Hearts & Flowers

I am not a hearts & flowers kind of girl.

Sure. I love to get flowers, and hearts are very sentimental, but I am not that girly.

If I have hearts at all they are going to be grungy and weathered, perhaps cracked and a bit odd.

When I saw these ceramic hearts from my friend LeAnn Weih of SummersStudioBeads, I just couldn't resist. They have a cute puff shape but the glaze is rusty with flecks of black. I pulled out some handmade copper ear wires from my friend Rebecca Anderson of The Curious Bead Shoppe. One of the things I love, but can't seem to master, is handmade earring wires. So I let an expert like Rebecca help me out! Lying on my table were are few of these sweet wood flowers. Would you believe that I bought some clearance stretchy bracelets with hideous plastic beads and multitudes of these wood daisy spacers just to get my hands on those flowers? I love them.

Want to know who else loves them?

Let me introduce you to my brand new earring model.

Say hello to Delia

If you want to know the story behind my new earring model, head on over to my blog in just a short bit for an explanation of who Delia is and how I came to know her!

Beach Stones

Winter always puts me in the mood for neutrals. These natural beach stone earrings make me think of a winter lakeshore, all pearl gray sky, steel gray water, and tawny dried grasses. Other elements are red creek jasper roundels, copper, sterling silver, and little pale champagne-colored seed beads on the earwires.

I picture them with the perfect winter outfit of soft neutrals:

beach stones by lunebijoux featuring long sleeve shirts

I will be listing an assortment of these beach stone earrings in my Etsy shop this weekend--stop by!

Bling Infusion

Red Magma Hammered Copper Earrings

Once upon a time, I considered the idea of blending sparkling crystal beads with rustic metals and/or stone beads. The concept has been percolating in my brain for all this time and now I have finally worked up the nerve to begin. I am hopeful that this will be the first piece in a collection of bling infused tribal jewelry. A new direction to be explored at a time when I can make my own metal components, and Swarovski elements have been available at discounts after the holidays.

Molten lava flowing over the dark ashen colored volcanic rock is a similar contrast to my hammered copper and crystal, so it is fitting that the color of the Swarovski columns I used in my earring design is called magma.

Gloria Ewing
Chrysalis Too on Etsy
Chrysalis Jewelry on Artfire

Cosmos

These earrings feature gorgeous lampwork beads by Bubby & McGurk Beads and my own hammered copper washers. I decided to name them Cosmos because they reminded me of a planet in orbit.

Image from thewayofbeauty.org

These earrings are available HERE and to see more of my designs, please check out my website.  

Also, Bubby & McGurk Beads is having a BEAD SALE on their Facebook page on Saturday. Check it out if you can!

Thank you and have a great weekend,

Kristy Abner

Kristy's Kreations

Lightbulb

These earrings were inspired by some of Cindy Wimmer's creations in her new book

The Missing Link.

As soon as I saw this link that she uses to make a chain I knew I wanted to alter it just a tiny bit so that I could dangle beads from them.

Lampwork beads by Outwest.

The Missing Link

These Earrings are available HERE on Artfire.

Kristi

KristiBowmanDesign.Etsy

KristiBowmanDesign on Artfire

Rustic Charm

Leprechaun Sand Dollars

I am a sucker for these itty bitty ceramic charms by Karen Totten. I was determined to find an earring design for them yesterday and after much thinking this is what happened. Sterling silver wire, dragon's blood jasper (the little green stones), delicate copper peanut chain from Chain Gallery (which I antiqued to a darker patina-I LOVE this chain), and robin's egg blue Indonesian glass beads from Happy Mango Beads (on the earwires). (As soon as I finished these I realized I needed more--LOTS more--of Karen's charms.)

For some reason these make me think of the northern east coast of the US, like a windy shoreline in Maine with lighthouses and everything. So I picture them with a pretty variation on a traditional fisherman's sweater and of course, a pea coat.

rustic charm by lunebijoux featuring a green shawl

You can see more at my Etsy shop HERE.

Chocolate Jimmies

My mother used to make the most wonderful cookies. We called them "Chocolate Shot Cookies." They were buttery with a slightly oaty texture rolled around the edges in chocolate shot, otherwise known as sprinkles or jimmies. 

{This picture - and the recipe! - can be found on the Tango Mango blog}

 My mother no longer bakes cookies like this. Truthfully, she likely wouldn't remember ever baking them anyway. She has early onset Alzheimer's and so a lot of the traditions that we built up over 67 years seem to have vanished into thin air. But I remember the way these cookies melted in my mouth and the smell of butter in the air. Perhaps I will see if I can take command her recipe box and resurrect some of these old standards.

I had these little ceramic snowflake charms from Lisa Boucher of ClayworksNH (who is having a SALE on all her holiday items including these sweet charms!) on my table for another project that I just shared on the Art Bead Scene. I thought these with the little flecks of brown looked just like those cookies. I wrapped some wire around the charms and strung on some chocolate colored peanut beads. Looks just like those chocolate jimmies my mother used on the Chocolate Shot Cookies. Takes me right back in time.

Wishing you and yours a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!