New earring design

I'm struggling with a painting right now so it was nice when this earring design came together just like I envisioned. They are incredibly light! I used more fabric scraps from my quilter friend and various jewelry findings I had on hand. I love re-purposing!

Building inventory

I seriously need to take a course in photographing jewelry as the fine detail doesn't show up in my pictures.

I made the pendant. It is an oval stone in shades of blue and violet that almost looks like a seascape. The beads that make the chain are a mix of matte and crystal in shades of blue and violet.

This one is similar to the last in that it has a mix of matte and crystal beads. It also has "gold" spacers and a sea glass and crystal center piece.



This necklace has a purchased pendant in silver, rust and turquoise. The chain has turquoise and rust beads with silver spacers. It has a Southwestern feel to it.

The last one is my favorite. I've had the pendant for over a year. It is made of rusted metal that has been lacquered. The beads are a mix of red coral, copper and tiger eye.

Degas's reputation is safe

This is my first acrylic painting. Hopefully, the subject is obvious--it is a sunflower. It looks a little like a cross between a sunflower and a plate of bacon. However, here's some important things I learned:

• planning your painting saves time in the long run
• color mixing is hard
• using gels for texture is interesting
• using glazes for mood is critical
• you can re-work acrylics to death

More cheers

This pair has a blue fabric center, brass medallion and crystal on a Belles beer cap. Modeled by Kara.

Cheers for your ears

I stole this design from a vendor at the Tulip Festival this Spring. They are made from Coors Lite bottle caps--the logo is on the back side of the earring. I built on the design by filling the center of the cap with a black and white fabric, adding a medallion and a crystal and finishing them with a tiny peace sign charm. They are modeled by my lovely daughter-in-law. I am selling earrings like these for $20 a pair.

new jewelry design

After too many tries to find the right shot on these earrings, I've decided this one is okay and there are other things to do on this lovely Saturday morning. I've been experimenting with using fabric in earring designs. A good friend, who is a quilter, supplied the fabric and here are my first two attempts. I'm really having fun using different fabrics to see what jewelry components they suggest. The earrings are super light, and despite the print on the fabric, they tend to go with lots of things.

Mike

Really hard for me to capture this one. The quote says, "A society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they will never sit." This was a gift for Mike, who is my boss. It's been a hard transition for him to go from serving clients where results were immediate and tangible to being the Chief Learning and Development Officer where, on a good day, you influence the creation of learning platforms and initiatives. In spite of the personal challenge, Mike has accomplished so much for the people of Ernst & Young and I wanted him to know that I recognized and appreciated his legacy.

I have three males on my team and failed to photograph their gifts. I bought each one an appropriate book for their coaching specialty and then made them each a leather bookmark. I dyed the leather and wrote sayings on each one that I think captured their personalities. For example, on Jim's I wrote, "I see good people" as he always looks for what is good in others and never has an unkind word for anyone. I attached a "charm" to each bookmark. I searched thru rolls of pennies until I found the year that each of them joined EY and then attached that penny to an antiqued disc that I stamped with the phrase "lucky EY". I'm the one that has been lucky to know all the members of this team!