Sterling Silver and Glass

Once again, Artbeads.com has been wonderful by providing some awesome sterling silver components and glass beads to try. I selected a range of beads and silver components including silver leaf charms, Venetian glass beads, Czech glass bricks, Bali sterling pendants, and sterling silver links. See below what I picked out!

I've been in quite an earring mood lately, so most of the jewelry I have created with these items were made into earrings. The pair on the left was made with very fine sterling silver chain, glass flower beads, and a 4mm Swarovski bicone. The pair on the right was made with Venetian glass beads, sterling silver flower bead caps, and aquamarine Swarovski crystal beads.


These simple earrings make use of Czech glass bricks, brown tone fire polished beads, and copper findings. The beads have a really nice earthy, vintage feel to them.


These sterling and swarovski earrings have really cool links. I've dressed up the copper leaf earrings by adding a large jumpring. The back side of the leaf beads is a copper finish, that really looks neat in sunlight.


I also made several simple necklaces using a sterling silver leaf pendant and crystal, and a really neat Bali sterling silver pendant paired with a gemstone teardrop.


There's your inspiration, now head on over to Artbeads and see what awesome beads and supplies they have! To sweeten the deal, I have a code for 10% off your entire purchase: SCF10P-ARTBEADS-0424 (expires 12/31/09).

If you're interested to see what I've made with Swarovski crystal from Artbeads, check out my previous post.

Please note that I have received the products free of charge from Artbeads.com and that I am honestly reviewing the products and have not been paid to do so.

Etsy is Awesome!

I had Beth of BPR Designs make a custom soap dish for me. The package arrived today and it was awesome! The soap dish is absolutely beautiful (and didn't sit without soap for long).

The package came with a really cute glass dragonfly magnet. Can you tell I love lime green?


Even more goodies were tucked inside with samples of soap from Lost River Rags and Candle Lights. You should check both shops out!

Etsy Artist Feature - Helix Elemental Jewelry

Glass artist Russ Colwell has worked in stained glass, mosaics and fused glass as well as metal fabrication and digital art. If I had to choose one favorite item from Helix Elemental, which contains glass pendants, earrings, and barrettes, I would be debating with myself for many hours trying to choose just one!


Russ says, "I use 90 COE thin glass and dichroic glass. I usually work with transparent rather than opaque glass. I also use dichroic on clear glass rather than on black glass because I like to borrow from the colors of the glass beneath the dichroic. It also has more of a gem quality.
I have a preference for heart pendants because I never seem to run out of new ways to layer and combine the various colors of glass. If I have anything that can be called a signature style, it would probably be my way of using multiple layers of glass and fusing with a very “shallow” tack fuse. Rather than the more common techniques of full fusing and incorporating all the layers into one, I like to retain the shape and defined edges of the glass while finding ways to make the layers work together."

He likes making jewelry the best of all things he's tried. Often he shares ideas with his wife, Christina Colwell, who is a mixed media folk artist.


Be sure to stop on by and check out the beautiful items for sale! He is offering free shipping worldwide (nudge, nudge).