Short but not so sweet.

                                                              Happy 2018 everyone!

The trees have gone and the decorations are down for another year. As exciting as it is to put them up with Christmas to look forward to, I'm never sorry to take them down again, tidy up and get back to some semblance of normality!

I don't know what it is, but maybe the overabundance of décor has made me yearn for some simple, clean lines. I'm also conscious that my earrings can sometimes get too long and complex for some people, and there are occasions when even the most boho of us need a pair that's short but still stylish.

My earrings this week feature heavily oxidised silver shells by Helen Backhouse - for such small shells, they have an incredible amount of detail and a beautiful curve. To complement them, I raided my stash of  ocean jasper - one of my favourite stones, because it has so  many different shades in. The first pair has distinct pink and grey tones, the second green and honey. It's fun picking through.  And the gloss offsets the grungy shells nicely.

                              Add some killer earwires, and you have plenty of style in a small package.

Short, but not-so-sweet!

 

See you in two weeks

 

Lindsay

                                                                     My Etsy shop

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New year greetings

Hello peeps,

How are you all doing? I hope you had a wonderful festive season and started the New Year happy and with a smile.

Reading Jetta's post from yesterday I can only nod my head in total agreement. This week I received my order of gorgeous new beads from Petra from Scorched Earth on Etsy, but sadly wasn't able to make any new pair of earrings. So we have to do with a pair I made a while back (2014) with her wonderful charms, a variety of Czech glass beads and earring wires from Lucy Haslam of Faerystone.

Wishing you all a wonderful day, full of joy, laughter and singing birds.

See you next month.

Janine

A New Year

My creative juices are taking a break right now. I bet you have the same moments sometimes. The holidays were a blast of activity and buying new beads. I am going to rest and let my muse decide where she wants my inspiration to take me this year.

Thankfully I had created these bright and cheery earrings during the holidays after splurging on an order of cookie tin charms from Star Spirit Studios. I have always loved to mixed turquoise and cherry red together. I stacked blue Pacific Apatite chips on top of dark red Czech flowers. The delicate stems on the flowers are picked up in the black of Lucy Haslam's ear wires.

I have one other pair of earrings I created before the new year. And if I am still letting my Muse take a rest I will still be able to post in two weeks ;) Sometimes a rest is just what I need to reenergize my love of jewelry making.

I hope you have a fabulous day. And don't forget to stop and smell the roses...be patient when your creativity seems to be gone. It might just mean another stage of your personal style is trying to blossom.

Jetta



We're All Ears :: January Inspiration :: Color of the Year

Drum roll please.....The winner of the Emergency Earring Making Kit is.... 

Micheladas Musings

Please send me an email at enjoytheday@tesoritrovati.com with your address and I will send out a little goodie package just for you!

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In the history of the Pantone color forecasts, I can honestly say that this year is the first year that I totally agree with their choice. 

Purple.

Not just purple, but Ultra Violet.

There is something about a purple. It is royal and mystical. It is velvety and vibratory. It is cozy yet all-encompassing. It is connected to some of the best icons in my life, like Prince. There isn't a purple that I don't like, I honestly feel like I have hoarded all the purple beads in search of the perfect purple that is not too PURPLE or even PURple, but more like a purple. (Remember that commercial?)

So all hail to PURPLE!

According to the Pantone website: 

A dramatically provocative and thoughtful purple shade, PANTONE 18-3838 Ultra Violet communicates originality, ingenuity, and visionary thinking that points us toward the future.
I am more than ready to welcome in the idea of being thoughtful and dramatically provocative, combining creativity and intuition with an eye toward a more hopeful future. Because that is how my 2018 has started off....with a creative ultra violet bang! I have hit the ground running and I need the guidance of the mystical purple to light my way!

I fully embrace that this color, more so than the others of recent years, is really something that transcends all seasons. It is a color that works well throughout the year. And I quite like the color combos that the Pantone people have created for us and they also did these cool blended Color Harmonies within each palette. Here are a few of my favorites:

PURPLE HAZE
KINDRED SPIRITS
DRAMA QUEEN
INTRIGUE
DESERT SUNSET
So tell me, what is your favorite color combination with purple? Let's crack into our purple stashes and make an Ultra Violet explosion of earrings for the reveal on January 19th!

Criss-Cross Applesauce

I know, what does applesauce have to do with this?  Do you remember that saying from when you were a kid?? ... No, you say, I'm just ancient!... lol.  Well, maybe I should update it to "criss-cross awesomesauce"...that'd work, too,  lol!

 The pairs of earrings below have a couple things in common,  a wonderful cross-over wire pattern and cool bar-beads which lend to that tribal look I love so much.  

The amazing hand painted focal beads are by Nooma Cav of Inviciti. They are made of wood so they are super lightweight even though they are on the larger side.  I used painted round wood beads in green to draw that magnificent color back to the top.  The ceramic red bars are by Michelle McCarthy of FireflyStudio and she makes them in an array of colors.  

Stunning enamel pieces by Cathleen Zaring of Blue Hare; Polymer accent beads by Heather Powers of Humblebeads.  I adore the detail in Heather's beads, it brings so much to a design of a smaller scale like earrings.

It's freezing and kind of grey here in the mid-west, it was so nice to play with some bold colors!  

Thank you for stopping by!!

Loralee xo

Loralee Kolton ~ artful in beads

Shell Lantern Brass

Wishing everyone a very happy new year 2018.



Ingredients:
Lovely lucite beads in a milky very pale blue with gold/brass
Small firepolished facetted brass/bronze colored beads
All the other components are in brass

All my best,

Malin

Happy New Year!

So, another new year begins! As I type this, there are only a couple of hours left of 2017, and I am struck (as I always am on New Year's Eve) how quickly time passes, and another year is over. But there's definitely something quite appealing about new beginnings isn't there? A fresh start, an opportunity to do things differently. To be better, kinder, healthier etc etc. And only a few more months of Winter here before Spring starts to make an appearance.

And so I've been pondering on that theme -freshness, newness. I found these rather stunning ceramic leaf droppers by everyone's favourite ceramic artist Petra Carpreau. I love the varied shades of green in these, and the bronze accents

I wanted to pick up on the gorgeous colors in the glaze on these leaf droppers, so added some pretty green Greek ceramic spacers and layered them with some very lovely coppery textured jump rings from Smitten Beads.

A simple, rather rustic design to bring in the New Year, but I hope you like them. They'll be available in my next showcase over on The Jewellery Show on Facebook at the end of the month.

It just remains for me to wish you a very happy, healthy and creative 2018!

Sue x

Utterly Lovely Stuff