Happy Holidays!

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Missed weeks

Weeks "E" and "F" were "Eyes" and "Floral" respectively. ( and unintentionally alliterated :] )

Week "F"

Missed this one too :[ been working WAY too much this time of year - not jewelry related. might have some time to play catch-up with some time off coming soon - I hope!

Week "E"

I forget what the theme for week "E" is, and it is almost late as of now (due tomorrow). I am lacking inspiration, time and money at the moment, so this may be my first skipped project since the start over 1 month ago. I will try my hardest to get something made soon - but I cannot make a pie-crust promise, it's not in my nature. Wish me luck for the weeks to come, working two jobs for the holidays (in addition to JbE) has begun taking it's toll on me. I hope everyone who reads this is having a wonderful weekend.

Week "D" - Celtic

Yeah, I went with chainmail. Here are two pairs of earrings made of linked Sterling jump rings with glass seed bead accents. Not a lot of free time to make anything complicated this week - i worked about 50 hours at my two jobs!

Serendipity

Finished! This is the rear view mirror good luck lariat. All finished, and on time! Yay!

The stones are:
citrine quartz- protects from negative energy

green aventurine- stone of luck and chance

Suyi jade- love and protection

amethyst- dreams, love, protection against thieves

turquoise- good fortune, protection from harm

smoky quartz- cleansing, clear negative energy

rock crystal- healing, protection

new jade- bring luck and prosperity

tiger eye- good fortune and protection

rose quartz- love, inner peace

Week "C" - Serendipity

I am creating a "luck" charm for Aaron in the form of either a key chain or a lariat for his rear view mirror. I may make one for myself as a necklace or bracelet - not sure yet.

Week "D" ??

Wow - I'm rather ahead of schedule now! I'm working on my fourth project for Yr of Jewelry (haven't finished my third, but I know what I want to do with it at least. waiting on materials now). Week "D" theme is Celtic. I think my piece will have something to do with chainmail. For some reason, Celtic and chainmail seem to mesh in my mind. I think cuz the rings remind me of the Celtic knot. I'll let you know.

Week "C" - Serendipity

Serendipity - n. - good luck in making unexpected and fortunate discoveries.

Can this really be planned?? Lucky for me, I now have 2 weeks to come up with something! (pun unintentional) I do have a couple ideas bouncing around in my head though. Wish me luck! haha

Week "B" - Flowing Rivers

Yes, I am finished my 2nd week project already!! It's not exactly what I envisioned, but I am quite pleased with the result. Green beads and tan freshwater pearls are crocheted in 28 ga sterling wire. This necklace also features a Bali silver fish charm.

The wire reminds me of a fishing net, and the stones are like the green waters and stoney pebbles.

YoJ wk "B"

I'm still finishing up my wk A piece, but thought I would get a head start on wk B. my work schedule has become hectic with the holidays approaching. I have been already working more hours at my full time job (hence my lateness) and have gotten a second job for the holiday season at another retail outlet. These next weeks will most definitely be a challenge and I will need everyone's encouragement and support to stay on task. Thank you all for believing in me - you have no idea what it means!

p.s. in following with YoJ, my weeks will begin and end on Sunday, so pieces are due on Sunday, and new pieces begin on Sunday. Just in case you would like to follow along :)

Week "A" - Music

Well today is the "due date" for my first practice week of YoJ. The theme for this week was Music. I am still putting the finishing touches on this piece, but decided to post a pic anyway, just so you (those who have been encouraging me) know that I have not fallen off the wagon, so to speak. This Music Staff is a pendant, designed and handcrafted by myself. The main parts are German silver (copper core) and the piece is wrapped with sterling 28 ga wire. the "notes" are black faceted glass beads.

*UPDATED*: I finished the piece on time :) and replaced the "in progress pic" with the final product. I hope you like it!

I have decided. With the support and encouragement of my friends, both online and off, I am going to tackle the Year of Jewelry. I found a list of themes from a previous year and have challenged myself to complete a new piece each week (in order) before the end of the year to see what I will be up against. I already know that the coming up with ideas and actually creating the pieces will not be as difficult as keeping a tight schedule with it; especially since my "real" job will be picking up soon for the Christmas holiday. This is what I missed last year recovering from surgery. Needless to say, I plan to be very busy this year!

I have to say the sale went well. and I have definitely had more traffic than in the past. This may become a recurring theme. My traffic also has gone up since joining the Year of Jewelry (YoJ) forum. Still can't get the blog posting over there to work, but it'll come together. I think to post there I would have to break down and pay a subscription to TypeKey. I think I'd much rather stick to my Blogger - and LiveJournal, they have both been more than sufficient for my needs :)

This is HUGE! JbE is having our first SALE! To celebrate the first day of fall, and the grand opening of our Etsy.com store front, Jewelry by Elizabeth will be offering ALL Earrings at 50% off! Shop September 21st through October 1st for your savings! Also October 1st will bring new price drops - sign up for our newsletter for more information.

I've also been beefing up my earring inventory for etsy - please be patient with me! There's been a lot going on lately. Been able to get a little more done though since I'm on vacation from my "real" job. Also be sure to check out my Squidoo page.

I may have to look into new pewter beads for the mother's jewelry. My current supplier is discontinuing the gold tone block style. I was thinking the pebble style beads are cuter anyway - we'll see. Which would you prefer as the customer? Comment back and let me know. Thanks.

Recently I have realized I don't have much of a "signature" to set myself apart from everybody else. I promise I'm working on that. There has just been so much else going on lately that I don't know where to start. Unfortunately, Jewelry making has taken the backseat temporarily. However I am still constantly designing things in my head and on paper, just nothing physical to show yet. Oh yeah, by the way, I did get to go to the bead show at DelTech and purchased some wonderful new goodies so new things will be coming, I promise!!

I am aware that some of my order buttons are not working properly and am scrambling to get those working correctly. I also have been having issues with PayPal, so anyone who has placed an order recently (within the past month) please email me so we can resolve things. I apologize for the inconvenience, but some of this online business stuff is still new to me. I am working hard toward my web-design certification so that should help me immensely to understand where things are going wrong! Thank you for you patronage and patience. This is quite the learning experience!

I found some cool Swarovski crystals that change color under different lighting. the one pictured is called Cantaloupe (yes like the fruit). Under incandescent light and sunlight, it appears to be a peachy-tan color (similar to colorado topaz), but under fluorescent light becomes a beautiful pale green (similar to chrysolite). Because of it's unique properties, it's almost impossible to photograph! (Yes the stones in the picture are all the same stone!) I tried to play with the lighting to give an idea of the color differences. The loose crystals in the bottom right of the picture show a little bit of how the color varies.

Been quite busy with new material for the website. Finally got everything sorted out with the camera, so hopefully new pics will be up very soon. Already getting busy with orders for Christmas too! Please order early for best selection! Crystal "Rock Candy" Hearts seem to be the rage this season ;) There may also be a "weddings" section to the site soon, please check the New Items Page often. I am also currently working on a print catalogue, please email Elizabeth for information, or to receive your own copy. Undecided on pricing yet for the catalogue, may offer a free e-mail version.

Digital Camera has gone missing since I found the card reader... My deepest apologies!!!

The Oak Singers Annual Spring concert was this weekend and went very well. I have been busy preparing for that, and Mother's Day, so jewelry making has taken the backseat temporarily.

WOW!! Has it been almost a month since my last posting?? I'm sorry, been quite busy with work, and renovations and of course jewelry making. In the midst of "cleaning" and getting my spare room ready for new furniture, I found my misplaced card reader! So I promise LOTS of new pics very soon! I finished most of the birthstone colors of hearts as well, so those will be ready to go soon! Please hang tight, and I'm sure you'll be pleased with all my hard work :)

Happy April Fool's Day!

I misplaced the card reader for my digital camera recently, so I apologize that there have been no new photos as of yet. I have been very busy making new jewelry though, so there will be LOTS when I do find my reader again! Check back often for an update.

*Update* 04/02/07- I think I am going to have to buy a new card reader, and memory card for my digital =( I wasn't planning on spending more money tho.

I have noticed lately that some people who have blogs about their businesses or websites tend to blog about everything under the sun, and most of it comes out more personal than professional. I apologize for not updating this every single day, but i am trying to keep my blog on topic. You won't find many posts on here about what Mr. Lucas is doing, or how my renovations are coming along - I have other forums for those! Thanks for your patience with my procrastination.

I have more ideas for new jewelry! I apologize for making promises of new jewelry I have yet to post to the website, but I have been very busy spinning ideas out of my head! I also recently learned a weaving technique to make crystal hearts - already planning big sales next Valentine's Day (I might have to get some of my friends and family involved in the production so I can go to market with them!) Also, an addition to the mother's jewelry line was an idea for beaded mother's rings and an alternative mother's necklace. This past week I have remade a few pieces I already had in my inventory - such as a bracelet turned necklace when i realized the beads were to heavy for the bracelet to keep from turning upside down all day! Well, I'm a busy little bee, so I have to go, but I promise there will be more to come soon.

I had a great idea just now for Mother's Earrings. I wanted you to be the first to know. Please stay tuned for more information as I get the designs finished. Check the NEW ITEMS page on my site for updates.

New Items on the Website Now! Plus, I fixed the links that were not working for the shopping cart. Why didn't anyone tell me?! I've been busy making new Organza necklaces with shell pendants and hope to have pictures up soon. On a personal note, today is my birthday, and I haven't been having a great time yet, so we'll see how it goes.

The new design for the website is up and running. Been there for about a week now. New items have been added, and I am busy working on more to be added soon. Getting ready for Valentine's Day. I love the new look and I hope everyone else does as well. I might put some pieces up for Ebay auctions before Valentine's, but I am not sure yet. Check back around the first of February. Well I just wanted to put a small update since I haven't posted in a while. I go back to work Monday for half days, so I am not sure what will get done after that. (Don't forget to check out the New Items.)

I finally got my "new" computer, so I have a lot of work to do recovering all of the info I saved from the old hard drive. Some of my programs need to be reinstalled, which is going to take some time. In the meantime, I decided to redesign the Website for the new year, which is why the colors are all different now. I go back to work next week (January 22) so hopefully things will be finished by then.