Times, they are a changin'....

Hi all!

As you'll notice, I'm changing a few things on my blog. Please bear with me as I make these changes... I'm playin' and experimentin', not sure how I'll keep things just yet. LOL

ETA: I've added a poll to get my viewers' opinions on my new layout, colors, etc. to the right, halfway down the page. If you would, please take a moment to cast your vote. Your opinions matter to me!

Just wanted to "brag" on myself a little...

In the short time I've been selling on Etsy, I was so fortunate as to have one of my shop graphics sets to be featured in a Treasury! Woot! (Screen shot above)

One of my customers (my FIRST customer, actually) was so kind as to include one of my banner sets in her treasury, which also featured other graphics designers as well. What a pleasure it was to see my work, as a newbie no less, included with other well established sellers!

You can see the curator of the treasury, JustTheBest4U's shop HERE... which, BTW, is sportin' the banner set she purchased from me. :D

Anywho, in just over a month's time, I've made 4 sales, one sale being from a repeat customer who requested a matching business card image. I must say that I enjoy what I've been up to lately, and look forward to continuing this endeavor!

My Graphics!

So I've FINALLY not only opened an Etsy shop as promised... but I've also opened an Artfire shop as well!

So far, I have only graphics for sale, but I've already made 3 sales on Etsy! Yay me!!! My "big plan" is to use the funds I make through these shops to help pay for my jewelry making supplies, though so far I've only managed to break even what with the selling fees and a purchase of commercial use images to use in my graphics. LOL Still, considering I've only just started out, I think I'm doing okay. :D

But anyways, go ahead and check out my Etsy and Artfire shops! I'm also open to not only shop graphics, but also doing some custom blog banners, avatars, business cards, etc. I'll also be brushing up on doing layouts as well. If you're interested in any of these services, feel free to contact me here, or via the convo/message options on each of my shops. I'd love to hear from you!

I've placed an "Etsy Mini" and my Artfire's "Shop Window" to the right, I'm just a click away!

Photographing Jewelry... on the cheap!

For those who are just passing through, you may think my setup looks a little wonky... for those who also make jewelry, you know the time consumed, frustrations involved, and the lengths we go to to get a good pic of our work and can probably relate. :D

Just for the heck of it, I thought I'd post a pic of my current photo shoot set up. This was recently inspired by a lady who goes by SC Steph on the SJA forums. (Her works can be found HERE and HERE) Maybe her idea will inspire others as well (who may not already be a member of SJA and haven't seen all the helpful hints there) to also strive to take better pics of their work.

She recently posted a thread about how she used a chafing dish stand and tissue paper (the gift wrapping kind) to form a photo box. Being that I don't have a chafing dish (and I'm too cheap to go buy one LOL) I substituted a small wrought iron magazine stand (magazine rack removed) that I turned upside down for mine. :D I wrapped the tissue paper (wrinkled on purpose for texture) around the outside, suspended fishing line from the bottom braces, positioned it to catch the morning light from the left and a lamp with a natural lighting light bulb on the right, set up my camera and voila! What's that old saying... Necessity is the Mother of all invention? :D

Kinda innovative if I do say so myself... thanks for the inspiration Steph! Works quite well for my needs, even if it DOES look a little wonky.

Teal Trendsetters

I've always loved all shades of teal, and with these earrings I've captured my most favorite shade-- dark, deep, and mysterious.

15mm lamp work glass coin/lentil shaped foiled beads encased top and bottom with scalloped copper bead caps that I've custom formed to fit the shape of the glass, 3mm round copper beads, and the best of the best in fresh, clear 4mm bicone crystal beads-- Swarovski crystal. All this lusciousness is hand wrapped on ball tipped head pins and suspended from handcrafted 20g copper ear wires which have been carefully filed smooth on the ends for comfortable insertion and wear. Ear wires measure approx. 1/2 inch, total length of earrings is right at 1 1/2 inches, a perfect length for most preferences.

I can visualize these earrings being worn both casually with denim, and with those famously sparkly Swarovskis they can also easily be dressed up with many of today's trendy styles. They are just feminine enough to even go with many vintage fashions as well. Soooo versatile!

**Please note that I will happily substitute the current ear wires for others of different material if you prefer a different look or are concerned with allergy issues. I have hypoallergenic (silver colored, free of charge), or I can oxidize (darken) either silver filled ($1 more) or even solid sterling silver ear wires to better match the copper for a mere $3 more. Just be sure to make a note of it when you contact me to purchase. :)

If you are interested in purchasing, you can shoot me an email via the email address listed above or the link in my profile.

Icy chic!

Oh. My. Gosh. I've surprised my own self in being brave enough to break out my GOLD FILLED supplies! I've been chicken for quite a while, for fear of using my "good stuff" and goofing it all up, thus wasting it... but I think I did rather well, if I do say so myself. :D

I stuck to a simple design with these earrings. I've featured ultra icy, uber clear 10mm faceted rondelle glass beads, round GF beads, and tiny scalloped GF bead caps for that extra finishing touch. GF curb link chain that flashes light when in motion. All that bling is suspended from simple yet flirty handcrafted 20g GF ear wires that measure approx. 3/4 inch, filed on the end for comfortable insertion. Total length of earrings from top curve of ear wire to bottom of rondelle is a bold 2 1/4 inches. I tumbled the earrings for several hours for the utmost strength, smoothness and shine!

I'm telling ya, I can visualize these surprisingly lightweight earrings going with all spectrums of style, and I'm enamored with how clear these glass beads are, they remind me of super clear ice and they catch the light beautifully.

These stunners are bold enough for an evening outing, yet simple enough for the office. Dramatic enough for the bold, still yet refined enough for the sophisticated. Whomever wears these, I'd be willing to bet these will be their "go to" earrings... they'll go with everything.

If you are interested in purchasing, you can shoot me an email via the email address listed above or the link in my profile.

Mmmmm..... leather!

So after taking a wee bit of a break after the Christmas make-stuff-like-crazy rush, I've gotten around to making a couple of bracelets!



For the bracelet above I used some milky rose quartz, labradorite gemstone chips, SP rounds and silver filled wire* for wrapping and the handcrafted hook clasp. NOW I know why other jewelry designers lament so about photographing labradorite... that wonderful irridescent blue/green fire is sooo difficult to capture! Honestly, this pic doesn't do the labradorite justice. There's much more sparkle to the chips in person.



The next one has lapis lazuli gemstone chips in a luscious shade of royal blue and a freshwater pearl, also with SP rounds and silver filled wire* used for wrapping and the handcrafted clasp. Now I'll tell ya, I'm not usually crazy about blue, but I'm really digging these lapis chips! Such a royal hue. Brings to mind what the Egyptians must have worn back in their day... classic beauty.

Both bracelets have double strands of knotted 1mm leather, hand wire wrapped on the ends. I feel the combination of materials and techniques I've used gives them a fun, casual, and earthy feel... ohhh, what's that other term I'm thinking of-- Bohemian, maybe? I'm thinking that these would look great with a classic white shirt and denim jeans or skirt! I can also see them both being worn together as well.

I truly wish I could have done better with the pics, but I was running out of daylight and I really wanted to get these posted. LOL

If you'd like to purchase, you can either email me via the email link at the top of this page or through my profile here.

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I've added this note before, but here it is again FYI: * A note about sterling silver filled (SF) wire:

This wire is NOT silver plated (SP). Rather, it is a thick layer of genuine .925 sterling silver heat bonded to a base metal, usually copper or brass. (This heat bonding process is much the same as for gold fill items.)

This resulting thick layer of silver (1/40th of total weight) makes for a much longer lasting item than lesser quality silver plate (which is only fraction of a micron in thickness), and is a wonderfully economical alternative to the ever rising prices of solid sterling silver. Same look, shine and luster of SS-- yet a fraction of the cost. Unlike SP, this wire is sturdy enough that it can be hammered, oxidized and soldered.

Care for silver filled wire is the same as for solid silver. A quick dip in a commercial liquid silver jewelry cleaner or a gentle polish with a jeweler's cloth keeps the item's luster like new.

Whew,it's over! ... a handmade Christmas.

Christmas 2008 is now officially a thing of the past. All our gifts have been given and opened, and though the quantity we were able to give was noticeably less this year, I'd like to think the quality far surpasses many years gone by.

Hubby and I have felt the financial crunch this year much the same as everyone else so we concentrated the small amount we could spend solely on our kids and I handmade the remainder of the gifts for everyone else on our list with supplies I already had on hand. I ended up making 14 bracelets (12 were some type of chain maille), 1 key chain (also chain maille), and 1 pair of earrings! LOL I loosely used a "theme" for each family by using byzantine variations for one family, inverted round for another, and so on... My jewelry seemed to be generally well-received with a lot of "how did you DO that?!"s and "that's neat!"s, and seeing that this was the first real exposure my and hubby's family has had to my jewelry making, it made me feel pretty doggone good. :D

I'm not the only one to give handmade gifts this year. My brother gave the kids some cute little potted cacti with jiggly eyes and us some delicious smelling seasoning of herbs that I'm assuming he grew, dried, and combined himself. Can't wait to try some of that on baked chicken... My neice jumped on the handmade bandwagon as well and gave us a beautiful Christmas wreath that I hung immediately on our front door when we got home. While we received many other wonderful gifts as well, we all enjoyed each other's company and that, I consider, is what the holidays are all about.

But now that it's all over for 2008, I'm all freed up to stress about NEXT year.

Wow, I figured it out!!

Yay me!

As mentioned in my last post, I've been tweaking my blog page a bit. I've decided to switch from the "classic" to the "new" layout thingie, and have had trouble getting to keep both the banner AND the textual blog description I had on my "old" layout. But hey, as you can see I figured it out awwl by muhsewlf. :D

Thanks for sticking with me! Who knows-- this blog might take on a color change sometime in the near future. I feel a poll coming on....