Holiday Swarovski Earrings

These earrings were designed to go with my Holiday Swarovski Bracelet, particular the double decker pair, which are just screaming to go to a party, in my opinion!

The Holidays are right around the corner!

Swarovski Holiday Bling

Perfect for Holiday parties:

Huge 8mm Swarovski cubes in ruby and emerald - capped with rhinestone squaredelles. This bracelet closes with a sterling silver extender, so it will fit most everyone!

Available on Etsy!

Just for me!

Last week I bought a ($5.00!!) green and blue T-shirt at WalMart; green and blue are my favorite colors, and this is just the cutest shirt. So cute, in fact, that my friend Sonya, who also works with me, bought the same one (separately, and she also bought the same gorgeous grey and purple one I bought! Great minds think alike!) so now we have to call each other the nights before we work together to make sure we won't be twinsies!

So naturally, I needed some bling to wear with my new shirt, so I made this necklace, bracelet, and earring set to go with my new shirt:

Russian spiral necklace, with green 11s and blue 8s.



Rear closure, which IMO must be as pretty as the rest of the necklace!



 Matching green and blue fringe bracelet; nice and full., I used 6s, 8s, 11s, 4mm cubes, 4mm Swarovski bicones (in peridot AB), and 4mm Czech firepolish rounds. I have taught this fringe bracelet a couple of times, but have never actually made one myself, so this is my very first fringe bracelet, and I love it. Must make more!

Matching Earrings

Some lovely blue and green lampwork beads had gone unsold in the shop for quite a long time, and they matched the necklace and bracelet perfectly, so I paired them with some Bermuda blue Swarovski Cosmic rings to make these dangle earrings.

And besides the fact that I have this great set of matching jewels to go with my new shirt, I got an idea for a totally new design, that I hope to work on next weekend.

I'd show you a picture of the shirt, but it is wadded up in the hamper, plus the camera is over at the shop in Augusta. I'll try to remember to get a pic of the whole ensemble together.

'Til next time. TTFN!

Purple + Pearls = Perfect

I've had this gorgeous dichroic glass, amethyst, and sterling silver pendant for awhile - the dichroic glass is a rich, deep purple color (dichroic glass NEVER photographs well - it's such a pain!) - and I just didn't know what to do with it, but an idea just came to me one evening, and when I got to the shop the next day, I grabbed the last strand of coin pearls (Sorry!) and strung it up with some tanzanite Swarovski pearls, and I just love this necklace!

It's simple, but bold.

Some classic earrings complete the set.

Which happens to be available on Etsy right now.

Big week for custom designs!

A good friend is getting married in September (in Jamaica, and I get to go!) - and this idea for earrings for her wedding popped into my head Monday night, so I got to the store Tuesday and just started making them - I lost count of the number of wrapped loops somewhere around 50......

And so she came into the shop on Wednesday, and I surprised her with them, and she likes them, so yay!

One of my regular customers came in with the sterling silver pendant you see on this necklace, and asked me to design a necklace, bracelet, and earrings to go with it, and I just sort of got carried away.

It took 3 days to complete this necklace, and it is such a departure from what I usually make for her, that I actually called her in to approve it before I completed it, and fortunately she loved it, so I kept on going, and going, and finally finished this gorgeous necklace.



I designed this multi-strand bracelet to go with it,






And had just enough beads left over to create these matching earrings.

She came in to pick up the set today, and was thrilled, so that was great!




My friend who is getting married in September saw the turquoise and pearl necklace while I was working on it, and decided she wants a similar design for her wedding necklace, so we are going to start putting that together, with several different sizes of pearls, and lots of 4, 6, and 8 mm Swarovski bicones in crystal AB and in rose.

And today is Bailey's birthday, so happy birthday, sweet pea!

This and That

I'm kind of bummed this morning. I have been working off and on for about 4 weeks on a peyote bracelet with a large focal centerpiece bead, and got about 12 rows worked past the focal bead last night, and decided that I hate the way the bracelet looks. That's a lot of work, folks! I'm talking single-drop peyote! I'm going to take it to work tomorrow and get some other opinions (I work at a bead store), and maybe they'll be able to talk me out of ripping it apart, but I am this close to ripping the whole thing out and scrapping it.

This is the newest addition to my Etsy shop. I actually made it one morning this week while I was at work - I know, isn't that sick! Can you imagine anything more fun that being a jewelry designer and working in a bead store! This bracelet is absolutely gorgeous; it just sparkles on the wrist!
Crystal Dreams Bracelet

I found a great tutorial for a wire-wrapped ring on the internet, and I had this perfect bead in my bead stash, so I sat down last Monday with the tutorial, the bead, and my wire, and started playing. I practiced a few (5, maybe?) times with craft wire, and then moved on to the sterling.

It turned out pretty well (on the second attempt), but it is certainly not ready for prime time! I am taking another wire-wrapping class in a couple of weeks, and will run this one by the instructor. I think I may just need to move to a bigger gauge of wire, but before I waste anymore sterling, I am going to get some guidance!

I got really comfy in bed one night last week, watching Netflix DVDs late into the night, after I finally logged off Etsy. Bailey can hear me unplug the laptop from anywhere in the house, and knows that is the signal for snuggle time. He got a little carried away that night, though, as I sunk deeper and deeper into the pillows, and he spooned deeper and deeper into me. I was already on the edge of the bed when all this started! After a few hours I had to get up to pee, and threw the covers over him, and he didn't even budge. Some people say I am too indulgent of my baby; some say he is spoiled. I say there is a word for those people: CRAZY.

New Woven Bracelet

This is a beautiful new bead-woven bracelet, available in my Etsy shop ( http://sweetfreedom.etsy.com/ ). I enjoy tackling new patterns and stitches, and this one proved to be a bit of a challenge!

After stringing a row of core beads on SoftTouch, the beadweaving began. The base is multiple rows of size 11 seed beads, for which I chose seafoam green, one of my favorite colors. It took a couple of days to get all these rows laid down, what with having to deal with all the knots (I hate having to restart thread in a project, so I tend to use a really, really long thread!)

Once the base is finished, a sort of modified brick stitch is used to create a fringe (seen in metallic pink on this bracelet). This was where things got complicated. The opposing peaks of the fringe had to face opposite directions so that when the Swarovski crystals were sewn in, they would meet correctly. Not fun! Not only that, but the fringe had to be reinforced - meaning I had to go through all the 11s twice, so that they would stay on top of the seafoam green beads, rather than dropping below the thread bridges.

Now it was time to add the crystal embellishment. I had chosen beautiful sapphire satin Swarovski bicones, and I think the color combination is gorgeous. Each bicone was attached to the opposing fringe tips by going through these 11s for a third time - getting tight in there!

After embellishing, the bracelet was crimped, and a sterling silver toggle closure was added. The bracelet is surprisingly supple, for as many beads and stitches as it contains. And it surely sparkles!

I would be happy to re-create this bracelet in other color combinations, and to any length desired - just contact me through my Etsy shop.