::: Do I Thrill You ~ Do I Chill You :::

Oh, let's begin with the little ghosts by Jeni Houser Alasad! They are constructed and made of hollow polymer clay and are super lightweight.   I fell in love with their rustic yet adorable good looks.  The glass striped beads have large holes which move freely up and down the blackened chain. Being made of glass also gives them just enough weight so they hang beautifully.

 ♡

Striking enamel skull charms by Cathleen Zaring!  

I've noticed that I have a natural tendency of following shapes and patterns throughout a design - many times I don't even realize I'm doing it until I've already chosen my components and have begun constructing a piece of jewelry.  Looking at this design now, I see that the red silk tassels follow the shape of the jaw in the skulls.  Also, the striped pattern from around the eyes is repeated with the black and white striped beads below.

Once again the glass beads give the very lightweight tassels some swing.

The head actually moves independently from the tassel which gives this design movement and personality.

 ♡

Little bit gypsy-boho-vampy!

Lush red, vintage copper patina hoops, by Missficklemedia. 

I attached wire-wrapped tiny black skulls adorned with Swarovski crystals on their heads for a pop of color and flash.

I love the fringe effect and the crystals really dance in the light.

Many thanks for dropping by!  I will see you all again on Halloween Day!  If you have any questions always feel free to leave a comment or message me!

Loralee xo

loraleekolton.etsy.com

5 Artists To Make One Pair Of Earrings

5 artists and 5 different materials and textures:

Brass handmade rings with a saffron patina by Missficklemedia

Woven beads by Rebecca Anderson
Polymer discs by Heather Powers
Vintage rustic plum wood beads
Glass headpins by Kimberly Rogers

I began with the luscious pumpkin orange etch glass headpins. These have to be one of my favorite headpins that I have ever purchased from Kimberly. 

 I felt like going in a jewel tone direction, so paired them with rich plum vintage wood beads.  I pulled both colors together with some polymer discs by Heather Powers.  This is precisely why I love Heather's cane beads!  

I created a little visual space to the design by adding the hand forged rings by Shannon German.  I almost called it complete, but something was still gnawing at me.  I decided to look at it with fresh eyes in the morning.   The next day I started playing with different beads to partially fill the hole of the rings.  Nothing seemed quite right until I opened my little tin of woven beads I had in my stash.  Ahhh, I found the perfect color, size, and the texture the design needed all in one small bead. 

Well, that's all for now!  I'll most likely be back on Oct 3rd with something spooky!

Loralee xo

Loralee Kolton ~  artful in beads

Oh the possibilities - Sari Silk

I hope this finds all of you healthy and well this flu season! 

Both pairs of earrings I'm showing today were made using handcrafted Sari Silk components by Anna Pierson of SagaHus. 

I have lots of silk to work with. . . . large amounts of it so generously gifted to me by a friend. . . .and prior to that I had a few ribbons of my own here and there. Never have I been able to pull it together, not for lack of trying. I have tried and used and used and used a fair amount of silk trying. I have managed small areas of an earring design, and have also used different kinds of ribbon over the years successfully. So although I will continue my efforts at some point, I was delighted when I managed to snag these components to work with. Fun, colorful, unique. Thank you, Anna! 

SheFliesAgain

This gorgeous pair of silk components is paired with various Czech glass beads and Greek bronze castings in a column-shaped design. They're all wrapped with waxed Irish linen and attached to soldered copper metal rings. 

SheFliesAgain

The second pair includes handcrafted copper ovals by Shannon German of MissFickleMedia, and wonderfully crackled recycled glass shards made by Emily Cohen of CatFishStu. Again, wrapped with waxed linen and attached to soldered rings.

SheFliesAgain

Both pairs are amazingly lightweight, at only 0.10 oz / 2.83 grams, and 0.15 oz / 4.28 grams respectively. 

Thanks for checking us out today.

Always with Love and Joy,
norbel
SheFliesAgain

Stacked Earrings

Me and four of my beading friends have had a thing going on for a while. We call it The Stacked Earrings Challenge. The idea has been that we take turns in sending the others in the group the same small selection of beads, possibly suiting to make earrings in a stacked style from. So that we all have the same beads as a start point to work from. We make as many earrings as we want. At least three of the beads in each pair should come from the lot we were sent. Then we all blog about the earrings we made on the same day and compare what everyone came up with, and get very inspired of course :-).

It was I who introduced the idea about 1,5 years or so ago, at a time I just felt in need of some interacting inspiration from beading buddies around the world. I am so happy that they wanted to join in. And then we just continued taking turns. Yesterday was the fifth and last reveal for us. I am a little sad that it's over, but mostly so happy and grateful it's been such a great thing to do.

Anyway, so now I thought I'd share with you a couple of the earrings from my own last reveal from yesterday.

The three beads in the center come from this time's challenge lot put together by Heidi Post. The rest from my own stash. The two circles are made by MissFickleMedia.

All the beads including the bent copper tubes come from Heidi's lot. I added the handmade earring hooks and the head pins from Sacha Crow.


If you are interested to see more of the reveals from the Stacked Earrings Challenge I highly recommend it. A good starting point would be my own blog post:
http://beadingbymalindekoning.blogspot.se/2016/11/stacked-earrings-challenge-reveal.html
And from there you can find the links to the other ladies in the group. Our own Claire Lockwood is one of them.

-------------

All my best,
Malin
www.beadingbymalindekoning.blogspot.se
www.etsy.com/shop/MalindeKoning

With A Friend In Mind

 

Art beads and handmade components:

Verdigris patinated brass oval and shard charms - MissFickleMedia

Sterling silver (oxidized) handmade earrings hooks - JNicLoft 

Other ingredients:

Vintage patinated chain with coin shaped links

All my best,

Malin

www.beadingbymalindekoning.blogspot.com

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

Going to the Art Gallery

I was looking for a statement quality in these earrings. Large and bold, not to be missed when being worn. Kind of the opposite of discrete. They are long, with a cluster of beads and components in different materials. Still surprisingly lightweight (due to the materials used). I personally would wear them when going to an opening night at an art exhibition :-).

Art beads:

Orange-red flower patterned porcelain charms - RoundRabbit

 Leaf shaped hammered and soldered copper dangles - MissFickleMedia

Other ingredients:

African brass beads with swirl pattern

Yellow facetted cat eye beads

Green seed beads

Green vinyl beads

Dark transparent blue with golden coating long facetted drops 

Oxidized brass findings

Handmade brass earring hooks

All my best,

Malin de Koning

www.beadingbymalindekoning.blogspot.com

Spring Love and Bonus Beads

Hi, and here's another pair of earrings inspired by spring, it's atmosphere, colours and the light. I just love MissFickleMedia's green patinated hammered copper rings. 

On another note, do you see those pale pink bicone beads with golden stripes? I got them as a bonus freebee gift with a purchase last year. They are very pretty aren't they. I got only two of them. And an interesting phenomenon I have noticed when it comes to myself is that if I have only one or very few of a particular bead, I tend to be more lusting to use it in my designs. Seems like if something is rare it somehow becomes more valuable. Not necessary money wise, but more as if it is more unique and special and therefor more attractive. And I am always more attracted to things which are more unique. Goes for people, places, objects and just anything really. And beads of course.

Anyway, I wonder if any of you recognize this when it comes to your own bead stash? Or is it just me?

• Patinated hammered copper rings by MissFickleMedia
• Matte golden seed beads
• Pale pink large bicone lucite beads with golden stripes
• Pale pink druk glass beads
• Messy wrapped oxidized copper wire
• Handmade copper (oxidized) ear hooks

I wish you all a lovely Happy Easter and more wonderful spring weather.

All my best,

Malin

www.beadingbymalindekoning.blogspot.com

Spring Equinox

The spring vernal equinox is on the 20th of march here in Sweden where I live, just outside Stockholm. This is quite far north on the northern hemisphere. Which means that in December and January the days are very short.

Now we are leaving the winter behind and the spring is on it's way. It is a wonderful and magical transformation that takes place in nature. The days are getting noticeably longer every day, and the sky is bright blue most days. Spending time outdoors is like taking showers in sunlight. Very much needed and longed for after the dark winter period. And the first buds and greens are starting to show. It is a beautiful wonder every year.

Not that I had it in mind when I started making these earrings, but now as they are finished I realize they are a tribute to this very season. I often find that nature and my immediate surroundings have inspired me subconsciously when I make my jewelry.

• Verdigris green patinated copper links - MissFickleMedia
• Clear quartz semiprecious stone, irregular squarish
• Aventurine semiprecious stone, square plates
• Pink patinated fan shaped copper charms - MissFickleMedia
• Oxidized copper wire
• Handmade oxidized copper Earwire hooks

Fun fact about Swedes:
Visitors of Sweden around this time of the year are known to notice an odd phenomenon in the streets in the middle of the day when the sun is at its highest point. People who are outdoors are stopping just anywhere where the sun shines, but preferably against a wall, and they will raise their faces against the sun, standing still for 5-10 minutes as if they were worshipping the sun itself. It looks odd to foreigners, but to us it is completely natural. :-)

All my best,

Malin

www.beadingbymalindekoning.blogspot.com

Verdigris Moroccan Earrings

I do a show every August that is a fund raiser for transitional housing for women and children.  They always have a theme and this year it is "Moroccan Mystique".  For the first time ever, they have asked the vendors to dress in accordance with the theme.  Which got me to thinking about what contemporary Moroccan style might look like.

So naturally I turned to Pinterest for inspiration.  What did I ever do without Pinterest?  I saw lots of caftans and blouses that were designed like short caftans. 

There were sandals and gorgeous henna designs.

But the best thing of all was the jewelry!  Totally inspiring!

So, while I still don't have a Moroccan style blouse, I do have some Moroccan inspired earrings now.  These lack the diamonds and gemstones of the earrings pictured above, but I can see an echo of Moroccan Mystic the the shapes.  The verdigris metal stampings are from Miss Fickle Media. 

Linda

Linda Landig Jewelry

Amphitrite

Amphitrite was the Greek goddess of the sea and consort to Poseidon. These gorgeous Czech glass coin beads reminded me of the sea. I paired them up with some hammered copper washers (I am currently obsessed with hammering copper and using liver of sulfur on it..OBSESSED) and patina-ted rings by Miss Fickle Media.

Did you know that there is a bronzed statue of Amphitrite underwater just off the Cayman Islands?

                                                                     Photo on Panoramio by Rick Cordary

To see these earrings and lots more check out my website!

Thanks,

Kristy Abner

Kristy's Kreations

A Weathered Heart

Sometimes a heart takes a beating. It gets broken, torn, exposed to harsh elements, stitched up, and broken again. The rough majesty of an oft-broken and mended heart, like the scars of an ancient and battle-worn blue whale, is what makes it beautiful, fascinating and trustworthy.

These copper hearts by Shannon LeVart have a rich verdigris patina, as if they had lain for centuries in a rain-spattered grotto before being unearthed by a wide-eyed treasure hunter. I've suspended them from rustic copper knots in a burnished chestnut patina, also by Shannon LeVart. They hang from hand-formed copper earwires, each embellished with an amber glass seed bead. You can see more of them HERE, and visit my Etsy shop HERE.

I would have to wear these with something humble, time-honored and built for comfort, like a cozy fisherman sweater:

sturdy and serviceable boots to get me where I need to go (and kick some tuchus):

a favorite pair of jeans that has been there and back, many times:

and a toasty pea coat!

Makes me think of Julianne Moore in Shipping News. 

I would also need this with hot coffee in it.  

And probably this too.