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....

Please bear with me...

... as I attempt to tweak my blog a bit. For those who have viewed my blog before, you'll notice a few visual changes here and there. I'm by no means an expert, so things may seem a bit wonky whilst I work on it. For one thing, I can't seem to get my banner into this layout and still keep the header blog description text (and not be one on top of the other).... ugh. LOL

I have, however, managed to figure out how to add the 'follow this blog' thingie to make it easier for those who might be interested. Baby steps... baby steps. :D

I'd also like to take this opportunity to say that I appreciate each and every one of you who take the time to visit my blog page, and would like to wish you all a very happy holiday season and a wonderful, healthy new year!

Small order on its way...

I've recently placed a small order for stainless steel wire and some fire polished beads and it should be on its way very soon! I've been told that stainless steel wire is much more difficult to work with than other common jewelry wire such as gold filled, copper, brass or silver, but I believe the trade out will be worth the effort. Stainless steel does not discolor, rust or tarnish, and will be a wonderful alternative to silver for those who suffer from metal allergies. It keeps its shiny luster without the hassle of polishing and is very strong and durable. I'm very excited to be able to offer this option to my customers and look forward to creating with it as soon as it arrives. Yay!

Sneak preview of things to come...

I actually had a bit of time to sit down with my wire, beads, and tools today! No doctor appointments or dentist appointments, and only one kid home from school today. LOL

This piece is not for sale, but I'm kinda proud that I was able to accomplish it... I managed to (almost) finish a Pipa Chinese Knot pendant and a leather cord necklace to go with it. I used medium hued turquoise crackle glass bicone beads, freshwater pearls, and a dyed jasper turquoise bead to adorn the center, all on a copper wire Chinese pipa knot frame. Leather cord is finished on the ends with copper wire wrapping and a manufactured lobster claw clasp. Length of the necklace is approx. 18 inches.

Here's a preview of the pendant...


This style was first introduced (in wire) by the lovely and talented Malaysian jewelry artist de Cor and one can purchase a tutorial from HERE at her Etsy store, though I managed to figure it out for myself without it. (Sorry Corra, curiosity got the best of me before I was able to purchase the tut. :D ) While not too extremely difficult, it IS quite time consuming and I suggest if you'd like to learn it, save yourself a bit of time and hassle and go ahead and purchase the tutorial. I just happen to be one of those quirky people who enjo... erm, are driven to figuring things out for themselves. LOL

Anyways, keep checking back for more updates!