Challenge Week 32

Happy Thanksgiving!  This month, well this year has gone so fast, I can't believe that we're just a week away from December and a month away from Christmas.

For my challenge this week I used a wire that has a design in it and made a cuff bracelet.  It was a custom design for a co-worker Beth and I like it so much that I am going to make more.  The design in the wire is difficult to see because I forgot to take the picture at home before I delivered the bracelet, so I used my mobile phone, and taking detailed pictures is not a good use for it.

The wire is about a half inch wide and has a pretty design in the center and on the edges of it.  I can make the bracelet to custom fit your wrist.  Beth has a 6 inch wrist and she can't find bracelets in the store that will fit the way she wanted it, close fitting so it won't move around a lot.  You can see that it fits her well.

I hope you had a great holiday weekend.  If you need gifts you can find them in my store at www.jewelrybydm.com

Challenge Week 31

Hi, welcome back.  Many of my winter clothes are red, I guess because it's such a warm color. With the cold weather coming I was inspired to use some warm red beads - I really love of the color red.

The beads that I used for these earrings are red, but when you look at them they look like they have black highlights. The headpins that I used are tipped with red; I think it look better that just the silver tips on other head pins.  Silver bead caps finish off the earrings, giving them a little sparkle.  You can wear these as little Christmas ear ornaments during the holiday season or just to give you a splash of color after the holidays.

Have a great week and I'll see you back here for week 32.

Denise

Challenge Week 30

Halloween has passed and the commercials are in full swing with gift ideas for the holidays.  I received an email today that I thought was a great idea, this is unusual for me because usually I cannot stand getting the forwards and just delete them. However, this email said that we should all buy American for the holidays. This means giving gift certificates for local services like car washes or oil changes or beauty services like hair cuts or manicures. It also suggested buying from local artisans. If I can help you with this in any way let me know, and not just my jewelry, I know people that make all kinds of hand made items from guitars to paintings, photography, t-shirts and sweatshirts, cards, scarves, toys and more. Let's get our economy back on it's feet by buying American and buying local.

Now I will get off of my soap box and get back to the topic at hand, week 30 of the 52 week challenge.  This pair of earrings is a little different from my usual conservative look.  I like the animal print look but rarely wear it because I'm a bit shy when it comes to bold prints.  These earrings bring the animal print in without being too bold. For those of you that aren't afraid of the bold prints I salute you and for those of us that shy away, lets just try something new.  I think that if you wear these with a black  or white sweater and a nice silver chain it could be a very classy look.

The earrings are the size of a quarter, so they aren't too big and they have a nice finish to them.  Each pair will have a little bit different pattern on them so don't expect the exact look of the earrings shown above.  The pattern is quite close though.  I bought these beads in New York on one of my lunch hour walks, it was a short string of beads, so there will be limited quantities.

You can find these and other earrings on my McLachlan Design Studio website.

Challenge Week 29

It has been a while but I am back and on with the challenge.  I thought that it was only going to be a week or 2 that I wouldn't be able to write. The move took longer that I thought, actually it was delayed because of hurricane Irene, then the following 3 weeks I had family obligations.  With the move came the loss of internet connection and on and on.  Finally I'm back, with a great pair of earrings.

 The earrings that I did for this week are hoops. This is my first time making hoops and I am very pleased with how they turned out.  I used sterling plated wires and put Czech glass flowers with silver spacers to create light weight, beautiful earrings. The earrings are easy to put on, just slip one end of the hoop into your ear and then click the end in place.  Simple!

Named after the woman that gave me the idea, I call them Crystal Hoops.  I work with Crystal and she asked me to make hoops for her with clear and silver beads, so I used crystal beads for Crystal. I've also made these earrings in different colors, and you will be able to see them on my website in the near future.

Crystal says that she wears these earrings a lot because they go with everything, so I made a pair for myself and also one for the website. If you have a color that you would like in these earrings let me know and I will custom design a pair just for you.  Contact me at denise@jewelrybydm.com

It's good to be back, I hope you have a great week!

Challenge Week 28

 Hi and happy Sunday.  I'm a day late posting due to an upcoming move; I have been packing boxes.  Next week is the move, so I won't have a post for the challenge.  I'll just have to make it up the following week.

This week I made a version of necklaces that I have seen others wearing.  This necklace is approximately 18 inches long, for the longest strand, and consists of large and small circles. The large circles are both round and oval and the small circles are all round.

My favorite part of this necklace is the clasp, which can be worn in the back or front of the necklace. Why hide it?! It was a close out piece that I got from one of my suppliers.  One side of the clasp is a flower and the other is 3 leaves. It is decorated with crystals and in my humble opinion it is a beautiful clasp. I have been searching for more of these but can't seem to find any.  Jewelry findings are like any other fashion accessory, they are sold for a limited time and then have to go to make room for the new.

On a side note, they do the limited time thing with perfume too and it really bothers me because I get used to a perfume and then the store discontinues it. I read somewhere that men associate you with the perfume that you wear. That can be both good and bad.. think about it. I was wearing Lauren perfume and really didn't think guys noticed, and one year for Christmas I got Lauren from my boss, my Dad and my boyfriend.  They notice! They also notice your nails, makeup and jewelry, even if they won't admit it. Any guys out there that want to comment on this? But I digress.

This necklace will be a great addition to your wardrobe because it will make a little black dress look elegant or dress up a v-neck sweater.  There are also earrings in my shop that will look great with this necklace. It will take a couple of weeks to get this into my shop.  If you can't wait for it just send me an email at denise@jewelrybydm.com and I'll get it out to you asap. There is only one of these so first come first served.

Have a nice afternoon and I'll see you back here in 2 weeks.

Challenge Week 27

 Getting your wardrobe ready for fall and winter in the heat of summer always seemed a little crazy to me. I usually want to buy summer clothes in the summer. Lately, however, I realized that to get the new styles easily, without searching through every store, I have to start the fall and winter clothes shopping early; which leads me to this week's challenge.

This necklace will look great worn with a plain or turtle neck sweater. It is long enough to carry the bulk, yet delicate enough to be feminine. I used turquoise color Czech glass beads, (also used in challenge week 4), chain, and a beautiful medallion that you can see up close in the bottom picture. At first when I looked at this medallion I thought it was 4 little hearts in the center but I think it's a 4 leaf clover. The clasp is beautiful too, it has little Swarovski crystals on it. 

The original design for this necklace was inspired by a customer that wanted a necklace to wear with one of her sweaters, so I had purchased 2 of the medallions. After making her necklace I used different beads and chain to create this one.

Don't get me wrong, this necklace is very flexible and can be worn with a summer top, and even into the fall with a long sleeve blouse and jacket. Since I just made my first sweater purchase I'm in the winter wardrobe mode - not winter weather though.

Have a great week and enjoy the rest of the warm weather, fall is just around the corner.

You can see more of my jewelry on my website.

Challenge Week 26

Week 26... wow, half way through the challenge.  I wasn't sure I was going to make it this far.  In the beginning it was difficult to discipline myself to get the jewelry and blog done. I made sure that the jewelry was done so that Saturday morning I could post it on the blog, and now it's just part of my Saturday routine. Recently I watched the movie Julie and Julia and saw that a weekly challenge was a piece of cake (pun intended) compared to her challenge which was a daily challenge. Although cooking each day using another persons recipes is easier than creating a piece of jewelry. Just to have the stamina to come home from work every day and cook and then write a blog - I give her a lot of credit. She also ended up getting a book deal and a movie out of it so it paid off.

The piece of jewelry that is being used for this week's challenge was actually made last week along with the pendant that I did.  My co-worker asked me to make this ring and another one that is similar, one having her birthstone and the other her daughter's birthstone.  It is from the same book that the pendant was in so I can't claim the design, only the skill of reading the directions and bending the wire.

The ring is called the wave ring and the little waves that go off the ring on either side of the stones really make this unique.  On one side the wires are twisted to give it even more texture.  The ring in the book used smaller stones so there were 3 across the top; I like the larger stones because you can see them better and also it's easier to thread the wire through them.

If you would like a wave ring just send an email to me at denise@jewelrybydm.com - it is a great ring to give as a gift because I can customize it with birthstone colors using crystals and being unique the gift won't be duplicated.

Have a great week and I hope to see you back here next week.