Bloom And Sparkle

I adore this time of year.  The rhododendrons are in their full glory.

Lilacs are filling the air with their intoxicating perfume.  I have a big bouquet of bright yellow day lilies on the fireplace mantle.  And pink tinged dogwoods fill me with joy. Everywhere you look right now is glorious.

With this bounty of blooms, I can't help but make flower themed jewelry. Today's earrings are brought to you by the colors magenta and green, with inspiration from the large camellia bushes in our back yard.

The shiny dark green leaves with the raspberry pink of the bloom got translated into these earrings.

Unfortunately I no longer remember the name of the artist who make the magenta and green lampwork flowers, but they were the launching point for these earrings.

I had some magenta beads that were a perfect match to the flowers.  I added some rhinestone discs and Czech glass bell flower accents to complete the design.

The Bloom and Sparkle earrings are available in my shop.

Linda Landig Jewelry

Caribbean Sunset

My husband and I will be celebrating our 45th anniversary this coming July and we've been discussing some ways we might celebrate.  Our favorite idea, at the moment, is a return trip to a very remote beach in Costa Rica, that we have visited twice before.  

This is our secret piece of tropical paradise!  We stay in a rustic, thatched roof cabin, swim, read in the hammocks and eat fresh fish and tropical fruits while listening to Caribbean music in an outdoor bar. Pura Vida!

So I was thinking about this getaway when I was designing these Caribbean Sunset Earrings.

The colors make me think of evenings in an open-air, beach-side bar.  Picture it:  The sun is going down and setting the sky ablaze!  Its warm, with a light breeze.  You've got a fruity adult beverage in your hand and these happy earrings dangle from your ears.  The colors reflect all the intense hues of the tropics: turquoise, blue, purple and orange. Lovely!

The small, orange lampwork glass beads are by Paradise Beads and the larger, multicolor lampwork beads are by Out West Designs. The earrings are available in my shop.

~~~~

Linda Landig Jewelry

Waiting...and Waiting...and Waiting for Spring

Why, oh why, does it seem to take forever for spring to arrive?  Is it the old "a watched pot never boils" syndrome?  Maybe it's just me.

I can't complain about the cold and snow, because I live in Sacramento, California, which has pretty nice weather, actually.  It has a Mediterranean climate, rainy in the winter (no snow), hot and dry in the summer, and spectacular in the spring.  Seriously, in the spring, virtually everything blooms here.  Having moved to Sac (as we say) from Colorado, I wasn't used to that.  Colorado has its own stunning beauty, but here everything grows fast, gets large, and blooms--all sorts of flowers, bushes, and even trees, from huge magnolia trees to ornamental trees that fill the skies with beautiful blooms of red, fuchsia, baby pink, or purple.

And spring comes early here.  Our first flowers usually start peeking out of their beds in mid-February, maybe a crocus or a dwarf iris.  The warm weather usually follows along gradually, getting a little warmer each week.  This year, however, California had heavy rains caused by "atmospheric rivers" that parked themselves over the state, causing floods and mudslides.  We were happy to have the rain because California was in a five-year drought, but these heavy rains caused real problems.  The cold, heavy rain lasted for almost two months, with only a few short breaks of blue skies and sunshine here and there.  We were starting to really feel the lack of sun!

Anyway, since it's been such a cold, wet winter, I decided to make these golden-sun, grass-green, and blue-sky earrings using Cathleen Zaring's beautiful enameled copper earring charms and a pair of lovely green

These "Bringer of Spring" earrings are available here.

lampwork discs by Terry Turner.  It's only recently started to warm up here, and I'm really feeling the quiet arrival of spring, with its fresh energy.

Who knows--maybe my earrings will help move things along a bit.  After all, the Spring Equinox is only about ten days away!  ;)

As always, thanks so much for reading!  I'll see you in two weeks. 💙

xoxo
Meridy

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Simple As Black And White

I'm usually the kind of person who sees so many sides of any issue that making a decision can become challenging.  But sometimes things really are as simple as black and white.  Okra or ice cream?  Handmade or mass produced?  Birthday party or a dentist appointment?  No shades of gray there.  These choices are as simple as black and white.

 I recently met with seed beader extraordinaire, Lindsay Starr, when she was visiting her in-laws here, in Washington state, (see her post about this here).  We met at Shipwreck Beads, which is close to my house.  While there, both Lindsay and I bought strands of of these really cool, wavy, black and white beads. Today, when I saw her blog post about our visit, I remembered those beads and decided to see what I could do with them.

I used some black Artistic Wire to connect the black and white beads to some lampwork flower shapes.  I topped them with some faceted onyx beads, then I wrapped the wire back down across the onyx and over the face of the black and white beads.

I like how the black wire wrap creates a diagonal line across the center of the earrings. And now that I've sat with these earrings a bit, I am thinking that I should oxidize those Sterling silver ear wires. I'll add that to tomorrow's To-Do list.

Shall I wear these earrings now?  The answer to that question is as simple as black and white.
The Simple As Black And White earrings are available on my website.

Linda Landig Jewelry

Getting Ready for a Show

This coming Saturday, July 30th, 2016 I'll be at my first local show of the year.

I've been trying to make a variety of new earrings from a fairly low price point up to my normal higher price point.

Making some more simple earrings with a minimal combination if Artisan components and building them up with slightly more and slightly more so hopefully I have something for everybody.

I'm even putting earwires straight on to some of my Copper Components for rock bottom choices.

Simple Wire Wrapped Textured Copper Hoops,

 I used Steel and Copper Twisted wire to give it a little added interest.

Some of my Painted Discs with Copper Wire wrapping.

Red Turquoise and Faceted Turquoise discs.

Painted Flower Ovals with tiny little matching Lampwork Beads.

Painted Copper by me, tiny Lampwork beads by Carla Graber.

More Painted Flower ovals with slightly larger Lampwork Beads.

Painted Copper by me, Lampwork Beads by Lara Lutrick

Lampwork Discs and Lampwork Headpins!

Headpins by Karin Hruza, Discs by Lea Avroch

Cool Green Kyanite rectangles and Lampwork Beads

Lampwork Beads, cool chunky Rounded Lapis triangles on the bottom and gorgeous blue Freshwater Pearls stacked on top!

Lampwork Headpins and perfectly matched Lampwork Beads.

Headpins by Janell Nelson, Beads by Lara Lutrick

So here's my shameless plug,

If you're in the area (Fair Harbour Marina, WA) please stop by,

I'm in booth #12 in the Upper Grass area.

I'll have lots more earrings to show you!

Click on the picture above for more information!

Kristi

KristiBowmanDesign.com

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Bead Fest Energy

I just returned from Bead Fest in Philadelphia and I'm experiencing that strange combination of exhaustion and creative buzz that always follows my return home.  Today's earrings feature some of my new Bead Fest treasures.

The ceramic flowers were made by Diana Ptaszynski of Suburban Girl Studio.  Although Diana wasn't vending at Bead Fest this year, I stayed with her for a few days and picked up these pretty charms from her at that time.

I bought quite a few wood beads at Bead Fest this year.  They came in such yummy colors that I just couldn't resist.  The nice thing about these beads is that although the cubes are somewhat on the large side, they are so lightweight that they are totally comfortable to wear.

The flowers remind me of our dahlias that are blooming in profusion right now.  You can hang onto summer through early October with these earrings and with late blooming dahlias.  Enjoy!  The Dahlia Earrings are available in my shop.

-Linda

Linda Landig Jewelry

River Walk Earrings

Yesterday I took a lovely walk along the Deschutes River, in Tumwater, WA.

I was inspired by the intense green of the lush growth along the riverside. Even the river looked green.  I was also struck by the fact that despite the many shades of green, most of it was some variation of blue-green. 

This tree received a constant fine mist from the nearby water fall.  It was an ideal environment for lichen growth.  I love the crusty texture and the browns and greens of the bark and the lichen.

 

I spent nearly 2 hours wandering around and photographing everything.  When I returned home, I was anxious to express my impressions through some jewelry designs.

I chose some of my own polymer clay charms on which I have layered many shades of blue-green, with small hints of other colors.  I added patina'ed copper discs to pick up the colors of the tree bark and I wrapped them all together with patina'ed copper wire. 

 Tumwater Falls

Linda

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Heart Earrings

Hello!  Let me introduce myself.  I'm Linda Landig.  I'm a longtime follower of this blog and the newest addition to the Earrings Everyday team.

True Love Earrings

 Lately I have been dabbling in Polymer Clay and since Valentine's Day is nearly here, I thought I would make a pair of heart earrings.  I textured the polymer clay with a rubber stamp and colored the hearts with layers of chalks and Prisma colored art pencils.

Since February's birthstone is amethyst, I decided to dangle a faceted amethyst on each heart and then I included another amethyst on each of the ear wires.

True Love Earrings

These earrings would look delicious with this outfit and a dark, unstructured jacket.

source: the Loft

 To see these earrings, a coordinating necklace and more, please visit Linda Landig Jewelry.
Till next time!
-Linda

A Touch of Old World Charm

I was lucky enough to spend some time with our beloved Heather Powers at her home in Michigan. What a fantastic time we had. Getting to meet her, her family and a few special beady friends was one of the greatest times of my life!! I was lucky enough to learn some amazing things while I was there, including the technique that made these leaves look like old world artifacts that were dug up out of the ground.

 I can't wait to get my hands on the products I need to make more of these! How fantastic and fun! Looking forward to many more creations with my little collection of Old World artifacts ;)

You can find these in my Etsy shop!!

Marie

Weeping Willow Earrings in Steampunk!

This month is a very special month for me. I am the Bead Partner for Vintaj Natural Brass. I have been using Vintaj since almost the very beginning of my Jewelry making career and I LOVE their products! It was an honour to be invited to participate in this program. I think the pieces that the Vintaj team have created are astounding and Gorgeous! I have created a few pieces myself, to help inspire you on how to use my wood tiles. But that is for my Skye Jewels blog, so follow me there to see more.

 I created these Asymmetrical earrings using these fun tiles from my Weeping Willow collection. I will make more and add them to my Supply shop for those of you who create your own jewelry. For those of you who don't or just really LOVE to buy earrings, you will find these in my Jewelry Shop!

I hope you are curious about what the Weeping Willow challenge is all about and will take a minute to visit the Vintaj Blog to learn more about it.

Thanks for visiting 

Marie