SALE - Coiled Jewel Bangles

In January I shall be reorganising my Etsy and Folksy shops. A lot of the jewellery currently for sale will be removed and reallocated to other selling venues. This will make space for my new jewellery pieces.

Before then I shall be putting some of my pieces up for sale... starting with these Coiled Jewel Bangles. These have been reduced from $65.00 to $45.00 in my Etsy shop and from £40.00 to £30.00 in my Folksy shop.

Happy, Happy, Happy and Happy!

Happy Christmas (a bit belated), Happy Birthday (mine, on Boxing Day), Happy New Year (nearly) and finally... Happy Blogiversary (it's been a year since I've been blogging. Wow, doesn't time fly).

So to celebrate I made these 'Littles Earrings' (fused and hammered fine silver earrings with coiled jewels).

Rubellite Garnet & Amethyst Littles Earrings

(custom order for Christmas)

Kyanite Littles Earrings
(I made these to go with the top I wore on my Birthday)

Garnet & Rhodolite Garnet Littles Earrings

(Another pair I made for myself to wear over Christmas)

And to celebrate my Blogiversary... another Blog giveaway to follow shortly... watch this space!

Snow

It's amazing how a little bit of snow can make things look so beautiful

We took the kids sledging but I got distracted by the scenery

Time to go home for hot chocolate

Phew!

Like everyone else, I have been very busy recently. Good type of 'busy'.... with Christmas fairs and family gatherings and I even did my first jewellery party.

I have made loads of sales recently and am pleased to announce I am now 'solvent'! I'm not sure whether I have the correct use of that word but what I mean is that when I look at my outgoings (costs of materials, beads, tools, packaging, etc) versus my incomings (sales), I am finally making a profit (a small one, mind you, nothing for the tax man to be worried about!). However, as my husband keeps pointing out... my 'profit' is before I allow myself any payment for my time and if I did that I would be in a huge deficit. It's a good thing I'm having so much fun with this hobby!

I would love to show you some new designs but there has been no time to create anything new. Here are some of my recent custom orders (2 more to make today) and lastly some little 'Fun Flower Earrings' which I made for my Christmas fairs in a range of different colours (these are the frosted pink ones).

I am hoping to have some time over the Christmas break to create some of the designs that have been whirring around in my brain and finish my Hammered Petals and Flowers tutorial.

New designs - Hammered Petals and Flowers

I thought I would share with you some of my new designs which have been evolving at my work table recently. I also have a tutorial on these in the pipeline but just have not had the time to finish it yet.

Hammered Petals Necklaces (all of these are sold but the last 2 are in my Etsy and Folksy shops as ''Made to Order' items or can be custom made with a gemstone of your choice)

I'm calling these 'Funky Hammered Flowers' (with curled back petals)

'Green Aventurine Hammered Flower' (a large pendant with rectangular petals - there is something quite industrial about this design)

'Garnet Hammered Flower' (another big flower with shaped petals - the two photos show the stages of before and after I added some coiled jewels of rubellite garnet rondelles)

I'm a 'Power Teacher'!

A few days ago I got such a lovely surprise when I logged on to Jewelry Lessons and found out I had been given an award of 'Power Teacher - November 2009'. It is a real compliment especially as I am in the company of some excellent teachers on JL who have also been given this award this month.

The last leaves of Autumn

During a recent clear out and tidy up of my work area, I found these sterling silver leaf charms in my collection. I have had them for quite a while and when they arrived from my supplier, I thought they were a bit uninspiring (flat-shaped, cut-out charms with rough edges).

So I got out my sanding pads and started to sand and polish them to a lovely shine... they started looking better already. Then I decided to give them a more realistic 3D shape by creasing them in the centre and curling the edges a little.... yes, much better. (This photo shows the before and after.)

Feeling much happier with them, I think they are now worthy to be included in my jewellery for sale (Etsy and Folksy). I have teamed them with beautiful deep orange carnelian nugget beads to make these delicate, dangly earrings. They remind me of the last leaves of autumn waiting to fall.

AUTUMN LEAVES - Carnelian & Sterling Silver Leaf Charm Earrings

Flowers in my garden... but it's November!

I was out in my garden this morning taking some photos of my latest jewellery pieces, in the best light I could find on such a misty day. After I had finished, my eye was drawn to all the flowers still surviving in my garden - in fact, I think some of them have got a bit confused and shouldn't be flowering at this time of year! It is probably due to the mild autumn we were having up until the cold weather came to the south of England this week.


I even found one of my dead-looking raspberry plants had few raspberries on it! They are not quite ripe yet and the birds will probably get to them before I do. I suppose their needs are greater than mine.

Ice Maiden - Tanzanite and Crystal Quartz Coiled Jewel Pendant

I was rummaging through my stock of gemstones the other day and re-discovered these tanzanite rondelles I had bought ages ago. I had forgotten how special they are - such a beautiful lilac colour, almost iridescent.

This is my Ice Maiden Pendant and I have teamed the tanzanite with a perfectly clear and sparkling briolette of crystal quartz. For more details please click on the photo or head over to my Etsy or Folksy shops.

Earrings on a budget - Duo Earrings

Preparing for my recent table sales and up coming Christmas fairs, I have made some lower priced earrings. I have them displayed on a stand I call 'Pick 'n' Mix Earrings' and offer reduced prices for buying 2 pairs or 3 pairs together. The idea of this stand is to draw the attention of customers to my stall and hopefully they might browse around my other jewellery.

Here are 3 of those earrings which I am called my 'Duo Earrings' (Amethyst Duo, Rose Quartz Duo and Kyanite Duo) which I have now listed in my Folksy shop.

Autumn Walks & Carnelian Wire Flower Necklace

We are having a beautiful autumn in the south of England at the moment with some fantastic weather this week, which is just perfect for those lucky ones on half term holidays. I love walking in the local countryside at the best of times but autumn walks have to be my favourite just for the sheer beauty of all the different colours on show.

I also love the beautiful shades that carnelian comes in, from light shades of orange to deep russet red - a true autumnal gemstone. Here I have adapted my 'Wire Flowers' design to create this double petal flower with wrapped and coiled gemstones around the central bead.

As usual, you can find this necklace on sale in my Etsy and Folksy shops.

Jewelry Lessons - front page feature and my tutorials at sale price

I'm feeling dead chuffed today. For international readers, 'chuffed' is an English expression for feeling pleased and gratified. I don't know how the word originated... anyway, I digress!... I switched on my computer this morning and logged on to my usual sites and there on the front page of Jewelry Lessons is a feature on my Coiled Jewels tutorial... there it is halfway down, under the heading 'RECOMMENDATION'. It doesn't get much better than that!

The other good news is that following my Weekend Sale on Etsy, I have now put both of my tutorials at a SALE price on Jewelry Lessons - click on the pictures below to be taken direct to their page.

Whilst you're there, take some time to have a look around the Jewelry Lessons site. There are some great articles, a Q&A section, a huge gallery of jewellery pieces and lots of tutorials for sale by some very talented jewellery artists - just what you might be needing to inspire your next creation.

The Collective Charity Auction

This week I donated a pair of my 'Fine Silver Flower Textured Disc Earrings' to The Collective charity auction. Every penny bid will go directly to the 2 chosen charities Headway and Royal Free Hospital Kidney Patients Association.

There are some amazing auction lots available with jewellery from Beady Pool, Beverley Hicklin, Kookie Designs, Ray Skene, KS Jewellery Designs, Flame and Glass and Kebo Jewellery, as well as beads from: Laura Sparling, Tina Scott, Emma Ralph, Moogin, Cheeky Cherubs and Pixie Willow Designs. There are also 2 sets of Mini Moo business card that the lovely Moo people have donated.

Please do take a look at the Charity Auction page to see the details of each lot to bid on. The auction closes on Monday November 2nd at 8:30pm GMT.

The Weekend Starts Here! - 15% off Everything in my Etsy Shop

I'm in a good mood.... I have just got home from work and, as far as I'm concerned,.... THE WEEKEND STARTS HERE!


I have decided to have a SALE in my Etsy shop giving everyone 15% off everything in my shop (jewellery and tutorials). Please purchase and pay as normal by PayPal and I will refund you 15% of the original price of the item (shipping remains the same).

The sale begins NOW! (Friday 23rd October) and will end at midnight on Sunday 25th October (UK time).

So... if there's anything you've had your eye on for a while, now's the time to buy.

Orange Littles - blog giveaway winner's choice

Carol Ann (one of my latest blog giveaway winners) told me her favourite colour was orange. Here are her custom made pair of my Littles Earrings with shades of carnelian.

Orange Littles - Carnelian Coiled Jewel Fine Silver Hammered Circle Earrings

This pair is winging their way to her as I type (although a UK postal strike has just been announced!). I have also listed these earrings in my Etsy and Folksy shops as a 'made to order' item. I will, of course, take custom orders if you have a different colour in mind - just ask!

Colour Me Happy - Multi-gemstone Woven Circle Pendant

I'm busy, busy, busy with 2 commissioned orders for lovely customers and making the Littles Earrings for my blog giveaway winners from last week, but thought I would do a quick post about this colourful pendant I made in preparation for my table sale last Saturday (it was pretty disasterous to be honest - 4 sales, 1 commission but I managed to cover my costs with a little extra - anyway, enough said, move on!!!).

I have called this multi-gemstone pendant Colour Me Happy. I'm sure I'm not the first designer to use that name in memory of Julia Roberts' outburst in 'Pretty Woman' but it just suits it and suits my mood at the moment. I have decided that when I have finished my current projects.... next week I am going to go CRAZY WITH COLOUR!