Lately I’ve been dreaming of branching out into metalsmithing. I was seriously excited about it a couple of weeks ago, I had that new hobby excitement – I was going to be a metalsmith, I told myself! Anyway, that was before I realized that it’s just not a possibility for me right now. I was hoping it would be something I could do on a small scale to begin with, but it looks as though you need a lot of ’stuff’ and also a lot more time and space than I currently have. Not to mention that I would ideally need to take some metalsmithing courses! So, I’ve put the dream on hold and have penciled in ‘be a metalsmith’ for 30 years from now, when I’m retired… lol.

Anyway, I’ve recently discovered an Etsy shop called ThirtySixTen, which is run by Amy, a self-taught metalsmith. By the look of things, it’s already a huge success! And of course, I am incredibly envious of her skills. It’s inspiring to know that she’s self-taught, and that it is possible! She also has a great blog which is definitely worth a read here. Here are a couple of my favorite things from her shop! Seriously thinking about treating myself to the iolite ring. Not sure if I can resist!

I finally put a treasury together! I couldn’t think of a good enough title in time, so I settled for ‘Winter’s End’. I was trying to think of nice way to describe the change from winter to spring, which is what I was trying to show in my treasury – but I ran out of time and the little treasury title bar popped up – and well, when that happens, you just have to type whatever you’ve got in there. Anyway, here it is!

I was delighted to rediscover mincingmockingbird’s shop the other day. I saw those lovely bird paintings and immediately remembered MMB as one of the first Etsians I met in the Etsy chat room. Well, I’m not sure if we actually chatted, but I remember at least marveling at all the awesome bird paintings. They’re just so cute. I’ve always loved those tiny little birds. Remember the Disney version of ‘Aladdin’? I always loved Princess Jasmine’s bird house – with all the little birds. Yeah. Anyway, ever since I saw that as a kid, I’ve always loved those tiny little birds.

Anyway, I listed some lovely new earrings in my shop today. Pretty pleased with the photos. I’ve been struggling with my photo backgrounds lately, not knowing whether to go bright and springy or listen to my gut and stay with dark and mysterious. Anyway, I like how these turned out. They’re made with amethyst and oxidized copper.

That’s all for now, it’s time for bed. Good night!

In my last post, I mentioned I would be getting an ad put into the school newspaper. Well, here it is!

I decided to promote my Folksy shop in the ad, since Folksy is actually based in the UK and people are more likely to buy when the prices are in the correct currency (I wish Etsy would hurry up with the currency conversion thing!). Anyway, it was very exciting to see the ad in the paper – I think it turned out very well! What’s amusing is that it appears right beneath the big sex survey they did at my school. Nice… lol.

It’s been a stressful week, due to various exams, essays and demonstrations – and I’ve been quite busy with my shop, too. It’s been a lot to juggle! I made it more stressful for myself than it needed to be by writing an essay which I thought had to be done by yesterday, when in fact it’s not due until next Thursday. But at least I’ve got that over and done with, and I have most of the next week off. So I can relax and chill out now – hooray! I’ve got some new supplies, and I’ve made a little list of things I’d like to make over the weekend, so you should be seeing some new things soon! One thing I’m particularly pleased with is a necklace I made – it’s adorable – although I don’t think my photos do it justice. Might try and take some more photos over the weekend. Here it is, the ‘Aurora Sky Necklace’ – made with a very shimmery labradorite briolette and little tourmaline and iolite rondelles.

Anyway, that’s all for now. I’ll leave you with Snuffle’s paws.

The print below can be found at gemmabear’s Etsy shop. The neat thing is that she actually lives in Norwich, just like me!

Valentine Print – You Are My Favourite

I love all her illustrations – the characters she creates are always are so endearing, quirky and sweet. Check out her shop for lots more awesomeness.

Anyway, I’ve been working hard on creating some new items for my shop, which will be listed tomorrow. Also, I’m doing free worldwide shipping in my shop right now (until Monday) – so feel free to take a look! Hope you’re all having a great weekend!

The last couple of weeks have been insanely busy for me! It only finally came to an end about thirty minutes ago, when I returned from the post office after sending a huge amount of packages!

And now I can finally begin to acquaint myself with my 4 week Christmas break. Hello there! It’s strange for me, because before I went back to uni and before I started my Etsy shop, I didn’t have much to do. Ever. I had quite a slow pace of life and I felt very lazy. It had been like that for several years. I guess I’m just in a reflective mood right now, and I’m thinking about the year that’s almost gone. I feel good about it, because unlike many of the previous years, I feel like I’ve actually achieved things this year. I’m on my merry way to actually being able to make something of my life. So woohoo, go me!

Anyway, the point I was making is that I have 4 weeks before I have to return to uni for the spring semester, and I’m feeling like it’s going to be difficult to wind down and relax. Whenever I get a spare moment and I’m just trying to do nothing, it’s a mixture of guilt and panic – I start asking myself what I could be doing that would be more productive – and I do that instead. That is so not me… lol. I guess it’s the new me. But I will try and chill out – but I’m very aware of the fact that my Etsy shop currently only has 17 items in it! Argh! I was featured in the Friday Finds promotion last weekend, and that kept me very busy! I’m almost grateful that the item the Etsy admin chose to feature was one with a not-so-great photo, because I don’t think I could have coped with all the orders if it had been one of my super-shiny-awesome photos! Last time I got into a Friday Finds promotion, the admin chose one of my favorite items with a really good photo I managed to take (somehow!), and I got *extremely* busy with orders after that.

I’ve definitely realized that I need to be better prepared for Christmas on Etsy next year – I really made it hard on myself by not ordering enough supplies in advance. Like, jewelry boxes. Never run out of jewelry boxes! Or ribbon. Or tissue paper. Or actually *anything* you need… lol. Great advice, huh? But yes, it has been a little stressful, but everything’s done now… and I only have one order to send out tomorrow.

Oh – and if you’ve ever been a customer of mine, I’d just like to say thank you. And give you a big hug! I never thought I’d be able to make or sell anything, but this year has changed everything. It’s given me a big confidence boost, and I’ve met some lovely people through my shop and have had so many wonderful comments. So yes… thank you!

I don’t like to have photoless blog posts, so here’s a photo. It was taken in the summer last year, and it’s of Norwich Cathedral. They began building it in 1096 and it wasn’t completed until 1145! Norwich actually has two cathedrals, but the other one is much more depressing and grandiose – I like the one above much better. Anyway, now there’s a nice photo, I can go and try to relax. Wish me luck!

I’m always happy when someone picks an item from my shop to be in their treasury, but I was ecstatic to find that the lovely lunalove had not only featured a necklace of mine, but named the whole treasury after my shop! Even better, the treasury was a gorgeous one, and even better than that, it made the front page of Etsy last night! I was SO pleased about that. It had been weeks and weeks since I’d been on the front page, it’s a very rare occurrence for me. I can’t imagine what it must be like to be picked several times a week for the front page! Anyway, I was lucky enough to get a some sales from it, and so it’s turned into a pretty good week for me on Etsy. Here’s the treasury!

Not much has been going on here, really (apart from school). I’ve been trying to add more items to my shop in the last week – but it’s been difficult to fit the time in. But I have less than a week of school left, so I’m really looking forward to being able to chill out and make some new things. Sometimes I look at my cat, Snuffle, and I’m envious. For example:

She just lays around. It’s so unfair.

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!

Got some great news yesterday, I’m being featured in The Storque (in the Weekend Deals article), which will be out later today! These are the earrings that are going to be pictured, hopefully the photo is so alluring to everyone that they’ll just have to click on it and check out my shop!

Poinsettia Drop Earrings – made with garnet, pearly green glass and oxidized copper

I’m very excited about it because it’s the first time I’ve been in one of the Etsy Finds articles. I’m hoping to get some sales, but if nothing else then at least it’ll be great exposure!

Anyway, feel free to stop by at my Etsy shop – I’m doing 20% off your final order all weekend!

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*