Blog Feature and New Items

Today I discovered that my large 18k hoops were featured on this beautiful blog by photographer Julie Magers Soulen.

Thank you so much Julie!  I really appreciate being included in your Friday Features!  Julie is a very talented photographer. I love her Etsy shop. It's filled with spectacular photographs just ready to be framed and hung on your wall. Go check it out! ~~~~~ New Items Coming! For most of the month of February I battled a pretty rough sinus infection. I finally kicked it only to have Kevin come down with it (as well as ear infections in both ears). Thank goodness for Amoxicillin for both of us!  Needless to say, I didn't get very many new pieces listed in my Etsy shop as a result of being sick, but I  have some new items coming to my shop in the near future. Here's a sneak peek for you! (top left) Kyanite briolette and hammered disc necklace;  (top right) Pink mystic topaz briolette and textured disc necklace; (bottom left) Smoky quartz baguette necklace in sterling; (bottom right) Labradorite smooth briolette necklace in oxidized sterling. Moss aquamarine onion briolette necklace and earrings in goldfill (top left)Lemon quartz marquise briolette earrings in sterling; (bottm left) Purple hydrothermal quartz marquise earrings in goldfill; (right) Lemon topaz twisted spiral briolette earrings in sterling. (top left) Blue hydrothermal quartz briolette earrings in goldfill; (top right) Lemon topaz briolette earrings in sterling; (bottom left) Citrine twisted spiral earrings in sterling; (bottom right) Amethyst briolette earrings in oxidized sterling. And already in my shop are these beautiful prehnite onion briolette earrings and necklace. They're just waiting for their new owner! They're not being sold as a set but are separate listings. I really do hope they will be purchased together though since they're such beautifully matched briolettes. ~~~~~ That's it for now. I hope everyone is staying warm and that the spring thaws begin soon for all of us!  I'll leave you with my little Olympian on the ice! After watching Apolo Ohno skate in the Olympics, he just had to try ice skating. He's really enjoying it! Until next time....

On Being Ripped Off

On Tuesday I learned that pictures and descriptions of my jewelry as well as other Etsy artists' jewelry were being used on some other selling sites without our consent, permission, authorization or anything else. What a shocker! None of us had any idea we were being ripped off in such a way nor did we have any relationship whatsoever with the companies in question.

Turns out these websites all claimed to sell hand made artisan products. That could not have been further from the truth in our cases.

Here's what is stated on that site:

"...a marketplace from a merchant adventurer who partners with small, independent producers for unique and original items."

He's an adventurer all right! But there was absolutely no partnership between him and the Etsy sellers he ripped off!

Another of his sites says this:

"All of our items are made by hand, unique and original items. As partners with international producers, we offer a direct marketplace to you with the service, satisfaction, trust and security you deserve."

HA! I suppose they have someone somewhere in the world recreating OUR items while using OUR pictures AND descriptions! It's ludicrous!! Oh, but it gets better! What really baffled me was that the Sundance Catalog, Robert Redford's company, was being ripped off by these guys too! Can you believe the nerve of some people???

This abhorrent spectacle was transformed by means of this Etsy forum thread which ended up having some excellent detective work going on. The Etsy community pulled together to find out who was behind these sites, what websites were involved, and who on Etsy was being taken advantage of in this way. Tweets were sent about this on Twitter for all Etsy sellers to check these sites for their own pictures. Facebook page statuses were updated with the same info; the entire Etsy community spread the word!

Now keep in mind, these companies did not have any of our actual items as they are not resellers whom we have sold to. They did not ask us for use of our content. How then did they have our items ready to ship if someone purchased OUR items from THEIR sites? Can't you just see a sweat shop somewhere trying to replicate our designs? Plus, they were selling them for MUCH lower than any of us could ever make the items for, but in no way did we consent to them using our pics or descriptions. It was blatant theft.

I took some screen shots of my own work used on their sites as proof and examples of what was found there. My items have now all been taken off their sites as far as I'm aware, thank God.

Here is a link to MY legitimate item found on Etsy in MY shop. Also, here is the original picture uploaded to my Flickr back in 2008 when I initially created them for sale.

So we called their customer service numbers only to find they had been disconnected. We emailed their customer service addresses stating we were on to them and they needed to remove all items that were used without consent. We told them they were infringing on our digital copyrights. I finally found a live chat on one site and proceeded to tell them to remove any and all of my items that had been used without permission. In the end, they finally removed my items from all three of their sites. As far as I can tell, they removed the other most if not all items from the other artists as well. At least I think they did. Sundance I'm not so sure about.

This article was also written about what transpired today.

You can read another take on the day here courtesy of the Etsy seller who was the first to learn about all this. To Bridget of Organikx, we thank you! If you had not started the now closed forum thread, who knows how long it would have gone on? Who knows how much money these people made by using OUR pictures as well as our verbiage? And who knows how many more sites are out there using Etsy sellers' pictures, descriptions, etc., without our permission?

I'm sure of one thing. I'm going to begin work on watermarking all my photos. I may never again make the Etsy front page as a result, but that's ok. At least my pictures can't be stolen as easily. 

It's not like I even make that much jewelry, but what I do make is MINE! I do the work. I write the descriptions. I take the pictures. Did they not think they would be found out? Seems like a really bad business practice to steal pictures and verbiage from little people like us who do all the work. I have but one thing to say to these people: KARMA.

What are your thoughts? Have you ever been ripped off like this?

I've ranted enough for one day. And whew, what a day!

Until next time....

Custom Orders Accepted!

I wanted to pop in and share with you a custom order necklace and earring set I just completed.

Cognac quartz briolette set - Commission, originally uploaded by msbellee.

The necklace in the set consists of a AAA quality cognac quartz briolette adorned with a cluster of petro tourmaline rondelles in shades of brown, rust and greenish gold. All the metal was oxidized sterling silver which was highlighted. The total length is 24 inches with an additional 2 inch extender.

This turned out to be one of my favorite creations to date.

I receive many requests for custom orders. Often times customers have a good idea of what they are looking for, but sometimes they only know what color they like and if they want silver or gold. It's always a challenge helping the customer come up with just the right creation from their ideas, their likes and dislikes. It's equally rewarding when their creation is finished and it turns out as lovely as they had imagined.

I truly fell in love with this set once it was completed. The necklace is bold and makes a statement, yet is elegant and feminine at the same time. The earrings are just as lovely as well and also consist of AAA quality stones. They can be worn separate from the necklace and are quite versatile in their neutral coloring.

As I have more matching stones to both the necklace and earring briolettes, I foresee another set in the future. Of course, the next one will have to be different. Perhaps done in gold or maybe given a completely dark patina. Who knows? There are lots of possibilities!

If you are ever in need of a piece of jewelry for yourself (or a gift), please do drop me a line and I will try to help come up with something just for you. Custom orders are definitely accepted!

Have a great week everyone!

Until next time....

Our Big Snow...NOT

All week long we heard about the snow that was coming. The news stations said to get prepared for it, that we would have some for sure. As always, I said I'd believe it when I saw it. I have this theory that there's a big bubble of hot, polluted air around Charlotte that prevents any snow from reaching us. That's just my opinion. But it seems like everybody else gets snow but us.

So here's what the big snow looked like at our house.

Not really enough to measure. That was really sad too as Kevin had asked me last night before he went to bed if he could go out and play in the snow today. I told him yes, certainly he could, but not to get his hopes up because there might not be enough to play in. Turned out there really wasn't enough. You couldn't even make a snowball. It was too crunchy and hard from the freezing rain and sleet that had also fallen. He was a bit disappointed.

He became really cold, really quick! Even though he had on 2 layers, a face mask and ski goggles, waterproof boots, gloves, hat, and hood, it was only 23 degrees out there and he's just not used to that. It's just no fun.

Oh well. There's always March. Some of our biggest snows have come in March. I remember well the blizzard of 1993. Charlotte got a TON of snow!! It was awesome! We can always hope!

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And now to jewelry news....

My garnet and circle earrings hit the front page of Etsy today in a beautiful treasury!

Thank you so much to CaitlinSainio of Etsy for including me! I really appreciate it!

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I hope you all have a great weekend!

Until next time....stay warm!
 

Blog Feature

Today I was thrilled to learn the wonderfully talented and successful Lara Lewis of Etsy had chosen to feature me on her blog. She makes gorgeous jewelry herself, therefore I was quite honored to be one of her favorites!

Thank you so much Lara! I really appreciate it!

Eight Years Ago...

...something happened that would
forever change my life...

...for the better.

My son was born.

Even though he came early and was
the smallest thing I'd ever seen,
he was beautiful.
He was perfect.

I had never changed a diaper before in my life.
I'd only ever held a baby once.
I had only ever had dogs and had
no clue what to do with a baby. 

But he grew. And he learned to walk. 


He learned to climb trees.


He learned to blow bubbles.


He got teeth and lost teeth.

He conquered a bicycle. 

He conquered roller blades.

I was so scared I would screw everything up.

But I think he's turning out just fine.

Thank you to all my family and friends
for your help and support.
You have helped him
in becoming a little man.


Happy Birthday Sweetpea!
You're the best thing that ever happened to me.

I love you!

I just dread when it's time for a real car.

~~~~~~