Wire Wrapped Earrings With Purple Swarovski Crystal Hearts

Here are two other designs from my Swarovski triple heart collection. These are silver wire wrapped chandelier earrings with purple Swarovski hearts.

These earrings take me back to when I was a kid and purple was my favorite color. For a while, purple and lavender were very "in." I even had an outfit that was entirely lavender from my shirt to my sandals. I felt soooo sophisticated when I wore this ensemble!

I only wish I'd had these purple triple heart earrings to go with it because both pairs are so cute. One is your standard tiered dangle earring; the other had some spiral designs worked in and is a little fancier. But they both follow the same concept: the two outside hearts are dark purple and the one in the middle is lavender.

Purple is no longer my very favorite color; that would probably be turquoise. But I still have an appreciation for the hue that made me so happy.

To purchase my jewelry, head to Naomi's Designs on Etsy.

Earrings Silver Treble Clef With Pink Swarovski Crystal Hearts

All of my talents are in the arts, which can be a blessing and a curse. On the one hand, I love what I do and I love being creative. However, let's face it -- it's really hard to make a living as a musician, writer or jewelry designer, and when you're dealing with subjective opinions, you face a lot of criticism.

I'm fortunate in that I have a steady job as a writer for a magazine, but I got a rude awakening when I attempted to have a novel published a few years ago. I had to deal with agents and editors -- and though many were helpful, there were also many who hated my work. I faced a lot of rejection, but ultimately think that the suggestions did improve my book. I took a break from it because the writing process stopped being fun, but I'm proud of the work I did and am glad that I put myself out there.

Anyway, the point of this long post is that another one of my loves is music. I've played flute for almost 30 years at this point (yikes, that's a long time) and while I used to participate in music competitions, now do it strictly for fun. I put out an album a few years ago for which I had 100 percent creative freedom. I've never become a famous musician, but that's fine with me -- I play when I want to and what I want to.

That said, I designed these very classic and simple treble clef earrings in honor of my love for music. I call them the "I Heart Music" earrings (real original, huh?). I think it's cool that I'm writing about my jewelry making that involves a piece dedicated to another one of my passions. Somehow I managed to combine all three! Now if I could find a way to include cats, I'd be all set...

To purchase my jewelry, head to Naomi's Designs on Etsy.

Silver wire earrings with yellow Swarovski crystals

One of the great things about jewelry is that it's not only beautiful, but often has a memory attached. I'm sure most of us can recall the first piece of jewelry we received or the first that we gave someone. That's what I hope my jewelry does for people. I want to know that my pieces are bringing a positive experience to the wearer and that they'll be able to associate my bracelets or necklaces with an event like say, a friend's wedding or a baby's Christening.

This has got me thinking of some of my favorite jewelry memories. I've never been gung ho about getting expensive jewelry, even when it came to my engagement ring. But I've still always had a liking for fun, creative pieces and do have a few items that are very important in my life.

1. My double heart necklace. This was the very first present I ever received from a boy. I was in the second grade and had a crush on a boy in my class, Chris. Well, I was shocked when he handed me a small package at our class Christmas party. It was wrapped in holiday paper, but since I'm Jewish, he wrote in "Chanukah" wherever it said Christmas. I then opened it and there was a necklace inside. It had a silver chain and a double heart charm that was made out of some kind of shell, I think. I loved it. He put it on for me and for a short time after that was my boyfriend. I've since lost touch with Chris, but I still have that necklace!

2. My Ling Ling necklace. When I was about 3 or 4, my parents took me to see the pandas in the Washington, D.C. soon. I loved them and they bought me a necklace made in the likeness of the panda, Ling Ling. I wore it everywhere. Then one day, I was playing on the monkey bars and lost it -- and I was devastated. I think my father found it -- I do remember him looking for it -- but while I can't recall every fact, I remember the panda charm, clear as day.

3. My Strawberry Shortcake ring. Around the time I was 8, I was obsessed with Strawberry Shortcake. One time, I was on a camping trip with my parents and we were taking a hike through the woods. I saw a shiny object on the ground -- and it was a little ring with Strawberry Shortcake on it! I couldn't believe my luck and pocketed it before anyone else could get their hands on this valuable merchandise.

4. My black "Cleopatra" necklace. When I was 10, my parents took me to Egypt (we traveled a lot because my parents were teachers who had summers off). While we were there, we took a cruise down the Nile and on the last night, the boat threw a costume party. I dressed up as Cleopatra in this blue, filmy genie costume and a crown, and my mom even let me wear my very long hair down (she usually made me keep it in braids). Each of us had to get up and show off our costumes. When it was my turn, I did the whole "Walk Like An Egyptian" dance (it was 1984!) and everyone was impressed. I ended up winning the costume contest and they gave me a choice of prizes; I chose this black beaded necklace that had multi-colored beads woven through it.

5. My engagement ring. Choosing a ring was probably difficult for my husband, Jon, because I'm not wild about diamonds. A lot of people believe that the bigger the diamond, the more he loves you, but at the time, I wanted us to save up money for a home. During out talks about the possibility of marriage, I'd hinted to Jon about what kind of ring I wanted - something with a colorful stone, like an emerald. On the day he proposed, February 14, 1999, he ended up giving me exactly what I wanted: a ring that had a circle of emeralds with a small diamond in the middle. A lot of people, even to this day, think it's a weird engagement ring, but it fits my personality to a T.

So there you have it, so of my own memories about jewelry. My piece for today are my silver earrings with yellow Swarovski crystals. I'd originally made a pair of these for a friend who loves pink and wove in pink crystals. I wanted to make a similar pair with something that looked a little like yellow diamonds.

I used to not be a huge fan of yellow, but I'm finding that I really like the color in jewelry. Yellow stands out and makes things pop. Plus, it looks good with many other colors.

So what are some of your favorite jewelry memories?

To purchase my jewelry (and create some memories for yourself or a loved one), head to Naomi's Designs or Naomi's Studio.

Funky brass triangle earrings with Swarovski crystals

My grandmother is 94 years old, which means that we don't see eye-to-eye on a lot of things. While I admire her, especially as a talented knitter, one bit of advice she's always giving me is to "not kill yourself," "do the best you can," "whatever will be will be." She has very middle-of-the-road expectations for me; she wants me to do well and is proud of me, but doesn't care if I'm the best or the most successful.

It's great that she accepts me for who I am and for trying my best, and I love her for looking out for me. But the competitive go-getter in me just isn't like that. I LIKE to succeed. I LIKE pushing myself. I LIKE exceeding my expectations. I'v never been able to just sit back and accept things; whether it comes to music or writing and now jewelry making, I've always attempted to make it to the next level.

Take the craft fairs that I signed up for. It's not even about the money for me; it's about people liking my stuff enough that they'd dare to pay me and then wear it. I don't expect to get rich from making jewelry, but I do hope to get some acknowledgment of my efforts.

My grandmother was surprised when I shared that I've made over 100 pieces so far and was of course like, "Well, don't kill yourself." I found this to be pretty funny coming from the woman who never stops knitting! I'm definitely not killing myself; if anything, making jewelry is relaxing for me, which I why I've made so many pieces in a short time.

I agree with my grandmother in that I shouldn't push myself to a point where I'm no longer happy. But for now, stretching myself as an artist and salesperson is making me feel excited and revved up -- so what can be wrong with that?

Speaking of being creative, the jewelry that I'm going to share today are my brass triangle earrings. Honestly, I'd forgotten that I'd made these -- it was that long ago -- until I found them in the bottom of my jewelry box yesterday. I created these when I was teaching myself how to make basic wire shapes and was very excited when I successfully crafted triangles. I then added three Swaorvski crystals to each earring to give some color. They look a little like stoplights or Christmas trees, but well, I like them! I could see wearing these triangles to a club or a party -- some kind of fun event where eccentric jewelry is welcome.

As the craft fairs approach, I'll have to make more jewelry and try techniques that I haven't yet used. I will have to push myself and well, I can't wait!

To purchase my jewelry, head to Naomi's Designs or Naomi's Studio.

Triple heart silver chandelier earrings with amethyst Swarovski crystal hearts

Purple is onw of my favorite colosr, especially since my birthday is in February and my birthstone is the amethyst. I still love this stone and think that an amethyst looks beautiful in any form.

I really like heart-shaped things, though, so it's no surprise that I adore these amethyst Swarovski crystal hearts. I wanted to do something special with them, something that would show off their beauty.

I finally decided to build a chandelier earring around them. I wanted to make an interestinf spiral design with the silver wire, but something different than what I've done before. I've used the lattice design many times and while it's beautiful, I felt that I needed to branch out. I eventually came up with this curly-cue pattern that's slightly askew, but has interesting angles. I then hung three crystal hearts -- two amethyst and one lavender -- on each earring. It ended up looking really cool, especially when I tried on the earrings. Though my hair was a mess and I wasn't wearing any makeup, I looked fancy. Let's just call them miracle earrings!

As you'll see from my upcoming posts, I went on a bit of a Swarovski crystl heart "bender" this weekend, but you have to love the materials that you're working with. Part of the reason why these pieces turned out so well was because I believed from the start that they'd look good. And they do!

To see or purchase more of my jewelry, head to Naomi's Designs or Naomi's Studio.

Silver spiral earrings with green and yellow Swarovski crystals

The spiral is one of the basic shapes you should know if you're going to be a wire artist, but more than that, it's beautiful to look at. Think of how many things in nature are a spiral: the inside of a shell, a galaxy, a hurricane. I love the infinite nature of it, how you can keep going around and around, but the circle doesn't really end.

I wanted to do something simple with the spiral where this would be the primary shape in the piece of jewelry, so I decided to just go with single spiral earrings. However, I didn't want them to be plain silver, so I added a couple of Swarovski crystals to each. I really love blue, but I went with a variant on it, using green and yellow instead. I like the warm, bright colors and think they add just enough flash to the earrings.

To see or purchase more of my work, head to Naomi's Designs or Naomi's Studio.

Giant silver hoop earrings

Sometimes less is more, as is the case with these giant silver hoop earrings. I got the inspiration to make these when I had only a little bit of 14 gauge wire left and I wasn't sure what to do with it. Part of the wire was already bent in a teardrop shape, so I continued with that and came up with this cool earring design. When I tried them on, I loved them. They look very funky and very '80s, and remind me of something I would've orn in my youth.

Though a lot of my pieces are embellished with crystals or pearls, I decided to leave these bare. They're already large and have an interesting shape, so nothing else is needed to dress them up. Trust me, they will get noticed when you wear them! I think hoops are a classic kind of earring that will always be in style. These are modern, but also reflect a past era, so in that way, they're timeless.

For more of my work, head to Naomi's Designs or Naomi's Studio.