Week 31: Ruby's Week!

I am completely lucky in that I know some of the coolest people in the world.  One of them, Ruby Funk, was awesome enough to send me a package of jewelry supplies that she no longer used.  Who doesn't love presents?  There were some truly cool things in that package, and I decided that I'd use her materials as the main components in this week's jewelry bonanza.

"Vine" wire wrapped earrings; The earring base and amber beads were Ruby's contribution to this project.  I had so much fun wrapping and weaving the amber beads.  I <3 amber="amber" and="and" beads="beads" colors="colors" great="great" shapes="shapes" such="such" td="td" these="these" were="were">

Funky charm earrings.  These cool spiral, leaf, and starburst charms were in the package; I provided the ear hooks and charm chain.  : )  They're all jingly when you wear them.

Crescent moon dangle earrings.  These moon charms came off a cool bracelet that was in Ruby's wonderful gift box.  I took them apart, clipped off the eye on the bottom of each, and used a chain that Ruby provided to make these earrings. Only the ear hooks are from my stash.  : )

Extra Long Copper and Sky Jasper necklace.  The only component from Ruby's stash are the actual jasper pieces, but as soon as I saw them I got this design stuck in my head and couldn't help but make it.

This necklace is the oddity of this week for sure.  Everything else is kind of earthy and organic, and this is quite dressy and formal.    The large gold filigree and crystal components came from a bracelet in the wonderful treasure box.  I saw the bracelet and immediately went "Ooh!  This needs pearls!".

This is my favorite piece of the week.  The stone component that Ruby sent me is so cool!  I don't know what kind of stone it is, I'm guessing it's a jasper of some sort.  I think the multiple holes were meant for making it the base of a multi-strand necklace, but I really wanted to wire wrap them.  I'm pretty happy with the results; now I just have to figure out how to find more of these multi-drilled stones!

And last but not least, the extremely close runner up to my favorite project of the week.  Ruby sent met these very cool lava stone beads, and I really wanted to use them.  But I also wanted a pop of color.  So I went through my paint supplies, and found my liquid gilding pens.  I tried out one stone, and it turned out perfectly!  The paint pen coated the surface in a cool metallic color, but left the nooks and crannys of the stones untouched.  

I absolutely must give a huge thank you to my dear Ruby, who provided me with some amazing materials that really let me stretch my creative muscles.  I always enjoy the challenge of working with items I didn't pick myself, and these really gave me a creative jump-start.  I was kind of in a slump, repeating a lot of the same ideas and themes, and this got me back on a better path.  Thank you Ruby!  I <3 ee="ee" i="i" nbsp="nbsp" nd="nd" next="next" of="of" p="p" rest="rest" the="the" too.="too." week="week" you="you">