It's always fun when ArtBeads sends out their new themes to their design bloggers like me. This time it's summer. The warmer weather brings back many happy memories of butterflies. So I immediately zoomed in on the Swarovski butterflies from their extensive pendant section and created the following designs for my Life Collection (100% of net proceeds go to cancer research).

Swarovski Butterflies and Flowers Pendant Necklace

The green Swarovski butterfly set features wire crochet work which represents nets. The inspiration came from my childhood.  When I was young, I loved catching them in a net but I always let them go after admiring the pretty creatures. 


Later I took to rearing the caterpillar eggs I found on my mother's plants. When they hatched, I fed them the leaves and nearly denuded my mother's plants in the process! I also gave them twigs to climb onto when they needed to change into the chrysalis stage. I would encase the whole thing in a large clear plastic bag with holes poked in it because the only stage I never witnessed was when the butterflies emerged. They always transformed overnight. With the bag though,  I got to see what they looked like in the morning before letting them go free.


The larger Swarovski crystals I ordered were not drilled right through like the smaller green ones. The holes were at the top. So I wired them up differently and twisted wire a little like French wire work for the earrings above. Although swallowtail butterflies are not purple, their "tails" were the inspiration behind this design.

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Original Post by THE BEADING GEM
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