A First! (for me anyway)

Well, I finally made something that wasn't a pair of hoops! Don't get me wrong, I love hoops (and I did actually make some more), but these were a first for me.

I made these earrings using AAA quality rubellite tourmaline microfacted ovals and solid 14K gold wire and findings. I was totally thrilled with how they turned out!

The stones are marvelously rich and sparkly, and extremely clean for tourmaline. And the gold is...well...it's real gold! Yay! :D

At first I was very nervous about wrapping with high karat gold, but I jumped in and did it. I'm really quite pleased with my results.

The little open marquise link at the bottom is solid gold as well and adds just a nice little touch to make these more fun and flirty. They're about 3 inches long and quite elegant. I just love them!

I have quite a few pieces made and pictures taken, but I haven't gone through them all yet (what else is new?). That's the hardest part. They'll be in my shop soon though (I hope). I'll give a sneak peek here first though. My shop is running low and the holidays are upon us! I have to get stocked up as best I can and still have a life!

If you're interested in these rubellite earrings, feel free to pop on over to my shop. You can find them there!

I hope everyone had a great weekend. This week is Thanksgiving and we'll be going home to the mountains to eat turkey and see Granny and my family! (It's Thanksgiving already, do you believe it?!)

Have a good one! Until next time....

More Hoops

I just had to pop in to show you these. I fell in love with them after making the because they're just so darn fun and pretty!

Citrine briolettes with tourmaline rondelles on
oxidized and highlighted hand forged and
hammered sterling silver hoops.

(I'm really getting into hoops.)

You can find these in my shop. Stop by and check 'em out!

400 sales!!

400 sales!! Woohoo!, originally uploaded by msbellee.

My Etsy shop hit 400 sales today!! Yippee!! Happy dance all over the place!!

I was silently hoping to hit 400 before my two year anniversary of being on Etsy which is tomorrow (Monday). However, I didn't foresee selling two more pairs of earrings by Monday which would have made 400. I thought I had done very well to come as close as I had by this morning which was 398 sales. I was very satisfied to have reached that amount and quite thrilled! But to my astonishment, five pairs of earrings sold this afternoon and put me over the 400 mark!! Talk about blown away! I thought I had clicked on the wrong shop when I checked it this afternoon!!! I'm not kidding! I thought "did I click on someone else's store? This can't be right." But it was! And I'm so very, very thankful to each and every one of my customers and just pleased as punch you all helped me reach my goal!

To all my customers, every single one of you all over the globe, thank you so very much from the bottom of my heart. You have made my day and filled me with such joy at having a successful little shop. It gives me such a feeling of accomplishment that I can make jewelry people like and that you continue to support my shop.

Thank you, thank you, thank you!! Thank you so much!

Have a fantastic week ahead everyone!! :D

Until next time....

New Pieces in My Shop

Just wanted to pop in and let you know that I've added just a few new pieces in my shop.

I have some gorgeous smokey quartz twisted spiral briolette earrings in goldfill. There are at least 2 of these available, possibly more if I can get more briolettes.

These are some really, really lovely light aqua chalcedony in a puffed diamond shape. They just glow! These are also in goldfill. There are at least 3 pairs available in this style.

The last thing I have added is a pair of pretty coin pearl and amethyst marquise briolette earrings in sterling. These are so elegant. There's only one pair of these available!

And last Thursday to my surprise I was on Etsy's front page!!
11.13.08

I can't thank the curator of this treasury enough for including me in her list!
Thank you so much PrettyinPoisies!

That's it for now. I hope everyone is well and has a great weekend!

Etsy on Good Morning America!!

Did you get to see Good Morning Amercia this morning? Wow! Talk about some great air time and free advertising for Etsy!! It was fantastic!!

The segment was all about finding a job and GMA was hosting a job fair in Atlanta. Etsy apparently participated in that job fair. I was really surprised but thrilled to see the great big orange Etsy sign plastered all over national TV! A woman in Atlanta was searching for a job. While she kept getting turned down for jobs all over the place, she decided to put a couple of her own paintings on Etsy. Two of them sold within two weeks! Hooray for her! And hooray for Etsy for getting to be displayed all over the TV screens of America for a big portion of the segment!

Nothing can beat free advertising, and Etsy got a good bit of it today. Way to go Etsy!

A Thing of Beauty....

Check out this earring! There's something to be said for quality construction and great artisan craftsmanship, huh?!

This gold, pearl and emerald earring was found by Israeli archeologists beneath a parking lot excavation site in Jerusalem. Its beauty is literally timeless as it is supposedly around 2000 years old!!! Now that's quality construction! I can only hope that my jewelry will last a lifetime, much less 2000 years!

I bet the designer of that gorgeous earring never expected it would last for centuries. How proud he/she would be to learn their design stood up so well and remains intact in present day. It could stand on its own alongside any of today's luxurious creations. It certainly stood the test of time.

"A thing of beauty is a joy forever...."

...literally!