lantern bouquets!

i have been feeling rather down the last few days; i thought that perhaps a lantern bouquet might make feel better. so i made one. then i made another.

this one i am calling "summer song". it has a beautiful mauve colored center bead.

it is the biggest one of these i have made so far. the petals are made up of five layers that, incidentally, each spin independently of one another.

and the chain is sprinkled with fabulous summer colored beads, peruvian opal, peridot, amethyst, and several coordinating glass beads as well.

i just love how it feels on. it is heavy and delicate at the same time. i know that whoever is wearing it will be unable to keep their fingers from spinning the petals.

this one is "spring rain". it features a beautiful robin's egg blue center bead. there are also two peridot and citrine "leaves" that dangle seductively from the flower.

these petals have lovely texture on them and, like the other, spin.

you can probably can tell from looking at them that they took a very long time to make. each piece of each flower was hand cut, stamped, filed, shaped, assembled, oxidized, and buffed. i think i will be making some more in the next few weeks~ they are very fulfilling!

p.s. i am having my two-year "etsy anniversary" sale next week. to show my appreciation for all of my customers, i am offering a free cd with each purchase over $100. the cd will have songs from the playlist that plays here on the blog. because i love all of you, my dear blog friends, i would like to give you one too. so, the first 15 folks who leave a comment, telling me what your favorite songs are that play here will get a free cd! (you will have to e-mail me your address.) if you would like one too, but did not get here in time, you can still have one! i would just ask that you send $3 via paypal to silversparrowdesigns@gmail.com to cover my materials and shipping. (please include your address in the message box!)