Favorite Finds!

I used to try and do features on some of my favorite Etsy shops a while back and got busy with life and stopped. I need to start doing them again, so here I go!

My first feature goes to Shades of Heaven. I love this little Etsy shop which is dedicated to making handmade fabric flower pins and brooches.  Her style and designs are delightfully fresh and unique! I have bought these type of flowers from a number of other Etsy sellers and each one seems to have their own way of making their flowers a little different adding ones own personal style.

What sets this shop apart is ShaLayne's stellar customer service and attention to detail! I love her unique choices of fabrics and color combinations, along with the inclusion of those pretty little rhinestone pieces! She is very quick to respond to messages, does custom request when possible and ships it all out with amazing speed! I should also mention this isn't her only Etsy shop either! She does all this, on top of making gorgeous jewelry which I have admired for years! Her other Etsy shop is Shalayne Originals, where she makes beautiful, romantic styled pieces, many featuring lampwork beads (now you know why I noticed her work!).

ShaLayne is on facebook, stop by and "like" her page, so you can get updates on new products, sales and such. I found my latest flower brooch on her page and asked her to make me one, since the one from her shop had sold.. she did and it was to me in no time at all! Be sure to check out both of these great shops from a fantastic Etsy seller! Thanks for stopping by!

Ignorance is............

Can be bliss, but in this case it's losing money! I finally made myself sit down the other night and do a comparison of glass prices. I knew where sterling silver had been going. It was hard to miss that. But I hadn't really been paying attention to the rising cost of glass. I bought when I needed it, tried to get things on sale when ever possible, but recently a couple different sources referenced the rising price of pink glass. This caused me to actually sit down and look at what I had paid for these colors in the past. Let me just say I about fell over! One glass, which thankfully I haven't used a lot, but I do like and would like to use in the future has gone from $30.00 a pound to $85.00 a pound!

If you buy glass, you'll know that the expensive, silver laden glass can run between $85.00-100.00 per pound. The glass that just went up to $85.00 is just a soft pink, semi-opaque color, that doesn't do anything special!  Needless to say, in the future, if it is pink, it's going to be priced a wee bit higher than other beads. I also just ordered more sterling silver tubing for coring my Pandora style beads and that is about 50% more than it was a year ago. I have been making more sets of beads unlined and they seem to be getting a good response. I am still going to core some of the beads, but may just stick to doing so on larger focal's and single beads.

I have been listing beads at least once a week in my Etsy shop, some times twice. I think I have found a pretty good rhythm that works for me and allows me the time to fit in other things and doesn't wear me out. I have decided to stop previewing my beads on Facebook. I am trying to fine tune things down to only doing that which is a profitable use of my time. While I really do enjoy giving my Facebook customers the opportunity to see things in advance, this was only creating twice the work for me, so I need to cut out what isn't helping me. I'd rather have more time to do the creative part of this endeavor, and be more efficient with the necessary,  but much less fun parts like photos, editing and listing!

I am working on getting more jewelry pieces listed consistently. This seems to be the thorn in my side right now! For some reason, I just can't seem to get all my ducks in a row on this one for more than a week or two at a time! I will just keep trying. Thanks for stopping by and listening to me ramble!

Snow????

I am only posting this NOT because I have never seen snow before, or lived somewhere where it snowed, but because it is snowing here in South Central Texas! It is a VERY rare occurrence that little white flakes even fall from the sky, but when they actually collect on the ground, even if it's only a half inch, it's still quite a big deal!

My husband who works an hour south of the city in a rural hospital can't even get home tonight. They have closed all the major highways and freeways after the accident toll reached over 500! Yes, I know this is NOT the blizzard they are having up in the north, but to people who have never driven in snow before, (and are really BAD drivers to begin with) it may as well be a blizzard!

It remains to be seen if they will cancel school tomorrow. Apparently they will be posting that info to Facebook and Twitter, as well as the district website.. When I was a kid you had to listen to the radio or watch the morning news.. the school district didn't tweet or have a Facebook that you could "like" them on. I DO get the whole social networking thing.. but I have to admit I am still amazed at who has a "follow me on Twitter" or "find us on Facebook" on their package these days. Thanks for stopping by! Keep warm where ever you are, and if you live in San Antonio and don't know how to drive in the snow... please stay home... Our car insurance went up 50% just moving here if that tells you anything about the average driver here!

My Latest Creations!

I finally got myself back on my torch and spent some time working on goodies for the shop. As usual, I placed a large empathises on hearts. This time I spent a good deal of time working on some ocean/beach themed pieces. I am pleased with the results, but there is more I can do with this concept, so you will be seeing more of these in the days to come.

I made a couple of bead sets with a focus on spring. I am SO done with winter! While it is not truly winter here in Texas, it has been cool lately, cooler than I am interested in, so I am ready to see some nice spring temps!

I am working on keeping a better stock of Pandora/Troll style beads in the shop. I have been focusing on unlined sets currently, but I am working my way into some nice cored focal pieces and may possibly put in some basic spacers sets in a variety of colors and see how those do.

I continue to preview my beads on facebook prior to listing them in my Etsy shop. I try to give some notice of when I am going to be putting items up for preview. It is a bit random and depends upon some of my other life obligations which tend to not always land on the same days. The best thing to do is to just check often! I am working on some new pieces for my Juniper Gems shop. Hopefully I will have some things to start adding soon. Thanks for stopping by!

What did you get for Christmas?????

If you got one of the European style charm bracelets and need to start filling it up, I just made a whole new batch of beautiful Artisan glass beads for these bracelets. My beads will fit all the popular brands like Pandora, Troll, Biaggi, as well as any of the generic or knock off versions.

All of my beads are my right here in my home studio in San Antonio, Texas. They are properly annealed (a tempering type process), which many inexpensive import beads (China) don't do. Not annealing the beads leaves them unstable and prone to breaking, not something you'd want to have happen while wearing glass around your wrist!

The beads I make are all hand made and are one of a kind. They are uniquely my style, and although many people make similar beads, we all seem to put our own little signature on our work, which makes it something you won't find anywhere else. The name brand companies do offer beads, or charms as they refer to them, in glass, but the selection is limited and is not very unique.

I make beads that are both lined and unlined. I can line beads with Sterling silver, Brass which can be polished to a high shine or left oxidized (I think it is prettiest this way) and copper, which can be treated the same as brass. The unlined beads are perfectly fine to wear on your bracelet, but I do recommend making sure that they are not allowed to slide around a lot, use stoppers to keep them in a limited space while you fill your bracelet. Once it is full, they won't slide around very much.

Unlined transparent beads can pick up the tarnish that naturally comes off a sterling silver bracelet. You may notice that the inside of lighter colored, transparent glass beads may start to look dull or gray. This is easily cleaned. Just take them off your bracelet and use a mild soap, like dish washing soap and a soft toothbrush. Gently clean out the hole until all the residue has been removed. Allow the beads to dry and replace them on your bracelet. It only takes a minute and they are sparkling clean again!

No matter what brand your bracelet is,  your glass beads should always slide on easily. You should never have to twist or force them on. I know some of the brands use a threaded system with their beads and this is the exception. Even with those, if the threads don't line up, don't force it or you'll ruin the threads on your bracelet. If there is ever a problem with the size of my beads for your bracelet, they can always be remade or adjusted to fit properly. If in doubt about the size needs of your particular brand bracelet, you can always ask for assistance. I should be able to help you with that.

The beads shown here are available for preview on my facebook today and tomorrow and will be listed in my Etsy shop later this week or next week. I have plenty of great jewelry pieces in my Juniper Gems shop! Stop by and take a peek!
Thanks for stopping by!

Sparkling Jewels!!!

One of my latest obsessions is vintage jewels. These pretty little sparkles have been around a long time, but like depression glass, have stood the test of time. Lots of it has sat in boxes, forgotten for decades only now being unearthed and given a new life. The array of colors and finishes is astounding! I feel like a kid in a candy store... so many pretty sparkly things!

The jewels themselves are vintage, the settings are all new, which allows for some diversity in the type of metals used and finishes.  I of course am loving the antiqued brass, but I have been finding more pieces and settings in an oxidized silver, which you will be seeing soon.

I have been using a lot of these pieces in earrings, but I have also made bracelets and used them in some of my necklaces. No doubt I will be incorporating more of them into everything as time goes on! I love the look, and feel that they have and I love that little bit of history they bring to each piece I use them in.

I have been using a lot more antiqued brass lately and have plans to start incorporating some other metals soon. As of today, sterling silver is now $28.00 a troy ounce. In the year 2000, silver was $5.25 an ounce, at the beginning of this calendar year, it was just over $18.00 an ounce, it has gone up $10.00 in the past 11 months. That makes the costs of all the components I am fond of using a whole lot more expensive to me! These are cost increases way beyond what one can absorb. I have always been annoyed by the way your local gas station will raise the price of gas based upon what the price per barrel of oil that was just announced toady. It's not the price they paid for the gas you are buying now, but somehow, you get to pay more sooner. I have put off raising my pricing on items containing sterling, mainly because I have always carried a large stock of items, so I don't buy often, but I am to the end of many things and am forced to restock at record prices. So if you don't like the price of sterling silver jewelry.... maybe I could interest you in some lovely antiqued brass!

I have decided to limit my previews on Facebook to beads only. It appears that the majority of the interest lies there. In the interest of making life more efficient and cutting out things that aren't worth the effort, I will just post a link to the listing I have put on Etsy for my jewelry. You can check out my Etsy jewelry shop, Juniper Gems to see what new listings I have and my Principessa Glass shop for all of my Lampwork beads. Thanks for stopping by!

More Pretty Pendants!!!

Emily and I have been hard at work making more of our soldered glass pendants. I am finally getting more of her work soldered and listed, so you'll get to see what she's been up to. I've had her busy creating art, cutting glass, even wrapping the pendants in the copper tape that goes on before the solder. She hasn't started soldering yet... a bit of a learning curve there and I am just getting it down myself. I will get her going on that end eventually though!

It's been a lot of fun creating these! More than I had ever thought it would be. We spend hours sitting at the table pouring over pages of digital art, working out each design until it is just right. While I know some people make the same pendant designs over and over, we are just making each one once. You may see the same art pop up again, but we won't be using it in exactly the same way twice. I like things that are made that way. It's nice to offer something that is not only handmade, but unique as well.  I have been putting a soldered jump ring on the bottom of about two thirds of the pendants we are making and wire wrapping Swarovski crystals and pearls directly onto them. I love the little bit of sparkle it adds and what girl doesn't like some embellishment??

We have a nice selection of Holiday themed pieces, and an ever growing pile of witty and sassy ones. Emily has quite the sense of humor and has come up with some pretty funny pendants! I like things in life that don't take themselves too seriously, since life itself, often tends to get all too serious.. I like anything that can liven things up a bit and lighten ones mood! We try to make some that are just middle of the road.. you know, Pleasant.. fun... nice... But don't expect to find a Hallmark card... Just not our style!

My Facebook Fan page is the first place all of my listings get shown, then they are later listed in my Etsy Jewelry shop and Bead shop. Stop by my Facebook and see what is new, or just drop by Etsy to see what has made it to be listed. I do sell quite a few things directly from Facebook, so many things never are shown on Etsy. Thanks for stopping by!

So Much New Stuff!

I have so many new things to share! It's been way too long since I last put up a post, but I have been busy working on quite a few projects, with a few more things I still have yet to accomplish! I have ventured into some new areas of jewelry design. One was inspired by my Daughters amazing ability to do collage art. I was sitting in her room and noticed the note books she was required to cover for school, sitting on her bed. She had done the most elaborate and interesting collages on them! It got me thinking about all the pendants I had seen becoming so popular using digital art in many different forms, but I ultimately settled on soldered glass pendants as the right thing to work on with Emily.

I have been blown away by her creativity and the way she can wield an exacto knife! She will sit and cut out the most intricate details with great precision for hours! I feel like I am learning a great deal from her doing this project, just watching her in her own creative process. I have a few of the pendants currently listed in my Juniper Gems Etsy shop, with many more to come.

I have also started playing around with making resin pendants in various forms. It started out as something to compliment the components I have been using in the long necklaces I have been making, but I found a lot of the bezels a bit larger than what I wanted, once I bought them, so I made them into altered art pendants with a resin glaze coating. I have both silver plated and antique brass versions available.

I have been making more jewelry pieces using antique brass, and love every piece! I adore the vintage style that the antique brass evokes. It is such a wonderful metal form to work with and I find it to be very versatile. I have many more things planned with this style. I am really enjoying the vintage jewels I have been incorporating into my designs. They are beautifully sparkly and have a bit of history involved.... I always like that aspect. It feels like you are putting a little bit of a story into each piece.

This past weekend I took a class from Canadian Lampwork artist, Kerri Fuhr. I found her to be the most delightful person and a fantastic instructor! I am eager to get back on my torch and see how I can develop the concepts I learned into my own work. I am very inspired by her beautiful work. She brought many pieces with her and had a trunk show going on at the studio where the class was held. The pieces are even more beautiful in person than I had imagined. I would have loved to have treated myself to a piece of her jewelry, but since these classes don't come cheap, I had to settle for the opportunity to look at and touch them.

As I have mentioned here before, I post items on my Facebook, and I am now doing so prior to listing them on Etsy, to give my Facebook fans/customers a little advantage. If you aren't already a fan of my Facebook page, it's quite easy to become one, if you have a Facebook account. There is a link on the right hand side of the page here that has my Facebook on it, just click "Like".  I don't have set times that I list items, but I am doing so with greater frequency with the Holidays coming up.

I am trying to keep more stock in my Lampwork glass shop, but with so many things going on, it has been challenging. Plus things tend to get purchased quickly off Facebook, and often never even  make it the point of getting to Etsy. I need to post thing's here more often so my post don't drag on forever!  Thanks for stopping by!

Whats New....

Here's a peek at a few new things that are now listed in my Etsy shops. The jewelry pieces are in my shop Juniper Gems and the beads are all listed at Principessa Glass. Some of these items have already sold and some are still available.

I've been making a lot of hearts these days! I found a brass press that makes a truly awesome plump, consistent heart and I just love the results. It still takes a bit of skill to use, its not a simple load and press kind of deal, but it does allow you to make beautiful, nicely sized hearts, that are of a consistent size, with a nice crisp finish to them.

I have also embraced the trend of making beads directly onto vintage/antique skeleton keys. First I do love hunting in antique stores for these little treasures, and then of course, you know I do love making beads, so its fun then to put my own signature of sorts, on this little piece of history. I have been selling some in my bead shop and converting some into necklaces that are sold in my jewelry shop.

I have been gearing up for fall working on more organic looking beads and warm toned color palates, but I am also pleases to see the color forecast for fall has some very nice colors in it this year, not so neutral based. Lots of reds, greens, plums and purples and plenty of blues as well.

I do have an eye towards the winter holidays and have been testing out colors, shapes and designs. I will likely start offering my winter/ holiday beads in early fall. As always, I list all of my bead and jewelry listings on my Facebook within minutes of posting to Etsy. I have also started putting them on my Twitter. Thanks for stopping by!

New Jewelry Pieces!

 Finally I have made and listed some new jewelry pieces in my Juniper Gems shop on Etsy. It has taken me a while to get things together since I started selling beads online at the beginning of this year, but I hope to continue to be able to add things on a regular basis.

I made a couple of necklaces, which is a fairly new thing for me. I wanted to do something that utilized the Pandora style beads I make, but in a different way than the traditional bracelet or a single bead slid onto a chain for a necklace. When I bought a troll bracelet for myself last year, I noticed in their catalog that they had a necklace concept, kind of lariat style necklace, that is anchored with a large silver charm. I have since seen several people doing different variations on this same theme. I wanted to do something that was unique to my style, so I have decided to make my version anchored with my pretty, plump, lampwork hearts. The chains don't have clasps on them, (unless you want one) and are long enough to slip over your head. This allows you to change the Pandora style beads that come on the necklace with others you may have or if you purchase more, giving you the ability to change the look of the necklace with ease.

I am also taking some of the vintage skeleton keys I have been making beads on and making necklaces out of those. They have a very vintage style to them, using antique natural brass chain, wire and charms, as well as Swarovski crystals, pearls and anything else I think looks good!

I have some new bracelets listed, with many more in the works, all featuring my own artisan made lampwork beads. I am finally doing what I set out to do when I learned to make beads! I wanted to be able to make beads for my own designs and have them be exactly what I wanted, not buy what was available from other bead makers. I have always loved buying beads, but often times, I couldn't get exactly what I wanted, or too many of one thing, not enough of another... Now I am finally utilizing my own skills to suit my needs! I really like this new aspect! I of course will continue to sell my beads, but up until this point I wasn't making them for my own jewelry designs.

I have really enjoyed the growing relationships I have made with all the people I have met through facebook. I post all of my bead and jewelry listing there within a short time after I put them up on Etsy, so it's a good way to see what is new, quickly and easily and stay connected with all the goings on in my crazy life! If you haven't already become a fan, pop over and become one today! Be sure to stop by my Etsy bead shop Principessa Glass and see what is new, and Juniper Gems for jewelry listings. Thanks for stopping by!

Key to my Heart!

Beads... of course! Well, that and maybe a shopping spree at Nordstroms! I don't know where the time goes, but go it does! I have been distracted lately with a nice long visit from Emily's best friend Hannah, who we enjoyed for two weeks. The girls kept me quite busy, but we really had a very good time trekking all over San Antonio, checking out all there is to see and do.

On the bead front I have been making loads of hearts and skeleton key beads lately, hence the title of this post. I found an awesome bead press, thanks to a post by Marcy Lamberson, from a Gal who lives in the Canary Islands. She makes some very nice, unique brass presses and the heart press is to die for! I took a little leap of faith and bought it, since the last one I bought wasn't really all that thrilling as far as I was concerned. This one makes beautiful, plump hearts! It's not a super simple press to use, it does take a little practice to get it down, but it's also not terribly complicated. It is a bit like making a heart without a press, but this enables you to make them of a consistent size and gives them a nice crisp finish!

I have been searching antique stores for skeleton keys, which has been a bit more difficult than I thought it would be, but I do enjoy the hunt! Thankfully, Emily also likes antique stores and knows to look for keys, so she lets me know if she stumbles across a stash. I have begun resorting to buying them online, but have found plenty of sellers willing to test them for me and pick out keys that meet my preferences. Not as much fun as picking them out myself, but so far I have had pretty good success with the online purchases.

I am starting the think about fall and winter beads already. It seems odd, but if you've been in your local craft store, like Hobby Lobby, they are already selling fall decor and I have no doubt that Christmas decorations are in the stock room and ready to hit the shelves any day!

I am gearing up to get my jewelry shop, Juniper gems, back in shape in the next few weeks. I have some great new pieces planned and some new (to me) concepts to introduce as well.  I am going to try and be more consistent with my blog posts. I have just been so distracted by other life issues lately!

Stop by my Etsy shop and see some of the new bead sets, hearts and keys I have listed! Also if you aren't already a fan of my facebook page, consider becoming one, I post all my new listings there as soon as I put them on Etsy each day. Thanks for stopping by!