Spring is Everywhere!

So it's been a while since my last post. But can you blame me? Spring is everywhere! Everywhere you look are bright, dazzling, wonderful, and huge variety colors on the ground, in the air, all over the clothes and jewelry shops. This has always been my favorite time of year. The air is still mild, sun still gentle on the skin. I just love spring, and being out in it if and whenever possible. So that is my excuse as to the absence of posts lately.. :)

I did want to show you a necklace that was a sort of partnership with a friend at work. She brougt in this beautiful springy colored lanyard - it had these lovely glass chips of green, violet, white, and light amber. She's been a fan of mine for some time now, and appreciates many of the details and craftmanship I put into my work. So when she brought me this lanyard simply attached on a string and said to see what I can do with it, I was excited about fancying it up a bit for her. I went easy on the bling factor, since she wanted to be able to wear the necklace with as many outfits as possible, and didn't want it too fancy. I showed her a few violet and white glass foils, as well as green glass beads and white crystals that I thought would nicely accentuate the violet, green, white colors of the glass pieces. She liked the violet foils the most, so I made sure to use them as the focus beads. Here's how it turned out, hope you like it! I also included a picture of the plain lanyard she started out with, so you can see what she brought me.

I also have a few new pieces that I will blog about soon, but you can preview them in the $20 and Up Bin on my blog in the right column.

Original lanyard

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Red Glass Pearl Love

Not to do them any disservice, I wanted to show you the gorgeous Red Glass Pearl Bracelets made for a co-worker and her friends.  This young lady has a huge heart, and she decided to show it off by giving her lucky friends some awesome eye-candy to wear by gifting these wonderful bracelets. Each hand-crafted bracelet is similar in pattern, but is still very much different from the other. Crystal size and shape vary in placement for a little added variety, interest, and fun. Also to change it up, I used crystal spacer bars for maximum wow-factor on one bracelet.  Hope you like the pics and videos. Email me at caras.creations@yahoo.com if you'd like to order one (or more). Please include your size if known, or do as one customer stated, she needed one for her daughter whose wrist size was medium-ish. I made hers a size 6". More updates to come soon! Spring is in the air and I'm currently working on some more springy-inspired bling.  

                               

Video #1 - Email subscribers - you can view videos by clicking on the Purple/Blue Title link at the top "Red Glass Pearl Love"



Video #2

Video #3

Video #4

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Turquoise Pearls & Black Crystal Accent Bracelet

Not sure if you've had a chance to peek into the $20 and Up Bin on the right-hand side of my blog page, but in case you haven't, I thought I would feature this silky bracelet.

It's such a beautiful bracelet with slightly graduated 8mm medium and 6mm smaller-sized pearls, turquoise crystal rondelles set-off these darling faceted black crystals nestled in the middle. Double black spacers, black lobster clasp and platinum color extender chain fitting sizes up to 8" finish the look. This is a customer favorite design. Let me know what you think.

Turquoise Pearl with Black Crystal Accents Bracelet - $23

Bracelet Video

(Email viewers please click on Title link at the top "Turquoise Pearl & Black Crystal Accents Bracelet" to be taken to the video on my blog page)

Turquoise Pearl & Black Faceted Crystal Bracelet

Bracelet - $23

Turquoise Pearl & Black Faceted Crystal Bracelet-Allstate/Citi

Bracelet - $23

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Spreading The Love With Bracelet Bling

I recently finished an order for 6 medium-sized black pearl and crystal bracelets. One of my co-workers had seen the red and gold pearl bracelet I had been wearing, and being the loving and thoughtful sister and daughter that she is, thought it would make a great gift idea for some of the women in her family. I went with the same basic design but used the black pearls, silver spacer bars, and changed up the look of the crystals a bit. Some crystals were faceted silver, faceted smoky clear, metallic black and silver, and a few other tweaks so that most of the bracelets differed just slightly. She told me afterwards that they all loved them, yay! Hope you like them too!  I've included a video along with the pictures. Sorry for the video quality.. but hopefully it helps to know that I have plans on getting a better video camera in the very near future.  :)

Black Pearl Bracelet Video (If unable to view video via email, please click on highlighted link title at the top - 'Black Pearl Bracelets' - and it will take you to the video on my website)

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Hooked on Fishhook Earrings

Just a quick post to show you another pair of fishhook earrings made for a co-worker's son's girlfriend. Apparently she loves fishing, and these were a great gift idea. Two smaller metallic green faceted round beads with an additional clear crystal bicone both above and below it, make up the main body of these earrings. Yes, that's a real stainless steel fishhook dangling from the crystal bead... No worries, the tip and barb have been cut off and sanded so no actual hooking or stabbing is involved for the wearer. They're quite versatile too - I've done several different versions using different beads and combinations, and just about any bead looks good as a fishhook earring. They really stand out, and are just the cutest fishhook earrings don't ya think? Love them!  :)

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Watch Bracelet Project

This was a fun little project I did recently for a co-worker. She had a watch that she wanted to keep, but needed a more secure 'band' for it that fit better on her wrist. The one she had had flat beads on it, and were connected to the face of the watch with to tiny lobster clasps. I used the same design since she seemed happy with it, and dressed it up a bit with black goldstones (dark black stones with tiny flecks of gold in them) and a large lobster clasp at both ends. Once I added the lobster heart clasps, she was hooked! :)  They have the cutest hearts that make up the base of the clasp, giving it a little more feminine, fun  and slightly bold look.

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My First Video!

My very first video, yay!! :)  Go easy on me....  I know the video quality isn't the best, and please excuse the slight winding noise in the background. While recording I found out my camera has this weird glitch - apparently it makes this winding noise when it focuses and refocuses, which it does quite often. I tried lessening the winding noise by keeping the focus point in the same general area, but some refocusing by the camera was inevitable. For those who might ask or think 'have you tried using your phone video camera'? Answer - yes, and the quality of the image and sharpness was definitely not as good as my Fuji camera. I'm also considering putting them on Youtube, but that's another story.

They say a picture can say a thousand words, but a video can really make an item 'come to life'. Seems like no matter how many different angles and distances I use to take my pictures, everyone always says actually seeing the jewelry in person really makes a difference. Of course a video won't let you touch it or try it on. But... you can see how it hangs, see a lot more of the angles and textures, different color nuances, and so much more that a picture just doesn't always seem to be able to grab.

I realize this first video attempt might not be professional quality or have the best content yet... but it's a good start and still a work in progress. And I just thought how fun it would be to try adding a recording in addition to some of the pictures I put up, to add a little more excitement to the jewelry and the blog - and a button bracelet is a good start because it tends to have a little more movement and jangle. And how much more fun it is to watch a cute little video than several pictures. I'll still continue posting the pictures - I've had many compliments on them and am often asked what photography company do I use (me!). But if the videos go over well and I have enough interest in them, I'll start including videos of my newest creations along with the pictures. Since this is a jewelry blog, I might even start adding videos of different ideas or projects, and even newest bead purchases or wish lists I have going on - and whatever else I can think of, time allowing, that would be fun and make coming to Cara's Creations blog a better experience. So let me know whatcha think of the video and my video ideas.

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