My Green Sea

This necklace is one of my husband's favorites. I'm sure it's more about the color than the design seeing that green is one of his colors of choice. The silver foil in the green glass beads lends an interesting bit of shimmer to the necklace without being too flashy, and the silver beads ties the whole thing together nicely.

The rectangular white beads provide a bit of a change from the typical round bead, and make a nice correlation with the focal bead at the center since it's shape is more rectangular or oval than circular. Even the smaller green beads, with their irregular sides, meld with the rectangular white beads in an interesting way.

My Green Glass

I had these green glass beads with the black swirls on them and thought they were really interesting but wasn't sure what to do with them. I wish I'd had more so I could have put together some earrings to go with the necklace since the bead itself is so unusual, but you work with what you've got!

I thought the bead was so unique, I wanted to make sure it stood out and wasn't lost in a design that was too busy, so I put together a necklace with the beads themselves as the main (really only!) focal point, using black beads in two different sizes to offset them. I think it really helped define them and keep attention on the green.

My Blue-Violet Reflection

This necklace was just fun to put together. The beads aren't anything particularly special, but they're pretty. The smooth blue "pearl" beads and the iridescent purple beads complement each other without actually blending into one another.

I often feel like a lot of design is lost around the back of the neck where most times hair hides the beadwork, so for this necklace, I kept the focal point to the front and used a design of color rather than form around the sides and back.

My Orange-Gold Dangles

These two dangle earrings were also some "left-over" beads. If I remember right, they came in a set of beads, but I couldn't pair up them together in a way that made me happy, so I separated them and paired them up in twos with each other.

I think they came our nicer as two sets of earrings than they ever could have if I'd tried to force them as a necklace or something else!

My Sunshin-y Day

This set is just plain fun. I found these beads in all kinds of bright, happy colors. I couldn't resist! I wasn't entirely sure what I was going to do with them at first, the just called to me. When I started playing with the memory wire and crimp beads, it started to come together. While the crimp beads on the memory wire is an imperfect science - sometimes they still move - they're easy enough to slide back into place, and the effect is a lot of fun!

The glass of the bead is light enough that the earrings aren't heavy, and the gold just picks up the bright yellow of the glass bead. It's sunshine all over the place!

My Starry Night

This set has been hidden in a gift box in my craft room for many months. I suppose since it's a set using both stars and dark blue goldstone it's somewhat proper that it's been in the dark, although it is sad that such a cute set has been unworn for so long!

I was going to give it as a gift (hence the gift box!) but never could decide who the proper giftee was. I love the goldstone - both the rust and blue colors. I think it's just all about the sparkle. I love things with glitter and sparkle! I had the hematite star beads but wasn't sure what to do with them. When I found the blue goldstone chips, it was a match made in heaven! They just seemed made for each other...

Stand-Alone Earrings

These are a few sets of earrings I've put together using some "left-over" beads.

It's so sad when you finish a piece of jewelry and have left-over parts. You know, the beads that don't have enough to do anything with, the pieces that don't really match anything else to put together another piece.

I've got a slew of left-overs. I really need to make a better effort to find a good home for them. These earrings are proof that there is a place for all of them, given the time and effort to find their proper homes!

My Purple Heart

No, not that kind of purple heart!

This necklace was one of the first necklaces I've put together using a more "chunky" bead as a dangler. The photo doesn't show the color very well, but the glass beads have slices of iridescent purple in them, and the effect is dazzling. The glass makes for a heavier necklace, but not unpleasantly so.

Purple being my favorite color, it was hard to decide to part with this one, but how many necklaces can one have? Especially if said "one" has small children that prevent them from wearing said necklaces?

My Business Set

This set was fun to put together, even if it is a pretty cut and dry design. The angles on the red beads are offset nicely by the smooth, perfectly round black beads. This set makes me think of something that is pretty but practical. Something you could wear everyday, either to the office with business attire or to dress up a pair of jeans. While it's fun to create something "new and different," it was nice to put together something a little more "tame!"

My Green Fun

This necklace, although not one of my favorites, is still one of my favorite colors! This piece came out of a pre-packaged set of beads. I loved the green, and although I wasn't "inspired" when I put this together, sometimes it's just nice to play and see what happens.

My Island Getaway

This set is one I just finished. I haven't had much time to put into working with my jewelry - or any of my crafts for that matter - but today I just had to make time! I got the coral chip beads as a gift a year or so back and they've been sitting in my craft room, sad and alone, mostly ignored until now. At first, I couldn't help but think they were an odd color, and didn't know where I'd use them.

But, I ran out to Micheal's craft store this morning and when I saw the red medallions, I was inspired to find a way to use them. This set just makes me think of summer and an island vacation!

My Glass Heart

This is one of the pieces I've done recently that I'm pretty pleased with. Sometimes you get a concept in your mind that never quite comes to fruition the way you hope it will. I was happy with how this turned out!

Also, not only did the necklace come together nicely, but I used it to "teach" a brief jewelry-making class at a women's craft night at our church. I can't say that I converted anyone to become crafters themselves, but considering I've never taught jewelry-making to anyone, I was proud of myself for actually having the guts to do it! I offered the necklace in both red and pink, just in case someone had a color preference. I think I prefer the red, but they both turned out pretty nice.