A very colorful, very paisley treasury.

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.

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?

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.

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.

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.

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.

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... :)