AJE June Component of the Month Reveal ~ Red Gypsy Swirls

This month at Art Jewelry Elements Blog, Jenny Davies-Reazor provided us with our challenge element—lovely little organic ceramic drop pairs.

Here's the pair I got…

I love how deep the red is! And the worn rustic texture of the edges really appeals to me. I realized when working with these drops that I have rarely used red, so these took a bit of thinking for me to decide on a design that I really liked. I finally finished them just yesterday afternoon—if there hadn't been a deadline, I'm almost sure they'd still be sitting on my desk and I'd still be thinking about how to use them… but that wouldn't do at all!

So here's what I made…

It'd been such a long time since I made earrings and since they are a matching pair it seemed only right to make them into earrings. I call them "Red Gypsy Swirls". I used thin strips of frayed cotton fabric wrapped with wire to echo the worn look of the drops… it brings to mind for me the tattered edge of a long boho-style skirt. I love long skirts, but never have an opportunity to wear them—blue jeans are so much more practical! For a little bit of sparkle, I added a small faceted opalite to the top of each earring.

I hope you liked my new earrings! Thanks for the fun challenge Jenny!

Be sure to check out the links below to see what everyone else created!

Guest Artists

Leah - http://beadyeyedbunny.blogspot.com
Elisabeth - http://beadsforbusygals.blogspot.com
Jean - http://prettykittydogmoonjewelry.blogspot.com
Sarajo - http://sjdesignsjewelry.blogspot.com



AJE Team

Jennifer Cameron - http://glassaddictions.com
Jenny Davies-Reazor - http://www.jdaviesreazor.com/blog
Susan Kennedy - http://www.suebeads.blogspot.com
Linda Landig - http://www.lindasbeadblog.com
Melissa Meman - http://melissameman.blogspot.com
Rebekah Payne - http://www.treewingsstudio.com You are here!
Jo Tinley - http://daisychaindesignsjewellery.blogspot.com
Lesley Watt - http://thegossipinggoddess.blogspot.com
Francesca Watson - http://www.francescawatson.com
Diana Ptaszynski - http://www.vintagebluestudio.typepad.com
Kristi Bowman - http://dreamsomedesigns.blogspot.com
Kristen Stevens - http://kristen-beadjourney.blogspot.com

On AJE Blog ~ new bracelet tutorial

Saturday was my day to write for Art Jewelry Elements blog and I shared a tutorial for my new wire-wrapped suede tassel bracelet. I hope you'll stop by for a visit!

Giveaway Challenge Winners!

The 3 lucky winners are…

Steph L.

Kathy 

KayzKreationz 

Congratulations ladies!! I'll be emailing you each for your address… your new beads will be on their way shortly!

Thank you all so much for entering! Come back on July 20th for the reveal.

Playing in the rain

What do you do when it starts raining… and keeps on raining… and raining… and raining? And all your plans to enjoy the beautiful green of nature are rained on too?

If you're me and have some polymer clay, you make beads! That's just what I did. And of course, they were rain inspired!

I do actually love the rain—the sound, the smell, beauty of it, and of course the rainbow that comes after. And I actually do like to go hiking in light rain, just not pouring rain!

I hope you enjoyed my new rainy beads. They're in my shop now.

And don't forget to enter my bead challenge giveaway here.

A Giveaway Challenge!

It's been such a long time since I've had a giveaway. I've really missed doing them… they are so much fun, so I think it's high time I do another!

This one has a little twist though… and some extra rules, to make it extra fun!

By entering you could win one of these sets (a large round and a small round) of my new tattered butterfly wing beads, but you have to promise to make something with them and then share what you've made in a blog hop.

Do you want to play? Good!

Here are the rules:

1. Leave a comment at the end of this blog post. (You'll get an extra point if you share this giveaway/challenge and come back here leaving another comment to let me know you shared. :-) There will be 3 winners—the fourth set is mine, so I can play along too! This giveaway is of course also open to international bead lovers. The giveaway closes on June 21st and I'll announce the winners on June 22nd (this Saturday).

2. If you win you must make something with your bead set.

3. Post your creation on your blog on July 20th.

Sounds easy enough, right?

So comment and share away! Happy winning!

* This giveaway is now closed. Thanks so much for entering! *
Winners will be announced on the 22nd.

They're finished!

I've used up all my painted clay sheets now and have these new beads to show you…

The colors and patterns remind me of tattered butterfly wings.

They'll move into my shop later this week.

Happy Monday!

Some experiments with paint…

They started like this…

And are becoming this…

Yes… today has been a happy and successful day at Tree Wings Studio!

Summer is fast approaching!

Spring is always such a fleeting season here in Virginia… winter seems to drag on forever, and then suddenly the mornings are no longer frost-covered and the new leaves and flowers start to open… and then if you blink you miss spring all together! The trees have been fully leafed out for a few weeks and the grass is almost ready for the first hay cutting. And now the weather is quickly turning as hot as summer!

It's about this time every year one of my favorite things (if I can have a favorite thing about the ending of spring!) happens—the first brood of baby wrens leave their nest! And if I'm lucky enough, I get to see them as they go. This time I was extra lucky and got some photos to share with you!

For this year's nesting site, the parent wrens chose an open bag of potting soil—bags of some kind seem to always be their top choice.

Here's one of the little cuties preparing to make the jump. At this point they still can't fly, but their wings do help them to make pretty big hops. Once they started moving it was very hard to keep the camera on them.

One last nap before leaving home!

It's always fascinating to see how attentive the parents are—watching and calling to each fledgling, coaxing them along. There were 6 fledglings in this brood and both parents worked to make sure they all moved out of the nest safely.

This one was the last to leave. I love the little tufts of down still on their heads. So cute!

In just a short while these wrens will be flying and singing in the treetops!