Wow, look at me go! Two posts in two days, what an achievement! Here are some earrings I made recently – I love how they turned out!

Golden Dusk Earrings – made with golden rutilated quartz and antiqued brass

I think I’m feeling a little more willing to post because I finally got rid of the ‘Featured Posts’ thing at the top of the page, and put my own modified Etsy mini block there instead. So, I think my blog is looking better. I’m still not really satisfied with the header, but I’ll have to work on that some other time. So anyway, now that I can tolerate looking at my blog, maybe I’ll post a little more often!

In other news, I finally charged the battery for my little point and shoot camera, so I took some photos. The first one below… well, Snuffle demanded to be in the photo, so there she is. The second photo is of a mirror – which you might (but most likely not) recognize as one of my photo backgrounds for my jewelry! So yeah, that’s where the magic happens. Well, not exactly there, because that would be impossible. (I take the mirror down and put it on a windowsill to get better light, and that’s where I take my photos).

Also of note is the Carrotbun Bunny Brooch, currently pinned on the side of my bag. I bought it from Sherry, a fellow Etsian who has a little shop called y0omii! Love that bunny. He sends out studious vibes when I’m at school. Well, that’s what I like to think, anyway. (Please send more, though).

It has been a while! So, I’m halfway through the first semester of my computer science degree. Thankfully here in the UK, we get a week off halfway through each semester, for which I am very grateful! I’ve been somewhat managing to maintain my shop since I started school, but it is definitely not easy – so that explains the slight lack of new things in my shop recently. But I’ll be working on it this week, now I have a little free time. Here’s something I made a week or so ago – it’s made with natural undyed Turkish chalcedony – and I love it!

Haunted Moon Necklace – made with natural chalcedony and oxidized sterling silver

Anyway, not much else is going on with me. I expect this is how it’s going to be for the next four years while I’m at college – the thought of that is exhausting, but it’ll be worth it in the end. Hooray for getting an education (finally!).

Oh… and happy Halloween!

Autumn Berries – a pendant made with vesuvianite and garnet, on a sterling silver chain

Hope you’re having a lovely Saturday, wherever you are!

This afternoon we went to the Baby Buddha Teahouse – a new Chinese restaurant we discovered last week, which is only a few minutes from our new house. It does dim sum too, which is so exciting because it’s the only place we’ve found in Norwich that does good dim sum! It was goooood.

Anyway, the photo above is one of my newest pieces in my shop – and I have to say, I love it! It came about completely by accident. Funny how sometimes I’ll be wrestling away with gemstones and wire for hours and never make anything that I’m satisfied with, and then sometimes I’ll sit there and make something that I absolutely love and it seems to happen so easily… That’s what happened with the Autumn Berries pendant – I just love it. Well, you have to love what you make, right?

I’m still in the middle of packing. I say middle, but really I’m estimating that I’ve done about 5%. Or less than that. That’s one of the reason I haven’t been updating as much as I’d like. And I’ve been neglecting my poor ‘Friday Favorites’ segment, so sorry about that! I’m sure things will settle down soon what with the house move and starting college and trying to do my first craft fair and trying to build up stock for the holidays… yeah. I’m going to be busy. But I’ll do my best to keep updating. It seems like blogs are so easily neglected. You know it’ll always be right where you left it so you never bother posting. I’m sorry, blog. I’ll try to be kinder to you.

That’s all for now. This has been yet another long and rambly post. I need to work on producing better ‘content’. But I’ve always just blogged like I’m writing a diary, and it’s a tough habit to break! Anyway, have a great rest-of-weekend, and don’t forget to stop by my shop and take advantage of the free worldwide shipping until the 13th! *cheesy wink*

Firstly, I wanted to announce that I’m doing a weekend deal over at my Etsy shop! From 8/28 – 8/30, it’s BOGO time! Buy one, get one with 30% off (for the lower priced item)! Just mention ‘weekend deal’ in the message to seller box at checkout, and your discount will be promptly refunded to you via Paypal! How exciting!

Lily Pad Pendant – made with iolite, peridot and blue topaz on a sterling silver chain

Feel free to take a look at my shop – if you haven’t been there for a while, you’ll find lots of new shinies there! I’ll be listing some new items today too. I got a lot of new supplies this week, and I’ve been trying to list as much new stuff as I can – but the whole process of making something, photographing it, writing a description for it and listing it takes a long time! I don’t know how people do it, constantly listing new things! I really need to work on a way to be more efficient with my time. Especially since life is going to get even more busy for me at the end of September, which leads me nicely onto my next subject!

The Calm Before The Storm – iolite and oxidized sterling silver earrings

So, it’s been a considerable amount of time since I made a post here. I apologize for that! I guess I have a lot of things going on right now. At the end of September, I’m going to be starting my computer science degree. I’m also in the process of trying to find a place to live before I start school, and I’ll hopefully be moving within the next few weeks. Considering how quiet my life normally is, that’s a lot of stuff to happen in the space of a month! I’ve been trying my best to keep up with Etsy though, and I have been enjoying a nice little wave of sales lately. August certainly turned out to be a much better month for me than I could have expected, having listened to the warnings from other Etsy sellers about how August is always the quietest. I’m hoping I can continue to work hard on my Etsy shop while I’m at school – it just means that all of my spare time will be put into Etsy – which is pretty much what I’m doing now anyway. I used to play computer games and things, but now when I try to play something like that, it just seems like such a colossal waste of time! There’s nothing quite as satisfying as getting that magical ‘you’ve made a sale’ email, or reading the lovely feedback I get from people about my jewelry. Very, very rewarding – I’d never managed to sell anything in my life before this. I just wish I’d started back in 2007 when I first became aware of Etsy – oh well, better late than never!

Golden Erudite Pendant – made with golden rutilated quartz and sterling silver

Somehow these posts always turn into humongously long rambles. I’ll end it here – the photos scattered among this post are of some of my newest items from my shop. Hope you like them! Don’t forget to check out my shop and take advantage of my weekend deal!

I’ve been very busy lately. It dawned on me a couple of days ago that I’ve become somewhat obsessed about my shop, and wanting to make a success out of it. I’m not sure how possible that is, but I know I definitely want to do everything I can to get it off the ground. All I know is that I used to sit around just wasting time, playing computer games, reading Perez Hilton, feeling incredibly bored – and now every spare moment is spent working towards somehow improving my shop in the hope that I can make something good out of it.

So, I’ve been making a lot of new jewelry, and working hard on my photos. I’m in the process of redoing all my previous photos too, to make everything a little more consistent. It’s funny, because I remember taking photos just a couple of weeks ago, and thinking I’d taken some great shots – and now I’m getting rid of those and replacing them! They weren’t really that great to start with. I guess that’s the thing with photos, you can probably almost always take a better photo than the one you’ve got.

Anyway, that’s what I’ll be doing all tomorrow, making the most of the daylight and taking as many photos as I can. And then I’ll be making more new jewelry, and then writing more descriptions. It’s a never ending cycle of events!

I’ve been feeling good today because I managed to make a couple of sales over the weekend, which was a first for me. I love waking up in the morning, checking my email, and finding that someone bought something in the middle of the night. It’s always a great start to the day! I even felt a little more confident when I was out and about today. I was feeling like… “hey, look at me! I sell stuff online!”… lol. Well, I mean I was amusing myself by pretending to think like that, I didn’t actually say that out loud to anyone, heh. But it certainly has boosted my confidence to have had so many nice compliments recently. I’ve always wanted to be able to do something creative, which other people could appreciate – and this could be it!

I first signed up on Etsy back in 2007, and was blown away by the awesomeness of it all. I desperately wanted to be a part of it, to be a seller, to have my own little shop. I knew how to make jewelry, but for some unknown reason, I never thought I could try and sell it there. I wish I’d started selling back then, but better late than never! I used to hang out in the Etsy chat room back then, being one of those people who just had an empty profile instead of a shop on their page. People would ask me if I was going to open a shop, but I didn’t really know what I wanted to do, or thought I could do.

It’s strange to think of me back then, and now – I feel like I have actually achieved something. And I love making jewelry, I feel like it’s something permanent. In a odd sort of way, I think that if I leave nothing else behind during my life, there will at least maybe still be some of my jewelry somewhere… lol. And I don’t mean for that to sound morbid or depressing, I just mean that it’s a very satisfying thought to think that something I’ve made with my hands might be around for years and years to come.

Anyway, this has turned into quite the late night ramble. I had only intended to post a few of my latest additions! I do tend to get carried away with blogging sometimes. I guess I just find it comfortable to blog, after all, I’ve been blogging since 2002 so I’ve had plenty of practice! Without further ado, here are some of my latest pieces of jewelry from my shop. Hope you like them!

October Lantern Earrings – made with carnelian and oxidized sterling silver

Hot Pink and Violet Pendant – made with chalcedony and oxidized sterling silver

Sapphire Blue Drop Earrings – made with kyanite and sterling silver

Golden Leaf Raindrop Earrings – made with chalcedony, vermeil and 14k gold wire

There. Hope that wasn’t too much of a picture overload, but like I said, I’ve been busy! There are more new things on my shop – and there’ll be a whole bunch more tomorrow! Anyway, it’s really time for me to go to bed. Night!

(The difference being that it’s now Saturday).

Sorry about the delay. I just got caught up in taking an insane amount of photographs with my new camera! It’s a Canon EOS digital SLR thingy. And it’s not really mine, just sort of on… “permanent loan”, shall we say! (And no, I don’t mean that I stole it – it’s actually my brother’s. :p)

Without further ado, here are my picks!

Want To Play, available from studiolyon’s Etsy shop. I chose to feature this photograph purely for the reason that it amuses me! (I think it’s a bear, right? Could be a dog, but it looks more like a bear to me). I just love the little bear’s expression. No, I won’t throw that ball for you, because you’d kill yourself trying to bring it back to me. You’d have to push it back to me, dung-beetle style, and I wouldn’t want you to get a back injury – so go find a tiny, tiny stick or something, okay?

Bon Bon, The Blushing Squirrel, available from sleepyking’s Etsy shop. Look at Bon Bon’s little face! Look at it! Absolutely adorable, and sleepyking has a whole other array of cute plushies, with huge amounts of personality. I love the fabric she uses, too. Kind of retro but modern, and incredibly cute at the same time.

Deer Me, available from vireo’s Etsy shop. Ashley is a very, very talented artist who I first met in the Etsy chat rooms (where I often hang out). I loved this painting from the first moment I saw it. I just love the calmness of the forest and of course the cuteness. Eye size is directly proportional to cuteness, and that deer has big, big eyes.

So, those are my three picks of the week. I normally do five, but I’ve just been very busy trying to get my shop off the ground. It’s been a very slow week for me, sales-wise, and I’m trying not to depress myself about it. Instead, I’ve been working hard at improving my photos, making new items for my shop, and trying to come up with a plan of attack. I spoke to a very successful jewelry seller on Etsy yesterday, who I happened to meet in the chat room. She had some great tips and suggestions for me, and also gave me some wonderful words of encouragement that are keeping me going!

I’m hoping that at some point, I’ll manage to catch a break and then everything will fall into place… lol. Well, that would be wonderful. It’s what I’m holding out for, I *know* I can make beautiful, well-presented things, and there’s no reason why I shouldn’t be able to achieve some small amount of success… just have to keep having confidence in myself and what I’m doing. It’ll happen… I hope.

Anyway, as I mentioned at the beginning of the post, I’ve acquired a new camera! Now I’ve finally figured out how to use it, I absolutely love it. I always poo-poohed the idea of using an SLR camera, because I’ve always been able to get pretty decent shots with my point-and-shoot camera; it’s served me well. But as the weeks have gone by, I’ve been noticing that what my photos really lack is some sort of depth. And it’s just impossible to achieve depth with my point-and-shoot. So I got my brother to teach me how to use his big fancy camera, and now I know what I’m doing, it’s really very simple. And my photos are suddenly much better, perhaps not as crisp, but certainly more atmospheric and have the depth I’ve been looking for.

I’ve been pretty busy (for me, at least), and have got some new items up on my shop. You’re most welcome to look! But to show my progress with my photo skills, I’ll post a pic below to show you what I’ve been talking about. Hope you like! These are my Hot Pink and Violet Earrings.

That’s all for now, have a great weekend!

Just a quick post to show off some new earrings. I couldn’t really think of another way to describe the green color of the chalcedony, apart from ‘minty fresh’. So, that’s what they’re called! They’re available at my Etsy shop right now!

It’s been a pretty good week for me, and I even got my Golden Leaves treasury featured on the front page! Unfortunately, I didn’t get to see it because it was around 3am my time and I was asleep, but it’s exciting to have had another treasury on the front page (it’s my second). I tried to take a look at it in the morning, but it had already expired, so I didn’t get to read any of the new comments or see how many views it ended up with. Oh well!

My First Ever Giveaway is heading towards its conclusion – I just need 34 more blog followers before I can pick the winner! All the details are here – go ahead and become one of my blog followers, it’s all you need to do to be in with a chance of winning my lovely Raindrop Earrings!

I made another autumn-inspired treasury today, called ‘Golden Leaves’. Very pleased with this one! It was really hot today, which made me long for autumn even more than I was already. Feel free to take a look, still lots of room for comments!

I listed some new earrings today. These are very autumnal too – I can’t help it. I adore prehnite, it’s such a pretty gemstone – and looks so good against the oxidized copper! These earrings are called ‘Luminous Green Prehnite Drop Earrings’. Hope you like them!

When I lived in Scotland last year, we lived near a forest called ‘The Hermitage’, in Perthshire. I’m longing to go back there – but here’s a photo I took last October. I guess these earrings remind me of the colors I saw there. I look at this photo and I can’t believe I used to live there – Scotland is an incredibly beautiful place. Maybe one day I’ll get to go back.

Well, that’s all for now. Just another reminder for anyone who isn’t already participating in my First Ever Giveaway, you can win a pair of lovely earrings, and all you have to do is follow my blog by clicking ‘Join this Site’ in the little box in the sidebar. I just need 48 more followers, and then I’ll randomly pick the winner. More details are here. Good night!

I have a couple of new additions to my shop – firstly, my Autumn Leaf Earrings, made with beautiful golden rutilated quartz and copper. I thought about making these because to be honest, I’m getting a little tired of the summer. I can’t wait for autumn, and figured I might not be the only one feeling that way. I’m already starting to feel it in the air! These earrings are very autumnal, like golden leaves, and I absolutely love rutilated quartz.

The second pair of earrings are my Ice Blue Aquamarine Earrings. I actually sold these about an hour after I listed them last night (hooray!), but I’ve listed another pair, and they’re available at my Etsy shop. What makes these so pretty are the natural inclusions of the aquamarine. Sometimes gemstones can be a little boring to look at when they’re *too* perfect, I love these because they’re not. And I love the long, elegant almond-shaped earring wires, so pretty!

A couple of days ago, I blogged about my first ever giveaway (for all the details, go here). It’s been going very well! So far, I have 86 lovely blog followers, which means I just need 64 more followers before I can choose the winner of the lovely Raindrop Earrings! I’ve been really pleased with the response so far, and I’m so happy that people seem to be really excited about winning the earrings! Yay! Looking forward to choosing the winner – if you’d like to be in with a chance of winning, it’s so simple to enter – check out my giveaway blog post for all the details!

Yesterday I had to go buy some fabric from my nearest city, Norwich. It’s a medium-sized city in Norfolk, which is in the east of England and about 18 miles from where I live. To get to the fabric shop, you have to walk across the oldest part of the city. It was a beautiful sunny day, so I took my camera with me.

Scarlet Drop Earrings – made with garnet, tourmaline and oxidized sterling silver. These earrings match the Scarlet Pendant I made the other day, but would look amazing just on their own. I love the color of the garnet, it’s so intense!

Midnight Pendant – made with labradorite, iolite, tourmaline and oxidized sterling silver. I’ve made a couple of these already, both of which have sold. They’re not identical though, of course – and I particularly like how this one came out!

Anyway, that’s about all for now. Watch out tomorrow for details on the giveaway prize, and how to enter! Enjoy your Saturday night!