If The Moon Were Made Of Cheese

So, I love destashes and usually check them out when I can on Facebook. For me, it's a great opportunity to pick up artisan beads that people bought years ago but never found a use for.  It's especially exciting when I find some from a retired bead maker or sometimes it's a series that an artist is no longer doing. 

That's how these earrings came to be! The porcelain beads on top were made by Mellisa Gabelle of The Clay Hen and I found them in a destash!  I really didn't have a vision for them right away, but I have a weakness for pale yellow and these had a matte finish (another weakness of mine) with a cool metallic shiny center.  I love the unusual and with the added holes all over, they are just that!  

My immediate random thoughts about these beads were:  Swiss Cheese; Moon; Wallace, of Wallace and Gromit saying - "Gromit, that's it! Cheese! We'll go somewhere where there's cheese!" 

Yes, folks - this is my creative process  -  haha!!

So who else loves cheese?  Kitties do, that's who!  The lovely faux tin charms are by Helena Benkoczka. I combined these two components together not only for their whimsy but also because I loved the proportions of the two shapes together as well as the colors.

My little cheesy moon story was starting to develop!  By luck, in my crazy stash, I had some great
steely matte vintage stars which pulled the colors from not only the grey kitty but, the moon centers as well.

Wallace would remind you:  "Don't forget the crackers!"

A little tip:  On Facebook, just type destash in the search bar and it should pull up some nice destash groups for you!  If you have a hard time finding some I'd be happy to share some; just drop me a note.

Thank you for stopping by my work table today, hope you found a little inspiration!!

Loralee XO

www.loraleekolton.etsy.com

In the night sky

Hello!
So the nights are drawing in, and what better way to mark this than with some celestial beauties by the goddess that is Petra Carpreau of Scorched Earth!

Petra sometimes includes beautiful little porcelain stars and moons in her updates, and I always look forward to stocking up on these when they appear. These beautiful little stars with aqua glazed porcelain are just gorgeous! I matched them with my current favourite African spacers, punctuated by teeny tiny turquoise seeds. I finished these with another silver spacer and sterling earwires. I wanted them to be quite long and stacked. Simple, but striking.

This second pair had little crescent moons as well as  stars. I used the same components as with the first pair, but went for a different design. Oxidised brass geometric hoops  provide a frame for these stellar beauties. I may be keeping them for myself...or there'll be making an appearance at my next showcase over on the Jewellery Show in Facebook Land at the end of the month. You can message me if you'd like them :-) 

See you next month! x

Sue

Glowing In The Night

Striking polymer headpins with an amazing crackle and glowing finish by Kimberly Rogers of
Numinosity Beads.  

The design challenge for me was, that the headpins are very bold and I wanted accent beads that were just as bold but didn't compete with each other.  I had these lovely matte black vintage lucite accent beads with brilliant gold stars and thought they'd be perfect mates.  They work well because they are predominantly black.  Also, having one component with a matte finish and the other with shine is a nice contrast and gives more definition.

The headpins are substantial in size but being polymer also, super lightweight!  Lucite is also very light so they make a nice statement earring without losing any comfort.

I love that the stars are carved and not just printed images.  I also added a little rhinestone spacer for a little extra sparkle.

Kimberly's headpins and beads are a favorite of mine; I'm a huge fan of her work!

Luna and I thank you for stopping by and will be back in a couple of weeks

 ~ Loralee xo

Loralee Kolton ~ Artful Jewelry in Beads

Stars!

It's all about stars this time. 

I made the wire wrapped hoops for my components show but decided to keep them for me to use in my own jewellery (as you do sometimes).  I added cubic zirconia crown caps (absolutely love this stuff!) and a couple of clear glass flowers on top. I don't think they needed anything else. 

I loved making the first pair so much I went ahead and made a couple more.

This time in my favourite red and turquoise with raw brass crown caps

And a third pair in everyone's favourite colour purple.

I finished off by making this statementastic pair with enamel stars by Bea Stoertz, daisy flowers by Elise Canning and my wrapped rings.

Another short and sweet post for you.  Hope you like them.  The 4th pair has sold but the rest are available in the Earrings Show group. 

See you again in a few weeks time.

Suhana xxx

My Etsy shop: Buttoned Up Beads

Northern Lights Sky

Northern Lights Earrings

Northern Lights Earrings. 

Fused, fine silver hoops with chunky Aquamarine stones

& Handmade ceramic beads by 

Cindy's Art & Soul

 

Northern Lights

earrings and matching necklace are

available at Art & Soul Jewelry

Red, White and Blue

Happy Independence Day!

Perfect for today's barbecue, or any other summer day for a patriotic girl!  

Carved red coral flowers, my torch-fired brass stars, and little, faceted lapis briolettes, all wired together with copper wire and finished with sterling earwires that have been embellished with just another little pop of blue glass!

Flag on my back deck a couple years back!

Star on my backyard fence!

Melissa Meman
Melismatic Art Jewelry
Art. Life. Love.

Tassels

Star Tassel

One of the popular trends these days is tassels in jewelry design. The possibilities are endless with beaded tassels, chain tassels, fiber and ribbon tassels. So I decided to create my own tassel design using some colorful waxed linen cording! They can be a stand alone feature of earrings or dangle from beads, and in this case, I thought the brightly colored tassels look great with these Star horn beads.  You can find these earrings for sale in my new webstore.

Starry Skies

Without a lot of time to work lately I decided to show you something that I made about a month ago. Fun Polymer Clay stars with loads of dangles! Surprisingly light for their size!

 For my American Friends the 4th of July will be here before you know it so why not celebrate in style!

You can find these and many other designs in My Etsy Shop!!

Marie