Recently Listed Jewelry

Here are my newer pieces that I've added to my Etsy shop (click on the photos for further information):

La Luna - Coin Pearl and Sterling Silver Necklace

Soledad - Twist Faceted Amethyst and Sterling Silver Necklace

Soledad - Kyanite and Sterling Silver Necklace




Lil Bud - Garnet and Sterling Silver Necklace

New and Discontinued...the verdict is still out

Here's a couple of new earrings that I've added to my store today. With any luck and time allowing I'll be adding a couple more tomorrow as well. These are just really simple designs that can be worn everyday and with any outfit.





Now on to the discontinued subject. I love this pendant below and made the originals 4 years ago for my best friend and myself. I've sold quite a few of these, but I'm considering not selling these anymore or at least for the time being. It's one of the few pieces along with the meditation/prayer beads that I carry in which I put a lot of my healing thoughts and energy into. It really is about focusing on the metaphysical properties of the stones and while creating sending that intent into that particular piece. I really enjoy making these pieces but find with my time constraint that I can't dedicate the energy that I want to....or that I feel needs to be dedicated to them. I've just sold my last Chakra pendant today and I only have 1 Meditation/Prayer beads left, and more than likely will not relist either one of these until I've figured out a solution. Maybe it's as simple as better time management...I'm not sure, but I'll let you know when I've figured it out!

Etsy Gift Guides

I don't often look at the Gift Guides, but thought tonight that I would browse them to see what's being offered and under "Personalized Gift Items" I found one of my necklaces, it's in the lower left hand corner :)

~Debora, thanks for the F11 tip, it works!

Busy Creating

Here's what I've been creating lately as gifts for the girls at work and for the women in my family for Christmas. The pearls are larger than what I wanted them to be...it gives the pendant more of a peekaboo effect with the initial stamping. I had a great time oxidizing them then using steel wool to give them a slight patina.



I'll try to post more about the oxidation technique later...super easy and I'm sure for those of you that read the how to's it's not going to be anything new, but I created a little trick that I'd like to share with you in a later post.



This will probably be my last post until after the holidays so I wish everyone a Very Merry Christmas and a Safe and Happy New Year!!

Sales...Sales...and More Sales

These are just a few of the items submitted by my fellow team members for EAST's 2nd Annual Winter Wonderland Event Special.

Holidays, Sales and Shopping

I hope everyone survived Thanksgiving. Though I enjoyed spending all of that time with family, after 3 turkey dinners, I'm thankful it's over!

I was not one of the brave ones who shopped during the wee hours on Black Friday, but I heard that it was pretty crowded....I'll leave that day of shopping for the die hards! I don't shop the day after Christmas either. Don't get me wrong, I love shopping, but I don't like the large crowds, plus with my back I can't stand in lines for hours either.

The Etsy Street Team that I'm on is having our 2nd Annual Winter Wonderland Event Sale. With each of our members offering discounts in one way or another in their shops. So if you have any last minute holiday shopping to do then be sure to search on Etsy for items with the WWEE tag.

I'm offering a free pair of earrings plus 10% off all of my items with the WWEE tag and an additional 10% off all items in my Sale Section for a total of 25% off.

Here are just a few of my items that are included in EAST's 2nd Annual Winter Wonderland Event:

Handmade Gifts for Christmas

I have a lot of people to buy for so these last few years I've been making gifts for my family, friends and co-workers. I always make some type of jewelry gift for all of the women, but for the men...well they don't really do jewelry (at least not the ones in my little circle) so they tend to get bought gifts. Though I am making polar fleece throw blankets for my boys...they've been wanting them for awhile now after I made one for one of their girlfriends. It's really easy, just buy the polar fleece fabric in whatever length you want them in. Buy 2, one can have a pattern and the other can be a solid color. Pin the fabric together right side facing out. Cut strips along the outside edge of the entire blanket, 2" wide by 4" in length, and tie each set of 2 strips (front and back together) in a double knot. Voila...super easy! If I didn't explain myself well, just post a comment and I'll help you out.

This year for the women, I'm making hand stamped Initial Pendants with Pearls and Birthstones. I just purchased my stamps and sterling silver tags and can't wait to get started on them. In a sense it's a 2for1 deal, I bought the items to make for gifts BUT I'll be able to use them for my jewelry business. I'm looking forward to start listing some of these pendants in my store.

Just a quick one tonight...

I've got to be up early so I'm just posting the new earrings that I listed today. I'll write more tomorrow!

COMET - Black Tourmaline and Sterling Silver Hoop Earrings

ORBS - Garnet and Sterling Silver Hoop Earrings

ORBS - Pearls and Sterling Silver Hoop Earrings

Fabulous Finds in the World of Etsy

I've been pretty fortunate with my experiences on Etsy, and the contacts and friends that I have made. Recently I had been searching for silver pieces to use as focals in some bracelets. I found some, saved them in my favorites, but just couldn't commit to buying them, not because they weren't beautiful, but they just weren't exactly what I had envisioned in my mind. Then one night while reading the forums I came across a fairly new seller Beadin By The Sea, so I took a quick look at Debora's shop. She makes wonderful jewelry, but also made the links that I had been looking for in fine silver no less! She pays particular attention to detail in her work and everything is done by hand...amazing! Her customer service is the best around, hands down. You should check her out if you get a chance.

The pictures you see here are the bracelets that I made using her fabulous links. The one I kept for myself is the one with swirls and a wire wrapped Labradorite briolette. The other is an organic leaf design that I've added a wire wrapped carved leaf Watermelon Tourmaline to. On the back of the link it says "Grow". I had just listed it this evening, and it's sold already!!

I normally don't shop on Etsy for my jewelry findings, because I have a tax id and can purchase items wholesale. That's all fine and dandy for commercial supplies, but when your wanting something that has that little extra touch...or something that was created from the heart...shopping at Etsy is where you'll find it. Like I said earlier, I've been very fortunate with the contacts and friends that I've made on Etsy. It's filled with so many talented artist's of all mediums, and Debora of beadinbythesea is definitely one of them.

Well, I've listed a couple more pendants to the link above. It's been a slow going process, and I just haven't been really motivated to make more jewelry...what is wrong with me?! I have all of these ideas/designs in my head but today I just couldn't sit down and work with anything. So, I've written my ideas down and hopefully tomorrow my head will be in a better place to start creating some new designs.

Here's a couple pics of my "new" Spiral Collection...I tossed around a few titles...Around the World In A Day...Orbit...and many others, but none of them really clicked. I just wanted the name to be a description of the design. I normally have the easiest time with names...but for some reason this was not one of those times. I've had these pendants made since Saturday...and I finally settled on Spiral last night. It really is a sweet and simple design...I love how quickly they can be interchanged to match anything you wear.

Christmas is going to be soooo much fun this year...

because of this cutie petutie! I can't believe my niece is 6 months already...and she's just too darned cute. She's sitting up on her own now and she has so many more milestones ahead of her, I can't wait. She'll have so many gifts this year but I'm sure she's going to be more interested in the wrapping paper and the boxes than anything else. I remember how my kids could care less about the gifts, they just wanted the boxes...LOL It's amazing how fast they grow!

A little something...

for my co-workers! I'm making these little snowman charms/pendants and a fun Holiday Bag of Magic. These turned out to be the cutest little things. I used Swarovski Crystals and sterling silver to make these little guys. I do wish I could've found some red crystal rondelles, but the green will do!

My week so far....

It's been a couple of days since I've posted anything. The grove of trees in front of my house is no longer there, torn down to build houses. It has been horribly sad around here. I can't hardly stand to look out my window let alone walk outside. What once felt protected and secluded now feels exposed and unsafe.

Onto a brighter subject...It's been a busy week planning for the Thanksgiving get together. Two dinners this year because of everyones work schedule. I can feel a turkey burn-out coming on!

The pictures in this post are the newest items in my store. I've sold two more pieces and one of them was because a very nice fellow Etsian featured me in her blog. She is going to be my Decembers Featured Artist of the Month, so be sure and check back for that. Business has been good, and I'm definately looking forward to the upcoming holidays. Ohh and I've also been accepted into SRAJD (Self-Representing Artist Jewelry Designer), I can't wait until it's posted so I can start using the logo.

My mom is very excited about a gift she bought me...she wants to tell me, but I keep stopping her and that is sooo unlike me. I always want to know what my gifts are! I'm just excited to buy gifts for my niece, Abi. She'll be 6 months old and should be alittle more active....I love the baby stage!