Showing posts with label make 100 earrings. Show all posts
Showing posts with label make 100 earrings. Show all posts

Finishing up #The100DayProject (plus giveaway and previous winner)

Yesterday, I completed my last pair of earrings for #The100DayProject. This project started on April 4th and encouraged creators to pick a project to work on/complete each day for 100 days with the intention of fostering more creativity. These projects were to be featured on Instagram with the project's hashtag and our own unique hashtag. I chose to make a pair of earrings, using  #Make100Earrings. As I said, yesterday was day 100. Previously, I've revealed earrings 1-20, earrings 21-40, earrings 41-60, and earrings 61-80 along with a giveaway for each set.

I have to admit that I went into the project fully expecting myself to fail miserably. I didn't think I would make it near 100 days. I did miss two days while I was out of town during this bunch but made them up as soon as I got home. So, in the one hundred days...I made one hundred pairs of earrings. I can't even believe it.

As I said above, the purpose of the project is to garner creativity by repeating a similar piece of work day after day. This repetition forces the individual to step out of the box rather than become mundane. I found this forced creative innovation to be true for the most part. Though, towards the end, I began to feel like all my ideas had run their course. A hundred days is probably the perfect number before the project becomes tiring. In any case, I present you with the last of my contribution to this year's project.

Days 81-84
Day 81: I don't even remember what I had on my desk previously, but I distinctly remember getting frustrated that it wasn't working out the way I wanted. Rather than continue to fiddle and fume, I stacked some beads on headpins. These turned out beautifully.
Day 82: After creating my own stencils with my Silhouette Cameo and page dividers, I traced the same shape onto some tin. From there, these teardrops were cut and sanded before being hung from the small coral beads.
Day 83: I've hung onto a couple of rolls of thin metal I got for cheap forever ago. It hit me that the metal was thin enough to be run through an embossing folder. From there, I aged the metal with patina, cut it to fit in the bezel, sprinkled on mica powder, and sealed it with Magic Glos resin. The violet beads are salvaged from old jewelry and flanked on an eye pin by copper spacer beads. 
Day 84: The flower fairy beads from Mermaid Glass have been in my stash for ages. I love them too much to use them...or some such nonsense as that. They're accented simply with bead caps and tiny Chinese crystals and moonstone-colored glass beads from ZnetShows.com.

Days 85-88
Day 85: Using random scraps of leftovers from cutting apart the tin days before, I paired up the pieces and hung small amethyst briolettes from the bottom. 
Day 86: For some reason, the polymer clay discs caught my eye. I was working from my travel box so I dug around for coordinating beads and came up with this combination.
Day 87: When I came upon a list of earring idea for this challenge, I noticed that I had made all of them except for one that mentioned these tiny spools. A few wood discs were added to the top and bottom since the holes were so large. As well, I glued on embroidery floss to add color.
Day 88: At the end of an extremely busy day, I thought I had already made my earrings. Once I realized I hadn't, I dug around in the craft room for something, anything different. These mokume gane polymer clay beads that I made eons ago were unearthed.  I paired them with silver spacers and cherry quartz-colored glass beads.

Days 89-92
Day 89: It was another long day. The beads for these earrings were in a small bowl on top of my bead cabinet waiting to become something. Earrings, they became earrings.
Day 90: We had another day spent almost completely outside, and I just wasn't feeling inspired. Finally, these came together. And, looking at the one on the right...it seems that maybe I cut the bottom wire. These will have to be re-made! I might even make them less sloppy.
Day 91: With summer in full force, I was drawn to these cobalt blue cultured sea glass conch shells from ZnetShows.com. The Czech glass beads I used with them have a feeling of sand to them. Now I want to head down to the beach.
Day 92: It was the 4th of July, and I wanted to make red, white, and blue earrings. I recalled that one of my tins used that color combo. To keep the patriotic theme, I cut the tin into star shapes. They're too cute!

Days 93-96
Day 93: I left out of town EARLY that morning. Late in the evening, when we finally checked into the hotel, I was just climbing into bed when I realized I hadn't made my earrings for the day. I quickly pulled together some of my altered and patina-ed Vintaj blanks and faux blue pearls.
Day 94: The size of these faux pearls are what got my attention. However, I wanted to make them dainty. The use of bead caps and the airy rings finished this pair.
Day 95: Inspired by my niece, my best friend, and the star beads; these earrings took me a little while to decide on. But, they fell together once the decisions were made. 
Day 96: Here's where things went wonky. I was still out of town and didn't have a minute to myself. So, these were actually made after I got back home. The discs are mica washers and are paired with pretty blue glass beads.

Days 97-100
Day 97: Like #96, I had to make these late. The metal teardrops were unearthed in one of my little drawers and were the inspiration for the earrings. They're pretty much a take on earrings #94, but with a bolder statement.
Day 98: The lampwork spacers in these earrings are from StudioJuls. Once I realized a small chain would slip through the holes, these seemed obvious to me.
Day 99: I was drawn to try to make a chandelier frame with wire. There are worse versions of these. While these are not fabulous, at least I tried and know what my weakness is. I'll try this technique again another time.
Day 100: Wanting to go out with a bang, I decided to a new approach entirely. I pressed conditioned scrap polymer clay into shallow bezels, stamped an image, covered it with mica powder, and baked the clay until cured. From there, acrylic paint gave accents and shadow before the whole thing was sealed with resin. They're stunning and make me wonder why I hardly every work with clay anymore.

Now for the giveaway from the last reveal. I received five entries:
And the random number generator chose a number between 2 & 6:

Angela, that's you! I'll be sending you an e-mail soon about getting your prizes to you. Congrats.

If you're interested in entering the new giveaway to win some of the earrings from this current selection, leave me a comment letting me know which of these earrings are your favorites. I do ask that you live in the US and leave me your e-mail address with the comment. I'll have this giveaway open until the end of the month and draw a winner at the beginning of August. Thanks for checking out what I made and for playing along. Good Luck!!


The 100 Day Project - Earrings 41-60 (GIVEAWAY and winner)

Yesterday was Day 60 of The 100 Day Project. This project takes place on Instagram with the intent of creating something everyday for a hundred days. Its purpose is to open you up to creativity. Each participant picks a project, chooses their own original hashtag, creates everyday, and shares what they've created for the 100 days. My hashtag is #Make100Earrings but you can see some of the other creativity with #The100DayProject. I've already shared Earrings 1-20 and Earrings 21-40 here on the blog. Today, I want to show you earrings 41-60.


I absolutely feel like this endeavor has helped me become more creative. I'm using materials I haven't touched in a while and others that I've just been collecting for ages. Take a look.

Days 41-44
41: Created on Mother's Day, I needed earrings to go with the dress I was wearing over to my mom's house. They are quite simple with glass pearls, silvertone spacer beads, and Czech glass beads.
42: Playing with tin once again, I cut out these two heart shapes, distressed and aged them, punched holes, and hung them from two pieces of chain.
43: Tin ruled my desk. Two of the triangles and the circle were just sitting there. I cut out a few more triangles, punched holes, and riveted them together. These were a lot of fun to make!
44: I was away from home and working from the travel box. The altered blanks spoke for themselves. I only added rhinestone spacers and chain. 

Days 45-48
45: I was prepping for the New Kids on the Block concert and wanted some fun, funky earrings. The pieces from Petra of Scorched Earth on Etsy spoke to me. I added labradorite beads, Chinese crystals from Znetshows.com, rhinestone spacers, and seed beads as dangles to complete this pair. 
46: The morning of the concert, I simply wanted earrings to go with what I was wearing on the ride to New Orleans. The button and glass bead earrings worked well with the blue shirt with black polka dots.
47: After a walk through the French Quarter, a brewery tour at Lazy Magnolia, and dinner in Mississippi; I arrived home fairly late. Something drew me to the copper drawer of my bead cabinet, and I threw these together.
48: Feeling rather inspired after the few days out of town, I grabbed a different tin from my stash and cut it apart. These earrings emerged. I had to be fairly inventive with seed beads and wire to hang them once I punched the two holes in each. Though, I think I may have distressed them too much as the images on them are fairly faint. 

Days 49-52
49: I wasn't feeling very inspired but still wanted to use something a little different. Pulling out a little piece of filigree, I cut it in half, snipped away some of the sharp edges, and hung tiny pearls. The chain was minuscule and fidgety so I didn't get the middle jump ring through it like I wanted. As such, these move around a little more than I had hoped.  Maybe I can fix that when my patience isn't frayed. 
50: At the halfway point, I jumped on the Earrings Everyday challenge and made these beer can earrings
51: After making such involved earrings the day before, I simply stacked a few beads. The top ones in these are enameled ones I received from Cheryl Foiles as part of the 7th Bead Soup Blog Party.
52: I worked on taking apart old jewelry that hadn't sold and/or I no longer liked. The faux peals had a spacer of garnets and amethysts that I remember being pretty hard to make. I couldn't bear to take them apart. So, with some crystals that had been in the same necklace, I made these earrings.

Days 53-56
53: These were practically thrown together in a rush with the matte beads and bead caps from  Znetshows.com and some other faceted glass beads.
54: We had a bunch of people over to our house for a party and the day almost got away from me. At the last minute, I rushed into the craft room and connected these mother of pearl buttons with antiqued copper jump rings.
55: Wanting to use some of my collected old jewelry, I grabbed a single clip-on earring. These were a cluster of little flowers. I clipped off two of the flowers and looped the backs. They were hung from a couple of crystals from an old rosary. Unfortunately, the flowers don't hang quite right when dangling. I'll have to fix that later.
56: I had been wanting to play with shrink plastic for days but the long weekend and visitors made it difficult to be in the craft room for long. My original idea was a bit different, but these came together eventually. It was fun to experiment and play.

Days 57-60
I first have to say that this last bunch just scream of summer to me!
57: After some Pinterest inspiration, I used thick gauge copper wire to make a frame and thinner gauge wire to wrap on bright-colored seed beads. These make me smile!
58: When taking apart jewelry the other day, I threw some of the pairs into my travel box. Both of the bead types for these earrings had just been added. They're both from Znetshows.com. While the blue hues aren't the exact same, they definitely work well together. 
59: I wasn't sure what to do on this day. Rummaging through the bead cabinet, I happened upon these Arte metal daisy charms from Vintaj. I colored them with Vintaj Patinas to look even more like daisies. From there, white and yellow beads were added. 
60: Using some altered paper on my desk and UV resin, I made charms. These hang simply from black faux pearls.

So that's the latest 20. Now for the giveaway from the last reveal.
The entries:

And, the random number selected
Congratulations Pezz!!!!
I'll get with you about getting your prize to you.

Now for the next GIVEAWAY. . .
If you'd like to enter win some earrings from this current group, leave me a comment letting me know which 2 or more of the earrings in this post are your favorites. Make sure to leave me your e-mail address. Also, I'm asking that you live in the US to enter the giveaway. You have until the end of the day on June 22nd to enter, and I'll pick a winner on June 23rd. Even if you can't enter, I'd love to know where you're from and what your favorites are. I'm curious.


The 100 Day Project - Earrings 21-40 PLUS GIVEAWAY and Winner

So. . .if you're not sure what all this is about let me start by explaining.  I'm participating in The 100 Day Project. It's taking place on Instagram, using the hashtag #The100DayProject. The purpose of the project is to participate in creativity for 100 days. Each participant picks a project or activity to work on for the 100 days, chooses an original hashtag of their own, and shares what they've done each day for the 100 days (using both the project's hashtag and their own.) I've selected #Make100Earrings as my hashtag as I'm working on making a pair of earrings each day.
So far, I've been able to keep up with the challenge. But, I don't want to jinx myself so I won't dwell on that too much. If you want to see the first twenty, check out that post.
Now, here are 21-40

Days 21-24
21: I only vaguely remember making these. What I recall is the desperation of making them. I had worked on creating something else that just wasn't coming together before finally forcing myself to "just make some earrings already." So, these fell together.
22: It's entirely possible that the copper beads in these were the ones I struggled with the day before. I made myself take a different look at them and they became these using turquoise beads and large textured links from a ZnetShows.com chain.  
23: After seeing a bunch of black-eye Susans on the side of the road, I was inspired to throw these golden floral earrings together. While they don't look like my inspiration, I think they're pretty fabulous.
24: These were made on such a busy day. Just before we headed out to dinner, I stacked these beads to go with my outfit and threw them in my ears.

Days 25-28
25: Once again, I had a crazy-busy day.These beads happened to be on my desk, leftover from the Bead Peeps Swap-N-Hop. They came together perfectly as earrings (even if they look similar to the ones from the day before.)
26: These mis-matched pieces of tin were in a drawer of other bits I had made. However, I thought they matched just enough to become a pair of earrings. A few beads and lengths of chain finish them. 
27: The large shank buttons in these earrings were the pieces that had stumped me a few days prior. Digging through the craft room, I discovered a couple sets of beads I had sorted for earrings. This set looked perfect to pair with the button.
28: I was in the mood to play. Iced Enamels were coated on the bottom of a few small bezels before rhinestone accents and resin were added. I hung these simply from Znetshows.com Chinese crystals and a few rhinestone spacers on an eye pin.

Days 29-32
29: Something called me to the red drawer of my bead cabinet where these large plastic beads spoke to me. The butterflies are Tim Holtz rub-ons that I sealed with mod podge matte. A few black beads finish them. 
30. Since I created pink and red earrings on the previous days, I decided to make orange earrings. All the components came from my prepped box and simply fell together.
31: I let the fact that it was Star Wars Day inspire me and made a pair of lightsabers from green bugle beads and a few antiqued silver tone beads. They were fun.
32: Before realizing it was Star Wars Day the day before, I had started these yellow earrings to continue my ROY G BIV pattern. It didn't take much to finish this pair. Yellow is always a challenge in jewelry-making for some reason, so I was proud to have these made.

Days 33-36
33: Green was the next color in the pattern. These long plastic beads screamed out to be used. A few gold tone beads dangle from the bottom to complete the pair. 
34: I was called to my stash of altered blanks. These have a yellow-tone to them, thus making them slightly hard to work with. The addition of a couple of neutral white beads made it easier.
35: Turning to blue as the next color on the spectrum to tackle, I discovered these pretty little floral beads. They were stacked with bead caps, spacers, and a pair of black beads already on my desk. Done!
36: Wanting to make something a little more. . . mixed media, I fished out these washers that were altered with maps and sealed with ice resin. Large links of chain and a few bone beads complete the unique pair.

 Days 37-40
37: Desperate to really play, I used Iced Enamels again. This time I used raspberry, chartreuse, and turquoise on a couple of small keys. I think they are way fun and bright!!
38: I was away from home when I made these and dipped into the prepped box again. The ceramic beads have touches of indigo on them, working back into my rainbow pattern. I added the gold tone rings thinking that I would add bead dangles from it, but the rings look simply divine just as they are.
39: I had not an ounce of inspiration in me when I finally got to making these. So, I went for my favorite colors: purple and blue. The little star charms added a little something extra. 
40: My inspiration returned with a vengeance. I snipped these from tin, filed and sanded, hole-punched, and aged them. Taking the blue from the tin, I added bead dangles. I LOVE these!

So, that's been the last 20 days of earring-making. There are some stunners and some so-so pairs. In all, I think this set is better than the first twenty. Speaking of the first 20 earrings. . . I promised a giveaway. There were 14 entries.
And, using a random number generator
The Winner is Clare from ClaresCoffeeTime!! Alas, Clare...I don't have your e-mail as requested. So, PLEASE get with me this week so I can send you your prize. If I don't hear from you, I will draw another number.

Now. . . as mentioned above, I'm having another giveaway for some of these earrings. Once again, this will only be open to US residents. Let me know what your favorites are in this group of 21-40. Please pick two or more and leave me your e-mail address. I just want to know what people like. I appreciate you taking the time to take a peek!! The deadline will be Friday, June 2nd. I will announce the winner on the 3rd.

Have a fabulous day!

The 100 Day Project: Make 100 Earrings 1-20 and a GIVEAWAY!

I did say giveaway - details are at the bottom of the post.

I've been an earring-making fool!

I don't want to jinx myself, but I've gotten my earrings made for the first 20 days of The 100 Day Project.  The project takes place on Instagram and its purpose is to encourage creativity for 100 days. Each participant picks a creative endeavor: small, large, progressive, whatever and does it each day for 100 days, using #The100DayProject as well as their own unique hashtag. I announced my #Make100Earrings intent several weeks ago in a post about all the challenges ahead of me. As well, to make it easier on myself, I prepared a box of earring-making supplies that I can take with me wherever I go. 

Today is day 21. Before I work on the earrings for today, I thought I'd share here those first 20 pairs.
Days 1-4
1: Those large beads needed to come out of the box since they took up so much room. Tiny yellow Chinese crystals from Znetshows.com and copper spacers and beads were tied onto off-white waxed linen cord to make a little fringe and accent the large beads.
2: Really simple and more my "romantic-rustic" style, these earrings were made with crystal teardrop briolettes and salvaged gold-tone beads.
3: I wanted some bright & colorful beads for this pair. Turquoise, orange, and violet beads are stacked with black and white striped beads and a silver spacer. This single stack on a headpin hangs from a cultured sea glass ring from ZnetShows.com
4: These are my favorites in this set. The dangles are Vintaj blanks that I had altered. They're paired with bright teal beads and rhinestone spacers. Love!

Days 5-8
5: I hadn't used any of my art beads yet. Since I was home this day, I dug through my artist-made stash and found these polymer clay beauties from Heather Powers of Humblebeads. To accent them, antiqued brass spacers, a bead cap, and a little glass flower were added. These are another favorite.
6: Wanting to do something simple, I used some silvertone connector links and a smokey-gray bead to make these. Easy-peasy. Done!
7: It was a beautiful day and felt so very summery. This inspired me to make these bright, bold earrings. 
8: Again, I dipped into my stash of altered Vintaj blanks to make these earrings. They dangle from a stack of small, coordinating beads.

Days 9-12
9: I hadn't included any buttons so far, and those amazonite rectangles were calling to me. I paired those elements with a short length of antiqued brass chain and called it a day.
10: Working from my travel box this day, the copper rings caught my eye. Simple dangles of white & clear beads completed the earrings.
11: These were complete spur-of-the-moment earrings. All of the components came from the earring box, but I picked them out hurriedly to make the pair. I think it works.
12: I knew this was going to be another hectic day, so I grabbed these beautiful glass beads and simply let them dangle from balled head pins.

Days 13-16
13: It was Easter. I wanted a basket. Finding these brass stamped baskets, I colored them with layers of Vintaj Patinas before dangling them from a few ZnetShows.com glass beads.
14: Feeling inspired by all the growing things outside, I was compelled to make some green earrings. I dove into the green drawer of my bead cabinet. Silver chain and head pins completed them. 
15: Like the first pair of earrings I made, I just wanted to get these big pink beads out of the container. As well, I'd seen other designers use filigree bead caps as a base for chandelier earrings, so I let that inspire me. With matching seed beads, I worked these up as quick as possible. When my husband saw them, he thought they looked like octopi and suggested I add eyes. I did try, but the medium I used wiped right off even after hours and hours of dry time. I may try it again later, but wanted these done before the end of the day. So, I left them as they were.
16: This was a busy day of family visiting. As such, I picked out these beads and simply wired them together. Simple and pretty.

Days 17-20
17: I didn't have much time before we headed to the beach to make anything. Pat suggested I collect shells to make my daily earrings. As you can see, that's exactly what I did. I know from previous experience that I can find shells with a single hole in them. Here example #1 and example #2 of other jewelry I've made from found shells. I made sure to only collect tiny ones. At home, I evenly sorted then stacked them onto head pins (using a seed bead to start). However, while bending the wire to make the loop, several of the shells broke - hence the space at the top of the earring on the right. I got them made at least! They can't all be winners.
18: I picked through some of the pairs of beads I had from what Kari sent me for the Bead Peeps Swap N Hop and selected the purple leaves and cube. The spacer and other beads came from my own stash, but worked out nicely.
19: After a full day poolside, I realized I hadn't made any earrings yet. I picked up the mother of pearl buttons, tarnished silver beads, and hematite-colored wire that were on my desk for another project and whipped these up.
20: Yesterday was my oldest niece's birthday. With her in mind, I selected the blue lampwork beads that had been freebies from Mermaid Glass when I ordered something else (at least that how I had them marked!) She likes blue almost as much as I do, but also loves black. I've had these vintage black beads in my stash since the dawn of time (or sometime there abouts). Antiqued silver tone bead caps and findings finish the earrings. 

For the most part, I'm happy with the the earrings I've created. I know they're not all winners or something I'm going to try to sell (the shell earrings!!). However, I'm really pleased that I've been able to get a pair made every day despite a busy schedule and vacation. The 100 Day Project is working for me!

Oh, I did say something about a giveaway didn't I?
Which two pairs are your favorite? Let me know in the comments and leave your e-mail address by May 13th. I'll pick and announce a winner on May 14th (Mother's Day). You just might win your favorites. Oh, and this is open to only US residents. Sorry!!

The 100 Day Project begins today - How I prepared

Today marks the beginning of #The100DayProject.

I decided that my project for the next 100 days will be to make a pair of earrings each day. I'll be using the hashtag #Make100Earrings. As far as I know, no one else is using this tag. So, you should be able to follow my progress on Instagram.

In order to be ready for this challenge, I prepared a "Make 100  Earrings box" that I can take with me to help meet this goal no matter where I go.

To start with, I got a basic plastic craft organizer. You know the ones

Next, I loaded it up with your basic earrings findings: ear wires, head pins, eye pins, and jump rings in a variety of metals (antiqued silver, antiqued copper, gunmetal, silver tone, gold tone, and antiqued brass.)

After that, I went into a special drawer I have for pairs of items (beads, buttons, charms, found objects, etc.) I pulled out a selection of those, then it was time to sort through the beads.
 That was just the beginning.

I made sure to only get pairs of each item/bead. I added bead caps, chain, bead spacers, bezels, wire, glue, and some altered Vintaj pieces.
It's a bit stuffed! I may have overwhelmed myself more than I intended, but at least I have lots of options.

And, so it begins. I'm a little excited to dig into this box and begin making. As well, all that sorting gave me a chance to explore my stash and rediscover some of the treasures hoarded there. I've got a ton of goodies I completely forgot I had. EEK! I need to get to creating something fierce.

Guess I better get to those 100 pairs of earrings. Make sure to follow my journey on Instagram and look for the hashtag #Make100Earrings.

And, please, please let me know if you're participating in The100DayProject as well!

Update: If you're interested in the reveal for these here are the links to the blog posts I did about them:


A little something new

 I cannot believe it's been over a year since I chatted with you. I'm so sorry! I'll admit that it feels like I've been pull...