Midnight Sky

I had fun making today's earrings. I've had the blue sparkly beads for many years, but never found the right thing to pair them with, till now.  The red and silver flower beads are a new acquisition and they were just what I needed.

 The midnight blue glass beads are from Vienna - known worldwide for it's long history of making outstanding glass. What appears as tiny white flecks in the photos, is actually a glittering, metallic material in the glass, called aventurine. Whether in daylight or candlelight, these Viennese glass beads shine and sparkle! 

Legend has it that aventurine glass was invented by accident when a Viennese glass artist spilled copper filings into a batch of molten glass. The glass that resulted from that happy mistake was named aventurine.  "A ventura" is Italian for by chance. The deep blue of the beads reminds me of the night sky, strewn with hundreds of twinkling stars.

The blue beads are topped by bright red flowers that are accented by a metallic, silver wash that adds to the shimmer from the Viennese glass. Silver metal spacers are nestled on both ends of the blue glass beads. The Night Sky Earrings are available in my shop.

Linda Landig Jewelry

Spring Flirt

I don't know about what's going on in your neck of the woods, but here, Mother Nature is messing with us these days! We've had warm weather (no snow/green grass) and then 10" of snow overnight that melted within a few days..... back to warm weather, and now we're back to snow!?!

When the weather starts to get warmer, and I start spotting little Spring flowers, I get that twinkle of Spring in my eye! We're a little bit behind this year. These little 'perce neige' (Galanthus nivalis) adorn the flower beds at the front of the house at my inlaws. This picture was taken last year (day for day) and this year, there's maybe around a dozen blooms (far less than last year), so we're running a tad behind.

Nonetheless, seeing just one of these in bloom, flirting with my senses, is enough to give me Spring Flower Fever :-) Enough so that I needed to see flowers RIGHT NOW.... so to satisfy my need (hey, we all got needs, right? LOL) I made a few sets of double-sided little Folk Art Spring Flowers in Polymer Clay, and used one pair (in dusty rose) to make these earrings that I call "Spring Flirt":

These very lightweight earrings are made using a pair of textured Sterling Silver oval hoops, on which I have wrapped a trio of sparkling glass seed beads on each side (yellow/pink/green) using Sterling Silver wire.

In the center at the top, I have some really cute (natural color) pink freshwater pearls dangling on a short piece of Sterling Silver chain, beautiful rose/pink Swarovski Crystals and lavender glass dagger beads.

I like to add an extra touch of color when I can with Anodized Aluminium jumprings - Today I used some "Lavender" colored jump rings (from The Ring Lord). I find their site a tad confusing, but they do carry some really nice colors there. With my daughter-in-law being allergic to metals, I like to offer/use hypoallergenic ear wires, and this time I used a pair of pretty Niobium Ear Wires (with a .999 Fine Silver accent bead) from one of my very favorite suppliers: Royal Metal on Etsy.

I listed these new earrings in my Etsy shop yesterday in getting ready to write this blog post, and they sold out within a few hours... ooops!! But if you'd like to make your own, I have a few pairs of these rustic folk art handmade flower drops (approx 12mm in size) left and I've listed them in My Garden Of Love Etsy shop:

Wishing you an early warm sunny Spring!
Thanks so much for stopping by!

Cheers,
Nathalie Lesage
My Garden Of Love on Etsy
The Crafty Tribe on Etsy

That Little Extra Touch

I wanted to share with you a little added touch I stumbled upon with some simple metal flower drops that can make a creation blossom. 

Below is a before and after- I wire wrapped seed beads up the stem in a flower pattern and added enamel charms at the bottom.  You can add more decor up top or leave them as is.

I went a little crazy once I figured out the technique, the other photos show examples of more designs.  The last pic is my absolute favorite because they are just down right funky♥

Thanks for heading over here, please share a few comments if you can, and we will see you again in two weeks, ♥

Lynn

My Etsy Shop- Yucca Bloom

Spring flower

I don’t know about you, but I not only have a large stash of beads but a large stash of bits and bobs as well. Let’s just say I have difficulty parting with stuff. You never know when you might need something.
So, what to do with ball chain leftovers? Making earrings of course.

There are endless possibilities. Give the ball chain a lovely patina, use a great variety of beads etc. 

 I was a bit stressed for time so I kept these earrings sweet and simple with beautiful handmade polymer clay tulip beads by Too Aquarius. I am ready for spring. 

Thanks for looking.

Janine

Esfera Jewelry

My etsy shop

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Spring Flowers!

I have been feeling spring inspired lately! I can't wait for my trees to start blooming in the backyard. I am so done with winter! I think my kids are there too, one of the refused to wear anything but shorts to school today! What can you do! 

 I fell in love with these flower beads and I hope you will too. I took the time to decorate the earwires to make them extra special.
You will be able to find these in my Etsy shop this morning. I have a lot of new pieces going in in the next couple days, so stop by often!

Marie 

Speaking of earrings and spring, you may want to check out my blog about an earring giveaway... Skye Jewels Blog