Vintage Hearts

There are new earrings from my workroom to show off.  This week I’m getting into the spirit of Valentine’s Day with these vintage look earrings.   The antiqued copper make them look very vintage and the pink Swarovski crystals in the center bring an additional feminine look to them. These are a great gift for the woman in your life, or for yourself. 

Copper is the metal to wear this year and the color of the year is Marsala, a wine color. These earrings will compliment your Masala outfit perfectly and many other colors too.

The airy design of the hearts makes them lightweight, and at a length of 1 and 3/4 inches they are great for any hair style.

These earrings can be found in my store at www.demdesigns.etsy.com

Have a great week and I'll see you next time.

Denise

Stellar Citrus Earrings

Last year I was a little distracted and wasn’t able to blog as much as I wanted to, my apologies for being away so long.

With the New Year I have a new determination to blog at least once a week and if you feel the need to give me a push to blog more, my email address is denise@jewelrybydm.com.  I will be happy for the reminder and to hear from you.  Even if you feel like sending an email with topics you would like to see in this blog or comments on how I can make it better, it would be great to hear from you since I feel like blogging is sometimes a one way communication.

While shopping I came across these beautiful Celestial Crystal drops in yellow and just had to have them.Yellow isn’t usually a color that I use, so I wanted to add this new color into my pallet and also the new shape.  In high school my art teacher told me that I tend to balance my artwork too much and should try to add more asymmetrical shapes into my art.  Many years later I remembered what he said when I saw these crystals because they fit the bill of asymmetrical so well.  I like them so much that today I bought 2 more sets, one in blue and one in purple.

If you look closely at the orange crystal you will see that the orange has yellow mixed into it.  I found these beads in the summer while in a bead store in New York and bought a package of them along with a package of yellow beads that have a little orange in them.  I plan to make a bracelet that can be worn with these earrings.

These earrings may not end up in my Etsy store because there is a woman at work that saw the crystals when I bought them and wants first dibs, but watch for the blue and purple earrings of the same shape in the coming months.  If you want yellow ones contact me at the above email address and I will do my best to get the yellow ones for you.  Just know that there were a limited quantity of the yellow and when they are gone I’m not sure if I can get more.  They do come in lots of other colors though.

Until next week….

Denise

Fan Fabulous for Jan 2015

Happy New Year!

I hope you had a great holiday season and that your New Year will be happy and healthy.

Recently someone asked me if jewelry making was difficult.  I said no, I really enjoy making jewelry.  She asked “What is it that you enjoy about it?” I said “When I’m making jewelry I feel relaxed, I forget any problems and just spend the time creating beautiful pieces of jewelry that others may enjoy”.  The last question really had an impact on how I’m going to do some things this year, she asked “What is your favorite part of making jewelry?” and I said “Creating custom made jewelry  I also learn something new with each custom piece that I make, and that’s a new way to look at a design.  An example is, one of my customers liked a long necklace that I have in my shop, but she wanted it in black and copper rather than silver with turquoise beads, and for the focal point of the necklace she wanted feathers. I had to take myself out of the traditional way of thinking of silver or gold as the metal and find a different chain and beads.  I also ended up using feathers made from copper.  It was a great learning experience and the customer got exactly what she wanted.

for people because I’m not guessing what people will be attracted to in my shop, I’m actually making a piece that someone wants, has created in their mind, and I’m bringing it to life.

This year, once a month, I’m going to give you the opportunity to help me design a piece of jewelry.  Comments can be posted on my Facebook, Twitter and blog pages and I will incorporate some or all of the suggestions received into the jewelry and post it in the newsletter and blog the next month. I will post pictures of the materials that I have for an idea for either earrings, a bracelet or necklace and you can comment on any changes you think that would make the jewelry into a piece that you would consider wearing.  After I post the new piece in the newsletter and my blog it will be put in my Etsy store under the category of Fan Fabulous, for the Fabulous jewelry that fans helped me design.

I’m excited to see what you come up with.  So, here’s the first Fan Fabulous challenge…

Fan Fabulous Challenge

The two photos here show an earring design with 2 different options, I thought a stamp design around  Feel free to make suggestions on changing the color of the beads if you would like beads or anything else, you don’t have to stick to only the items here but please stay with the basic circle and earring structure. Note that the circle is 1 and one quarter inches across, so about the size of a silver dollar.

the circle would be nice and included 2 different stamps that I think would look good.

Next month I will publish the finished earrings and will post another Fan

Fabulous design challenge.  Also in next month’s newsletter the 2015 Color of The Year.

Since this is getting so long I will close here. 

Until next time, stay warm.

Denise

52 Week Challenge Wrap Up

Since my 52 week challenge finished last week I decided to ask a favor of all of my readers.  I would love to hear your comments on the challenge and wondered if you help me out.  Would you browse through the posts for the challenge and let me know what your favorite piece of jewelry is?

Your feedback would help me to decide the direction to take for the upcoming holiday season. Should I made more of an item, drop an item?  I can’t decide on one item that is my favorite because I like them all.  What do you think? Let me know.

If you would rather not post to my blog, or have trouble posting, then send an email to me with your thoughts to denise@jewelrybydm.com

Thanks and have a great week.

Denise

Challenge Week 52!

Finally made it to week 52!  The challenge was well worth doing, I learned a lot and stretched my creative muscles and I’m thankful for all of you that stuck with me, made comments and kept me going.

For my last challenge I used beads that I bought about 2 years ago from another Etsy seller; they are the rectangular shaped beads.  When I saw the beads I fell in love with them because of the unique color combination.  I didn’t know what I was going to make with them and over the past 2 years have looked for other beads to compliment them and inspiration for what I would make. Then I went to a bead show and found the oblong beads in the same colors and had to buy them to go with my original purchase.  About a month ago I found the bicone beads online, again in the same colors as my original beads and when I received them put all the beads on one of my bead boards to see what shape they would take. The necklace and earrings shown here are the result of my two year journey and, I think, a fitting end to the journey that this challenge has been.

The bicone beads are Swarovski crystals, the oblong beads are crystals and the rectangular beads are glass that reminds me of sea glass.  I used a clasp that is elegant enough to dress up the necklace and used silver beads as spacers to make the colors in the beads stand out.  I used all of the beads that I bought in the burgundy and blue blend, so this is a unique set.

I hope you like these pieces and will make comments below.  This set was a long 2 years in the making but I think it was worth the wait.

Just  because the challenge is over doesn't mean I'm going to stop writing so don't forget to come back often.

Have a Happy Independence Day!

Denise

www.jewelrybydm.com