A "Beautiful" treasury on etsy

My new necklace, "A Day at the Beach" is featured in a wonderful treasury of beach items! The treasury was curated by prenda and is aptly titled "Beautiful". Take a look at all the wonderful items and give it some etsy love, please.

Seeing Red - A Year of Jewelry Project Theme of the Week

The theme this week for the Year of Jewelry Project was "Seeing Red", challenging the participants to think about what the color red evokes in us. When I see red, I think of fire, fierceness and strength. I decided to use this focal stone, a Cuprite Chrysocolla (Sonora Sunrise or Sonora Sunset as it's also called) that I purchased from cabbingrough on etsy. The shield shape of this stone is perfect for my interpretation of the color red. I see it as protecting the wearer from harm and giving her strength as she goes about her life. I've accented it with a deeply colored Carnelian stone, and added some texture and patina in the sterling silver around it for depth and interest, without overpowering the focal stone.

I made it during a delightful jewelry play date with my fellow etsy friend, Halina B and another dear and creative friend, Caren. The afternoon breezed by so quickly. I created the setting for this piece in the afternoon and then spent the evening sanding, polishing, applying patina and setting the stones.

You can see more photos of this necklace in my etsy shop here.

A Day Filled With Etsy Treasuries

Today, two of my necklaces were included in etsy treasuries! First, my "Spring Break" chalcedony pendant is in a cute treasury called "My Perfect Dreaming in Color Tea Party Day". Curated by PrettyDuzz, this treasury includes everything you'll need to have the perfect afternoon tea. Take a peek at the wonderful artists featured here.

My new "Serenity" Variscite pendant was included in a treasury titled "Seafoam Frothing in the Spring". This treasury is curated by darlicioushouse and includes gorgeous seafoam colored items! Click on the photos or the links to enjoy all the pretty things!

Honeydew & a silly little joke

I've titled this necklace "Honeydew". While I was making it, a little joke from my childhood kept popping into my head. It goes like this: Two melons are sitting side by side in the produce section of the grocery store. One says to the other "But darling, I cantaloupe." The other says "Oh please, honeydew!" Cute pun, right? This was one of my Dads jokes. He loved puns and he was great at telling jokes. I remember laughing so hard when he told this one. Of course, I think I was about 10 years old and "getting" any joke made it hysterical.

The color of this Rhine chrysoprase reminds me of honeydew. I love how the warm yellow in the Oregon sunstone accent brings out the little flecks of golden yellow in the chrysoprase. It's available in my etsy shop now.

Beads have a plan of their own

I set out today to make a necklace out of a strand of lovely graduated sized turquoise beads and sterling spacers. I strung and re-strung and just couldn't seem to find an appropriate necklace design for them. While I was flinging the strand around, it landed on my wrist and looked and felt beautiful! The beads were telling me they need to be a bracelet, of course! I just needed to listen to them guide me.

It does seem that most of the time I make something, I go back and re-do it, sometimes several times, to get everything right - the right balance, color, shape, weight... While I sometimes find that tedious when I just want to get something finished quickly, I try to remind myself that it's all part of the process of making jewelry. It isn't about getting to the destination. It's about the journey. That's really what I love and find soothing about jewelry making.

My jewelry making day was made even better today because a dear friend joined me for the afternoon. She's a brilliant peyote beader! While we create, we more importantly build our friendship.