We’re All Ears :: February
Welcome to the Earrings Everyday Challenge! Have I told you that I am now writing for Earrings Everyday? This month (and every month after this) we are hosting a fun earring challenge and blog hop. We post a picture on the Earrings Everyday blog to inspire your earring designs and then one month later we have a blog hop to see what everyone has made! Sound fun? If you didn’t get in on it for February, you can hop on board in March.
Here is the February picture, with a natural heart from Mother Nature.
February Earring Inspiration
My first thought was to use some dragonfly charms as dangles on the earrings. The dragonflies had a shiny fake gold coating on them which I decided to sand off. I then painted them with VerDay so I could then patina them, (VerDay is a paint which contains very fine metallic pieces which can be used to create a patina). I thought that a nice verdigris patina would pick up the greens and turquoise in the photo. Nice idea, but FAIL!
Botched dragonfly charms
I re-sanded them and tried again, but still no better. I later learned that the insects in the photo are not actually dragonflies. They are damselflies. ::Shrugs shoulders:: Who knew? Soooo, on to Plan B.
And its all good, because I’m very happy with the Plan B earrings.
Tropical Escape Earrings
The orangy-coral ceramic discs are from Marsha Neal Studio. They echo the orange at the ends of the damselflies bodies. The turquoise glass beads pick up the color of the insects’ eyes.
Tropical Escape Earrings
The colors of the earrings somehow make me think of a tropical vacation (I think the gray rainy days are getting to me), so I named these earrings “Tropical Getaway”.
Now comes the fun part. Click on the link below to get links to all the challenge participants. Then visit their blogs to see all the wonderful earrings they have created!
I am always delighted to read your comments! Hope to hear from you.
Linda's Bead Blog & Meanderings 
Plan b is a winner!
What a shame about your dragonflies! I didn’t realise what sort of bug they were either! But Plan B worked out very nicely – beautiful, rich colours.
Sorry your dragonflies didn’t quite work out, I’d put them in the tumbler and see if that might safe them. I’m with Kathy, plan B is a winner!!
What an interesting idea!!! I love dragonflies or damselflies. They are popular now.
So yummy !! Love how you connect the ceramic discs to the beads.
Love that colour combination!
Terrific earrings. Sorry the dragonflies didn’t turn out the way you had hoped. I think it is cool you shared them anyway.
Your earrings are so deeply satisfying to look at and to imagine wearing. Congratulations.
Isn’t it wonderful when Plan B works out so well. I love the contrasting colors!
And, thanks for sharing about your misadventure with the charms, too. We can all learn from these.
Lynda
Isn’t it funny how our original ideas can lead to something totally different and that makes us happier than the original might have? I love what you ended up with. Lovely job 🙂
I kinda like the way the dragonflies turned out – at least they look good to me in the photo. The final design looks great, though, so glad you were able to come up with a “Plan B.”
LOL, Linda, I DO like Plan B better! Bright and cheerful just like the picture!
Love your style and am flipping out over the BEAUTIFUL EARRINGS i WON FROM YOU!!! what an uplift for my month–the snowiest month of Feb. in NY since 1996! xoxox jean THANK YOU SO MUCH CARD!
CARD???= WELL, THAT JUST popped up from my conversation I was having with my DH–ignore it. but I repeat I am THRILLED XOXOX jean 🙂
Oooh, I’m happy with the pair you ended up creating too Linda – those are super! Love the colors and the design. Glad you’re writing for earrings everyday. I love to hop over there and drool over earrings when I get the chance – it’s always inspirational!
I absolutely love the ceramic discs! You captured the colors from the picture very well, and isn’t it interesting how plan B usually ends up so well?
Love the earrings you decided to share. Those dragonfly charms have potential, though!
I like your blotched dragronflies. Rustic would be cool on leather necklace with other charms
Really lovely, the colours are perfect and really complement each other!
I like the patina on the dragonflies, but your Plan B earrings are a really beautiful interpretation of the challenge picture. I love their simple design.
I thought they were dragonflies too! I like your tropical escape earrings, so bright and cheery.
Well, I think Plan B was just fine, love the earrings!
I do think this color palette is very fresh and springy! I am glad that you showed something that didn’t work. Sometimes it seems as if we only show the highlights, but we learn so much from the opposite! I quite like your little dragonfly charms (never heard of VerDay!) and I hope you get to use them in something else. But I do love your escape and I am with you wherever you want to go! Thank you for joining in the We’re All Ears challenge. Hope to see you next month! Enjoy the day. Erin
There is an easy way to tell the difference between dragonflies and damselflies. Dragonflies sit at rest with their wings open and either horizontal or slightly downward. Damselflies at rest have their wings together and “up” over their abdomen. We would teach the students we took to our outdoor classroom that if you put your arms above your head and brought your hands together, you were being a damselfly, but if you put your arms out straight horizontal to your shoulders, then you were mimicking a dragonfly at rest. They remembered this! Meanwhile, I agree that your Plan B turned out wonderfully, but I also enjoyed how you shared the process you used in Plan A. I also like the way you shared your inspiration from nature with the photo. You do make lovely earrings, Linda!
Oh Linda, the earrings turned out great! I love the color combination and how you strung them too. Very pretty!