Amazonite earrings

To tie in my ballet kick with my jewelry designs, I named these new amazonite and gold earrings Odette, after the good swan princess from Swan Lake. I'm still deciding whether to name another piece Odile, after the evil princess - we will see.

These earrings are really dainty and delicate-looking, measuring a total of a little under two inches. Now available at the shop!

Fresh stock

Yesterday I was at the gem and jewelry show and came home with a slew of new beads and supplies. I have aquamarine, aventurine, amazonite, quartz, chalcedony, serpentine, green amethyst, smoky quartz, pearls, tourmaline, and a lot more. There were some really gorgeous AAA quality green amethyst gemstones imported from India that I was salivating over. I kept going back again and again to the vendor to look at them and agonize over whether I should get them (they were very expensive). In the end, I couldn't justify the expense since using them in my designs would mean going to a way higher price point than what I'm currently selling my jewelry for. Maybe someday...

A flower garden!

Moxie is making it impossible to type because she decided that my keyboard makes for a nice, cozy bed to curl up on for her nap.

Here is a new shop item for you - a cascade of flowers disguised as earrings! These feature three blue glass flowers each, adorned with three amazonite beads and all dangling from base metal earwires. I decided to use base metal components for this piece instead of sterling silver to give it an antiqued, vintage look, and a well-loved air. I named this one "Christine" after my cousin's wife, who is one of the coolest chicks I know.

I finished filing my business tax for February. You should've seen my face as I tried to make sense of it - scrunched up, pained, and bewildered. This is my second month of filing but it hasn't gotten any easier. Why are tax forms not written in plain English, I ask you? Why do they insist on writing out the instructions as if they're taking bets on how many people they can confuse in the least amount of time? Anyway, it's filed and paid, and I hope I did it right.

I am very excited - our baseball team has a new stadium and Mr Hazel and I went in with a group of people to get season tickets! Our share is five games, and the seats are amazing - second row, main level, between second and third base (I think that's what Mr Hazel told me). I can't wait for the season to start - 17 days!

I'm now off to scrounge up some lunch...happy Friday everyone!

Pastel clusters

Here is a cluster necklace consisting of yellow aventurine, blue amazonite, opal glass beads, and Swarovski crystals, on a 16" sterling silver chain.

I ordered a whole slew of boxes and organza bags yesterday, and also picked out my new business cards and gift box tags, in preparation for my store opening. I really like the style of the business cards - tomorrow I will post some pictures of what I picked.

Marie Antoinette-ish?

I worked on this for a major portion of the day. I used amazonite beads on gold-filled wire, and the end result kind of reminds me of something from Marie Antoinette's era, especially with the gold and blue combination. The pendant is actually a pendant frame but I used it by itself for a different sort of look, and hung a white nugget pearl from a 14K gold-plated chain. The pendant is approximately 2" long and 1.5" wide, and the whole necklace is around 20" long, finished off with a gold toggle clasp at the back.

Here are a few more shots and close-ups.



I am having a pretty productive day off. I filled out my business license application and it's all set to be mailed (I hope I did this correctly), put gas in my car (was running on fumes) and cleaned the inside (it was filthy). I also purchased more supplies at the craft store, which of course was mobbed by people getting ready for the holidays. Christmas music was blaring from the speakers and decorations were crammed into every aisle. I'm not even mentally ready for Thanksgiving yet, let alone Christmas!

A couple of months ago when football season started I joined a fantasy football league for kicks with people from my old office, even though I know absolutely nothing about football. Each week we are supposed to set our lineup, except I never did this because 1) I was too lazy 2) I didn't know what I was doing 3) I don't know who the heck any of my players on my team are. Finally, sick of my abysmal 0-6 record (luckily I am not in last place - I am tied for last place, which is a big difference), I finally went on the league website and found out that I have, apparently, been competing for weeks with an injured quarterback, an injured running back, and an injured wide receiver. Ha! But I have now remedied this, so brace yourselves for my team's upcoming, unstoppable winning streak. (Or not).