Thursday, April 17, 2014

We're All Ears - April Challenge

I am having so much fun with these monthly challenges from "Earrings Every Day!"  Kudos to those who started that blog and these challenges - they are perfect "bite-sized" morsels to participate in without being massively complicated or requiring copious amounts of time.  Perfect for li'l ol' time-challenged me!

So, here's the inspiration for this month:


 
 
Using a Pottery Barn catalog photo?  Genius!  I totally love this photo and am seriously depressed that my house does not look like this all the time.  I need magic Pottery Barn fairies to come and make everything look so good!
 
My second thought was that, although I really love the way everything looks in the photo, when it comes to jewelry, bright yellow & green is not a color combo that I have ever embraced.  I tend more toward blues/teals rather than outright green.  I wasn't even sure what my stash would have to offer in these colors.  Fortunately, I buy beads like Doomsday Preppers buy MREs so as I trolled through my stash, I actually came up with more than I thought I would.
 
And the next thing I knew, I was off on a yellow/green frenzy (because, really, who can make just ONE pair of earrings...they are like potato chips!):
 
  
 
 
I found these cute polymer clay beads that look like they were practically made just for this challenge!  These bright yellow Czech glass beads were leftover from another project and just begged to be included here.  I'm happy with the results, but the overall effect is more cute and less sophisticated than the inspiration photo.  It finally occurred to me that what this color scheme needs is more of the dark brown to ground it so I came up with this option:
 
  
 
 
Lime green jade rounds and carved citrine flowers against large rings of dark wood are much closer to the feel of the photo.  I'm picturing these worn with a long, 70's summer sun dress kind of outfit.  At this point, I was happier...but I still felt like something was missing...I just couldn't figure out what it was.  Then, I got an email from a color blog that I follow and whether this was planned or just a lucky coincidence, the weekly color scheme had similar shades of yellow and green...but also included some shades of royal and dark blue.  BAM!  That is what was missing...another color! 



 
I kept with the original theme by using sunny yellow Capiz shell disks, brass bird charms, and olive green Swarovski crystals and then I added in the new color with some polymer clay blue branch beads from Humblebeads and some bronze Mykonos ceramic spacers.  The use of the dark brown/bronze color helps tie everything together.  This worked so well that I decided to go for the ultimate in color addition:
 

 
 
I had these gold patinated rings from Miss Fickle Media and then I came across these gorgeous color-changing (remember Mood Rings?  These work sort of like that) bee beads that I bought at a Rings 'N Things trunk show several years ago.  When it's cold, they are sort of ivory colored with a dark brown patterned edge (similar to the china and placemat in the inspiration photo) and have hints of yellow and green in them...which I made show up for the photo by putting them in the frig for a few seconds (because they got warm from being handled and changed colors). 

 
 
 
Here they are starting to warm up just  a bit and you can see the colors starting to change.
 

 
 
And here they are after I held them tightly in my hand for a little while and brought out some lovely aqua and teal colors.  If you warm them even more, you start to get pinks and purples.  Amazingly, all of that works with these gold rings and the tiny olive Swaros I put at the top to keep the original color theme going.  If these beads had only had birds on them, it would have been a complete slam dunk!  But, I figure birds and bees go together so still pretty cool LOL!
 
Hope you enjoyed my April Earrings Every Day-inspired designs!  Here's a link to the rest of the blogs:  An InLinkz Link-up
 
 
KJ

15 comments:

Terri said...

Love all your beautiful designed earrings! Especially the moody changing ones. Awesome job!

Unknown said...

What a great idea - love those colour changing beads!Beautiful earrings xx

Radhika said...

Wowwww !! so so pretty cute earrings love all of them.. love the beads.. every earring is special :)

Alice said...

So many wonderful earrings! I especially like the first pair. They are so cheerful and fun.

TesoriTrovati said...

I just love the way you have described my We're All Ears challenge, Miss Kelly! Bite-sized... or maybe Fun-sized! ;-) You outdid yourself for not thinking you could use yellow and green. Yellow is a hard color for me, but that table looks like it would work with my everyday dishes that have the same colors so I thought it would be a good one to stretch myself, and boy was I right! Love the color changing bees that do work so well with all the other tones no matter what color they are. Genius! Thanks for joining in the We're All Ears challenge! Enjoy the day. Erin
P.S. To get shots like I do, use the macro setting on your camera. I also have a macro lens and have used a macro filter that just screws onto the front. Also, I take my photos very late at night in my studio so having a good light source (mine is a high powered light with two pieces of vellum taped over it!) is key!

The ATELIER Handmade said...

Very pretty earrings, you really capture the colors of the picture.

CMS Designs said...

When the Pottery Barn fairies are done at your place, could you send them to my house? These earrings are such fun! I love your exploration of vibrant colors. I have never seen the color changing beads, so I appreciated your photos of the effect of temperature on them. Aren't those R&T trunk shows a hoot? Every time I go to one of those, I can't help but walk away with a huge bag of stuff I love but don't really need. :)

Cynthia said...

I love all your earrings, but was really glad to see the color changing bees! I bought those exact same beads at the Rings N Things show here in Philly a year os so ago, and have yet to use them. I think I'll dig them out and try making a pair of earrings!!

Marybeth said...

So much cheery yellow, just what I needed on such a rainy day. I love how you went with your inspiration and those changing beads are really neat!

Kari Asbury said...

Great post and designs! I have to say the bees are my fav but everything is really great. I think you did a great job with the challenge and stretching the challenge to show lots of variety! :)

Shai Williams said...

I just love that last pair of earrings. Come to think of it, I think that I have that same pair of beads hidden away some where in my studio.

Linda said...

Wow! Once you get inspired, you really go for it. Love all your earrings and I especially enjoyed reading your thoughts behind the design of each one.

Amy S. said...

WOW....that's all I can say! All of these earrings are stunning!! And a perfect interpretation of the challenge photo!!

Anonymous said...

Oh, all of these are stunning, and I love how different they all are! My favourites are the sunflower and the bee ones (first and last).

Deb Fortin said...

great earrings all. but my faves would have to be the copper brown rings #2 . though brown isn't really my colour, those are lovely.