Evolution

We had a wonderful week last week - my niece and her twins, Ollie and Evie (now 14+ months) and my other niece and her son (Gavin - now 10 weeks) came to visit me and their Great Grandma ON THE SAME DAY!  Since I have been taking jewelry pictures, in MACRO MODE, I have lost almost all abilities to take a picture of anything else.  I apologize in advance for these crummy photos!

Mom and I invaded Babies R Us to have a stash of toys around whenever little ones visit.  Books were number 1 on the list, as Evie, below with my Mom, LOVES her books!

Don't you just love Ollie's bow tie??!!  My goodness, he is adorable!

I also purchased, appropriately colored toy bins - they had just as much fun in the bins as they did with the toys!  Never mind that Ollie is in the pink one and Evie is in the blue one....so cute!

Even Gavin had fun!

I managed to make a few new pieces of jewelry as well.  I titled this Blog Post Evolution, because I am finally using some beads that I have been hoarding admiring for quite some time!

 First up - I swear, I have had these lampwork beads from Susan Kennedy of Sue Beads forever.  They are large holed beads - I never use large holed beads, as I stay away from leather or fibers.  But, I just loved the jewel-toned colors!

I just added a tiny piece of sterling silver coiled wire inside the bead to hold it in place, and flanked the ends with larger, pewter nuggets to "hide" the holes.  

Speaking of Sue Kennedy, I also had this glass cabochon that I wanted to use as a focal.  So, I bezel set it in silver.  

I did not want to distract from this beautiful Ammonite focal - so a simple sterling chain was the initial vision.  I did add one additional bead - a handmade hollow bead - this time I crafted the bead in sterling silver.  I wanted the hollow bead to evoke the feeling of a closed clam shell - not sure if it does or not, but I still like the bead!

I added riveted chain and a gorgeous sterling silver shell charm that I commissioned from Lesley Watt  of  THEAElements at least 2 years ago (2 years!!)  I have a couple more of those charms in my stash, too!

The focal sits nicely on the wrist when worn.

I posted a picture about a month or so ago of these gorgeous beads by Donna Millard

I normally keep all of her beads in one gorgeous pile in a handmade ceramic bowl smack dab in the middle of my bench, sometimes for an entire year or so  (inspiration??)  What can I say, it makes me happy just to look at them!  I shocked myself yesterday when I actually plucked them from the bowl before their normal "expiration date" and  used them in this necklace.

I am not sure what I love the most about these beads - the dark, rosy red, the light pink, the flecks of gold, or that nugget shape!

The link above, by Cindy Wimmer, has to be my favorite as it is so versatile.  It makes an awesome  link, bail - or toggle clasp for that matter!  I have used it often.  I forged the heart from copper sheet and handmade rivets - a technique I learned last year from an e-course by Kerry Bogert.

All in all, last week was pretty good!  Back to the grind stone!

Thank you so much for stopping by today!  I hope you all have a lovely week!

xo

Patti