Making jewellery

My new thing over the holidays has been making jewellery. I've done beading over the years, then put it aside for awhile in favour of all the textile type stuff. But I felt inspired over the holidays and have got back into the jewellery.

I actually have a large box with two large drawers filled with tons and tons of beads and findings. I love buying beads and things, but then I don't always get around to making things with them. I'll show you the box sometime, it's quite a collection.

My favourite materials are swarovski crystals and pearl beads with silver findings. I've also been wanting to make something with my two favourite beads that were a gift from Bradley, a tiny white elephant bead, and a tiny pink bird bead (both made from mother of pearl). The two necklaces I made from these beads are keepers, but the most of my other creations are going into my etsy shop.

The top of the page shows my white elephant necklace, and this is the pink bird version:
Some blue amazonite, swarovski crystal and glass bead earrings (given as a gift to my friend Jaimie):
Freshwater pearl silver flower decorated earrings:
Matching necklace with a freshwater pearl, new and vintage crystals:
Swarovski crystal earrings in pink and brown:
And lastly, this necklace is about to go into the shop... it has a grey freshwater pearl that I love, also from Sassy Bead Co. It's not one of the black pearls you see more often but a lovely silvery grey colour. I've looked for more of the mother of pearl beads at the Sassy Bead co. where they came from but they didn't have any left. I think they had some other animals...but the elephant and bird were my favourites. Has everyone noticed all the new bead stores on Queen West? It seems to be a real bead neighbourhood there - you can find just about anything. I think I still like Arton best - they really do have great prices.

Ok, back to knitting...