Dogwood Blossom Jewelry

Spring Eternal

I spent some time making jewelry this weekend.  My sweet aunties came up to visit me and we sat around playing with beads, snacking on cookies and chatting the afternoon away. Rosanne and I swapped beads and pawed through each other's treasures. She traded me a bird from Spirited Earth with some lampwork beads and a deer from Round Rabbit.  I'm quite pleased!

I love how everything is slowly coming to life, the blooms on the trees mixed in with the copper and browns left over from the long winter. I wanted to capture that in my necklace.

I picked up the beaded bead and flower focal at Micheal's a few weeks ago. This necklace includes patina branches and pine cones from Patina Worx, one of my dogwood pendants, the pearl beaded bead is another find from Michael's.  The enameled piece is something I created thanks to Barbara Lewis' book!  I threw in some lucite flowers, a clock charm from Earthenwood Studios and a pewter branch embellished with crystals.

My sweet Evangeline modeled it for me.  I'm finding more and more of my inventory incorporated into their daily outfits, mostly pendants - they are quite fond of my nests, book pendants and some of my smaller pieces.  I don't let they big ones like this go far from my bead table!

The clock from Earthenwood Studio.  I love how a simple bead can change a design into a story.  A visual clue can add a bit of poetry into a random collection of floral components. You can read more about using beads to create poetry in your jewelry in my book, Jewelry Designs from Nature.

More of my dogwood pieces - I'm loving these for spring.  I made the smaller version a few weeks ago used here in the earrings. The dogwoods were created from an antique spoon in my grandmother's collection.  I feel so sentimental whenever I see these, thinking fondly of her and summers spent in South Haven over the last few years.  I'm looking forward to our first summer here as residents, soaking in the beach, the farmer's markets, gardening and all the beauty Michigan has to offer each season.