Simply Shiny Life

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• Amazon
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• eBay
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• Ebid.net
• eCrater
• GoAntiques
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Shiny Spotlight Thursday

There are some really talented artists, designers and creators that sell their handmade items on Etsy. Each Thursday I highlight some of the items that catch my eye. I put together a warm red themed treasury earlier this week, and thought I’d share some of those gorgeous items with you.

Clicking on each image will link you to the seller of each item, if you decide you simply must purchase it.

Enjoy!

Cinnamon Flare Dress from Modest Maven

Passport Case Cinnamon from Dear Sukie

Valentine’s Candy Box from Sweet Vanilla Bean

Red Hot Cinnamon Candy – Olive Oil Spa Soap from catherine filippelli

Caramel Apple Vintage Lucite and Brass Bracelet from BEB Designs

Red Koi Vase by D Babcock

Little Red Feather Butterfly Ring byJenifer’s Family Jewels

Happy Shopping everyone!

Look for the Shiny Spotlight every Thursday.

So how does one figure easily how thick a particular gauge sheet is?

getyourbone says:
For future reference, I believe you can take the gauge in question and add 6 to it to get the “half” amount and subtract 6 to get the “double” amount

example:

14 gauge is .064

14 + 6 = 20 so 20 gauge is half as thick as 14 gauge

14 – 6 = 8 so 8 gauge is twice as thick as 14 gauge

Brilliant.

If you haven’t discovered it yet, visit the Starving Artists Forum, “a community of artisans, designers, crafters, hobbyists, collectors and enthusiasts of all things created by hand!”

Starving Artists has forums for seed beaders, metal smithing, show and tell, lampworkers among others. Starving Artists is a safe and friendly environment to ask questions, share your latest creations and make new friends. Visit this week and check us out. You will find it warm and friendly and you may want to stick around a while.

It’s been cold. I mean really really cold. The high on Friday was 2 degrees F.

2.

Ick.

Wichita has been hovering between zero and 10 the entire week.  Until I started a bit of metalsmithing, I was happy to stay bundled and warm in my house and avoid the weather extremes. But, since I’ve started playing with fire, I’ve moved my metalsmithing bench to the garage. The garage with a VERY cold cement floor. I love all my tools. I love my torch. I love my little Smith heads. But I just can’t make the sacrifice to freeze my toes (and other body parts) to spend some quality time out in the garage.

The family unit is moving sometime in the spring to a bigger house. One of the requirements of this new, bigger home is that I can use a room in the basement for my own. A room that I can install an exhaust fan, has an exterior window and egress, and will be mine mine all mine for making jewelry. Being able to have ALL of my tools AND my torch all the same place = heaven. Additionally, being inside and WARM? Definitely icing on the cake.

Setting up a work bench is kind of like buying a new house, you know? Now that I’ve been  using mine for several years, I am pretty sure I know nearly exactly what I need at the next location. It’s kind of exciting.

How did your work bench evolve? What was the biggest thing you learned that you would have part of your next work space?

Thought I’d share two helpful charts.

First, Kitco (http://www.kitco.com/jewelry/gauge-inch-mm.html) has a great wire gauge conversion chart that you should definitely save to your favorite links.

And StudioMetalWork on etsy has a free, downloadable ring sizing chart. (Thank you KC! )You can find in at this link

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=37633985

What online tools do you keep at close hand in your list of favorites?

Shiny Spotlight Thursday

There are some really talented artists, designers and creators that sell their handmade items on etsy. Each Thursday I highlight some of the items that catch my eye. I was curious how many Kansas themed or inspired handmade creations I could find. I shared some of my favorites below.

Clicking on each image will link you to the seller of each item, if you decide you simply must purchase it.

Enjoy!

Vintage Wichita Map Pendant

American Craftsman Address Plaque, Frank Lloyd Wright Style

The Kansas Sunflower Tutu

Flint Hills Sunset in the Pines Print

Prairie Style Stained Glass Panel

Puzzle Piece Brooch: State of Kansas

Kansas Sunflower Print

Happy Shopping everyone!

Look for the Shiny Spotlight every Thursday.

Craftgawker is such an eye candy delight.  My bezel set pietersite necklace was featured recently. Looks really pretty with all the other fabulous featured items, huh?

Do any of you have work posted to Craftgawker? Do you see traffic from your featured photos?

By the way, you can find this necklace at my etsy shop: Artisan Desert Sunset Pietersite Necklace

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Last week I entered a giveaway for a gift certificate from Sarah Jo of Forrest Concepts. I enter contests and giveaways all the time. I have NEVER won anything. Well, I take that back, there was that one time I supposedly won a book, but I never received it. So, technically, I guess I can say I have NEVER won a giveaway.

I received a convo from Sarah that I’d won her Facebook Fan Page giveaway. The prize was a gift certificate to one of her shops.  I chose to ‘spend’ it in her Forrest Concepts Etsy Shop. You can find her Diem Designs facebook fan page at http://www.facebook.com/DiemDesigns.

The journals she creates for Forrest Designs are really quite clever. Each is hand fabricated from discarded or otherwise recycled books and filled with 30% post consumer recycled paper. By keeping books from landfills, we lessen society’s carbon footprint and contribute to a greener economy. All unused pages are carefully recycled.

She’s got lots to choose from in her etsy shop, but says “not all my journals are in my store plus I have TONs of books waiting to be made into journals. Just send me a convo, and I’ll check my stock.”

Forrest Concepts is also in the midst of a big big sale right now too. Check it out at
http://www.etsy.com/shop/ForrestConcepts

I’m working on a new ring using a triangular jasper cabochon. Isn’t it lovely? I’m a huge green fan, and this one is so gorgeous. I really like the sand like colors at the bottom of the stone. It looks like the desert doesn’t it?

I’ve got some ideas for a cool cut out back, but before I get that far, I’ve got to perform some serious sanding on the OOPS solder mess on the inside. Either I didn’t get the bezel hot enough to draw the solder to the sides, or not enough flux or not cleaned enough or something. Regardless, I’m left with some big blobs of silver solder that I need to sand out of the bottom of the setting or the stone isn’t going to fit. Any suggestions for a quick clean up? 

I’m going to attempt to make a larger band on this one too. Textured for a bit of interest. (You can see another pendant I’m working on in the bottom of the pic.)

How have your holiday projects progressed? I’d love to see what you are working on…..