May Year of jewelry project

So I seem to have pretty much given up on the themes but here are my Year of Jewellery makes for May
Week 18 (May 2) - Birthstone of the Month: Emerald (it has green in it?)
This piece was made for the Bead Peps Swap n Hop....

Week 19 (May 9) - My Mom's Favourite Colour (Can't say I know what my mum's favorite colours is!!)

Week 20 (May 16) - The Elements (they came from the earth?)

Week 21 (May 23) - Victoria's Secret (secret locket)

Week 22 (May 30) - Mixed Media (glass by the lovely Jen Cameron of Glass Addictions, peridot and silver)!

D - Design

A to Z Challenge (things I love)

Here is what I designed and made for The Year of Jewelry Project in March, not managing to stick to the themes any more because the muse has ideas of her own....

Week 10 - Birthstone of the Month: Aquamarine (fail - these are not Aquamarine)!

Princess Tiana Earrings

These are part of my ongoing princess range made from hammered copper, sterling silver, Chrysoprase cabs and lampwork headpins. 

Week 11 - Hinged (fail again - no hinges)!

Simple Prong Set Earrings

Sterling Silver Set Tourmaline

These were made for a tutorial I wrote for Art Jewelry Elements Simple prong set rough tourmaline  studs, so if you would like to give it a go, head on over to the blog! 

Week 12 - Spring is in the Air (kind of)!

Moss Agate

I suppose it is kind of spring like! A Dennis Hardy wrap pendent, Moss agate wrapped in 2mm copper. I love these stones, they are such beautiful colours and have a wonderful depth to them.

Week 13 - Something I have Never Tried Before

Never made a stamped and sawn lentil bead before so this one fitted the theme!! It was made for the Art Jewelry Elements Hare blog hop!

Make a Statement Challenge

Today I am joining in with the wonderful Sally Russick's Make a Statement Jewelry Challenge.
This one really was a challenge for me as I find that I am normally drawn to making small delicate items of jewellery not really Statement pieces!

A while back I made a ring using one of Jen Cameron's beautiful Lampwork head pins and when the amazing Jen saw it she suggested making a stacker ring with one, so plucking up the courage to part with yet another of my beloved lampwork head pins (You all know I have hoarding tendencies) I got to making and here it is....

I absolutely love the colours in the lampwork, it really is so beautiful. It started off being 3 rings thick but I had to keep adding rings until I felt that the width of the all rings balanced the size of the cab, so six thick it is!

I added a small 5x7mm amethyst cab to bring out the purple in the glass, and a small silver blob with two hammered bands to add a bit of texture and interest.

The only problem is as I have not mastered the art of measuring rings yet, and these ones after all the hammering ended up being too big for my child sized fingers, so into the Hallmarking pile they go!

Still I learnt a lot while making these that I will apply to the next set I make, and I found out that I really rather enjoy making rings!

Thank you so much to the lovely Sally for hosting yet another great blog hop, Please take a moment and see what the other participants came up with!

Sally Russick 
Kim Dworak 
Terri Gauthier
Elizabeth Bergesen
Karin Grosset Grange
Paula Kramer 
Patti Vanderbloemen 
Therese Frank 
Beth McCord
Niky Sayers 

and have a wonderful day x

Year of Jewellery wk 5 & 6

I'm already a week behind but hey life happens!
For week 5 the prompt was Mid-Winter Memories, well this was started mid winter and then just sat there half done for ages, so I finished it off....

Labradorite set in sterling silver with a 4 in 1 chain maille bracelet and beautiful butterfly clasp by daisy chain extra.

With a cute cut out heart detail on the back, a little secret just for the wearer!

The beautiful flash from the stone, which unfortunately chipped a little, while in the tumbler (note to self labradorite is not to go through the tumbler hand polish only) so I have to keep this one!

Week 6 prompt was Medals and Coins which lead to this simple idea....

I love this butterfly bead from Mandrel2 and put it with a lentil bead that I made from two sixpence coins (I have made a few of these as they look very cool) then added a matching head pin by Earth shine beads and hung the lot on a black cord that I got from the Swarovski shop (I love the little silver caps on the ends of the cords it just adds a really lovely finishing touch to it).

Hopefully it wont take long to catch up again but for now I am off to enjoy half term with the kiddies, have a great day! xxx