Mother of Pearl Wrapped with Silver Earrings!

These mother of pearl beads

remind me of whipped honey!

Originally, I got these beads to match a new suit. After making a necklace with them, I came up with the earring design below...

Whipped Honey Earrings

These mother-of-pearl beads are of random sizes and shapes, but after pairing them, I wrapped each with silver wire and silver beads. Each earring has three silver bead dangles and hang from handmade earring wires.

Happy Creating!

National Wear Red Day!

It's National Wear Red Day!

 Everyday women are dying
 at the rate of almost one per minute!
That's 1 out of 3 woman! 

 I knew the rate was high, but this is ridiculously high!   Mothers, daughters, sisters, aunts ... all of us must fight this and be good to our hearts ... fight heart disease!  Do you have heart disease in your family? I do! 

So this is why I am watching what I eat and training for the Tulsa Run 2010 (Okay, honestly I'm only doing the Fun Run...but you have to start someplace!). Sometimes it's just small steps to be healthy, but each step counts!  And don't give up!

Go here and learn more about

 "National Wear Red Day" 

at the American Heart Association!  

Wear Red!

Copper Heart Earrings all Wrapped Up!

Valentine's Day is just around the corner!

 My husband and I gave each other an 

early Valentine's Day present

 - Eric Clapton tickets for next month

...oh, boy!  

But the 14th will be celebrated too!  In honor, I made the copper heart earrings just for fun... I used large gauge copper wire which I shaped into hearts and hammered it, then I torched it to add the deep copper color.  And I used iridescent seed beads to embellish the copper hearts by wrapping them on the heart with silver wire. Then I added small silver handmade earring wires.  Now these fun little hearts are ready to wear!

Happy Creating!

A Day of Gluttony!

My birthday, yesterday,
was a day of GLUTTONY!

Lunch with friends at the Olive Garden and dinner with my husband at the Melting Pot...whew, three hours of fondue, what was I thinking?  If I eat today, it will be soup!

Here, I'm thinking, 

this is WRONG, 

but I jumped in anyway!

Mmmm...Banana's Foster Fondue...it was heavenly!

Today, it's all about ear wire gluttony!   I used my torch to make a ball on the end of fine silver wire, then shaped them into ear wires. Tossed them into the rock tumbler to work harden and polish.   Nervous at first, I soon decided it was simple and I made more then I initially planned!  I now have a stash of handmade ear wires...oh, boy! (21 pairs in ALL!)

Traditional Ear Wires!

Circular Ear Wires!

And then some Crazy Ear Wires!

I learned that you can use sterling wire for this process, but you must quench the torched wire in a pickling solution, clean and polish accordingly.  Great to know!  (I'll be trying it sometime!)  If you are interested in making these fine silver ear wires yourself, watch this video by Creative Jewelry Making .  

Happy Creating!

PS  Almost forgot, I can mark off another "Must Try" item!  Yay!!  And I want to thank everyone for the birthday greetings...It made my day!!  Thank you!

Happy Birthday to Me!

What a great birthday weekend I had playing in the snow (six inches!) with our neighbors...shoveling snow (2 1/2 driveways), snowball fights, making snow angels, and afterwards we even ventured out to have a late lunch with them!

Today is my birthday and I'm not sure what my day will be like, but I'm pretty sure, my hubby will be taking me out to dinner!

One of my goals this month is to learn how to make rivets. And to guide me in this new skill, I've selected my "Book of the Month" which is "Wrap, Stitch, Fold & Rivet: Making Designer Metal Jewelry" , by Mary Hettmansperger. I'm excited about diving into this birthday present to myself! Happy Birthday to me!

Hopefully, you will come back this month

and see if I master this technique

without loosing any fingers!

Enjoy your day!