Loving the PMC...

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!

A tribute to the bee

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.

Slow shows can still pay off

Yesterday I was out working in the yard with my mom. I came in to a blinking light on the answering machine. I played the message and it was a lady who had seen my jewelry at CraftMafia this past weekend. She was calling to say she'd like to buy a pair of silver earrings I had there Saturday. I tried to call her back a couple times and got no answer and the recording said voicemail was full. So I panicked a little. Then I tried her again this morning. Still no answer, same recording. A little more panicked. My husband told me not to call her (or, stalk her, in his words). I was skeptical. Then I was sitting here early this afternoon and my phone rang and it was her!

I made arrangements to take my jewelry to her house later this afternoon. When I got there and met her, I remembered talking with her the day of the show. She spent quite a

bit of time shopping around there. She told me mine was the only business card she picked up and that she remembered talking to me about the earrings at my booth. It turns out I think I sold the earrings she wanted, but she said, "I'm sure you have something I can buy!" I showed her basically my entire store. She ended up buying "Calling on the Sun" pictured here. She also asked me to come up with some custom designs for her, one of which would be a bracelet the other a wall plaque (? - lol). I told her I'll see what I can come up with and get back to her soon.

I do have a point here other than just talking about a sale. It is that no matter how slow sales are going at a show you never know who will remember you, your jewelry, or whatever it is you're selling. So smile at every potential customer to draw them into your booth, when they get there, engage them. And please, please hand out business cards!

Well, here goes!

So, after lots of time reading about it and thinking about it and, true to form for me, putting it off, I finally just sat down and started a blog. I have high hopes of being able to post at least a couple times a week and for my musings to be a little entertaining or maybe even helpful. We'll see what develops here. I just know that this was the biggest step and now it's done. It's out there. I'm not even panicking. It feels pretty good, actually. :)

If you have a little more time, please stop by my online shop, madison house designs on etsy. There you will find my handcrafted embellishments... lots of great pieces of jewelry, made by yours truly, of all the wonderful stones and metals I can get my hands on.

Thanks, hope to see you again soon!