Brrr, Winter

Winter is here and many of us are shivering under layers of clothes.  But once you peel off your coat, scarf, hat and gloves, some wintery jewelry might just take the edge off the brrr.

Blue Snowflake Necklace 

This rustic necklace features a ceramic pendant by my friend Diana Ptaszynski, a handmade clasp that echoes the angles of the snowflake and gorgeous deep blue batik ribbon. Nobody will accuse you of being boring when you wear this unique artisan necklace!

Casual Snowflake Necklace

Perhaps you’d like something a little more subtle; something you can just slip over your head with a simple tee shirt or sweater. This necklace features my own handmade ceramic snowflake and a raku bead by Xaz Beads.

Let It Snow Earrings

I also have a couple of winter themed earrings in my shop.  These earrings have ceramic snowflakes by Bo Hulley and lampwork glass by my friends at Paradise Bead. All the wire is Sterling silver.  These are so pretty!

Tranquil Snowflake Earrings

These are my favorite of the four shown here.  The lampwork beads by Sue Beads shimmer with a silvery iridescence and the artisan sterling silver snowflakes are exquisitely detailed. These will make your ears happy!

What do you like best about winter? I like walking in crunchy sounding snow. How about you?

I am always delighted to read your comments! Hope to hear from you.

Linda Landig Jewelry

June 2017 Component Challenge

Today is the reveal for the June 2017 Component Challenge, hosted by Janice Everett in her Facebook group Artisan Create Together.  Mari Carmen of Majoyoal  donated 12 pairs of her beautiful ceramic components for this Challenge. I received one of the violet pairs from the picture below.

I  really admire Mari Carmen’s way with glazes.  Her color combinations and the way she swirls the glaze colors together, without them ever looking muddy, just fills me with awe. 

For some reason the larger Czech glass flowers in my photos look like they are blue.  In reality they are lavender and purple with hints of gold. The Swarovski crystals are a pale, translucent green which echos the green at the top of Mari Carmen’s ceramic components.

Mari Carmen lives in Spain and I speak a little very basic Spanish. Whenever she comments on my Facebook page in Spanish, I try to read it without hitting the translate button, although she frequently comments in English too.  If I am able, I like to comment on her posts in Spanish.  You may remember that we lived in Oaxaca, MX for 3 months, two or three years ago. So I like to use my tiny bit of Spanish when I can.

I just want to thank Janice for all the work she puts into Artisan Create Together and I’d like to thank Mari Carmen for generously sharing her beautiful ceramic components with us.

Linda Landig Jewelry

October We’re All Ears Reveal

Our Earrings Everyday challenge for October is to create a pair of earrings to go with one of these outfits from designer Monique Lhuillier,  as seen during the fall New York Fashion Week.

I especially identified with the center outfit, because although I’m at least twice as wide as the model, the dress I wore to my daughter’s wedding last month, was apparently on trend, as far as the lace and color.

This is kind of a goofy picture, but it shows the dress pretty well.  I did the flowers for my daughter’s wedding.  I’m holding the bridal bouquet here, while the bridesmaids were cheering me with their flowers. lol

The earrings I made are too casual for any of these dresses, but the dresses were definitely my inspiration.  I picked up the lace theme of the left and center dresses by using some flowered lace to impress into my stoneware.  And while I was at it, I made the pendants in several colors, in addition to the color of the inspiration . I chose a much lighter shade of plum than the dresses are, because I wanted the lace pattern to show through clearly (you can see that the lace doesn’t show up as clearly on the dark teal pendants),

Here are the earrings I then made.  As you can see, I picked up the darker, plumy tones in the flower dangles.  I kept the earring design very simple because the ceramic pieces are fairly large and I didn’t want to add additional length or weight.

To be truthful, these ceramic pieces turned out larger than I had somehow envisioned them to be (the ceramic pieces, without the ear wires, are just shy of 1.5 inches).  If you like large earrings and are comfortable with some weight in your ears, well then OK!  But I decided to list the ceramic pieces as pendants in my shop.

Other than having accidentally super-sized them, I’m very pleased with how they turned out and I found this challenge to be especially inspiring because it played well with my mother-of-the-bride dress. You can find these earring charms – uh-hum – pendants in the ceramics section of my shop.

A big thanks to Erin Prais-Hintz for organizing these challenges every month!

Head on over to the Earrings Everyday blog to get links to all the other participants.  It’s always so fun to see how each person has their own unique interpretation of the challenge photos.

I am always delighted to read your comments!   Hope to hear from you.

Linda Landig Jewelry

We’re All Ears :: June Tide Pools Challenge

Growing up near the Pacific coast, my fascination with tide pools dates back to childhood vacations on the ocean.  There is an entire ecosystem in each little puddle and pool.

Sea stars, anemomes, mussels and barnacles share habitat on Rialto Beach. Photo by Halfcenturyhiker.

Sea stars (aka starfish) usually have 5 arms, but sometimes we’d find sea stars with a many more arms than that.

The many colored sea anemones look like strange plants, but are actually animals that attach themselves to rocks and shells.  They wave their tentacles when the tide is in and close up when the tide is out.  If you accidentally step on one, it will squirt water!

Tide pools are also home to shellfish, such as mussels, limpets and barnacles.  Any kid who has ever clambered around on rocky tide pools in flip flops can tell you how viciously a barnacle can cut your foot, if you slip on some slick seaweed!

I can not imagine living far from the sea.  It’s where I go when I need council, comfort or serenity.

Which it to say that I love this month’s Earrings Everyday Tide Pools theme.  The earrings I made would be great to wear at the beach.  But I know that I’d wear them lots of other times, just to bring a bit of the beach into my everyday life.

The beautiful blue lampwork beads are handmade by Sue Kennedy of Sue Beads.  There is a lovely trailing of fine silver around these beads, which accents the sterling silver starfish that I dangled below them.

The Silver Starfish Earrings are available in my shop: Linda Landig Jewelry.  To see my entire Surf and Sand Collection go here:  Surf and Sand Collection

This is a blog hop.  To see everyone else’s tide pool inspired earrings, head over to Earrings Everyday, to get the links.

Linda

Linda Landig Jewelry

Moving – Jewelry That Is

I’ve been moving some of my jewelry away from Etsy and onto my new website.  Here are some of the new additions.  Think Mother’s Day (hint, hint).

This peachy little bird has a cozy nest to sit in.  This necklace is a like the ceramic version of what I see going on in our yard.  We live in the woods, so there are tons of birds here.  If you wake up early in the morning, their songs fill the air.  I love that!

Nested Bird Necklace

Nested Bird Necklace

When I was in my 20’s my husband and I spent 3 weeks riding the rails around Europe.  That was BB (Before Beads). We went to Venice and never even looked at any beads or sought out any glass makers.  This just makes me cringe whenever I think about it now.  Venice is a centuries old glass making center and Venetian glass beads are world renown.  So I remedied my previous oversight, by buying some beautiful handmade glass beads from an artist who has a studio in the historic center of the city of Venice.  Here are 2 pairs of earrings I made with her beads.  Which do you like best?

Sweet Lilac Earrings

Sweet Lilac Earrings

Orchid Blossom Earrings

Orchid Blossom Earrings (I love orchids!)

You’ve probably already figured out that I love the look that WoolyWire brings to jewelry design.  These earrings have great texture, with a Southwest US vibe.

Spring Fever Earrings

Spring Fever Earrings

This last pair of earrings were made just last week.  I made them on a beautiful spring day and named them-

Walking On Sunshine

Walking On Sunshine Earrings

Wishing you a sunny week!

I am always delighted to read your comments!   Hope to hear from you.

-Linda

Linda Landig Jewelry

Transitions

Its taken me awhile to transition back to my normal routine here in the states (I just returned from 3 months in Oaxaca, Mexico). I’ve picked up the old routines again, gradually.  I’m now back to doing my adult literacy tutoring on Tuesdays and Thursday afternoons.  Hubs and I have date night on Fridays. We’ve got books checked out from the library etc.  When we returned home, we found that our water heater was leaking, so we’ve gotten that fixed.  We’ve caught up on laundry and I spent some time cleaning up my studio.

Spring Celebration Earrings

The clean studio inspired me to create.  When it is a mess, I feel .paralyzed.  Mind you, the whole room isn’t clean yet, but there is space at my work table to create and so I did.

Spring Celebration Earrings

I’ve joined a group that is participating in a webinar series called “set yo space“.  It will focus on how to create an inviting studio space that inspires us to create, rather than having a space that paralyzes our muse.  I’ll write more about that, once we get going next week.

It’s a beautiful day in the Pacific Northwest.  Flowers are blooming, the sun is shining and I feel happy.  So I decided that a good name for the new earrings would be “Springtime Celebration”.  Its how I feel.

Springtime Celebration Earrings

The shield-shaped copper pieces were created by my good friend Kristi Bowman.  She colored them in the most amazing jewel-tones.  Love!  I topped them with some silver lined, turquoise glass beads and wove some hand-dyed ribbon above them.

Kristi shared some her customer’s recent work on her blog today, including these earrings.  You should check her blog post out.  All the jewelry is just yummy!

The Spring Time Celebration Earrings are available on my website now.

Bonus picture, just because I love flowers!  This is an  Akebia bloom from our backyard.

I am always delighted to read your comments!   Hope to hear from you.

-Linda

Linda Landig Jewelry

January 2015 in Review

The first month of 2015 has gone by in a rush.  Our big adventure is that we are living in Oaxaca, Mexico through the end of March.  We celebrated the New Year in Oaxaca by dancing to an awesome marimba band and watching fireworks.

Llano Park, Oaxaca Mexico

Skeleton paintings on a building in Oaxaca

Of course I brought beads with me here and I’ve been busy designing new pieces.  Oaxaca has been good for my creative mojo.

New in January –

Azul Bracelet

Azul Bracelet

Caramel Drop Earrings

Caramel Drop Earrings

Night Flight Necklace

Night Flight Necklace

After Midnight Necklace

After Midnight Necklace

Mexican Flor Earrings

Mexican  Flor Earrings

Turquoise Snowflake Necklace

Turquoise Snowflake Necklace

I’ve also been blogging like a crazy woman.

To read more about our Oaxacan adventures –

Mi Casa Es Su Casa  

Peaceful Patio

Birthday Celebration in Oaxaca

Some of my recent jewelry designs –

Snowflake Necklace

Use Your Stash – January AJE Reveal

On Earrings Everyday –

Mexican Flor

Cedar Earrings

On Art Jewelry Elements –

Have Beads, Will Travel

5 Pretty Marsala Color Palettes

I am always delighted to read your comments!   Hope to hear from you.

-Linda

Linda Landig Jewelry

Thank You Sale – 20% Off!

Happy Thanksgiving to all my readers.  I am thankful for our bead community on my blogs, on Facebook and here in my own neighborhood.

I’m having a 20% off sale on everything in my jewelry and component shop from now through the end of the day on Monday December 1st.  Just go to Linda Landig Jewelry and use either the coupon code TURKEY20 or TURKEY14 at check out and the 20% will be taken off your purchase.  Easy-peasy!  You’ll find necklaces, earrings, bracelets and ceramic pendants in a range of colors and prices.  Perfect for holiday gift giving or for accessorizing your holiday outfits.

This year I am seriously trying to avoid the malls and shop locally or online.  I feel so much calmer when I do so.  I hate being frazzled in the days leading up to the holidays.  Last year was awful in that way and I’ve resolved to approach things differently this year.

I have a show this Saturday.  If you are local, I hope you’ll come visit at the Lincoln School Winter Market!  I plan to do much of my shopping there and then wrap up the rest online.

Happy Thanksgiving to you from me! ❤

Autumn Joy

Autumn is my favorite time of the year.  I was even born on the first day of autumn!  I put together some wonderful autumn inspiration boards on the Art Jewelry Elements blog today.  You might want to check them out.

I’m going to be doing an online trunk show on October 18th and 19th.  I’ll be posting more about that soon.  But you should know that I’m busy making some cool autumn themed items to offer on trunk show.  In the meantime, I’ll highlight some of the fall items that are already in my shop.

These earrings combine the most beautiful, flawless smoky quartz and faceted carnelian with gorgeous lampwork glass leaves from Havana Beads.  Love these!

Since I love autumn colors so much, I have a lot of jewelry in those wonderful oranges, golds, reds and browns.  When you click on the photo, it will take you to the listing in my shop.

Here are a couple of flower pendants in autumn colors, for you jewelry designers out there.  We have fall dahlias blooming in this color in our front yard right now.

 

I hope you are enjoying sunny, golden autumn days.  Go outside and play in the leaves!

I am always delighted to read your comments!   Hope to hear from you.

-Linda

Linda Landig Jewelry

We’re All Ears July Reveal

Here is this month’s inspiration picture:

This was an easy inspiration for me.  We live minutes away from the very end of Puget Sound.  Its common to see the sail boats go gliding by.  And I had the perfect pair of ceramic charms from Diana P. of Suburban Girl Studio.

All I had to do was add a few dangles above the sailboats.  The blue beads are sodalite and the red beads are glass.  I attached them all to Vintaj brass ear wires and now I’m ready to go sailing!  Its perfect weather for that today.  All I lack is, um, a boat….  Oh well, the earrings are perfect for summer wear, even without a boat!

Sail Away Earrings

I am always delighted to read your comments!   Hope to hear from you.

-Linda

Linda Landig Jewelry