The Beauty of Spring Challenge

Lately everything I have created has a spring theme to it! I am taking photos of bulbs coming up, creating greeting cards in shades of pinks and lime green, and creating jewelry with the same inspiration. Even though fall is my favorite season, nothing beats the anticipation of spring!


I recently received this gorgeous selection of beads from Artbeads. What inspiration! I fell in love with floral glass pendant first, then selected other beads I thought would complement the pendant. When I received my order, I was not disappointed!

Here are some pics of my final creations. First I created the necklace using the floral bead as my focal point/pendant. I added some Swarovski peridot bicones to hold it in place on the decorative headpin. The necklace was created with 4mm faceted glass rondelles in pink and olivine and matte glass beads in white.



I created some coordinating earrings from some pink and white swirled glass bellflower beads, peridot Swarovski crystal and a decorative headpin. They are finished with fleur de lis motif leverbacks. I think this makes a nice set.




Disclosure: The Kalera floral glass focal bead, peridot Swarovski crystal, pink glass bellflower beads and the 4mm pink and olivine glass faceted beads were kindly provided free of charge by Artbeads.com, as part of the Artbeads.com blogging program. The author of this blog has not received any payment from above-mentioned company. The post above represents only personal opinion of the blog author.

To see more selections from Artbeads you can click on these links: lampwork glass beads and pressed Czech glass beads .

New Jewelry Creations

Here are a few of my latest creations!


I just created this hematite chip necklace last night with a mother of pearl shell flower pendant. The second necklace features cherry quartz nuggets, sterling silver mirror ball beads and Swarovski crystal bicones. It was a special order for a customer that bought the bracelet and wanted a necklace to match.


My mom has a bracelet that I made with funky black and white striped furnace glass. She wanted a necklace to match, so I gave this to her for Mother's Day. The pendant is Swarovski crystal with a sterling silver bail. Mom wears a lot of black so this necklace will go with lots of outfits. I wish I had one too!


Here are a few pair of earrings. The unakite earrings are earthy in autumn colors. I sold these at my etsy shop pretty quick. The second pair features harmony jasper or peace jade with Swarovski crystal. Finally there are some pink and green dotted earrings with lampwork beads and a green and white dotted version. Fun for spring or summer! Saving the best for last is my latest creation with one of my favorite stones, rhyolite accented with olive Swarovski crystal!

New Pretties!

New earrings I've been working on!

Win These Swarovski Earrings!

Visit the Ky Bluegrass etsy team blog for our latest giveaway.

Each month an artist from Kentucky donates an item for the giveaway. This month I have offered these beautiful Swarovski crytal & sterling silver earrings, valued at $17. They are one of my most popular designs and are also available in my etsy shop.

Details about the giveaway are at our team blog, but it's really easy to enter. The deadline to enter is January 31 and the winner will be announced on February 1. Remember you can't win if you don't play! So visit our team blog and while you are there, check out our talented Kentucky artisans.

New Sparkly Creations!

Visit my etsy shop to see my new creations!

Earring Giveaway - Bluegrass Team Contest

It's time for the Etsy Team Bluegrass monthly giveaway! The prize this month is donated by Whimsy by Mari. All you have to do to win this fabulous pair of earrings is visit Mari's shop then leave a comment on our team blog. Visit our team blog for the contest details.

One comment will be chosen at random on January 1, 2009 to win these beautiful earrings.

Remember, you can't win if you don't enter!

First Etsy Sale

Still reeling from the great turnout at the holiday show on Saturday, I opened my email on Sunday morning to find that I had my first sale at etsy. I did a happy dance down the hall and gave my husband a high five. I have been listing my inventory slowly and working hard on promoting my shop. I wondered when/if a sale would happen. I realize it takes time and considered that maybe people don't want to be your first. (For example, at ebay I would hestiate to buy from a new seller) I was so excited when I saw the email. A pair of my holiday Christmas tree earrings sold. Woohoo!

Not long ago I made some purchases from etsy to see how the process works when you are a buyer. What I noticed is there wasn't a lot of communication. I didn't get a confirmation from the seller when I placed the order, when I paid for the order, etc. This was a good exercise because I realized how important it is to communicate with buyers. My first buyer may get tired of hearing from me, but I certainly plan to keep the lines of communcation open.

I was curious about how she found my shop. I am in KY and she is in PA. I asked her about it and she told me that she likes shopping with etsy and she had purchased some holiday earrings last year from a particular shop. Her friend wanted a pair like them and she went to the original artist and found the shop was no longer on etsy. She then did a search for "Swarovski crystal" and "Christmas tree" and found a bunch to look through. She told me that mine were the "nicest and a good buy." And because they had a green bead at the top and all the others were red, her friend liked those the best as green is her favorite color. I thought that was a cool story!

Part II

The buyer received her earrings on Wednesday and emailed to say she wanted a pair for herself too. So Wednesday night I made another pair, posted them and sold them. Thursday I shipped the second pair to her.

It reminds me of my friend Lisa. When we see something that we love, we buy it for each other. And then we buy one for ourselves too. I know if I love it, Lisa will love it too!

Another treasury!

Wow, another great treasury of handcrafted items from B.E.S.T. (Bluegrass Etsy Street Team). Way to go team! To see more Kentucky crafted items, go to etsy.com, then search for "teambluegrass" to see all of our items. My earrings are the blue striped glass earrings in the top row.

Special thanks to Libby of AurorasGarden for creating both treasuries this week. Check out her handcrafted shea butter rosemary soap! I just love the smell of rosemary and peppermint!

Earringpalooza

Last night we watched Pan's Labyrinth. I bought the movie when it came out on DVD and have not had the opportunity to watch it. My husband is not a big fan of subtitled movies but agreed to watch. It was rather violent at times but I liked the fairy tale story. I am sure next time, my husband gets to pick the movie.

Before the movie, I set aside some time last night and created some earrings as I needed a birthday present, and besides that, I just needed to make something!

Here are a few things I created...it was a rather productive evening!

blue dichroic glass

pink candy striped furnace glass


purple crazy lace agate

peridot Swarovski crystal

sterling silver fleur de lis

mother of pearl and golden shadow crystals

blue lampwork (a pierced version this time)

Blue Lampwork Earrings

Just created these clip on earrings for my mom, who refuses to pierce her ears! I was not thrilled with the first set of sterling clips I bought as they were too flimsy. I bought these because they were made well, but am not wild about how big the flat silver area is at the top. My mom says they are comfortable and that's all that matters, right? She has a matching bracelet with the same blue lampwork beads and sapphire crystals.

First Etsy Shop Listing

I finally did it! I posted my first item to my etsy store front. Hopefully this will be the first of many. Now that I have everything set up and my policies listed, I hope it will go a little faster for the next listings! I really had fun taking pictures of these earrings. Love combining photography with my art!

Have a look.

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=13433448

Pretty in Pink Lampwork Bracelet & Earrings Set

I love this set! A friend of mine spotted the pink dotted lampwork beads at a bead show in Cincinnati. Unfortunately, there was only one strand. I paired them up with a frosted white glass beads, some Swarovski crystal AB bicones, bali silver spacers and a heart toggle. Very romantic!

Amethyst crystal & sterling leverback earrings

I began experimenting with a new camera shortly after I created these earrings. I am pretty happy with the results but need to work on the shadows in the background. These are glass beads with a sterling silver bead cap on the bottom and Amethyst Swarovski crystal bicones. I really like lever backs as a way to dress them up a bit!