Cookies and a Snowman

Does it get any better? We made cookies at Grandma Lala's house yesterday. Since I'm a vegan, I didn't eat any but I hear they are delicious! After making and delivering cookies Amelia and her cousin went to play in the snow. Amelia made her very own snowman! Her father taught her well :)

Happy holidays!

Thank You Thank You Thank You

Thanks to all of you, I reached the 2000 sales mark! I am so appreciative of all of my wonderful, wonderful customers!

If you like this necklace... shipping is on me! Just mention my blog!

Thanks again for all of your support!

Love,

Julie

The Centerpiece Collection

I've been working on my first "collection". In the spirit of the holiday table, it's called The Centerpiece Collection. This is a photo of a necklace that was made with vintage lucite beads and antique copper beads. It will be on sale 11/26 in my Etsy store.

I'd like to offer free shipping to everyone for the coming week. If you purchase an item from 11/26 to 11/30 I will send you a revised invoice minus shipping. Just mention it in the comments to seller section during checkout.

Thank you for taking the time to read this and for being such a valued customer.

The Winner of This Week's Giveaway is....

Entry #5, Courtney.

Yeah!!

You don't win the Play-Doh cookies that Amelia made, but aren't they cute!!

Courtney please contact me so I know where to send your earrings.

Thanks for participating everyone!

I'll Never Forget My First

I finally did it. I ripped open the bag of precious metal clay, played with it, sprayed it with water, rubbed olive oil all over my hands and roller tool and made my first pendant. I fired it and polished it today. I'm so excited! Take a look! :)

Better Late Than Never

Good Morning! This is the third Monthly Blog Giveaway and up for grabs is this pair of Blue Rose and Swarovski crystal earrings on sterling silver earwires.

To win just make a comment on this post. All comments made by midnight, Nov 13, 2007 will be put in the random drawing. Good Luck - The winner will be posted next Saturday Nove. 17, 2007.

Be sure to check back and if you're the winner please email me your full name and mailing address.

Thank you! :)

The winner of last week's giveaway is.....

Deena! I will contact you and mail the earrings to you this week.

Thanks again to everyone for participating. I love this!

I will be sending a special note to everyone offering you a special way to receive free jewelry. Look for an email from me later this week! :)

Blue and Brass

I made this big bauble of a necklace and loved how it turned out! The chain was from a necklace that I bought from the antique store and removed the pendant and made a couple other changed to it.

Thanks for everyone who participated in the Blog Giveaway II. The winner will be posted on Monday.

Monday (Monthly) Blog Giveaway II

Good Morning! This is the second Monday Monthly Blog Giveaway and up for grabs is this pair of Blue Glass flower earrings on sterling silver earwires.

To win just make a comment on this post. All comments made by midnight, October 3, 2007 will be put in the random drawing. Good Luck - The winner will be posted next Monday, October 8, 2007. Make sure to check back and if you're the winner please email me your full name and mailing address.Thank you! :)

Have a great day!

The Calendar Says Autumn!?

It's going to get up to 90 degress today! Good thing this old house stays somewhat cool. This is what I made today. There's a coordinating bracelet in my store. I just felt like experimenting. :)

And the winner is......

firstborn studio / denise lombardozzi

Congratulations! She'll receive the tag earrings!

This was great fun! I used the random number generator found at http://andrew.hedges.name/experiments/random/

I'll have another blog giveaway on 10/1 so be on the lookout for the email.

Thanks again to all who participated :)

Here's my necklace for the day too!

How About Some Color

I went to the antique market that was held in the Chardon square. It's about a 5 minute walk from my house. I went with little money and high hopes of finding some unique vintage jewelry. I'm not sure what the women thought they had, but they must of thought that it was solid gold based on their prices! Either they don't really want to part with their jewels or they think we live in California! Anyway... I did manage to find a few things that I could justify buying. One of the pieces was used in this vintage necklace that I made and listed in my store.

Have a great Sunday!

Another Shade of Gray Necklace

This necklace is a tangled ball of wire that I oxidized to a dark gray. Like I said yesterday, "What's with the gray!". :)

I'm Happy But There's a Lot of Gray

I just realized that I have some sort of obsession going on with Charcoal Gray! Looking at my designs lately there is a lot of gray and white going on. Sometimes I get a color in my head and I stick with it for awhile. There is a lot of dark gray or flint going on in the fashion world right now too. I have a shirt in a shade called flint. I made myself the necklace that you see to wear with it (but mine has a vintage silver bird on it in stead of the filigree) and I want to wear it every day!

What's your color of the moment?

I can't wait!

I'm really excited about the giveaway and after reading everyone's comments, I am touched to tears. You are all so wonderful. None of this would be happening if it wasn't for your support, trust and good taste (hahaha). Really, I appreciate all of you so much. Thank you.

I will have a random number generator run to pick the winner of the earrings. Although, I might have Amelia pick a number out of a hat. If I do that, we'll take a picture as proof ;)

OK, enough mushy stuff... this is one of my new creations!

Have a great day!

With love,

Julie

Mailing List Finished! Blog Giveaway Begins!

I finished my customer mailing list and would like to offer this blog giveaway as my way of saying thanks!

This is my first blog giveaway and I'm looking forward to the outcome! My mom has a blog here http://celebrationmoments.typepad.com/my_weblog/ and has had these giveaways which seem fun!

This giveaway will be the tag earrings shown in the picture. They are sterling silver and about 3/4 of an inch long. Perfect for everyday!

To win just make a comment on this post. All comments made by midnight, September 19, 2007 will be put in the random drawing. Good Luck - The winner will be posted next Monday, September 24, 2007. Make sure to check back and if you're the winner please email me your full name and mailing address.
Thank you! :)

Bonjour

I have been obsessed with Paris for years and years. My plan is to go when Amelia is 14 years old. We will be able to speak fluent French by then which should really come in handy!

This necklace is made with the spirit of Paris in mind. It's the French script necklace.

Merci! Bonne nuit!

I've Gone Nutty!

Acorns! I love these little bead caps so much! Take a look at the necklace and earrings in my Etsy store.

It feels like Autumn in the air here in Chardon, OH. I'm really looking forward to this season.

Still working on the mailing list. On the bright side, if I ever needed to copy and paste for a living, I would get the job! hahaha

Have a great day!

Mailing List Blues

I've been working on an email distribution for days! I use Outlook Express and I've had to manually, one at a time, paste the addresses into the group. It's taking hours and hours. I think it will be worth the effort. My blog is basically unknown (except to a few sweeties who comment!).

Today's picture is of a pair of brass earrings with a Swarovksi dangle.

:)

She thought her mouth was a flower!

I went to the zoo with my mom, sister, neice, nephew and Amelia yesterday. Amelia wore my mom's cap into the greenhouse where the butterflies live. No sooner did we walk in when a butterfly suctioned herself to Amelia's mouth! She was trying to get nectar with by putting her tongue into her mouth. You can see Amelia's hand up. This is how it is in every picture. She was a little unsure, but let the butterfly sit there for a minute.

I think it was the orange cap!

Speaking of flowers, checkout my new vintage flower finds that made simple earrings with. These go with everything!

Have a great long weekend :)

My Babies Gone Away

I know, I know... we all go through it. It's so hard!!! Amelia is back in school and this year it's everyday! On the bright side, I have been creating so many pieces! I'm going to finish the studio renovation and pick up the PMC sometime over the next couple of weeks. I can't wait!

New Store is OPEN!

I opened another Etsy store called Surplus. I will sell some of my excess supplies which will include beads, findings, vintage items and more! I listed my first items on 8/25 and two of them sold. This will be good. I have too many things that I will never have time to use. :)

African Opal! Wow!

These earrings and necklace are made with a beautiful stone called African Opal. I think it's the shade of blue and cream, like Wedgwood, that I fell in love with.http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=6785288

Lovely White

This necklace is made with white Mother of Pearl. The carving in the pendant is so pretty. It's another one that will be bittersweet to sell. ;) This was just a fun picture. You can see the full

image in my Etsy store.

I'm Still Not a Skilled Blogger

I never know what to write. How much should I put on the internet? For now, I'll stick with the occasional photo of Amelia and my jewelry. I'll get there someday. :)

Here are a pair of earrings made with really neat antique celluloid buttons and brass.

Amelia's Feet in the Rain

I was on a semi-vacation this past week. Instead of showing you a piece of jewelry, I'd like to show you Amelia's feet in the rain. :)

More Vintage! Yeah!

I love vintage lucite! It's fun, colorful and light! I can't handle a heavy earring so these are perfect. This is my current favorite. It makes me happy just to look at the colors.

Vintage Treasures

I stopped in at the corner antique store and found so many interesting pieces! Amelia was in Idlewild with Grandma and Grandpa for the weekend. It's amazing what a difference not having a 6 year old in an antique store can make. I was checking out thinking 'wow! I found more than ever before!' then I realized it's probably because I actually took my time and looked through as many baskets of jewelry as I could without worrying about Amelia knocking over a $50 antique vase. hahaha

The earrings in the picture are made with parts of an antique necklace that I found. I added brass filigree and czech crystals. A pair already sold on my Etsy site!

The picture of Amelia was taken by my mom in Idlewild. It's Amelia sitting by a little area of water. My mom made Amelia in color and the backgroung in black and white to symbolize Amelia's ability to block out everything around her while she's enjoying nature. Very creative mom! My mom makes cards and teaches classes. Here's her blog http://celebrationmoments.typepad.com/

Have a great day!

Cherry Quartz and a Baseball Game

Here are the earrings... see below for the details!

Cherry Quartz and gold chain earrings and necklace! I made these while I was supposed to be getting ready for a baseball game! I'm terrible! I like how it turned out so I even made matching earrings.

Amelia played in the championship for her Pixie League and they won! I'll post pictures when they are ready. She hasn't set her trophy down yet. It's cute!

Locket Frenzy

I have lockets in stock and I am going to be creating many locket necklace over the next few weeks. This is an oldie but goodie that I made in the past. I was able to duplicate it after stumbling upon the same locket.

This vintage owl ceramic pendant is so big and funky! I am secretly hoping that it doesn't sell so I can keep it. I'm sure it's 1-of-a-kind. I'll give it 2 weeks and then I'll have to wear it! Off to watch fireworks. Why they are on the 3rd is a mystery! See the bare walls in the background!? Progress has come to a halt on the Studio renovations. I'll start back up after school starts again. Not enough hours in the day!

I'm in Love..........with a bead

OK... I'm officially looney! I received these vintage glass beads (which I paid too much for!) in the mail and I can't stop looking at them. I think of them all of the time. I'm seriously in love with them. I'm starting to worry. hahaha

Seriously though, I am in love with them!

OK, really... here's the necklace that I made using only a few of these amazing vintage beads!

What a Rush! Uh-Oh!

The past few days on Etsy have been incredible for me! I am so excited about my sales and my new customers. They are all amazing! I'm working like crazy packaging, resizing and working on some local customer orders. The uh-oh is due to the fact that my entire work area is torn apart and in the renovation process. It's interesting trying to find a spot that hasn't been invaded by beads in the house to work at! haha It's all good though. I love a good challenge and the added sales over the past week are very motivating! I've got to get my work area finished! I'm actually buying drywall tomorrow. I've never done drywall before. This will be very interesting!

Progress in the Studio

I guess it depends on how you look at progress! haha I've been really working hard to get my new studio complete. As with any old house, I've run into a few problems. Hoping to work through the big hole in the plaster and move on! I found a clump of hair in the plaster as I was removing the damaged area and I got really scared! You know, old house, plaster and lath walls... I could only imagine what the hair was attached to under the remaining plaster. I was really freaking out. Thanks to the movies, I was sure that the hair was attached to a skull. My friend urged me to break apart more of the wall to see what it was attached to. My heart was racing! I said "no way!"... then I did it. (peer pressure) There was nothing! Then I noticed that there was hair in all of the plaster! ewwww. I did a little search on the internet and found that in the era that this house was built, they used horse hair in the plaster. Interesting huh?

Anyway... I also exceeded 1000 sales today thanks to one of my awesome, amazing customers!! This is a really exciting milestone for me. I have to get to work on the next 1000 sales. ha!

Thanks for reading :)

Featured in Craft!

I just found out that I was featured in Craft magazine! I'm going out to buy a copy after I sleep :) I'm on the right side with the red necklace. What a rush!

More Brass

I'm just about to get up from the computer for the rest of the day (yes, it's my goal, but we'll see). Here are brass earrings that I put in my store yesterday. I can't link them since Etsy is down :(

I'm in the mood for brass

I'm going to start using the brass that I have stashed away! The first item was listed about a week ago. Today I listed this necklace. It's still available in my store as of this moment :)

Today is the last official day of school for Amelia. I'll have to squeeze my work in at night. I'll be listing less often this summer, but I'll be back in full swing once the school year is up and running again in the Fall.

Mookaite!

Hi! My favorite creation of the week so far, is this Mookaite necklace. I handwrapped various shades of this stone together with sterling silver wire and added a Mookaite carved petal pendant to finish it off. I got Amelia's opinion on this one. I asked her if I should leave it bright sterling or oxidize it. She suggested oxidation. I did it and she was right!

I bought this print from an artist on Etsy. Her shop is Moon Garden Studio. My daughter loves it and we're so excited to get it framed and hung up on her wall. Amelia loves the sea so her room as lots of fishy stuff in it. This will look perfect on the wall.

My Heart Fluttered

Think of something that makes your heart flutter when you see it. This is what happened when I found a vintage gray necklace and put it next to these oxidized sterling silver Eiffel Tower charms. It was great! I took off two of the crystal (or glass, not sure) components, attached them to the charm and voila! These are listed in my Etsy Store right HERE! :)

I have a Breeze!

This may not sound exciting to anyone, but I am SO HAPPY! I finally figured out how to get my century home window screens in! I hae a few bruises and scrapes from the event, but I got 4 screens in! We actually have a breeze! This is my 3rd summer here, pretty pathetic, but I don't care since now I can feel it. Yeah!

Oh... I also created something new today it's a sage green pearl and Swarovski crystal necklace with a heart pendant. I created matching earrings that sold today, but I may be able to make more.

I haven't done a thing in my workroom today. Oh well. On my way to my daughters softball game.

Until tomorrow... :)

I haven't gotten very far...

OK, it's Tuesday and my grand plans are moving ahead very slowly. I've managed to only relist 2 items that sold today and stay away from listing more. We'll see if I can make it all day (lol).

This is a ring that I make that is available in my store on Etsy. It's Cherry Quartz handwrapped with oxidized sterling silver wire. It's available in any size to be made just for you!

Construction Week

I have big goals this week! I'm going to try, try, try not to create too many pieces this week in an effort to get my workspace under control. The room that I'm working in was a baby's room with cute pastels, but I need a little more of an inspirational environment. I've ripped out the carpet to find gorgeous large planked wooden floor. It's painted, so I'll just have to sand it and repaint. The next step is filling holes in the walls, paint and shelving. I'll take pictures of my progress.

It's going to be hard not to make new pieces! I have to focus on the longterm plan. :)

Here's a piece that I made over the weeked. I love these colors together. I have a necklace with these colors and matching earrings.

Monday Mornings Shine!

Hi all! I'm busy at work already. I've relisted a few items on Etsy that sold over the past few days and I'm working on orders. I hope to create a few new pieces today too.

This necklace is made with a pretty Hill Tribe sterling silver lily that I attached to a Hill Tribe toggle clasp. The turquoise that you see were purchased at the first bead fair that I've ever gone to! The chain is a bar chain that is also sterling silver. Price is $27 plus tax (where applicable and shipping).

I hope everyone's day is lovely as it should be :)