Flower Drop Earrings with Kyanite Gemstones

These little flower charms were created from fine silver wire. Hammered out and then stamped with the flower images. I love these Kyanite stones for their pale blue, kind of rustic color with that little bit of shimmer. A really pretty stone. I think this shade of blue can match with so many other colors too. Which makes it nice... The hammered head-pins are also fine silver. Originally little balls, I decided to hammer them out for a little added character. Ear wires are sterling silver, handcrafted.

These earrings, along with a matching necklace are available at Art and Soul Jewelry. 

Thanks for stopping by!
Cindy

Cedar Cove Spices it up with NatLJ

In one of my previous posts, I had mentioned that I sometimes submit jewelry designs to stylists of TV shows for consideration to be used on the series that they are working on...

Well, I'm very happy to say that Hallmark's Cedar Cove ended up adding some Nathalie Lesage Jewelry 'spice' to their episode which aired on August 23rd 2014 (View the episode here: Season 2, Episode 6, Trials and Tribulations)!!

The beautiful character, Grace as seen here, is wearing my Turquoise Spice Earrings:

I love mixed metals and the color turquoise, so these earrings had all my favorite things all wrapped up into one bundle :) Textured Copper, Sterling Silver and pretty glass drops in a lovely shade of turquoise.

You can see more pictures and details for these earrings HERE on my website :)

It's very exciting and fun to see my earrings (they used them for a good portion of the episode) in action on TV! It's a great TV show... if you're in Canada, you can catch it on the W Network, in the States, on the Hallmark Channel.

My hubby and I were away to be part of our oldest son's wedding (the wedding was on the Friday, Aug. 22nd), and I had very little Internet access where we were, and I found out they were used on the show, I was so thrilled! It made for a great weekend all around :)

Have a great week!

Nathalie Lesage

Metalsmith, Jewelry Artist

http://www.NatLJ.com

We're All Ears :: September Inspiration

Macro photography fascinates me. I love to see the up close and personal worlds that talented macro artists can capture. The inner workings of a flower... The secret life of bees... The unexpected textures of metal... Thankfully, with the advent of DSLR cameras and all the fun gadgets that you can buy, the world of macro photography is more accessible than ever.

I went looking for amazing macro nature shots and stumbled on a very gifted artist named Damon Clarke. His macro shots of the forest are what I wanted to share with you today, but given the fact that his work is copyrighted, I couldn't very well use them, even in good faith. But you really should check out his work at www.macrophotography.com.

Inspired by the beautiful worlds Clarke's Forest Collection, I remembered that a few years ago I took a macro photo safari of my own at Pfiffner Park on the banks of the Wisconsin River. That was to test out a set of macro filters (similar to these) for my DSLR camera. Unfortunately, my regular DSLR lens bit the dust when I decided to drop it on my studio floor (and it didn't bounce...imagine!), but I still have those macro filters and one day I will get another lens that will work with it. You just screw these filters onto the front of the lens and turn it into a macro. Of course, to replace, I did buy a more fancy macro lens, but I really loved being able to swap out the filters, and even layer them for enhanced detail. 

Now I mostly take pictures with my iPhone and I did purchase a set of Photojojo magnet snap lens, including a macro/wide angle (but it requires an extreme close up, so it is more suited to flowers and lichen than to jewelry). So this series of pictures made me pine for my damaged lens.

What I love about each of these pictures is the way they all feel like tiny worlds to me. As if I could just shrink down and fall into one to explore the terrain, like an ant scouting a location, charting a course for a brave new world. The one on the left makes me think of the banks of a wide river, like the Amazon, with its twists and turns and coursing currents. The one on the top right makes me think of aerial views of farmlands with crops planted. The one in the middle - my very favorite - feels so alien to me, as if these are dwelling places for some other interstellar race built on the top of a verdant mountain.

So, since there is a shift in the seasons upon us, I thought that these would be a fitting inspiration for September. I am really looking forward to seeing how this inspires your designs!

What inspires you about this world within a world?

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To participate in the We're All Ears creative challenge:

Make earrings inspired by this picture.

Write a post on your blog.

Add your exact blog post URL link to the
InLinkz code right here on 

Friday, September 19th.

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Fall Flutter

I know it isn't "officially" Autumn yet, but I couldn't resist sharing a pair of earrings I recently made after I received these gorgeous ceramic teardrop pieces from Grubbi Ceramics. They are just lovely and remind me of a crisp Autumn day (my favorite season!), so I was immediately inspired. 

I know that many people are wishing that Summer wasn't ending but I am just the opposite. I can't wait for days that look like this....

 (picture taken by me in Augusta KY)

These earrings just sold but you will find lots of other pieces on my website.

 Thanks for stopping by!

Kristy Abner

Kristy's Kreations

Change is a-Comin'

Let's face it, we all have a favorite season: 

...the quiet white introversion of winter...
...the unrestrained energetic rebirth of spring...
...the saturated free-wheelin' heat of summer...
...and then there's the spicy moody deliciousness of autumn...my favorite, the best.

Every time this year a little kernel of excitement starts to grow in me as I realize that fall is right around the corner. By the time the leaves have burst into flames and pumpkins are on every porch, I'm in full-blown heaven. And Halloween - oh, the mystery and the wickedness!

Lately I've subconsciously found myself gravitating to designs using the patron colors of autumn - burnt orange, rusty red, golden honey, warm brown, and faded sage green. It's as if even my design sense realizes that change is coming. 


One of nature's little miracles, Picasso jasper, happens to capture all of these hues perfectly in one stone. When I saw this pair, I knew that some angular primitive metalworked post earrings were in order. I bezel-set the stones in sterling silver and then soldered a few hammered bars on for a spray of movement. When worn just-so, the shape of these stones accentuates the ear perfectly. 

Get your sweaters ready as you walk through the crunchy sweet leaves, hear the din of late year cicadas and crickets, feel the nip of cool evenings on your nose, and warm yourself around a blazing bonfire with a mug of hot mulled cider.

Happy Wednesday :)
Nikki
LoveRoot on Etsy

Walking on Sunshine

Sunshine Earrings

It's one of those songs that gets stuck in my head, Walking on Sunshine by Katrina and the Waves, from 1983. I don't really want to like that song, but it won't go away and it's so upbeat that I can't help but feel better after I hear it. So now that we have to start saying goodbye to summer, it seems fitting to do a slightly schmaltzy summer theme as the inspiration for my earrings.

Yellow polymer clay focal beads in sunshine yellow from Beads by Earth Tones with Hubei turquoise in tubes and rondelles capture the colors of summer and the upbeat mood of the song. I use rustic copper flattened ball head pins and my own copper ear wires that I have wrapped with bronze wire and tiny copper tube spacer beads.

I dare you to listen to this youtube video just once and you will hear this song in your head for the entire day.




Gloria Ewing
Chrysalis Too on Etsy
Chrysalis Jewelry on Artfire

Wrap Me Up Earrings

Can't help but celebrate the first day of September with a little leafy inspiration. 

I paired enemal leaves and acorn tops from Gardanne Beads with buri nut beads, polymer clay disks from Humblebeads and a tiny bit of Wooly Wire as spacers.