Pushing Up Daisies, Revisited

It's been a long time since I've had a Rings & Things post here - which basically means that I've been sitting on a hoard of gorgeous goodies from the company for ages. I feel it's past time to share, so here's part of one of the bags that has been sitting on my desk. (I say "part" because I became so excited to use some of the beads, that I forgot to pause long enough to take a group shot before starting. Yes, I am the epitome of "professional"...)

I find the bobby pin blanks strangely compelling for one with too-tightly cropped hair and expect to experiment with those shortly. In the meantime, anyone who knows me, knows that I love skull beads, so there was no question that I would drool over the lovely calaveras lampwork beads and silver-plated charms.

Since floral motifs go hand-in-hand with these skulls and since I have always loved the "Pushing Up Daisies" theme (see my necklace here, for an example), I thought it would be fun to play around with these beads and add some brightly-colored plastic flowers and rings from my stash. Here's the result - a cheerful, long and dangly charm bracelet:




I really like the way these skulls look, hanging from daisies all in a row - and the bright, candy-colors of the plastic beads actually work well with the floral design of the more monochromatic calaveras. I think they also work well individually:



Here's a single skull and daisy hanging from a chain. Cute, eh? As you can see, the overall shape and construction of the focal works quite well with both the lampwork beads and the silver-plated charms (there is also a gold-plated version of the same charm available). I don't actually wear much jewelry myself (ironically), but I think I'll be wearing this necklace around a lot, this summer.

So there you have it - two fun, simple projects for skully lovers, like me. As always, thanks so much to Rings & Things for giving me the opportunity to play with their wonderful products.

Please note: Several of the products mentioned in this post were promotional gifts from Rings & Things for review and/or design partnership purposes.