New Beginnings

I just posted 2 more "Beginnings" bracelets and will be posting more in Garnet and Amber. This was the very first piece of jewelry I made to sell, thus the name. My sis and I attended the wonderful Sonoma glass bead show and she selected her own beads for the bracelet.

Then we returned to her house in Napa and played and adjusted and altered and played some more with the beads for quite a while before achieving the appropriate balance of color, size and scale.

I just love this style as it looks good in any color and is elegant, yet casual at the same time so it works with fashion from jeans & a tee to your little black dress.

You can see more photos and details HERE.

Oh and you have through tomorrow to take advantage of my huge 50% off sale on Cupcake & Heart jewelry!

The Cupcake Flower

The Cupcake Flower bracelet is back and oh so sweet for girls or women. More details HERE.

Cupcakes & Flowers

Oh boy, another fun piece! I started designing this bracelet thinking colored crystals would beautifully match the lettered beads but their transparent quality came across as too delicate. So I pulled out these sweet little acrylic flowers and *poof*, the texture and colors were just right.


Isn't it fabulous having "c-u-p-c-a-k-e" spelled out? I just love it, especially with the sterling silver and acrylic cupcake charms that dangle at the sterling clasp. S-o-o...s-w-e-e-t-!


And for those of you who've been reading faithfully, here is an update on my neighbor's "peeping tom" Bird of Paradise flower. I got this shot with the morning sun causing the yellow and orange tones to burst into flame like brightness! (The "before" photos are THIS post).

Cupcake Confetti

Wow, did this bracelet ever turn out suh-weet! I was so focused on getting the slender "plate" disks correct for each cupcake color that I didn't realize how spectacular the bracelet was until all those little sprinkles came alive in the finished piece.


It was perfect that the bead artist included those little round spacers with the cupcakes. They were just the right touch to keep me from having to add other elements...this kept the focus on the cupcakes.

You can catch more photos and details on this beauty HERE.

Surprise

I had a computer virus situation for a couple of days so this is late and I can't stay on long. My husband is on a week's vacation and we are going shopping! Yes, toGETHer, how nice. Just wanted to show you a portion of an amazing bracelet I made for someone special...she has NO idea it's on her way to her tomorrow. I'll let you see the entire piece once she receives it.

Sorry about the quickie post, but at least I left you something, right? OH, and by the way, on the previous post, Lezlie was right when she guessed the mystery photo as a slice of a leek. I made potato and leek soup and had never cut into a leek before. It had such pretty detail.

A Cupcake Teaser

Here is a little teaser for you...just a hint of how the "Loaded Cupcake" polymer clay bracelet is progressing. There are lots of "doodads" in several colors so I'm working on it here & there in between several other projects but I'm going to focus on this one now because I don't want to drive you crazy waiting for it anymore!

What kept me from it yesterday was a group of beautiful crystal bracelets that I just listed at my RockerJewlz shop on Etsy. I have 5 color schemes in sparkling Swarovski crystals and sterling and Bali silver in a piece you can wear elegantly with evening wear or toss on to dress up a pair of jeans. Below is the Beginnings bracelet in Royal Purple bracelet. This was the first design I ever assembled. My sis wanted it in the Garden version so she helped me figure out the placement of the beads.

And you have a few days left to purchase everything on both my sites at 20% off...AND I'm shipping EVERYTHING (except custom orders) within a day until this Sunday, May 3rd to help you get what you want by Mother's Day...can't guarantee that since I'm not the post office, but at least on my end I'll be moving like lightning to make you happy.

Cupcake Charms & Summer Beads

Happy Friday! I didn't work as quickly as I'd planned this week, so the cupcake bracelet isn't finished, but I just had to show you my progress. I'm loading up a bracelet with a bunch of cupcake charms like the ones you see above along with square beads, crystals, flowers and other goodies. It will be a nicely loaded, sweetly tinkly sounding joy to wear.

And last but not least by any means are some super fun polymer clay beads in a beach theme that I am just itching to get at. I also have some strawberries & cherry beads to squeeze into the summer repertoire (among several other designs) but wanted to show you these to put a bit of summer in your day.
Be sure to visit my shops to enjoy the 20% off Easter sales on JEWELRY and PAPER crafts. Happy Weekend.

The Chocolate Kingdom

Ahhh, my son and I finally decorated our Christmas tree last night. Since the three of us live in a small condo, tree space is a premium! Last year we got clever and got a 6 footer and placed it atop a 2 foot chest, giving us an 8 foot tree. We did it again this time around. My son starts the decoration with draping 6 strands of lights around the tree, 3 clear and 3 colored while I pick the Christmas music cd. He really gets into the tree so that is illuminated fully from trunk to tip. He IS the light master!

We both wanted to keep the decorations simple but I must have my icicles so we just used those plus purple, blue & silver round balls...that's it, and we really liked it. My one concession was a big, ballerina glass ornament, but she is long and slender...like an icicle...get it? She has a little pink tutu.




So here are daytime and nighttime shots for you although it probably doesn't mean much unless you are here to see it. Fun, though.

As for jewelry, I assembled the last 10 little amazing choco-caramel glass cupcakes I have from Payton Jett into a bracelet with a heart lock clasp with a dangling key. I call it the Key to the Chocolate Cupcake Kingdom bracelet.

I mean, don't they look edible to you? They sure do to me!
Sales have been strange this season with what's happening in our economy so I was very happy that a few people bought cupcake jewelry and some stickers this week. I happily mailed those packages.




I also cleaned up my Etsy jewelry shop a little to remove pieces that didn't fit the cupcake theme as it seems that is what most viewers and buyers want to see. It looks much better. Much of the jewelry has free worldwide shipping, by the way.

I'd love to see some of your holiday decorations if you care to share.

25 years

Happy Anniversary to me my husband. We were married 25 years ago yesterday! You'd never know it because we still totally flirt and kiss up a storm and are often told we don't even LOOK like we are in our 50's so you could say we have a lot going for us.

We are celebrating today since he gets half days on Fridays during the summer...how sweet is THAT? We will have a leisurely lunch at our favorite upscale restaurant and later have two of our best buddies over for beers, laughs and stories in our front yard.

I say upscale because with my husband's new job, (3 months tomorrow), all the insane overtime he worked that paid for our son's year in college is no more so I've been much more aware of our budget.

Since gas is so pricey and even food prices are rising, I had to find ways to cut corners so we can maintain our lifestyle and not have to sacrifice too much. I switched grocery stores 3 months ago and was soooo happy to see a regular $30 weekly drop in my spending but it's now shrinking even at this cheaper store. So the convenience items like Trader Joe's wonderful cooks-in-3-minute frozen brown rice is off the list. I work from home so I think I can cook a pot of brown rice on the stove for a half hour.

So with all this consciousness, we've got a little extra cash to live it up today at the restaurant.

Business wise, I'm about to finish up a few designs for the Manhattan salon & gallery and a nightmare situation with a temporarily misplaced bracelet to Canada that finally turned out for the good are the latest thrills in my life. The mailer had a greasy strip on it, the box had a mashed corner, the solid silver bangle was slightly bent but can go back into position but all 7 lampwork beads survived the mysterious journey!

Tip: like my friend told me, just email the US AND foreign country postal and/or customs services and magically, even if they tell you they can't help you, the package suddenly appears shortly thereafter.

I don't know if it's just hopeful energy that makes it happen or what, but thanks for all your help with that, Sandy!

The Cupcake Queen

My Cupcake Elegance lampwork bracelet was featured on the Cupcake Queen's blog, 52 Cupcakes. The photos she took are beautiful!

That is a real chocolate cupcake from Whole Foods. I keep my jewelry photos very simple, but not anymore! Linda has inspired me to be much more creative with props from now on.

This bracelet is a made to order item, so turnaround is about 2 weeks. Just let me know your wrist size when ordering at www.RockerJewlz.Etsy.com.

For my paper goods shop, www.MomsArt.etsy.com, I'm awaiting a delivery of a zillion sheets of colored paper so I can punch sweet little birdfetti which will be on the site by the weekend.

A little birdie in flight will be so cute in a variety of colors. Two friends are breathlessly waiting already.

My studio is getting more organized. With life getting in the way it took 2 weeks to assemble four units with lots of little drawers. I'm now in the fill-up-the-drawer stage, which like my friend Whit-Knee said, is more fun than I expected.

I'll have some photos soon of the before and after...we'll skip the "during" if you don't mind. You'll be glad I did.