Monday, March 30, 2009

Follow the SILVER lined road...

Well the Gem Show yesterday was AWESOME! I am grinning from ear to ear this morning just like the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland. We walked into the ballroom and the silver vendor was the first table to the right. And I thought, Excellent! After I breathed a sigh of relief that they were there, I decided to walk around a bit to see what else everyone had. There were some beautiful things. Lovely Gemstones, in rows by color, racks full of Swarovski Crystals and there were also a couple of Lampwork artists there. I am so addicted to glass, as you know, so of course I had to stop by and make a couple of purchases there. And then I decided that I could not stand it a minute longer and I went over and grabbed my bucket and started handpicking all of the beautiful silver findings you see below! I hand selected each toggle, so that I could make sure it was secure. I checked each strand of silver to make sure there were no broken parts and that it was a full strand. I asked the very nice lady to weigh my stash periodically so I knew how much damage I was actually doing! ha ha It can get very overwhelming after a while. But I did great, got a great discount and then took my beautiful findings out to lunch! It was a great day, and I'm so so so happy that I finally have more of my favorite silver materials to add to my designs. I'll be making some more things this week so I hope you'll stop by to check them out! :)

Friday, March 27, 2009

On the curve...

It's Friday!! Can't wait for the weekend, even though it is supposed to rain. I have flower shoots coming up everywhere and the rain can only help them grow. Also, this weekend is the Gem Show! ha ha I know, I've said that before - right? I promise you, I have the date right this time! I have my list and I'm ready to go shopping! I'll be sure to show you what I got when I get back.

As far as today goes, I sat outside for a while in the warm sunshine and took pictures of all of my creations made over the past week. Lots of beautiful curved beads that only Melissa can make this pretty! I've also got some ring bracelets with glass made by the lovely Carey. There's also some beautiful round glass made by Jenelle in a bracelet and earring set. There are also two of my handmade chain necklaces featuring glass made by Catherine Ondrey! See, I told you I buy from the best and most talented glass artists around! I hope you like these, they are all headed up to MA for the store and I'll be working on more this weekend. Oh, and I can't forget about the Wishing Well in Sandy Hook, as they have requested more inventory too. Things are looking good all around today! I hope you enjoy the sunshine, more to come tomorrow! :)

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Thursday already!

Hi all! It's been a crazy week here, so busy with a multitude of things and today the weather is crappy and I was hoping to take some pictures of the new jewels I made this week! With the help of my sister, Sarah, I have managed to make about 10 pairs of earrings, 6 beautiful curved bead necklaces and I worked on some custom orders. And you know what today is... Thursday - my favorite TV night! I am planning on making some ring bracelets later and then go from there. I'm so overwhelmed but SO happy to be making some headway! I'll post pictures when the sun comes out tomorrow, it's far too rainy outside to even attempt it between drops.

Hope you have a great night, I'm thinking of running another contest soon! Let's see how many people sign up to follow my blog in the next week and then I'll run another giveaway. I moved the sign up box right under my mailing list sign up in the right hand column, So tell all your friends to stop by and sign up! Go go go!! :)

Monday, March 23, 2009

Waterfall weekend!

I hope everyone had a good weekend. I took the kids out to Kent Falls yesterday since it was a nice day and although it was only 50 degrees it was nice to get some much needed fresh air. I'm feeling a little down in the dumps lately. I am trying so hard to be creative and I have some beautiful glass beads to work with. I'm just trying to make too many things at once to get things up to the Mass store before their opening next week. It's putting a damper on my creativity.

But the waterfalls... they are so pretty and it was a much needed reprieve from my everyday routine. Sitting and watching the water, and being close to nature, refreshed my spirit and indeed my creative spirit as well. I'll be hard at work getting some new pieces made this week! Please check back! ;)

Thursday, March 19, 2009

It's coming!!

Spring is coming... I have proof! I took this picture in my yard a couple of days ago, and then realized that as I looked around there were LOTS of little green shoots coming out of the ground! YAY! I have a smile on my face from ear to ear just thinking about Spring! This has really been a long winter and I'm so ready for it to be over. On to warmer weather, open windows, fresh breezes, no jackets, flip flops (yes mine are already out and have been worn a couple of times!) and all the pent up energy to be let outside! I know I need it, my kids need it too. How about you?

I am working really hard on new pieces. I just placed a huge order with Melissa (Sea of Glass) for some awesome new beads, I got some silver in from Thailand, I ordered a huge stash of Swarovski Crystal, and I have the gem show coming up at the end of the month that I am going to restock myself on Bali toggles and spacers. All is well here, just been really busy. I feel like I have been neglecting my blog. I'll post some pictures over the weekend of the newbies that I've been making. I'm feeling very inspired, and it's really just what I needed!

Come on Spring, bring it on! :)

Saturday, March 14, 2009

Thanks

Thanks to all who came out to the jewelry show last night in Watertown! It was a success! I thought for sure that there was a Gem Show in Hartford today, I know I saw the date on the roster but apparently there is one in May for this particular company and there is one is Cromwell on March 28-29. So I guess I must be patient AGAIN waiting for my silver trip. I'm bummed, but have to try to make the best of it since I don't really have a choice! :) I'll be trying to get some more pictures up this weekend, as I have lots more things to make before the end of the month! Hope you all have a great weekend!

Friday, March 13, 2009

TGIF!

Did I promise you pictures of new jewelry? Well here they are! I've been a very busy girl getting ready for this show tonight. All of these pieces are going with me and hopefully off to new homes. After tonight, I need to focus on getting the MA store all stocked and ready to go with my jewels and that will be what pretty much consumes my time from next week until April 1!
Saturday morning is the Gem show, that I've been anxiously waiting for! I know that there will be silver vendors there this time. If not, I'm going to throw the biggest temper tantrum that one has ever been witness to! ha ha
In some of the pieces below, you will see some handmade chain maille that I have been working on. I absolutely love the way the chains came out, and I am sure that I'll have more requests for those so I promise to make a supply of them for my Etsy Store. The chain maille is kind of time consuming, but the end result is totally worth the effort!
Hope you all have a great day! I'll be back with an update tomorrow!
:)

Monday, March 9, 2009

And the winner is...

I just put all the names of my blog followers in a bowl and had Jack pick out our winner! The name he picked is... ONE GODDESS! Congratulations! I'll be sending you a pair of earrings, and I'm going to let you choose a color scheme and I'll create them especially for you! I'll do this contest again in a couple of months, so please feel free to sign up now if you missed this round so that you will be eligible the next time! :)

Friday, March 6, 2009

Next up...

Last night I made necklaces! YAY! And one beautiful bracelet set that I could not wait to finish. It was my marathon TV night, so I laid out each set of beads and chose the materials that were going into the pieces one at a time. Then I parked my carcas in front of my TV and beaded away! All the shows were repeats last night, so I just listened while I worked. I always seem to be super productive during Thursday night TV night! I love these sets too! I made one other necklace set as well, but I'm going to tweak it a little and then I'll share.
Below we have "Moonlit Beach"; "Forever in Blue Jeans"; and "Lakeside"
More to come tomorrow! I'm having so much fun! :)

Thursday, March 5, 2009

New, New...New!

Here are the results of my mad beading session the other night. I'll be back in my office tonight working away again on another batch. I'm very excited to be getting work done! These will be packed away and brought to the home show that I'm doing next Friday night! I hope they like them! More to come tomorrow! :)
Don't forget, there are a few more days to enter the contest for a free pair of earrings! Just check the left hand column below and sign up to follow along! Drawing will be done on March 10th! Stay tuned for our winner!

Monday, March 2, 2009

Another Noreaster!

Well my friends we are getting pummeled again by yet another Winter snow storm. I can't stand this weather, I'm truly sick of it. But all the snow aside, I have wonderful news!

There is a new shop opening up in Newburyport, MA. They found me on Etsy, and invited me to be a part of their shop by displaying my work there. The process was juried, and they loved my work so this past Saturday my parents and I drove the three hours up to Newburyport to present my pieces to them. The shop is run by three sisters who have recently retired from their lifelong career's and are devoting their time now to promoting local artisans and their handmade art. All three are very enthusiastic women and as nice as could be, it's going to be such a pleasure working with them!

As I was not sure of the size of the space that I would be working with, I only brought with me a small selection of pieces in a variety of styles. I clearly did not bring enough with me because she was ready to pull the jewelry that my mother and I were physically wearing off of us! :) They did place an order with me for an additional 72 items that they will be rotating around depending on color themes and they want some available on reserve in case something sells then they will have something to put in it's place. That's a TON of work that I have to do to get ready for this and so my job over the next 30 days is going to be feverishly beading away and designing special pieces for this new shop.

Their grand opening is on April 1, 2009 so I'll be adding their shop information to my blog as soon as it's available. I'm so excited! This is such a boost to my designing ego and it's just what I needed to get motivated. I have a couple of glass artists that I need to contact directly for beads, and I'll be doing that over the next month as well.

I have two home shows to get ready for as well in the next two months so there will be loads of pictures coming of the new pieces. Stay tuned! :)