Serena and Medici Drop Earring

I hope all of you had a great holiday weekend. Other than eating, (right?), I spent some time catching up on my bead work. I'm happy to report that I was able to finish my version of  Marcia DeCoster's bracelet, Serena - a beautiful built-up RAW cuff. The pattern is in Marcia's awesome Beaded Opulence book. Marcia used a 3-strand slide clasp in her sample and my bracelet is on an 8-strand slide clasp. Yikes! It is absolutely yummy, measuring almost 2" wide!! I used over 200 3mm 5328 Crystal Dorado 2x Swarovski Elements, but what's a little sparkle among friends! The Dorado 2x totally popped the base color. I used a matte metallic olive ab Japanese seed bead in size 11/0. It's hard to recognize from my picture, but you seed bead gals will remember it from Interweave's Best of Beadwork. Pharaoh's Daughter is on the cover. This beautiful necklace, designed by my BFF Marcia, used three sizes of that beautiful matte metallic seed bead.

Of course, now that I've finished my bracelet what do I wear for my earrings? The Medici Drop: a fabulous earring that you can make in under 30 minutes. I'm not usually one for matching jewelry, but in this case I'm making an exception and I love it. If you haven't made one yet, you really should!. The pattern is in Beaded Opulence too.