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Friday, December 30, 2016

Winged Things

Some of you know I am a Bird Enthusiast and I also love Butterflies, Bees and Bats and any other Winged Things. Truth be told, I am a fan of Nature in general.

I've been wanting to create painted wings for some time and I finally found the right ones that would allow me to paint them and I've also recently been playing with Ice Resin. So the 2 have come together beautifully in these Blue Wing Earrings. I hope you agree!


These earrings available to purchase HERE


I'm making them in lots of different color combinations and they will be available in my next online trunk show. I hope you can join me HERE on Jan 6th. There will be lots of wings and much much more!


And I'll be giving away this Wing Pendant!


In the last few days, Lynn and Norbel have given you retrospectives of the past year. I've so enjoyed seeing all of their beautiful earrings and we will miss Lynn who has a very exciting 2017 coming up and we will miss her but we are so happy for her! But I decided to to look ahead at what's coming in the near future for me. I've had a rough few years and I'm dealing with a rather serious health issue at the moment. I think being able to stay creative has saved my sanity many times over. Rather than look back I definitely wanted and needed to look ahead at what's coming. I'm looking forward to getting past all of these lingering issues and being the healthiest I've been in many years in the new year.

Here's wishing everyone out there a wonderful and Creative New Year!! May your days be filled with Health and Happiness in 2017 and Beyond!! We are so very excited to have 2 new lovely ladies joining us here on Earrings Everyday. Thank you all for being with us along the way!!!


Kristi

Thursday, December 29, 2016

Scorched Earth, Inviciti, Numinosity & More!

Hello! I do hope everyone has had a joyful Christmas and is looking forward to a fresh, new year. It always seems to be a time of hope, regardless of what recent times have been like. There's no real reason to expect new and different, but to me a "fresh start" nonetheless increases the sense of change is in the air.

I have had a rough couple/few months. And the little girl of a muse that usually accompanies me seems to have vanished right before my eyes. I don't know what to think about that! :) But it has me bogged down in many ways, or rather, I suppose she's gone because I am bogged down in many ways. Onward and upward!

There are always one to three days at the end of the month that aren't covered with our regular twice a month schedule. That is when our visiting artists come in to share their beautiful creations. This month Kristi and I are picking up the two extra days at the last minute. Not having anything prepared, I decided to do what Lynn did yesterday and share with you some of my personal favorites from the last couple of months, and maybe a couple have been used as part of a post? Not sure! lol These have sold, but I believe some could possibly be available for custom orders.

BTW, you'll notice a new Artist Contributor appearing at the end of the column!! There are actually two; we don't have a design picture yet for the second. I'll wait and let you be surprised by who it might be. I, for one, cannot wait to have them both share their amazing work with all of us. They will be starting the second week of January! :)

Please note that the captions under the photos are links to the shops whose pieces were used in the designs.
NuminosityBeads
NomvulaCrafts
TheFickleBead





NuminosityBeads
EclecticPrairie
DyedBoneBead

DyedBoneBead
NuminosityBeads
HappyFishThings
DyedBoneBead
NuminosityBeads
DyedBoneBead

Inviciti
CrowsCache


ScorchedEarthOnEtsy
ScorchedEarthOnEtsy

My wishes are for all of you and all of your families and friends to experience a New Year filled with love, laughter, joy, and above all, peace of mind. I am honored to be able to share my work with you. Thank you!
norbel
SheFliesAgain

Wednesday, December 28, 2016

It Has Been A Pleasure

I believe I've been posting here a little over a year now and I can't tell you how much fun it's been to share designs, bead-makers and techniques.  So much talent in this ever evolving medium.  It's what takes us full circle to support the component makers and push us to be all we can in our own designs. 

Next year brings me many personal changes, all good and exciting stuff so no need to worry, ☺
however, contributing to the blog is going to have to take a back seat.  I have enjoyed being here immensely and the blog members are a group of outstanding ladies that I admire and adore and was so proud when they asked me to join.  

I present this last post as my all time monthly favorites of 2016.  I hope you enjoy them as much as I did making them, may your inspiration soar high in 2017!!!!!!!!!!!
                                                           
             





January
lamp-work by Pati Walton















February
lamp-work by Janell Nelson














March
lamp-work by Dry Gulch









April






                                                         May
lamp-work by Lori Lochner










June
Enamels by Marie Demicco












July
Enamels by Marlene Quigley















August
lamp-work by Leese Mahoney






















September
Enamels by Cathleen Zaring

















October
Ceramics by Mari Carmen Rodriguez Martinez





















November
My own design ☺


















December
Ceramics by Jill Stoffregen














Can you tell I love lamp-work, enamels & ceramics, ♥  Love and Light- Lynn Ferro

Tuesday, December 27, 2016

First And Last

I'm drafting this post on 21st December - some days before it's due to be posted. It's one of the last work-related things I have to do before shutting down for 'the holidays'. And boy, do I ever need to shut down...

But it's also a first. I'm taking up contributing regularly again. Well, fairly regularly: I'm taking on one of Cindy's days, so I'll be posting once a month. 


It's nearly a year since I stopped doing a regular post. I needed more time to focus on developing my silver work. Today I'm sharing some simple pairs made with my ceramic drops and silver post components. (I'm sure there must be a more elegant term...)


I made a number of these recently and most have sold. However, there are a few pairs left available in my shop


Wishing you Happy Holidays and a whole heap of the best of things in 2017, 
Claire


Monday, December 26, 2016

Something blue


Hello lovely friends. I hope you are all enjoying Christmas with family and friends and that you are having a wonderful time. In the Netherlands Christmas is celebrated on December 25 and 26.  Here in Greece Christmas is celebrated on December 25, so only one day. Do you celebrate a second Christmas Day?

 As you might have noticed I haven’t been around since the beginning of November. I like to thank my wonderful friends and colleagues from Earrings Everyday for their support and taking the time to step in for me. My mom passed away November 4 and I still have to come to terms with that loss.


At the moment my beads are not “talking” to me so I hope you don’t mind me sharing a pair of earrings I made a while back. I am a huge fan of the beautiful enamel charms made by Cathleen Zaring from Blue Hare Art Wear. Here I paired them with lampwork glass beads from Desert Bug Designs, Czech glass and copper findings.




Thank you all so much for supporting me and my bead friends here on Earrings Everyday and I wish you all a joyful New Year’s Eve and a happy, healthy 2017 full of sunshine, joy, peace, success, laughter and beautiful earrings of course.
Thanks for looking!
 Janine
Esfera Jewelry

Friday, December 23, 2016

Holiday Sparkle


This is my last post this year so I thought I'd jazz it up a bit with some bling 💖💖💖. 

First up I have these featuring enamelled charms by Kaz Baildon.  I wanted to attach these rather large rhinestones to the charms but wasn't quite sure it would work because of the size and fear of damaging the enamel with the more robust wire wrapping needed in this case.  As you can see from the picture (below) it worked 😄. 


This pair was easier with much smaller rhinestones.  Ceramic drops by Petra Carpreau


These last 2 pairs are simplified versions of one of my signature designs.  Ceramic drops by Petra Carpreau.




That is it for this year.  Hope you all have a lovely Christmas and a Happy New Year. I shall see you next year armed with lots more designs no doubt 💖💖💖

Suhana <3





Thursday, December 22, 2016

Girls just wanna have fun!

Making stuff is how I have the best fun! I feel very fortunate to have been able to share my fun with you for the last year! Thank you. Merry Christmas to you and yours, and my wishes to everyone for all good things in 2017.

Having been very inspired by Cindy Pack and her work with silver, I planned on making something with silver for this post but it didn't turn into anything "fun." :) So I switched tracks and decided that I would challenge myself somehow. Flexibility. After a few hours of pondering, I decided the challenge would be to work with Pearls. I've only used pearls twice, I believe. A friend, whose name seems to pop up in my posts often ☺, Susan Delaney, gifted me with four beautiful pairs of pearls, and I had a little stash of beautiful, small Keshi pearls from Debbie at TheFickleBead.

This post could be a veeeeeeeeeeryyyyyyyyyy long post with what went on during the time I worked to make these three pairs of earrings, but I won't; it'll be long enough as it is. ;) As an aside, I laughed out loud and read it to my husband while reading Erin's post last Friday. In no way was I laughing AT HER! She said she made 23 pairs of earrings in 2 hours! I was stunned! In awe! And jealous! lol Now, I am not exaggerating when I say that it takes me 23 hours to make 2 pairs of earrings. I truly am in awe, Erin! :)

The first pair is made with connectors that I purchased from Petra Carpreau of ScorchedEarthOnEtsy in the very FIRST order I placed with her on April 14 of 2013! I just haven't been able to give them up. :)


When I pulled out the pairs of pearls I received from Susan, I picked these first. It's likely difficult to see but they have a lovely texture and a very pretty white color. Oddly enough, I thought of these ceramic pieces almost immediately. And I love how they turned out. They are black stoneware finished with Bronze Gilders Paste. I added brass rings, the beautiful pearls, glass beads and brass at the bottom, with extremely oxidized copper wire.

The second pair also includes Petra's ceramics. I am not a fan of Picasso's work. But I loved it in this medium, and was thrilled to be able to get them. They're paired with wonderful rustic sticks of Rust and Blue Kyanite, purchased from Kimberly Rogers/NuminosityBeads, and another pair of pearls from Susan. These are smooth, glossy, round white pearls.

One of the difficulties I had throughout this project was that the teeny, tiny holes in the pearls require thin wire, 24-gauge. The lower connection was wrapped with 22- gauge on top of the 24. They sell large-holed pearls but these are not those, and they are much too beautiful to ignore.

The last pair was made with the Keshi pearls. An 18-gauge loop wrapped with 24-gauge. A separate piece of 24-gauge was used for the pearls, the
This pic depicts the purple beads
more accurately than the other
ends wrapped around the loop, wrapped a bit at the top of the dangle for stability. The pearls are thin, beautiful, peacock Keshi pearls, a lovely gray with metallic colors. The purple polymer clay beads were made by Jon Burgess of JBDRusticOrganic
and the accent beads are black, blue and green Vulcanite beads handmade in Nigeria.

   I do hope you had a bit of fun here with me today. I look forward to making the earrings and writing the post and simply being a part of this great group. When I say the "group," I mean all of you who enjoy taking a look at what we have going on. I am so grateful to all of you.

Once again, Merry, Merry Christmas
to you and yours, and all the best this life has to offer in 2017!

See ya next year!
Norbel Marolla
She Flies Again

Wednesday, December 21, 2016

Feet of Clay

As we close the curtains on one hell of a year, I'm reminded on how very important it is to be humble. When everything is going right in your life and you can do no wrong, well, that's an amazing feeling and a great place to be. But it's also an easy place to be. It's the trying times, the dark times, the times when you're weighed down by a 2-ton pile of boulders---those are the times that shape us and show us who we are. And motivate us to work harder on who we would like to be in the future.
 
Staying humble---remembering that we are all human, finite, imperfect...that we all have feet of clay---is an essential component to emotional and mental health, and ultimately, happiness. 

Today's earrings seem to have resonated with quite a few people, so I'd like to share them with you, dear readers. You know how much I love to discover old, obscure bits of anthropology. One of my latest finds are pumtek beads. Dating back as far as 400BC, the Chin people in Burma created pumtek beads from opalized wood indigenous to the area. They were worn as protective amulets, prized as heirlooms, and are signature for their striped and zig zag "lightening" patterns. Incredible.

I have used two of these precious pumtek beads to create little bud earrings using graduated stacks of rusty bead caps topped with dots of blackened silver solder. Time-worn, humble, and of-the-earth.


Thank you to each and every one of you for reading this year. Your support, uplifting words, and kinship are rays of sunshine to each of us on this blog. May your 2017 be full of light!

Happy Wednesday,
Nikki
LoveRoot on Etsy

Tuesday, December 20, 2016

Bronze Age Spikes


These Bronze Coated Crystal Points are so gorgeous, they didn't need much to make them in to a beautiful pair of Earrings.


Just some roughly wrapped copper hoops and they are done and Fabulous!!!!

These earrings are available for purchase HERE!


Kristi

Monday, December 19, 2016

Merry Christmas

This year I have been unusually late with the setting up of christmas decorations. I normally start a lot earlier. I love the christmas athmosphere. But only yesterday I got my tree up. Later today my kids and I will start to decorate it. And to set up all the other decorations in our house.  So the spirit has finally entered our house. :-)

As I write this blog post I am listening to my own Spotify list of all the best christmas music ever. And I am so happy with my christmassy earrings that I made, and I will wear them all the coming days.


Art beads:
Matte blue ceramic bells  - NadiaTerra
Red patinated chain - MissFickleMedia

Other components:
Handmade earring hooks in oxidized brass
Messy wrapped oxidized copper wire
Black seed beads (inside the bells)



BTW, here in Sweden the big day is on the 24th instead of on the 25th. 

Wishing everyone a 
Very Merry Christmas,
Malin
(I am way behind on updating my Etsy shop. Please let me know if you are interested in any of my jewelry that isn't listed there.)



Thursday, December 15, 2016

We're All Ears :: December Reveal :: Use Your Leftovers Challenge


Welcome to the 2nd Annual Use Your Leftovers Challenge!

I don't know about you, but when I get to this time of year, I can barely move in my studio space it is so crammed with stuff. My space is so very unproductive, so I tend to neglect it. But I am still a working artist and I have deadlines and custom orders, so I have to gingerly tiptoe around the piles. Right now my studio looks like I am auditioning for Hoarders :: Artist's Edition.

Unfortunately, my craftermath picture from this year looks a lot like the one from last year.



So the challenge was this...
Pull out some beads and components in a tray or bin or muffin tin or whatever works for you.
Put on some music or use a timer like I did and CREATE!
Take some pictures and show us what you did.



I have to admit that I didn't pull the beads out. I just decided that I had to use whatever was within reach on my table. I have an unbelievable addiction to Humblebeads. Clearly, this is a sickness that I don't want the cure for! Those who know me recall that I have a teal footed compote bowl on my table where Heather's beads reside. Well, this fall when I was teaching some classes (which I would dearly love to do more of, but in my own home....) I wanted to give my students a Humblebead of their own. So I pulled out every disc bead that I could find. I put them in this carved wood leaf bowl. And, boy! Do I have a lot!

Most of the earrings that I made include treasures from my Humblebeads stashes. Not that I don't love all the other art beads that I have lying around, just that those are the most plentiful and closest to reach.

I put on some classic Christmas music and set my timer for 10:00pm. I was surprised that I was able to make a something like 23 pairs of earrings in 2 hours! I even made a couple of different collections. If you spot something you are interested in, it is ready to ship...just send me an email or PM on Facebook to let me know which ones you like. All are between $20-30. Great stocking stuffers!

Now it is your turn! I always love this challenge for how very inspired you can get when you limit your time and your resources. And after this you have a whole bunch of earrings ready for your holiday gifting needs! Win-win!

Forgot to mention...I am giving away a prize package of an Emergency Earring Making Kit ($40 value) for anyone that plays along. Winner will be chosen on Christmas Eve! I think some Humblebeads will be included from my overflowing stash! Ho, Ho, Ho! *<]:-}}}}


See you in the new year with a new challenge!