Sickie, Blech.

Duets Necklace No. 63 (Moss Aquamarine, Peach Quartz, Fine and Sterling Silver (oooooo...my new favorite)

Soooo, the littlest cutie patootie is sick. Ugh. I really hate when she is sick...she gets sooo miserable at night as its so hard for her to breathe...thankfully she has such a happy heart and this is a cold that, praise the Lord, isn't hideous...just gross. She's happily pushing her handmade horsie around the rooms making her way around and around just a happy as a clam as I'm sitting here typing and watching her. She loves to see the tracks she makes in the carpet. Ahhh...the life of a 2 year old. *grin*

One of my beautiful brides and I have been collaborating on matching earrings for her wedding Captive Heart Necklace. She decided on one of my older styles of earrings, the Cascade Earrings. I haven't made these earrings in soooo long that now we've been discussing it and I have the pile of gemstones sparkling like mad here on my desk I'm dying to get my hands on my pliers and make several different pairs. The gems are sitting here mocking me....tempting me to wire wrap them into something purty. *gaaaaaah* Torture, I tell you...this is torture!! LOL Instead of wire wrapping, my hands are instead chasing after my over-exuberant almost-2-year-old wiping her dripping nose. Where do kids get all this energy from?!?!! Oh my word.

Anyhoo...I have been able to add a couple of new pretties to my Etsy shop, and I actually have several pairs of earrings waiting to be photographed. Three pairs of Chainmail Flower Earrings in Fushia Quartz, Swiss Blue Quartz, Crystal Quartz and then a goooooorgeous pair of long, smooth London Blue Quartz Minimalist Earrings. I want to make myself a charm necklace with one of those London Blue Quartz smooth brios....they are just gorgeous. Ok, yes, right...I'm getting distracted....here are the last two new necklaces...the first one is posted above.

My Heart Necklace No. 9 (Pink Opal, Fine and Sterling Silver)


Duets Necklace No. 64 (Pink Amethyst, Champagne Citrine, Fine and Sterling Silver)

Ok, now where did that tissue box go???

Spring Flowers and Valentine Hearts

Brrrr....its COLD out there today! Yesterday was 60 degrees and we had a front move through yesterday and today is going to be miserable with wicked wind and harsh cold. Praise the Lord us girls will be nice and cozy warm inside working on normal-schmormal things like laundry and homeschooling. *grin* I love nice, boring days. I do have a few orders to process and get out today....and some new jewelry toys...uhn, I mean jewelry tools arrived yesterday so I will have fun daydreaming about what those are to be used for while I wait for the rest of what I ordered to arrive.

I have also added a few new pairs of earrings for ya'll to browse through. Teeny Tiny Flowers and Hearts and also larger versions of the same Flowers and Hearts. Some of my customers prefer the Teeny Tiny versions...I actually wore my pair of the Teeny Tiny Flowers yesterday and loved them....but some of my customers prefer just a slightly larger size. Here are two versions for ya'll to see (all of them are in my Etsy shop, of course):

Valentine Hearts Earrings with my Enchanted Garden texture


Teeny Tiny Spring Flowers Earrings also with my Enchanted Garden texture


Off to feed my hungry hoard of giggling girlie-girls. LOL

Heart, Music & Paisley

I'm sitting here typing this while the two big girlie-girls are diligently working away on their daily math work. The little squirt is happily pretending to make something or other with her kitchen set, swirling a spoon into a cup and dancing around the room. What a cutie. HA. Now she just handed me one of her favorite books and roared at me. *grin* Her favorite book is the "If you're happy and you know it" book and each page has different activities, clapping, wagging your tail, roaring, etc. Nothing cuter than her shouting "hooray!!" as she flips to the last page. *grin*

Three new pieces have been posted this week. As you can see I'm starting to make sure I have plenty of Amethyst pieces for February birthdays.

Duets Necklace No. 61 - Sheet Music Pendant, Amethyst & Pink Opal


Duets Necklace No. 62 - Mehndi Paisley Pendant, Smoky Quartz & Peach Quartz


My Heart Necklace No. 8 - Amethyst and an Enchanted Garden Captive Heart



I am processing a pile of orders today, working on a custom pendant order for a lovely customer who has been sooo patient waiting for me to finish these pendants, and ew.....tackling a little more of the massive task which is my taxes. *groooooan* I'd rather hang from my toenails from the roof. Ah well. As soon as I get it done it won't be hanging over my head any longer. HA

Paperwork, Schmaperwork

Blech. I hate paperwork. For as organized as I am, I have this horrible penchant for just piling up paperwork and then when the piles get too high, shoving them into a box and hiding the box in my studio instead of doing the responsible thing of FILING the silly paper. HA. (What, you don't do that too????) You'd think that after all this time I'd learn to just take 20 seconds to walk over to the file cabinet and PUT the piece of paper into its proper folder, or oh my word, THROW something away (seriously, do we really NEED 40,000 catalogs???) instead of just ignoring it. Hm. I betcha it would be waaaay easier to walk around in my studio if I didn't have all that paperwork laying all over the floor. *big cheesy grin*

*sigh* But I have this weird habit of ignoring things that I don't want to deal with. Boy I'm good at ignoring things instead of just dealing with them and putting them behind me. HA.

So, I'm spending the day moaning and groaning (*grin*) through our household paperwork and then I'll spend a few hours on putzing with my business taxes. The sooner I get that done the sooner I can get back into my studio to play. I'm supposed to be working on a custom request from a customer, who thankfully is such a sweetheart and is being HIGHLY patient with me as I putz around with her request. It is something that I was planning on doing anyway but I haven't had the chance to actually finish the necessary calculations. So I'll get to that this weekend as a reward for doing all this silly paperwork.

*pause for some oooing and ahhhing time over my darling not-quite-2-yo-yet's adorable new hair style as styled by my 8 yo* Oh how I love my girlie-girls....so cute.

Have I mentioned that I hate paperwork????

My Heart No. 7 Necklace and More...

While I truly enjoyed and desperately needed a break from my studio during the holidays, oh boy does it feel good to get back into designing. One of my darling customers happens to be a bride and is planning her wedding jewelry and the jewelry of her bridal party. I had the distinct pleasure of custom creating her wedding necklace and those of her attendants. Her first order was a custom version of one of my Captive Heart Necklaces. It had been quite a while since I was able to create any of my Captive Heart Necklaces and I was so excited to sit down and get my hands dirty (so to speak, *grin*) with her first piece. I also took time to create three more versions, one of which I have listed in my shop today.

My Heart Necklace No. 7 (Peach Quartz, Fine and Sterling Silver)


I was able to zip into my studio this morning to photograph two more necklaces, which have both been listed in my Etsy Shop for sale.

Solo Necklace No. 35 (Green Quartz, Fine and Sterling Silver)

Duets Necklace No. 60 (Swiss Blue Quartz, Amethyst, Fine and Sterling Silver)

I have quite a few more new pieces to photograph....and yes, LOL, they are all necklaces. I am trying to focus on creating more earrings and have several new ideas drawn out. Now...when will I get a chance to get back into my studio to create them?!?! LOL

Seriously??!!

Why does blog writing always take a back seat?! LOL Hey ya'll! I canNOT believe that 2011 is over and we are in a new year. How crazy. Though seriously, 2011 was a rough year for our family, yet filled with uncountable blessings nonetheless. We are very excited to see what the Lord brings us in this new year.

Last year my jewelry went into a new direction with the introduction of PMC (precious metal clay) to my work. Oh my goodness I have been having a BLAST with PMC. Here are a few of my favorite pieces from this past year.





This year I will be concentrating on expanding several different lines and introducing a few more lines to my ever expanding jewelry offerings. *grin* My highly popular Duets and Solos Necklaces will continue to be available with more color and gemstone combinations with a large variety of handmade charm shapes and sizes. I love the larger charm shapes with just a single dainty gemstone or a splash of color with two or three gems. Though there are days when the teeny, tiny gems and small charms are just as sweet. I will also be adding in more wire wrapping in the form of clusters and wire wrapped gemstones incorporated into the chains. I have several PMC and gemstone bracelets just sitting here waiting for me to finish, so keep your eyes peeled for those arriving soon!

My Unique Petites Collection has proven to be extremely popular, with my Music In My Soul pieces taking top spots as the most purchased pieces of the collection. Since music is so special to our family (I will NOT get sappy, I will NOT get sappy..... *grin*) I have been creating more and more pieces with music as its central theme. I will be adding to this collection with more shapes (hearts and flowers) and can't wait to start adding those to my shop!

One of my main focuses this year will be on chains. I desperately miss my hours weaving my chainmail and I will be creating many one of a kind pieces pairing my love of gemstones and maille together. But I will also be marrying my love of chainmail with the fun of PMC, so stay tuned for those new pieces.

Ok, my free time has ended. hahahaha Thus the life of a homeschooling Momma of three crazy girlie-girls. More soon..... *grin*

I am thoroughly embarrassed.

Oh my word. I think I forgot that I have a blog! HA! Hi ya'll! It has been eons since my last post and I am truly embarrassed. *grin* What a crazy year it has been, obviously, from the lack of posts. Not that I have ever been a consistent poster. *grin* But I try. Ok, ok, ok, so I haven't tried so hard this past year.

Sooooo...life has just been insane. I'm trying to think of the highlights, but, I think I'll just keep it narrowed down to my business for now so I don't bore ya'll. *grin*

Since my last post was on my Gems shop, I'll start there. Uhm. I have NOT been updating my Gems shop. I'm actually tempted to close it for a while because it just sits there and gathers dust. I truly had good intentions of selling off a TON of old stock, but, life just gets in the way and I haven't had time to post the hundreds of gemstone beads that I have for sale. Some day I'd love to sell it off. Truly, I would.

Jewelry. Wow. Talk about a new direction with my jewelry. I started planning for this new direction last year and the first of this year I started teaching myself a new medium - PMC (Precious Metal Clay). I will go into more detail about what PMC is later, but, needless to say I am having a BLAST working with it. I am still very much a beginner, and am in awe of those artists who have taken this medium to levels previously unimagined.

Ok, the girlie-girls are clamoring for my attention, which means this post gets cut short. HA!

Here are just a couple of my favorite PMC pieces:





And did I mention that I am having a 25% off shop wide Christmas In July sale? Head on over to my Etsy Shop to pick up some new jewelry!


To be continued, of course.... *grin*