Dead Cow in my Mailbox and Burning Armpits

First, I thought you should know that the Tom's of Maine brand lavender deodorant has scalded my armpits. Really and truly. They are red and splotchy and hurt like hell. Now for the saddest part - after this happened today, I remembered that I have bought this product before and had the exact same result! D'oh.

Secondly, since you were all so kind as to join in on my shoe buying adventure a while ago, I thought you might like an update...

The Converse shoes I ordered for Carlos are adorable - I haven't tried them on him yet because he's asleep but they look like they might be a little too big, which is fine because he will grow into them.

The Simple shoes, which were listed on shoes.com as vegetarian, are made of SUEDE. Real suede, not synthetic. There is a little animal hide icon on the label and everything. I am totally disgusted and obviously did not even try them on - they are going straight back. Blech. (So yes, girl least likely to, you were correct when you commented in my original post!)

I love the Merrells but they are a tiny bit too small so I'm exchanging them for a half size bigger. I hope those fit - they only come in regular width as far as I can tell and I think my feet might actually be a little wide, who knew?

Now these little beauties, which I have been calling the sexy grandma shoes in my head because they remind me of something my grandma would have worn, are hot. Unfortunately, they too were a little too small, so I've reordered them as well. Now I just have to figure out what to wear with them!

And with that, I officially resolve to not spend money on shoes for a very, very long time.

Is it just me, or does Carlos seem less than enthused about the life path I've chosen for him???

Lots of Little Tidbits

Whew! I just spent a couple of hours getting caught up on listing things in both my bead shop and my jewelry shop on Etsy... it feels good to get some serious work done, and my shops are now showing a more full array of my actual inventory. So go take a look!

I also came up with a fun idea today - I'm going to start a monthly giveaway of a $25 gift certificate, good in either of my shops, which you will register to win right here on my blog. Finally - a reward for putting up with all my blabbering! I haven't quite figured out all the details but most likely I will post near the beginning of the month and you'll just leave a comment or something to enter... check back near the beginning of September to possibly win a prize, and I promise I'll have it all set up by then.

Here is a new wire wrapped ring I made the other day... when I received these turquoise cabochons I was a little disappointed because I was expecting them to have more of the dark matrix I tend to like best in turquoise, but then I started thinking about how nice this smooth, light finish would look in contrast to the oxidized wires of this ring design, and as it turns out I think it turned out pretty darn nice!



I also made this pair of spinel hoop earrings just for ME. I don't do that too often but I needed to do some practice work on this design and, well, you know how much I love these beads, so I figured I should have something made out of them to keep for myself.



The spinel rondelles are clustered almost the whole way around the hoop, just leaving enough room for your earlobe, so the look when worn is an endless loop of chaotic gemstones, tiny sterling beads, and sterling silver wire.



The first time I played around with a design similar to these was with these junior bridesmaids' earrings, and I liked the effect. Ever since then I have been imagining an even gemmier interpretation, which is what led me to these. I used pre-made sterling silver hoops but I am not totally happy with that aspect - they don't seem to keep their shape as well as I'd like, and with all those clustered gemstones, it's a little hard to fasten the hoops closed. I think I will play around with making my own heavier gauge, hammered hoops to use as a base next time.

And finally, I have a couple of new types of beads in stock. Both are new to me - hemimorphite and Brazil chrysocolla - have you ever heard of them before?

Chocolate and Jewelry, What Could be Better?

I am happy to report that after many years of veganism, I have finally found a brownie recipe that is as good as the non-vegan version.* Matt and I are in heaven. Here's the recipe.

(* I feel like that sentence implied that non-vegan versions of most things taste better than vegan versions, which is not the case, but over the years, a few things have been difficult to recapture in vegan form - cheese is one and brownies are another...)

Also, last night I managed to carve out a couple of hours to make jewelry while Matt and I watched a movie, and here's what I came up with.

I have had these spinel beads for a week or so and have been dying to work with them. I made some earrings and a ring. Spinel has always been out of my price range in the past but I lucked out and found a deal recently. Isn't it gorgeous?

I've also been wanting to work with these delicate little citrine cushion briolettes. I don't normally use gold, simply because I don't really feel able to invest in all the supplies it would take to have a fully stocked gold supply section (jump rings, clasps, earwires, all the different gauges of wire, an assortment of chain, etc. etc. etc.), but I recently bought just a small amount of chain, wire, and a few clasps for a custom bridal order and I had some left over. I thought the gold would look pretty with the citrine, what do you think? It's simple, but very delicate and feminine.

And finally, here's a very basic but fun ring, similar to the gemstone rings I've been making, but with Swarovski pearls instead.

I know, I have a problem.

I bought more beads yesterday. I was able to get another strand of ametrine marquis briolettes and two strands of iolite pear briolettes, both of which sold out within 24 hours the last time I listed them. I also got these yummy Peruvian blue opal nuggets and delicate little garnet briolettes, plus some awesome smooth sunstone rondelles, which I will not even post pictures of since I only bought one strand and they are all mine!



As much as I love playing with beads, I've been feeling a little frustrated lately by my lack of time for actually creating things. Filling orders (both for jewelry and beads), plus keeping track of Carlos, has been taking up all my time and I really miss just being able to sit for hours at a time and make some incredible, intricate, crazy piece of art. I hope that doesn't sound whiny - I'm grateful to be making sales - I just miss making stuff... {sigh}

New Beads (Again) !!!

More beads!!!

Andalusite briolettes

Citrine briolettes

Hessonite garnet rondelles

Labradorite 'rice' briolettes

Prehnite briolettes

Now I need to spend some time listing them all in my shop! I haven't even listed everything from my last shopping excursion...

Some Custom Pieces

Here are a few custom rings I've completed in the last few days.

Vasonite & Sterling Silver

Labradorite & Sterling Silver

Peruvian Opal & Sterling Silver