Earring Partnership: Nina Designs and me

So far, the new year has brought me luck. One of my good luck events has been partnering with Nina Designs. Their representative, DeAnna, sent me a package of goodies that included the bronze three tear drop links and bronze hook earring finding

The minute I saw the tear drop links, I imagined a set of earrings combining the beautiful golden bronze with silver accents. Mixing metal colors would make the earrings go with any outfit. I had just finished taking an online jewelry class where we had re-used vintage rhinestone jewelry. My jewelry supply stash was overflowing with bits of rhinestones which were the perfect accent to the warm bronze color.

Showing off my quirkiness - one of the links is upside down!

What's even better about these earrings is they're quick and easy to make. You need four silver plated 6mm jump rings along with two vintage rhinestone drops, two teardrop links and two earring findings. Attach the teardrop links to the earring finding using the 6mm silverplated jumprings. Use the other jumprings to attach the vintage rhinestone findings to the smallest drop.

Quick, easy and beautiful. That's how I like it. What a beautiful partnership!

Inspiration found while wandering a bazaar

On the annual trek to Anime North, it was expected that the parents would stay away. So The Bean Counter and myself set out to explore. This exploration lead to a surprising bit of inspiration in a very unexpected place - the flea market. No, not a flea market full of garage sale finds but a flea market like the five and dime or the dollar store.

There's a flea market/five and dime near my home but the mix of cultures in the one we ventured into in Ontario near Toronto made the trip almost like walking through a bazaar - spices, clothing, jewelry, electronics, dvds - everything you could want to buy. Among the booths of saris and salwar-kameez I found stalls of Indian jewelry sparkling Indian jewelry this one below:



You know I find inspiration in rhinestones and include them in beads with abandon. So I was happy to be among so many rhinestones.

The jewelry was beautiful in the stalls but when worn, it's even more lovely! The picture below is courtesy of The Style of India Blog.



I walked out of the flea market/bazaar with a big happy rhinestone smile on my face!

The Material World: Rhinestones AND Silver

Adhering to the adage of "More is better," I took the Bling Factor techniques of melting fine silver and embedding rhinestones and combined them into the Organic Glass Links. The cobalt blue glass link has two rhinestones and fine silver. The Amber Rose glass links has two links with fine silver and one link with a rhinestone and fine silver.

All week while I've been writing The Bling Factor series, I've thought of Madonna's Material Girl - a campy impression of Marilyn Monroe with plenty of The Bling Factor!

Rhinestones in Everything?

How about rhinestones in a gear bead? What do you think?