Beads, Beads, Beads

My Etsy shop now has a great number of Pandora style beads and charms listed! If you see something you like, but would like more or less than the number of beads I have listed in the set, just message me and I'll make a private listing just for you. One reason I offer this option is because I have a limited number of size 9 rings that are designed to hold just one large hole bead! The beads are interchangeable... so... if you want to add more looks and don't have any extra large hole beads, just check out the ones listed in my shop! Great looks available here!!  Size 9 isn't right for you? If you love the look and the great options, consider wearing this ring on a different finger.... I'll watch my vendor for other sizes, ....

A chance at a free vendor spot in The Virtual Indie Craft Fair!

Want a great outlet for selling for the holidays? Booths at The Virtual Indie Craft Fair are available for $99  BUT you can have a chance to win one FREE  IndieBizChicks.com post says,
 "As a vendor, you will receive over $400 worth of advertising. You will receive a 125×125 ad on the sidebars of IndieBizChicks and CleverChicks, a featured blog post on IndieBizChicks, a featured ad spot on IndiePublic, a press release that I will write and distribute for you, and more! I’ll also be doing a daily giveaway of a $10 gift card on each featured vendor blog post. This will insure you get the maximum amount of traffic to your featured blog post – allowing you to show off your product to holiday shoppers!"
Click Here to Enter!

Antiqued Copper gets you the look!

Tree of Life for sale on Etsy

Want to save money and have the latest jewelry look?

Just this week I heard that rose gold is the trend. Rose gold has a warm look that any skin shade can wear easily. Have you seen it? Until now you may have only noticed it as one of the colors of gold featured in Black Hills Gold Jewelry. What is Rose Gold? I knew it was a mix of gold and copper that had a warm hue..I knew I liked the look of it on my hand.... I've placed a link to an LA Times article from 2010 below, but here's my thought...

could you not get the same effect and uniqueness from antiqued copper? Antiqued copper has a softer color and, I think, a little romance because of the hinted at history with the look of age... what do you think?

There is an article in the LA Times here  ... but I'll give you an excerpt :
"Rose gold, which is sometimes called "pink gold," may seem more exotic than run-of-the-mill yellow, but the secret to its color is comparatively pedestrian: copper. All gold used in jewelry must be mixed with other metals in order to withstand wear because 24-karat gold (the kind that is 99% or more gold) is too soft to withstand wear on its own. The amount of copper used as an alloy is what gives rose gold its pink tinge. "Alloy metal suppliers will vary the copper, but whether you call it red, pink or rose gold, it's all the same process," says Duvall O'Steen, director of jewelry promotion for the World Gold Council.

"Rose gold is more rare, whether that's because it's made to order or there's just less of it being made," she says. The fashion world loves nothing more than exclusivity, making rose gold that much more desirable. But the price is still comparable to white or yellow gold because copper is inexpensive and jewelry made of rose gold is priced on the weight of the gold."

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Titanium Druzy

This is what challenged me yesterday... late last night I got it right... This is an unusual stone.. in face, I did not believe it was a natural gemstone... I didn't care... and wait until you see a few others I picked up at the same time... BUT... I googled and according to those who know stones, it is real... according to my googles... Titanium druzy is real and not natural.. it needs a bit of help.. Titanium druzy is agate druzy that has been coated with titanium in a vacuum chamber. It produces a permanent metal coating in shades of gold, silver, bright or dark blue or iridescent white...the finished product can even have a changing rainbow hue as you turn it to change the viewing angle. As you might imagine, Titanium druzy can be difficult to photograph. I've tried different backgrounds as you can see in the four photos below... but overall it has a great sense of industrial rawness that I love.

Wire Whisperer

That's what I wasn't today.. a wire whisperer... I was a cleaning lady most of the day... then a student... then hubby came home and I was a wife... then came MY time... the time I slip away and play with wire and beads as excited as an artistic pirate with his treasure... and then it happened.

This wonderful new centerpiece for a pendant just fought me and fought me and...well, maybe I fought it... but it wouldn't work, I couldn't work.. I'd waited all day... and now my play spark was missing... sigh... so I turned to some earrings I've been working on and played with them a bit.... then ... I couldn't help it... I was back to the "stone"... this one was advertised as Titanium drusy .. so the stone is gray.... I'd been playing with silver wire...

silly.. pick up the copper wire.... contrast.. elemental... raw

so... magic... and in the morning I'll make a few more tweaks and I'll love it even more ! Better pics tomorrow!

The towers fell

September brings many memories. All week television has brought us interviews with those left behind after 9/11 and video of that day. We all swear we will never forget what happened... we'll always remember what we were doing on that day. ...and we do remember ... but each year a little of the color fades from the pictures we hold in our memory... each year the pictures lose a little intensity and become softer or more gray... time passes, memories fade, but I'm not sure I agree that we heal...not completely... we are forever changed even if we have stopped pulling at the ugly scabs on our memories...

I know I've used a lot of mixed metaphors... but ... I think they're all true... September is a bad month for me... my father's birthday is the 6th... he passed in July 2001... my daughter passed at age 18 on September 10, 1990... and then we have 9/11/2001. I was already sad that morning... I was facing yet another year without my best friend, my daughter... I was getting ready for something... I can't even tell you if I was working at the time... but as I was dressing I had the tv on and saw the film of the first plane... I called to my honey and he came in and sat down with me... we watched... what unfolded was unbelievable... but it just kept getting worse... it was when the bodies began to fall... those of the people who chose to jump.... that was when one more piece of me died... inconceivable... for those who jumped and for those who were there and for those who were fighting to save every life they could. It was the first time I was glad my father had died... he didn't have to know about this...

One good thing came about this week... a woman on tv was talking about having lost her sister in the plane crash when the plane went down in PA... she kept reliving what must have happened in her sisters last moments... her counselor told her quietly that her sister only died once... pointing out that she was hurting herself far more than what her sister had to face... That is something that resonates and helps anyone who has experienced loss... It can, at least, if you let those words really reach you... it helped me this week...