In The Pink

I am a gingham lover; they remind me of more innocent times but most of all, they remind me of my grandmother ♡.  

These sweet gingham enamel hearts are by Cathleen Zaring of Blue Hare.  

Heart charms always have the small challenge of what to do with that center dip.  In my stash, I found these vintage acrylic etched beads with perfect proportions and color.

This was a nice little surprise - the backs had a daisy pattern on them!  Cathleen always finishes her work so beautifully. 

These had been on my worktable for a few weeks.  I have a newfound obsession with vintage sequins.  They were in the same soft pink so I thought I'd include them in today's blog post.

The lovely enameled wire chandelier hoops are by Gaea Cannaday of Gaea Handmade.

The vintage pink petal sequins are from Allegory Gallery

Thank you for joining me!  I have no clue as to what I'll be working on next ... but hopefully, you'll look for my posting in a couple of weeks!  😺

Loralee xo

www.loraleekolton.etsy.com

Star Bright

Hello!  

Over the past couple of years, I've been very attracted to pink during the holidays.  I love a mid-century color palette but I suppose these aren't quite that.  Would you go for mid-century tribal?!! lol  It really doesn't matter what you call them...nope... blending and mixing is exciting and the eye likes what the eye likes :)

The "sugar beads" at the top are lucite with a coating of tiny glass beads. They were made in the '60s and are loaded with texture and catch the light.    I think the tiny bit of sparkle looks great with the light flecks in the enamel charms below.  It just goes together so beautifully.

The artisan enamel charms were made by Spurwink River Arts.  I adore the freeform star design with the pop of stripe and red in the center on a beautiful grey background.  So organic and lovely.

♡

Thank you for having a look at my worktable today!  I'll be back in a couple of weeks!

Loralee xo

www.loraleekolton.etsy.com

Textures of porcelain

I have a love of wildlife and quite often I like to use birds in my designs. These two pairs of earrings feature porcelain components by Emma Wilson and both have a bird theme. I just love the detail and texture as well as subtle colours in Emma’s organic designs. Her pieces are small and dainty so I feel require a delicate and sympathetic touch when designing with them.

For this first pair of earrings I have used Emma’s components with a bird design and chose to highlight the pink/red colours with lampwork spacers and headpins by Linsey Peck as well as using a hint of gold with the seed beads and bead caps. The bronze ear wires are by Louise Goodchild.

For the next pair I have used Emma’s fan shaped components that have an Art Deco feel about them and thought that these adorable lampwork birds by Juliette Mullett would fit perfectly. Again, I have matched the pink and blue colours with lampwork spacer beads and some shimmery textured Czech glass daggers that reflect both colours. Then I've finished off with brass/gold colour bead caps. The ear wires are gold filled.

Thank you for reading. Both pairs are available in my FB group as from today - Nicola Morse - Jewellery & components

Dear Heart ♡

Oh, deary, deer!  Winter came early here in the Midwest and I'm buried up to my neck in coats, sweaters, and scarves!  For this reason, and season, I like to create shorter designs ♡

These lovely little deer charms were made by Vincent Cav of Inviciti. I am drawn to matte finishes and these are a new favorite!  Inviciti makes charms in an array of colors and combinations.

I purchased the large freshwater pearls from Allegory Gallery.  They are the most beautiful and subtle peachy-pink with a slight opalescence.  Andrew has such an eye for choosing beads for his shop and this is a favorite haunt for me, even if it's only online.  Those lucky devils that live nearby - I'm so jealous!

The distressed finish also looks amazing with vintage faux pearls; there are so many directions I could have taken these charms.

 I was having just as much fun playing with the photography (if you haven't noticed) as making the earrings themselves!  It's been so overcast that I'm surprised I got as many good shots as I did.

Well, that's me for now!  I'll be back in two weeks, just before Christmas! 

 ♡ Stay cute and cozy! ♡

Loralee xo

www.loraleekolton.etsy.com

Gratitude and Joy

In the U.S., today is a day officially set aside for giving thanks.  Thanksgiving Day was designated a federal holiday in 1863, during the American Civil War, to be celebrated each year on the fourth Thursday in November.

Well, as it happens, the fourth Thursday of the month is one of my regular blog days here at EE.  So I thought I'd share a few thoughts about thankfulness and gratitude...and maybe show off a new pair of earrings too. 😊



Long ago I was taught the benefits of an "attitude of gratitude," being grateful for the good things in your life, no matter how small, instead of focusing on the negative.  Being actively grateful takes some effort and retraining of the mind. Meditation is, of course, an excellent mind-trainer (and mind-quietener), but I learned that even just making lists of things I'm thankful for is a good (and easy) way to start.

So on this day I'm thankful for all of you EE readers and writers and for creators and appreciators of beauty in all its different forms. And I'm sharing these joyful, whimsical earrings on this day because I'm grateful that I had the opportunity to make them. 

Recipe for the Earrings

Colorful dotted charms by Nicola Morse

Dotted golden hollow glass rounds by Beth Mellor  

Orchid lampwork glass discs by Beth Mellor

4-mm faceted purple garnet coins

Gold-filled bead caps, Swarovski crystal rondelles

Gold-filled ear wires

💗 Thank you, Nicola and Beth! 💗

Thank you for reading...and Happy Thanksgiving!

xoxo
Meridy

My Shop
My Facebook page

Amethysts All the Way Down

Recently I've been fortunate to have collected a number of pairs of delicately beautiful enameled earring components by Raida Disbrow of Havana Beads.  My newest earrings, below, are made from one of her gorgeous pairs: luscious florals in purples and deep purply blues, with droplets of pink and baby blue.  

It's been a long time since I've made much rosary chain, but I enjoyed putting together the little chains of small faceted amethysts.  And I'm not dreading this whole briolette-wrapping thing so much anymore either, probably because I'm getting a little better at it despite myself.  That's what happens when you keep working on it, right? I can hear my mother asking me now from the other side.  (Of course, she's right.) 😉🌷

Recipe for Amethysts All the Way Down

(2) Enameled earring components

(12) Small faceted amethyst rounds

(6) Small anodized niobium rings, purple

(2) Faceted 10mm amethyst briolettes

(2) Anodized niobium ear wires, purple

24 ga copper wire, darkened

26 ga copper wire

These pretties can be found
  here at Two Trees Studio.

Thanks so much for reading.  I'll see you next time! 💗
xoxo
Meridy

My shop

My FB page

Wings and Orbs 💗

These beautiful glass wings and beads by Pati Walton and Beth Mellor have been waiting a long time to be made into earrings.  😊  It's funny, though, that I'll be posting this the very day after Lindsay's "Winging It" post.  💗

Sometimes it just happens like that...you have beautiful components and beads that sit quietly in a drawer for a while.  Then you find just the right elements to go with them, pull the beads out for the first time in a while...

...and the earrings come together with such ease that you wonder why you let those beautiful beads languish in that drawer for so long.  

These earrings are rich in twilight colors that are perfect for the coming season of shorter days and longer nights.  They'll be available in my shop soon. 

Thanks so much for reading!  I'll be back again on September 13. 

Meridy

xo

My shop, Two Trees Studio

My Facebook Page

Bubblegum Fun

Fun play with colours and lightweight components.

Ingredients:
Bright orange-pink 'ball in a ball' acrylic beads
Khaki green faceted acrylic rounds
Transparent with gold fluted glass beads
Silverlined transpaernt large seed beads

Pink waxed linen cord
Brass coloured large lucite rings
Vintaj brass jump rings and earring hooks

All my best,

Malin

Surprisingly, Pink

When you think of rustic-industrial, pink probably doesn't jump to mind ~ but, isn't it a nice little surprise?!

THE coolest lampwork glass with nailheads by Kimberly Rogers of Numinosity Beads; one-of-a-kind, handmade, patina finished, pewter charms by Inviciti; vintage glass pearls.

↔

Stacked, mismatched headpins!

 I had one lovely, drool-worthy, orphan headpin, by Kimberly Rogers.   So, I thought I'd make a stacked mate using a small headpin by Pipandmolly, then layer a rhinestone spacer, a shimmery matte teardrop lampwork bead by Kay Mallery and a rough cut piece of pyrite.  I topped both off with yummy vintage AB faceted crystals for a little symmetry .

Many thanks for stopping by today!

Loralee xo

LoraleeKolton ~ artful in beads

Gift of the Mermaid

I recently came upon these gorgeous enameled components in Raida Disbrow's Etsy shop, Havana Beads...

...and a dialogue started between my head and my heart.

Heart:  Oh, my gosh, those are GORGEOUS.  Look at those colors!
Head:  Ohhh, but those can be such a pain to work with. They're handmade--those things are never even, you have to fight to get them to hang straight--
Heart:  But I've got beads the same color as those little violet-pink dots!!  And lots of pink rondelles--
Head:  --hey, come to think of it, there's that stash of rhodolite garnets that haven't been used in about seven years!




That argument didn't last long.


Since I did have a goodly stash of little Czech glass rondelles in various shades of pink, the garnets, and sterling silver beads, jump rings, and headpins, I gave in to the lure of the Boho chandelier earring--and I loved it. Now that my heart has helped my head get over its jitters, I aim to make more. 💗

And, funny thing--they do hang straight after all.  😉

Gift of the Mermaid

Thanks so much for reading!  I'll be back in two weeks.
 
xoxo
Meridy
My Etsy Shop
My Facebook Page

 

Stacked with cornflakes

Why not put some really attractive colours, textures and shapes together in a stack?

Art Beads:
Pink, gold, and black stamped and painted polymer clay beads - GracefulWillowBeads

Handmade Components:
Triangle tinned artisan headpins, antiqued patina - CrowsCacheSupplies
Oxidized Sterling Silver Earring hooks

Other Components:
Bronze/brown/maroon cornflake/keshi pearls
Bronze czech glass rondelle disk spacer beads
Pink rubber spacer beads
Ochre, light green and forest green seed beads
Square profile closed metal rings, rhodium plated, stainless steel coloured

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

All my best,
Malin de Koning

Pink and Purple Towers

I love to stack stretches of beads one after one another. It feels like I am telling a story. And it creates a nice kind of architectural effect. The beads are like miniature building blocks.

I wanted/needed to add something odd to that slim tower, so hence the upside down enameled bead caps by Jade Scott. Inside them a Swarovski crystal is hiding.

I don't know what you see, but I myself find these earrings have a monumental quality to them. Even though they are so slim and delicate. Interesting. Perhaps my mind is effected by the fact that my son and I have been talking about architecture over the past few days. Or the We Are All Ears Challenge for September. As always so brilliantly put together by Erin Prais-Hinz of TesoriTrovati. Very inspiring!

Handmade Art Beads:
Glass Head Pins Capped in Tinwork - Sasha Crow of CrowsCacheSupplies
Enameled Three Petal Bead Caps in Purple and Orange - JadeScott

Other:
A variation of different styles of seed beads
2 sizes of Swarovski bicone crystals
Purple electroplated hematite discs
Vinyl discs
Sterling Silver Handmade and oxidized earrings hooks

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

Peanuts/Farfalle

I really love the kind of bumpy row peanut/farfalle beads create when they are put together. This week I made two pairs of earrings using peanut beads.


Ingredients:
Faux amber faceted drops
Powder pink matte peanut/farfalle beads
Green Swarovski bicones
Oxidized copper wire
Handmade earring hooks in oxidized copper


Art Beads:
Polymer clay wheels - BeadsByEarthTones

Other ingredients:
Maroon vinyl disks
Deep blue Swarovski bicones
Powder blue matte peanut/farfalle beads
Oxidized copper wire

Handmade earring hooks in oxidized copper

.............

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

Avoiding A Girly Look With Rose Quartz Pink

According to the color experts at Pantone, the two big colors for Spring and Summer of 2016 are Rose Quartz Pink and Serenity Blue.  For all the world, those two look like traditional nursery room colors to me.  Gah!  I really dislike the stereotyping that starts right at birth or even earlier, when the gender is known.  Women of my age (uh-hum) worked really hard to break down the narrow definitions of what women (and men) can or should do.  I used to know a very nice bead shop owner, who always referred to her staff as "My girls".  I had the same knee jerk reaction to that as to the baby colors.  OK, I know that lots of people will disagree with me and I also know that many people  don't feel as strongly as I do about calling women, girls or using baby pink.  I'm just speaking for me and I wanted to give you the back-story for today's earrings.

I decided to challenge myself to create something in Rose Quartz Pink that I would be comfortable wearing!

 Copper has a pink tinge to it, so I started with that.  These copper charms were made by Melinda Orr of ORRTEC.  I topped Melinda's copper with some speckled pink Czech glass from my stash.  The speckled effect helps tone a color down a bit.

Then I added some twisted wire jump rings and topped them off with matte purple lampwork glass beads from Paradise Beads.  I added a couple of loops of antiqued brass wire work to up the rustic look.  And for a final touch I added some hand dyed lace trim.  The dye is purposely spotty with patches of creamy white and hints of orange, mixed in with the pink.  It is not old lace, but it appears vintage.

So do you think I pulled this off?  Pink with out the cutesy, baby stuff?  What colors do you dislike?  Have you ever challenged yourself to use them despite your feelings?

These earrings are available here:  Pink Lace Earrings

 

Linda Landig

We're All Ears :: January Reveal

So... which colors did you choose to work with for this challenge?

I sort of left it wide open, but for me I always strive for a true challenge, so I stuck to the pink and blue from the Pantone colors of the year. 

I really couldn't see my way to combining the two colors. They still speak to me more of baby showers, Love's Baby Soft and every 80s prom, so I kept them separate. And then I let the auditioning begin.

I started by selecting a bunch of art beads from my stash. I wish I could tell you all the lovely artists who made each bead, but I am sorry that I just don't know. Blue is easy to find, but I was actually surprised that I had so much pink.

I tried different beads together with assorted headpins. I changed around the order of them. I added spacer beads, bead caps. And of course a few crystals. I have a few unwritten rules when it comes to making earrings. I like movement, so a dangle now and then is nice. I like mixing finishes, matte with shiny, rough with smooth. I almost always try to put an art bead or something else that is precious or has a story. And a little bit of bling to catch the light is always nice!

I was told by the Gallery Q that someone had come in looking at my earrings but was a bit like Goldilocks... this one was too long, this one too short... none of them were just right. So I have set out the restrain myself and make some earrings that are a bit on the average length (or what I think is average). I typically tend to make things longer because that is what I like, but I guess I should pay attention to what the public wants. I hope they want pink and blue! 

polymer clay :: Humblebeads
Rustic and earthy, with a movement and just a hint of sparkle

lampwork glass :: Kelly Wenzel
copper ear wires / headpins :: Rebecca Anderson
Soft and romantic with mix of faceted and smooth

lampwork glass :: Julsbeads
Mixed metals, rustic and organic

lampwork glass :: Maryse Fritzsch-Thillens
Movement and sparkle with interesting art beads

ceramic rounds :: ??
Simple, mixed textures and a little sparkle for the light

interesting shaped side drilled aquamarine gemstones
1940s Japanese lampwork glass, new old stock
Odd shapes and interesting textures

Hurry up spring and get here already! I am tired of the cold and ice and snow!

Now it is your turn... what colors in the Pantone spring palette inspired you? And let's all think WARM THOUGHTS!

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