Victory!

I have finally conquered the mystery that is my digital camera. And it only took me 15 months to do it!

I’m quick like that.

While my scanner really does work okay for most pictures (and is quicker and gives me pictures in smaller, easier-to-deal-with format), it occasionally is a really BAD choice for certain pieces.

Either the color isn’t right or remotely realistic, or the piece is too bulky to fit well on the scanner or well, whatever…

I’d thought a digital camera would be a good option in those cases. And it was for a while, until mine died.

And then the one a friend loaned me died, too.

Then, I was lucky enough to receive one for my birthday last year and was so excited to try it out that I took it on vacation and snapped a ton of pictures with it.

Imagine my surprise when I arrived home and downloaded everything and found that, with but a few exceptions, every single picture was blurry or otherwise messed up.

Hmmmm….

Perhaps one ought to read the instructions before one operates the new and incredibly complicated piece of technology?

Naaahhh! I’ll just figure it out on my own eventually (yeah, right).

So, after 15 months of disastrous and unusable pictures (and yes, I did eventually break down and read the instructions…which made no sense), I finally, magically stumbled on the right setting for close-up pictures.

Eh, voila!

Quite some time ago, I purchased multiple strands of faceted cubic zirconia briolettes at a bead show and I finally got around to using them this weekend – they look great with some 14k gold-filled earring components I had in stock.






I did these two pairs in fall colors.




But, since I'm not really a "fall" girl when it comes to color schemes, I had to, of course, do a spring pair, too.




I just loooove me some long, dangly earrings. And long, dangly earring bedecked with sparkly bling? Shut UP!



I’ve had this project sitting around half-finished for at least a couple of years. So long that I lost the paperwork with my original design idea sketches on it and had to start over from scratch. Still, the results are pretty spectacular if I do say so myself. The gorgeous lampwork beads are from a wonderful artist, Luna Beads, who, sadly, is no longer making or selling her work. Thankfully, I stocked up on a whole bunch of sets before she retired a few years ago and they are so yummy. I love the turquoise, sage green and yellows in this set which mix perfectly with Swarovski crystals in matching shades and lots of wonderful, rich-looking gold.

Here's a close-up of the clasp:




And, of course, the matching earrings:





Have a good week, everyone!

KJ