my alternative to wearing rudolph earrings to christmas dinner

Lately I've been spending way too much time looking at tasty recipes online in anticipation of all the family arriving so I decided to take a little break to do some jewelry making. I had little pieces of chain leftover from the necklaces so I made some party earrings. Although I love Christmas and decorate and bake and listen to Christmas music as much as possible, the one thing I can't bring myself to do is wear Christmas clothing and jewelry. I have no doubt I'll probably own several Christmas sweaters and necklaces that look like Christmas lights by the time I'm 50, but I'm going to hold off for a few more years.

little sad, little happy

This is Spike. He was squished by the guys who come to do the gardening around my apartment last week. Poor Spike.

The "berry" necklace took on a completely different form than what I had originally pictured, but I'm pleased with the way it turned out and glad it's finally complete. I used three different sizes of red coral beads and then threw in a bit of amazonite just to catch the eye.

no thumb twiddling here

Mike has been out of town for the last few days. I've been so bored in the evenings that I've actually been more productive. I also got a few different types of chain so I've been able to play with different necklace ideas.

close, but...well not close at all

I really thought I would have finished the "berry" necklace by now. I actually did about a week ago, but the more I looked at it, the less I liked it. So, now it's sitting in pieces on the table as I work on the new design I have in mind. While I was getting input from Gina she mentioned making sets. For the most part, I'm not too fond of matching jewelry sets, at least as far as my own wardrobe is concerned. But then I started thinking about putting together pieces that compliment each other without looking exactly the same. I think something like this would look nice together. This would be my version of a set.

berry clusters

Mike wants me to name this necklace berry clusters and I'm beginning to suspect that the names he comes up with are really dictated by the cereal he's currently eating. I'm only about halfway done with this necklace so this is just a sneak peek. This photo was taken on a book of Shakespeare's works that I found in my Grandma's house several years ago. It has a handwritten dedication in the front dated Dec 25th, 1881.

rain

These are amber citrine beads. I'm working on a second necklace because it's beautiful and rainy outside. It's a good day to make a pot of coffee, eat maple cookies, and be productive.

a necklace

This is a necklace that I'm working on. I'm using very pale green mountain jade beads and a gray cotton grosgrain ribbon. It's not quite complete yet, I'm still adjusting the way it hangs and the way the ribbon is fastened.

ventures in silver

I finally got what I needed to start making some earrings with silver. Here are a few of my experiments. I would just like to note that the news anchor tonight is wearing a leopard print turtle neck. I really don't understand LA. Anyway, the first piece is red coral with a fun black bead. Those are silver flowers and red and blue polka dots on the black bead.

This is purple/red jade with indian agate.

Rose quartz

And back to gold. Amber citrine hanging from gold chain.

up and running

I finally finished setting up my etsy store at greensuitcases.etsy.com Please check it out if you have a moment. Since this is my first time doing anything like this, I really welcome any feedback you have. Let me know if the descriptions are thorough enough or if the photos are clear enough. I was having a few photo issues so I have four pieces listed now and I'll continue to list the rest throughout the day.

leafy greens

I set up an account on etsy today and should have a few items posted tomorrow morning. Here are a couple pieces that I photographed by my mini succulent garden today.

jewelry bags

I sewed little jewelry bags out of gray cotton fabric that has these great polka dots that aren't quite in perfect rows. Here are some pictures of the bags and more importantly of my sewing machine. It's one of my favorite possessions. It belonged to my Grandma Marge and still works perfectly. Fortunately she had a foot pedal installed so I don't actually have to hand crank it.

friday morning

Here are a few other pieces that I just finished. I'm working on a couple others and I've started sewing little sachets to package them in.

On a side note, when I was trying to come up with a name to sell things under I asked Mike for help. Although I won't be using any of his suggestions, I'm still laughing at all the ridiculous names he came up with. I think my favorite three were Honey Bunches of Beads, Ear Wigs (because if you put a wig on your head to make it look better...), and Sparkly Danglers. Oh Michael...

and...go.

Here are a couple of things that I've been working on this week. I have a couple more that I'm finishing up and will post a little later. And yes, that is my sofa.