Simply Shiny Life

Beth P was the winner of the Birth Story contest on My Semblance of Sanity. She chose the lovely bracelet below, and I’m also sending her a coordinating pair of earrings. Her winning birth story is available on her blog It’s our Wonderful Life

Congratulations Beth!

This lovely bracelet was composed of rose and dark pink lampwork beads accented by rose quartz rounds, pink freshwater pearls, sterling silver donuts and sterling silver round beads. All joined by sterling silver wire. Very spring and very girly.

Remember the Charity Challenge I blogged about here? My creative partner has been chosen and it is Cornucopias . I can’t wait to see what she sends me for beads. And what a great cause!

For more information about the participants (including ME!) and the teams, click here

I received a super nice email from the owner of
My Semblance of Sanity Blog http://michellekemperbrownlowwrites4kids.blogspot.com/ If you haven’t seen her blog yet, you need to. It’s well written, entertaining and thought provoking.

She had seen my ad on Posh Mama, a VERY cool Ning network site, and wondered if I would donate a one of my wire wrapped bangles for a contest she was running?! The winner of the contest will choose either an existing bangle or I’ll custome make one just for her.

How dang cool is that!

I just wanted to share as I thought this was a super cool idea and I’m thrilled and humbled to be asked. I feel so Sally Field like “you like me, you really like me” .

I spent an insane amount of time on this week’s challenge “Celestial Beings” . Every week or so some very talented wire artists on Etsy pick a theme and create something that exemplifies that theme. Participating etsy artists include JulidaDesigns, Lissa73, Meristem, Skydreams, Adenangier, Revelate, Eclettica, Ninarossi, Hergypsysoul, and me.

I probably went a bit too literal with this one, using yards of sterling silver wire to wrap and coil this very flashy angel wings pendant. I chose AA grade faceted moonstones and one very flashy lab heart brio to complement the wrapping.

At first, I was going to hang it from a lab beaded necklace, but after I got going on the necklace, I decided I liked the simpler look of black leather with fancy sterling silver wire wrapped ends. What do you think?

The necklace is a long one…probably 19 inches or so.

More pictures of this and my other jewelry items can be found on flickr

This week’s etsyBEAD theme, selected by
Debbie of http://beadifuldesigns.etsy.com is “Green with Envy”.

etsyBEAD members will select items in their shops (or create brand new ones!) that match this current theme and put them on sale, just for you. Each EBTW item will have the tags “ebtw” and “green with envy”, so you can search for these beautiful sale items easily.

You’ll find wonderful jewelry items, especially such lovely green inspired items in this theme…all at special SALE prices for this ONE WEEK ONLY!

This EBTW sale runs from Sunday 02/17 through Saturday 02/23.

Here’s the search to get you started:

http://www.etsy.com/search_results_tags.php?search_type=tags&search_query=ebtw+green+with+envy

Here’s the promo thread for individual posting:
http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=5472984

Happy shopping!

About the Challenge

The Creative Glass Guild of Etsy (CGGE) and the etsyBEAD Street Team have joined forces for a creative collaboration challenge. CGGE members will create gorgeous glass cabs, beads, and pendants for etsyBEAD members to turn into beautiful pieces of finished jewelry. These pieces will then be donated to the Helping Others Street Team (HOST) in order to raise money for those fellow Etsyians in need.

Participating members from each team will pair up, one bead maker and one jewelry maker. The challenge is to work together to create beads and a finished product. Photos of each step will be posted here and on the Creative Minds for Charity Flickr Group, so that each participant will have a chance to display their work.

Here’s where you come in. You can vote on your favorite, and each vote (one per person, please) will have a chance to win a prize basket full of goodies. More details, as well as the rules, will be announced shortly.

Once all of the jewelry is made, and voting is done, we will be donating all of the pieces to the Helping Others Street Team (HOST), to help raise money for fellow crafters and Etsyians in need.

For more information about the participants (including ME!) and the teams, click here

FWIW, testing driving new pieces for wearability is a good idea. Plus, done correctly, can be a pretty good marketing tool for your work.

I’ve been bringing some of my ‘experimental’ styles to work and letting my coworkers ‘test drive’ them during the day. Not sure what prompted me to do so, but, what a GREAT way to determine if a particular clasp style is going to work or a wrap is comfortable to wear. My coworkers get to try out all sort of new shiny baubles and I get great feedback about what works and what doesn’t. I’ve already made several changes to increase wearablility.  Plus, my stuff gets worn all over the place, and its a pretty big building, and seen by lots of other coworkers. Another win for me.

If you haven’t thought about it before, I’d recommend it.

I have a stash of greeting cards in my office at home. You know, just ‘in case’. Birthday cards, note cards, sympathy cards, thankyou cards, etc. Occasionally, my husband needs a note card or thank you card, but, frankly, the ones I have are pretty girly. So, I thought I’d look for ‘manly’ thank you cards on etsy. Ever try to do that? Not the easiest.

I was VERY pleasantly surprised to find SimpleSensations (no relation.. ha ha) at http://simplesensations.etsy.com and purchased two sets of cards. They arrived yesterday and are FABULOUS! Extremely well made, kinda hip, and completely manly usable.  Plus the seller included some bonus cards… not manly, but super cute.

I’d highly recommend!

I made the statement in a group I belong that I was done making jewelry just to “sell”. Instead, I was going to focus on creating pieces that appealed to me and that I would love to have part of my jewelry stash.

I can honestly say that I’ve been doing just that. This weekend’s work is no exception. I received some simply GLORIOUS faceted labradorite rondelles from Deb at Crysallis Gems (and Crysallis Creations). They are ultra flashy so thought a nice coil would set them off in a bracelet. What do you think?

More pics of these and the two other bracelets I made this weekend are on my flickr site

This week’s etsyBEAD theme – “Spring is in the Air” – has been selected by Meri of Elbit Enterprises.

etsyBEAD members will select items in their shops (or create brand new ones!) that match this current theme and put them on sale, just for you. Each item will have the tags “EBTW” and “Spring is in the Air”, so you can search for sale items easily. To see a complete list, click here.

This EBTW sale runs from Sunday 2/10 through Saturday 02/16. Happy shopping!