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

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!

A few custom orders... finished!

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!

A lovely bridesmaid.

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.