Friday, December 16, 2016

We're All Ears: December Reveal - Use Your Leftovers Challenge

It's time for the second annual Use Your Leftovers Challenge, hosted by the Earrings Everyday blog!


I didn't participate last year (I didn't know about it!), so I'm glad that I got a chance to do so this year.

The idea was simple... Take a picture of your work space, gather up some leftover beads from previous projects, put them in a muffin tin or other such container, and use them to make earrings!

This is only part of my table... the rest is currently dedicated to Christmas presents,
and therefore off limits for photographing.

...Yeah. I'm a bit ashamed to say that that is the current state of my crafting table. I endeavor to always keep the beading mat clean and ready to create, but the rest of the table? Is one part bead hoarders paradise and one part craft tornado. (Erin Prais-Hintz calls it the craftermath, and boy is that accurate!)

So, from that unorganized pile of beading goodness, I picked out a few selections and put them in a muffin tin:


There you can see bits and pieces from previous projects--lampwork, paper, gemstone, pearl, a little bit of everything. Some collections I could envision exactly what I wanted to make, others I just had a rough idea.

And, from those selections, I made 16 pairs of earrings!


...Since the above picture doesn't really show them off that well, here they are--in all their leftover beady beauty!
















Quick sidenote... the black flower earrings are actually interchangeable, and can even be worn as an asymmetric pair:



...All in all, not a bad collection! Especially since I so often overlook earrings--I'm more likely to make them to match a necklace, than to let them stand on their own. It was fun to just focus on making pretty dangles!


...And it was also fun using up some of my beading hoard! (And whoa, there is a lot more where that came from!)

Thanks so much for stopping by today... Be sure to stop by the Earrings Everday blog to see what other designers made with their leftovers! I'm going to go finish up some Christmas presents, and think about maybe dedicating one of my Monthly Challenges to cleaning up my craft table! :)

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!

8 comments:

  1. Wow what a great, very productive bunch of earrings! :) Fun post.

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  2. I don't make 16 pairs of earrings in a month! At least I don't think so. Way to go! I even recognize a few of the beads from Andrew's kits. Am I right? The black ones are my favorites.

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    1. You are correct! The blue and yellow beads are from one of Andrew's mystery kits, and the black flowers are from the Starling Wing kit. How fun that you recognized them! :D

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  3. You really took this challenge to heart! I love the variety and the textures and the colors. I especially love the idea of the interchangeable pair of earrings. Thanks so much for playing along in the 2nd Annual Use Your Leftovers Transformation project! Enjoy the day! Erin

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  4. Lots of fun earrings there... you were super productive! I would never guess that you tend to overlook earrings normally. There's something for everybody there!

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  5. wow, looks like you busted your stash

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  6. Love, love all your creations. I think the ones with the gears is likely my favorite of the bunch, but they are all so great. What a great use of leftovers, I even played along. Though, I was nowhere near as productive as you were! Great job.

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Thank you so much for taking the time to comment! :)