Bring on the bells

Some time ago I introduced a little red bell necklace to my shop, I don't know if you remember it or not, but it became a quick favorite on Etsy and all that I had, sold out. I couldn't duplicate the bells exactly, but luckily my searching turned up some different red bells and a few other colors so now I have a few new styles to show you.

First, the one at the top, that is sort of a blue-ish green swirled with tan that reminds me of the earth as it looks from far off in space. I know, kinda out there on that analogy, play along.

Then the green one with brown beads below,

and finally a re-creation of the favored red and carolina blue color combo below.

My last bead store trip unearthed a whole host of goodies that I can't wait to get my hands on, so stay tuned for more new styles to hit the shop in the coming days and weeks.

Spring is finally upon us and as the weather turns so increases my jewelry-making. As I throw off the winter bulk, warm my skin by the sun and hope for the first bits of a tan, I find myself awake with ideas, perhaps more ideas than there is time. But then you've heard that story....

Back in black

After searching for just the right beads to replace my favorite black ones that I can no longer buy, I've found success and have two new necklaces to share.

They may look similar to what you've seen in the past, but trust me, there are some subtle differences, especially with the second one.

I hope you'll enjoy, from my shop, the first necklace here and the one below here. The fruits of my Friday afternoon labor.

Maize

as promised...the hat....and booties to match

Taking time

Today I had the time, or rather I took the time to make a few things and listed this one in the shop.

It had been a long week, and it was a very long day yesterday. I attended (and helped coach--yikes)my son's team during his first adventure with a local Lego Robotics competetion. I can assure you that was an event like none other but one I'm sure to be involved with for years to come as evidenced by his one statement, "This is one of the best days of my life, Mom. I want to do this next year, all through middle school and in high school too." Oh boy, how can a mom argue with that?

I was a reluctant participant at first, but especially after yesterday I fully realized the value of the experience and how it pertains to his life now and in the future. The boy is well on his way to a world I know very little about but his talent is clear and his focus is undeniable, even enviable.

So after dragging myself out of bed this morning with a sore body and big bags under my eyes from sheer exhaustion from the day before, I settled myself in the office and proceeded to dig through beads. A few orders were filled and I had the chance to play around. It was just the slow day I needed.

Still at it

Little by little I manage to make more. The summer schedule will hopefully be conducive to more creative time than the school year when time at home is consumed by homework, a schedule to adhere to and a zillion things happening all at once. It is so nice to be able to slow down, even if just for a bit.

Here are some new variations on the familiar theme of simple, yet intricate summer neckwear. They can be found here and here. Enjoy.

New

As summer fast approaches and the wardrobe shifts to open necklines and unconstrained clothing, so increases my jewelry selection. Perhaps the best thing about making jewelry is that I have an ever-changing personal collection.

I make, I pass on, I give, I sell, I re-make. I couldn't be happier.

If you're looking for simple, these pieces fit the bill. Any of them. But you can't get more pared down or easy going than my basic black. It goes with practically anything. Or, at least that's how I wear it.

Thank you

This post is for the co-workers that stop me in the rehab gym and tell me they read my blog the night before. It's for the others who tell me they want every necklace they see me wear. It's for my new friends, old friends, work friends, unknown-never-to-be-met friends who tell me they faithfully read.

It's for my husband, his grandmother, my in-laws, my brother-in-law, his girlfriend (can I say that yet?), and the extended family who also read this ramble.

It's for the friends I know who help promote and for the friends I don't know who surprise with their accolades. And of course for my customers, new, repeat and wannabes, I'm grateful for you all.

You get the point. It's for all of you out there who don't have to read but for your own separate reasons still do. It's for the ones who call me 'artist' and 'creative', I thank you all and am so happy that you keep coming to visit.

As I have nothing more, today I'll leave you with some of the latest uploads to my shop. In order they are barely yellow, simple silver and early purple, this last one made specifically for Sheila and named after my earliest blooming and oldest country iris that look so pretty right now. Maybe tomorrow I'll show them to you.

Smile, it's Saturday

Spring wakes me up and I find the urge to start making more jewelry. I'm a casual sort of girl that likes t-shirts, jeans, flowy skirts and flip-flops and these simple necklaces seem to fit. I wear them constantly because they're easy, comfortable, simple yet intricate and I can change them whenever the urge hits and I often do.

I've added this new one to the shop.

And the next one was added yesterday and sold in just a few hours. I love it when that happens.

I was under contstant supervision during the photo shoot.

Happy Saturday!

Job hopping

Growing up I had a friend whose mom seemed to change careers every few years. She started out as a nurse, then became a full time mom of three and dabbled in photography for a bit, art, then real estate, back to nursing and then eventually retirement.

I don't know if she could never make up her mind, if she didn't really need to work, or if she just had so many different interests that she flip-flopped from one profession to another. Whatever the case, I think of her as I flit from one thing to the next, often overlapping all three of my supposed jobs.

One is serious and bona fide career, the next is motherhood and the last has sprouted from a hobby, and the near necessity of giving my brain a creative outlet not related to anything but just that.

So please enjoy some recent additions to the shop. First we have garnet and glass followed by pinkish and finally red raspberry. And then you'll please excuse me while I go nurse allergies, a bloody nose, do laundry, tend to the weeds, plant the new rosebushes and peonies, water the grass and line up playdates, all while I take a "break" from my real job. Happy working everyone, I hope you enjoy what you do.

Can I just take a minute?

When the customer who purchased my booties a while back told me what she was planning on doing with them I thought, now that is a great idea for a baby shower cake topper! While I thought it would be cute I certainly wasn't expecting this! How great is that cake?

Thank you Etsy for opening up my little business to the world and thank you to my wonderful customers (this one in particular!) who make my creating extra enjoyable and sometimes elevate it to a whole other level. Literally!

Sidelined

It's February and things are brown, all except for the sky which has been an incredible blue and putting on a spectacular show. It has been warm too, I love warm. In response to the blue and brown, I'll be listing this new little pair of organic booties in my shop.

There is a blue and brown pair already there, but I thought I'd provide the organic option as I know how some folks are partial. These are also a little more interesting in my opinion because the yarn has little flecks of cream in it making it look oh so earthy.

We are sidelined therefore not because of weather, or lack of yarn and fun things to make. Not because it's February or Groundhog Day or a school holiday or what have you, but rather because that brave little boy I spoke of yesterday now has a fever and an unrelenting headache. And the cycle begins again.

Finally

Why is it that sometimes the easiest things take the longest to accomplish? Like the bag of donation items that sits on my closet floor for two months before I take it to Goodwill or the disco ball that's been in the kitchen since New Year's Eve (don't ask, my brother-in-law borrowed it--the fact that my husband has owned it since before we were married--well, I can only shake my head) still waiting to go to the attic.

I'm not sure why I let things pile up and get forgotten, but that's just what happened with this little bunny. Anyway, I wrote the pattern for it close to a year ago and since then have made a jillion of them, and sold them and I even sold the pattern at the market several times and fully intended to have it for sale in my shop, but it is only now that I have finally put it there. It's yours to enjoy, if you'd like to take a look at the listing, please do. Way back in its inception I had a few friends test knit it and they found it easy to follow. But of course I'm always here for questions if you have any!

In the running

Sometimes my "in box" has little gifts inside like the message I got today from Etsy Admin (what?!) that my little green hand knit bunny (pictured above) was in the running for their Holiday 2008 Best Toy Contest!! They chose 60 of their favorites to be voted on by the Etsy public and the ones that get the most votes will be in the holiday gift guides very soon. As for now, you can go vote for your favorite toy up until noon on Friday, Dec. 12th. What do you say, send a little love my way?

Click the link below to see all 60 choices and vote for your favorite.
http://www.etsy.com/voter_list.php?room_id=25

You must be signed in to Etsy to be able to vote. If you don't have an Etsy user name, they'll walk you through the steps. It's easy, painless and free!


p.s. I highly recommend the gift guides--they are a quick an easy way to see a snapshot of some of the great stuff on Etsy. I visit them often! Why not buy handmade this Christmas??

Fire and rain

The cold, rainy days are back, which means starting the woodstove back up. I have it so warm in the room I'm in right now that I almost have to leave, either that or put on shorts and short sleeves. I turned it down just so I don't drive the whole family out. The addition of a woodstove to our house has single-handedly changed my attitude toward winter. Knowing I can always go somewhere in the house to get warm and toasty is really a treat to look forward to that never gets old.

More inside time also means more knitting and crocheting, and a safe estimate is that I've made about 8 hats and 14 pairs of booties in just the past 3 or 4 days. I still have more to go to get ready for Saturday's show, but what else is new. I always want to make more than I'm actually physically capable of making.

Another fun passtime has been thinking about Christmas and ordering some favorite things from different Etsy shops. Some drawing pads and pencil rolls for the girls have already come and I'm waiting for some pouches and earrings for my nieces. There is so much more I have my eye on, but it takes me a while to make up my mind what to get. It's such a fun way to shop and a real time and gas saver too.

I'm still spreading the knitting/crocheting addiction and have successfully hooked niece #2 on crochet. I'm slowly building an army and as soon as I can get my own girls on board, there'll be no stopping us!

Friday's distractions

I shouldn't go in Anthropologie when I need to concentrate on making hats and booties and getting ready for two upcoming shows. I swear that place is so inspiring and interesting to walk into, I just can't help myself and I'm really not a shopper. Don't know if I've said that before but I'm probably the worst shopper I know. I'm a really good looker though, and I look and look, study and touch, wonder and think and then decide that I have what I need. Of course there are exceptions to that and my clothes are not from 1985, but it's quite commonplace for me to go shopping, come home, have Kevin ask me where my bags are and upon reporting that I have none, he shakes his head and walks away.

I went there yesterday (to Anthro) and of course the Christmas decorations are popping out everywhere along with holiday scents and other things that tease and coerce us into buying early. It got me thinking that I really needed to add some handmade ornaments to my shop and the ones above were just made this morning. I have grand ideas for some tiny sweater ornaments too, but we'll see what actually comes to fruition. Too many ideas, too little time.

As for the other distractions, there's a small one called the sunny and beautiful 75 degree day in November that we're currently having. The other thing that sidetracked me today was Trader Joe's. It's quickly becoming my favorite grocery store. It's little which I love because I get distracted (I'm sensing a trend) if the place is too huge, the prices are fantastic and here I mean even better than the mega chains for lots of the things I buy, and they're fast and friendly inside which is getting harder to come by and I really don't see the need for unwarranted grumpiness. It's so good I almost want to work there.

Clearly the last distraction for today is this darn computer. See you later, I'm going outside.

color part 3: water

It's been so windy I've had trouble taking pictures outside, but today I managed to between gusts.

the yarn: Sublime (don't you just love the name?)
what it is: 100% extra fine merino dk weight
how it feels: like a spongy cloud of blankety warmth (weird way of putting it I know)


Some updates: the last market was cancelled due to weather, bummer! But I'll be headed to some of the holiday markets in Charlottesville, weather and Kevin's fishing schedule permitting. Once the market was over I looked at the calendar and he'd written, "Kevin fishing" on every Saturday between now and Dec. 31st. Guess he's planning on going.

Etsy has been keeping me busy and local orders, wholesale and a show coming up. I'm also going to be participating in a holiday market on Nov. 15th that the Goochland Farmers Market is sponsoring (my tried and true favorite). And there are plans in the back of my head to slowly integrate some new hat looks into the shop. Add all that to a sleepover birthday party full of 7 and 8 year olds, Halloween and the enormous bruise/black eye on Allie from a horsey ride on big brother gone bad and there's never a dull moment.

I leave you with a random quote for the day (I just can't pass this one up): "When I'm in heaven, will I see what my soul looks like?" --Allie, almost 5

I'm getting there

I finally made myself a lightbox yesterday for photographing jewelry inside with an inexpensive camera. It only took me three months of saying I was going to do it to actually get it done. Once I saw a picture of a very low tech light box and realized it'd take me all of 10 minutes and materials I already had in the house, it was a done deal.

There is still much tweaking to do in my opinion to make the photos look better, but I'm getting there I think. At least I'm getting more detail in the shots and you can sort of see what they look like. The two above are listed on Etsy right now and I'll be listing more this afternoon.

I'm thinking of a different background color on the next go around. I'm just not a big fan of stark white. Enjoy.

New

New in the shop for Fall. It only took me 26 times to get 4 or 5 pictures of myself that were useable. And look closely, that's not garter stitch, something fun and new.

More fun with that bag full of O-Wool a couple of posts back.


Love that stuff. Now I just need to start combining colors.

the Hiccup

I was poised and ready, we'd been camera looking, lots of thought has been put into the purchase, business has been excellent and I thought I knew what camera to buy. We were goin' for it. Then, Kevin placed a call to his real estate broker/realtor brother who reminded him, "Etsy will only allow a certain file size to be uploaded." Pause. He's right. D**n. So now the research entails loading pictures to a resizer to see if the bigger files even look that fantastic still as the box of m and m's did in the store (they were incredible). The 12.2 mp pictures may look the same as those from my 6mp camera once all that is said and done. My jewelry may do just as well if I (really Kevin) make a light box and use the camera I have. Even with my current pics Etsy frequently will tell me my file sizes are too big to be uploaded. Phooey.

Thank goodness this little hiccup came BEFORE the big purchase. I'm scouring the forums on Etsy to learn all I can about resizing files, light boxes, lighting in general, etc. And, I'm uncovering and fiddling around with all the options my current camera comes with. I just want to avoid hearing this from friends, "your pictures really don't do your products justice. They look so much better in person."

All this of course requires a high speed internet connection, so I'll be at the coffee shop today while the girls are at a birthday party. Don't even get me started on that issue.

The girls

Today is the start of a new gymnastics session, one where they can be in a class together. To mark the occasion I suggested we take some pictures. Taking nice, civil, posed pictures of my kids never works very well. They don't look like themselves, someone always has their eyes closed or a goofy smile, usually Allie is moving and all blurry and they generally aren't any good. So I snap some pictures that look like that and as soon as I say I'm finished I keep the camera going and get the real ones that are all personality. I think this one is going to be a favorite for a long time.

Another new favorite is this little wallet. I used double strands of Lamb's Pride worsted yarn, the mohair is just awesome, I love this yarn. I lined it with a neutral colored Irish linen fabric and the vintage button is an antique store find. For more views visit the shop. Keep a look out for the chestnut brown one I have in the works!