Saturday, February 16, 2008

The EtsyBead Street Team & Fun New Earrings

Hello everyone! I'm excited to announce that I was recently interviewed as a spotlight member on the EtsyBead Street Team's blog! You can see my interview here as well as other street team spotlight member interviews.

There are some wonderfully talented members on the EtsyBead Street Team, all of whom work very hard at their craft and create some truly wonderful works of art. You can find links to the team site on the lefthand side of this page as well as a link to the EtsyBead Blog Ring. Why not click on it and travel around the blogring to get to know some of these talented artists and see their work? You might just come upon the perfect pair of earrings or that bracelet you've always envisioned on your wrist! Give them a look! Tell them MsBelle sent you!

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This morning I decided to try a little something different in the way of earrings. I practiced a couple of times before I landed on the correct technique, but I finally got it! Here's what I'm talking about. Tell me what you think!

swirly sterling silver earrings


These are just plain fun! They're made using 20 or 21 gauge sterling silver wire all wrapped around itself in a twirly spiral. Aren't they cool?! To put them on, you thread the spiral end through your piercing, either through the front or back. They're extremely lightweight and so much fun! They'll be a conversation piece, that's for sure!

There's a surprising amount of work that's involved in making these, foremost being getting the spirals to match. But then also making sure there are no kinks in the wire, hammering the bottom tip and filing to shape it. Then you have to make sure the thread end is not too sharp so you file it down too, rounding it off so it goes comfortably through the piercing. You don't want to draw blood!

swirly sterling silver earrings


I'm going to try and make a whole slew of them in as many different configurations as I can think of: short spirals, long spirals, tight spirals, loose spirals, with beads, without beads, etc. I hope these will become popular because they're just plain cool!

Now this is not a new design by any means, and it is not my design I must admit. I created these from a tutorial I discovered back in 2006, but I had never gotten up the nerve to try it. Well, I finally tried it and I did it! When I showed them to Kevin he said "they look like the twirly slide at the playground!" So I'm calling them "Let's Go On the Twirly Slide!" :D

I'm not sure how much to price them yet. I have to work that out. But they should be available in my shop by Monday night! :)

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I have one last bit of news and then I shall go. I took Kevin to the ENT today for the second CT scan of his sinuses. As you may recall, he had a chronic sinus infection that was keeping him sick. He just could not get well. So he has been on an antibiotic (Augmentin) for the past 30 days. Well, today the scan showed his big gray blog was now a black area as it should be, showing no more infection in that sinus cavity! Yay! He hasn't blown his nose for the past two weeks and we actually have full boxes of tissues instead of almost empty ones! I had been afraid to say anything for fear I would jinx the poor boy. But now I can shout it out!


KEVIN'S ALL BETTER!!! =)
XOXOXOXO!!

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On that note I will leave you and hope that each and every one of you has a terrific weekend!

Until next time....

13 comments:

Gemheaven said...

OH wonderful am off to read your interview.

Fantastic news about Kevin too - Yay!!!

And I've passed on the "Make my Day "Award to you - cos I love reading your blog!! - see my blog for details

Kirsten said...

That's wonderful about Kevin!

The earrings are beautiful. Yes, I agree, they look deceptively simple, yet must be quite tricky to form.

Yazmin said...

Congrats on the write up! It's great. :)

Glad to hear Kevin is feeling better too. Always stinks to be under the weather. :(

Amanda said...

SOOOO glad to hear that Kevin is doing better!

Congrats on the interview...will read after posting!

AND I LOVE your new earring creation! WOW!! you never cease to amaze me with your creativity!

Amanda

pomomama said...

i love the new earrings and am so happy about Kevin's good news! yay 2008

pomomama said...

... oh, and by the way you've been tagged!

Here are the rules:


1. Link to your tagger and post these rules on your blog.


2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.


3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.


4. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

Have fun! Amanda

AnnieRoso said...

Man, I feel your relief at Kevin's diagnosis of HEALTHY! Yay!!! :-)))

SilverMonk said...

I am really happy to hear that Kevin is all clear!
Thanks for the detail description of how the beautiful pair of earrings works. Love it!

Brenda said...

Yay about being interviewed! Your work is so beautiful -- I'm glad your being recognized for it!

LOVE the new earrings!!!

Starry Designs said...

Congrats on your interview! ;)

I tagged you here, because I love you so: http://starrydesigns.blogspot.com/2008/02/ive-been-tagged.html

diary of a cellist said...

Thrilled to hear about Kevin! And gorgeous work with the wires!

Unknown said...

love your earrings. but then again, i love everything you create.

yay, for kevin's checkup.

take care

misti

Unknown said...

Very good news about Kevin, he is such a tough cookie!

Those earrings are fabulous, you are so talented.