Giveaway!!

I think it's been quite a while since I had a giveaway here on the blog, so here goes!  I have these lovely little earrings.  I'm not sure what the beads are, though... I got them as a freebie with an order, and they were unlabeled.  I've tried unsuccessfully to get in touch with the seller, so they could be glass, amethyst, or even something else!  At any rate, they are lovely, and they COULD be yours!

The earrings are about 1" long from the bottom of the hooks, which are sterling silver, with a sterling silver spacer.

Aren't they pretty?

So, to win... just leave me a comment here, and tell me your favorite thing about spring.  I am ready for spring, for a variety of reasons, the most pressing being that I am ready for winter illness season to be OVER!  My 6 year old is home from school today due to a cold, and I am more than ready to be germ-free.

Leave a comment, and if you share on facebook or your blog, leave another (and link if you can) for an additional entry (you can only get 2, but if you want to share multiple times, that's fine with me!).  This contest is only open to US residents, and ends on Sunday night!!  Have fun, and good luck!

Where I'm headed...

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that I'm having a little creative block.  I thought that once I got back to designing a few things that it would let up, but so far it hasn't (or perhaps it's this nasty cold that's holding me back... I'm not sure!).  At any rate, I've been working on things, and enjoying it, but there's just something missing.  And I think I know what it is.

Clay.

I miss working with clay.  I feel like I've been so focused on making ornaments with polymer clay, that I've been stuck not doing as much as I want with it in other areas.  SO, this year, I'm going to do MORE.  I'm going to try some new techniques, and really try to expand myself.  I hope you all will stick with me on my journey - I think it's going to be fun!

In the meantime, I made this bracelet yesterday, and it's available in my Etsy shop.

Those are vintage lucite barrels that I picked up at a local bead shop, with a big pewter toggle clasp - pretty, huh?

Before and After

So one of the things that I really wanted to work on this year was streamlining my business.  I'm taking another class this spring semester, and may be headed to graduate school in the fall, so being organized is really a necessity.  As you can see from the photographs, this was NOT happening.

The first thing I did was replace that white drawer set with something on wheels.  This is right next to some built in cabinets, and with those drawers there, we were not able to get into that cabinet whenever we wanted, without dragging those drawers out, which was a pain.

Then, I had to go through all of the old drawers, and figure out what to keep or toss, and then organize.  They had kind of become a catch-all for various other craft projects that needed a home too.

In this first drawer, I have most of my shipping and packaging supplies in the front basket, and some miscellaneous craft supplies in the back basket.

In the next drawer, I have stringing materials, and wire - fiber products and ribbon in the front, and beading wire and regular wire and tools in the back basket.

In the bottom drawer, I have all of my completed products.  I have five storage boxes for all of my jewelry, and I have everything separated out by seasonal, earrings/rings, bracelets, and necklaces.

I also cleaned off the desktop, as you can tell.  I sorted beads, findings, etc, and tossed some trash.  I was able to move all of my tools in to that built in drawer on the desk, and was able to get rid of the green drawer unit that I had in the "before" pictures.  All of the stuff that is sitting out on top of the desk is stuff that either needs to be photographed, listed, or remade completely.

I'm using that mug to hold my paintbrushes that I use for my clay stuff - that's not all of them, certainly.  Part of the reason I have them there, instead of with my clay stuff is because they often just fall to the bottom of my clay supply bin.  I'll dig out the rest here shortly.  That mug was given to me when I graduated college (the University of Arizona - hence the big A), but the handle has a big crack in it, so it's not suitable for holding drinks anymore.  The little bowls in the corner there are good for holding beads while I'm working.

So, there you go!  It took me about a week, but I got it done, and I'm really happy with it.  Maybe someday we'll live somewhere where I'll have a little more space, and I can organize my beads better, but for now, I'm happy with this work space.

Creative block

Hey, everyone!  As you can see by my post title, I've had a good reason for being quiet around here... I have had a serious creative block.  I think I was a little burned out... I think I mentioned that my son had to have surgery at the end of November, and between that, finishing my class (with an A, thankyouverymuch!), the boy's 6th birthday, Christmas prep, and all of those ornament orders, I was just toast.  But I'm slowly getting back into the swing of things, and I'm hoping to try out some new stuff this spring.  In the meantime, I'll share a couple of bracelets that I hope to have listed soon.  Well... the agate and amethyst bracelet will have to be re-strung - the clasp won't stay shut, and I'm waiting on some new ones that I ordered.  I was pretty bummed, since the clasp was super cute, but these things happen sometimes!

I really love this second one, lol!  I almost kept it for myself.