Art Bead Earring Swap

Diana Ptaszynski of Suburban Girl Studio, hosted an Art Bead Earring Swap. And today we are revealing the Art Bead Earrings we received from our partners.

The rules were as follows:

Participants will create 1 pair of earrings containing at least 1 art bead on each earring.
You must have an active blog. That means you post on it at least a couple times a month.
You must live in the US or Canada.
Blog Reveal Date: October 5th.
Your earrings can be as simple or as elaborate as you want them to be. Just have fun!

I was paired with the lovely Cilla Watkins of Tell Your Girlfriends. She has a blog by that name and an Etsy store that is also called Tell Your Girlfriends. I’d seen Cilla’s name around in various online challenges I’ve participated in, but I’d never had any contact with her. That is one of the fun things about participating in challenges and exchanges; you get to know new people who share some of the same passions as you do. Cilla and I wrote to each other about what our favorite colors were and then we waited with anticipation to see what we each made for the other.

I told Cilla that I prefer autumn colors, such as oranges, russet reds, browns and golden hues. Here’s what the package looked like before I’d opened it. Oh, the anticipation! The packaging and the card she enclosed were all handmade by fellow Etsy artists.

What's inside? I can hardly wait to see!

I was so incredibly delighted with what she sent me! These earrings are perfect in every way!

Handmade Earrings by Cilla Watkins

A requirement of the exchange was that we use art beads. Cilla chose to use artisan made lampwork beads from two different artists.

Handmade Earrings by Cilla Watkins

The gorgeous lampwork glass, leaf-shaped head pins are by Ellen Dooley Lampwork, and the etched, cranberry colored lampwork glass beads are by Lynda’s Bead Dream. I also really love the little antiqued brass foliage bead caps that Cilla placed in a upward facing position.

Handmade Earrings by Cilla Watkins

And here is a glimpse of the earrings I made for Cilla, using ceramic from MartiC and lampwork from Beads and Botanicals. You can read more about them by going to her blog: Tell Your Girlfriends.