Earrings Galore!

Last Saturday, before the Relief Society General Broadcast, our stake had a get-together where the women displayed their talents and had dinner. I guess my jewelry making skills are making the rounds, because they called me up to see if I would demonstrate at a table. I agreed, and had a great time! I decided to only bring pearls and crystals and make earrings, since there was no way I could have brought enough stuff to do more. And- seriously- it was insane how much stuff I had to bring anyways! They gave me one of the banquet tables, and it was totally full of drawers of chain, findings, beads, other jewelry I brought to display (but a very small area. I brought a ton, but had no space to display it all...) and tools. It was crazy! Everyone seemed to really like the jewelry, and I really enjoyed seeing what jewelry caught people's attention. The one that got the most was one Julie helped me design- chain and blue and brown lampwork beads. (Julie- I wonder if you remember it?)
Anyway- here are the earrings I designed while I was at the thingie. I thought I would get more done, but I felt rude making jewelry while people were talking to me, so you only have like seven. I enjoyed the challenge of using pearls in different ways, and I hope you will enjoy them too!

This is the first pair I did, and it is simple, but cute. Or at least I think so! I liked the bright yellow, and thought they hung well on the square jump rings.

This pair made me step out of the box. I don't usually like using colored wire as well as silver, but I thought it made these barbie pink pearls less girly and a little more party-ish. The pearls really are Barbie pink. It's hard to tell because of the flash.

This shade of green really reminded me of a Granny Smith apple, so I decided to make wire leaves for them. As a side note- most of these earrings are very short, which is not at all the norm for me. Most are less than an inch long- including the fishwire!

These earrings are actually a very vivid purple weird shaped pearl, with sky blue pearls as spacers. Nothing fancy- but the purple really is incredible.

These earrings are the longest I made, and I liked the idea of repeating the circles. I tried to find perfectly round pearls, but I guess real pearls just don't come in shapes like that. So this is the best I got. I have worn them a few times since then.

This pair kept trying to get designed while I was working on the other cream colored set. I ended up making one earring for each set, and then the other one. I love the simple elegance of the gold and pearl combination.

This last pair is my favorite, and got a few comments- mostly because everyone was so surprised that those are pearls! I love the color, and I love stick pearls. And I love that they are asymmetrical. I am just drawn to that. One of the ladies said they have a very southwestern feel to them, and I agree- to a point. They look more Indian to me (India, not Native American.) But the stick pearls do kindof remind me of chiles.

Some Jewelry

I have been meaning to post some jewelry I made. All of this I made just a few days ago. Nothing too amazingly creative, but all cute, I thought!
These earrings are a really gorgeous shade of green with glitter. It's hard to tell in the photo.
I am not sure what the briolettes are, but the crystals are Swarovski. More delicate than I usually make things.
I LOVE these earrings! They are enormous! My first mixed metal project. It's hard to tell, but most of it is gold, with the larger hoops being silver. I asked Jason if he liked them, and he said " (awkward pause) They are really big." I laughed!
My finger for scale. Seriously- these earrings are huge! Also, I was wearing them in the cupcake post. If you noticed. Also, I think these may be the only RED earrings I have. Weird.

My first ring!

My fabulous aunt Laura went through all of her old jewelry and gave me everything that was broken or that she just didn't want because it was weird. So, lucky me, I get to remake them all into new jewelry! Yesterday, I chose a post earring that was missing it's other half. I turned it into a ring, and I love it! It's a little bigger than I usually like for a ring, but it is stunning, and it's really growing on me! Plus, it was super fun because I have never made a ring before. It took some creative juices, let me tell you! I was thinking about adding some beads to spruce it up, or add color, but I decided I like it better plain. Cute, huh? Thanks so much, Laura!

What a Week!

Well, I have been sorely remiss at blogging lately. Luckily, I have a fantastic excuse, so you can all forgive me! :) Last Tuesday, my Mom flew in, and we took off to visit Nampa, and all the family around there. We only got to stay for a few days, but it was loads of fun! The first night, we all played games. We had so much fun!
In order from left to right: Julie, Kristen, Maegan, Mom, Katie. We played Last Word and Apples to Apples. As it got later and later, we got weirder and weirder, and this was one of those many moments. I would like to point out the food all over the table. (Yes, all of it junk food.) I didn't eat any of it! Well, okay, I did have a small piece of pie with ice cream, but who can resist that? It was delicious!
The next day, we all went over to Kara's house for lunch. All of us being: Britta and Sam, Kara, Shawn, and Jack, Laura, Clyde and Alice/Gertie, Maegan, Elena, and Kristen, Mom and Me, Julie, Jeremy, Nora, and Opal, Katie, Atticus, Thomas, and Violet. It was very full, and very fun. We made Korean Pancakes (basically grated veggies with egg and some kind of Korean sauce), Paninis, and Monte Cristos. It was delicious! Laura went through all of her jewelry, and brought a piece of jewelry for everyone. She also brought me a bad of jewelry that is either broken or strange to remake, and I can't wait to get started on it!! I am really excited, and you can expect to see pictures of them as I make them.
Then, Mom and I went to my Grandma's grave site, which was nice, although we had a bit of a hard time finding the cemetary. Then we went to Britta's to say hi to Morgan, Jared, TJ, and Hunter. Then we headed over to Katie's for more games. However, on the way was a bead store, so you know we had to stop. I was pretty good, and got some great stuff. Once we got to Katie's, we ate some delicious dinner. Pizza and Fruit Salad. The fruit salad really hit the spot. It was soooo good! With cantalope, honeydew, watermelon, blueberries, strawberries, blackberries, and grapes. It was delicious, and I ate a ton of it. Then, we decided to do a bit of beading. Katie made this beautiful piece with Labradorite and Pumice (or Lava or something):
Unfortunately, you miss all the cool parts of the piece with the camera. The smaller greyish stones have a beautiful bright blue shiny thing. Kindof like cat eyes in the dark. Then my mom and I had a beading contest where we both had to use the same stones as a base. You have to tell me which one you like better and which one you think is made by who. The base stones (featured in Necklace #1)
More Necklace #1:
Necklace #2:
So, don't forget to tell me your thoughts! Then we played Rummikub, which was great fun. Some photos:
This is a very typical photo of my mom. Not so photogenic. She is wearing the beautiful pin Laura gave her. It doesn't match so well, but it's a gorgeous pin.
This is Katie. She looks a little weird in this photo. Or maybe she just looks like that all the time! Just kidding!
This is Julie, who Jason thinks looks just like my mom. I don't really see it. Anyway, the last half day we were there, we hung out at Kristen's. We looked through a whole bunch of stuff from my Grandma, and there was alot of cool stuff and heirlooms. We also looked through an old catalog from the 60s that had us rolling on the floor. There was one page of coordinating outfits for yourself and your husband. And they were exactly the same! One of the sets was blue jumpsuits (can you say Janitor?) Another one that was great was the swimwear. I think they just used the same bottoms for both, which looked really hilarious. Then we had to head back to pick up Dad and Dillon at the airport, since they were coming to ski. We had a great, but busy, few days with them. They were pretty uneventful. Nevertheless, it was a great week. Sorry this post is so long! I guess I just had a lot to say!

The Reject Pieces

These are the other projects I submitted to the beading contest. Admittedly, some of the photos could be better, but not too bad, right?
This one I designed around Jacob Black. (I know, I am loser.) But it totally goes with him, huh? I submitted this one for the heart category. (There is a heart in the center-ish piece that I stuck in just so I could submit this one. It's better without it.) It's made of horn, sunstone, pyrite, and assorted fibers.
This one was for the gemstones category, and is probably one of my favorite pieces. It's agate, turquoise, and black crystal.
This one was for pearls, and it is pearls and adventurine. (I think. Green stones give me some trouble.) The pearls are a lovely peach color, which is hard to see in the photo.

So- What I want to know is this. Do you think they picked the right piece? Or rather, which piece is your favorite?

I'm Famous!!!

Well, let me set the scene here. In May (I think. Maybe April.) I found out about a beading competition. I decided to submit a few pieces. They had categories, and you submit one piece for each category (or however many you want.) I had picked out all my favorite pieces, and submitted them to the appropriate categories. I was looking for anything I had made that might work for the remaining categories, and I found a piece for plastic. Not super cute, but hey, why not, right? So I submitted them all and anxiously awaited for results. Judges picked the top twenty in each category and then people subscribed to a beading newsletter voted on those to determine the winners.
Imagine my surprise, when I am nominated! Oh- I was so excited! Which one was it? I bet it was this one, or maybe that one. So, I find out. It's not any of those. It's the PLASTIC one! What!??!?! That one isn't even that cute! Oh well. No accounting for taste, I guess. I was still excited. So, I won an honorable mention and a free subscription to a beading magazine of my choice, which is pretty cool. But, the coolest thing is that this contest is for a beading magazine that comes out once a year and features all of the winning projects. So, I am in BeadStar Magazine! (You can get it anywhere currently. Or just look through it or whatever.) Here are some photos of it.
This is the page I am on. Whoo-hoo!
This is the piece that won. They messed it up. It's supposed to be asymmetrical.
This is the photo I submitted for the contest. Showing the earrings and the way the necklace is supposed to look. Lots cuter, huh?
This is a close up of my little bio. Oh- how famous am I?

Jewelry and Roommates!

Tonight, I got together with two of my old roommates for dinner! It was lots of fun. Carrie Sheffield was here visiting family for Christmas, and Melanie Eichner lives up in Salt Lake. Unfortunately, I don't see her often, although I really should see her more, since she's not THAT far away. Anyway, we had a really great time. Carrie and I had lots of time to bond, since I gave her a ride. It was snowing like nobody's business. Honestly. The roads were sooooo slick! I actually slid right into somebody. We were on a hill, and there was nothing I could do about it. Luckily, she was super nice. She got out of her car, and came and gave me a hug and was just laughing. She said that she and the passenger had just been talking about a similar experience that she had (just sliding into someone) and also about how if they could just make it to the highway, they probably wouldn't get rear-ended. We were about 50 feet from the on-ramp, so she was so close! But she was very sweet, and said no harm done, since I only chipped her paint. I was so grateful that she wasn't mad!
Anyway, I decided to make my former roomies some jewelry, and I took some very poor photos of it with my phone, because both pieces turned out very beautiful. Hope you can kindof tell what they look like! Melanie's is the orange one, and Carrie's is the green one. (oh- and Melanie never wears matching earrings, so that's why the earrings are different.)