Thursday Feature: Artbeads CZ design #4 & Review

Only one more day of Artbeads Cubic Zirconia Beads to go after this. Today I'm sharing the 7mm Dark Purple CZ Coins I was provided and have used in the earrings below:

Under my Ott Lite® the faceted CZ teardrops I used for the earrings appear much lighter than the coins, but in less intense light they seem to the eye to be the same color. Also, the teardrops I've used are not from Artbeads, but a suitable substitute should be these 5x7mm Dark Purple CZ Pear beads. The gold-filled lever back earrings are from Artbeads, they are sold individually, with price breaks at 6-11 and 12+.

Beadalon makes special sized jump rings (see ring X) that can be used with their CZ-Gem Dropz™ and I've used those to link the teardrops and create the short (4 link) chains.

Since on Thursdays I sometimes do reviews, I thought I'd give some opinions about the CZs I've received. On the minus side, the faceting on some of these isn't aligned on a straight horizontal or vertical and some of the drill holes are off center. I find this a bit disappointing, but perhaps at the price it's to be expected. On the plus side, the colors are lovely and the price does seem reasonable. The channel set clear CZs were wonderfully bright and I love the way they look.

On Friday I'll be asking you to comment on your favorite CZ piece from this week as your entry in a random drawing for a $25.00 Artbeads gift certificate. The winner will be drawn on Saturday and will get their certificate directly from Artbeads, so I'll be asking you to email me your full name and email address, if you're chosen.

For a chance at a $100 Artbeads "Holiday Cheer" prize go to their Facebook page to read how and enter.

Hope to see you tomorrow when I share my final Artbeads CZ design!

FTC compliance notice of material connection: some of the CZ elements, as noted above, were provided to me for free in exchange for design purposes and/or promotional consideration by Artbeads.

Lately I've been smitten by thoughts of the ocean, wishing I could fall asleep to the sound of waves rolling in, smelling the fresh salt air. To compensate, I suppose, I've collected a number of shell beads and am working on a number of new designs using ocean/seashore themes. Here's a new ocean/seashore design I finished today and have listed on Art Fire:

I've decided to use Sunday as a day to share links to some of my favorite beading blogs (and their bloggers). Without further ado, here's Dawno's Weekly Wanderings Around the Beadosphere:

A Bead A Day Lisa shows off a new bracelet made from beads she featured earlier in the week. Peace symbols in it may have inspired the dreams about the 70's I had last night.

Just ATish Tish has a bumper sticker.

At Perfectly Twisted you can see beautiful examples of wrapped wire jewelry by a very talented artist in this technique.

Smu Topia has an ocean themed Friday featuring Etsy artists.

Aww, all the Twitter posts (Tweets) disappeared from the Rings & Things blog. You can see Dave (who Tweets as @Rings_Things on Twitter) and the team with their new bike, though.

I'm hoping the Artbeads blog will update soon. If you haven't visited the top post right now is the Beadaholics 12 Step Program. Artbeads' most social Tweeter is @BeadGuy but they have a company account, @Artbeads, too

Heather (who Tweets as @beadinpath on Twitter) has a post up about amazing vintage beads The Beadin' Path acquired from an estate sale of a high end costume jewelry design house.

Would you like to see your link up there next Sunday? Mention and link to me, and this list of blogs & links (feel free to copy and paste), on your blog this week, leave a comment with the link to your post here, and I'll feature one of your posts in next Sunday's list!

Check the blogroll in my sidebar for some of my other favorite places to visit. Remember, you can add me to your list of blogs to follow, if you're a Blogger user, by visiting your dashboard and adding my URL.

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Dawno

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