Tara

Tara was the result of a bet.  One of my middle school students bet that I couldn't make a necklace in 20 minutes using just stuff I found in my jewelry box.  As you can see, he lost that bet, and owed me a Fruit Roll-Up.  Tara is actually three necklaces combined into one.  The rose on the bottom was  from a necklace that broke years ago.  The gold chain, is, well, a gold chain.  And the strand at the top was meant to be for another piece, but I figured why not?  I won't say this is one of my better works, but I like it all the same.

Merrow

This one made me a bit sad.  Not long after I strung the center pendant, I noticed that it had a hairline crack through the center on the back.  You can't see it in the picture, but it extends the whole diameter of the shell.  I did seal it with some superglue, but regardless, even if I do start selling my stuff, this won't be one that I list.  I will never knowingly list damaged goods. 

That being said, it's still a pretty necklace.  I thought the silvery shells complimented the design on the pendant nicely.  It is heavy (the pendant is about a centimeter thick) but not uncomfortable to wear.  And I generally don't go for heavy stuff. 

I should make a note on all of my designs...I rarely plan them out on paper first.  I usually just pick out a pendant and go from there.  Well, there was that one necklace that I did plan, but that thing was insanely ornate.  I'll post a picture of that one soon.

Amphitrite

This is one of the first necklaces I made, and I named it for the biggest, baddest betta I have.  As you could probably guess, her name's Amphitrite.  The color scheme is pretty close to the fishie herself.  My Amphi is primarily blue, but with flashes of green and silver when she turns a certain way. 

I got the pendant at Hobby Lobby, as well as the seed beads.  As for the pearls...I've had those a long time, so not quite sure where I picked those up.  My best guess would be a bead shop in my hometown (they always had colored pearls). 

Maeve

I wanted to go for "royal" colors on this one, and settled on purple and gold.  I was a bit worried that the gold beads would clash too much with the lilac tones of the seed beads and crystal, but the finished product was a pleasant surprise.  Not too much in the way of natural stones here...just a few amethyst chips for spacing purposes.  One thing that I really do like about the seed beads is that they don't push memory wire out of shape, as larger beads sometimes do.  I ran into that issue a bit with my other necklaces.