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.