Countdown to Valentine's Day

I must confess, Valentine's day is my very favorite holiday to make art about. It has been since I was a little kid, cutting up paper doilies and construction paper and since those days, I've at least made something, and on some years, whole editions and/or series of work, to celebrate, in my words, "Love and Peace, Hearts and Flowers." Two dimensional, three dimensional, it doesn't much matter and it just depends on my muse that day or week or month before February 14.

This year, so far, I've come up with 2 variations on my current design with flowers and pearls. The first one uses clear but frosted flowers, which were actually kind of hard to figure out how to make work-they have garnet centers and are mixed with more garnets, and red and white pearls.

The second one, also red and white, uses garnet hearts randomly scattered between other bits. Kind of unusual is moonstones are used as the centers for garnet glass flowers. and in both cases, red and white are the main colors--for some reason, it just HAD to be this way!! (The dangers of talking about making things...it's hard to explain the intuitive process in words sometimes.) Now on the bench is a full spectrum of pinks, from soft and sweet to quite shrill...who knows what will come of it??

So last year at this time, I was very into cold forging "Open Heart" pendants --it is a fairly large series, including the example here. In fact, I got so carried away with these, and had barely any visitors to my brand new Etsy or Artfire shops, that I have some left and will be re-listing them again this year. Each is one of a kind.

Which brings me to today's treasury, which includes a piece from WillOaks Studio in the lower right hand corner--a perfect theme, IMHO. It was curated by Krissyanne of Krissyanne Jewelry Creations.


You can take a closer look by clicking on the image which will take you to the actual treasury, and by visiting, you're "casting a vote"--and if you're registered with Etsy, you can even leave a comment.

OK, so I've 'fessed up to my weakness for and habits for Valentine's Day....now I'd love to hear how any and all of you, dear readers, celebrate or prepare for the day. Thanks for stopping by & have a great Sunday!