I've Been Tagged!

I've Been Tagged!

I was tagged by ShineLikeCrazyStudio, so now I must tell 10 facts about me. In turn I must tag 10 other blogs.

Here are my 10 facts:

1. I am a Capricorn.

2. I am happily married.

3. My favorite color is purple.

4. My favorite flower is the carnation. (Not just because it is my birth month flower, I really do love the flower.)

5. I am a modern (lyrical) dancer, a belly dancer, and choreographer. I can't act to save my life.

6. I am sometimes neurotic.

7. I love nature. Two of my favorite things to do is to walk in the woods in no particular direction and walk on the beach alone.

8. I rarely wear sneakers, except to exercise. I rarely wear socks, only stockings because I am almost always wearing dress shoes even with jeans.

9. I love the number 13. It is my lucky number. I was born on the 13th.

10. I am a science geek. I love Chemistry, Biology, and Astronomy. My ideal job is working in a microbiolgy research lab, although to this day I have only worked in a Organic Chemistry lab.

Check out these other great blogs.

http://creativecrittersblog.blogspot.com/

http://theshutterbugeye.blogspot.com/

http://simplelittlejoys.blogspot.com/

http://naturemanipulated.blogspot.com/

http://www.fantasy-clay.com/

http://www.butterfly-craftsonline.blogspot.com/

http://glassidentities.blogspot.com/

http://3zart.blogspot.com/

http://www.brokenwingjewelry.blogspot.com/

http://bebstreasures.blogspot.com/

To all those who have been tagged: Copy and paste the "Tag your It" badge to your blog, tell us 10 things about you and finally tag 10 other blogs.

Have fun!

New Jewelry Sets for Summer

Recently I have been trying to get things going at my Artfire Shop but I did have some time to start adding some new stuff.

I finally have some jewelry sets in my shop. I just listed necklace and earring sets. The sets are matching but you can buy them separately. However I am offering a deal. If you buy the matching earrings the earrings are FREE. That's right. FREE!! It is my first special offering.

The special sale also extends to my Blog followers and Facebook fans with an additional 10% off your total purchase.

Come stop in to my Artfire shop.

Celebrating June With Pearls

The Pearl is a birthstone for June. Pearls can come in many wonderful shapes, sizes, and colors. They traditionally used for jewelry and clothing adornment, but they more recently have been used in a crushed form; in cosmetics, hair products, medicine, and and paint.

Natural vs. Cultured

Natural pearls are pearls that are formed without human intervention. Cultured pearls are pearls formed by manipulating a oyster to form a pearl.

Natural pearls are 100% calcium carbonate with layers that completely coat an irritant that has invaded the mollusks body. The mollusk then coats the irritant or intruder with with many layers calcium carbonate forming a pearl with no nucleic center.

Cultural pearls have a nucleic center, another words a pre-formed center that the mollusk coats it with nacre which forms a pearl. This artificial center can be seen with an X-ray.

Finding My Own Pearl

About 10 years ago we took our daughter to Disney World and Epcot Center in Florida. While at Epcot Center we stopped at one of those places where you can open your own oyster to try and find a pearl. Not expecting to find much of a pearl since the people around us were getting tiny dots for pearls. I tried my luck. When the oyster opened I was very surprised to find a perfectly round, creamy white pearl! It seemed very large. I estimated it to be about 8mm. When we got back home I had it appraised by a jeweler. I was very happy to learn it was a natural pearl, about 8 1/2 mm, "perfect color", and gave me a price of $40. I couldn't believe my luck. A $40 pearl! I wanted to make some jewelry with it for myself but I can't bring myself to do it, let alone drill it.

New Pearls

During the blog carnival we are blogging about pearls so I decided to debut some of my new pearl jewelry.

Victorian Elegance earrings

These earrings were made with faceted glass pearls and black glass coin beads. The accent beads are antiqued silver etched.

Victorian Elegance necklace

This necklace was made with cultured coin pearls, round glass pearls, and faceted glass pearls. The accents are the same as the earrings; antiqued silver etched beads. The black beads are glass in various shapes of cube, square, and coin. The diamond shaped pendant is also black glass.

I hope to be putting this items in my shop soon, along with more jewelry sets.

I'm in a Treasury!

I finally made it into a Treasury! My first one! My Abstract Leaves necklace is featured. I am so honored.


This Treasury was made by Emburr. I checked out her shop this morning. she makes awesome pottery pieces. When you get the chance take a look! Click to see her shop.





Don't forget to check out her wonderful Treasury, Olives and Red Wine.
http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=62404

COMING SOON...

I have been very busy this month preparing for relatives, (see my blog archive for the "Travelers From Afar" post), and taking many new pictures; some of pieces already in my shop and some new pieces yet to be posted.

When I say new pieces there are not newly made. They are pieces that I have not gotten around to photographing until now. However, I have been working on a few NEW pieces. Look for new items in my shop like Precious Metal Clay, more earrings, and more necklaces.

Also I got accepted to the Etsy Bloggers Street Team! That has been keeping me busy making my way around the forum and message board. They are so many great Team members and awesome blogs! Unfortunately, I missed that last Blog Carnival. I hope my Team forgives me! I am working on my post for June.

Leaves!

It has been a while since I featured Etsy artisans. I decided to feature some artisans featuring my favorite obsession, leaves. Take a look at all the wonderful pieces!

The Lokelani Earrings

The Chrysanthemum

Crystal Fern Necklace

Tina Francis Designs

Tuscan Vine Painting

Wall Express

Origami Leaf Notecards

Lucky Stars Origami

Irish Tote Bag

Dip Your Toes

Ivy Leaf Branches Wall and Surface Art Decor

HouseHold Words

Little Birdie Mini Note Cards

Blissful Blooms Paper

Be sure to click the shop name below each picture to go to the artisan' shop to see more beautiful items! Enjoy!

I was featured today!

I woke this morning to find a message from Reana from Papier Blue. I was featured on her blog! A week or so ago I was in the Etsy forums and answered her open request about featuring artisans on her blog. She had some nice things to say about me. Lately she has been featuring alot of great artists on her blog. Check it out. papierblue.blogspot.com

On the Fringes

This is one of my favorites.

New Look For My Blog!

I have been away for blogging for a while. But now I'm back. I am excited to say I have changed the look of my blog. I was very bored with the way it looked before. But I think this theme is more 'me'. I love the minimal look!

I hope my followers are not ready to abandon me. So let me know if you're still out there and critique my new look. (I do realize there are a few bugs to work out, but I hope to have them worked out in the next few days.)

16 Things About Me

I have seen this list floating around Facebook and other blogs. So I thought I would give it a try. It also gives a little glimpse into who I am. Have fun!

If you are blogger, maybe it will inspire you to do the same. Make your list and leave a link, I'll go check it out.

16 Things About Me (in no particular order)

1. I am a Capricorn.

2. I am happily married.

3. I have a teenage daughter.

4. My favorite color is purple.

5. My favorite flower is the carnation.

6. I am a modern (lyrical) dancer, a belly dancer, and choreographer.

7. I can't act to save my life.

8. I am sometimes neurotic.

9. I love nature. Two of my favorite things to do is to walk in the woods in no particular direction and walk on the beach alone.

10. I love to get dressed up.

11. I rarely wear sneakers, except to exercise.

12. I rarely wear socks, only stockings because I am almost always wear dress shoes even with jeans.

13. I love the number 13. It is my lucky number. I was born on the 13th.

14. I feel naked without wearing rings, earrings, and a necklace everyday.

15. I am a science geek. I love Chemistry, Biology, and Astronomy. My ideal job is working in a microbiolgy research lab, although to this day I have only worked in a Organic Chemistry lab.

16. I believe that everyone has a soulmate. I'm glad I found mine, my husband.

April Artisans' Feature Week 3

This is the third week of Etsy artisan features. This week I am featuring Designs by Kari and Kreated by Karina.

Designs by Kari. This jewelry designer started when she was 10 making jewelry with her mother on Saturdays. Since then her her love for jewelry making has grown.


One piece that caught my attention right away was the Blue Turquoise Chrysanthemum Ring. This ring is a nice example of innovation in using findings in a different way. She used silver plated filigree and shaped it into a ring and then added a Lucite flower cabochon. The result was a really cute ring!

This ring is also available in other colors.

These earrings are called Angel Wings. She admits this is the first attempt using gold findings.

I think they are beautiful!

Throughout her shop you will find wonderful earrings, necklaces, and bracelets.

She also carries of few Breast Cancer Awareness pieces.

In addition to her jewelry, she also carries several findings and beads.










Come visit Designs by Kari. You are sure to find something special.

Remember Mother's Day is fast approaching.


Kreated by Karina. Her shop is filled wonderful soaps including whipped soap, soap tarts, petal soaps, and men's soap. She also carries solid perfume and lip balm.











A unique service; which I have not seen from other soapers, which she offers is Soap or Lip Balm of the Month (6 month subscription). You can even choose your own scents and flavors.

As mentioned; she sells Petal Soaps that you can buy for yourself or to promote your shop. You can have your shop name printed on the tag. What a great promotional tool for both shop owners! You can give a sample to your own customers (who will remember your sweet gesture) and Kreated by Karina might gain a new customer.
Mother's Day is coming soon. Maybe a gift or Soap of the Month from Kreated by Karina is the perfect gift for your mom. Come check out her shop.

April Etsy Artisan Feature Week 2

This week I decided to give some attention to the artisans on Etsy that are sometimes overlooked. There are many Etsy sellers and buyers that are not from the United States, but instead from all the other corners of the globe.

This week you will be getting to know two of those artisans. I post my features on Fridays to drum up exposure and business for the weekend, so check back on Friday to see who gets the limelight.

Etsy Forums

I am fairly new to Etsy myself, so I thought writing a post about a very important but sometimes overlooked part of Etsy might be helpful to other crafters and artisans.

Etsy forums are found on your Etsy navigation bar under Community. They are a place to ask for help, ask for advice, chat about business, and even promote your shop. The people that post in these forums range from newbies like me to seasoned shops owners.

After setting up my own shop and getting a blog going;( The blog took a while. I had no clue what I was doing at first.) I set out to check out the forums. The some of the topics include Site help, Critiques, Techniques and Materials, and Promotions. As first I did ALOT of reading.

(Side note: I am a researcher by nature. At one point in my like I was thinking of going into Microbiology Research. I am the type of person who thinks it's fun to go the library, pick a topic; any random topic and then find every book on the subject to try to absorb all the in formation contained in them.)

As I was saying; I skimmed around several topics and read through many threads to get a feel for the type of people that were posting. I immediately got the impression that there were others like me still trying to swim through all the information available at Etsy. Everyone in the forums is friendly and always willing to help out a fellow Estian.

The the most helpful topic I found was Site Help. The threads are mostly from people new to Etsy but others of from people just looking for some help or advise to improve their shops. I know I found it useful in making my Esty mini for my blog.

An interesting topic I saw was Critiques. It first I thought it was going to be a bunch of shop bashing. But I was wrong. Threads such as 'Critique my shop', 'What do you think of my newly listed item?', and even 'What do you think of my photos?' were represented along with others along the same vain. Everyone responding to the threads were helpful and constructive, and in many cases very supportive. What a great place to get an ego boost!

A continuing theme I found throughout the forums was 'Connections'. It is all about making connections. What I mean is the forums are an excellent form of networking. The more you read and post to a thread or many threads; the more great crafters and artisans you get to meet. In turn they can spread the word about your shop and you for their's. ( I really simplified there, so I hope I get my point across).

Now I know there are many of you out there on Etsy that may feel shy or intimidated, but the forums may be the place to break out of you shell. Remember we are all there to do the same thing, make our business's succeed. So go ahead ask the question you thought was dumb, chances are there is someone with the same question. Besides, I don't think any of us bite. (At least I have not seen it in the forums.)

Etsy Forums
http://www.etsy.com/forums_main.php