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!