Somebody asked me recently what was my own favorite jewel – and of course that changes by the day! But it got me thinking. If I had to pick just one glass jewel from my entire collection – as the personal favorite that I’d wear anytime – it would be these 10mm x 10mm crystal jewels:

Why, I (almost) heard you ask? Easy peasy. They’re sparkly. The silver settings add an extra bit of light around the face, and that’s always good. They’re not super dangly, but they always have a nice presence without being heavy (visually or weight-wise, and personally I don’t like to wear heavy earrings!)

And they’re pretty. And they go with everything from jeans to gowns. And they’re sparkly. And they always look classy.

They aren’t my most expensive glass beads – or my cheapest, either. But if I had to pick one pair? Yeah, I think it’d be these 😉

PS Oh! These aren’t vintage – they’re new. I call them “classic”. Because they are!

I’m always surprised at how attractive clear glass beads and jewels are. Of course part of that is how they’re cut (faceted). Diamond cutters know what they’re talking about – the faceting makes all the difference. But you don’t have to own diamonds to have some pretty jewels to work with. Case in point:

Pros and cons:

Pro – they go with everything;
Pro – they’re clean lined and attractive
Pro – they don’t cost much, whether in brass or silver settings;
Pro – with the addition of earwires, voila, you’ve got a fun new pair of earrings.

Con – okay, they aren’t diamonds.

I can’t think of any more. These are fun!

I just love this color! These glass teardrop beads are red. Yes. But “red” covers a lot of territory. Coral red. Lipstick red – which is really a color “name” they use a lot and isn’t it funny? Because I mean – which lipstick? But anyway. Crimson. Ruby. Apple red.

Then I figured it out: these are raspberry red. Definitely red, with just an under hint of… blue, maybe. But really red, all the same.

Love the color!