Hedgehog Delight

My husband is from Germany and many of the German picture books that his family gave our children, when they were little, featured adorable hedgehogs. Here in the United States we don't have wild hedgehogs, although some people keep them as pets.  One summer, many years ago, we took a vacation with my husband's family, at a resort in Ronshausen. And that's where I first saw these cute little critters. I've been a fan ever since!

I've had these cute little polymer clay hedgehogs for such a long time that I no longer remember who the artist was that made them. Aren't they cute?

The ribbed, gold tone tubes were salvaged from a vintage necklace and I topped them with some luscious, faceted garnets. These cuties are now available on my website.

Linda Landig Jewelry

Bold

and beautiful?!

I went for big for today's post.  I rescued these lampwork flowers (Yuliana Goldin-Dunn)

from a previous pair and attached them to brass flower blanks. I'd already punched some holes on the blanks as I wanted to hang stuff from them....but I had no idea what.  I'm sure I'm not the only one that designs half of an earring with absolutely no clue about what to do with the other half!

So top half done including the 2 teeny butterfly charms hanging on either side.  My mind went completely blank after that.  I tried hanging so many different charms to no avail.  The truth is I was feeling lazy...I wanted to just find the perfect charms to attach with jump rings, easy peasy - but it wasn't happening.  I knew I needed to make something.  I gave up in the end and went for these brass oval frames which I wire wrapped (the number of times I nodded off during wrapping......just coz I didn't want to do it) with blue and orange cup chain to match the lampwork.  

All matched up now and I think they look good.  If you like them, they will be available for purchase in my next FB show - on Monday in The Earrings Show group.  Hope you can stop by. 

Suhana <3

My Etsy shop: Suhana Hart Jewellery

Earth Rebirth

In my last post here at Earrings Everyday, I wrote about how much I was yearning for spring to arrive.  Well, it's finally here, officially at least, and for some of us the weather is even getting warmer and sunnier!  So I thought I'd make earrings that would reflect the beginning of spring, that period of rebirth and renewal, when the birds are building nests for their families-to-be, the flowers are starting to bloom, and the trees are leafing out.

I looked through my cache of earring components and opened my box of treasures by Helena Benkoczka of ARETObeadsjewellry, who (as I'm sure you know) makes uniquely beautiful earring charms.  I found just what I wanted:  a lovely pair of tribal teardrop charms in soft turquoise and purple that reminded me of the Easter celebrations of my childhood.

To go with the charms, I picked lovely streaky transparent purple lampwork rondelles by Beth Mellor of Beeboo and pretty turquoise discs made for me by my friend Barbara Steffen of Fire Spirit Beads.

I added tiny purple seed beads and turquoise jump rings, and wrapped and knotted everything together with turquoise waxed linen cording.  These pretty, softly colored earrings are the result.

Thanks so much for reading--I'll see you in two weeks!

xoxo
Meridy

My Etsy shop

My Facebook page

Sailing Under The Stars

My husband and I celebrated our 42nd anniversary, last weekend, with a visit to Port Townsend, WA.  Port Townsend has been one of our favorite getaways for about 30 years now.  We love the ocean, the Victorian seaport homes, the many art galleries and the delicious restaurants.

And if all that weren't enough, PT (as the locals call it), is also home to Wynwoods Gallery and Bead Studio, one of my favorite bead shops!  The shop owner, Lois Venarchick, designs and casts her own line of metal charms.  I added these delights to my stash last weekend.

Today's earrings feature the Lois' bronze sailboat charms, which I paired with gorgeous matte lampwork beads by Out West.

I knew immediately that the charms and the beads belonged together.  Together they seem to tell a little story.  The bronze sailboats are sailing under a golden star and the blue, turquoise and black beads above the star represent the night sky. Everything feels peaceful and tranquil. It is all smooth sailing.

Lois Venarchick

Lois Venarchick

The Sailing Under The Stars earrings are available in my shop.

-Linda

Linda Landig Jewelry

Lois Venarchick

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

 

Stillness in my soul

I had heard and read many times that when we go through some challenging times, it's like a caterpillar turning into a butterfly. It's not an easy process to break through the cocoon and spread your wings free, but the result is certainly worth it in the end.

So, today, I want to show you the design that I've created in my own design evolution...

Stillness Earrings by Nathalie Lesage of NatLJ.com

These earrings feature a gorgeous pair of luminous lampwork glass beads (I apologize, I did not note down the artist who made these as I bought them several years ago), a pair of my handmade .999 pure silver (PMC3) leaf charms, sparkling Swarovski Crystals on earth tones hemp cords and hypo-allergenic Niobium ear wires:

I love the explosion of color that occurs when the sunlight hits these earrings... 

just like the wings of a blue butterfly in the sun :)

As a jewelry designer, I've worked with many different types of supplies, and learned many techniques over the years, all with the end goal of "finding my own voice" in terms of design. 

As hard as the past 5 months (already) have been for me, I feel that this whole experience is helping me hone in to my own 'design' voice. It seems that I've finally found it.

This feels like 'me', 1000000%.

I will be exploring this style further. Exciting times ahead ;)

Many thanks for stopping by to read...  

You can find these earrings listed HERE on my NatLJ.com website.

Nathalie

Jewelry Artist

http://www.NathalieLesageJewelry.com

That 70's Vibe

My husband and I are leaving the full-time RVing to move into an apartment later this week, and the building is older (but nicely maintained) and it has a definite "70's vibe" to it, which I love!

It takes me back to some good times, and looking forward to more good memories

to be created with my love :)

I really enjoy the colors and styles of that era, so I created an outfit on Polyvore as my inspiration:

That 70's Vibe Arizona Shades by nathalie-lesage featuring a straw hat

And I made these earrings to match... Rustic shades of the 70's in Arizona: 

I just loooooooove this stash of rustic Tourmaline nuggets,

and how they change colors depending on the light.

These two have rich shades of caramel and mossy green, plus a hint of peach.

Just yummilicious earthy tones, with a bit of funky 70's groove.

The artisan lampwork beads have various shades of caramel, cream, silver glass and turquoise.

These earrings are not all that different than a few pairs I've showcased before,

but every pair has sold out so far... I had to make another pair. Each one is unique. 

You can find this pair on my website HERE.

Thanks for looking! Enjoy your week :)

Nathalie Lesage

Metalsmith & Jewelry Artist

http://www.NathalieLesageJewelry.com

 

Water Lilies by Lorelei

Inspired by a trip to the botanical gardens in Maine with my husband! I just loved the water lilies in each pond, buzzing with little dragonflies and overflowing with all types of gorgeous wild life.

 

The ceramic discs from Round Rabbit are perfect with this enameled flower headpins from C Koop beads, and to make each a little more interesting, I added a Vintaj Brass component behind each disc. The faceted Jade rondelles play off the flowers. These were so fun to make.  You can call them your own, they are for sale here in my Etsy shop.