serve vanilla ice cream drizzled with heaps of local strawberries (always splurge for extra!) and topped with whipped cream. That is summer in a bowl for me!

[Photo credit :: Danielle MacInnes :: Unsplash]

So this month, in anticipation of this limited-time treat (only available for the last half of June! In between my travels this month you can bet I will be there more than once!), I thought that we could use strawberries as our theme this month.

[Photo credit :: Benil Benjamin :: Unsplash]

Have you ever heard of the website Unsplash? I discovered it this spring and it is chock-full of photography that is FREE to use. That's right. FREE. All of these images are from Unsplash.

You are actually encouraged to use them on your website, remix them into an art piece, post them to your blog. I find the collections especially endearing. And the pictures themselves are outstanding in their subject matter, composition, lighting. They seem like mysterious artifacts that need to have a story told about them. 

See you on June 17th for the sweet and juicy reveal!