What I Did on My Summer Vacation

DiGi and I got home from the second part of our summer vacation a few hours ago. We now know how to program our GPS (Thomas is the name of his one and only English-speaking voice) and actually trust him enough to let him lead us home, so we decided to come home via the back roads - as this weekend there were/are expected to be large numbers of French vacationers coming home after their August 15 road trips (The Assumption).

We told Thomas to avoid the highways and to take the shortest route, as opposed to the fastest. He took it to heart, and it took us 6 hours instead of 4 to get back. But oh, what a beautiful, peaceful drive! The traffic on the Autoroute 20 early in the journey (where the speed limit is about 90 mph - and that's too slow for a lot of the hot-shot, lead-footed drivers) was the busiest in terms of other cars, but just before we would've had to stop at a toll booth to take a ticket, we left the major roads and drove through one beflowered village after another (speed limits from about 33 mph to 60 mph). Not a good choice for someone in a big hurry, but it was perfect for us, as neither DiGi nor I like the stress of driving very much.

Anyway, while I was gone (despite the weather), I managed to make some earrings. Not the best photos in the world, but you get the idea, I suppose! The golden shadow Swarovski starfish are combined with crystal copper rondelles and coppery mother-of-pearl beads, with sterling silver findings.








The pair with seed beads, fringe beads and wire-wrapped purple glass heart dangles, also with sterling findings, was inspired by "365 Earrings You Can Make" by BeadStyle. They're destined for the ears of my beautiful-sister (the French designation for what we Americans call a sister-in-law), Jacqui.
~