Across the Universe

The last few days I've been finishing up a bracelet for the Team NorGa May project; the theme is Sun, Moon & Star. I wanted to do something really over the top not only because I loved the theme but because I wanted a really good challenge for myself. I decided to make a massive charm bracelet where everything would be hand-crafted i.e. the bracelet links, the jump rings, the clasp, any headpins, except for the beads. I did end up using some ready made wire stars but other than that, anything metal is hand-crafted for this bracelet.

Originally I was going to do over 100 charms but after seeing the growing pile when I got to 88, I decided to go with that. I think it's loaded quite nicely so I'm glad I stopped at that nice round number.

Here is a photo of the base bracelet, sterling silver s-links connected by sterling jump rings:


Here is a shot of all the charms and bead dangles before I started connecting them to the bracelet base:


And here is a shot of the finished bracelet:


I have posted it to the Etsy shop but it's marked reserve for the Team NorGa May challenge. Once everyone's submissions are up, they will post them on the Team NorGa blog to vote on and you can win prizes for voting!

Time to eat your veggies!

Peas and Carrot earrings are currently featured in an Etsy Treasury all themed around peas and carrots! It will be viewable through Saturday.

Oddly enough, it was one month ago today the amber grapes were featured in a treasury. We'll see if our luck holds true on June 20...stay tuned!

Freebies, testaroos and lots of bead dangles.

Tonight I packed up two regular orders to ship out. One was for an Etsy shop seller that I first met through Twitter and bought some of her fantastic thank you notes...so if you order from me, you'll be getting a thank you note from LazyLightningArt's shop!

The second was for another Etsy shop seller who is also part of the North Georgia Etsy street team (Team NorGa) who found the Deep Ocean earrings and pendant in the new sale section of the shop. HendricksHearth has a variety of handcrafted and also donates 10% of her sales to Heifer International!

I like to include something fun with orders that go out so whipped up a test pair of classic "Grapes" but with a twist, putting them on blue niobium earwires.



Hubby said it made them look more like flowers that way but I think once you had them on that earwire as the stem illusion would disappear. I just really like how simple the earwires are, how comfortable they feel and how architectural they look.

I spent the rest of the evening working on my entry for the Team NorGa May theme which is space. I'm doing a bracelet that is 100% handmade except for the beads that are involved. The base of the bracelet is hammered sterling silver and I even made the jump rings! I had to stop for the night though because the 100 or so dangles and charms that are going on it started to wear me out. I will finish it up tomorrow night and get some photos posted.

Custom Order Craziness!

I've decided I love doing custom orders. I've done two necklaces this week for folks who basically said, 'just make it match my earrings.' To clarify, these folks are also dear friends or friends of dear friends which to me makes it that much better to create for them.

The first is for my Aunt Mary Ann who is one of the most energetic, upbeat people I've ever met. I would describe her as magical, plus she works at a toy company! How cool is that? This necklace is to match her Crazy Moon earrings.




The second is for a friend of my crafty friend Katey who just had a birthday. Katey knew her friend would love the new Peas and Carrot earrings and wanted a necklace to match.



So all that being said, if you have an idea for a handmade jewelry piece you would love see translated into reality, please let me know!

A little Etsy shop cleaning.

I decided during the organization of my office and work area and subsequent cleaning out of my jewelry case that I didn't want to carry around so much stuff and I also think it has been in there awhile! I created a sale section in the Etsy shop and deactivated quite a few listings that I think I put in there when getting the shop going but since sold those pieces offline so no use having them in there at this point if I'm not going to make another set, etc.

So get in there and take advantage of my compulsive nature to store things for awhile and then resulting need to have them gone right away!

Click here to view the new sale section in the Seedlings Etsy shop.

Haul from the bead show!

I think I have enough raw materials to keep me busy for months at this point but couldn't resist the Intergalactic Bead Show in Atlanta this weekend. Here's a sneak at some lovely beads you'll be seeing in my work:

My favorite of everything, some very funky amber that looks like tree trunks. I'm a sucker for amber but I love finding little bits of things in it too:


Carved jade:


Yellow glass chunky beads:


Click here to see the rest of the photos on Flickr!

Wedding Anniversary Weekend Sale in my shop!

Hubby and I are celebrating our wedding anniversary this weekend so to share the love on May 16-17 everything in the shop is BUY ONE, GET 50% OFF the price of the second item! (Discount is given on equal or lesser priced item, excludes custom orders).

To receive discount, you can complete payment through PayPal and I will refund the sale amount or I can revise the invoice. Sale counts for multiple items too (for example you want to buy four pairs of earrings; two would be at normal price and the other 2 of equal or lesser price would be discounted).

Please contact me with any questions!