Want some beads?

Silly question! Of course you do. My friend Cindy has a lovely shop on Etsy where she sells all sorts of delicious beads and findings. It's called Beacon Beads. Here are just a few samples to whet your appetite!

Red Coral Petal Shape Beads

Tibetan Metal Beads

These are pretty!

Tubular Lampwork Beads

Silver Plated Fluted Bead Cap

Cindy also makes lovely jewellery and sells it in her other Etsy shop, CCTexan 3.

I think she used some of those coral petals for this bracelet:

Coral Petals Bracelet

This is beautiful and bold!

Turquoise Magnesite Necklace

And this - wow!

Gold Vintage Chains Necklace

Go over for a visit! There's plenty more where they came from.

                 

Got a dog?

I have no dog. I'm not even owned by a cat. That doesn't stop me appreciating a good idea for pet lovers when I see one!

My friend Linda has a shop on Etsy, BarLee Creations, where she sells her clever, needlepoint crate tags and matching pet and owner jewellery. I didn't know boxer dogs were made in so many different styles!

These are all boxer dogs!

Don't have a boxer? Perhaps you have an Irish Setter, then? 

Irish Setter Crate Tag

Or even an Alaskan Malamute! (No, I've never seen one, either!)

Alaskan Malamute Crate Tag

Not satisfied with over a hundred different breeds of crate tag, Linda goes further and creates her own brand of coordinating jewellery for pets and their owners. Look at these!

This set is called Moon Goddess!

I love this design - I wish I'd thought of it!

Gemstone Ladder Set

This is one of my favourites - Yin and Yang!

Yin and Yang Set

If you have a special relationship with your canine chum, visit Linda's shop and choose something you'll both love!

Hot, hot, hot......

I just thought I'd inform you that it is 42 degrees in the shade here today. That's hot! We have all the windows closed and the shutters down and the fans going.

My dear husband and I chose this day to do all the housework. I seriously doubt our sanity sometimes.

Obligatory photo:

Kyanaite and Sterling Silver Necklace

Completely off the subject but I've got to squeeze another few back links in somewhere!

Featuring 3 Cedars Jewelry!

I belong to a lovely team of ladies (and gents!) on Etsy and we call ourselves "The Tarts". Don't ask - if I told you I'd have to kill you.

We are all very supportive of each other and regularly promote each others shops on Facebook, Pinterest, Wanelo and Twitter. Every week we concentrate specifically on just one of our members so I thought a feature each week would help keep my blog from shrivelling up from disuse and help somebody else into the bargain! This week it's the turn of the lovely Lyn from 3 Cedars Jewelry.

Lyn is a bit like me in the fact that she displays many different styles of jewellery in her Etsy shop.  She has managed to build up an awe inspiring inventory of 153 items so I have plenty to choose from!

This is one of my favourites:

Natural Agate Hearts Bracelet

Lyn is also into wire wrapping:

Grey Agate & Quartz Pendant

I think this bracelet is beautiful, and it has matching earrings!

Turquoise & Sterling Silver Bracelet & Earrings

Lyn also makes a mean pair of earrings! I love these:

Purple Ruby Sterling Silver Earrings

I hope you enjoyed that little meander through Lyn's Etsy shop. Next week, I'll be featuring someone else - I wonder who it will be?

That elusive Etsy shot....

I know, sorry, we're back on the subject of photography again. It has become somewhat of an obsession with me lately! Being found on Etsy may be problematical for SEO reasons but, once found, you want to be CHOSEN! You want to be in Treasuries so you have to take really good photos. And not just any good photo, it has to be in that certain Etsy style because all those lovely people making Treasuries want to make it to the Front Page!

I think I'm beginning to get there:

This necklace came out quite well!

This one has even been picked for a few Treasuries already:

Black Onyx & Red Jasper Necklace

I rather like this one:

Silver Cube Necklace

I've also been going back to older listings and just taking that one Etsy style shot:

Calla Lily Earrings

Silver fringe & ruby necklace

White background, lots of light, no props and then play with it in Photoshop! We'll see how it goes. 

Painting the Forth Bridge....

I think I might have used that title before. How apt. This blog post is all about having to do things again and again and again. Like photography.

As you may know, I have recently launched my own website!  I have been adding pieces to it when they fall off the end of Etsy after four months. It's amazing how many photographs there are that I loved to bits four months ago and now I feel I have to pick them up wearing latex gloves, figuratively speaking.

So then, another round with the ancient digital camera and even more ancient version of Photoshop. I don't think these have turned out too bad. Who knows - I might even still like them in four months time?

Copper Hoops Silver Flowers

Sodalite & Olive Jade Necklace

Seafoam & Silver Bracelet

New web site up and running...

I've done it! All this time, when you thought I was probably on the beach with a glass of wine in my hand, I've been slaving away over a hot web site.

CLICK HERE


and you can see it in all it's glory! I haven't managed to get everything on there yet. Lots more listing to do!

Please let me know what you think. If it's nice, I'll take the credit. If it's not, I'll blame those poor people at Supadupa.com.

I Sold Something!

This morning, I woke up to a sale in my Artfire studio. This necklace:

and these earrings:

will be off to the USA on Monday morning!

Now I have a decision to make. I was in the process of moving everything over to my Etsy shop and my soon to be launched Bluetina website. Should I stay or should I go?

Will there be more sales or is this just a blip?

Decisions, decisions......

Commissions are great but....

they can be fraught with peril!

My friend Ingebourg spent many years in India. She came back to Spain loaded down with gem stones and I've been using them to make jewellery for her. Mostly elasticated bracelets, I'm afraid, but we won't go there.....

My friend also has a friend who is visiting from Canada. This friend, having heard of my handmade jewellery, brought with her some lovely little peridot faceted briolettes.  I was charged with producing a suitably gorgeous necklace, using the peridot drops, pearls and gold vermeil. Oh, and an elasticated bracelet to go with.

I spent some time designing said necklace and took it to Ingebourg for approval before finishing. I quoted a price based on the work I had already done plus a bit for adding the clasp and extender chain. Approval being forthcoming, I took the necklace home and set to with my crimpers.

Then, and only then, did I remember to double check the number of spacers and pearls I had used. It all goes into my pricing spreadsheet - once a bookkeeper, always a bookkeeper!

I counted 39 little gold vermeil spacers. Hang on a mo, shouldn't there be 40 of them? Let's have a recount. No, only 39. There was one missing - a peridot drop was nestled right next to a little white pearl and that would never do!

Ok, I thought, I'll have to bite the bullet and restring it. Can't let it go out like that! I made the cut and started to restring on new wire. It was at this point in the proceedings that my tired, sixty year old eyes finally noticed that the little peridot briolettes were not all the same size. They were a graduated set of twenty.

Ok, I hadn't actually used my crimpers yet so all was not lost. Except some time, of course. It took me about twenty minutes to line them all up and decide what order they should be strung in. This is the final result:

and this is the bracelet:

I also had a moment or two of panic with the bracelet. I had promised to use freshwater pearls and the same 2mm peridot beads I used in the necklace.  They have very small holes and not all of them would fit over the elasticity.  Just enough of them fitted, fortunately!

The moral of this story, which I will no doubt forget immediately I have finished typing, is to always double check your components BEFORE you start crimping and wear your best glasses at all times.

Stepping Stones Revisited.....

I do these posts for Jewelry Creators Unite in Numbers sporadically - some might say eratically! I start with one of my own pieces and then connect it to the next, belonging to a guild member. Sometimes the connections are pretty tenuous! You might have to use your imagination a bit.

I stuck a metaphorical pin in my Bluetina studio and came up with these Blue Flower Earrings:

The obvious connection here is flowers and I found this Multiple Strand Pearl Necklace in the studio of PersonalOasis:

Pearls next, I think! Oh yes, I found this gorgeous leather and pearl wrap bracelet in PinkSunsetJewelry's studio:

That means leather next. I think I know just where to go for that! WildCatLeather, obviously! How about this leather and turquoise heart pendant from her studio?

Now, hearts or turquoise....turquoise or hearts? 

I plumped for turquoise. I spotted this lovely turquoise beaded necklace in epicetera's studio. It's got a bird on it. Guess what might be coming up?

Yep, it's a bird! Linda Landig obliged with this one. This is her ceramic bird pendant:

One more. Every bird must have a nest! Even a turquoise pearl and sterling silver one!  This is from the studio of Windy's Designs:

There, I finished. This is so much easier now that the Guilds on Artfire have been rebuilt. I can search for whatever I want. Love it!

More stepping stones.....

It's the last day of September and I still haven't done my blog post for Jewelry Creators Unite in Numbers Guild on Artfire. I am a naughty girl. I am an acknowledged expert in the art of procrastination. So, it's the stepping stones approach again.....

I'm starting with one of mine that doesn't get many views. I don't know why - I'm rather proud of the photo!

Sterling Silver & Haematite Fringed Necklace

This lovely necklace from Personal Oasis is also black and features chains but it is totally different. That's what I love about handmade jewellery - you can give a few designers the same colours and components and they all come up with something unique!

Two strand necklace in black and bronze

This necklace from epicetera also has a tenuous connection the the previous two. It's black and it features chain. But look how different it is!

Heart Pendant Necklace

I've just noticed that this blog post has veered off topic a bit. It now seems to be all about black jewellery with chains. Oh well, onwards and upwards!

This marvellous creation from Midnight Whispers (that's our Yini, in disguise!) is dark and atmospheric and features chain quite heavily.

Moonstone & Gunmetal Chain Necklace

Two more to go - let's see what I can find!

Southern Emma's Boutique is one of our newest members. I found a dark and atmospheric photo that seems to fit this theme well. It looks like that bracelet is held together with large black links of chain. Very effective!

Black Ice & Retro Bracelet

Strega Jewellry has produced this magnificent necklace. Now that's a chain and a half! Evidently it's not as heavy as it looks.

Metal Disc Pendant Necklace

I quite enjoyed that! Even if it did turn out to be a different blog post altogether! Can I be bothered to scroll back up and change the title? Nah......leave it.

I'm all behind, like a cow's tale.....

My Mum used to say that and it's very apt. I'm so, so busy that I'm having dreadful trouble keeping up with this blogging lark. So much for posting every day! That went the way of all my resolutions.

I think I told you that I have some copper pieces displayed at C.A.T. Services in La Alfoquia. I remembered to take pictures last time I popped in.

Then I received an email from Karen to say they had sold three items! Hooray! The copper coils bracelet and the double coil pendant went, along with a pair of my pointy heart earrings. I popped down there this morning to replace them with these:

I seem to be on an earring binge lately. I must make some bracelets and necklaces. When I get the time......

More later!

One thing leads to another...

It's blog post time for Jewelry Creators Unite in Numbers! I have terrible trouble thinking up themes. I decided to try the stepping stone method...

I have just listed this oxidized copper link necklace in my Bluetina studio on Artfire.

It has a pretty lavender pearl on it. So I went to StregaJewellry's studio and found something with pearls in it! You get the picture!

Black Ribbon and Pearls Necklace

Obviously, the theme continues with black and white! Here are some pretty earrings from Strungnature:

Black Shell Earrings

Something else with circles? Found them in Katyanne's studio!

Gaelic Earring Drops

Something green next, I think. Aha! Personaloasis has just the right piece!

3 Strand Green & Silver Necklace

And I knew just where to go for something multi stranded! This is from Sage's Cupboard.

Royal Gold and Black Necklace

One thing leads to another! I think I'll stop there - I could get carried away with this!