Two Very Different Pairs of Earrings

Last summer, as a result of watching my Pushing Daisies DVDs (you should too, a show that was practically perfect in every way but doomed by the writers' strike and the public's inexplicable preference for reality TV) and making stuff from The Beaded Garden, I decided to make the daisy earrings from the book (possibly incorporating pie charms). I did not get around to starting the earrings until February, though, and then promptly ran out of white Delica beads. It being Lent, and I foolishly having given up buying craft supplies, I had to wait until after Easter to order more beads. Only I ordered the wrong kind, with a slight translucence. Last week, with the right beads at hand, I finally made the earrings.

First I made a row of petals with the square stitch:
Then I added a second row:
Then I sewed them to a button form covered with yellow fabric:
Finally I strung the button shanks onto a head pin with green glass beads, and voila!
They came out a lot bigger than I thought, so I am not sure about them; I may convert one into a pendant on a green cord and the other into . . . something. I also have to find a way to incorporate pie charms.

Along the way, I screwed up on one set of petals by making some of them too short, and I was too far along before I caught the mistake to undo it. The petals won't go to waste, however, because I have a little tin that holds all sorts of beaded mistakes, false starts, and flawed color choices:
Someday I'll do something with these.

The second set of earrings came about as I was picking up a tiny corner of my craft room to prepare for house guests -- I had some lovely purple stone beads, and I decided to stack them up and make them into earrings:
The smallest beads are dyed purple turquoise, and the medium faceted ones are sugilite, which is hard to find. Unfortunately, I don't remember what the big beads are made from (charoite maybe?), though I remember when and where I bought them (last year, in Lancaster County). This is not the first time that has happened, and really should get into the habit of writing down my purchases. I even have two little books I keep for craft notes and ideas.