Paris

Friday, December 28, 2007

...annnnnd, we're back!








We're back home from the holidays and taking it E-Z!

Clementines...these hybrids from tangerines and mandarin oranges were a big hit for our family over the holidays.


No one from my husband's side of the family had seen them before...I'd just learned about them a couple of weeks before. Super juicy and sweet with NO seeds...nice. In this photo they are are piled high in my new casserole dish.


I'll be focusing on prepping personal income tax info amidst designing lots of heart jewelry for Valentine's Day. You HAVE to come see my awesome heart that is on its way to me today...it's called Shrouded by Payton Jett. It's on my home page at www.RockerJewlz.com.

Friday, December 21, 2007

Wait, it's autumn???














Yep, it's still autumn...well..today is the last day, ha ha. So I'm providing you with a final blast of autumn color from the zinnea in my front yard...ahhhhhh, nice.

My husband has 10 days off starting tomorrow. He works incredibly long hours to provide me and my son with a pretty cushy life. As soon as I'm featured on Oprah for my jewelry, I'm sure he'll be able to retire and assist me in designing RockerJewlz jewelry. Now, if I can just get Oprah to call me! Hmmm......

I got ZudaGay's polymer clay pendant featured in December 14th's blog. It is sooo awesome! Seeing it 3d and in person provides a level of detail a photo just can't capture. It will be so fun to work with it. I also ordered the custom one you see above...blues, purples, and pinks are my favorite colors for my wardrobe.

Only four days until Christmas, gang. I have two gifts left to work on as they are handmade. I'm glad I left them until now instead of leaving shopping to the last minute.

Oh, broken toe update (see Dec. 18 blog)...feeling MUCH better but I'm still being careful and hobbling about!

Quote for today: "It is necessary to have unnecessary things"...from the film "Life is Beautiful".

Merry Christmas.

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Cupcake Elegance


So pretty. I just listed this on Etsy (username: rockerjewlz) and better make one for myself!

I'm going to be featured in a cake blog soon...I'll let you know when it's available.

I read some of my past blogs and need to tell you that the Red Velvet and Chocolate cupcake bracelets will be ready for Valentine's Day rather than Christmas.

But, if you need any custom pieces before then, just let me know.

6 days and counting.......

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Seems like yesterday...



Well, as hard as it is for me to believe, my "baby" turned 20 today! No longer is there a teenager living in my home. Wow...just...........wow.

He's my one and only child with a heart of gold, a slim and trim physique and fabulous face...what a wonderful person he is!

Still drives me crazy sometimes, but once he's out on his own, he'll realize how great he had it here...and he'll be back to tell us so!

On a different vein, I busted my toe last week! Slammed it into a nearly invisible wooden sofa leg and I mean I really slammed it. It hurt more than just a stubbed toe, but I didn't think beyond that...then, I wasn't concentrating on protecting it when I was walking around a few days later...and I took a step like I normally would, and it felt like I'd bashed it all over again.

With parties, holidays, LOTS of family birthdays and Christmas prep, time went by and today it hit me that tomorrow is 10 days since I first injured it...geez, I canNOT believe that much time went by.

I was lucky to get into urgent care today and x-rays showed there was indeed a break in the center toe of my right foot. Doc says 3 weeks is the usual recovery time and I'm already a third into that, so I taped the toe to it's neighbor for stability and I have a special flat and stiff sort of sandal thingy to keep my foot in a proper healing position.

So, all in all, not too bad. I only needed Advil that first night and I can get around...it's just exhausting after a while to hobble about. I'll just have to get photoged from the knee up for Christmas photos!

The xrays were really cool...had to go to a different building for them and when I returned to the doc's office, he pulled them up on his computer...bam, there they were on the monitor...how cool is that. Technology just keeps getting better.

In contrast to technology, on the handmade jewelry front, I'm ordering special pretty hearts for valentine's day to add to my pretty hefty heart box...I'm going to have fun pumping out Valentine's Day jewelry!

Stay tuned and Merry Christmas as well as Happy Holidays.

Sunday, December 16, 2007

Branching Out


I discovered these Japanese Tensha lucite beads on Etsy and just had to have them. I got 5 different color combos. These to the left look very Victorian to me and I LOVE anything Victorian.

I wouldn't have wanted to live in those days due to the lack of women's rights, having to wear corsets and pumping water, but the depth of detail in the rich textiles, color, art and architecture just fascinates me. I don't think any other era can top it in so many venues across the board.

As for jewelry, I've focused on lampwork and silver and now need to branch out. A year ago I would not have purchased lucite...I wanted to keep the jewelry purely the top notch materials. But now I'm leaning towards a bit of kitsch here and there and lucite fits the bill.

I'm working on a pink and red cupcake bracelet that I can hardly wait to show you! Just have to get it approved by the customer, finish it up and share it with you. Until then....

Friday, December 14, 2007

The bigger the better





I've discovered a polymer clay artist on Etsy...ZudaGay. She created this awesome pendant. I'm sure it's too elaborate for some people, but it took my breath away. I've requested to have the same design in deep jewel tones...just for me!

So tell me what you think: blue, purple and pink in the flowers with a deeper teal background? It's going to be gorgeous!

This is a biggie, about 3.5 inches wide. I've been noticing on t.v. and movies that pendants are absolutely gigantic these days as well as really large beads in necklaces so ZudaGay and I are right in step.

Large, unique jewelry is the style I envisioned when I began RockerJewlz but I've long been in a very simple design mode...refined is a word a friend used recently for my work. I think it's because I was trying to pump out as many pieces as I could in a short amount of time to get noticed.

Now I need to move into the world where I lose myself in design and create big, wild pieces that speak to one's soul.


There will be plenty of time for that between now and summer when shoppers will once again splurge on jewelry! So, lots of hearts will be coming for Valentine's Day, and the rest of the time will be spent gaining exposure and designing, designing, designing!

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

The music in me





Another awesome bead by Payton Jett was requested specially by me for my sister in the music biz. See the little music notes?

The colors are just spectacular in Psyche and Silver Plum glass. Purples, blues and greens are present and I set it up so the bead spins freely.

On Etsy, my Purple Drama bangle bracelet had over 200 hits in one day on Monday!!!! It must have been in someone's treasury that was featured, thus it would have been on the home page of Etsy and highly visible. That was exciting...never had that many hits before.

As soon as it gets too late to send purchases by Christmas, I'll be focusing on marketing strategies to gain more exposure for RockerJewlz and making lots of snappy Valentine heart jewelry. I bought a lot of lampwork hearts this year and they range from cutesy to total drama, so I look forward to seeing which ones become most popular.

I'm enjoying sunshine in the San Francisco bay area today although the temps are very cold for us...sometimes not above 50 degrees. When you live where it never snows, that is a LOW
temperature, gang!

Friday, December 7, 2007

It's getting close...




Once again, Payton Jett makes such beautiful beads there's little reason to enhance them.

These are my Ornamental Reds, available on Etsy under the username RockerJewlz.

I realized today that since I'm going to my family's annual Christmas celebration that I had to hustle to get some jewelry made!

Each year, my side of the family gets together a couple of weeks before Christmas. That way we can all make it and then spend the actual holiday with in-laws. It's something we've been doing over 30 years and it's a wonderful tradition with silliness, seriousness, gifts and food. Oh yum, 5 of us kids each bake one specialty my mom used to make all by herself each year. Now that she's gone, we keep these treats coming because that's what is desired more than the gifts!

All that's left now is wrapping gifts and packing the car...and oh...um...oh yeah...sleeping! I'm the designated one to get to the party house early and help set up. My sister and her family always do awesome decorations so it will be fun to get in on that.

So, I'll be back Monday and have 2 cupcake bracelets in mind...one in chocolate caramel and the other in red velvet...again, all by Payton. Ain't she grand?


Wednesday, December 5, 2007

Pretty




I just had to update you on my birthday flowers...there are now 4 out of 5 lilies that have bloomed...so pretty!

And now.....these beads from GlassValley Melanie are deep and rich in purples and didn't need ANY embellishments. I kept trying to add silver and spacers but it was always too much so I just kept it all beads with a couple of smart silver beads to keep it all in place.

The .925 sterling cuff has beautifully detailed ball ends. Just a lovely piece.

I'm taking lots of photos to add last holiday gift items to my Etsy shop (rockerjewlz.etsy.com)

So keep coming back as I plan to add a good half dozen items...and they aren't all cupcakes!

See you there.
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