Monday, February 12, 2024

February Mini-Challenge: Hearts

I have a hard time designing with hearts.

There, I said it. 

I know that a lot of jewelry designers really enjoy working with hearts, but I'm not one of them. In fact, a couple years ago, one of my Wonder and Whimsy Monthly Challenges was to design with them. (The results of that challenge can be seen here.)

At the beginning of this month, I thought I would revisit that challenge. After all, it's the month of Valentine's Day, and I really really wanted to make a new line of jewelry to debut on my Etsy store. (Yep, I'm working on revitalizing my Etsy store, too.)

The two main criteria of this challenge: 

1. Include hearts
2. Make something that I actually like

To my surprise, I had some success! And thus my February Romance Collection was born.











I had more ideas than I had time, and I rushed to get these made and listed to my store before Valentine's Day. I was successful, though--these all went live last week. Hurray!

Truth be told, I really enjoyed tackling this challenge. I think keeping things on the daintier, less-elaborate side really helped me appreciate the heart's form, making it easier to keep them from getting gaudy or chintzy or over the top. Well, except for the giant brass heart. That one was just fun.

All right, time for me to go make lunch. Thanks, everyone, for stopping by. I enjoyed this little mini-challenge format... I might have to try this again sometime.

Happy February, everyone!

Tuesday, February 6, 2024

Wonder and Whimsy Challenge Reveal: Autumn Succulents

 I just... wow.

Despite my best intentions, apparently my last few months just disappeared. I was sick both Thanksgiving (with Covid) and Christmas (with something that closely resembled the flu). The rest of that time was spent attempting to catch up with life--which was surprisingly hard, with lingering coughs and aches and general sick-induced malaise. Blah.

But! Things are looking up. And, I am very very pleased to finally share what I made for this challenge. (Disclaimer: I did post these pictures to Instagram back in October, but it doesn't feel "official" until I show them here.)

So, without any further ado! Here was the inspiration for this challenge:



And here are the (many) things that I made!

Necklace 1





Necklace 2








Necklace 3






Bonus: Bracelet







Thank you so, so much for stopping by my blog to see what I made! I super appreciate your patience. Even as I dedicate myself to increasing my online presence elsewhere (my store! Instagram!), I will always have a soft spot for this blog. 

...Hopefully it won't be three months before my next post. Hah!

Either way, have a wonderful day, everyone!