A little burst of creativity

It's funny how I go for stretches of time without feeling inspired to create much - I'll just be content to play with my beads and work on the business side of things for days or even weeks at a time, but then all of a sudden that creative itch strikes and it must be satisfied! Late last night I got this image in my head of long, swingy, gemmy earrings. I tried a few more casual versions...

long, swingy tourmaline earrings

long, swingy Swarovski pearl earrings (vegan)

They were fun, but not exactly what I had in mind. So I tore through my bead stash until I found the perfect stones - gorgeous little faceted hessonite garnet rondelles - then I encased them with a delicate herringbone wrap of sterling silver wire - and I love them. I really want to make a pair for myself but I think they would be way too tempting for Carlos and I would end up having them painfully removed from my earlobes.

long, swingy hessonite garnet earrings

I also finished work on about two dozen rings yesterday. The ring project started innocently enough... about a month ago I fell in love with this ring from RaesCreations and bought it on Etsy. Once it arrived, I decided I wanted a vegan pearl version as well, so I experimented until I had the technique figured out and made one for myself, and a couple of extras. I gave one to my mom as a thank you gift for hosting a jewelry party recently, and the few extras I had sold as soon as I set them out, two at my mom's party and one at Arts Alive.

Now, this style of ring (which I've often heard called 'nest' rings), is pretty common and popular on Etsy; however, I couldn't find anyone making them with Swarovski pearls, which was what I really wanted.

(The middle one is my favorite color.)

antiqued (top) and shiny sterling silver (below)

playing around with different stones

a sweet little knot ring

* Here are a few other Etsy sellers I like who make this style of ring:

raescreations
starrydesigns
piddix
moonchildjewelry
farafield
andromedii