Oh, these earrings. These are still probably my all-time favorites, but they have seen better days. I made them years ago during 31 Days: The Thrift Project. I thrifted a gold-tone necklace with different shaped links, and I made a few pairs of earrings out of them. These were by far the best – simple, elegant, and they go with everything. You can see the “gold tone” is wearing off, but I still wear them a couple times a week.

I found similar shaped links online, but in 14K gold, and I recreated the original pair with those. I gave several away as gifts, and I listed them in my Etsy shop.

Last fall, a dear friend of mine celebrated her 40th birthday. I planned to pair my gift of champagne with a pair of those gold, marquise-shaped earrings, but when I went to my jewelry supplies, I was all out of the links. So I improvised. I found my favorite bronze-toned glass beads and strung them onto gold wire in different shapes – marquise, circles, and teardrops. I liked the teardrops best, so I gave her these sparkling earrings and sparkling wine. The birthday girl loved them, and I’ve made a few more pairs since then as gifts.

But then I ran out of my favorite beads, too! I ordered new beads in “gold” and “copper”, hoping they were the right. While the colors were beautiful, but they weren’t THE ONES.

So I scoured the internet, including eBay, Etsy, and websites written entirely in Slavic languages. I went to my local bead store and asked the owner. She said those were her favorite, too, but that she hasn’t seen them in years. I dug through the racks anyway, hoping to find something I liked just as well. I didn’t. But then, on the very bottom, in a few tiny little bags, they appeared. THE ONES! The shop owner said she didn’t even know they were there. I said that I was going to buy her out, but I reconsidered and left her one bag (I’m so nice!) and told her to keep up the search!

So now I’m the proud owner of what could possibly the last of these beads on Earth. (I know, not really, but it feels like it.)

So I made earrings out of all 3 colors. The copper ones (above center) are really sweet and look great with pinks and other pastels. The gold ones (above right) are bright and very sparkly. But the bronze (above left) are, of course, my favorite. They are the color of champagne, and they go with everything.

And all 3 are available in my shop!

These are my new favorites, so now I’m searching thrift stores and bead shops for other fun seed bead options. I’ll keep you posted on what I find!