madison house designs

A very colorful, very paisley treasury.

2012-01-06T12:30:00.006-05:00

Love the pop of color here. And thank you to StampShackLady (who has an adorable shop, by the way) for including my paisley and pink quartz PMC necklace! Stop by and check it out!

Tying up loose ends and a last minute trip.

2012-01-03T13:47:00.007-05:00

First the business: I have been a complete blog slacker for the last several months. I don't know what my problem is. I could say I've been busy or distracted, but I think mostly I've just hit a blog rut and haven't felt I've had much to say here lately. I will try to do better this year!

Well, I really have been pretty busy with work (not making excuses!) and trying to make my goal of 100 pieces in my Etsy shop by the end of 2011. I ended up with 82. I'm not terribly upset with this, as I had a last minute show in early December, and November and December found me a nice amount of sales from the shop too, so, all is well. I think I'll reach my goal of 100 pieces very soon and then set the next listing milestone for myself.

I hit my first sales milestone — 50 sales — on Etsy at the end of October. 60 wasn't far behind and hopefully things keep rolling now that the holidays are past.

In other news, my husband started a new job back in September which has him doing a fair amount of traveling. So far he is really enjoying his new endeavors, and he is home on the weekends and some weekdays in between engagements, so I am ending up with plenty of time to work on new jewelry and listings.

Now the pleasure part of this post: The afore mentioned new job found hubby in Phoenix, AZ for about 4 weeks. Rather than coming home for one of those weekends, I found pretty decent airfare out of Dayton, OH and so I flew out there to meet him. We planned to drive up to Sedona for a weekend, which is just a couple hours away. It was my first time flying solo, which at first was a bit frightening to me, but I got over my fear and then ended up at the conclusion that it's just a little boring.

We booked a jeep tour with A Day In The West. It was originally supposed to be a photographic tour (smooth trail, panoramic views), but that trail was closed by Forestry the day before my arrival due to ice. We switched to a sunset tour instead. Well, this was not a smooth trail. It was quite rocky. Bumpy is an understatement! It was so much fun and so interesting to hear our guide's stories and he was very knowledgeable about the plant life, which was very cool, and about Sedona in general. This is the sunset over the mountains:

The next day, we didn't really have any plans, so my husband mapped out a route to drive around to some of the well-known vantage points. We stopped at one of the visitors' centers too, and found the lady there to be quite helpful, providing advice and maps. She recommended Weber's IGA's deli counter for great sandwiches made to order, so we stopped there for sandwiches, snacks and drinks. So pretty much what we did is take advantage of the gorgeous day and we drove up around the red rock mountains, stopping here and there for photos. We ate our picnic lunch at the overlook at the Sedona Airport. The sandwiches were awesome and the view too, of course.

One place the visitors' center lady recommended was Boynton Canyon. You can drive through it yourself without being on a Jeep tour. We were in a regular car, but I guess they have to warn you about the road being unpaved. We didn't have any issues getting around, but it was definitely bumpy!

At one point in Boynton Canyon, we started to see these cactuses along the side of the road and we pulled over to snap a couple pics. Then we looked up and realized they were scattered all along the mountainside. I guess it was a particularly favorable spot for them to grow. There must be some water run-off or something on that side. They look like something out of a movie. I made it out without being injured by one!

So that was our little taste of the Southwest. I would go back there in a heartbeat. It is something to see! I made it back home safe and sound too, wrapping up my first solo flight. I have a feeling I may get to have a few more little weekend trips this year if my husband goes somewhere interesting. I will fly solo again for more great photo opportunities!

Where has November gone?

2011-11-19T19:16:00.005-05:00

Seems like yesterday I was talking about September and shows and such. Now, here it is less than a week before Thanksgiving. I'm not sure where the time went!

In October, I was a participant again this year in Art Off Pike, which went very well. They seemed to do more advertising this year and it paid off with a steady stream of shoppers throughout the day. Sales were good and I gave out lots of business cards that will hopefully yield some more Etsy sales. After that, the first weekend in November was the Autumn Air Art Fair. It was my first year there and it was a nice break doing an inside show. No tent to lug around! There was also a steady crowd there and sales were very good!

Speaking of Etsy, I made my 50th (and then 51st) sale just recently! Exciting stuff there. I have been constantly working to create more pieces and get them listed, increasing my inventory, but with the number of successful shows I did over the summer (a great problem to have, I know!), it has been difficult. My goal at the beginning of the year was to reach 100 pieces in my shop and keep it above that number. I have about a month left and currently 71 pieces listed. I think I can do it.

My husband and I just returned earlier this week from a short trip to our favorite place: Las Vegas. This time, we were fortunate enough to stay at the new Cosmopolitan. My husband worked his magic at the front desk and managed to get us onto the 67th floor. The view was astounding! We were able to walk out onto the balcony, which was overlooking the Bellagio fountains. See the night time photo above. The other photo is of the sunrise over the mountains and Planet Hollywood, also from the balcony.

September waning, show season tapering.

2011-09-29T22:36:00.007-04:00

Seems like I've been away from my blog for months. It's funny, it's towards the end of show season and I have been busier than ever. September has been an exceptional month for me. It has been a record-setting month for me in sales at shows and my Etsy shop certainly helped the numbers, my husband started a new job, we welcomed a new niece into the family, and somewhere in there I celebrated another birthday with a fabulous meal with aforementioned wonderful husband at a steakhouse we had never tried.

I started the month out with the West Chester Art Market, where a lady visited my booth and bought a pair of earrings then said she may be back. About 10 minutes before closing, she came running back to my booth, credit card in hand, and purchased another pair of earrings and 3 necklaces! Hers were my only sales all day that day. Already behind in designing and producing more pieces, I had about a week to get ready for a big show - the Mason Arts Festival.

Naturally, that happened to be the week that I was stuck at work late (like 9 and 10:30pm late) almost every night and I was out of PMC. I put in an order for the clay and had to schedule 2-day delivery and then. Upon its arrival, I had to figure out when to work with it, dry it and fire it, leaving myself time to complete the pieces! Somehow that all worked out and I had several new pieces ready for Mason.

Although the morning had drizzle and cool temperatures, the organizers still managed to get a ton of people to attend. (That show is top notch!) I had a great spot for this my second year, right inside the first row of booths. I had my first sale within the first hour and 2 more almost immediately following. It was amazing! I even had a few repeat customers from the previous weekend's Art Market. Very cool. Sales were good that entire day and the weather pretty much held out for us. All of the pieces I scrambled to complete the night before sold that day. I can't wait for next year!

This is a view from my booth towards the stage, where various musical and dance groups performed throughout the day. They did a really nice job lining up entertainment for the festival.

View to the left. Pretty early on in the day and a decent start on the crowd.

This is my most recent show in Milford, OH, at the 6th Annual Art Affaire at the Promont House Museum. This show did not have the benefit of the weather holding off, nor did it have sufficient parking or a big crowd and my sales were decent, but I really like the way my booth is shaping up here. I'm starting to try to achieve more of a boutique feel. I think it's getting there!

I have only 3 shows left at this point: one more West Chester Art Market, Art Off Pike and the Autumn Air Art Fair, which will be a new one for me. Hopefully October and November continue the upward trend. It will be a busy couple of weeks for me getting ready!

The basement just got a lot hotter.

2011-08-13T20:12:00.010-04:00

Meet my new friend: the Paragon SC-3 kiln.

Ever since I started working with PMC a couple years ago, I've tossed around the idea of owning my own kiln. Previously, I would have to form my pieces, prep them for firing and then drop them off at a local bead store and pay to have them fired. After running into some, let's call them scheduling issues with firings, I swore them off and pretty much stopped working with PMC. (Heck, I pretty much stopped shopping there. Anyway...)

Back in June I received an email from a nice lady over at Metal Clay Supply who informed me that they had received a few factory reconditioned SC-2 kilns at a discounted price and that it was first come, first served to buy them. Well, I responded quickly, but didn't get one, but I was kept on the list in case they received any others. I didn't give it much more thought until I got another email saying they got a few SC-3 kilns instead for just a bit more. Well, I jumped on that offer! It is likely more kiln than I need, but then it gives me room to expand into other areas if I want to get into fusing glass or things like that later.

I won't lie, I was a bit scared to use it at first. I mean, these things get into 1000's of degrees. Well I read the manual and did some online research for the best way to safely set-up and operate it. I ended up buying a couple 18 inch square ceramic tiles to set it on, on top of a sturdy cabinet in our basement. I had to do some much needed tidying up too, while I was at it, so there was a clear safety area of non-combustibles around it. (See, using words like combustibles makes me nervous!) We had been experiencing some severe storms all week too, and I didn't want to start a batch and then lose power. Naturally when I turned on the kiln, the lightning started. But it made it through, thankfully!

Programming it was a breeze, basically like using an oven. You set the speed, temperature and hold time. Easy! Somehow I got the idea that it would take hours to fire a batch of silver PMC. This is incorrect. In fact, my PMC3 took a mere 25 minutes of the kiln being used - from start up to completion of firing. I did leave it in idle overnight to cool. I didn't even open it until the morning, but the temperature continued to decline the rest of the evening.

Here was the first batch when I opened up the kiln. As you can see, I have plenty of room in there.

I love how pearlescent the pieces look when they come out of the kiln.

Some polishing and burnishing (my next purchase might just be a tumbler/polisher!)

And a little patina added to most of the pieces.

This is the first piece I've listed in my etsy shop. It's called Tapestry and you can find it here. I'm thrilled with the results and I'm sure this is just the first of many new PMC creations to come.

A fabulous time.

2011-07-30T16:56:00.006-04:00

Ahh... Las Vegas... Absolutely my favorite place to visit. We just returned from a little 4 night trip late last Thursday night. We had plans for my niece and her friend to join us and that fell through. Then we had plans for friends to join us and that also fell through. Well, of course we decided to just go it alone!

This, our 10th visit, finally found us at that landmark sign! I have been bugging my husband to take me there for, oh, I don't know, 9 trips? I realize it's touristy and cheesy, but I just wanted to see it in person and get a few photos. Our flight arrived late (11:15 pm) and my husband surprised me with a hired car pick up, instead of the usual cab ride to the hotel.

Vic, our driver, first took us to In-N-Out Burger at Dean Martin and Tropicana (which, at 11:30 pm, was absolutely packed!), and then on to the famous sign for some photos. I apologize as I'm not quite sure how to operate the camera successfully at night, but here we are at the sign!

We stayed at the Planet Hollywood this time, a first for us. At check-in, we tried the $20 tip trick, and we got upgraded to a Resort Room with a strip view of the Bellagio fountains! Fools that we are, we were never in the room a single time when the fountains were going. Nice. lol This is the fantastic view from our room of Paris and Caesars Palace. The Bellagio is off to the left behind the balloon.

The trip highlights this time included making our way to the new Cosmopolitan, which is absolutely beautiful and finding their secret hidden pizza place, which was phenomenal -- I had the white pizza, my husband had the meatball, sausage and pepperoni. We took in the Cirque du Soleil show LOVE at the Mirage, the Beatles themed one. That was great, not my favorite Cirque show, but awesome none the less. We checked out Encore, which we hadn't seen last May and had dinner at the award-winning Steakhouse at Circus Circus. As much as I enjoyed dinner there, our steaks were not cooked correctly and, well, we had to go to Circus Circus to eat. Not something I'd really recommend, but I'm glad we tried it. All-in-all, not a great gambling trip for us, but we had a good time and enjoyed some good food.

Our trip wouldn't be complete without a whacky non-sequitur photo, so here are Vic (our driver) and myself at the sign, pretending like we go way back. Silly.

New pieces, new treasuries.

2011-07-03T11:38:00.002-04:00

Lucky me! Two of my newer pieces are in treasuries! Check them out:

The first one "Meet me at midnight party..." was put together by BrotherWorks, which features my Bordeaux ruby necklace and is quite lovely. Really great color scheme with the pops of red against the subtle grays.

Next we have "Mmmm… Earthy", a beautiful bright and colorful one put together by CandiceChetta. She included my Rivulet turquoise earrings. It feels so cheerful and summery!

Please stop by and visit the treasuries and the two shops! One of these days, I may end up on the front page... :)

Adventures in metal.

2011-06-29T22:06:00.007-04:00

Last year around this time I was searching for a class in metalsmithing. I actually found one that I wanted to take, but it was full and registration was closed. I put it on my trusty google calendar to look for this year.

When January rolled around, I was on it like a hawk! I registered and paid for my 3-day workshop, Basic Metalsmithing Techniques, the day it opened up. I was so excited. Then the waiting started. Waiting for confirmation that there were enough interested students. Then waiting for the supply list to be released in April. And, of course, waiting for June 24. Waiting, waiting, waiting!

Well, I'm not one to wish away spring, that's for sure, but I was happy when my weekend finally came up. It was Friday evening, all day Saturday, and most of the day Sunday. I was nervous too. I've never used a torch, a belt sander, a rolling mill... I could go on. That's why I was taking the class though. There were 12 students total, a couple of them were in the same newbie boat as me. Our instructor was a gem, no pun intended. She is an awesome artist and just an awesome person! Her name is Ginger Seiple, you can google her to see her gorgeous jewelry.

We spent the weekend watching Ginger's demos, learning to properly handle and use various tools and completing some of our very own projects. It was really a ton of fun. I'm really glad I put my fears aside (those of setting myself on fire with the torch, cutting myself with the saw or hammering my fingers... lol) because I got so much out of the class!

This is what my workbench looked like towards the beginning of the class. We worked mostly in copper and brass as it is simply cheaper than sterling silver at the moment and not as painful if you mess something up. Not a problem to me, I'm a copper fan. Brass, not so much, but it was good to have the mixture at times.

This is my first soldered piece! A pendant. I believe it will eventually live on a leather cord, just have to make a clasp. This one is textured brass (palm) on top of copper, which I textured with the rolling mill, and a hammered piece of bronze wire that I drilled to serve as the bail.

My first ring! We were given the option to work in sterling silver for the rings, and, well, I am a silver girl, so I did opt for it. I love the mixed metals here as well. I textured the cup with one hammer and gave the band a different hammered finish. This one is not perfectly round, but, what can I say, it was my first attempt!

This is probably my favorite piece. I had the half drilled pearl from one of our Vegas trips where I stopped at the Pearl Factory. I thought of it on Saturday night as I was driving home, and I thought I'd take it in Sunday for our ring projects. I really love the way it turned out and I've gotten several compliments on it and the other ring. I would look for some rings in my Etsy shop in the near future. Yes, they will be round. :)

In the end, I faced one of my all-time biggest fears: public speaking. Since I was new to Craftsummer, Ginger asked if I would address the group of all of the classes taking place that weekend, telling them about my experience. I guess it was around 48 people. I couldn't tell her no, so I sucked it up and made it through okay. It really wasn't so bad, I guess. Wouldn't want to do that for a living though!

On top of all of that, I ordered a kiln on Friday before class! More to come later on that lucky deal!

Two shows in a row.

2011-06-23T22:06:00.005-04:00

Well, that was brave. Maybe bordering on crazy. In my wisdom, I decided this year it would be a good idea (for some reason) to do back to back shows. One on Sunday, the next on the following Saturday. It's not that it turned out poorly, it just added a little bit of stress to my week in between. After the previous week's successful show, I was down 11 pieces, so I was scurrying around all week like a mad woman trying to get some new ones made!

This time around it was the 7th Annual Village Green Fine Art Fair in Fairfield, Ohio. It was my first time at this venue. Again, great organizer, lots of help unloading and setting up. One little snag: it was raining when I left the house and it didn't stop until about an hour or so in, and then really just tapered off to a drizzle. Now, it wasn't pouring or anything and, thankfully, not storming. Just enough to be kind of a pain for setting up the tent. Once the tent was up, thanks to the help of Mike, one of the awesome volunteers, it really wasn't too bad.

Then there was some waiting for shoppers. And more waiting. Finally the weather started to break and it cleared up somewhat. At least it stopped raining. By mid afternoon, the sun was shining and all was well. I had decent sales, although my first was a pair of earrings around 11:30 and then I didn't have another until about the last 45 minutes or so. Two lovely ladies came by on recommendation of their daughters who told me earlier "they would love your stuff!" Thank you, daughters, for sending me your moms! They purchased six pieces between the two of them. And then another browser from earlier came back to purchase a pair of earrings she had convinced herself she had to have! Love it!

A rainy view from my booth. The park was very pretty... look at those lush hostas! They didn't mind the rain.

This is the lady's booth from next door to mine, Jan West. She made these incredible sculptures out of used bailing twine (used to bail hay). Upcycling at it's best, I'd say. Kids were delighted that they were allowed to touch and pet these creatures. Jan says they are made to go outside and that they elements won't hurt them. Very cool garden art!

This is their adorable pup, Maggie, who was best in show. Okay, okay, Jan's booth won best in show, but Maggie's pretty darn cute!

Jan ended up taking home best in show as well as the people's choice award. She was so surprised. It was very cool and she and her husband and dear little Maggie made nice neighbors!

Third time's a charm.

2011-06-19T21:24:00.005-04:00

This year marked the 3rd Annual Trillium Art Fair at Glenwood Gardens, which was also my third year as a participant. Once again we were blessed with a gorgeous sunny day, this time only around 80º – perfect for meandering around an outdoor event. This was very fortunate, as from what I was told, it had been in the 90ºs and very humid all week leading up to the fair.

If you caught my previous post, you know we were enjoying Hilton Head Island up until Saturday. When we arrived home Saturday evening, I unpacked the car from vacation and then packed up the car for the show the following morning. I thought it may have been the wrong decision to book a show for the day after arriving home, but I was actually well-rested and prepared. I actually had gotten a couple new pieces made during the long car ride, so I was A-okay.

People seem to come out to this show to actually spend. My sales were over $330 for the day, so I was very pleased. Volunteers and park employees were their normal helpful selves giving artists a hand with set up and tear down. This is just a wonderful show for artists as far as I'm concerned and I hope to be back again next year!

I had the same area as my previous two years and here are a couple views from my booth:

And here is my ever-evolving new set up. I finally broke down and bought a rotating earring display. I don't know what I was waiting for – I love it! It's so much easier than the frames I was using prior to this and is much easier to store, pack and transport. And, it enhances my booth, giving it a more professional look. Perhaps next will be a new necklace display.

Our Lowcountry vacation.

2011-06-15T15:29:00.013-04:00

I've always stumbled on the word 'Lowcountry' whenever I've seen it in print, always mispronouncing it in my head as 'low county'. Having just returned from a week on Hilton Head Island, I decided I should find out what that actually means. It was driving me a little crazy seeing it all over down there! Turns out it is "a geographic and cultural region located along South Carolina's coast", says Wikipedia.

Well, enough of that. Let's get to the highlights and photos.

My husband and I piled into my in-laws' mini-van along with one of his sisters. We met his other sister, her husband and their little boy, as well as his brother and his wife at the Shelter Cove Mariott on Saturday evening. We picked up a stack of pizzas that night from a local favorite, Giuseppe's, there in Shelter Cove, and had a family game night as we got settled in for the week. Delicious! I loved the white pizza.

While we were out driving around, we stopped to snap a pic of these amazing trees! Not sure what type they are or what causes them to grow in such interesting shapes, but they were all over and just so cool looking!

Pelicans, I believe.

Throughout the week, we had a nice mix of going to the beach, which was waaaay across the street, and using the resort's pool. For the most part, we all took turns cooking dinner, but a few nights my husband and I went out to sample the local restaurants. (Note: I do not care to cook or eat 'at home' on vacation!) We visited Stacks for breakfast, The Smokehouse for bbq, San Miguel's for (not so authentic) Mexican and One Hot Mama's for more bbq.

On Tuesday, the guys all went on a chartered fishing trip, so the girls decided to head to a spa for massages. We ended up at Fountain Spa and I had a most wonderful deep tissue/Thai yoga massage with Marty. It was spectacular and I would recommend him, and given the chance I would go back! We hit the Tanger outlets, where we all found a few good deals.

Thursday morning we went on a 2 hour kayak tour with Outside Hilton Head. Our guide was Jason Z., and he did a really nice job of explaining the eco-system of the Broad Creek – from the oyster beds to the grasses and birds. We saw a dolphin almost immediately after getting out there, who hung around playing in the water for most of our tour. I only wish I had brought along my camera, but, it's not waterproof. That afternoon, my husband and I went to the island's bead shop, High Tide Beads, where I found a nice selection of Thai silver that I hadn't seen before in any shop around me. The ladies in there were very friendly and helpful. While we were in that plaza, we noticed a frozen yogurt place, Delisheee-Yo. We thought it was time for an afternoon snack. It was fantastic! Tart frozen yogurt with a good selection of fruits, candies and sauces for toppings. Yum!

For our last night, my husband and I headed out to One Hot Mama's because we had read that the bbq was good there. We shared a ribs and brisket platter. Oh my goodness! It was fantastic! We found out that the owner, Mama Orchid, is a finalist on Food Network Star. She happened to be chatting with some guests at the table behind us. Well, I would certainly recommend checking that place out if you like bbq!

Saturday morning I just happened to wake up earlier than I needed to, so I walked out on our balcony and snapped a couple pics of the sunrise over Broad Creek. Good morning, Hilton Head! Thanks for a lovely week!

Feel the breeze...

2011-05-25T16:31:00.003-04:00

I just love the soft feel of this cool-as-a-summer-breeze treasury. My Verdant earrings in turquoise and fine silver are included in it, thanks to Leah over at StudioZen. Stop by her shop and check out her lovely nature inspired works of art! It's such an adorable shop!

Happy Earth Day!

2011-04-22T16:10:00.003-04:00

Earth Day coincides with Good Friday this year and I was fortunate enough to have the day off work. I ran a couple errands, one of which was hauling my 17 lbs. of crushed aluminum cans at the local recycling center. They bump the price a little in their customers' favor in honor of Earth Day, and being that it's just my husband and I, we collect cans all year for it.

Upon my return home, I happened to gaze out my upstairs window and spotted some of these lovely lavender blooms on one of my perennial geraniums. With all of the rain we've had this spring, my gardens are looking so lush and full, especially given how early it still is.

Happy Earth Day!

Spring has sprung!

2011-04-17T20:21:00.006-04:00

Well, I think it's here! Spring! After what seemed like an endless winter, I actually got out and mowed the grass today. Though I'm not entirely thrilled about that chore, it was nice to get out in the sunshine in the green grass and smell the fresh blooming viburnum. Its tiny white flowers are just beginning to open and they are so fragrant. It's a heavenly scent. Yum!

This little tuft of daffodils popped up out of nowhere this year. Light buttery color and it seems to be one of the double ones. I couldn't have picked a prettier plant. I guess I have the birds, chipmunks or squirrels to thank for that random planting.

This is the crabapple tree just starting to bloom. So bright and pretty!

I did add a pretty new necklace to my shop today as well, called Peony. Appropriate for springtime, I think. There were Peony earrings already in my shop, so I figured it would be nice to offer a matching necklace. Either would make a perfect Mother's Day gift!

Whew! That was fast!

2011-04-12T23:05:00.007-04:00

Wow, I just listed these earrings tonight and I happened to check my activity feed and there they were in this lovely, springy treasury! It really has a nice feel, and I thank WeekendVintage for including me! Please stop by and check out all of the yellow and grey items if you have a chance!

Say it ain't snow!

2011-03-10T20:48:00.005-05:00

Well, spring is right around the corner, but winter decided to show itself one more time – at least – before it retreats for the season. We aren't supposed to get more than a dusting, so it should be letting up soon. It's supposed to be sunny and around 50º tomorrow. With that said, I find myself more able to appreciate its beauty. It sure is sparkly sitting atop the bare tree limbs and bushes. Tomorrow, I will enjoy the sun. :)

It's what's on the inside that counts.

2011-03-07T17:49:00.006-05:00

I was attending one of the traveling bead shows over the weekend and came across a booth (EarthArt) selling all sorts of mineral specimens and geodes. They had the coolest thing where you could pick a rock from various bins and the guy running the booth would load it into a vice-like contraption. He would then give it a couple clicks with a socket wrench and the rock would crack. (You can see the crack above if you look closely.) Once cracked, it was carefully handed back to its purchaser to be opened to reveal the jewels inside.

It was very exciting and I got a bit carried away with it. When I took the two home that I purchased on Saturday for $5 each and shared the calcite, smoky quartz and amethyst with my husband, he asked me to get a couple of the $10 ones on Sunday. No problem! They are just so cool. I have no idea what I'll do with them, but I got some nice ones!

This is one of the Los Choyas ones. It contains chalcedony and smoky quartz (if I remember correctly).

Another Los Choyas, this is one of the beautiful amethyst ones I picked.

This type looked so different on the outside from the others. They reminded me of potatoes in in both color and texture. This one is Moroccan and contains quartz. Very beautiful!

I do weddings!

2011-02-24T20:56:00.004-05:00

I love when people find my shop. I'm always so curious as to how it happens and I rarely find out. I know I need to educate myself more on how Google Analytics can work for me. I seem to get quite a few shoppers who are first-time Etsy buyers, which intrigues me even more. Were they browsing, searching categories...?

This week I received a convo from a very sweet bride-to-be who said she adored my necklace entitled Lightness. She was wondering if I truly only had one available or if she could order more of them. Naturally, I replied telling her I would check my supplies, but was fairly certain I could accommodate her order. She wanted 5 of them!

It's always a bit nerve-racking for me to be at work, away from my supplies or sold orders because I want to be home, designing or shipping right then! But I had to wait. I ordered some back-up pearls though, just in case. Checked my supplies at home and found I had all I needed to make the necklaces. When I contacted my shopper, she had seen a pair of ametrine earrings in my shop and decided to change the lemon quartz to ametrine instead.

I am thrilled with the results! It's a lovely stone and it pairs so well with the little oblong white pearls. Perfect for a spring wedding!

This is the 3rd wedding for which I've designed bridesmaid jewelry and it is certainly an area where I'd like to have more sales. I enjoy creating something a little different for the brides, and they seem to enjoy having input in the design process. It makes a wonderful and memorable gift to the bridesmaids, who are usually dear friends or siblings!

A very cheerful treasury.

2011-02-21T16:46:00.004-05:00

I just checked my activity feed and found that my Peppertree bracelet has been included in a nice, bright and springy treasury put together by birdsoforegon. I love how happy it feels. Here is a peek at it and if you'd like to shop the other sellers, check it out here on Etsy.

The incredible, handy egg.

2011-01-17T17:17:00.007-05:00

I've wanted to play around with oxidizing—intentionally darkening— some silver pieces for a while now. About a year or so ago (probably longer, now that I think about it) I bought a small rock of liver of sulfur from an Etsy seller with every intention of testing it out on a small batch of silver. Well, I never got around to it and, long story short, it had gone bad by the time I tried it. "Yeah, that happens after a while..." my husband informed me. (Helpful now, honey, thanks. lol)

Well, I was working on a custom PMC piece for a friend to give to his wife for Christmas and that was going to be the piece that I successfully oxidized. To the Etsy forums! I had read before about using eggs to oxidize silver, so figured what the heck, I'd give it a try. It's really simple, actually. And not toxic. And not to mention good in salads.

The photos are from a new batch I just did the day before yesterday. You simply put your pieces to be oxidized into an airtight container—I prefer a clear one because I can check on them without disturbing them too soon. I used two eggs. You want the water to boil before adding them and then boil them for about 15 minutes or so. Once hard boiled, remove them with a spoon from the water and cut them open with a knife, quickly transferring them into the airtight container, sealing the lid. You want to move quickly because the heat and steam help the sulfur from the yolks darken your pieces.

Once they get to the desired darkness, you remove the lid, clean the egg off of the pieces by rinsing and wiping with a paper towel and then use very fine steel wool (I believe I used 0000 grade) to remove the oxidation in the raised parts of the pieces as you like.

I actually tried this batch first, removing the whites from the eggs once boiled, but they cooled too quickly that way and mostly my pieces just turned a funky yellowish color. Not very attractive. I boiled a couple more and just halved them and put them in the container and had much better, darker results.

These are a few of the pieces all polished up using steel wool. I imagine I will keep practicing, but I'm really happy with the results overall!

Holiday traditions in my hometown.

2011-01-06T11:53:00.010-05:00

Well, somehow or another, I have managed to almost let slip by the opportunity to show off a holiday tradition in my town, Mt. Healthy. Well, I lucked out and was reminded by a friend on Facebook of Three Kings Day (or Feast of the Epiphany for us Catholic folks). Every year since I can remember, Paul R. Young Funeral Home has been setting up this life-size nativity scene, complete with sheep, sometimes goats, a donkey or two and, wait for it... three kings (two of the three can be seen off to the right in the pic below).

When I was little, my brothers and my parents would take me up to see the animals and somewhere along the line, I heard that the statues were actually members of the Young family cast in wax. I have no idea if that is true, but it seems believable enough, so we'll go with it! We would walk up there a few times before Christmas, as it's only a couple blocks from my parents' house. Baby Jesus would show up in the manger late on Christmas Eve (if I remember correctly). Kids love to bring along carrots and other treats for the donkey and sheep. I just like to pet the sheep and goats when they have them! They are just so soft.

I finally had the opportunity to visit on December 30. Up to that point, it had been so cold and snowy that I just didn't feel like going out and standing around up there. That day, they ended up closing our office early for New Year's because many people were out using up remaining vacation days and that sort of thing. When I left work around 2 pm, I knew just where to go!

So here is mama donkey and newly born Princess Aurora (born December 27, 2010, said the sign there). Just three days old at the time of this photo. I am guessing she was born there at the nativity scene, but don't know for sure.

I've never seen a baby donkey before. She is quite cute!

The sheep and their babies were all snuggled up in a couple of big fleecy piles. I think I was the only one cold out there that day!

One of the few who was out moving around. Never got close enough to the fence for me to pet though, unfortunately.

Let's talk Tanzania.

2010-12-20T11:12:00.006-05:00

You may remember a couple weeks back that I put together my very first treasury. It happened because I fell in love with a lioness... photo, that is. I couldn't take it. I bought that gorgeous photograph! It didn't last even a couple days in my treasury. I never get tired of looking at her and can't wait to have her framed to display in my home! She is below in a piece called "queen of the grassland."

I had a couple Etsy convos back and forth with Sharon, the photographer, who told me of her travels to Tanzania, where she shot many of her wildlife photographs. Her work and stories transport you there and, frankly inspired me to want to go there and see these amazing creatures for myself one day. Amongst others in her shop are an absolutely adorable baby elephant, a majestic sleeping lion and curious hyenas. Whether you're looking for a gift for an animal lover or a beautiful piece of artwork for your own home, smrrk photography has something for you. The photographs come well packaged and protected and signed and numbered on the back.

*COPYRIGHT: original photographs by smrrk photography; artist retains copyright after purchase.

One more time!

2010-12-09T13:11:00.004-05:00

Okay, I'm not trying to be a pain or a braggart or just have a blog about treasuries, but I'm pretty excited that my new Busy Bee lariat necklace made it into a treasury within a couple days of listing it. Honey Sapphire is the name of this one. I love it! Thank you to ananemone for adding me to this one!

Well, I decided to curate a treasury.

2010-11-30T21:40:00.005-05:00

I figured it was about time I figure out how to do it. I really enjoy looking through them and having the glimmer of hope that mine will make the front page is a cool notion too. And, I guess I'm paying it forward for the handful of people who have been kind enough to include me in theirs lately.

It's pretty easy to put one together, although it took me a little while to pick just the right items. Here it is if you'd like to purchase any of these lovely items, please follow the link here. Cheers!

Well, this is a first!

2010-11-14T23:17:00.008-05:00

I woke up this morning to a convo from a fellow Etsy seller, Feathers of Artemis, telling me she'd included my new Starry Night earrings in her treasury, Starry Starry Night.

Then, tonight before heading off to bed, I decided to do a treasury search and found my latest listing, Warmth earrings, included in a treasury as well! This one, Fire and Ice, was curated by Carolyn Rachel. It made for an exciting day for me!

Thinking warm thoughts.

2010-11-06T17:09:00.004-04:00

I am not a fan of cold weather. Here in Cincinnati where we live, we get our fair share of sticky, icky, humid hot days over the summer. Often times we seem to skip spring altogether. My husband can't stand it, but I enjoy the hot weather. Maybe I could do without some of the humidity, but I like it hot. I'm one of those unfortunate people who seems to be cold far more often than not.

I really can't complain (yet) because we are actually experiencing a pretty nice autumn this year. Temperatures have been relatively mild so far, mostly in the low 60ºs. Last night was the first truly cold night and I think temperatures were supposed to have dipped into the 20ºs. We've had lots of fall color in the foliage this year. It's been quite beautiful.

Most of my plants have withered or are about to, turning in for their winter rest. I know I should given my flower beds one last weeding and I'm supposed to cut back my perennials and remove spent blooms, but I tend to not get around to that major chore. Perhaps it's me trying to hold onto summer or it could just be shear laziness and loss of daylight hours. I tell myself "remember on Martha Stewart, that one time she said to leave the stalks and dried flowers for 'winter interest". Something like that. I took it to heart, whatever it was exactly. One last purple cone flower peeped out from under the dried leaves this week. Every once in a while my laziness is rewarded.

Show season is winding down.

2010-10-24T20:26:00.005-04:00

At least summer show season, anyway. A couple weekends ago I participated in Art Off Pike in Covington, KY's arts district. This was my third year as an artist/vendor there. My lack of sales there last year made me reluctant to try it again, but after the success I had at the Mason Arts Festival last month, I guess I was feeling good and lucky. I actually missed the juried entry deadline. And the extended deadline.

I'm the first to admit that I'm a procrastinator. Jewelry is such a tough category at some shows and I honestly figured it was way too late to try. I sent off an email to the nice lady coordinating the event anyway, and she got right back to me and told me to send in my photos and application. I was accepted and I'm glad I gave it another shot! (My point is, it never hurts to ask, even if you're late on a deadline!)

The morning got off to a chilly start, but with promise of highs in the low 80s, I ran out the door with shorts on and a sweater over my short sleeved shirt. Boy, was I freezing. There were a few volunteers who practically unloaded my car for me, and while I parked my car, they set up my tent. I was pleasantly surprised when I arrived back at my booth space. I do hate the tent setting up part! And it's always tricky to do it yourself. I've heard it can be done, but I've never successfully done it myself. I was just so thankful the volunteers were there!

Okay, tent up, jewelry out... still freezing! The day went on with a decent amount of people wandering from booth to booth. It did eventually warm up. To the 80s. It was so HOT! lol I couldn't believe it. If I remember correctly, the high was 86º. Honestly, I'm not complaining, but I was surprised.

The lovely sunny, warm weather kept a steady stream of visitors and people were actually buying this year! It was a pretty drastic difference from last year's show. I didn't get a chance to walk around, but I did not see a bunch of jewelry artists there this year – another pleasant surprise. The couple I could see from my booth were very much different from what I was offering, so that was a definite plus.

I'm not really sure if it's the economy starting to bounce back, the weather or the change in style of my merchandise, but the show had a better energy than previously. Probably a combination of all of those things. I imagine I will try to make the deadline for entry next year!

Here is my booth set-up from this time around. I decided to add some 11"x11" color prints of a few of my pieces. I printed them at work on the nice color printer and mounted them on foamcore. I punched holes in them and hung them from large binder rings. Economical and eye-catching. I had a few comments from passersby that they had drawn them in. One lady actually said they made her buy the earrings, so they did the trick there! I think it's an idea that could work for most types of booths.

View to the right of me.
The Arcade is a passageway that led to the other street with vendors. They had various local musical groups and a duo throughout the day. This one was my personal favorite.
The view to the left of my booth.

My second show of the year came late in the season.

2010-09-25T18:06:00.004-04:00

I haven't done a lot of shows this year. Last year I tried to get into every show I could find, it seems like. This time around, I decided to try to stick with the juried art show variety, which seems to be working better for me. Jewelry is generally a very saturated category (I've even had customers mention how many jewelry booths there are at 'this show', and so on). Even in juried shows, there is never a shortage of jewelry booths, but since they are purposefully selecting the artists, they tend to have a better variety. Which works out better for everyone.

For my most recent, the Mason Arts Festival last Sunday, I decided to sort of try to work myself into a niche. I got together a decent amount of new PMC pieces and had far fewer strung bead necklaces. The majority of my pieces were earrings, then quite a few necklaces and three or four bracelets. Overall, it turned out to be a really good day for me sales-wise, and the weather, although starting out with a chance of rain and kind of cool, ended up being warm (okay, hot) and sunny. There was a nice breeze all day, so that was nice!

I have to say, the Mason-Deerfield Arts Alliance did a fantastic job of organizing this festival. It was their 5th year and my first as a participant. Their volunteers were around all day to help with set-up, transporting vendors back and forth to their cars, watching booths for breaks, bringing waters, etc. It was very helpful and I felt very welcome there. You could tell it was well-publicized too. We had a steady stream of shoppers all day long. I really hope to become a yearly participant at this one.

This is my booth set-up this time around.

A couple views of the shoppers from my booth.

This is the bag of freshly popped kettle corn from the booth behind mine. I could smell it all day and finally caved. (How could I not?) It was fantastic. This is the small bag!

Keep 'em coming!

2010-07-17T17:50:00.004-04:00

Wow, so I guess July is my lucky month. This makes the third treasury for me for July. Very exciting stuff! Check out Tango 3.0 here, which includes my carnelian drop earrings aptly named Tango. Thanks to EmporiumGitane on Etsy for including me!

Another treasury!

2010-07-06T15:52:00.005-04:00

Well, 2 posts in one day, this is a first for me. I couldn't resist though! I've made it into another beachy treasury. Thank you to bombshellbettiesvint for creating such a cool, vacation-feeling compilation. Here is link to the treasury.

A long overdue trip report.

2010-07-06T13:08:00.009-04:00

Well, this one should be an easy read! As I mentioned in a previous post, we were heading off to a family vacation in Las Vegas. (Sounds scary, right?) Well, despite my initial anxiety, a good time was had by all.

Here's the low-down in short form: We arrived Sunday, May 16, checked in to the Flamingo and the Venetian. Rooms were great, so we headed over to Bellagio for the brunch buffet (which I highly recommend). We swung by the Bellagio Conservatory & Botanical Gardens afterwards to check out the spring display and then headed downtown to 'old Vegas'.

Bellagio spring display, which, as with all of their displays was comprised mostly of flowers and live plants. It's just amazing every season I've seen it (and free to all who want to spend time there). Definitely a must see if you're in Vegas.

The gang: Mom, me, my husband (the giant), grams, mother-in-law, father-in law, and gram's friend in front.

Monday, we headed out to Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area, which was just breathtaking, even on an overcast day. I'd like to go back there again. I want to say it's 30-40 minutes west of the strip – not a bad drive and well worth the trip.

After Red Rock, it was off to the Hoover Dam. I can see why this place ended up on Modern Marvels on the History Channel. Wow!

I suspect the new bridge they're constructing will end up being on an episode as well. It's being built to divert some of the traffic from the dam.

After the Dam, we headed back and got ready to catch the 9:30 showing of Mystére (Cirque du Soleil). It was my 3rd Cirque show and I enjoyed it so much. Everyone else in the group loved it as well. Again, I would recommend...

Wednesday was Grand Canyon day. We made the 4.5 hour or so drive to the South Rim, which I hear has the best views. I can't say I would disagree! Enjoy!

I made it into a Treasury!

2010-06-23T15:33:00.005-04:00

Thank you to fellow Etsian Auramatic for putting one of my bracelets (Seaside) into a lovely, beachy feeling treasury! Very exciting! Check it out here. And be sure to stop by Auramatic's shop too. :)

Gearing up.

2010-05-11T14:35:00.005-04:00

It's been over a year since we've made the trip out to my favorite vacation spot – Las Vegas! Well, we're getting ready to head out there for 4 days, but with a twist this time around.

We're taking with us my in-laws, grandma and one of her good friends and my mom. I'm feeling a little anxious about the whole thing. Seven people and trying to coordinate all of the things we want to show them... My father-in-law is out there a few times a year for business but isn't the type to go gambling. My mother-in-law has been there once for work, but didn't get to see much of anything. Grandma was there long ago, when the Mirage was new! I'm not sure about her friend, but I get the impression she has also been there. My mom hasn't ever really been on a real vacation. Well, she's getting thrown right in on this trip!

We have two rooms lined up at the Venetian and one at Flamingo. My in-laws have a rental car reserved – a van, no less – which will be quite handy with all of these people! We've got a decent amount of sight-seeing planned, which is cool for me since I've never seen any of these places! So far on the agenda are Red Rock National Conservation Area, Hoover Dam, the Grand Canyon, Ethel M's Chocolate Factory & Botanical Cactus Garden, possibly Lake Mead and of course all of the cool things right there in Las Vegas. We're going to see Cirque du Soleil's Mystére at Treasure Island and the ladies want to go see one of the Rat Pack tribute shows. Somehow I've got to work in some pool time and my husband and I will likely have a couple late night poker sessions sprinkled in there. I'm sure we'll manage.

Right now I'm trying to get everything done at home... cleaning, packing and trying to get some more pieces listed in my shop. I'm really getting excited about hitting the desert for a few days though! Of course I will bring back many photos and a trip report (be warned, I'm sure it'll be a long read!).

A good morning.

2010-04-18T11:36:00.005-04:00

It was probably close to 7 pm last night when I checked in with my shop last. I checked out early to go play cards with some friends. We got home very late and went straight to bed. This morning I woke up to a sale (yea!) and also to see that I now have 100 Etsy members who 'heart' me! It's a baby milestone for my shop. It always feels good to wake up to a sale, but I was hanging around just under 100 hearts for a few days and was wondering if it would ever flip over to 100!

One of my favorites.

2010-04-02T15:42:00.004-04:00

A few years ago in the fall, we planted two trees in our front yard which replaced some aging evergreens. They were not in the best shape and were big enough to pose a threat to everything around them. One, a mountain ash, which is shaping up to be a lovely shade tree, and a saucer magnolia. I've always loved magnolias. They come in so many varieties, each one more beautiful than the last. I happened to find one on sale for around $25 since it was the end of the season. Each spring it produces more and more sweetly scented, soft pink flowers, but they don't last very long! More times than not, we get a cold snap and the frost takes away the blossoms. Today, I was lucky enough to be off work and figured I had better snap a couple pics while there was still time! Happy spring! Enjoy!

Loving the PMC...

2010-03-31T18:13:00.005-04:00

These are a few pieces I finished up Sunday (meaning I finally put some of my PMC elements actually into some designs!). I've been such a slacker lately, so it feels fantastic to get some new pieces made and I'm really happy with how they turned out too. Not bad for my first attempt. I will be adding them to my shop before long, but I need to get some more photos. After that, I'm going to be purchasing some more clay and working on my technique. I'm very excited!

First up is a fine silver pendant paired with a AAA amethyst briolette. I had two of these little guys and they are stunning stones. Just have to figure out where the second one will live now. I finished the chain with a hand-formed clasp and two tiny faceted peridots.

Next is one that I'm especially fond of.. I had this teardrop shaped pendant and couldn't quite figure out what to do with it until I sat down and dug through my gems. I came across this beautiful garnet and it just spoke to me. Really a lovely piece, if I do say so. Also finished with a handmade clasp and two faceted garnets.

Last is a pair of earrings. 'Lace' is their name. AAA pink amethyst, fine silver discs and hand-formed sterling earwires. Perfect for spring!

Yikes! I have no jewelry of my own!

2010-03-15T18:00:00.003-04:00

For a while now, I've been trying to concentrate on keeping my shop full and fulfilling custom orders. It dawned on my that I haven't made anything for myself in quite a while. After visiting a bead show last weekend and finding one of my new favorite stones, I decided to make myself a new favorite necklace.

Red Creek Jasper is absolutely stunning. The variations of color and pattern throughout each bead are quite striking and unique to each, so much so that they required little work from me to produce this beautiful piece. I only bought a single strand and if I can find more, you'll likely see something similar in my shop before too long. But I'm keeping this one! :)

A few custom orders... finished!

2010-03-08T16:28:00.004-05:00

For the last several weeks, I seem to have been suffering from some sort of jewelry creating block. It didn't help that I had a few things hanging around that I needed to finish either. Luckily, with the help of visiting a couple traveling bead shows, I have managed to work through it.

This first piece I designed for my neighbors' kids' school fundraiser. I'm not sure looking back if she asked me for a necklace or any type of piece in particular, but I felt that might, well... raise the most funds. I had a hard time at first even selecting beads for to get started. Sometimes I look into that bin with the strands in it and don't see anything I really like or care to work with at the time. Such was the case this time. I ended up using a strand of large rose quartz ovals, tiny dark pink garnet teardrops in threes as spacers and a beautiful pink/purple moukaite jasper as a focal nestled between two sterling hammer-finished circles. I added a hook clasp that I made and am really happy with the results. I wish I had gotten a better photo of it. The lighting was not the best and I didn't drag out my light box. Lesson learned!

Next is a pair of earrings for a friend of my husband, who purchased the Desert Walk bracelet from me around Christmas time. She asked if there was a matching pair of earrings. Not a problem. I just love these! A mix of yellow wonderstone, green turquoise and copper. I adore wonderstone... so many color variations to be seen in it!

Also for our friend is this necklace which started with the focal bead that she had purchased years ago. She just never got around to putting it into a design and asked if I would like to do it. After much debate at my local bead store, I ended up combining it with a couple sizes of matching turquoise rounds, new jade faceted rounds and rich, cocoa brown Swarovski pearls. I fashioned a swirly copper bail and added the copper and sterling rings for a bit of brightness and color. (Plus I know she likes copper!)

I figured it couldn't hurt to make a pair of matching earrings as well!

Could it be?

2010-03-05T17:18:00.006-05:00

Today has been a beautiful, sunny winter's day. I think it reached 45º. It's not as warm as I'd like, but it sure beats the 20's and 30's we've been seeing. I was fortunate enough to have the day off work, so my mom and I got together for lunch. Mmmm, Angilo's Pizza!

I was standing outside chatting with my mom as she was leaving after her visit this afternoon and happened to glance over at my neighbors' flower bed. Actually, mom pointed it out to me. A beautiful little pop of purple coming up from the mulch! Could it be that spring is around the corner? Please, say it's true!

PMC me!

2010-02-20T22:23:00.012-05:00

A few weeks back, I finally got to take a basics class in PMC (or precious metal clay.) I had been wanting to try it out for a long time, but it's not the cheapest of materials to just play around with and figure out on your own.

I wasn't quite sure what to expect going in and I certainly learned a few things. There were two ladies, myself and Mandy, the instructor at A World of Beads. We all got a tiny little packet (25g) of clay and once Mandy explained how to use the playing cards, roller, rubber stamps, various fondant cutters (like mini cookie cutters) we were allowed to open the packets! The clay sort of reminded me of kneaded eraser. There was a lot of rolling it out, trying out shapes and textures, re-rolling it out and, of course, keeping it moist.

I think the most important thing to remember about PMC is that it seems to lend itself to the more organic shapes and textures. I really enjoyed learning a little bit about it and I ended up with a few really pretty pieces. I can't wait to get another packet and try my hand at it on my own.

Unfortunately, I forgot to take my camera with me to the class, so the photos below were taken after the pieces were fired and tumbled and polished. This was also my first attempt at using my new light box and I need to work with it a bit more...

First, Lucy had to check out the new light box.

A few of the new pieces. The smaller ones are around the size of a dime.

Mandy covered many things in the class, such as making and adding bails to pieces to create pendants.

I also learned that most natural stones can't survive the kiln firing process. I was a little disappointed to hear that. I had visions of setting stones, but, it turns out you can add bezels prior to firing and then set stones in them. Or, you can use dichroic glass, which is a heat tolerant fused glass. I wanted to try as many different techniques with an instructor. This one ran the gamut! I added texture, made a bail and attached it, fashioned a bezel and set a piece of dichroic glass.

This last one is a pair of earrings that I created for my neighbor. Over the summer, she and her family had gone on a beach vacation and she brought me back a baggie full of shells that she had collected. She thought I could use them in some of my jewelry creations. (I love that idea.) I ended up using one to make impressions in two small ovals of clay and then added tiny aquamarine rounds and handmade earwires to finish them. She loved them and I think she was surprised to have the shells used that way. (I still intend to use the shells themselves in the future!)

A lovely bridesmaid.

2010-01-22T17:06:00.004-05:00

It occurred to me while reading another blog that I never posted a photo of the earring and necklace sets that I created for a co-worker of my husband. She was married last summer and was kind enough to forward along a photo of one of her four bridesmaids.

We worked together through my husband (who now knows more than he cares to about wedding jewelry) for a couple weeks on what she wanted. She gave me a couple ideas from magazines she had seen and I put together custom ideas for her in a palette of soft pinks in cherry and rose quartz, and luminous white Swarovski pearls, all brought together with shiny sterling silver.

The sets turned out great — the perfect complement to the chocolaty brown gowns. She was thrilled with them, as were her bridesmaids from what I have heard. And they truly are sets that can be worn again and again.

I feel like I have fallen off of planet blog

2010-01-06T16:33:00.005-05:00

Well, happy new year! Here it is January 6, 2010. I haven't checked in here in way too long. I've had good intentions, just haven't gotten around to it. I need to get back on the horse with my Etsy store too... need to get some new pieces listed.

We didn't do a whole lot for New Year's Eve this year, which is okay with me. I've never really been the go-out-and-party type. My husband and I spent a quiet night at home. I picked up a pizza and we worked on a 750 piece Las Vegas puzzle. (I know it sounds weird or even boring, but we enjoyed each other's company and it was fun to do it together. Tougher than we thought it would be too!) Now we have a good size assembled puzzle under our sofa. Maybe it'll get framed one of these days.

I have been looking forward to 2009 being in the books for a while now, so I'm glad it's a new year finally. I have some cool new toys from Christmas, including a photo light box. While I love the look of photos with natural daylight, it's just not very practical to wait for a sunny weekend day to take photos of my jewelry. And right now, it's pretty darned cold out there even if it is sunny, so enough of that! I was pretty excited to get that. Just need to set it up and get moving.

My husband enrolled me in a PMC (precious metal clay), which is this Saturday. I can't wait. I've been wanting to learn more about PMC for a while now, but it's cost has so far prevented me just buying some and playing around with it. I figure a little instruction never hurt anyone. Hopefully, I'll have some new fine silver pieces from this to add to my shop in the near future!

A surprise getaway!

2009-09-20T11:06:00.009-04:00

Things have been a little on the boring side for me lately. Summer came and went and I feel like all we did all summer was work, still trying to get back on track from my year-long lay off. This is the first year since 2004 that we haven't made at least one little trip to Las Vegas. In fact, we hadn't gone anywhere this year, which I realize is probably common for people given the present economy.

The Thursday before last, my neighbor came knocking on my door, all excited and "needing" to buy a pair of earrings to match an outfit for a surprise birthday trip. Her husband had just handed her a list of things to pack for their next morning flight and he told her that he had arranged for her to be off work for a long weekend. Everyone in her office was in on it. He didn't tell her where he was taking her. So, she did her shopping and went back home.

I went upstairs to tell my husband about what her husband had set up and he got a really strange exasperated look on his face, saying, "he did? Are you kidding me?!?" Why would I kid about that, right? Then he says to me, "honey, we're going away on a surprise trip for your birthday next Wednesday." You can imagine my shock. It was also pretty funny. He said he had to tell me so it wouldn't look like he was copying our neighbor. lol He didn't tell me where we were headed either.

Long story short, we ended up making an 8 hour drive down to Tunica, MS, which is maybe 30 minutes or so south of Memphis, TN. As usual, we got off to a late start, leaving around 10:30 am, then we ran into construction 3 or 4 times around Louisville, KY. By the time we got into Nashville, TN, it was raining buckets, there was an accident and it was getting into rush hour. Thankfully, we made it through all of that without adding too much time to our travel and we arrived at the Horseshoe Casino Hotel around 6:30 pm local time.

We valet parked the car, got our luggage checked and checked into our room in no time at all. The bellman was an older gentleman, who actually walked us up to our room with our luggage. Everyone was incredibly nice and made us feel very welcome. Our room was nice, nothing too fancy, but nice. It was immaculate! (It was one of the more comfy nights' sleep away from home too, with the pillow-top mattress on the bed. Good pillows too, which seem hard to find in hotels.) We got freshened up and decided to head downstairs to check out the buffet. Turns out Horseshoe is very much into comping food for their guests. If you sign up for a Total Rewards card (which you can use to accrue comps at any Harrah's property across the country) and play anything for a half hour, you get a free buffet. We were reading that on the sign near the buffet and trying to decide if we wanted to wait a half hour to eat when we were approached by a man who wanted to sell us a comp for two free buffets for $20 (I think it turns out to be around $36 if you actually pay for two). We took him up on it and enjoyed a discounted dinner! Their dinner buffet was okay, no Bellagio, but then, neither of us like any seafood and there was plenty of fish, shrimp and of course, crawfish! Ick.

After dinner, we played some craps at the Horseshoe and then we walked next door to the Gold Strike to check that out. My husband played craps there for a little bit and then we walked back next door. There aren't any shows or anything down there like there are in Vegas. They'll have a band or singer on tour here or there at a couple of the casinos, but nothing that plays nightly like Cirque du Soleil, etc. They did have local bands on stage at both of those places which was fun. They were playing older covers and added a fun energy to the casinos. All the dealers were very friendly and engaging our entire trip. In fact everyone we encountered working down there was friendly. It was really nice.

Thursday morning we headed to the buffet for breakfast, and using our comps we ate free. Breakfast was great. Waffles and omelets made to order, fresh fruit, bacon, grits, biscuits & gravy and of course fried catfish and chicken fried something too. After breakfast, we decided to walk over and check out the Sheraton, which was a little dead, so we headed back over to the Horseshoe to play some black jack and then to the poker room. We played there into the lunch hour at which time I headed to the front desk of the poker room and got more comps for the Ace High Snack Bar. I got the BLT and waffle fries and my husband got a Philly cheesesteak. Everything was awesome there! Very tasty. We went back to the Horseshoe and played poker more until my set of aces got cracked by a flush on the turn, busting me out. Luckily, my husband had made a tidy profit, so we headed up to the room to change for my birthday dinner at the Fairbanks Steakhouse at the Hollywood Casino.

Dinner at the Fairbanks was phenomenal! Service was outstanding, complete with a Maître d'. Adrian and Luke, our servers took great care of us... our water glasses were never empty and we were entertained as well with lively conversation. I had the small filet and my husband had the Chicken a la Fairbanks. Both were very tasty, as was the key lime pie and chocolate gateau, a rich chocolate cake with Grand Marnier and raspberry sauce. After dinner, we waddled down to the casino to play a little more.

From Hollywood, as is our tradition, we checked out all the other casinos in the area... Resorts, Sam's Town, Fitzgerald's, Bally's and finally Harrah's, which was by far the most swanky and upscale casino in the area. It reminds me of Planet Hollywood in Vegas, or MGM Grand Detroit. Very nice. It was getting late by then, so we stopped at the Dunkin' Donuts in Harrah's for a snack and then headed home to the Horseshoe to rest up for the drive home the next day.

The next morning we had another comped buffet breakfast, packed up and headed for home. Unfortunately, we left even later to go back and again hit some really heavy rain around Nashville. They were really getting pounded by the rain down there! But, we made it home just fine. We would definitely head back down there sometime in the future! It was really fun.

This little guy was on the side of the building at Bally's, enjoying the light rain with a few of his buddies. I couldn't resist snapping pics of them. They were so cute!

Ah, metal stamping...

2009-08-08T19:45:00.005-04:00

I am one of those people who sees something and has that (sometimes idiotic) thought "I could do that". Okay, most times it pans out okay for me. Other times I finally figure out that I might actually benefit from some instruction or guidance. Yeah.

I mentioned in a previous post that I had purchased a metal letter stamping set and some sterling silver stamping blanks. I know, I know "buy some inexpensive copper sheet or aluminum to practice with first instead of ruining more expensive sterling silver". I can't tell you how many times I've read that! Well, I mean, who needs practice metal, right? As you can see below, I needed it. Badly.

WISH. Right. I wish I was able to pull this off. WISH I had purchased a cheap sheet of copper. You know what they say about hindsight. So these were my first couple attempts. I ended up experimenting with my hammer, too, for texture, and stamping both sides of these. May as well, right?

Then last weekend, I went to the Intergalactic Bead Show which comes to town 2 or 3 times a year. I love it. There are so many great vendors and I usually find something I've been 'needing', so that's always cool. Well, as luck would have it, there was a lady there selling various tools for use in metal stamping (and actually cutting the discs as well)! I was very excited. She did a stamping demo for me, so I found out some of the secrets to success.

First, I found out I was using a hammer that was way too light-weight for the task. It was some cheapy I picked up at Michael's – I didn't want to ruin my good hammer on the metal stamps. (See, sometimes I do think ahead!) She also had her bench block set up on top of a sand bag to absorb some of the force. I believe she said it helps keep the stamps from jumping around so much too. I wasn't really in the market to make a large investment that day (after all, I was there for the beads!) so I asked her some questions, watched a couple demos and ended up buying some polishing cloths and a metal hole punch.

So, this weekend, I finally got a chance to test out what I had learned. I ended up using a household hammer and I set my bench block on top of a phone book. (Yea! Finally a use for a phone book! lol) I'm certainly not an expert yet, but I had much better luck after picking up some tips from that nice lady! I really like the hammered texture on the pieces too. Soon, you may just see some pieces show up in my Etsy shop. Maybe even ones with something other than WISH on them!

Custom orders and something new

2009-07-17T16:00:00.007-04:00

Lately, my Etsy shop has been getting steady traffic, I think, plenty of views, but not many more sales. Now, I haven't been adding many pieces lately because I've been getting ready for the show last weekend more than anything, so I'm sure that's not helping, you know, not getting into the new items feed. That should change this weekend though, as I have a few new pieces coming soon.

In the meantime, I seem to be having a little luck with custom orders, thanks to my mom! Apparently she's been selling my services to all the ladies at work, which is very nice of her. I've made her a couple necklaces, which I'm pretty sure she wears on a regular basis and shows around too.

This earring and necklace set is a mother-of-the-bride ensemble for, of all people, my 2nd grade teacher, who actually works with mom these days. It's so weird when I think about it. I remember her from when I was so young and now she's buying jewelry from me? Anyway, from what I hear she loved the set, but her oldest daughter snagged it from her, telling her she could borrow it for her sister's upcoming wedding. Too funny! The focal points of both the earrings and necklace are (one of my new favorite stones) chalcedony. It is just so pretty! Oddly, the Swarovski crystals that appear more brown here in this pic are green. Not sure why they looked that way, but everything was very cool and water-like in tone, paired with sterling silver.

Another score from mom was this pair of larkavite and sterling silver drop earrings. Larkavite is sometimes called black labradorite. It's also from the feldspar family. These were made for another co-worker of my mom, who was looking for a birthday gift for a friend. She didn't want to give them away, but did. She reported back to mom that the lady wears them all the time. Always nice to hear! I liked them enough to make a second pair for my store which you can check out here.

Some may remember these earrings from my store. They sold over the weekend at Ladies Fair, to the mother-daughter pair. The daughter actually got them and her mom liked them a lot also, but she wanted the same earrings in a smaller scale, so I made her up a smaller pair and shipped those out to her this past Monday. They've always been a favorite pair of mine. I really like the way the copper works with the carnelian and the turquoise.

And finally, I'm going to try something new. Metal stamping! I bought a set of metal letter stamps from m.a.t.'s beads, a fellow Etsy seller, and I've been picking up sterling silver stamping blanks whenever I see them. I know, everyone says to "practice on inexpensive copper"... I probably should too, because I have no idea what I'm doing, really, but, eh, what the heck. I'll figure it out. I'll be sure to post an update and some pics. This should be interesting, to say the least. I'd be happy to hear any advice from my readers about stamping!

A few snags, but overall a successful show.

2009-07-13T22:05:00.005-04:00

For the last few weeks, I've been frantically running around trying to prepare for my next show. Well, this past Saturday was Ladies Fair 2009. Leading up to it, there were vendors meetings and several emails back and forth with the two ladies who were coordinating the event. It was the first year for it. It was the first time I have actually run a printed ad for a show or my business, which I submitted well in advance of the deadline, so I was pretty excited at the idea of that.

Saturday morning I picked up my mom at about 8:40 am. This was the first time she was joining at a show and she was a little keyed up about it, I think. In fact, I don't think she'd ever been to anything like a craft/art show before, so this was all new to her. She is the type of person who has to be doing something and it was a little challenging for me to keep giving her tasks. I'll just say it – I'm a total control freak. I'm very bad at delegating. Very bad. I managed to keep her somewhat busy during set-up though, so she was happy being useful.

When we arrived at Crossroads Community Church, the auditorium was pretty dark, there were people running around and there was no central location for vendor check-in. "Hmmm..." I thought. I started looking for my contacts and quickly located one of the ladies. We were told that booth spaces would be 8' x 8', and that they would be numbered and assigned because the booth numbers would direct people from your ad in their handout booklets to its corresponding booth. Well, there were no numbers. They were deciding as people arrived where to put them. I was asked if I would need electricity, and normally I do so I can light my pieces, but in the midst of everything going on and in the interest of time, I said it wasn't necessary. So I was positioned right where she happened to be standing, which happened to be under one of the canned spot lights. That turned out to be a blessing because they never did turn the lights up all day! Apparently they were not allowed or didn't know how. As you can see from the pics below, a lot of vendors were pretty much in the dark. It was not good.

Mom and I got everything set up in our booth that was not even nearly 8' deep. We were bumping into the people from the booth behind us. It was fairly uncomfortable actually. There wasn't much room to move around or get bags and boxes out from under the table for my customers' purchases. Thank goodness my tables are on the small side and that my set up is somewhat flexible. I took a few minutes to thumb through the booklet and, to my surprise, my half-page ad was nowhere to be found! I was furious. I spoke to one of the coordinators and she told me that I was not the only one whose ad didn't make it into the book. She blamed the printer, but I think they just sold more space than they had available. Pretty sure that's what happened with the booth sizes as well. It was very frustrating.

There was no time to even worry about it though. They had a steady flow of people the entire time (10 am - 3 pm). I had one very good experience with a mom and her daughter who were so fun. Very friendly and good to chat with while they were shopping. They ended up buying several pairs of earrings, a necklace and the mom even ordered a custom pair of earrings, which I dropped in the mail to her this afternoon. They were awesome and seemed to really like my designs. Throughout the day I also sold another bracelet and a few pairs of earrings, and had lots of lookers take my cards. My sales were just under $200, which is awesome. The space was only $25, so that is a tidy little profit to reinvest into what else... more supplies! :)

Below is my booth set-up and that is my mom sitting there behind the table. She would probably love to know that she's all over the internet! We just won't tell her. See how dark it was in there though? Yikes!

This was the booth next door to mine. The lady wasn't in it at the time of this pic, but she was very sweet and she just happens to be an Etsy seller, Ariel Michelle with the most adorable cosmetic bags on earth (that she makes herself, of course)! She just opened her shop on Etsy and doesn't have any bags listed yet, but you can see how great they are here and send her a convo! I suggested to mom that they'd make great gifts for all the granddaughters for Christmas, and she ended up buying 6 sets for them (they were in sets of a large and a smaller bag).

Oh boy, searching for a new bank...

2009-07-08T12:19:00.003-04:00

I hope this doesn't come across as too much of a rant. I'm actually much calmer about it than I was last week when I received a letter from Fifth Third Bank regarding a credit card account I had with them. The letter came to me on Tuesday, June 30. It had the "Important changes to your credit account" note on the envelope, but I tossed it in the pile of mail to open later. Naturally I forgot to open it that night. I did, however, think of it Wednesday and remembered to open it when I got home from work. More times than not when I get letters like this, they are telling me about changes to terms that really don't affect me, like cash advance rules and such. Much to my surprise, this one was informing me that they were increasing my rate to Prime + 14.99% but never less than 19.99%! Do what now?

A little background... I do have a good amount of revolving debt, I won't deny that. I actually opened this card a few years ago and consolidated a few others with it. It is one of two credit cards that I have that I actually use still and really only when I'm in a pinch for cash for something like dog food and I'm somewhere that doesn't accept AmEx. I generally like to use my American Express card because I have to pay it off every month, so that keeps me from using it excessively. All of the cards I have have been getting paid down for probably 2 years now. I don't even use them, because I've been busy trying to get out of debt once and for all!

Anyway, Fifth Third decided all of the sudden that the couple hundred dollars they already get from me in interest every month was not enough. In a nutshell, they don't like the way I've used my account, my balance is too high and I don't keep enough money in my checking account to suit them. It really infuriates me. They set the limit. I've never gone over that limit. I've never been late on a payment and I always pay at least a few bucks more than the minimum due. I was instructed that I had 7 days to reject the new terms, which would result in my account being closed. Fine by me. Really. It was a little bit odd to me that the 7 days included a 3 day long weekend. As I fired off my rejection letter on Thursday, I wondered how many people would miss their 7 day window and end up paying some ridiculously inflated rate of interest.

I'm positive I am not alone in this. So anyway, I told them I don't feel it's fair and a whole lot of other stuff in that letter. That I am a good customer, albeit small in comparison to some, I'd imagine. And that up until this point I had recommended them to pretty much everyone I knew. Well that is over now. Now I have to find a new home for my checking accounts, mostly because I told them I would. lol. I am not really looking forward to that.

Here's some advice from my dad that I really wish I'd have taken to heart sooner: Pay as you go and you'll never owe.

A peek into my day job.

2009-06-29T17:14:00.006-04:00

Not that it's super impressive or anything, but I thought I'd share a few things that have come across my desk recently at work. Below are stock photography images that I've had to alter to varying degrees. These are the types of things that tend to take up a lot of my day (sometimes days) when they pop up. Retouching photos used to really intimidate me, but a couple years ago, I got thrown into it and learned some tricks from a former co-worker who was probably expert level. Now, I don't claim to be at his Photoshop skill level, but I'm getting more comfortable with it and don't panic when I send out final artwork anymore.

The blond lady was missing the side and top of her hair and her left shoulder. The brunette was missing the top and some of the right side of her hair. Not too bad as far as retouching goes, but hair can be a little tricky to work around. I added hair to both, dropped out the background and adjusted the color a little bit, just to make them look a little less flat. They have a little rosy glow now.

For this image the art director made lots of changes. A couple of which I initially overlooked and had to go back and adjust more once I realized. Sometimes they forget to tell me everything they'd like for me to do to the photos! Anyway, the obvious change was the removal of the prescription bottles. Then the blurry cotton swab jar in front of her right shoulder had to go too. This pretty much came down to recreating the front of her lab coat. That was interesting. There just wasn't much to work with there. After that, I had to nix the IV bag and rack and replace the background because the image wasn't quite wide enough for the project. I think I ended up adding a smidge to the beakers and laptop as well.

This one was involved! It wasn't really a problem to get rid of the little floating platform. Unfortunately this image was way too skinny for the art director's vision. I had to make up the deck and the arm of the chair on the left and add a bit to the right side as well. There's not much to say about it, other than it took me a while to get it to where you might not notice if it weren't pointed out to you. Water generally has a nice ripple to it, but you have to be careful not to have it look too much like a pattern. At least I got to look at a cute cat for a while. :)

So that sort of stuff is probably the most challenging part of my day job. Not too bad for a day's work, although I spend a lot of time with jewelry design in the back of my mind...

Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden

2009-06-19T15:21:00.011-04:00

Two Saturdays ago, my mom and I decided to make the short drive to the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden. We used to go at least once every summer with her sister and my cousin, who is a year younger than me. We would really look forward to it, I mean, it was a big deal to us as kids! Neither my mom nor I had been there in years and a lot has changed since I was a kid. There are some new exhibits as well as some that have been completely revamped with beautiful results. We're very fortunate to have such a wonderful zoo here in Cincinnati. I realize this looks like a lengthy post, but it is made up mostly of photos and captions. Enjoy!

There always seems to be a peacock everywhere you look when you're there. Some of them hide, some are in plain sight like this lovely guy below. He's standing alongside the track of the train that you can ride around the zoo. There is a tram as well that visits the places not requiring a track. Nice features if you're looking to sit down for a little bit and still keep moving and sight-seeing.

These little guys were inside the petting zoo. Am I the only one surprised to see penguins outside in the sunny 80º weather? I always thought they were all cold-loving. See? Plenty of learning opportunities at the zoo...

The giraffe area is one that is completely different from when I was a kid. They have lots more room to run around now. It used to be they were in a smaller roundish area, and you could pick leaves off the bushes surrounding it and hold them on the palm of your hand and they would lick them up! It was so cool! I suppose that was a hazard to both children and the giraffes. They now have specific times throughout the day where you can purchase giraffe food for a $1 and feed them while supervised by a zoo keeper. Much better idea!

Same sort of changes for the elephant area as well. More room – yea!

I wish I had taken the bigger camera. The dark lump on the ground behind this big male western lowland gorilla is actually a mom and her baby! She was lying on her back in the shade and baby was on top of her. It was the cutest thing!

The cat house has always been one of my favorite exhibits. It was done up really well probably 10 years ago. We caught this guy snoozing!

These little sweeties were in the nocturnal house... the fennec fox. One side note on the nocturnal house: I was super-annoyed by people who were not turning off the flashes on their cameras in there. People! These animals come out mainly at night. How do you think bright flashes make them feel?!? I mean, there are signs all over in there lit with black lights. Sometimes I just want to smack people...

This guy seemed to be waiting for a photo-op. The Yellow-backed Duiker. I don't remember seeing them before...

Greater Flamingos

No one saw this guy until I started taking photos of him. He was nestled quietly up in the trees under the railroad bridge. I tried to get the full length shot, but I think I need some practice! Too many people started to stop too, so he started to stir...

We've had white tigers as long as I can remember. Here is one, doing what cats will do.

This cheetah was sleeping and all of the sudden popped its head up and let out a meow that sounded like one of my house cats! It was so cute to hear. I don't think of big cats meowing, but I guess some do.

Beautiful snoozing Malayan Tiger.

Three good-size red ear slider turtles who reside outside the manatee exhibit.

The manatees! This was the first time I'd seen these guys. They've been at the zoo for a few years. A funny thing, they have these machines where you put a penny in along with two quarters (for the fee) and turn the crank and it will flatten the penny and stamp a zoo image on it, then spits it out. Beside that was one that made quarters. (I've seen them before at MGM Grand in Vegas, and I usually throw in a penny to see what I get out.) Well, my mom thought it was the greatest thing ever! She must have spent $10 between the two and we actually had to go back outside the manatee exhibit to the snack stand to get change for a five dollar bill so she could take it back inside and make more pennies and quarters. It was making me laugh.

This is one of my favorite exhibits and I'm thrilled that Siegfried and Roy chose our zoo for some of their cats. Really cool, if you ask me!

The white lions... I know he doesn't look snow white, but he's definitely much lighter in color than the ones you generally see. So majestic and beautiful. He was waking up from a nap and shifting to a different spot. Then, back to sleep. They have rotations for the males and females to be out in this area on different days. We were there on the male day, obviously.

This Sumatran Orangutan was awake and alert and checking everyone out.

Polar bears, taking a dip.

I thought it was nice of this little one to pose above his sign for easy identification – the scarlet-chested parakeet.

Two blue and gold macaws.

Another peacock, this one a female. She must be a greeter. She was right inside the entrance and let me get up close to her to get her pic! No zoom here. Maybe it wasn't the best idea I had all day, looking back. :)

A short stay in Waynesville

2009-06-15T22:32:00.007-04:00

I was a participant in a show yesterday that I actually found by browsing the Etsy forums. It's called Second Sunday Stroll and it's an arts and crafts fair series that takes place in the quaint village of Waynesville, OH. I thought it was farther away than it actually was, but turns out it's just a 40 minute or so drive from where we live. Not too bad.

It was a nice day for a drive and the show didn't open until noon and ran until 5 pm, so I wasn't rushed to get out of bed early, which was nice. Naturally I was up later than expected the night before finishing up tasks like making business cards and labels for my boxes, so a little extra sleep was helpful. I honestly don't know where time goes sometimes. I had a week to replenish my supplies from last week's show, but never seemed to find the spare time.

I arrived in Waynesville in plenty of time to get unloaded and set up, and one of the shop owners (there are many antique and boutique type shops up there... very cute little town!) and another vendor helped me set up my tent in no time at all. (No, couldn't convince my husband to tag along this time. lol) It ended up being around 85º and sunny with a bit of a cool breeze now and then. There was a relatively steady flow of small groups and couples walking around. I was one of 5 jewelry vendors on the short block where my booth was set up. I still managed to do alright though, considering. I ended up with around $75 in sales, with the space fee being only $15. I was happy to have sales when some others had lots of window shoppers.

Around 3:40ish, I started hearing drops of rain hitting my canopy. No big deal, I thought, it was just drizzle. No sooner had I thought it, the sky turned dark and thunder started rolling through, which was all followed by a nice steady, relatively heavy rain. I mean, not a lovely shower, but a downpour. Fortunately I had gotten all of my jewelry and display pieces packed safely away in my plastic bins. I decided to make a run for it and get the car pulled around. By the time I got there and back to my tent it was really coming down and I was soaked. I was trying to get the covers off of my tables and my tent decided to take a walk down the street. (I didn't realize going in that we weren't going to be on grass, so I had no way of weighing down my tent, along with a few other vendors.) That sucker was moving on all four legs like it was on wheels, right toward my neighbor's shiny red truck! For a second it was like it was playing in slow motion, then I snapped out of it quick enough to grab one of the legs before it got to the truck. That's when I looked back and saw my neighbor on the other side's tent following mine! Then the lady who was running the show saw me struggling and grabbed the other tent. That vendor had walked away to get some lunch with her daughter moments before it started raining heavily. Her display (also jewelry) was still intact, aside from a little jostling around from the tent pulling it along. Finally we got my tent down and I shoved it in the back of our SUV. I still need to get that canopy out so it can dry...

It was really getting to be pretty funny. The runaway tent makes me laugh aloud, since nothing was damaged and no one injured. But I felt like I looked like someone in a movie, on a boat in a storm or something. Calling for help, holding on to that tent pole for life. LOL It was ridiculous. Had to look hysterical.

Needless to say, that show wrapped up about an hour earlier than scheduled. Sorry I don't have any photos this time. I forgot to even take my camera along for this one. I'm now 50/50 on outdoor shows. Last week the weather was flawless, this week not so much. It was still nicely put together and run though, despite the weather not cooperating. (They are looking for more vendors as well, so if you're interested, check out the link above! It doesn't always rain there!) I think I'll probably do it again in the future. If anyone is up that way, you really should check out Waynesville sometime!

Busy weekend with a very successful show!

2009-06-09T22:52:00.010-04:00

Last week, my 4-day work week turned into 5 days. (Nope, didn't take long.) I really don't mind but I was hoping to get to the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Gardens with my mom on Friday because it was supposed to be sunny and a mild 80º. Well, that didn't happen so I decided to see if she wanted to go on Saturday instead. We did go and it was awesome. I'll post more on that later though. After the zoo, my husband and I went to see The Hangover. We thought it was really funny and we enjoyed the gratuitous shots of Las Vegas. (Kinda goofy/stupid guy humor, I guess... I don't know who out there would appreciate it...)

Sunday had me at the first ever Trillium Art Fair in Glenwood Gardens. It's not too far from our house, so I didn't have to get up and head out terribly early. It started at 11 am and I managed to drag my husband there to help me set up my brand new tent. It went up in a snap, even without the directions which I didn't realize were tucked in the bag with the stakes. (Got a funny look from my husband when I found those. It's okay, I get that look from him a lot. lol) I might need to add a table next time I do an outdoor show. Looking at my display like this makes me feel it's on the small side.

I guess they publicized the event pretty well because all day long it was a steady stream of people, sometimes lots at a time. People were there before it opened and were already shopping. The weather held up nicely - not too hot and not a cloud in the sky. It was awesome! Lots of people had their dogs with them (many walk their dogs there daily on the trails, from what I learned), so next year if I get in again I'll have some doggie treats there for all my four-legged browsers. They had a really nice set-up and it's just an amazing park that I never even knew existed. Various local bands played throughout the day and I was set-up near the stage. Below is the first band, Jake Speed and the Freddies, who are awesome, by the way.

I thought I got really lucky when the first thing I sold was a necklace. From there it just never slowed down. I actually had to call my husband to bring me more $1's and $5's. I ended up with over $500 in sales, eight of them credit card transactions (thank you, Propay!), making it my most successful show so far. I never could have anticipated those kinds of numbers. Most times, I'm thrilled if I make $150 or so. They already have the date set for next year and I am definitely going to try to get in again.

Below is the view from my booth when the fair first opened at 11. There wasn't much time after that to take photos!

Trying to stay within a budget. Sorta.

2009-06-03T22:32:00.005-04:00

It's hard to believe it's Wednesday already. This week seems to be zipping by and I don't feel like I'm getting much done. Last night I listed a couple pairs of earrings in my shop and tonight I was feeling a little uninspired so I thought I'd leave the jewelry design for tomorrow night and catch up on reading some of my favorite blogs. Everyone seems so busy and productive! I do have a show this Sunday. It's a juried one that I managed to get into a bit late (like last week. eek!). I've got a brand new tent that looks pretty nice. It's even got UV protection, of which I am a big proponent. I still need to set that up in the yard and make sure I know what the heck to do with it.

Since I don't have a whole lot to report on the jewelry design front, I thought I'd share one of my new favorite recipes. We've been trying very hard lately to eat at home the majority of the time rather than out at restaurants in an effort to save money. Our kitchen is in the midst of a remodel and, by that I mean, it's barely a kitchen at all. There is a sink cabinet, a small table and chairs, refrigerator and a newer range. It's been like that for about 5 years. Yep, big stall in the funding... it's a long story. We found out just last week that we need to replace the stack of our plumbing configuration. We've been wanting to redo our bathroom, which sits directly above the kitchen with the pipes in the kitchen ceiling, and we can't redo the kitchen until the bathroom is done, so we're really trying to scrape up some money for the repairs that lie ahead.

(I know this is a long way to go for a recipe, isn't it?)

I picked up a copy of Real Simple magazine a month or so ago and saw a recipe for Gingery Glazed Asian Ribs. I tried it out that week. The sauce is amazing! I think I picked a bad rack of ribs or they needed to be cooked for way longer than the recipe suggested. Either way, I picked up a pork tenderloin the following week and followed the recipe again with that. It was outstanding! Very easy to make and delicious. I make basmati rice with it and lima beans.

Note: If you've never worked with fresh ginger, which I hadn't, you peel it first like a potato before grating it. It's pretty easy to work with and I think the fresh flavor is worth the little extra effort.

If anyone tries it, please let me know how you liked it and if you used ribs or tenderloin! I'd love to know if I just did something wrong!

Got to find some balance

2009-05-27T22:35:00.005-04:00

I'm pretty sure this could be classified as a transitional period in my life. There seems to be a ton going on, just in day to day life. I know it has a lot to do with starting back to work. Right now I'm feeling like there are not enough hours in the day. I can't seem to fit in much time for jewelry design or production (much less tending to my blog), and when I do manage to get some pieces made, it seems that it takes days for me to find time to list each one. It's feeling pretty ridiculous. It's not like I have kids running around demanding my attention. (Well, my dogs and cats seem pretty demanding, but that's my own fault. lol) I don't know, I'll figure out a system or it will work itself out, it's just driving me a bit crazy right now.

In the meantime, at least I have my gardens for some peace and tranquility. From a distance, I can't even see all the weeds I need to pull. :P This little beauty (Lithodora) is a newish plant that my mom picked up for me a few weeks back. We've had lots of rain lately and it's just flourishing. This pic is from the day it was planted though.

Time to catch up...

2009-05-21T23:09:00.008-04:00

With the blog, that is. I'm not even sure how I got this far behind this time! It makes me a little crazy...

Work is going pretty well, so far, which is good. It's been a little less busy than I like it, but it should pick up soon with the addition of a couple new clients. Hopefully they like print advertising (which is mainly the area where I specialize). I feel like I'm back in the swing of things there. That's a nice feeling for sure.

A lot of time this week seems to have been devoted to getting some more shows lined up for the upcoming spring/summer months. At the middle school show last weekend, I did have a chance to talk to some really nice vendors and I got some good show leads. A photographer mentioned one that is being put on by Hamilton County Parks District at Glenview Gardens on June 7. I figured it's worth a try to get in, plus it's an art fair, so maybe I'll have a little better luck, who knows. Anyway, I went to their website and found out that it is a juried show and the submission deadline – well, I missed it by a mile – was February 6. That's right, I'm 3 months late. I have a knack. I sent an email to the organizer and she said they are trying to fill a couple more spaces if I want to submit photos and an application. I sent those materials off today. I would think I'd hear pretty soon one way or the other.

Then I found another one online that is at a local community church in July. They have over 10,000 members within their combined locations and are going to do radio, tv, print and internet advertising, not to mention they are inviting the local news and vendors also have the option of purchasing ad space in a booklet that they will hand out to everyone who walks in the door. Love it! I'm in! It sounds really promising. At least there should be plenty of people to not buy my stuff this time. :P

Other than that, I have some new loose beads and strands that I picked up a couple weekends ago at a traveling bead and gem show. I'm impressed with this batch. Lots of sparklies. Take a look:

Left to right: Thai silver toggles and links, flower amazonite, lodalite, green amethyst, chalcedony, opal, serpentine, sunstone, Mexican fire opal and amazonite. I already have some of the green amethyst and the serpentine in my shop. Just trying to find the time to work with the rest!

If you've made it this far, thanks for reading my rambling. :)

I guess you can't win ’em all.

2009-05-16T21:03:00.006-04:00

Today was the Woodland Middle School Spring Fever Fair, in which I was a vendor. It was the first annual show there. I was approached by one of the organizers via email weeks ago and then again at the last craft show I did a couple weeks back. I decided that for $30 for booth space, I'd go ahead and give it a whirl.

Unbeknownst to me, it was slated to be an outdoor event. (Panic!) I've never done one of those before and was completely unprepared... no tent! Fortunately for me, I guess, it had been raining all week and they were forced to move it inside (thankfully). That let me off the hook for running out and purchasing a tent that would either be of good quality and more than I'd like to invest right now, or cheap and probably not that great.

At any rate, the show was today. From 9 am to 4 pm. That is a long show. My goodness, was it a long show. Good thing I was only feet away from one of those big white school clocks with the big black numbers and the slow-as-molasses moving hands so I never lost track of time. (Remember when you were in school and the clock felt like it never moved? Seriously, it felt like that.)

It poured and dumped rain most of the day, so I'm not sure if that kept away shoppers or if the event just wasn't advertised much. I think over the course of 7 (l-o-n-g) hours, we maybe had 60 people through there. Needless to say, no sales for me. Other vendors were having the same luck. It was sad. And boring. Oh dear.

It's back to work for me.

2009-05-13T15:33:00.005-04:00

Last week I wrote that my former employer called me with an offer to return, which I happily accepted. "Do you want to think about it over the weekend?..." asked my HR Manager. "No way! I'm there, see you Monday!" (not in those exact words, of course) was my reply. Initially, it is for 4 days or 30 hours per week, still considered full-time, with the hope that later this year it goes back to 5 days or 37.50+ hours per week.

I returned to work Monday after a year and one week. Lots of people I once worked with are no longer employed there, some victims of the initial lay-off like me, some who left over the course of the year. But then, there are quite a few familiar faces and some new ones as well. It was a little strange and not everyone knew I was returning, so some were surprised to see me. It didn't take long for me to get back into the old swing of things. I have done some freelance work for them over the course of my year off, so that helped, I'm sure.

I can't put into words how relieved I am to be working again. Although I enjoyed much of my time off and being able to put lots of work and thought into my Etsy store and jewelry design, I'm completely enamored by the thought of a steady paycheck. It was getting a little tough there in spots, but things are definitely looking up. I even woke up to an earring sale this morning. What more could I ask for? :)

Happy Mother's Day!

2009-05-10T12:55:00.003-04:00

A few months back while perusing the Etsy forums, I came across a wonderful blog, Just Something I Made. In it the author, Cathe Holden, posted photos of her too cute little wire bird nests and instructions for making them. (You can view that post here.) My mom is really into watching and feeding the various birds that come into her yard... chickadees, finches, mocking birds, woodpeckers, etc. She just loves them. So I thought it would be a fitting Mother's Day gift if I made one of Cathe's bird nests for her to wear as a necklace. I'm new to building nests, but I think it turned out okay. I think she'll probably get a kick out of it.

Happy Mother's Day to moms everywhere. I hope your day is special and that you feel appreciated and loved!

Today was a good day.

2009-05-09T00:04:00.006-04:00

I started today (Friday) with an unfinished project – the pendant I started working on last night for a custom order. Long story short, lots of wire-wrapping of small and even smaller beads and my temporary workspace (okay, the living room couch) just doesn't have good lighting and it was getting late.

It was sunny this morning and into the early afternoon, flooding the living room with light, and I was getting ready to sit down and get back to it when my phone rang. It was the HR person from my old job (the one I've been gone from for a year now) and she was calling to offer me a position. Same responsibilities as I had previously, but for now 30 hours a week with full benefits. I was so relieved/excited/freaked out! Well, of course I accepted it and start back on Monday.

Which is right about when my mom walked in with a new perennial for me. She was delighted to hear that, after a year, I was going back to work. Honestly, she was probably more relieved than I was (she's quite the worrier). So we found a spot in one of the front beds for the Lithodora (pics to come soon, I'm sure) and planted it before it started raining.

After mom left, I finally got a chance to sit down and finish the pendant. By then it was raining and dark (go figure), so I brought out another lamp and got to work. I'm really happy with the way it turned out and my fellow Etsyan was very pleased as well. I'm sending it out already tomorrow (which by now is today, Saturday).

A favorite in my garden

2009-05-05T14:12:00.004-04:00

I've been keeping an eye out for these guys to start opening. This one was sudden! I know I didn't see this vibrant orange poppy bouncing around yesterday when my mom and I were outside weeding the other beds. Sure enough, when I let the dogs out this morning, there he was! All bright and billowy... Amazing!

Well, this day didn't seem possible

2009-05-05T13:22:00.003-04:00

If you had told me this time last year that I'd still be looking for a job, I wouldn't have believed it for a second. Today is the 1 year anniversary of my layoff from a job that I really enjoyed. Even when it had me completely aggravated (which seemed to be often).

I'm trying to think positive thoughts as I continue my search. I know lots of people have it much worse than I do. At least I have my jewelry design to keep me busy most days and I can fill in now with gardening. I just can't believe it's been a year...

Love this time of year!

2009-05-02T22:29:00.007-04:00

It was a gorgeous, sunny day today. A little cooler than it has been for most of the week, but it was a day without rain, so the kitties were happy to be able to be out in the back yard playing wild cats. (They're indoor cats, but they're allowed out in the fenced yard when our dogs are out.)

This is Lucy, most likely stalking a bird. Or, she may be giving the dogs a crazy look... hard to tell with her sometimes.

And here is Zoey (you may remember her from the photo where she's camped out on the corner of my desk in an earlier post). It took me a couple minutes to find her this time. She loves to hide out under the purple smoke tree. I should look there first next time.

When I was done following my cats around, I took some time to snap some photos of some of the flowers that are blooming now. Many of them are just explosions of color. I believe this purple one is in the geranium family, but can't say for sure. I think I got this one from my mom, who had gotten a piece of it from one of her sisters. Lots of my plants are divisions from relatives or friends. Trading is a great way to get a big mix of colors and plants without spending a ton of money. Perennials can be so expensive!

This one is clematis which happens to be in desperate need of a trellis. I'll get around to putting one up one of these days.

Coral bells. They didn't want to sit still in the wind for the photo.

This is one of my favorites and it keeps reseeding itself all over my flower beds, a columbine. I keep planting various colors, but eventually they all come up purple. Fine with me... they're striking.

This is one of the few yellow columbines that came up this year. Hopefully it'll keep coming back and spreading.

From the aster family, I'm told it's called "bachelor's button", but I've seen other flowers that are called that as well, so I'm not sure. You don't find too many blue perennials, so this one is nice to have around.

I got this shot right after a rain shower yesterday. Dianthus is just a profusion of blooms right now. This one is doing particularly well. It's about 4 years old and I'll probably have to end up dividing it this fall.

Well, that's what's going on right now in some of my beds. I have poppies with big buds on them in the back of my yard. I can't wait for those to open!

The evolution of a custom order

2009-05-01T13:06:00.006-04:00

I think it was Tuesday when I met with my custom bracelet customer. (I posted the initial design here a couple posts back.) I didn't have much to go on as far as what she was looking for other than the silver with the Gandhi quote, so I put something together that I liked and took it to show her. I decided as I was leaving the house that I should take some more strands of beads with me, just in case what I had come up with wasn't quite what she was thinking. Good move! She thought the chunky stones were a little large-scale for her, but quickly gravitated to the smooth green garnet chips you see below. I like the way this rendition turned out as well.

She hasn't seen it yet because I'm also working on converting some vintage clip earrings into pierced ones for her. I found the appropriate adhesive and got some instruction from my local bead store gurus, just have to find some posts to use. They happened to be out of stock there. I bet I'll find some on Etsy.

Time to recognize some fantastic blogs!

2009-04-30T15:58:00.007-04:00

Thanks, Katie (you know, from Brown Dog Boutique... the place with the cute pups and the great doggie and people treats), for recognizing my blog with a Blog Award! What a cool surprise! :)

Here are the rules: These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbon of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers. Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award.

For the Blog Award, I choose (in no particular order) . . .
1) Like Kittysville
2) Mango Tango Designs
3) Behind Mytutorlist
4) Brown Dog Boutique
5) The Artsy Crafter
6) Bakerella
7) Wee Sweet Marie
8) The Card Tree

I always find something interesting, beautiful, amusing or helpful on these blogs. Please check them all out!

An overdue update

2009-04-27T12:38:00.007-04:00

Wow, I haven't really been blogging long enough to neglect it yet. My apologies... So, in a nutshell, here's what's been going on in no particular order:

Last night, I finished up a custom bracelet order that has been hanging around for a couple weeks. I have to get it in front of my customer and see what she thinks, but I really like the colorful chunky look of it. Lots of different smooth tumbled stones, some agate, some carnelian... a nice mix. And the focal point is a sterling silver oval with the Gandhi quote "Be the change you wish to see in the world." I picked that up from another Etsy seller, tropacopy. The style is a bit of a departure for me, so we'll see what happens.

Also this past Saturday was the Dixie Heights Band Boosters 2nd Annual Craft Show. They had a great crowd, so they must have done some publicizing. For me though, it was nearly a flop. My excitement turned quickly into disappointment. I was really thinking it would be a good venue for me, but, eh, I've been wrong before. I ended up with one sale, for which I am thankful, but am a little bit in the hole for the day. On the other hand I received plenty of compliments on my jewelry and my set up, which is always nice. And I got a lead on a show from a shopper, who told me she thought my pieces would be great in the upscale setting. Nice!

I had a bit of a shock when I walked into the place and everyone had these massive set-ups. Mine was still small by comparison, but I ended up scrambling the night before to get another table and dressing for it. I still didn't cram a bunch of stuff on them though. Some of these tables I see at shows... it looks like a bead store threw up on them. And yet, they still get lots of sales, it seems. I don't know, I don't really get it. I still think it's better to not overwhelm the eye. Maybe I'm going about it all wrong. lol Okay, I guess I'll add more pieces next time. Sheesh.

Is it wrong to allow a cat set your goals?

2009-04-17T21:48:00.007-04:00

This is one of my little furries, Zoey. For the last few months, the papers, supplies, cords and other junk on my desk have been closing in on me. Poor Zo-zo, trying to get comfy, has designated a Michael's bag for her bed away from our bed, which I tossed on the corner of the desk on top of who knows what after buying a magazine. I think. It makes me sad that she doesn't have much room to sprawl out on my desk. (I can feel my husband cringing as I type that, which makes me laugh. He thinks the cats run the house.)

So, I guess Zoey will end up with more surface area sometime over the weekend. This is perhaps the encouragement I need to get this desk cleaned up and organized. Although, if I know her, she'll end looking for her missing bag bed. Maybe I'll put something there that is softer and more comfy for her. I mean, how much room do I really need for a mousepad and keyboard? Yes, he's definitely cringing again.

Tax (headache) day

2009-04-15T14:47:00.004-04:00

I sat down and actually did our taxes about two weeks ago now. It took me two weeks to come to terms with the thought of owing so much, though, and actually filing. I'm positive my situation is not unique. This is what happens when you're a freelancer and you don't hold out enough on your own, thinking you'll just double up on the next check you get. That just never happens...

I'm not sure really what I saved by waiting until now to finalize everything. I could just kick myself! Now I have to write checks and rush off to the post office and compete with the other sorry saps who did the same thing I did in waiting until the last minute. At least then it will be done and out of my hair, I guess. I've come to the conclusion that I've really got to figure out a way to break my procrastination habit. I'll get right on that later.

A tribute to the bee

2009-04-12T20:28:00.013-04:00

I've never been one to try to rid our lawn of weeds. As long as the yard appears green and healthy from a distance, I'm not too concerned about it. Besides, a brown patch is just begging to be replaced by a perennial bed if you ask me. In this world of perfectly manicured and watered, weed- and crabgrass-free lawns, I'm the one out there embracing the blooming dandelions.

Yesterday I mowed the grass for the first time of the season. We just got a shiny new lawn mower. It's bright red and self-propelled, which is new for me. It dragged me around the yard a bit at first until I got the hang of it. But as I was mowing and looking out for fallen sticks in the tall grass, I saw a glorious site: the first honey bee of the season! Yep, that's right, we have honey bees! And it's because we have weeds – no herbicides here! I happily steered around him. Then today I went out looking for more and managed to catch this guy in the bee act. He was just covered with pollen... and then Caesar tried to eat him. Don't worry, I didn't let him get him. I distracted Caesar and the bee moved on to another spot in the yard.

The siting made me think of my homage to bees. It's a cute little number called "Busy Bee" made using sterling silver, amber, a freshwater pearl and, of course, a tiny little bee charm. There are a couple pics below, or you can click the link to visit it in my store.

Eight paws up for Brown Dog Boutique!

2009-04-07T15:52:00.015-04:00

A couple weeks ago I stumbled on the blog of Brown Dog Boutique through Etsy's forums. The blog is great and being a dog owner, I had to go check out the shop for myself! I ordered a Brady's Hand-Dipped Biscuits Treat Kit. I've never made dog biscuits before, but it sounded pretty simple and I do love giving our pups wholesome treats.

The kit was as cute as could be when it arrived! Inside was a bone-shaped cookie cutter, a cute recipe card, peanut butter chips, personalized bags and a nice note from Katie, the owner of Brown Dog Boutique. I chose the small cookie cutter, the silhouette of a sporting breed and peanut butter chips. Peanut butter is like the ultimate treat around here. As soon as I opened the package, the dogs were circling like vultures to try to get those chips!

There are only a few ingredients needed to make the dough and it was very easy to mix up and then eventually knead by hand. I just rolled it out on wax paper on my kitchen table, cut out the bone shapes, popped them in the oven for 45 minutes or so and they were done. Easy! I threw the whole cookie sheet into the fridge overnight and then this morning melted the chips in a double boiler and dipped one end of each bone into it.

As you can see from the action shot, Connie (orange, blurry one nabbing the treat!) just couldn't "leave it" any longer!

This was a fun little project that I'm positive any dog-lover would enjoy. And the finished treats make great gifts to friends in the personalized bags! Along with a variety of awesome treat kits, Brown Dog also has a fun line of personalized stationery. Please stop by Brown Dog Boutique and check out all the neat doggie things they have to offer. Tell them Connie and Caesar sent you... Woof!