Only for Facebook fans...

I bet you can guess what the weather is today... (*grin*) Yep, it's raining! What else is new. Anyway, I wanted to just let all of you know that I am holding a contest, but ONLY for my Facebook fans! If you want the details, then head on over and

follow me!

Here are a couple of pictures of my Lily Garden. It smells SO good when you walk up the back steps! Normally this garden is filled with Lily's, but this year there is only a little section...hmm do you think the rain has something to do with it? Maybe when it dries out we'll see some more! PFFT! Who am I kidding, I think we are all going to float away! Better get to work on that ARK!

Enjoy! Back with more jewels later on!

uh - oh...

A year ago I broke my foot... it's been a very long healing process, and I'm sad to say that it will never be the same. Well yesterday I tripped over Matthew in the kitchen (where he came from, I'll never know, he just appeared out of nowhere!) and I landed on it wrong and hurt it again. I don't think it's broken, however, I am going down to have an X-Ray just in case. It hurts, but I can walk on it and drive no problem. But just to be on the safe side, I'm going to have it checked out. So a small break in the action today for a little trip to the doctor's office, but I'll be back later to make more jewels and hopefully be able to post them!

Wish me luck!

7:00pm UPDATE - There is nothing broken! No cracks or fractures. Just an indent where I pushed in the bone when I fell on it. It should be better in a few days! YES! Thank goodness for small favors! Now, that little boy needs to stop jumping out in front of me! :)

Another fellow designer contest...

Today I am posting about Heather of Humblebeads. She is giving a tour of her studio today where she makes her awesome polymer clay beads. I have used them in several of my designs and they are really detailed and pretty and fun to play with! If you'd like to check out her studio, click the link:

Humblebeads Blog

Enjoy the tour! :)

It's not easy being green...

Does anyone remember that Kermit the Frog song? Well that's what I was singing to myself as I was photographing these pieces. These greens that I used...really hard to get their true colors to come out in the pictures. The Dragonfly necklace is a piece I made a while back but have not listed it yet due to not being able to get an accurate photograph! I'm going to try it this way and see what you think. I tried a white backdrop, then the stone... the only thing I haven't tried is black, but these might work!

First up, I made these beautiful earrings and necklace the other night while Ann was over. She sat and played on my laptop, we had Michael Jackson oldies playing (loudly) on the CD and I went into a wire wrapping frenzy!

"Sea Breeze"

Sterling Silver floral french wires, and dangling below from SS chain are Freshwater Pearls, Tourmaline Briolettes (I picked them up at a gem show and they were not marked, but the local bead store told me they were some sort of green/blue Tourmaline) and Erininte and Tourmaline Swarovski Crystals. *Sigh* So serene...

Here is the matching necklace. It features a big beautiful Hill Tribe Silver flower pendant, and dangling below it are the same Freshwater Pearls, Tourmaline Briolettes, and small Tourmaline donuts, Erinite and Tourmaline Swarovski Crystals, all wire wrapped onto the Sterling Silver Chain.

In the body of the necklace there are the same materials, in addition to some really cool white glass (czech, I think) leaves. It's finished with a funky silver toggle clasp!

Here's the Dragonfly necklace... it still seems washed out to me. In person, it's REALLY pretty...you may just have to trust me on this one!

I'll be working on my newsletter for August today... there's still time to sign up (see the left column up top to enter your info!)

I heard it through the...grapevine!

Sat down this morning while the kids were running around the house screaming... I needed a moment... So I sat, in my nice QUIET office, where my awesome hubby was applying some vinyl lettering to my wall (more on that later) and designed this beautiful two strand bracelet called "Grapevine". Features some of my favorite Glass seed beads from Jenelle of SFD in purple and green (Go figure!). There are Bali Silver spacers, Olivine and Amethyst Swarovski Crystals and a pretty silver toggle bringing it all together. I'll try to get this up on Etsy or 1000 Markets tonight! For now, I'm back to listening to the kids scream! I think I need to invest in some earplugs...what do you think? :)

Chinook naming contest...

I just love Mellisa of Chinook Jewelry's Pendants and beads. They are simply gorgeous, very different and a lot of fun to design with. See my previous posts including two of the pieces that I made with her pendants here, and here.

She is having a contest to help her name some new glazes, and I've already entered a few suggestions, but if you want to go and enter as well, just follow this link: http://chinookdesigns.blogspot.com/2009/07/name-that-glaze-contest.html

Good luck, and don't forget to stop by her website as well, she has BEAUTIFUL pieces for sale!

An introduction, and lots of earrings!

Well the sun is not out... unfortunately. But I wanted to get these pictures taken early as I have lots of running around to do this afternoon. First off, an introduction. Meet "Karleigh". Karleigh is one of the girl baby names that I liked, however, after Meghan I had two boys... so now I can use the name for something else! I purchased Karleigh to make my earring photography easier, plus I thought that she was really pretty, and at $9.99 at Marshalls was a steal compared to the really jazzed up versions selling everywhere for $30 and up! So Karleigh is my new earring holder, and I promise to have a prettier background next time. As you can see, the kiddie pool in the background and the miscellaneous toys in the backyard. But I had to hurry, I was getting eaten alive by mosquitoes so I plunked my butt on a very soggy deck and just had at it! So I hope you'll forgive the background noise and just enjoy the jewelry!

"Embers" made with beautiful pieces of genuine Amber, accented by Light Colorado Topaz and Copper Swarovski Crystals, and silver spacers. They hang from Silver Post's, which I don't normally use, but these have a beautiful leafy pattern in them and I thought they were very different and great for the fall.

"Avocado with Lime". Here's the first of Heather's disks that I paired together in a beautiful Gray color and lime green. The green gives the gray a "greenish hue" and it's just so pretty. In this pair I used Light Olivine and Black Diamond Swarovski Crystals, silver spacers and beautiful heart shaped sterling silver leaf charms at the bottom. They hang from another one of my cool earring finds, sterling silver ear wires with White Topaz stones in them. Very very pretty!

"Vineyard". More of Heather's Disks, this time in two shades of purple. Accented by SFD glass petite organic glass beads in Moss and Purple, Antique silver Meadow beads, Olivine and Amethyst Swarovski Crystals and silver grape charms dangling below! So cool! I love these!

Here's the one beachy set, but I thought they were really pretty. "Sea Mist" is made with two colors of Heather's glass disks in blue and yellow. They are accented by these awesome colored seed beads that I picked up in my local bead store, some silver spacers and Capri Blue Swarovski Crystals. I put these on some Saki Silver earwires... I am going to need to get some more of those... they are fun, and I think I can do a lot with them!

"Woodsy" made with Silver beads, Pine cone charms, Fire Opal Swarovski Crystals, and a couple of disks that I can't remember who made them, but I had them for a while in one of my boxes and I thought the colors were really nice for the fall.

"Autumn's Splendor" More of Heathers Disks in an Amber and Olive mix. I paired these two together, and it's one of my favorite fall combo's! I used Bali Spacers, Swarovski Crystals in Olivine and Copper and dangled some really pretty and very detailed Sterling silver leaf charms below. These hang from another of the new earwires that I found, this time with small Peridot stones in them.

And last, but certainly not least "Willow" made with the Chocolate brown Disks, Bali Spacers, Smoked Topaz and Light Colorado Topaz Swarovski Crystals, and Sterling Silver leaf charms. These hang from beautiful Willow Sterling Silver earwires and I'm telling you, I'm now HOOKED on these earwires!

And there you have it, the results of my mad earring beading session last night! I love earrings, I love making them. They are all so different and pretty, I just don't think I could pick my favorite at this point. I'll get these up on Etsy tonight, and then perhaps you can pick your favorite!

Promises, promises...kept!

Oh yes, I followed through with my promise today and I made some killer earrings! I got an awesome bead set from Heather of HMB Studios, and the colors in the set all compliment each other so well. I split them up and have made one very beachy colored pair of earrings and some "Fall" earrings with silver leaves. I got some very different ear wires from a wholesale place that I've wanted to order from for a long time, but I never seem to be able to decide on what I "have to have" and what I "would like to have" and so I just keep putting it off. But I finally made my choices, and just went for it! Very happy with the selections too! They are all so pretty! I have a couple of disks left and I'm winding down for the night so I hope to get to those before I drop off for the evening. If not, tomorrow is another day! Hope you'll check back for pictures... well that is, if the RAIN STOPS! *sigh*. Seems like that's all I do lately, is complain about the rain. But my grass is green... I guess that's a bonus, right?

:)

I'm done!!

Good evening all! I can finally say after a full week and a half of editing, that I am finished with the wedding from July 11th!

I almost can't stand myself right now! I'm doing a happy dance all over the place. The pictures are done, renumbered and uploaded and the proof album is ready to be ordered. I want to take a look at them with "fresh eyes" once more tomorrow before I place the order but I believe that I can put a lid on it and call it cooked. I know my brain is! My eyes are very tired indeed!

But I know they will be pleased as punch and that is all that matters, right?

On another happy note, I got beads in the mail today! YES!!! Can't wait to play. Now that this project is done, I can go back to designing. So thanks for your patience, and be on the lookout for new jewels in the next few days! I think I'm going to do some earrings tomorrow, the beads I got from Heather of HMB Studios are so freakin' cool and they are exactly what I wanted for some cool fall earring designs! Hope you are all having a great day! Be back tomorrow with more! :)

Happy Bride...

I've been working on a custom request for a good friend of the family's daughter who is getting married next week. It took me several hours over a couple of days in between weddings and other things to get this set done. Freshwater pearls, and AB Swarovski Crystals were lovingly handwrapped one at a time onto beautiful Sterling silver chain.

I emailed pictures over to the Bride-to-be and the email I received back was entitled "Happy Bride"!

She loved it! It will be such an honor to have her sparkle her way down the aisle wearing my one-of-a-kind design made just for her!

Happy Wedding!

Any HP fans out there?

The time has COME! Harry Potter is here! This is probably a very popular topic of conversation today, and at present I am trying to decide which show I will be attending tomorrow. I like to see it the day it comes out so that I don't "hear" anything that I don't want to before seeing it with my own two eyes, but unfortunately I wont be able to make the opening show at 12:01am...unless I want to go by myself! :) I have to wait until tomorrow night to see it with Ann and Mary and depending on the time, my daughter Meg! These are my favorite movies and I am on the EDGE OF MY SEAT in anticipation!

Can't wait! Anyone else going?

Now everybody say CHEESE!!!

Well I didn't actually say that! One because I was in church and second because I was concentrating too hard on what I was doing!

Talk about a group shot!

(If you look at this closely, it is blurry because I had to downsize it for uploading and it was taken on a very high ISO, but the original file size is not blurry).

I can't believe I actually did it! This was my first attempt at something like this and at the request of the Bride I gave it a shot. Well... I think (aside from the guy licking his girlfriend's arm) everyone looks good!

The wedding was a success, my new assistant (a great friend from high school who is really into photography) totally rocked it! We had so much fun together doing this wedding! This was the only photo I really looked at over the weekend because we had Matthew's birthday party yesterday and today I just recouped from all the excitement and nursed my migraine!

I have a few custom orders that need to be worked on as a priority over the next couple of days but I will tell you that I went to the local bead store today for their annual "Customer Appreciation Day" and got some new goodies to play with!

Stay tuned for some new pieces to come by Friday! Have a great night, I'm going to watch some TV and wrap some fresh water pearls into Bridal jewelry tonight! Talk to you all tomorrow!

Taking a couple of days off!

Good morning all! I am writing a quick post today to just fill you in on my weekend plans. I have been working on custom orders this week so I'll have some pictures to share of those when the pieces are done. But this weekend is FILLED with activity. Tonight I have a rehearsal to go to for the wedding that I am photographing tomorrow. Tomorrow is also my youngest son's birthday (Happy Birthday Matt!) I won't even get a chance to see him tomorrow but I know that he loves me and he knows that I love him and although I have a tremendous amount of guilt about working on his birthday, we will celebrate his very happy birthday day on Sunday! The family will be coming over for a party for my little man! So chances are close to 100% that there will be no more jewelry designing done until Monday, but please check back for new stuff next week! I'm off to print directions now and pack some snacks for my 15 hour day tomorrow! Wish me luck! :)

They're new and they're blue!

I have been drawn to the blues lately. I don't know what it is! I am normally a green and brown girl, but lately I'm all over the blue beads. Here are a couple of examples. I made these Sunday evening as the kids were settling into bed (for the 6th time). Last minute fireworks were flying in the neighborhoods nearby, so the noise kept them running for the windows to try to catch a glimpse of the beautiful, colorful lights in the night sky.

These are beads that I've had in my "Secret Stash" for a bit. I just loved them when I saw them, and I said...nope I'm not sharing. But due to the fact that I've now ordered myself a SECOND "secret stash" box, I think it's time to share the wealth. I decided that I have several brown/blue bracelets in my personal collection, and so I am presenting "Very Vintage" to you. That is the name that Melissa gave to these beads when she made them and I think it fits. Each and every bead is different. I was going to try to make matching earrings, but no two were alike. So all of the remaining beads went into beautiful dangling charms near the Bali Toggle clasp.

Will be listed tonight.

"Mermaid Cove" is a necklace made with Sterling Silver wire. There is a beautiful square focal bead made by Iris that I've finally been able to do justice to. The colors and depth are amazing! Lots of blues and greens all swirled together. I've accented it with Olivine and Montana Swarovski crystals, which along with the shiny Bali silver spacers, are also randomly anchored up the sides of the necklace. Bali toggle as well. Listing tonight on Etsy.

Stay tuned for more to come tomorrow!

Fourth of July SALE!

This is my favorite holiday (Well this and Halloween) and so in honor of that, I'm having a sale!

A RED WHITE AND BLUE SALE!

Here's how it will work. The base discount from today (Friday July 3rd) until Sunday (July 5th), will be 10% off any item in my Etsy or 1000 Markets shops.

Should you purchase a RED item, you will get an extra 7% off that item, a WHITE item will be an extra 4% off and a BLUE item will get an extra 9% discount...get it (7/4/09)? Fun!

So get shopping, enjoy the family and most of all the FIREWORKS! My favorite part!

Have a great weekend!

Technical difficulties...

So for the five... count them - FIVE minutes of sunshine we had today before the massive thunderstorms with lightning and pouring rain, I had a dead battery in my camera! ARGH!

I let it charge for a bit and ran outside to take some photo's of my latest designs.

I was under the very watchful eye of my feline friend, Niki, who always supervises my photo shoot's just to make sure I get it done correctly. =<^-^>=

Anyway, here's the rundown:

"Teal Scallops" made with beautiful ruffled disks and rounds made by Shari Slonski, accented by Hill Tribe Scallop Shell beads.

"Stary Night" Made with gorgeous Boro beads from Deb Rosely accented by Indigo, Light Colorado Topaz and Ceylon Topaz Swarovski Crystals.

"Sweet as Honey" made with awesome lampwork beads by Jelveh that I grabbed on Etsy. Accented with Hill Tribe tubes, Topaz and Olivine Swarovski crystals and Celtic charms near the Bali Toggle Clasp.

"Floral Fringe" made with beads from two artists, Carey (flowers) and Jena (hollows). Awesome color scheme! I love how these match together! I used Swarovski Crystals in Pacific Blue Opal, Erinite, Aqua, and Indicolite!

"Sea Treasure" made with a beautiful focal bead by Shari Slonski. I love her beads as well. Such a unique style! Accented with a Bali large holed bead as the bail, Chrysolite and Indigo Swarovski Crystals and two of her metallic beads dangling below! I'll update this post when I figure out where I am listing these pieces, but you can look for them on Etsy or 1000 Markets tonight!

More to come! Please check back!

(UPDATE: They are on Etsy! Click on the Item Name to be brought right to the listings)

Getting down to business!

You'll have to forgive my lack of pictures today, but once again what do you think it did... Um hmmm, rain. I'm starting to get used to it but I really wish it would move on out!

Anyway, what I have been working on the past couple of days are branching out the business. I've joined up with Twitter! You can find a link in the right hand sidebar and link to my site to follow along!

There's also a link right HERE.

I've also made a business page on Facebook. I have been on Facebook for quite a while, and it's fun! If you are on, swing by and add me as a friend! Don't forget to add my page to your favorites!

In addition to that, I went on a designing frenzy today! I made 3 awesome bracelets, a pair of earrings and a beautiful pendant. Photo's to come tomorrow, when the sun comes out. There are some really beautiful beads in these pieces and I want to show off the color with some good sunshine! Please be sure to check back tomorrow!

Hope you have a great night!