Happy January!

I've been neglecting my blog lately. Sorry! The holidays were busy around here. Lots of jewelry orders to fill the first few weeks of Dec plus a few special orders. Then I enjoyed spending Christmas week with my daughter visiting us from MN. I've been feeling really lonely this past week without her here.

I've also neglected my jeweler's bench for most of Dec, except for a few special orders and making daily trips to the post office. But I got re-acquainted with my bench and torch today and made this cute little necklace and earring set using garnet cabochons. Garnet is the birthstone for January. I love the deep red color of garnets. This set will be listed in my etsy shop in a few days. My shop still has a sale going on through Jan 3rd.

Now it's time to take a deep breath and get back into the routine of life. Instead of making a new year's resolution, I've found I really like this idea from Christine Kane's blog; to choose one word which inspires you and gives you focus and direction for the new year. My word is "healthy". Healthy action, healthy thought and healthy soul. Many thanks to my friend Kathleen Krucoff for introducing this idea to me and sharing it on her facebook and blog sites.

Wishing you all many blessings in 2010!

Handmade Gift Guide's Holiday Sale!

Starting tomorrow, Dec 6th - 12th, I'll be participating in The Handmade Gift Guide's Holiday Sale! Many talented artists will be posting items in the gift guide, along with links to their shops.

My sale is actually store-wide through my etsy shop, so be sure to check out some of the great values I have in store for you! Shop for gifts for others, or gifts for yourself! In addition to sale prices on everything, I'm offering free shipping to US and Canada!

SALE Continues through Cyber Monday!

Just for today, Cyber Monday, I've taken further price reductions on many of my jewelry items! Free shipping to US and Canada through the end of this year. Take advantage of some great values!

The picture to the left is a custom order pendant that I made last week. It's a gorgeous labradorite stone that I bought at the Tacoma bead fair a few weeks ago.

I'll be busy preparing for the holidays during the next few weeks by bringing out some treasured Christmas decorations, doing a little shopping, mailing gifts to loved ones across the country and by baking a few family favorite cookies. I love this time of the year!

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!