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Crystal oval jewels

These pretty oval jewels are crystal pointed back cabochon stones and they are probably the most popular oval jewel I’ve ever found. Such pretty gems! The size is perfect when you don’t want gaudy but you do want sparkly 🙂

crystal oval glass jewels

They’re about 1/2″ long. Demure and girly. Also sparkling and sexy. Kind of the perfect stone. Think how pretty these would be for your wedding earrings, or a tiny lovely pendant on a delicate silver chain.

And if you want something a bit more complex, but still not huge, and still sparkly?You can choose the two-jewel setting. Pair your crystal ovals with a tiny rhinestone (and you choose the color!) Wonderful for wedding jewels – and bridesmaids.

crystal oval glass jewels with two sparkling rhinestones

Or prom. Or Friday night. Or Sunday. Or, well, you get the idea 🙂

Colorful glass jewels

I love trying new combinations of colorful glass jewels – especially those that aren’t “supposed to” go together. Says who?

aqua peridot and orange glass jewels available at weekendjewelry1 on etsy

You see what I mean? Aqua (almost turquoise) blue. Peridot green. And orange. I mean, orange! We don’t put these colors together in jewelry very often, do we.

And I really like them. And I’ve had a few other people say to me, hey, very cool. So: try new combos. That don’t go together. Just because.

Amethyst glass jewels for wedding and bridal jewelry

I don’t know if it’s a resurgence, or just a recurring popular trend – but I’ve been selling a lot of amethyst glass gemstones for wedding jewelry recently. And my customers don’t always want exact matches – they want both light and darker amethyst, from lilac to dusty deep purple. These are among the most popular choices:

amethyst glass jewels for wedding and bridal jewelry

I’m going to see if I can get some pictures – not mine, but from the brides! To show off how pretty their jewelry turned out. One girl wore all light amethyst, and her attendants wore deep purple – and she had 8 bridesmaids and a flower girl!

I’ll come back with pics asap 🙂

Emerald green glass hearts

Just in time for St. patrick’s Day – or, well, anytime you want some pretty heart jewelry – take a look at these gorgeous goodies!

emerald glass heart pendant and earring jewels

When you’ve got a simple, pretty pendant or pair of earrings with these heart jewels, you don’t need a lot of fussy other accessories. The color is rich, it’s flattering, and it’s affordable.

This is a win 🙂

Silver plated brass leverback earwires

Just a small detour from the pretty sparkling stones – I just got a new batch in of silver plated brass leverbacks. These locking earwires are super popular – also affordable and comfy.

silver plated brass leverback earwires

They’re not precious metal sterling silver (if you need those, just holler) – but unless you have metal sensitivies, you really don’t need to be paying for sterling. For fun everyday earrings, I love the leverbacks 🙂

They just take your earring designs up a notch, you know?

Crystal AB teardrop beads

Crystal AB is the name given in the jewelry trade to crystal – clear, colorless, sparkling – glass gems that have an “AB” coating. In this instance, “AB” stands for “aurora borealis”. To us, that means there are little glints of color on the crystal glass. Like this:

crystal AB beads in my Etsy shop

They’re pretty, they have a little extra sparkle, and they’re absolutely lovely for spring, for bridal and bridesmaid jewelry, and… hmm… for Prom. You know, in case you need some prom earrings that don’t cost a fortune…

Just sayin’ 🙂

Clear glass beads – trending for 2016

I’ve been hearing about this trend lately – we’ll see if it’s really true! Minimalistic clear glass jewels are fresh and new for 2016. Like these:

clear vintage glass octagon beads from Weekendjewelry1 on Etsy

These particular jewels are vintage glass (from the 1950s I think) that I’ve just restocked. They have well defined faceting, so that even with totally clear glass, they have a sparkle and catch the light beautifully. And of course, they’ll go with anything you wear! That makes for a good “go to” earring – or one to pack when you travel. No matter what you buy, you’ve got some jewelry to go with.

Of course the clear glass is also great with other colors – I’m going to do a few examples and post later. Stay tuned!

Christmas glass jewels :-)

Just for fun, I pulled out some of the pretty glass jewels I have right now – in Christmas colors 🙂

emerald green and ruby red glass jewels available in my Etsy shop

So if you should happen to want to make some sparkly jewelry with Christmas colors – ruby red, emerald green (and of course, you could choose crystal, or golden topaz, or pretty amethyst, or many more) – why we still have time to do that. And if you’ve already made your holiday jewelry, wasn’t it fun? and money-saving? And kind of satisfying to know that you could do that?

A pretty gift, from you to your loved one. That’s the best part of all 😉

Blackened Brass Heart Charms, Part Two

I just wanted to show you a few examples of what you can do with these sweet little blackened brass heart charms that I mentioned a few days ago. Showing is always better than telling, don’t you think?

different ways to use blackened brass heart charms

And I use these examples only to say hey, there are lots of things you can use to turn these little hearts into something really special. Look around your craft room. Try those few leftover beads you had. Wire them to hang with the hearts, or add a cluster to a necklace focal.

I have the hearts in golden raw brass, too – I think they were originally intended as stamping blanks. They’re fairly thin so it’s best to stamp on a very smooth hard surface like a jewelry anvil – but it works terrifically when you do that. So: add pearls or charms. Or stamp your own message.

Or just use the hearts “as is”. They’re fun, they’re inexpensive, they’re a little boho. What’s not to love?

Blackened Brass Heart Charms

I recently found some smallish, adorable brass heart charms, both golden raw brass ones and deeply blackened hearts. I think the possibilities with these are endless!

blackened brass heart charms

Well, okay, maybe not endless. But varied, and interesting. I was thinking how cool these would look, paired with a vivid glass charm in red, or maybe a hand-wired white pearl dangle. I’m going to try a few ideas and will post them here later.

Heart charms are always in style, you know? They’re feminine and seasonless – and for easy, fun earrings? A win 🙂