A tulip

This pendant happened quite by happy accident. I was making the two pear shapes for earrings, and noticed that if I placed one on top of the other they make a tulip, and would serve as a pretty cool-looking pendant. And so I did, and it did, and Adeline came to be. She's named after one of the characters from the book I just finished, The Thirteenth Tale (highly recommended as a can't-put-down sort of a book).

Dragonfly necklace

I have an affinity for dragonflies; I just think they are so whimsical. So I named this new necklace Geillis, after the equally whimsical heroine of Mary Stewart's Thornyhold. I recently re-read Thornyhold and was charmed all over again by the beauty of that book (which I'll be reviewing on Paperback Musings soon). Anyway, back to my dragonfly. I oxidized the sterling chain by hand to match the vintagey feel, and the whole thing is about 18" long.

I also forgot to mention that I made my first international sale! The Je t'aime earrings sold to someone all the way in England, and I finally got the chance to see if the international shipping rate I estimated was accurate (it wasn't). I ended up having to adjust the rate, which is now also reflected at the shop. Unfortunately I'm unable to offer delivery confirmation service for international orders at this time, but the rate is pretty comparable to domestic shipping, so that works out.

Pearl bracelet

This is the pearl bracelet that I worked on forever last weekend. I finally got some good photos of her, named "Margaret" after a cousin. She is made up of approximately 30 button and nugget pearls, on a sterling link chain and toggle clasp.

This piece turned out to be rather pricey, definitely one of the priciest in the shop and the priciest bracelet yet. Blame it on the huge number of pearls involved!

More details and pictures of Margaret are now available.

And be sure to check out that "hand model" in the pictures!

I also finally finished a second custom order: another pair of the Ahila earrings, requested by my friend Meridith for mother's day. I think I may offer Ahila again, as she seems to be a popular item; this is the third Ahila I will have sold. Thanks Meridith!

Carnelian bracelet

I finished and photographed this piece and I think it came out well. I love the reddish-brown hue of the stones. This is a bracelet made of carnelian, named "Susan" after one of my funniest cousins.

I'm currently finishing up a few custom projects in the works. My friend Meridith was thinking of getting "Victoria" for a friend's birthday, but was concerned that the green stones might clash with her friend's coloring (she has blonde hair and blue eyes.) So I told her I have several blue stones that may work better, so I'm finishing those up in the same style as Victoria for her to choose from.

Speaking of, Meridith is an assistant editor for TV and her current project, The Memory Keeper's Daughter, is airing on April 12th on the Lifetime channel. So set your Tivos and mark your calendars!

New shop item: turquoise bracelet

This new bracelet is "Marnie," made of pretty blue turquoise and a silver toggle clasp. She's named after my writer friend from college, who was originally a pair of turquoise earrings but I changed that name to "Meridith" to match the accompanying necklace (named after another college friend who, and I'm not making this up, had Michelle Pfeiffer sitting in her office the other day. I was jealous).

So Marnie gets a new namesake. More details and pictures are available at the shop!

On the train today I was sitting next to a mom and her toddler daughter. I overheard the mom ask the kid, "What did you eat today?" And the kid replied at the top of her lungs, "Ass! Ass! ASSSSSS!"

I thought to myself, "That couldn't have been very appetizing."

It turned out she was trying to say "eggs."

Toddlers are funny.

P.S. on comments

My sister suggested that instead of moderating comments to avoid spam, I should use the word verification feature instead. This does seem like a much better idea, so as Captain Picard says, "Make it so."