Valentine Earrings for Mama

Valentine Earrings for Mama
Valentine Earrings for Mama

I’ve posted this on facebook, but not here, I don’t think. My mother has lung cancer. She’s beat cancer twice before, both uterine and breast cancers. I like to think she can do it again, but she turned 80 in August, and that makes it harder this time.

She’s had radiation, and did well with that, but a recent bout of bronchitis had me pretty scared. An antibiotic and prednisone has her back on her feet AND behind the wheel, I’m happy to report.

There’ve been lots of other family illnesses to deal with lately, too. Needless to say, I’ve not done much crafting.

I AM trying to do special things for my mom, though. Yesterday, I took her a red velvet cake from Harris Teeter in Charlotte. When she was helping me keep PJ, my grandson, there, we scoured the city for red velvet cake and cupcakes. We decided we like the ones at the Harris Teeter the best of all! Their cream cheese frosting is not cloyingly sweet or fake tasting, and they’re topped with white chocolate curls instead of the usual red velvet crumbs.

In any event, I found these Swarovski crystal hearts at Fire Mountain Gems. They’re called “Wild Hearts,” and the color is light Siam. Other shades of pink and red were sold out, but that’s okay. I noticed not long ago that Mama doesn’t have any red earrings, and I wanted a pure red, anyway.

They are sold in pairs, and I bought two pairs. That was a good thing, because if you put too much pressure on them while you’re wrapping your head pin, they’ll split. I don’t want broken heart earrings! It’s also easy to take a chunk out of the top of the heart while you’re wrapping. These two survived, thankfully. My wire wrapping needs much practice, but I’m pretty pleased with the results. I hope Mama will be, too!

I went a little nuts……. again!

I went a little nuts……. again!
In my own defense, I have said, for the past three years, that when Michaels reduces their Christmas ribbons to 70% off,  I’ll stock up.  And so, I did! I chose colors that didn’t look too “Christmasy” that I could use in crazy quilting. The dollar ribbon bin was also full of satin rattail in many colors!

Hancock Fabrics had a great sale on trim and other goodies, too. Now my “Ribbons, Laces and Trims” bin is nice and full!

Michaels was also the source of this ribbon trim I chose for Mama’s pillow. I’m so proud of myself. I didn’t have the needlework with me, but I had enough sense to take the trim over to the embroidery floss to see if it was a match. It wasn’t on sale, but I had a coupon. SCORE!!!!

 

So much inspiration…

So much inspiration…
So much inspiration…

and what a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon! I am enjoying visiting Erin Prais-Hintz’s blog hop! There is so much beautiful work out there! I gave up on leaving comments on each one (they’re  just 80 participants!) but I’ll be back!

I realize I didn’t give Brandi Hussey her props Friday for putting together all 40 (40!) of the palettes for the hop. They are gorgeous and represent more hours of work than I care to think about!

Erin is putting up a special Pinterest board that has all the palettes. I’ll link to it so you can enjoy Brandi’s work as well as the work of  hop participants! I want to find them, too. I might challenge myself again!

I’ve repeatedly posted the palette I chose, but here are a few others I especially like:

I don’t think I’ve mentioned lately that these are Landsat satellite photos from the USGS via NASA! ‘Warms an old science teacher’s heart!

Here I am, late for the party as usual!

Here I am, late for the party as usual!
Here I am, late for the party as usual!

I signed up for TesoriTrovati’s (Erin Prais-Hintz) bead challenge at the first of the month, and after being given two palettes to choose from, I decided on the “Meandering Mississippi:”

Here is my creation:
I began by shopping my stash to see what matched:

My daughter had given me this beautiful focal bead to recycle, and I thought it looked “mapish,” not to mention being a dead ringer for the palette> I chose antique copper findings because of the rust color in the palette:

I set out to make a Bohemian “chain” for the bead using seed beads and ribbons I had on hand.

But after a lot of work, I met with technical difficulties, and abandoned that idea. Yesterday, after leaving my grandson at nursery school, I made a dash for the nearby Michaels. (We don’t have one in my hometown.) There was a copper chain that I had admired previously, and luckily, there were two strands left! I liked the “global” look of the links, and thought it went well with the “Earth as Art” theme.

I used copper jump rings and the simplest, round toggle from my stash to complete the chain. After much debate, I hung the focal bead from the center “globe” of the chain. It looked like it would be wonky, but I’m wearing it right now, and it hangs just fine:

I’ve not given up completely on that other necklace idea, but for now, I’m very pleased with my creation!
I’ll wear it to town, later!

Link’s to other challenge participants can be found on Erin’s blog, if these links don’t work:

Erin Prais-Hintz http://treasures-found.blogspot.com/2012/11/3rd-annual-challenge-of-color-reveal.html Rebecca Anderson http://songbeads.blogspot.com Kris Auderer http://strandedinthecity.wordpress.com Chrizette Bayman http://beadsoupmix.blogspot.com Lori Bowring Michaud http://artfullyornamental.blogspot.com Courtney Breul http://beadsbybreul.blogspot.com/ Lynsey Brooks http://yellowunicorncreations.blogspot.co.uk Stephanie Buss http://maxandlucie.blogspot.com Iveth Caruso http://www.creativeatelier.net/ Shannon Chomanczuk http://www.formysweetdaughter.blogspot.com Lisa Cone http://inspiredadornments.blogspot.com/ Cece Cormier http://thebeadingyogini.com Lori Dorrington http://lorisglassworks.blogspot.com Dawn Doucette http://designsbydawnmarie.blogspot.com Jeannie Dukic http://site.jkdjewelry.com/blog/ Kim Dworak http://cianciblue.blogspot.com/ Beth Emery http://storiesbyindigoheart.blogspot.com Janice Everett http://JLynnJewels.blogspot.com Pam Farren http://www.re-maker.blogspot.com Donetta Farrington http://simplygorgeous-donetta.blogspot.com Gloria Ferrer http://judetaama.blogspot.com.es/ Cherrie Fick http://designsinthelight.co Therese Frank http://www.theresestreasures59.blogspot.com Patty Gasparino http://www.mylifeunderthebus.typepad.com Tanya Goodwin http://pixiloo.blogspot.com/2012/11/3rd-annual-challenge-of-color.html Ambra Gostoli http://chicandfrog.wordpress.com/2012/11/27/3rd-challenge-of-color Jess Green http://tabbiekoshka.blogspot.co.uk/ Denielle Hagerman http://somebeadsandotherthings.com Mary Harding www.maryhardingjewelrybeadblog.blogspot.com Karla Hartzog https://karlakrafts.com (That’s me! What fine company I find myself in!) Kim Hora http://www.kimmykats.com Brandi Hussey http://brandigirlblog.com Emanda Johnson http://ArtemisiaStudio.blogspot.com Jennifer Justman http://soulsfiredesigns.blogspot.com/ Sue Kennedy http://suebeads.blogspot.com Ema Kilroy http://emakaye.blogspot.com Lee Koopman http://Stregajewellry.wordpress.com Linda Landig http://www.LindasBeadBlog.com Kirsi Luostarinen http://kirsiluokorut.blogspot.com Cynthia Machata http://antiquitytravelers.blogspot.com/ Alicia Marinache http://www.allprettythings.ca Beth McCord http://www.ebbeadandmetalworks.blogspot.com Mary K McGraw http://mkaymac.blogspot.com/ Karen Mitchell http://www.overthemoon-design.com Cheri Mitchell-Reed http://creativedesignsbycheri.blogspot.com/ Aimee Moisa http://threecatsdancing.blogspot.com Karla Morgan http://www.texaspepperjams.blogspot.com Penny Neville http://copperpennydesigns.blogspot.com Becky Pancake http://beckypancakebeaddesigns.blogspot.com Kashmira Patel http://sadafulee.blogspot.com Alice Peterson http://alice-dreaming.blogspot.com Kayla Potega http://www.teejewelry.blogspot.com Debbie Price http://greenshoot.blogspot.co.uk Bobbie Rafferty http://beadsong.blogspot.com Caron Reid http://caronmichelle.blogspot.com.au/ Nicole Rennell http://nicolerennell.com/blog Cynthia Riggs http://cynthsblog.blogspot.com/2012/11/3rd-annual-challenge-of-color.html Andrea Ross http://silvermapledesigns.blogspot.com/ Sally Russick http://thestudiosublime.com Annie Scherz http://www.studioluma.ca Pam Sears http://crazycreativecorner.blogspot.com/ Renetha Stanziano http://lamplightcrafts.blogspot.com Sandra Stein http://sannipanni.wordpress.com Kristen Stevens http://kristen-beadjourney.blogspot.com Tracy Stillman http://www.tracystillmandesigns.com (had to bow out due to a wrist injury) Sherri Stokey http://www.knotjustmacrame.com/2012/11/challenge-of-color-reveal.html Lola Survillo http://www.beadlolabead.blogspot.com Kay Thomerson http://KayzKreationz.blogspot.com Jo Tinley http://daisychaindesignsjewellery.blogspot.com Emma Todd http://www.apolymerpenchant.com Cory Tompkins http://www.tealwaterdesigns.blogspot.com Pam Traub http://www.klassyjoolz.blogspot.com Melissa Trudinger http://beadrecipes.wordpress.com Michelle Tucker http://michellescreativemusings.blogspot.com/ Shelley Graham Turner http://www.shelleygrahamturner.blogspot.com Monique Urquhart http://ahalfbakednotion.blogspot.com/ Rachel Van-Walsk http://balancedcrafts.com/blog Patti Vanderbloemen http://www.myaddictionshandcrafted.blogspot.com Lesley Watt http://thegossipinggoddess.blogspot.com Lynn White http://lynnwhitejewelry.com/Lynn_White_Jewelry/Lynns_Jewelry_Blog/Lynns_Jewelry_Blog.html Joan Williams http://www.lilrubyjewelry.com

This may be it!

This may be it!
This may be it!
This is as far as I got with my bead challenge before things fell apart, literally. I need to research ways to secure multiple strands of seed beads in one fastener. Crimping did not work. If I don’t get my necklace reworked tonight, this will be my post for tomorrow’s blog hop.

As you can see, I chose the, “Meandering Mississippi” palette: