Handmade Holiday 2 Featuring Popnicute

So today I'm back featuring one of my all-time favorite wire artists. Kharisma (Kay) Sommers is the wire whisperer behind Popnicute. She shares her secrets and some of the supplies on her Popnicute Supplies site, also on Artfire.

This first piece of art, the Wire Bow Necklace, was my inspiration for this blog post. I love the ribbon effect she created with the wire! I'd never seen anything like it before! The stone is Blue Chalcedony and it's wrapped in Argentium Sterling Silver. So give the perfect gift this year: a perfect gift!

Angel Wing Earrings. How cool are these? I love the delicate loops and swirls that form the wing shape, and people that aren't crazy for long dangles (gasp!!!) would love these! They'd make a cute addition to anyone's holiday attire!

I LOVE the graceful curves in this Cross Pendant. I've been eying it for weeks myself, thinking of making a simple chain from antiqued copper jump rings to suspend it from.

Let the toppers for your presents be the gift! Look at this amazing Flower Gift Ribbon pendant executed in delicate loops of polymer clay and adorned with a single sparkly crystal. The fun pom-pom shape in it's muted green tone would be a gift topper that you can enjoy wearing all year round.

So head on over to Kay's store to see more of her fantastic work, and I hope you enjoyed this holiday featurette! Stay tuned for more this week!!!

Handmade Holiday Featuring BooBeads

Every year around this time, the whole world seems to turn red, white, and green. Bright baubles hang everywhere you look, Christmas trees twinkle in the early evenings, and we all have these wonderful, comforting thoughts about hot chocolate, Santa Clause, and snowmen.

Every year I'm astounded by the Christmas designs people come up with. You would think we beaders would have exhausted most of our holiday possibilities by now, but new and completely innovative designs keep cropping up. Over the next week or so, I'd like to feature some of the amazing specifically Christmas designs that I and my friends have done this year.

The first shop I'd like to visit is BooBeads run by the chic and talented Cat Pruitt. Cat's talents are wide ranging: she does beautiful stringing work, gorgeous wire work, some beadweaving, and lately she has been branching into the wonderful world of metal-smithing, and I find myself casting an envious eye over her results. To hear more about her adventures in metal-smithing, check out her blog.

These earrings are one of the reasons I wanted to do a blog about Cat. I’ve seen all sorts of Christmas themed earrings, but her “Mr. and Mrs. Santa Claus Earrings” truly take the cake!

The next piece of Cat’s that I particularly love is this Winter Wonderland charm bracelet. Cat has a wonderful eye for color, and that comes through in the mix of silver, white, and pale blue that makes this piece sparkle like the day after an ice storm.

I was raised Catholic, and Christmas Eve was a time of elegance and opulence. Here’s a wonderful pair of Cosmic Star Flower Earrings that are elegant enough for Midnight Mass, but innocuous enough to wear all year round! I love the dazzling colors in the faux Mexican opal, and the striking balance the create with the silver settings!

Of course, no Christmas season is complete without a Christmas Tree, and Cat’s Christmas Tree Earrings are simply perfect!

Lastly, I’d like to show another piece of Cat’s that, while it’s great for Christmas, is also wearable at any time of year… and that’s the lovely dove pendant in her Soaring in Flight necklace.

Spend an hour or so oohing and aaahing at the other amazing pieces in Cat’s Artfire store, and stay tuned this week for more Handmade Holiday Artist features!!!