First Wedding Commission!!

I was so honored to be asked to make necklaces and earrings for the girls in a wedding party! First the bride wanted me to make her a pair of cluster earrings to match a necklace that she had already gotten. Her necklace was two strands of white freshwater pearls so I made these earrings to match.

They were a hit so she commissioned me to do necklaces and earrings for her girls. I was so excited since this would be my first wedding!

The girls dresses were a light blue so I thought that making cluster earrings with Swarovski blue and white pearls would be perfect along with a strung swarovski blue and white pearl illusion type necklaces.

Since I work with one of her bridesmaids I've had to keep this little secret for months because the bride wanted to surprise them with the jewelry at the rehearsal dinner.

Well, her wedding was last Sunday and the jewelry looked beautiful. Now I can post pictures on my blog so here they are.....

Hammered Silver Earrings

Back from vacation and on to a good start! Here are my hammered silver earrings to match the bracelet below. These are also made of hand forged fine silver rings fused together by me :)
If anyone is interested in these come and visit my website!!!

New Hammered Silver Bracelet

Hey! I've added a new item to the website. I'm very excited about this one. I've started fusing fine silver now and here's the first item I've created using this technique. I took 12 ga silver wire and made rings out of it and then fused the rings closed with a torch. Then I hammered the rings to give them this unique look. It's a lot of fun and I really like the look!! This bracelet I used Swarovski crystal but I would like to use natural gemstone beads next! Enjoy!!
This bracelet is available on my website.

Custom Larimar Earrings

Here's a pair of custom earrings I made for my friend. She gave me the Larimar stones and wanted a simple design wrapped in gold. Here's what I came up with. What a beautiful color!

Vacation Time

Summer camp is over, school is starting very soon. One more week left so we are heading off to Wisconsin for a little get away this week. We are renting a little cabin at Jelly stone and we are camping with Yogi Bear this week. The plan is to lay around by the pool all day and sit around the campfire in the evening. Much needed R & R before school starts. We can hardly wait. I'm hoping to come back energized and ready to start working again. I haven't finished a piece of jewelry in weeks! I have lot's of ideas in my head but no motivation to start working. Hopefully that will change very soon! Off to vacation we go!!!!

Photo Challenge 3 - Landscapes

This weeks photo challenge is Landscapes. The subjects are rural scenes, urban scenes and a photo you could put in a tourist guide for my region. The bonus shot is a statue. So... I'll start out with my worst photo. I had high expectations for this one but it didn't turn out the way I thought it would. Oh well. I will post it anyway and see if anyone has any suggestions.

I thought I could take a landscape picture at dusk when the fireflies were out. Same concept as the fireworks basically. I set the camera on a tripod and did a timed exposure. This on is 15 seconds. I thought I would able to get all sorts of firefly streaks across the picture but if you look at this picture, there is one streak on the left side of the picture. I believe if I made the exposure any longer it would be over exposed. This picture looks like day light!


My big plans to get a shot of fireflies looking like fireworks obviously did not work out the way I wanted it too! Maybe that's why I haven't seen many firefly pictures!

I then took another rural type shot. This one I think could be in a tourist guide for my area. This is Round Lake.









Here is my urban shot. This is my favorite! Talk about being in the right place at the right time!!!
Luckily I wasn't driving and I had my camera with me! I kept trying to get this anvil cloud and I would have to wait for a clearing while we were driving along. I have several shots of it but this one was the best since I just happened to get Medieval Times there in the distance! That was just plain luck!!! I would have to say this could go in a tourist guide too since Medieval Times isn't everywhere!


My family has gone to a couple of Flyers baseball games in the past month so I took this shot. The Flyers are a minor baseball team. I don't currently live in Schaumburg but it's where I grew up. This field is only about 2 miles from my parents house. I think this shot along with the Medieval Times shot could go in a tourists guide for Schaumburg!





Bonus:
Here's the statue that's right outside Alexian Field.
It's the only statue I remember seeing since the challenge began. I'm not sure if he has a name.

Tips?? All I can think of is the rule of 3rds with landscape scenes. Also that it is very difficult to take photos of a field of fireflies!! Especially when I was being swarmed by mosquitos!!!