Tuesday, August 4, 2009

A Little Blingy Bling: Jewelry for Grown Ups

When my sister was here, my niece, Squid, and I made a bracelet and necklace set for her (see this post).  Afterwards, I think she ran off in pure bliss and then crashed out. (I don’t quite remember the details as I was immersed in grown up beads….)

Anyway…  Squid and I had made a cool multi colored bracelet and some earrings to go with them for my mom back in May.  Mom wore them to a party at my Grandma’s in June and Grandma wanted a “reddish orange” set like the reddish orange beads in Mom’s earrings.   So I sat down and played around with the reddish orange beads I had in my stash. (see below)

Jewelry making is super duper easy.  You just need some basic tools (wire snips, round nose pliers, and a flat nose plier) and basic jewelry findings (tiger wire, clasps, crimp beads, misc findings and beads).   You lay the beads all out on a beading board (I am not sure what they are really called) until you get the design you like and then you string it up.  I like whimsical and funky.  There’s no “real” rhyme or reason… just play around until you get what you like. :)
 

Reddish Orange Set:

This is the first set I came up with.  I don’t want to give it away, but I guess that’s what makes it so special. LOL!   I think I am going to hit the bead store and replicate this set because I have just the perfect shirt for it to go with :)  All findings are silver plate except the earring hooks which are real silver to prevent a reaction with the ears. (I can’t wear anything but real gold or silver in my ears so that’s what I had in stock.)

RedSetweb RedEarringsWeb RedBraceletWeb

 Hot Pink Set:

I HEART this set!  It looks way cool ON.   The circle beads are about 3/4” in diameter.   I strung the wire through the open beads and then carefully strung another bead on the wire before slipping thru the other side of the open beads.  The center pink beads spin around on the wire and are really cool, especially in the earrings.

PinkSetWeb

PinkBraceletWeb

PinkEarringsWeb

Jewelry is difficult to photograph in the indoors in the evening… that background is one of the decorative {sacred} pillows from my bed.

Hope you enjoyed!  Inky Smiles & see you soon with some cards and I think I really should do a giveaway asap!   :)

8 comments:

Leslie said...

Erin, you are so creative. I love the red.orange set.

Kathi Carlson said...

Very nice! The pink set is my favorite! Love all those round, flat beads.

Sarah said...

Ohhhh these are YUMMY!
While I love them both..I think the pink one is my fav. How much work to make the inside beads spin!!!!!
Amazing.

Stampin n da Hood said...

DARLING, DARLING!

Jeanne said...

I'm partial to the pink as well...love the flat beads. I'm so impressed with the beauty of your pieces. If I tried that my stuff would look like yuck strung together. Your stuff is gorgeous!

kc_froglady said...

I really like the pink one! You would love the bead shop we have here - Bead Paradise. I have never tried jewlery other than stringing macaroni when I was a kid LOL!

CreativeMish said...

Very nice! I love both sets!

Jenn Embry said...

Beautiful! I especially love the pink set. I have some green open circle beads like these and haven't found the perfect project to use them on yet.