Mother's Day Earrings

My mother is an exceptionally difficult woman to find gifts for, then again I was an exceptionally difficult child to raise (still am). So I suppose stressing over what to buy or make her every time the occasion arises is fair payback (at least for the times I turned my nose up at roast beets and asparagus...ick) Well, its a start.

I decided to make a pair of earrings, and since shrink plastic is quite light I thought it would make an ideal material. I started with purple, one of her favorite colors, and quickly realized I had made a mistake. Instead of tracing my little birdies so that they were mirrored, one tweeting to the left one tweeting to the right...I had just turned the design 180 degrees.

I decided to forge ahead, regardless of my mistake and color the birds in. I tried to keep the color scheme very cool-toned and purple-centric overall, with a pop of yellow here and there for contrast.  

Here is how I would have liked my birds to turn out. I love symmetry! However, because shrink plastic has a rough side and a shiny side I couldn't just flip the design over. Well, I suppose I could, but the discrepancy in texture would have bugged the heck outta me.

Have I mentioned how much I love shrinking stuff?  :)

I had to find the perfect hardware for my mother’s earrings because she can be remarkably picky: they can't be too heavy, they have to stay in during all manner of activities from skiing to windsurfing, and they cannot under any circumstances be studs. After a bit of searching I found some lightweight silver earring fastenings that latched in the back.      

Finished! Fingers crossed she actually likes them.