Super Star Earrings

At last years Academy Awards, Angelina Jolie wore these incredible emerald earrings by Lorraine Schwartz. They were breathtaking and caused a lot of buzz on the red carpet. They are worth $2.5 million!

These are my "Angelina Earrings". I used a emerald green swarovski rivolis for the top section and a green agate teardrop for the bottom. The earrings are bead embroidered with dark green and silver seed beads. The earrings are backed in black ultrasuede.

These are statement making earrings and would be perfect for any red carpet event or maybe this year's office Christmas party. You can check out more pictures at the Etsy shop here.

Black, Gold, and Penguins

I purchased a handful of these black Swarovski crystal rivolis a couple of months ago. I originally thought they would find themselves in a neckpiece. However, when I finished the "Joie de Vivre" cuff, I decided to the dig out the rivolis. I've been holding onto these gold daggers waiting for the right pair of earrings to incorporate them. I'm usually so sick of a color combination after I've finished a piece, especially if it is a cuff or neckpiece. I think I was influenced by the fact that Pittsburgh Penguins kick off their season tonight. Something that we are looking forward to here at our house. There's been a lot of coverage of the team this week because they will be raising the banner representing their Stanley Cup win last year.

Black and gold are sacred in this town and you can never go wrong with black and gold.

Good luck Penguins!

New Turquoise Pendant

I've given myself a personal challenge this week. I'd like to post a new item to my etsy store every day this week. I've been steadily working on pieces for the last few weeks and really need to get them photographed and posted. I only have a few more weeks before my kids head back to school. The first week or two is really crazy. Making sure everyone has what they need and getting back on schedule is really difficult. I wanted to make an effort to pay attention to my shop while I can.

So here's the first piece...

One of my favorite color combinations is turquoise and brown. With that in mind, this pendant came together without much effort. The pendant is actually three separate sections connected by Swarovski crystals in between. The top section is made from a turquoise bead. I surrounded it with seed beads and then added the Capri Blue Swarovski crystals for detail and texture. The center section is a Mocha Swarovski rivoli this is surrounded by seed beads and turquoise colored glass beads. A coin pearl embroidered with seed beads makes up the bottom section. The pendant hands from gold neck wire, but would also look great on a piece of leather.

If you'd like to see more pictures you can check them out here.

Have you given yourself a challenge this week?

To Fringe or Not to Fringe?

Last weekend was rainy and rather cold for mid July in Western Pennsylvania. With that in mind, I created this one-of-a-kind art pendant. The piece was inspired by large raindrops. You know the kind that are huge and make a huge splat against your wind shield. 

Although I am really happy with how it turned out, I can't decide whether or not I should add fringe to the bottom. To fringe or not to fringe, is the question. So what do you think?

New Pierced Earrings

I finished these earrings the other night. I was working on them for the Thursday Sweet Treat theme "Whirling Colors in Mid Flight". Unfortunately, due to an extremely crazy week I never got them submitted in time. 

I've used the teardrop beads before, but this time I turned them upside down. This provided a whole new design direction. These are bead embroidered pierced earrings. The gray teardrop shell bead is surrounded by seed beads in cream, gold, and purple. The earrings are also embellished with purple jasper beads and Swarovski crystals. Shell fringe hangs from the bottom. The pierced earrings are backed in black ultrasuede. The posts are sterling silver plated.  

If you'd like to see what other people submitted for the "Whirling Colors in Mid Flight", you can check them out on the Thursday Sweet Treat blog.

Then Suddenly It Came to Life

A few months ago, I was reading the Etsy forums and I came across a delightful post. Another Etsy seller (Natasha) was starting this blog project called "Thursday Sweet Treat". The basic plan was that each Friday she would post a theme and then on the following Thursday she would post what artists created based on that theme. I followed for a few weeks and finally decided to participate. Since then I've submitted many pieces and have really enjoyed see how other artists interpreted the weekly theme. In addition, Natasha has shared interviews with other artists, support, and inspiration. 

So... this weeks theme was "Then Suddenly It Came to Life". She asked us to take our favorite childhood book to life with one of our creations. I chose the book "Magic Friend Maker" by Gladys Baker Bond. The story begins with a lonely girl in a city neighborhood who longs for a friend. She finds a friend after sharing a special stone she's found. The girls share many fun times together, often playing with the rock, the "magic friend maker". When the owner of the rock must move, she shares the rock with her friend so that the magic can work all over again with a new friend.

In the story, the girls discover that the rock changes color when they put it under water. The piece of abalone I used for the centerpiece of the cuff reminded me of that stone. I created the cuff around the abalone's colors and the colors from the picture on the front of the book. The one little girl wore a green dress and the other a purple one. The bead embroidered cuff is embellished with seed beads, Swarovski crystals, pearls, glass beads, and bugle beads. I used black ultrasuede on the underside of the cuff.

Purple Passion Cuff

The Purple Passion Cuff is finished. This cuff came together really quickly. Sometimes I lay out all the beads and I just instinctively know what goes where and what bead comes next. All the beads found their spot and settled into place.

The cuff is 1/2 inch wide with a purple cat's eye as the centerpiece. I embellished the cuff with lots of different seed beads, bugle beads, pewter beads, pearls, Swarovski crystals, semi precious stones, and glass beads. I used various shades of purple, pink, gray, and silver. As always the underside is backed in ultrasuede and of course, this time it is purple.

Starry Night Ring

I created this ring to match the "Night of Stars" neckpiece. When I bought the Swarovski rivolis for the neckpiece I wasn't sure how many I would actually use in the final piece. I had an extra rivoli leftover and decided that a ring was a perfect addition. That's how the "Starry Night Ring" was born.

I recently found these ring blanks on Etsy. The shops is ChristianHaylie. I really like these ring blanks because they have a large pad to attach beadwork and they are adjustable.