New Necklace!

I'm thinking of doing a double strand of chain for this necklace... its not entirely done yet. Still, I'm totally digging it! I'm calling it my "rock garden" necklace cause all the silver loops look like little rocks or pebbles.

UPDATE: I created an Etsy listing for it this morning!

Good Morning, Friday!

Time of Day: Late morning
Clothing Status: Pajamas
Motivation Level: Low
Agenda for Day: A haircut. A meeting at Girls Write Now. Shop for paper table cloths for my boss. Catch up with some jewelry orders. And then, plan for the party my roomies and I are having tomorrow. Whew!

Okay, time to get out of my pjs and have some coffee....

Warm and Fuzzy Scarves...

I found these rich purplish pink scarves at a street fair this past weekend. They were just too cool to pass up, so I bought a few and have been going all out with some funky embellishments!

I washed 'em first, cause I was worried that they might bleed a bit. Here they are drying on my shower curtain rod...

I've always liked the look of reds and pinks next to each other. I think it all started with my first apartment, which had a wretchedly ugly bathroom... which I jazzed up with with pink walls and a thick red stripe around the middle. Fast forward a bit, and here I am detailing this scarf with some funky red suede hearts...

Too Gorgeous to Even Comment On....

Vacation

One of the perks of not having a full time job -- lots of time to take vacations. Of course, not lots of money with which to travel luxuriously, but, no matter. As long as I'm on the road and seeing the sights, I'm happy.

I'm doing a 12 day tour of the wild wild west -- it started in Vegas, where the buffets were plentiful and the weather was wonderfully steamy. Then i traveled out to Zion Park, dipped down to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, back up again through the vermilion cliffs, down into Flagstaff and the South Rim of the canyon. From there, I'll be heading up to Monument Valley, Moab, Arches Park and finally Salt Lake City. Whew!

The sky out here is huge, the sunsets gorgeous and the scenery breathtaking. It just doesn't get any better!!

Expo Aftermath

Thanks to the lovely ladies at Dress for Success, I was able to have a little set up at their annual conference this week. It was a lot of fun, and I met a bunch of DFS staffers from around the country and the world. The big seller of the day was the caviar line -- the necklaces and earrings sold out within the first hour.

Pics are a little dark, but you can sort of see the sweet tables that my wonderful father created for me. They fold flat and, aesthetically, they are really different.
If you look closely, you can see the nature-y theme I was going for -- jewelry was laid out on driftwood, stones, and twigs.

Some of the pieces were laid out in empty jewelry boxes that I filled with black beans. The silver really sparkled against the dark background.

Another Pic from the Fabulous Photo Party!

I've been in a jewelry whirlwind lately, trying to get stuff prepared for *maybe* a couple of holiday shows. I'm completely intimidated and worried about doing a show -- afraid I'm gonna invest tons in materials and time, and not get any sort of payoff. It's not uncommon! But I know that there's potential there to have a good amount of sales, so I just need to dive in and learn from my mistakes.

Photo Party!

I had a little photo-party today. It was about as lame as it sounds, but I did get some good images out of it. Sometimes I think I'm getting better at the photography thing, and other times I do a terrible job with the lighting and everything is out of focus and I just think, "I suck." Today was a little more towards the "getting better" end of the spectrum.

These new wood hoops are quite fab- simple, understated, not trying too hard to be fashion-y. Just a simple, natural look.

Its All About Brass and Copper

Maybe it's the change in the weather. Or maybe I'm just getting tired of polishing silver and want to work with a metal that's supposed to look kinda dark and aged. Whatever the reason, I've been really digging on some funky copper and brass components I scored, and I've been turning them into earrings, necklaces and yes, dare I say it, bracelets!

I'll be posting some of these on Etsy later this week, if I can get my act together. The making is so much more fun than the photographing. Thank God for Michael Borders!

Possible Display Layout??

I got this great driftwood the other day, and I'm really liking the way that the glass looks arranges on it. It has a sort of fairy tale appeal, like it was laid out by little forest-dwelling creatures.

Feeling those fall colors this week

I took a break from silver last week to make these glass earrings and necklaces.... And I'm really happy with the way they turned out.

The "fall" colors weren't deliberate, but I'm kinda thinking they're appropriate for the season.

I'm getting a little better with my glass soldering techniques. It's a very different process than working with silver. And attaching the jump rings to the top of each piece can really make you want to pull your hair out -- but I learned a few helpful tricks from some Etsians and it's made a world of difference!!

A Whole Mess of Silver

Picked up the pendants I made for my friend's wedding yesterday. Man, they look fab! They've got this beautiful gloss to them and are just so eye-catching.

Yay!

I reached 200 Etsy sales today... My goal was to hit this number by the end of August and I did it with a couple days to spare!

No time to celebrate though; I'm stocking up for the holidays and working like mad on some new pieces. I've got so many ideas, I'm overwhelmed with thoughts about what I want to start working on first.

Longitude Earrings - Delicate Hoops in Silver, Brass, and Copper

I just finished a few pairs of these earrings -- of course, I had to create a pair for myself! I wore them today and I'm loving them. They are so long and swishy, really fabulous. I feel like a celebrity in them!!

I'm calling them my Longitude earrings, cause they remind me of learning about latitude and longitude back in elementary school geography class!

A Custom Order

I love making custom pieces! It's so exciting to create something tangible from a client's ideas. This one is for a friend who's getting married; she's giving it to her bridesmaids.

I'll be picking up the sterling version from the casters soon... but for now, here's the still-in-progress wax model:

Working with glass today

A long necklace with sterling squares and a hand cut glass charm


Another very simple piece -- I'm digging on the memory wire...

Sprout Is Going On Vacation....

It's August, the time of year when most everyone in NYC escapes to the Hamptons. I, however, prefer my vacays to be a little more exotic... so I'm going to Tennessee :) Considering the differences between NYC and TN, this trip kinda could be equated to traveling to a foreign country. Only not as glamorous.


I'm hoping I'll return relaxed, refreshed and with some new ideas for the 2007 Sprout holiday line!