Red necklace

Ha - I just realized that when I really love a background I use it ad nauseum, like with this necklace. I am calling her Natalie, after Natalie Portman, whose picture I just saw on Perez Hilton. I also realized that depending on what you wear with this necklace, the length could be somewhat awkward (like the tank top in the pictures - it sits right on top of the neckline and some people might not like that look), so I'm offering the option of having it shortened by request. Check out Natalie's Etsy page for more details!

New York, redux

Where have I been, you ask? Why, back to New York again! We were there for the All-Star Game festivities (and boy, was that a lot of fun), but in between all the baseball hoopla I managed to carve out some time to make a pilgrimage to a few jewelry suppliers.

I paid a visit to a wholesaler that I met at a trade show a while back. They are one of my favorites because of their great quality merchandise at the best prices I've found so far. I discovered that they didn't have a showroom, per se - instead they were located in a tiny little office at the back of a rundown building, in a slightly seedy area on Broadway. An adventure to be sure, but totally worth it.

It's raining gemstones

My gemstones arrived today!

And they are even more gorgeous in person.

Instead of reading my book like I usually do, I spent the entire train ride home staring off into space, my mind on design overdrive, dreaming about how I wanted to arrange the stones, what I wanted to make with them, and how they would look.

I just finished cataloging the lot of them and now I'm going to play!

Super duper Tuesday

I had a rather late night today so I'm going to scrap my plans to add another item to the shop (it usually takes a while) so I can catch up on Super Tuesday results.

Before I do that, though, I wanted to report that Abigail has been sold! Whoo hoo! My sister bought her today. Thanks, sis - you rock!

Also please visit the Etsy CREST street team page. If you click on "Favorites" and then "Favorite Sellers," you can see the shops of the members who belong to this Etsy team (yours truly being one of them!). And I actually don't know if the "Favorite Items" will change periodically, but right now it looks like Kate has been featured as one of the favorite items. Yay Kate!

I now have a total of ten hearts! Thanks to heathersbeadshop, bisquee, YStudio, and my very own friend Meridith for hearting Hazel Designs. I heart you back!

Lastly, I scored these adorable vintage owl beads from an Etsy vendor. I have big plans for them - are they cute, or what?

Happy Mardi Gras everyone!

Lots of cool new stones

Yesterday I spent about five hundred hours at the bead shop and came away with a bunch of great new things for you: some gorgeous blue howlite, beautiful Thai silver pendants, orange and red carnelian, and some pretty amazonite.

I finished two new pieces yesterday and took pictures of them today. I was very excited to post them but unfortunately we have been having major problems with our internet connection, so I am having a hard time loading the pictures on both Blogger and Etsy.

Hopefully it will get fixed soon so I can add them to the shop and post them here for you to preview!

Studio city

Many of the artists of the handcrafted jewelry sites I frequent often speak about their "studios" where they create their pieces. I don't think mine quite qualifies as a studio, so I will call it my workspace instead (in truth, my quasi studio shares space with the guest bedroom).

I finally got around to organizing my beads and supplies and cleaning up this room where I spend a lot of time in - it has all I need to nurture my fledgling business within easy reach, especially my invaluable computer and printer to use for uploading pictures, blogging, shopping for supplies, checking out Etsy, as well as using my actual desk to create my necklaces. I do need a bigger work surface, but for now I just shove everything to one side to make room for my beads and tools.

I'm also just about ready for another set of plastic bins as this one is full to bursting with beads, stones, wire, jigs, tools, etc. I need to find more room, especially as I just bought the following:

Amethysts:

Chrysoprase nuggets:

Dyed topaz:


Green aventurine:

And these cool oval gemstones in a variety of colors:

And lastly, I can't let this day go by without venting about the woman who sat next to me on the train on my way home today. What pisses me off is that since I am small, people almost always choose to sit on the empty seat next to me - they figure I don't take up that much space, even though there are other open seats on the train. My pet peeve is when a big guy sits next to me and proceeds to splay his knees open in what he probably thinks is a macho pose, except what he's actually doing is invading my space. Look, people, just because I'm small doesn't entitle you to take up the space allotted to me. Harrumph.

So this is essentially what happened today with this woman. I had the window seat, where she proceeded to squish me for almost the entire ride home. By the time I arrived at my destination I was one miserable, unhappy, angry, horribly bad-tempered small person.

Losing my head on 6th Avenue

Last year I attended the Big Apple Glass Art & Bead Festival in New York City and, since the hotel was in Midtown, I took advantage of the location. After soaking up the classes and selecting an assortment of gemstones, beads, findings, and other supplies, I set off to explore the offerings of the stores on 6th and 7th Avenues.

I promptly ran headlong into a treasure trove of bead, fabric, and craft stores all along 6th Avenue. The bead shops stood one after the other displaying hundreds and hundreds of gemstones, strung together in an explosion of color and texture and shape. They were practically begging me to make them into necklaces.

I completely lost my head.

At each store I visited I found even more beautiful stuff than the last, and my head almost exploded from the burst of ideas that came crowding in, fresh designs made up of gorgeous citrine, aquamarine, jasper, carnelian, sunstone, and turquoise, among others. I could see them all in my mind's eye.

The whole experience was heady indeed, and even more fun than shoe shopping.