A whole bunch of new pieces!

Hi out there,
  Are we all gearing up for Christmas or what?  It's now into the crush of holiday gift buying, traffic and general frenzy.  While I have done some shopping, I really have to hit Wal Mart, which gives me the heebie jebbies.  I have to be ready to go into battle for that one.  Kaylynne, my horse-crazed 6 year old daughter, wanted the Butterscotch animatronic pony for Christmas.  $99 plus tax.  Ahhh, no.  Did I ever expect to get a $100 gift from my parents?  No.  So, I found a cute one that is similar and smaller, $45.  Still expensive, but at least it's in the ball park.
   The Jungle Gym cafe fair was pretty lame.  There were a ton of vendors there and it was super slow.  Apparently there were even less people there than typical for a Friday afternoon.  So, I worked, as usual.  Guess I didn't have to stay up until 1 am the night before working on stuff.  Well, at least I did that work and now I can do more!  I always meet nice ladies who do cool handmade stuff.  I made my buy in, mostly because the owner, a super buffed chick named Tonya, came by and bought stuff from most of the vendors, it seemed.  I guess she felt bad!!  Cool thing is that she got me to use my Pay Pal account for the first time.  Very easy, awesome.  Send an e-mail, get paid.  Nice!
    On that note, if you have a Pay Pal account, I can send you an invoice and you can just pay on-line. Quick and easy.
    This past weekend, I went to Julian with our friends Arika, Mike, Alexander and Kaliope.  We had a really nice time.  The weather was gorgeous, the pie out of this world, the mine tour really cool.  AND, on our way home, fabulous hubby let me stop by a little dive in Santa Isobel that had tons of cool rocks!  I went crazy of course, and bought 33 rocks. They are so cool though, and could make so many awesome pieces of jewelry.  So, watch out for the funky Jaspers and names I can't pronounce.  I loved the Sodalite...anyone heard of that? Its an amazing deep blue. 
    On that note, please enjoy perusing the following update on pieces.  Some have been sold, but of course I can make duplicates.  Thanks for reading!!

Sarah



Blue freshwater pearls. 30

Full view.

Close up view. Byzantine chain maille.Silver and copper color links. 40

Handmade hearts. 20



Orbiting danglies.  15

The next photos are little girls earrings.  All 10




 



My flower clips.  10

Back to ladies earrings..etc.

Sapphire blue crystal chandeliers 15

Beautiful Jasper. 10



Showing necklace doubled with attached clip with hanging chain. Below is shown long without clip

Also Jasper. 35



Close up view.  Eternity knots, midnight blue beads and crystals

Full view 40

Gold and silver chain maille bracelet. 28



Heavy silver links.  Bracelet maintains beautiful twist by being a roll-on.  Black ring is stretchy to allow for easy on and off. 35

Funky, fun ring. 8

This watch is sold, but I can locate a watch face for you, or you can provide one and I can design the band. 40

Purple crystals. 10

Pink princess. 10

My Christmas tree design. 12

Hearts. 12

More Christmas tree colors

I got these coins at a tiny market in SF China town.  Very cool. 12

Cloisonne beads, really pretty. 10

Crystals dangle and sway. 15

These cages are very versatile.  Any color wire, many types of necklaces, a wide range of stones.  I have more with words or just natural shaped polished stones or petrified wood. 35

Handmade wire cage for stone

Another funky ring. 10

Me setting up for my open house



Some of my necklaces on display



Handmade by "sewing" seed beads and crystals. Very time consuming, intricate process. 50

 

Pink crystal orbits. 12

Amber iridescence.  12

Simple, gorgeous hoops.  Any color wire, crystal. Hoops can be made to a custom size. 15

 

 

More loopy cuffs, as I call them.  Again, wire color, bead color can be made to order. 30

 

Double flower chain maille, gold and silver links. 25

 

Very light,delicate pendants with crystals. 20

20

One way to double.  Wire capped Chinese beads and fresh water blue pearls

Full view. 40

First home party, first open house!

Wow, what an amazing weekend!

I guess this was my "stepping out" weekend.  My dear friend, Natascha, hosted a party for me on Saturday night at her house.  A nice group of very sweet gals came over and we had a lot of fun, chatting and drinking some lovely wine.  We didn't even get around to the jewelry part of things until about 1 1/2 hours into it.  I had a couple glasses of wine by then, so my "presentation" was probably not the best.  They were super sweet though and very complimentary. I sold some really nice pieces that I personally love.  Now I need to make more!!  I liked that it was really intimate and cozy.  I got some great tips from Casey, who also makes jewelry, about locations to sell.

Sunday was a whirlwind between church, sitting in part of a business referral meeting at church (I met a cool glass artist..love her work!) and prepping the house with holiday decorations and setting up all my stuff.  Some was gone, so I had put together my "red book" with photos of all my pieces I had made.  I call it the red book because it's bright red.  Ha.  I do need some serious help with my photography though.  Its so hard to get jewelry looking its best on film!  I know next to nothing about how light works with the photos, staging, etc.  My friend Wende might hook me up with her beau, Bill, who is a pro.  It's definitely an area which needs improvement!

Sunday open house was really fun.  I had a lot of visitors who came, chatted, drank, ate suuuuper yummy PB chocolate balls (yes, chocolate salty balls) and brownies.  I felt like I was going to pass out without some real food after a while.  Most people liked something and made a purchase, or ordered something from the Red Book, so the photos were helpful after all.  I have never had so many custom orders to fill so I am really excited to make people happy with their requests.  Supply was a bit skimpy towards the end, so that is a good sign!  But I do need a breather to build up more stock. 

This Friday, I will be at the Jungle Gym and Cafe from about 1 pm to 6 pm. It is located in Santee, at 8711 N. Magnolia, Suite 300.  They are having a Christmas craft fair.  Kids play for half price, $5.50.  It is a cool place with a different spin on indoor play places.  It has more of a fitness aspect to it with classes for both kids and adults, open space for net games, scooters, air hockey etc.  I am going to be focusing on producing some more girls' items this week such as wee dangly earrings, hair clips, fun head bands, and maybe some necklace/bracelets if I can figure out how to make them kid proof! 

So, now that I have done my open house, I want to update with photos of the new stuff. I am having some technical difficulties with posting the photos now, so I will do it when I can.

Thanks for reading and  for your support.  Happy Holidays!!

Sarah