No Fooling - An April Fool's Day SALE! 25% OFF!

Call me a fool, but I love April Fool's Day and a good a practical joke. Lucky for you, my April Fool's Day SALE isn't a joke. For one day only, April 1, 2011, get 25% OFF your purchase in my etsy shop! Use the discount coupon code: "NOFOOLING2011" during checkout to receive the discount!!!

Have a fun April Fool's Day!

Blossom into Spring!

Spring has finally arrived! Buds are forming on branches, the sun is shining and I'm waiting to see the first blossom of spring. Spring brings with it the promise of renewal and good things to come. This necklace represents that wonderful promise of nature.

I've crafted this unique necklace out of sterling silver wire and a single cultured pearl. The sterling silver twigs have been hand formed, heavily textured, given a patina and then sanded to a soft, satin finish. The lone cultured pearl is securely attached to the twig on a soldered sterling post. Sterling silver long-and-short chain is attached giving the necklace a length of 18" and is easily adjustable to be shorter.

You can find more photos and information in my etsy shop here.

Happy Spring!

Spring Break! - Year of Jewelry 2011 - Week 11

The theme for this week's Year of Jewelry Project is "Think Spring". For most of the US, it's been a very long winter and everyone is eager for spring to arrive. Officially, it's right around the corner - Sunday, March 20th! I won't be able to take a spring break this year, but I long for beautiful, tropical ocean views. My favorite beaches are in SW Florida. Where are your favorite beaches?

In honor of the arrival of Spring, I've created the pendant pictured on the left. It's titled "Spring Break". The luscious color of these chalcedony stones remind me of a tropical beach. They are set in fine silver and backed with sterling silver. All of the silver is polishes to a high shine. The pendant measures 1-7/8" long and hangs on a 16" sterling silver box chain. You can view the necklace in my etsy shop here.

Now let's all ban our black sweaters and break out the colorful pastels! Happy Spring!

A little advertising promo!

I'm so excited! From now until April 9th, I'll be one of the featured sellers on the etsystalker website! EtsyStalker is a blog that introduces its readers to etsy shops that they might never know about otherwise. I'm looking forward to meeting some new customers through this month's feature advertising. Take a peek at the etsystalker blog site, fan them on facebook and twitter, too! Be sure to find my ad and links rolling across the top of the blog. I've even included a Special Discount Code for people who find me there!

Playing Catch-Up with Week 5

You probably already know I'm participating in the Year of Jewelry Project 2011. It's been quite inspiring for me and I'm really pleased with the pieces I've created using the YOJ weekly themes. But a month ago, I missed a week - week 5. I was out of town and didn't get a chance to make up the week until now.

The theme I missed was "Down and Dirty". I was actually a little glad that I wouldn't be able to make the deadline for this one because the theme just had me stumped. Down and Dirty? Huh?

Last week, as I was going through my stash of stones, I found this red plume agate that I'd purchased over a year ago. Whenever I'm working with a new stone, I do a little research on it, mainly to make sure that the stone is labeled properly and how hard or soft the stone is so that I set it properly. When researching red plume agates, I found a picture of it in its natural uncut state. It looks like a ball of hardened dirt. All the color is buried inside the rock and not revealed until the rock is broken open. The website advised rock hounds to be observant in their search for it because the dirt-like appearance makes it easy to overlook. Down and Dirty! My quest for a link to week 5's theme was fulfilled.

The stone is primarily a rusty red color with plumes of gray/blue and tan. I paired it with a holly lavender chalcedony accent stone, trying to pick up on some of the blue/gray in the focal stone. I also purchased a new texturing hammer and did a little experimenting with that to create some definition in the sterling silver back plate. I added some sterling twigs in keeping with the earthy, dirt theme and a little sunburst behind the lavender accent stone. I've added a light patina to bring out the detail in the texture.

I've listed it in my etsy shop here.

Windswept Amber Earrings - YOJ 2011 - Week 9

I honor of the arrival of March and the promise of spring, the theme for this week's Year of Jewelry Project is "Windswept". I've created these amber earrings, aptly named "Windswept Amber".

Several years ago, while vacationing in Denmark, I learned that amber is formed from pre-historic tree sap that the wind swept into the Baltic Sea. There, it hardened in the cold water and sank to the bottom of the sea. Waves and storms continually wash the amber to shore, where it is now collected, shaped and polished, giving us this wonderful transparent "stone" to use in jewelry! Amber often has small inclusions of air bubbles, dirt and can even have bugs and bits of foliage embedded in it.

While I'm personally not a big fan of giant pieces of amber with embedded bugs worn as jewelry, I do love smaller, richly hued pieces of amber incorporated into beautiful jewelry. When in Denmark, I purchased a unique trapezoid shaped amber pendant with a contemporary brushed sterling silver setting. Ten years later, it still remains one of my favorite necklaces. Here's a photo of that necklace:

The "Windswept" earrings (top photo) are currently for sale in my etsy store here. Next time you see a piece of amber, take a close look at it and imagine how old that bit of tree sap really is. Millions of years!