Snowflake Necklace

AJE Component of the Month Reveal

Once a month Art Jewelry Elements (AJE) hosts a component giveaway and jewelry reveal.  December’s component was made by Diana Ptaszynski of Suburban Girl Studio.  Members of the Art Jewelry Elements team, plus a few  lucky guest artists were given one of these awesome ceramic snowflake pendants to design with.  Today we get to see what everyone created!

Ceramic Snowflake Pendants by Suburban Girl Studio

I received one of the turquoise snowflakes to work with.  I decided to highlight the triangular shaped points of the snowflakes, by using some bicone shaped beads and by creating a triangular shaped clasp.

The triangular link is based on a link from Cindy Wimmer‘s book The Missing Link.  I used a bit lighter gauge wire and made it a bit smaller, so it wouldn’t overwhelm Diana’s pendant.  Then I used the same basic idea, but created a hook on one end, so I could use it as a clasp.

The beads are strung on walnut colored Irish waxed linen.  The beautiful batiked ribbon wrapped a bead order I got from Karen Totten of Starry Road Studio.  It has some turquoise in it, along with shades of blue, black and green.  So pretty and it was a perfect finishing touch for my necklace.

Thank you Diana for sharing your pendants with us! Visit Suburban Girl Studio to see more of Diana’s work!

Want to see more gorgeous  jewelry with Diana’s snowflake pendants?  Click on the links below to see what the other participants created.   Have fun!

Guest Artists

Dana Hickey

 

AJE Blog Team

Lindsay M Starr

Linda Landig

Lesley Watt

Caroline Dewison

Susan Kennedy

Jen Cameron

Jenny Davies-Reazor

Melissa Meman

Kristen Stevens

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

-Linda

Linda Landig Jewelry

2014 Holiday Ornament Swap & Blog Hop

In October I, and many others, received invitations to participate in Sally Russick’s annual Holiday Ornament Swap/Hop.  I’d never participated before, but it sounded like fun.  Sally said one of the reasons she enjoys hosting the ornament swap each year is that it offers an opportunity to connect with a old bead friends or make new connections.

I was given the opportunity to make a new connection with Sandi Volpe.  I was certainly familiar with her name in the bead community, but I’d never connected with her.  I enjoyed getting to know her a little bit.

Ornament from Sandi Volpe

I’m not sure how Sandi made this.  The back of the star is copper.  I’m guessing that the front was either made with molten solder or molten pewter.  In any case it is really cool looking.Did you notice that there is a crystal embedded on the left side of the star?  It twinkles in the lights on the Christmas tree!

Sandi’s ornament on our Christmas tree.

She also very generously sent along some beady goodness!  Of course I love receiving new beadies!

Bead and component gifts from Sandi Volpe.

I made a stoneware snowflake ornament for Sandi and topped it with a beautiful lampwork bead by Stone Designs. Did this whet your appetite to see more handmade ornaments?  Check out the other blogs links below to see what everyone made!

1.  Sally Russick  and Tanya Goodwin
2.  Veralynne Malone  and Sally Russick 

3.  Melissa Trudinger  and Elisabeth Auld

4.  Erin Prais-Hintz  and Lesley Watt 

5.  Jenny Davies-Reazor and Patti Vanderbloemen 

6.  Kim Bender-Hora and Beth and Evie McCord

7.  Becky Pancake and Lynne Bowland 

8.  Therese Frank  and Karen Williams

9.   Melissa Meman  and Linda Hanes 

10.  Sandi Volpe  and Linda Landig 

11. Alicia Marinache  and Susan Kennedy  

Thank you Sandi for the beautiful ornament and the extra beads!  And thank you Sally for hosting the swap and blog hop!   Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas and a New Year that brings you new opportunities and joy.

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

-Linda

Linda Landig Jewelry

Snowflake Earrings and a Cold

News Day Tuesday

Welcome to Tuesday News Day; the day for jewelry updates and other relevant or possibly irrelevant news.

New Snowflake Earrings

I’m in bed with a miserable head cold, so today’s post will be brief.  I’d just like to share these new earrings, made with lampwork glass by Beads and Botanicals and ceramic snowflake charms by Bo Hulley Beads.

“Let It Snow” Earrings

I love how the lampwork beads have so many soft colors in them.  The colors are not only beautiful, but they makes these earrings so versatile.  They will look great paired with blues, green, lilac and all neutrals.

“Let It Snow” Earrings

I came across a link to beautiful, macro photos of snowflakes that I wanted to share with you.  These really are amazing!  http://www.mymodernmet.com/profiles/blogs/andrew-osokin-macro-snowflake-ice-photographs

 

I’ve got a blog hop coming up soon and other bits of news, but I’m going to sign off here and just work on getting well for a day or two.  Take care.

-Linda

 

 

AJE Component Of The Month Challenge

(Find the Challenge Of Color blog hop here!)

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Every month the Art Jewelry Elements team hosts a component of the month challenge.  For the November challenge, Lesley Watt of  THEAtoo provided an absolutely gorgeous snowflake focal, which she created with bronze metal clay. 

I received the snowflake on the top left.  I’d imagined these as being button sized, but they are actually quite large.  Once I saw the actual size, I had a pretty clear idea of what I wanted to do.  So I started playing with beads in my stash that might work with the design I pictured in my head.  Here’s my snowflake, sitting on the coffee table with some loose beads.  I tried out several different arrangements before I was satisfied.

One of my current jewelry goals is to improve my wire working skills, so I decided to wire all the components, instead of stringing them.  There are 3 different methods of wire wrapping in the finished necklace.

And here’s how it turned out.  I’m really pleased with it!  The colors are quite unusual, especially for a snowflake necklace, which usually ends up being blue.  Blue is OK, but I really like these colors with the bronze and I like that the colors introduce an element of surprise to the winter theme.  Winter can get really bleak in western Washington and I need bursts of color to keep myself energized!

In addition to Lesley’s snowflake, I used turquoise clay beads by Summers Studio, a greenish-brown bead by Artisan Beads and a pale blue bead by Gaea.  In addition to the handmade components, I added turquoise, pressed glass and a glass chevron bead.

The AJE team members who are part of this blog hop are listed below as well as the 2 lucky readers who won a snowflake component.  Check out their fantastic designs.  You will be amazed at all the creative talent in this group! 

Additionally, I encourage you to check out the Challenge of Color blog hop which is  going on today also (and was mentioned at the start of today’s post).

Jennifer Cameron

Kristi Bowman-Gruel

Diana Ptaszynski

Kristen Stevens

Jenny Davies-Reazor

Lesley Watt

Francesca Watson

Melissa Meman

Joanne TInley

Linda landig

Sue Kennedy

Jean Wells

Marie- Noel Voyer-Cramp

Therese Frank

Winter Snowflake Necklace

 

News Day Tuesday

Welcome to Tuesday News Day; the day for jewelry updates and other relevant or possibly irrelevant news.

Thank You!

First off I want to sincerely thank everyone who helped make this Thanksgiving weekend a success.  This includes shoppers, people who shared my promotions in their social media and the jewelry groups I belong to!  Thank you so much!

Coupon Code: AWHOLIDAY & Giveaway

The coupon code AWHOLIDAY is still valid in my Etsy shop and my ArtFire shop through the end of the month!  Soooo, if you missed out on the shopping frenzy this weekend, brew yourself a nice cup of tea and shop without frenzy, through November 30th.  Enter AWHOLIDAY in the coupon code box at checkout and receive 20% off your order.  Sweet, huh?

My earring giveaway runs through Nov. 30th also.  You can enter to win here.

Snow Day Necklace

Snow Day Necklace

I added the Snow Day necklace to my Etsy shop a day or two ago.  This is perfect for the holidays!  Here’s what I  especially like about this necklace:  It looks awesome for Christmas, but because there are no Santas or other Christmas-y stuff on it, it is perfect for the whole winter season.  Go ahead and wear it with green for Christmas, but it looks smashing on blue, black, neutrals and non-Christmas-y greens too.  I sized it longer (26.5 inches) so it can fit with a collar or over a sweater.

Snow Day Necklace