Friday fun day!

Since the kids aren't allowed to dress up for "Halloween" anymore at school, they do this Book Parade instead.  The 2nd graders have been learning about pirates, and they all dressed up as pirates. 

In 5th grade, they were required to read a biography and then dress up like that person.  My girl was Frida Kahlo.  I was dying to paint on a unibrow and mustache, but she wouldn't let me. 

It's very hard to find a biography for kids on Frida.  Her life was exceedingly colorful and tragic.  I discovered a cool book mainly of photos of what was found in a trunk of hers after her passing.   Little drawings and notes she had written.  There were naughty drawings and all sorts of adult rated references, so my girl couldn't look at them. 

I've read her biography on line as much as I can find.  And I've seen the movie with Selma Hayek.  But I still don't feel like I've had enough of Frida.  She is inspiring me, and working in my mind the way things tend to do for me.  Almost brewing.  I want to read a full length biography, but am waffling about which to choose. 

I realize today that October is just about over.  Good Lord.  There are a couple of things that really irk me about that.  I really wanted to make a Sugar Skull design this year.  And I've had these sterling spiders for a couple of years now that I wanted to do something with.  And bats.  I always love bats.  I didn't get any of it made.    Oh well.  Onward....

My big girl goes to a Halloween party tonight, and my little girl is having her own little Halloween fun at home with a friend.  That means I better go make sure the house is presentable.  Have a good day all!

Over 100

I kinda had this goal in my head that I wanted to have at least 100 pieces in my Etsy shop before the Holiday shopping season began.  After I listed these:

Kingman Turquoise

Iolite

Citrine

Apatite

Garnet

I have 102 pieces in my shop!  I did it!

This last collection of earrings was really all about the stones.  I used some of my very best in this batch.

The Apatite blows my mind.  I'm used to seeing Apatite that looks like this:

Don't get me wrong!  I love this Apatite.  Dark blue turns me on.  But the clarity and transparency in these 6mm Apatite cabs is perfection.

And Iolite.  Rose cut Iolite.  Why don't I see this stone very often?  It is so gorgeous!  A purply blue that I just love.

I can always go for Turquoise any day of the week, so I had to use those.  Garnets?  As soon as it cools down even a smidge, out come the garnets for me.

That Citrine has a golden glow that you just wouldn't believe.  And rose cut as well.  And November's birthstone.  :)

All on patterned silver.  

Tired!

I just spent nearly 9 hours over the last two days photographing, editing and listing my new work.  Ugh.  I think I had something like 8 necklaces, 3 pairs of earrings, a ring and some new work for the findings shop. 

Now I remember why I like to list pieces in small groups.  This last batch was just too much!  Although it does feel satisfying to get all this loveliness out there!

sold- Thank you!

Headpins

Among other things this week, I have been working on some headpins for Ruby Mountain Metal.  I just added these to the shop:

 I've been feeling for a long time that I need to get some new work into the RMM shop.  I also felt like I wanted to offer something unique as well.   I just listed these three pair today, and I have a few more in the works.   I have plans to do something with copper soon too.  Normally I sell things made to order in the RMM shop, but these are going to be ready to ship.  What you see is what you get!  I love this size palette to stamp a pattern on.  I have all kinds of ideas and I don't know how much repeating of a design I'll end up doing. 

Working on getting some ball end headpins into the shop as well.  I just love that Ruby color that the heated copper gives. 

Coming soon:  Silver ballend headpins and some other specialty headpins!

Monday

This past weekend Hubby and the girls spent some time getting ready for Halloween.

Surprisingly those big ol spiders aren't much bigger than the spiders we usually have hanging around our house. I kid. Kinda.

Hubby is an organic gardener, and also doesn't believe in trying to get rid of things like spiders or lizards. Our house seems to be nature's haven in the suburbs.

Besides the aforementioned spiders and lizards, we also get visits from snakes, turtles, rabbits, birds, and lots and lots if squirrels.

Last week I met my goal of working out 5 days! Woo hoo! I just got back from a run, so I am on track for this week too. We'll see how long it lasts. Now if I could only check my bad eating habits I might lose a few pounds!

Ok, new work this week for sure! I'm shooting for Thursday. So far 3 pairs of earrings, 1 ring and 6 necklaces if I can get them all finished!

Have a fabulous week everyone!

Winner!

Thank you all for playing my guessing game!!!!  The number of impressions on the cuff bracelet was 396.

The person whose guess was closest is:

Niky Sayers!!!!  Niky's guess was 398.  Pretty darn close!  Email me at amymarez@yahoo.com to get your coupon code good for $ 50 in either of my shops!  

 

Who wants to play a guessing game?

This is not the best photo (taken with my phone) but you get the idea.  This is a cuff bracelet that I stamped by hand.  Each impression you see was imprinted one at a time to build a design. 

The first person to guess how many individual marks were made over this entire bracelet wins a $ 50 gift certificate good in either of my online shops!!!!  If no one has guessed the right number by Saturday morning it will be whoever got the closest!

Leave a comment here on my blog, or on my FaceBook page.  Good luck!  :)

High end?

I just sounded so pretentious right now in answering a convo from someone who was looking for vendors for a craft fair at her kids daycare.  I thanked her kindly for the invitation, but explained that every time I do a "craft fair" I do poorly since my work is higher priced than most craft fair products and wished her luck with her craft fair.

God that sounded pretentious.  It has been on my mind lately the value of my work.  I feel that I will soon be hitting a crossroads where it's sink or swim with this jewelry business of mine.  My youngest is in 2nd grade, and I feel I need to be earning an income to help with expenses for the family.  I want it to be this.  Making jewelry and jewelry findings.  But it may have to be a part time job outside the home. 

So this little business of mine has to be profitable in order to work.  Only I really know what I put into each piece I make.  And I'm not always good at explaining it.  Only I know how I always strive for perfection ( I may not always get there but I never stop trying).  Or how many hours I spent making a piece.  So if I who knows all this doesn't value my work, who will? 

So, I'm not going to be doing any craft fairs.  I love to attend them, but it's been my experience as a seller that people who attend craft fairs don't really expect to spend a lot of money.  I mean, I'm realistic.  We all have to budget these days.

I remember when I first joined Etsy.  I was so happy to have a sale that I just about gave stuff away.  It's not sustainable.  At some point you ask yourself what in the heck you're doing this for if it doesn't pay.  I've got to look at it as a learning experience.  I am happy to say that I finally value my work to the point that I am actually a little hurt when asked if I'll discount 20%.  Or questioned as to why my prices are higher than they used to be, or told so and so sells it cheaper.

I hope that the time spent on my work shows and that my pieces will connect with someone.  I hope to be making things out of silver for years to come....

Beware!

This is poison ivy. I took a picture of it yesterday and posted it to my FB wall talking about how much I like the shape of the leaves. Going on and on about design inspiration.

Yesterday afternoon my daughters 11 year old friend told me on Instagram that it was poison ivy.

As you can imagine I felt like a big dork. Thank God I didn't pick it. I don't know what stopped me at just taking the picture and not touching it.

I'll never forget now what poison ivy looks like!





In other news I got the earrings I won in Lorena Angulo's giveaway. I just love her work! I am so happy and honored to be wearing these earrings! I haven't taken them off since they got here.


Have a happy Friday all! :) and watch out for that poison ivy! ;)

Earwires

Lots of them! In Niobium wire which is very stiff to work with. It's a really cool color though. Sort of a silvery bronze. If that makes sense. I keep saying I'm going to add this wire as an option at the findings shop, but have yet to do it. I have some wire left over from this project so I really just need to get it done! It is supposed to be a hypo allergenic metal that doesn't react with people's skin like brass or copper sometimes does.




The girls had picture day today. The curly haired oldest wanted her hair straightened, so I obliged :)




And I made this ring the other day and I love it. Solid sterling! I'm working on a few other things that I hope to finish and get listed some time next week!

And, last but not least I've added a few more pieces to the sale section of my Etsy shop! Go check it out. Amy Nicole on Etsy