Now Open for Business!

My new Etsy shop, Principessa Jewels is now open for business! I put a few listing up today and will continue to move listings from my old shop, Juniper Gems over to the new one. It will take me a while to get everything all in one shop, but eventually it'll all be done.

I've been adding a lot of new jewelry pieces, especially the vintage jewels. I have some new bracelets to be listed this week and some really cute necklaces. These pieces are so much fun to wear. These aren't just for those "dressed up" occasions, although they are great for that. These pieces look awesome with a simple t-shirt and jeans, or a simple dress. I love being able to put a little sparkle into everyday life.

Here in Texas sparkle is Queen! You don't have to look hard to find anything and everything embellished with a little bit of bling! I learned very quickly that if you are going to do sparkle here.. then you DO IT! Let's just say it's not a subtle little shimmer.

I've been working on getting more beads in my other Etsy shop, Principessa Glass, but that has been slow going! I did just list three new sets of Pandora style beads, and I will hopefully torch another time or two this week and get a few more things done. Stop by and check out my new shop! Thanks for stopping by.

What's in a Name????

Plenty, they say! Who's "they"? I guess that depends on who you ask, but marketing experts will tell you a name for your business means a lot. I already know mine is too complicated to pronounce, but I traded that for having something that had meaning to me and a bit of inside humor.  My Lampwork glass shop is named Principessa Glass. I thought long and hard about a name for this business. I considered many versions that were a play on my jewelry shop, named Juniper Gems, which has been in place for several years, but nothing had a flow for me.

While I was building my lampworking studio, which was a costly endeavor, my husband was also in school, finishing a degree in nursing. One day I jokingly told him during a conversation about my "needs" for more lampworking supplies, that if he would just get a job, I could afford what I needed to get! (This was in jest!!!) He responded with a smirk and said..."you are such a Princess!" I replied "Thank you!".....

Now, a few months later, while trying to come up with a name, this conversation popped back into my head.. I started playing with it.. Then I took it a little further.. My father is Sicilian and one of my all time favorite movies is "Life is Beautiful", where the main character calls the woman he is in love with and trying to win the affection of, Principessa (Italian for princess), throughout the entire movie. The rest kind of fell into place for me. I told my husband the name, he smiled and said.."yep.. that's it!". 

Now, to make a long story even longer....(I'm good at this)... I have two Etsy shop with names that have nothing to do with one another, which was fine with me until now. I am working on selling my Jewelry and some of my beads locally and need a singular name, so I am moving my jewelry shop and renaming it Principessa Jewels. It will still feature my handmade jewelry using my own artisan made lampwork beads, and my latest obsession, vintage jewels. I use the vintage jewels in combination with the lampwork and alone.

I have the shop set up, but have not yet moved my jewelry there. I will be doing so over the next few weeks in a slow steady stream. Please stop by and check it out!

Gone To The Birds!

Have you ever thought that maybe one or both of your parents had..."Gone to the birds?"... You know,  a bit off the deep end, so to speak.. or literally..actually... now was a total bird nut! It started years a go when I was growing up, I just had no idea how far it would actually go. First it was bird hunting with our Chesapeake Bay Retriever. They both were pretty good, actually brought back some ducks, even a goose as I recall. Of course as a kid I had a limited appreciation of these events. I think I was mostly grateful I wasn't forced to go along under the pretense that "It would be fun".

Later in life when retirement came, it turned into making bird feeders, many trips to the bird store to buy the feed, special containers to store the food to keep pests out... Books for identification... the binoculars never got put away.. you just never knew when you might need a closer look  to be sure you got the right bird name. Words like Bush Tit became commonly spoken... more bird houses... too many to use... Let's paint them and give them away.... They were both involved now!

Dad has always played around with woodworking. He did some furniture building.. My lampworking table is a piece of his handy work.. He did some work with gun stocks called checkering. He acquired more and more tools and bigger pieces of equipment... then he got a lathe... This was the beginning of all thing turned. I could go on about this slow slide into insanity, but I'll just get to the real point of my post. He has taken all these years of bird/wood obsession and turned it into an Etsy shop called Pacific NW Woods. He is offering his own hand turned and finished bird calls. There are other possibilities beyond birds as I am to understand it, but... as I said before.. the man has really gone to the birds!

Stop by and see these beautiful functional works of art at his new shop. You can even send him a message, but don't expect a 100 word response like you'd get from me.. he's not quite as chatty!