Gems Shop is Now Reopened!

Yippee!!! My Etsy Gems shop is now reopen! I am so excited about this and have been hard at work in most of my spare time photographing, counting, editing, pricing, etc. I have oodles and oodles of gemstone overstock that desperately need new homes. As much as I love to hoard and collect gemstones, there are a lot of beads that are just sitting there neglected and sad because they are not being used. Why should I hoard them all?! Can't I share?!!! So, I want YOU to go look at my overstock and please, help the pretties to find new homes!!

One thing that is utterly hilarious about this process is that I have noticed my photography skills have come a LONG way! Oh my. I won't even bother to post some comparison pictures, but, if you want a laugh, head over to the first page of my Gems sold items here and crack yourself up at how horrid my pictures used to be! HA You don't even WANT to see the old jewelry pics!!! *grin* Ok, but first, here are some teaser pictures of what you will find for sale:

~ Rhodonite Cylinders ~

~ Green Aventurine Nuggets ~

~ Denim Lapis Lazuli ~

~ Charoite Ovals ~

I can't even begin to tell you how much more I have to list...its going to take forever, but, as I said, I am trying to do as much work as I can in my miniscule spare time. Boy I totally forgot how much time babies take!! *grin* Speaking of which....I'd better go give her some cuddles.

Pretty Major News

Ok, pretty major to *me* that is. *grin* I have been selling jewelry since January 2006 and loving every minute of it. During that time Jewelry By Jennifer Casady has gone through some pretty drastic changes. Well, another change is underfoot and I am vastly relieved. This decision has been pondered, analyzed and discussed to death and I'm excited to say that I've *finally* come to the conclusion to sell exclusively through my Etsy Shop.

Why? Mainly because since the birth of our third daughter time has been in VERY short supply. Updating my website actually takes quite a bit of time and I am trying to eliminate time-suckers. hahaha Also, when I took so much time off last year after Christmas and until after #3 was born, honestly, my website traffic dwindled into NOTHING. So why take all that extra time to try to build it back up? Google's changes over the last year has been driving me batty and I just don't feel like wasting my energy on changing things constantly. Etsy has been happily busy for me and I've been enjoying spending more time with my family.

Will I ever reopen my website to selling? Oh definitely. But probably not for a couple of years until #3 is a bit more independent. Honestly, I totally forgot how much time babies require and it has been an adjustment to me going from being able to spend hours and hours a day to playing with jewelry to having almost no time. Ack! LOL Not an easy adjustment for me. Most of my time is now broken up during the day into little tiny tidbits and as you can see by my designs over the last year, they are much simpler than my signature designs. I can't wait for the day when I am able to spend more time creating chainmail and broadening my metalsmithing skills, etc. Some day. *grin* This is only a season and each season of life has its own delights. Mainly chubby cheeks and baby giggles right now. LOL And I am enjoying each precious second of my girlie-girls.

Soooo....come by my Etsy shop and browse. *grin* I am still adding new pieces and creating fairly regularly and post everything new on my Facebook page.

She's ruined me.....

Yep, I've found an AMAZING coffee shop on Etsy and she has utterly ruined me for any other coffee. Ok, let me preface the rest of my post with, I'm not a coffee snob and have no clue of high notes (uh, except that I'm a soprano, so I sing those! LOLOL) nor of low notes (ha, after all these years I can finally hit some of those too), of nutty tones (hmm...I'm definitely in the nutty category) or whatever. All I know is that I enjoy coffee every morning. (Ha, I know, utterly sophisticated, eh? *grin*)

Digression: Yes, I know, I know, if you follow my facebook page, you would know that I was *supposed* to be switching over to just Green Tea in the morning to attempt to cut out some excess calories but I found Kath's shop right as I was switching over and as soon as I tasted the coffee I found that I could NOT cut out coffee. *grin*

Would you just get to the point Jennifer?! LOL So, my new favorite shop to buy coffee is: Great Smoky Mountains Coffee & Tea Company. Katheryn is the woman behind the company and she is a second generation roaster. Her shop on Etsy is: KatherynMD Please go show her some Etsy lovin'!!!

So, anyhoo. When I received my first order from her, I was stunned at how professional her packaging is. And delighted at how good the box smelled even before I opened it. *cheesy grin* I truly felt like I was opening a gift and pampering myself. As a business owner who has her own packaging/branding/etc. I was very impressed at how nice her catalog is. I don't even *have* a print catalog, and hers is fabulous. I just received my second order from her and can't wait to dive into the Bleu Moon French Roast tomorrow morning. Even Jocelyn perked up and enjoyed smelling one of the samples Kath generously adds to each order. As I browsed through her catalog I discovered that she also offers loose leaf tea. *happy sigh* I can't wait to order more from Kath.

Thank you Kath for such delicious coffee!!! You have a *very* satisfied customer here!!!

*sigh* Computers, arg.

Ok, so we're STILL dealing with computer schtuff. Long story short, HP can't fix our computer because it doesn't have the parts. What?! Really?? Seriously?? We bought the computer a year ago and you DON"T have the PARTS to fix it??? Is it really that much of a game just to get us to spend money with you? Oye. Sorry. ha. So anyhoo, because we were still under warranty they gave us a new computer, PTL. So we've been trying to reinstall all our necessary programs, set up the wi-fi, etc. Except we have run into problems with each program we've needed to install. *headbang* Its driving us batty. My poor hubby has been up late working his tail off on this computer each night and we're still having issues. arg. Makes us want to just throw our computers out the window and go live in a cave somewhere. HAHAHA. *sigh* Hopefully today I can install my photo editing software and by next week after the holiday get ahold of the software developer for my jewelry manager software and get that reinstalled. Until all that is installed I can't really list new pieces. We'll see how this goes....HA. Pray for us. *grin*

Crazy Couple of Days

Boy am I glad to have my internet BACK!!!! In the middle of Monday we had some storms roll through the area and we must of had some lightening hit the house or our cable line or *something* because all of the sudden I saw a ball of what looked like lightening come out from under our desk from our power strip. No joke. Scared me sooo badly I actually screamed, which of course scared all three of our girly-girls which of course made them scream, and...well...you get the picture. Anyhoo, at the same time the ball of whatever-came-out-of-our-power-strip there was a fantastic boom from the thunder and a horrendous popping noise from my computer. That whatever-it-was fried our modem, router and CPU. *headbang* Of course we have a surge protector, etc., but, it totally got fried. I've never seen whatever-it-was in my life and I doubt I'll ever see it again. I hope not because we're not a happy Casady-camper-family without our main computer. HA. What a crazy few days it has been. Long story short, our main computer was, thank the Lord, still under warranty (for less than a month more! ha) and so Best Buy is sending it off to HP-land to get fixed. And, hopefully for free. *cheesy grin* So we're stuck on the laptop which we have had for ages and never finished fixing up to our liking. Soooo, hubby spent an amazing amount of time last night getting us up to speed on this thing so we can do our work, etc. Unfortunately we won't get our main computer back for about a month. *bawling* A month?! Insane. But free, I remind myself. Not sure if that makes a difference right now. I'm trying to figure out how to remember all my important bookmarks, etc. and I need to send a newsletter out but must copy and download a bunch of pictures from my website because of course I can't access the originals. HAHAHA. *sigh* What a zoo. I can't wait to get our puter back.

But, a plus today....we have a FABULOUS weather front from our friends in Canada swooping down over our area and its almost CHILLY!!!! We are loving this weather and have almost every single window open in our house to fully take advantage. *cheesy grin* It has been sooo hot for sooo long we forget what nice weather feels like. hee, hee.

So...maybe a newsletter with a good coupon code coming soon....or maybe not. Depends on whether I get distracted by the gorgeous weather or not. HA. Have no fear, a sale in July will be coming because I am taking advantage of Etsy's Christmas in July extravaganza to throw a site wide sale. Woohoo!

Ok, let's see what craziness the rest of the day holds....

Two More Contrast Earring Pairs

Finally I was able to get a chance to finish these two pairs of earrings which have been waiting on my kitchen counter for me to steel wool off the excess oxidation for quite a while. (*pause to pop the pacifier back into #3's mouth* LOL) I looove these domed gemstone pieces and always have a few "in process" sitting 1/2 done somewhere in my studio (uh, strewn throughout the house I mean, haha).

Dark Blue Contrast Earrings ~ Kyanite and Textured Sterling Silver

Orange Contrast Earrings ~ Carnelian and Textured Sterling Silver

Of course, after I named the above pair I realized, Doah!! they match my Burn Necklace perfectly (shown below). I do still need to add the Orange Contrast Earrings to my website/etsy shop and will conceivably get to that either tonight or tomorrow morning.

Ok, #3 girly-girl is sitting there pulling her pacifier out of her mouth to smile at me while she's supposed to be sleeping in her swing. HA!! Can't help but laugh right back at that cute little mug!!!

I'm sitting here thinking of my hubby working. Yes, he works weekends every other weekend. He's a golf course superintendent and wow. What a stressful job. But, it is how God is providing for our family, so I just thank Him above that John is working. So anyhoo...its 90 degrees outside with full sunshine (though thankfully the sun is on its way down) and I just can't get the image of my hubby out there in his chemical suit spraying disease on the course in this heat. Ugh. What a man. Love him to pieces.

Hmm....a certain little munchkin with little tiny pink bows on her socks is not a happy camper. Off to hug and love on her....

OOAK Moss Aquamarine Captive Necklace

You ever have Just. A. Day.? Ugh. Yep, yesterday was one of those days. Not the worst, but, not the most glorifying to God either. Praise the Lord He gives us new mercies every morning because oh boy...I needed them this morning. Hopefully my 'tude will be better today because it was purely sinful yesterday.

So, here's a new piece that totally cheers me up. A One of a Kind Moss Aquamarine Captive Necklace. I love, love, love making these. It is so much fun to whack my hammers into sterling and create something beautiful. *grin*

Today is another one of those "crazy days" where I'm running around so I'm not sure if I will have the chance to actually sit down and create. I hope so...I need the peace in my head that comes from meditating in scripture while I work.

Woops. Gotta go check #1 daughter's math work.....ENJOY!!! Oh, and psst....btw....I have updated my entire Etsy shop to include free worldwide shipping!!! Woohoo!!! Not sure how long I'll have that last so take advantage while you can! *grin*

Interwoven and Storm Cloud II

I am in love with Karen Hill Tribe pendants and charms!! They are so much fun to design with and add just a little extra to each piece.

Without a doubt my favorite of the KHT pendants would have to be the woven pendant that I use in my Interwoven Necklace below. I love, love, LOVE baskets and weaving and think that this pendant is just awesome. I have one set aside for my personal collection and I have not yet figured out what gemstones to wire wrap with it. I'm thinking blues and greens but I can't decide! *grin* Anyhoo....the piece below is the first of many Interwoven Necklaces that will be introduced over the next month or so.

My Storm Cloud II Necklace is a variation on a customer's request. A Labradorite briolette within one of my textured and domed circles. These smooth Labs are just incredible and are so striking cocooned within the dome. I will be creating more of these necklaces as each one sells.
What am I working on today? Hmm...I haven't decided....I might create more earrings like I've been promising, hahaha, but I really want to make another Interwoven Necklace. Hm. We'll just have to wait and see what today brings! *grin*

Solid Gold Confection and Catherine Necklaces

Two of my popular pieces are now available in Solid 14 Karat Gold:

my Confection Necklace, which includes Prehnite, Labradorite and Blue Topaz

and my Catherine Necklace, which includes Vesuvianite, Rhodolite Garnet and London Blue Topaz.

Both necklaces are now available on my website and Etsy shop.

What am I working on next? I have a couple additional Solid 14 Karat gold necklaces that are just awaiting photos, etc., and then I also have three additional sterling necklaces in the tumbler polishing away as I type this. After those come out I want to sit down and create a bunch of earrings...I tend to get lost in creating necklaces and neglect making earrings. Depending upon how crazy tomorrow is, I hope to be able to get a few listed by tomorrow or Wed. at the latest.

A Fresh Take on my Minimalist Necklace Design

Last fall I added a bit of fun to my Minimalist Necklace design with the addition of a trio of rondelles to one side of the wrapped briolette and I had two different color combinations:

The Kelsey Necklace which features a Green Mystic Quartz briolette and brown Andalusite rondelles.

The Lauren Necklace which features a sunshine Champagne Citrine coin briolette and dark blue Kyanite rondelles.

Both of those necklaces have proven to be fairly popular with my customers so I have finally been able to sit down and create several additional color combos. I have had a BLAST creating these and hope you enjoy them also!

The Melissa Necklace: Smoky Quartz and Pink Topaz

The Cassandra Necklace: Hunter Green Hydrothermal Quartz and Karen Hill Tribe Silver

The Lily Necklace: OOAK Amethyst and Lemon Quartz

My favorite, which I'm actually wearing now as I type this..., the Elizabeth Necklace: Blue Topaz and Vesuvianite

The Darby Necklace: OOAK Champagne Citrine and Karen Hill Tribe Silver

My next variation of this style will, of course, be in 14K Gold Fill. Feel free to suggest some color combinations that you would love to see! *grin*

I am also currently working on several Solid 14 Karat Gold pieces which will be out of the tumbler in a bit and I am weaving a Flip Flop Chainmail Bracelet for a customer. Once that is out of the tumbler I will reshoot pictures and update my listings with updated pictures. I can't wait!

Brides are on my mind

Just recently we welcomed a new member into our extensive extended family and seeing all the pictures from their beautiful wedding inspired me to create the Alyssa Necklace which is perfect for a new, blushing bride.


I combined a gorgeous white Moonstone rondelles with soft blue Aquamarine rondelles into a sparkling mix atop a fabulous smooth white Moonstone briolette. There is wonderful movement with the mix of rondelles which are wire wrapped to a textured 14k Gold Fill circle showing off the sparkle of the gemstones.



While the Alyssa Necklace is One of a Kind, I can create similar pieces upon request. This piece is now available in both my Etsy shop and my Website.

Stay tuned for the matching earrings which I am right in the middle of creating! *grin*