HUGE SALE through Monday, Nov 30th!!!

I've decided to have my first jewelry SALE!!! Everything in my etsy shop is on sale!

Now through Nov 30th (cyber Monday), you be able to shop in the comfort of your home and catch some great prices on all of my jewelry in my etsy site!!!

Wishing you and yours a very Happy Thanksgiving!

5 Things You Love About Making Jewelry - But Shouldn't

I found this on ammjewelry's blog and thought it would be fun to share with you! "Join me in playing this game...name "5 Things You Love about Making Jewelry, but Shouldn't!" I read this question some time ago on my daughters blogs in a basic form, and thought it would be fun to pose this question to my blogging buddies."

MY five things:
1) I love the feel of metal as I form it, cut it, bend it, twist it, saw it, heat it, etc... It's (usually) under my control. I tell it what to do - it cooperates, or I force it. The very first jewelry item I made was with teeny tiny seed beads. They didn't cooperate. Thread is not my friend. Metal is.

2) I love spending money on all kinds of supplies for jewelry making. Whether it be tools (yes - lots of tools!), metal, dust masks, safety glasses, storage containers, display items, classes, books, stones (the photo above is my haul from the Bellevue Bead Festival this afternoon), photo stuff and oh, did I mention... Tools?

3) It's challenging. I am constantly learning new things by taking classes and doing loads of experimentation with metal. I've never been a creative person before, so this is opening up a whole new world and I love every minute of it. I fail a lot as I learn. I re-do things, I melt my failures and reuse the leftovers. There's always something else I can do with a piece when it doesn't work out. The thrill of seeing someone like my jewelry enough to buy it is worth all the failures.

4) It's a fun way to pass a lot of time and to make new friends. My hubby works a lot of hours. If he knows I'm not bored, he feels better about working so much. I gladly do this for him! Right.

5) I like fire. I read somewhere today (I can't remember where or I would give credit) that 'Every jeweler is a pyromaniac with a purpose'. When I started this, I was afraid of fire. Imagine that. How silly!

Do I have to stop at 5? There are so many more reasons I love this art/hobby/life!

Then, Holly Wilcox's blog added 5 things you hate about jewelry making. Mine are:
1) I'm sadly in need of a good night's sleep. I make jewelry through the wee hours of the morning, and then I dream about making jewelry.
2) My hands are a mess. I'm in desperate need of a manicure, but why bother?
3) I rarely take time to read books anymore. I'd rather make jewelry instead.
4) I'm hooked on social media - blogs, facebook, and email take up far too much time, but I love them.
5) I hate it when I have a bad solder day. Fortunately, that happens less often than it did 6 months ago.

That's it for now. I'm off to get some sterling out of the pickle pot - I've got work to do!

Have a great week everyone and wishing you a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Shopping for Stones!

Busy weekend! On Saturday, I was part of the Handmade Harvest open house with fellow etsyrain members.. The turnout was quite good and I sold many items and received a lot of positive feedback on my jewelry. It's always nice to have some on-the-spot feedback with buyers.

Today, I went to the Tacoma Gem Faire and came home with a new supply of wonderful stones! They're just waiting for me to bezel set into pendants and rings. The photo is of today's' take. Starting at 12 o'clock, the stones (on the outside) are: Spectrolite (Finland), Labradorite, Red Plume (TX), Owyee Jasper, Biggs Jasper, then 3 Koroit Opals in ironstone from Queensland, Australia, then ending with another labradorite. The center stones are a Purple Storm (UT) and a small lapis. I can't wait to start working with these new stones and letting them inspire me!

But first, I have some custom orders I need to work on next week. Then I can take some creative play time with my new stones. If you love one or more of these stones and want me to make something for you with it, just let me know and I'll reserve it for you. You can double click the photo for a close-up view.

Bright and early this morning...

I woke up bright and early this morning because the idea of this pendant was swimming in my brain. Maybe it came to me in my dreams; I do dream of jewelry these days! Anyway, I started working on this at 7:30 this morning and just finished it. It's a reversible pendant with copper on one side and sterling silver on the other side. I drilled identical holes into each side and soldered them together using a fine silver center strip between the two. I'm so happy with the way it looks and all the technical aspects of making it went well too. Funny thing though, I ran it through my tumbler for a while to polish and clean it. When I took it out, the center of it was filled with steel tumbler shot pieces that had slid inside through the little holes! I had to shake them out one at a time; that took about 15 minutes and a lot of chuckles. At least I can be confident that the inside is nice and clean! I've titled this piece "Opposites Attract".

I've spent a lot of time this week making jewelry. I finished a pendant yesterday and I'm really pleased with the way it turned out as well. It's a beautiful Candelaria Variscite stone from Nevada. I love the color of this stone and the little sterling dots I added to the side. I've called this one "Tranquility".

I've also made several pairs of little post earrings with some Sleeping Beauty Turquoise and Garnet cabochons. I'll be listing them on etsy early next week and bringing them to the Handmade Harvest open house next weekend in Redmond.

The rest of the week I'll probably spend getting ready for the open house; planning my display, printing earring cards, labeling everything... not really making much jewelry. I don't do "shows" often, although I've done a few home shows. I enjoy seeing people's reactions to my jewelry and hearing their comments. That's something I miss with on-line sales. I'm looking forward to seeing friends and meeting new people next weekend!

Handmade Harvest Open House - Nov 14th

I'm participating in a "Handmade Harvest" open house with other local (Seattle) area etsy sellers on Saturday, Nov 14th, in Redmond, WA. I thought I'd share with you the names and links of the other sellers who will be there with their art items. We've all been busy lately building our inventory so we can offer lots of variety for you to choose from! Much of our inventory is not posted on etsy - we're saving it for you! If you're interested in more details (address, time etc...), just let me know and I'll forward an evite to you. We all would love to see you there!

Here's the list of participants:

A Crafty Arab - Arabic and Persian greeting cards and more
Lavender Drops - Lavender Sachets
Pepo Park - Natural soaps, lip balms bath products and more
Sakurabloom - Women's fashion accessories
World Of Whimm - Creative children's dress up items to spark the imagination
Scary White Girl - Funky crocheted items
SCJ Jewelry Design - My unique jewelry items

Please join us for a fun afternoon and get a little holiday shopping done early!

Play Time

I've been playing hard lately, getting ready for a holiday open house show on Nov 14th in Redmond, WA. I consider making jewelry play time because something this fun just can't be considered work! The holiday show will have items made by 7 of my fellow etsy sellers! If you'd like more details, just contact me and I'll send you an evite.

Here's a sample of some of the new things you'll see in my etsy store:

Full Moon:

Tide Pool:Blossom:

We're All Linked Together - Bronze:

I've made about 20 pairs of earrings that aren't listed on etsy and a few other holiday craft show exclusive items for the 14th. So, if you're in WA, your chance to shop in person is right around the corner!

And if you're in the midwest, my jewelry is now being offered in 2 shops! Look for my jewelry at "Seasons on St. Croix Gallery" in Hudson, WI and also at the University of MN Medical Center - Fairview gift shop in Minneapolis, MN.

My bench is calling for me. It's play time again!

Several new items and my jewelry is featured in a blog today!

I'm so honored by Laurie LeBlanc-Rickaby of MadeBySwirlyGirl, to be introduced today in her "Tuesday Meet and Greet" blog posting! Laurie makes incredibly beautiful photo art and notecards. Be sure to check out her websites: her etsy shop, her facebook fan page, her blog, her twitter site and her flickr site.

I was very busy creating last week and added many new items to my etsy shop. The necklace to the left is called Cosmos - I just love it!

My other new etsy shop listings include:

a cool textured copper cuff bracelet, called "Movement" a textured set of stacking rings ,

beautiful Pisco Blue Chrysocolla pendant called "Once in a Blue Moon" and a Candelaria Variscite pendant called "Sea Foam"