milk & amber: earrings

Showing posts with label earrings. Show all posts

Sunday, 7 April 2013

Playing around with Sea Glass

I've been enjoying making jewellery for myself a lot lately, and naturally I have begun to look for new tools and materials for such exploits. As I have noted before, I am a huge fan of Dreamboat Lucy's sea glass jewellery, and I will totally buy some, when I am ready to decide which pair to get! To tide myself over until then, I tried making some very low-rent versions, and for all intents and purposes, they're kinda pretty.

Like I said, low-rent, but the effect (green, shiny, glowy, natural) is there. Might make a few more... and before I know it, I can buy the real ones! Even better, I'm using up this huge bag of sea glass I've been collecting for no reason. Win win!

Off to more crafting! xo

Sunday, 31 March 2013

Easter brunch

Easter dress!

Vintage handmade, thrifted at a Salvation Army on Queen St W in Toronto last October.

Thrifted d'Orsay kitten heels and coral belt

Self-made earrings :)

As if!

This past week Peter and I went to a Beverly Hills 90210-themed surprise party - here's my get-up:

Vintage Florida crop-top, tucked into

Vintage high-waisted Levi's

90's pastel earrings

Monday, 25 March 2013

Upcycled m&a earrings on Etsy!

Added four new items to Etsy today: my handmade upcycled vintage earrings. Check 'em out!

Mint-grey silk, coral, pearl

Gold & turquoise

Silver, coral, turquoise

Antique gold, turquoise, antique faux-pearl

I can always make different permutations of what you see here too, as long as the bits and pieces are around! Get in touch if you're interested in any of them, or something similar!

Tuesday, 19 March 2013

I made some earrings 2: The Reckoning

Here's a bunch of earrings I made. Some were posted last time, some are new. Thinkin' real hard about putting a few of these suckers on Etsy (the nice ones, naturally).

The three pairs at the top are using recycled vintage silk, pearls from a damaged tank top bound for the garbage at work, and pink plastic beads from a thrifted vintage necklace.

Lots of broken and antique things here... and leather! Lots of leather.

Lots of vintage leather and suede up in here, drawn on with gold and copper Sharpies. The dangly gold pair have antique gold-plated bracelet links and chains from a broken vintage necklace.

(Pictured throughout, a thrifted embroidery circle with vintage bed sheet fabric.)

The mess!

Monday, 11 March 2013

I made some earrings

For my birthday, my mom got me a bunch of jewellery-making supplies and I have been going at it for a few days - things are pretty simple so far but it's been great to put some of my salvaged broken and mismatched jewellery to good use. I've fixed a bunch of pairs of earrings, but here's some of the new pieces I made:

Broken brooch pieces made into stud earrings

Blue glass cabochon clip-ons with salvaged light green beads

My favourite vintage daisy earrings were totally wrecked (they were super fragile) - so I took bits and pieces and made them into small stud earrings.

Brooch made into stud earrings

Broken-off pieces of vintage clip-ons to stud earrings

Sea glass pieces into stud earrings

Remixed coral cabochons

Broken vintage necklace into stud earrings

Broken bracelet pieces, vintage leather scraps & gold Sharpie stud earrings

Bracelet pieces into drop earrings

Broken vintage gold bracelet pieces, antique pearls, and salvaged turquoise

Antique beads into earrings, on gold wire

Vintage teardrop pearls, remixed

Salvaged turquoise and vintage & antique gold-plated beads

Vintage navy and gold beads from a broken necklace

Vintage necklace and bracelet beads, pieces of vintage leather

Vintage leather scraps and salvaged bracelet beads

More vintage leather scraps and salvaged bracelet beads

Vintage leather scraps, cut into fringe, with black & silver Sharpie

Vintage broken bracelet pieces and beads

Antique plastic beads and pearls

Looking forward to attempting more difficult and complex earrings! Stay tuned!

Monday, 18 February 2013

Cleaning up the office

Well, Peter and I have had some unexpected bursts of productive energy lately, and one result has been that I've finally tackled the growing mess that had become of my "office" (the front non-master bedroom). I like my workspaces clean and if they are not, you can bet I am probably not doing much work. Here are some "after" pictures!

This is kind of my corner where I keep most of my Etsy supplies and products. I couldn't even see this wall before, and now it's so tidy and enjoyable. Aahh.

And my desk! The desk itself is lame - it's a piece from a Staples set, while I save up to buy a fancy mid-century teak table or something - but other features make it a little more Katharine.

100 year old antique chairs, check.

Greenery, check.

Lots of natural light, check.

Too many knick-knacks, check check check!

Colbert on the laptop, check!

This would probably look a little more put-together if the earring board were straight... Oh well. This is kind of my earring station - each of those little bowls, boxes and baskets have specific types of earrings in them. Then there's my magazine collection! There are several more shelves full. Oh, and my antique perfume bottle collection (mostly Chanel and Lanvin). What can I say, I'm a collector.

Yep, the room feels good. I've been adding so many things to Etsy since it's been clean. So motivating to have a workspace you want to actually hang out in!

Wednesday, 2 January 2013

Holiday Look

Happy belated holidays! Things are still busy here as we get back to work in TWENTY-THIRTEEN, but not too busy for a quickie post! More to come on all the neato gifts I got (and some frankly equally neato gifts I gave!).

For now, a quick snap of my go-to look for all them holiday parties and fêtes:

Jet-black winged liquid eyeliner (GOSH Long Lasting Eyeliner Pen) - check!
Sparkly vintage crystal cluster earrings (from an antiques shop on Queen W in Toronto) - check!
Long-sleeve black lace (thrifted) - check!