Spring time Ear Wear!

Like everyone in blogland I just can't stop thinking about SPRING! And summer too I suppose. Anyway here are a few new earrings I made today. I already know these gold coral stick earrings are part of my new "uniform" (the outfit I will wear everyday this summer...i.e. sundress, flip flops, these earrings, and a flower in my hair) Anyway, they are on 14k gold fill chain, and have small sawarovski crystals and seed beads at the top. Hopefully my camera and I will be friends today and I will get up better pictures of these.

Remember these little guys? The lovely shell clusters I picked up in Hawaii? Well here is my first creation. Sweet little spring time earrings. I used hoops made of metallic seed beads to join them together. They look like little flowers! Oh wait - that gives me more ideas! Good thing I bought I bunch of them....back to creating!

Happy Monday! :)

Hawaiin Goodies!

Vacation or not I'm always on the hunt for priceless junk. As many of you know, being a pack rat is simply a way of life. Here are some of the goodies I added to my nest of treasures. Above is my favorite find... Vintage Hawaiian Milk Caps. I love these! They even have palm trees on them! I thought this was a great find because I also bought them in Hilo at a great little antique shop. So these are a souvenir as well as something I can play with later.


I also found these stamps at the same shop. A little poking around online tells me that they are also from the Big Island, (which name is Hawaii actually). Apparently the "City of Refuge" at the bottom of the stamp refers to the fact that the city the park was in was originally a sactuary for tabboo-breakers and war refugees. The city is on the Kona side of the island (we didnt make it over there this time) and its called Puuhonua 0 Honaunau. It became a national park in 1961 and the stamps were issued in 1972. I think they'll make great pendant necklaces ... and look~ the shell beads I bought match them too.


Here are more shell beads that I picked up. I liked how the tiny seashells had been made into little loops of shells. Perfect for springtime and summer earrings. I also loved these seasehll pendants. I'll be showing you what I come up with soon :)


This small seashell dish was also in an antique store. I just had to have it. Its adorable and looks great on my dresser. It will always remind me of my trip to The big Island of Hawaii with my Sistah! Alexis also found the "A" pin in a secondhand shop and I can't wait to make a necklace for her out of it :)


Back on Oahu I found another vintage shop that had these great vintage pin and earrings sets. The were from an old jewelry shop that went out of business in the late 60s. The stones are pink coral and peridot and I can't wait to transform them into a necklace and earring set. :)

So there you have it.. a peek at my new found treasures! yay!

Have a great weekend!

Seashells and Copper

Here is a new set I made today. Its very earthtone and the leather cord kind of adds to the natural look of the piece. The shell is from Long Beach Island :) ...though I'm not sure what kind of shell it is. The rest of the beads are jasper and copper coils I made and flattened a bit.

The shape of the pendant reminds me of a bull! Could this be a minotaur piece? ;)

Winter, Winter Go Away!

I don't know about you but I am tired, tired of this Winter nonsense! When I heard it was going to snow today it just put me over the edge. I decided to use all my jewelry making powers to evoke the Godesses of Spring. Demeter, Demeter where are you? When will Persephone return? If you have no idea what I am talking about, here is a quick lesson in Greek Mythology.

Demeter was the Goddess of the Harvest and agriculture. She was the patron of farmers, and the goddess of everything green; trees, grass, gardens, and crops alike. She had given man the gift of wheat and showed them how to sow their fields.

Demeter had a daughter named Persephone who was kidnapped by Hades, the God of the underworld. While Demeter roamed the earth searching for her daughter she became so depressed that she let nothing grow for six months and man was introduced to Winter. When her daughter returned Demeter rejoiced and the earth began to grow again. This is why Demeter is also the Goddess of the Seasons.

Anyway, I found these great glass beads at the craft store today and decided I must have them. They reminded me of seaglass, summer, margaritas,...and everything else wonderful that comes with sunshine! So I began digging through my rather extensive seashell collection and started creating.

I have SO MANY SEASHELLS and I love them all...big, small, and broken. Anytime I am at the beach you can find me pouring over the sand looking for little treasures of the sea. Many of these seashells were collected in Long Beach Island, NJ. I spent all my summers as a kid there and still go back every year.


These pendants came out great...I actually found these shells on Sanibel Island Florida...over 10 years ago! (Just to give you an idea of what kind of packrat I am) But here they are...I knew all along they had a greater purpose in life. Im thinking about just hanging these on sterling silver chains since they showcase the shells so perfectly. I want them to be the star of the show!


I'm visiting my sister in Hawaii in just nine days! I'm planning on bringing lots of jewelry with me so we can have a little cocktail jewelry party. I can just picture Alexis in these while sipping Mai Tais at Duke's Canoe Club!

These were fun to make. The sand dollars were very delicate but by gluing two of them back to back they are pretty substantial. The green glass beads remind me of seaglass too.

Here are a few more pendants I made today. Again, can you tell I'm over Winter? These came out great and I cant wait to play around with the rest of the necklace. These pieces have a little bit of everything. The one with the dried starfish has even been dipped in a little LBI sand!

Think warm thoughts!