Woohoo!!

Woohoo!! Gonna toot my horn here for a minute!

When I returned home yesterday afternoon after running some errands, I checked Etsy only to discover that my "Twirly Slide" earrings were on Etsy's front page!! Yay!! I almost missed seeing them there but I got an email from the very sweet Katja Adams telling me I was up there! Thanks Katja! And thanks Etsy Gods (as Cindy of Starry Designs calls them)! It was a thrill!

During the front page appearance, I got 24 new hearts and sold that pair of earrings! That's a whopping amount of hearts for just two hours or so. That particular pair of earrings received over 700 new views!!! Wow! When I have done main showcases (lasting 24 hours), I have acquired as many as 17 hearts, but that's for an entire 24 hours. The front page appearance was less than two hours maybe, I'm not really sure. That just goes to show you what kind of exposure you really do get by appearing on the front page. A LOT! And I'm very thankful for it!

Also appearing on the front page was the wonderful "Shop Clementine". Cassie is a wonderfully talented designer and I've admired her jewelry for quite a while. We have both decided we want to do the front page again really soon!! :D

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I also wanted to update you on Kevin. He started getting sick again while at Granny's for Easter. On Sunday his nose got stuffy and he got all clogged up. He didn't start running a fever though until we got back on Tuesday. I kept him out of school on Wednesday and his fever went up to 100.7. I made an appointment at the pediatrician and when we got there that afternoon his fever was 103!!! They gave him some more Motrin and did a strep culture. It was negative. His ears had some fluid but were not infected. His nose of course was inflamed and impossible to breathe through (they took his temperature under his arm). They did not put him back on an antibiotic and said this was probably viral. We were to go back in 48 hours if he was not better.

Well, he was still running a slight fever as of yesterday afternoon although his nose had slowed down and he was feeling much better. I still have him out of school today since he's not been 24 hours without a fever yet and they don't want them to return otherwise. But today he's improved even more, so maybe this time it will be just a quick virus that doesn't linger forever and ever like usual.

Poor guy. I really feel for him. When he was brushing his teeth Tuesday night I was looking at him and imagining how it must be for him. He looked at me with his toothbrush still in his mouth and said "why do you look so sad?" (I wasn't aware I looked sad.) I told him I just felt sorry for him being sick all the time and I knew it wasn't any fun being sick. He just shrugged his little shoulders like "oh well, c'est la vie!" Such a cutie. He's feeling so much better today so I think the worst is over.

(This was taken at Granny's while we were there.
Don't you love his sunglasses?!)

Well, that's it for now. I'll be putting up some more of pictures soon.

Until next time....

I'm Still Here

Sorry I've been away so long. Life happens! I promise I'll update you soon on what's been going on while I've been gone. I had the flu, Kevin got sick again, and I'm just really tired. But more later.

I had to share this picture of Barney with you. He sits in the window and looks out (and sleeps) while I work on my jewelry or on the computer. That's his spot. Well, today I noticed that his nose was all smushed up against the window and I just laughed, it looked so funny! Luckily, I was able to snap a picture of it (with my new camera that I'm still undecided about, but more on that later). I had to share it, it's so funny. He has a pointy nose anyway, but I had no idea it bent like this!!

I'm slowly trying to get back into the swing of things. We're going to the mountains for Easter so hopefully I'll have some good pictures to share. I hope anyway. The camera does well outdoors, but not so good indoors. I've been struggling trying to take pics of my jewelry with it too. It's not at all what I thought it would be. I did take a really cool shot of the pearls in four handknotted pearl bracelets I finished for a custom request.

The pearls came from my favorite bead store, Beadlush, here in Charlotte. They have the most awesome pearls as you can see. They always come through for me, but I can't say that for the camera so far. It's the one I said I wanted, the Canon S5 IS. But it takes lousy pictures at ISO 200 or above due to so much noise in the pictures, so taking indoor shots is quite challenging. I've tried keeping the ISO at 80 or 100 and still I don't know if I'm too happy with it. It does great macros except for the shadow that the lens casts around the subject.

That's it for now. I will leave you with a picture of a my newest favorite pair of earrings I created this week. They are bright aqua chalcedony with multi circles in goldfill. I just love them. This picture was taken using my good ol' Olympus. I still love that camera, but don't love the spots it makes, the slowness of it or the lower resolution. I'm just really torn now on what to do. Well, here they are.

And on that I will say to you all, Happy Easter!! May the Big Bunny himself leave lots of Cadbury Eggs in your basket!!

Featured on WickedlyChic!!

Tonight I learned that my 'Lemon Ice' earrings were featured on WickedlyChic.com's Daily Ditties for March 2! I was so tickled!!

Thank you WickedlyChic! It is much appreciated!! :D