When it comes to crafting, sometimes you feel creative, and sometimes you don't. For some odd reason, as I was cleaning up my craft area, I decided to put some vintage German lucite calla lilies and pressed Czech glass bell flowers together with some Swarovski crystals. It's a little eclectic in that you generally don't put frosted lucite (which is an early plastic) with crystal, and the crystals themselves are an odd combination (one is a shape that's been discontinued for decades... the other is a brand new, whimsical shape in a trendy color). The end result is a cute pair of really unusual earrings.
I don't wear a lot of earrings. It's actually an old habit, since you don't exactly get a choice in the matter when you're in the military. Well, that and when you're as organized as I am, you tend to only be able to find one earring at a time, or only the pairs you aren't interested in wearing. So anyway, the latest trend in beading these days is the cluster. In fact, my best selling piece in the Etsy shop is a
pearl and shell cluster ring. Shells are fun to work with because they're natural and come in all shapes and sizes, but that also makes it a bit tricky to make things like earrings which are generally expected to be in matched pairs. Ironically, it's harder to make them to look like they match when you have fewer elements. So, if you're like me and prefer lightweight earrings, it's much simpler to use manufactured components.
In case you missed it, my day job requires the display of an ID badge. The focal point of this beach-inspired lanyard is a 20mm Swarovski pendant shaped like a starfish. The accents on the sides are two-toned Czech glass beads that I bought at locally at Bead It, and 12mm Swarovski beads (in the new, "cosmic" shape) that I got via the Artbeads Blogging for Beads program. Dainty little 4mm Swarovski pearls and 2mm silver beads finish off the rest of the lanyard, and the badge clips to a heart shaped S-ring. 
