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.

Challenge Week 25

This week's challenge piece was a challenge, a pleasant but difficult one. 

A co-worker had this beautiful purple stone, it looks like an emerald cut to me, and asked if I could put it into a setting for her. I showed her a book with some examples and she chose this orbit pendant setting. I like that one also and had wanted to try it. So when I started to make it I realized that the author wasn't very good at writing directions.  I had not used this book before, I bought it because I liked the wire work in it. It seemed difficult as I was making it, however when I finished it I realized that the way the author described the steps it was just difficult because I was so confused.  Now that I've made it I know what to do and the next one will be easier.

The finished pendant looks beautiful. I used sterling silver wire for the whole piece. I didn't take measurements but it is approximately 2 inches long and sits about an inch high.  The stone is so beautiful that it would enhance any setting.

Thanks for stopping by.  Come back next week for the next challenge.

Challenge Week 24

This week, for challenge 24, I decided to make a piece of jewelry that can be considered as a gift for the July birthday. The stone for July is the Ruby, and can be quite expensive. So I used a stand-in stone, a crystal that is a ruby color.

Red is one of my favorite colors and can be combined nicely with other colors. A popular color combination is red with black and that is what I did with these earrings. The starting point for the earrings is a laser lace silver plated fan, The fan by itself would be nice as earrings with the beautiful swirls and textured triangle at the top of the fan. I added Swarovski crystals in Ruby and Jet hanging from the edges of the fans.  These earrings went together so quickly because it was such a joy to make them, and they look great.

These will be posted in my store and I may make them in other colors too. If you would like a pair in another color just let me know and I can make them for you.

Thanks for reading and I'll see you next week.
Denise

Challenge Week 23

When I first started making jewelry it was for myself, then for family and friends as gifts. Then I started selling jewelry that I made and rarely made anything for myself. Which brings us to this week's challenge.

In my closet is a pink, no iron, oxford shirt that I love to wear. The only problem is that I struggle each time with what jewelry to wear with it. Yes, I make jewelry but don't have anything to wear with an outfit. So this week I decided to make a pair of earrings to wear with my pink shirt.  Swarovski has a lot of faceted rondells that I use to make earrings and I found the perfect color, it's called Vintage Rose. It's beautiful and I'm not sure that my picture does it justice.I only bought the 4 beads because I wanted to be sure they were going to go well with the shirt and if I would be happy with the color. I will buy more of these, they are beautiful!  They are a little on the expensive side because they are Swarovski crystals and they have an Aurora  Borealis finish. They look so pretty, it was worth every penny. The center spacer bead is  antiqued silver, complimenting the vintage rose, it's just enough to highlight the beads without taking away from the crystal. The earrings hang from fancy hooks with completes the look with style.

Similar earrings are on my website in black, red and red & black. I plan to make them in blue and peridot too.  So watch for them.  My website address is www.jewelrybydm.com

Have a great week, stay cool, and I'll see you here next weekend.