treasuries, pinot noir & popcorn

I got another nice surprise this morning when I received a convo from chryls of 'my paper garden' letting me know that she featured my Copper Pebbles ring in her treasury.

She makes beautiful cards in her shop...stop by and take a look if you can.

I also curated another treasury of my own. It's addicting. I love it :) My Carnelian Poppy ring was the inspiration for this new treasury.

You can click on the images above and below to visit each treasury.

So now I need to finish my new pieces so that I can list them in the morning. I am in a rush because we visited the farmer's market this evening when I really should have been working and I would love to get to bed early for once! It was so much fun...we bought a bottle of local pinot noir and a bag of popcorn for the boys and then sat in a big grassy area near the creek while the boys ran around and played. I think we are going to start going more regularly. I love farmer's markets...the smells of all the fresh food are so intoxicating especially the herbs. The whole area just has such a great vibe.

back in the morning...

Poppy and Silver

My group for listing today is a little bit smaller than usual. I didn't mention yesterday that I was kind of dragging all morning so I didn't accomplish as much as I wanted. There was supposed to be another pair of humongous earrings that I made in this batch but I want to tweak them a bit before listing. They are an experimental pair...I'll finish them tomorrow.

I also mentioned my maker's mark came in...below is a picture.


You can see what it looks like on the back of this necklace.

I am very happy that all my work from now on will have my signature. I think it's important!

One other thing before I get off to go list: I got a super sweet 'convo' from another Etsian who chose my curated treasury as one of their 'Treasury Tuesday's Elite Eight' list. The other treasuries they have listed are all so incredibly beautiful...it's nice to see mine along with the other's. Hopefully the pieces I chose got some added traffic from this feature :)

Be back tomorrow...

A little bummed....but only a little ;)

So this morning as I was trying to figure out what I wanted to make today I focused in on one of my new stones and decided to turn it into a necklace. I've been ultra excited to get started on my new cabs so this morning I rushed downstairs to get started. Unfortunately, upon closer inspection that stone had a tiny chip on the surface. Ugh....that really sucked. It was such a beautiful stone. Well, I just thought, 'what the heck,' and moved on to the next stone. Umm okay, well the next cab had a teeny tiny chip in it as well. After further inspection I found one more with a small chip, which totals to three cabs that were not in pristine condition.

Now, the chips were really, really small, but that is still unacceptable to me. I am sure that they were accidentally overlooked by the owner of the stone like I did not detect it when I bought them. So now I am sending them back for a refund. Oh well, my other stones are gorgeous and I still have a ton of them so I am only a little bit bummed about it. I always closely inspect my stones under a light before setting them....I am very careful about this just in case I miss something when they are bought (hence today's situation!). Now of course this does not include cabs that have natural deviations in the surface of the stone...those are beautiful and what make many stones unique.

Okay I am done with that vent ;)

I did, however, get my signature stamp in yesterday and all of my new baubles will henceforth have my maker's mark. It looks very, very similar to how I sign my initials...so that is very cool. I am so excited about it and I'll post pictures of the stamp tomorrow when I preview my new pieces.

So I'll leave you with this:


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I listened to this over and over again today....I think she is reminiscent of Chrissy Hynde of the Pretenders.
LOVE it....video is so-so. Her expression in the video just kind of cracks me up :)

My day...

I finally curated a treasury of my own to showcase the work of some other amazing artists on Etsy. I am really in such awe of much of the work I see on that site. I pulled pieces from my own favorites list...a few of which I have already posted on this site. They all have the same basic color scheme. It was really a lot of fun to do this...I am already thinking of my next one!

If you have a chance please take a look at these lovely pieces by clicking on the image above. I really am very inspired by these people!

Below is a picture of some of the cabochons I bought in Buena Vista.

I will be working hard on these boys all week.

Well moving on, so far this has been my day: I woke up, had a cup of Earl Grey and created the treasury. Next, we went for a nice long bike ride around town and ended up at a park for lots of running and swinging! After that we went and ate brunch here, which is one of our favorite spots in Boulder. I highly recommend it...it's a local favorite. Then we came home threw the kids in bed and had our afternoon coffee on our front porch here:

Now after I finish up this blog and my second cup of coffee! I will start working through all of the pictures I took on our drive to Buena Vista.

After that it is a glass of wine for my husband and I on the back porch while our boys watch Finding Nemo...it's our anniversary ;)

New pieces

These will be up in my shop soon. I just have to crop the photographs and then list. I am especially excited about listing my amber necklace. The design kept me up a couple of nights ago and I immediately began work on it the following morning. I am very, very pleased with the results. I think the oxidized silver really brings out the pale yellow of the amber quite nicely.

Tomorrow I will post pictures of my new cabochons....now I'm off to list.

p.s. I was belting this song out on the way home from the post office today.... ;)

Back home with a bag full of stones...

The Buena Vista rock and gem show was a success and I was able to procure a fabulous lot of cabochons. We were there all day and I am still trying to catch up with some sleep so this will be a short post.

So for now please take a gander at some of these lovely items from my Etsy favorites list:

Tomorrow I will list 9 more items: 2 necklaces, 2 rings and 5 pairs of earrings.

I'll post them here first of course ;)

Super tired...

I've worked really hard this week....I'm exhausted, but I had so much fun in the process. Today was a long day. I've been in my shop pretty much all day. I was hoping to get my new jewelry listed before we left tomorrow....but no such luck :(. It's after 11 p.m. and we're getting up early to go to the rock and gem show so I'm hitting the sack. I'll post it all on Saturday.

I wanted to mention really quick that I am going to sell some of my amber cabochons in my etsy shop.

And a quick reminder that I am having a sale in my shop starting tomorrow and ending on Sunday. All of my jewelry pieces are 15% off!

Goodnight ;)

Images of Estonia

I finished putting up the last three pieces of jewelry today. Etsy had some maintenance issues last night so I was unable to post everything then.

I mentioned a couple of posts ago that I wanted to put up some pictures of Estonia from our last trip several years ago. I was unable to include any before, because my camera had gone belly up during our travels. So thanks to my mom I have some to share :)

The following seven pictures were taken in the capital city of Tallinn, where my husband is from. Tallinn was first mentioned in historical records as a city in the year 1154. I'm sure there was a village located there even before that. Needless to say their old town is REALLY old and extraordinarily beautiful...

This picture of my dad, one of my wee ones and me was taken in the city of Tartu when we were visiting family. I don't have very many pictures of this city unfortunately. It is also quite beautiful there.

The last two pictures are from the Estonian island of Saaremaa. The picture below shows part of the castle that we visited and the last one was taken at a local restaurant.

So I'm off to the post office now to ship off a couple of orders. My Botswana ring was snatched up last night and 20 minutes after I posted this ring today:

it flew off the shelf!

I am feeling very, very grateful right now :)

Upcoming sale

I am listing these new pieces in my shop this evening:

I have been on a flower kick....two more pieces have them. I also used a variety of stones in my jewelry today. No amber in this group, but I'll include them in my pieces at the end of the week.

Time to 'talk shop':
I am going to participate in the 'Weekend Deals' on Etsy this Friday thru Sunday EST. All of my jewelry will be 15% off. Also, we are still feverishly working on preparing for the Fair in September. Right now we are creating our banners for the booth. I am going to have two: one main one for inside the tent and another that will be up on an easel at the opening of our booth. We are almost done with that and then we'll send in the order. I have been sketching ideas for the layout and I still have a lot of things to get for the displays. I'll post pics of my booth after the fair.

I am also planning on attending a nearby rock and gem show this weekend. Hopefully I'll come back with some new stones to add to my shop!

So now it's back to work. I have to finish taking pictures of everything and then they'll go up in my shop. Take a look when you get a chance! :)

A GREAT day

I am getting some attention.

One of my favorite blogs highlighted my Bulbous Botswana ring today.

Seeing that post and the comments just made my heart swell! Thank you Mrs. French :)

Not only does she do a wonderful, inspiring job with her blog, but she is also an amazing photographer. I am a happy, happy camper right now!

So what, you ask, is spinning in my workshop today?

Why these girls:

'I See Red' and 'Explode' are my favorites, but really the whole album is wonderful. No wonder I love it...they have bands like Depeche Mode, the Smiths, the Cure and Bjork listed as influences to their music. All bands that I adore.

Right now I need to go eat dinner, go for a walk/play at the park (yep I play too ;), and then head back down to my workshop to finish my pieces today. I am working on two rings, two necklaces and a couple pairs of earrings. I should be able to list them tomorrow morning. I'll of course post them here first :)

See you tomorrow...

Not so lazy Sunday...

We spent the morning riding our bikes around the gazillion paths of Louisville. We have a bike trailer for the kiddies and because of the abundance of parks along these paths we stopped at three of them during our ride. We have had so much rain here that there is still so many wildflowers in bloom. This makes for beautiful scenery.

We got home and after lunch I sat down to do some work. I decided against putting this amber on a beaded chain because it seemed to need its own spotlight. I am going to list it after this post.

This was my workspace this afternoon. I am all over the house when I work. I work mainly of course in my workshop, but when it comes to computer work and beading, I end up setting down in multiple areas.

My husband meanwhile is working in the garage, setting up my new canopy for the fair in September. We put it up so that we could decide on sign sizes for our setup. There is so much more than I realized that goes into setting up a booth at a fair. Luckily my husband is helping with the bulk of this...I need as much time as possible for making enough wares to fill those tables!

So for energy we downed these:

I consume many, many of these a week. Don't be turned off by its green color thanks to a heaping amount of spinach...this smoothie is actually delicious!!

I also am working on a lot of new designs that I can't wait to get started on this week. I was sketching in my notebook much of this afternoon in between everything else.

Okay I am off to list and get in some etsy-inspiration!

Saturday Night Special

I am participating in a Saturday Night Special promo on Etsy. Everything is 15% off from 5 p.m. EST to 6 a.m. EST.
I have the details on my announcement page.

Have a great weekend! :)

Multi-tasking

I am in the middle of listing a couple more pieces, posting in this blog, drinking coffee and playing scrabble :) This week, while my parents have been here, we have instated ritual coffee and scrabble afternoons. It works well while the boys are having their naptime. I have also been handwrapping beads and making necklaces during these sessions. I have been a multi-tasking fiend!

I need to start including items that are in the 'favorites' section of my shop. I am always coming across AMAZING items on Etsy....

Click on the images to go straight to each listing. I am especially enthralled with the last picture, because not only do I really like the shirt, but I also love the photography.

Below are the remaining pieces that I am in the middle of listing. I ran out of some sterling silver wire so I have two necklaces that will have to wait a few days to make it to my shop.

The necklace below is one that I just adore....for a couple of reasons. I love the freeform shape, the color and also the uniqueness of the amber. It has a milky white/yellow/brown coloring that I had yet to see in amber...until I traveled to eastern Europe that is. Even there, though, I see more of the 'cognac' colored amber in jewelry. I love.love.love it!

I am going to finish listing the last two pieces and then it's dinnertime. My mom and dad are making green chile/chicken enchiladas and beans, while (another thing that I am doing right now!) I am making some Spanish rice.

Yum :)

Quick update

I made it into another treasury! :)

A bit overwhelmed...

I apologize for being a day late with this...I will be posting these three in my etsy shop in a couple of minutes.

Have I mentioned that I do not handle stress well? I really hate this about myself....and I am really working hard on balancing it out. When I get overwhelmed I can't see very well out of the cave I back myself into. So I just try to focus on marking off another item off my list and moving forward. I have to do this otherwise I am doomed because starting your own business is not exactly a stress-free endeavor ;)

Anyways, here are the three pieces I will post today:



Yesterday, instead of listing jewelry I became inspired to make more of it....so I went with that feeling. I am pretty busy on the homefront because of guests and such so I will only list these three and then tomorrow a few and on Friday I'll post the rest. I have 10 pieces of jewelry in total.

Tomorrow I'll be occupied with my son's birthday....I'll see you again on Friday :)

Visitors, music and wine

I am listening to Missy Higgins and drinking some cabernet....specifically this song. I wasn't kidding when I posted in my profile page that I love music. I really, constantly, have music playing. I used to always joke that a soundtrack would more appropriately detail my life instead of a written biography. I can hear different songs and I am instantly transported to a specific time in my life. Do music and art go hand in hand? It seems so at least for me this is the case. There are two routes that I thought I would take when I was young. One was as an artist...the other was as a musician. I played the clarinet for a good chunk of my youth. I really thought at 13 that I would play in orchestras as a profession.

Right now my parents and nephew are visiting from NM. My oldest monkey turns 4 in a few days so they wanted to make sure and come celebrate with us. Yesterday we all went to Estes Park for the day, which is only an hour's drive.

We walked around the town, had a picnic at the lake and then ate some ice cream at a local shop. It was a really nice day and the town is quite pretty.

In other news I finally ordered my signature stamp for all of my jewelry. I will include a picture of it as soon as it arrives. It has my intials and includes '.925'. We are also getting ready for my first fair for Labor Day weekend. There is SO much that we are doing to prepare....least of which is my need to increase my jewelry stores. Tomorrow I will be posting some new pieces, but I'll preview them here first.

Time for a movie and ice cream sundaes....

Caught

It is almost 10 o'clock and I got stuck reading Ottmar Liebert's diary. He writes very eloquently and I enjoy his writing, but what especially captures me are his photos. He is a gifted photographer. I remember a few years ago coming across his flickr page where he had pictures of his trip to Tibet maybe it was last year. The images were so hypnotizing....
I am in love with photography so I really appreciate seeing other's views of the world through a lens.

If you have yet to listen to his music, I strongly recommend visiting his website or here, and listening in.

I am listening to it now... It is lovely :)

Workshop pics

I finally took them.

Even though I like clean, this is definitely cleaner than usual. When working there are materials all over the tables.

That means that I better get to work....

So I designed the layout with my husband and he built the whole darn thing. It's nice being married to a handyman....seriously :) I have a more detailed description of my workshop in my flickr page. I wrote little notes to explain each area.

I have to say that my parents (mainly mom) mourned the passing of their room into the space that is pictured above and below. My workspace used to be formally known as the 'guest room'.

One thing I mentioned in my flickr page, that I'll also say here, is that I always keep my stones out in front of me. I tried putting them away in a more organized manner awhile back....but I just couldn't keep them hidden. They are so beautiful that I hate having them out of view! Plus it helps to have all of them in front of me when I am deciding on what to work on next. You'd think I missed my calling as a lapidary artist, but no, setting them is the REAL fun part.

In other news my favorite band is coming here on the North American leg of their tour and when I say favorite this means that since I was 12 years old they have dominated by cassette deck/cd player/ipod. I am going to try very hard to go see them.....

.....until then I'll have to watch this to tide me over.

This is old school....but it still gives me shivers.