Look what I got on Etsy

OK. So isn't that gorgeous?!!??! Back off. It's mine. And it arrived today and it is lovely. And it made my awful cold that less awful. I got this off of Etsy from my friend and fellow artisan, StonesandStarling. It is absolutely gorgeous and of the highest quality craftsmanship. Go check her out and get your own goodies!

Happy Birthday to Me, Happy Birthday to Me

Happy Birthday dear Meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee, happy birthday to me!

Um...in case you missed the memo, it's my birthday. I'd like to take a moment and thank my mom for going through labor with an almost 10 lb. baby. God bless you.

I'd also like to thank my dad for being well, my dad. :)

Birthdays have always been big in my family. Not necessarily that we've always had huge parties. But that they were always acknowledged with at least a cake, a song, and a dance. Well, maybe not the dance. :)

The three days between Christmas and my birthday were like torture growing up!!! Now, not so much. Ironically, I kind of miss the torturous feeling that came with being a child now that I'm "grown."

I found a couple of people on Etsy who share my birthday and wrote them a little happy birthday message. It was fun to do :) Don't think I stalked them. Etsy has this cute feature that lets you look up people by birthday on their birthday.

Other notable (at least to me) Dec. 28th birthdays - Denzel Washington and James Blake (he actually has the same birth date).

*off to get the munchkin out of bed and ask what he got me for my birthday*
hopefully, it will be a 3 hour long nap this afternoon ;)

here's to hoping!

Hope you are enjoying the season!

Hi all! Hope you are enjoying a happy holiday season. I am but unfortunately I have a cold. Therefore, I've not done much of anything but lie around and drink tea and cough copiously the last couple of days.

I was hoping to be more productive than this but I just don't have the energy. It's going to take all the energy I have to turn 28 tomorrow. ;)

I did however read about this awesome site called IllustrationFriday.com where anyone can submit drawings weekly. I think I will submit one soon. Maybe I'll post it up here. Give you a little taste of my non-jewelry skills (or lack thereof - you be the judge).

ACK! ON. FRONT. PAGE. RIGHT. NOW.

ACK!!! If you go check Etsy's homepage RIGHT NOW (3 PM EST), I'm on the front! And I actually saw it! I just walked in the door after being out with the munchkin. Put him down for a nap and said, let me go write one of my customers. So I go to log on and BAM! There it is.

Woohoo! I actually SAW myself on the front!!! I'm so giddy right now!!!

Santa's on his way...

And he's carrying baskets! ;) What, isn't that how the song goes?

I just realized that I never posted up individual pictures of the other two basket designs from the original three. These are the Apple Picking Basket Necklace and the All My Eggs Basket Necklace. I didn't get around to posting them before they sold! Don't worry. They are back in the shop. I've made more. :)

The holiday season has been good to me. :)
I've also put up some different color flower baskets in the shop. Go check 'em out!

Woot! Woot! Front Page

Hello out there! Well, I can't believe my good fortune. I made it to the front page on Etsy again! I think this is like once a week for the past two weeks! Even more exciting, the piece (apple picking basket necklace-third picture from top in the middle row) sold as a result!

And no, I did not see it (once again) while it was on the front page.

I really like the look of this treasury because while it was red and green in the holiday spirit, it was not the traditional forest green. The curator for this group is the lovely SewCrewel . She makes pretty sweet crewel art as well as other goodies. She has been one of my faves for a while now which makes it that much nicer to know that she respects what I do as well. Go check her out!

Oh, and if you want your own Apple Picking Basket Necklace, look no further than here!

Spiral Rings Galore Times Four

One ring too many right? Yeah...one ring too many. ;)


These were part of a custom order. You too can have your own spiral goodness!
How, you ask? Why, just let me know, and I'll make one for you!

The Cage Caged Bird is in the shop

So after doing a little market research (don't know how scientifically sound it is - I really just was excited about having a poll :)), I've decided to add the cage frame shape to the shop!

With 103 votes so far, it leads the pack as the preferred frame shape. This does not mean I will stop doing the others though.

You can find this sweet little birdie here. Only 10 more days until Christmas! wow.

I was on the front page!

So one of my trees (bottom right hand side) made it to the front page again on December 11th! And again, I totally missed it. lol. I'm not complaining though (well not much). It is such a rush! This wonderful grouping was curated by the equally wonderful heidiburton. She was gracious enough to provide me with this photo. Thanks Heidi!

Without further ado...The Still Life Series!

So I finally am pleased enough with my new works to post them. Welcome to the Still Life Series! Otherwise known as the basket necklaces. :) I created these gorgeous little baskets (I LOVE them. I'm sorry. If I can't boast on my blog, where can I?) using sterling silver wire wrapping and antiquing.

I envision so many possibilities for these!!! I've only listed one so far. That would be the Flowering Bloom Basket Necklace in the second picture. It's also available in a bright finish.

Thanks for your patience! Hope you like them as much as I do!

Dang! This is some kind of record. I just listed it like two hours ago and it already sold! Woot!
Don't worry. I put another one up in the shop. This is design is one of my signature pieces.

Movie for Artists-Finding Neverland

I just saw this movie last week and let me tell you, it is absolutely awesome. It's like a trip into the mind of J.M. Barrie (of Peter Pan fame). And of course, Johnny Depp (who plays Barrie) was great.

Not only was it so cool to see someone's creative process sort of acted out on film, it was a visually arresting movie in many instances. You need only to see the scene with the pirates on the high seas to understand what I mean.

So, I'm late but I am so glad I saw this one. What an inspiration!

so I know some of you are antsy

(ahem...Andrea...cough*) to see this new piece I've alluded to. I hope I haven't hyped it up too much. Would hate to disappoint!

The reason I haven't shown it yet is because this piece calls for an antiquing of the silver, if you will. It just doesn't look right to me with a bright finish. So yesterday, I tried my hand at oxidizing with hardboiled eggs but it just didn't do the trick the way I wanted it to. So I need to get my hands on some liver of sulphur.

Well, I JUST found out about a place I can get it locally (yippee! don't need to wait on shipping!) so as soon as the munchkin wakes up from his nap, we're off! Hopefully I'll be able to put up some pics tomorrow after I try it out.

I am so excited to try this stuff out! So, thanks for your patience. :)

Look what I got on Etsy

OK. Isn't that like the cutest pouch ever!?!?!? I got one for myself and it arrived today. I love it already. Do I have a clue what I'm going to use it for? Not at all. :) But I HAD to have it. I feel a little guilty for spending on myself on something that is not a necessity but you know what? I'm almost over it. I got this pouch custom made (the one you see here is not mine-it's almost identical but mine has a pink zipper.) by Baby Duckles and it is so well made.

I mean all the intersecting points meet cleanly and everything. It's lined and the lining doesn't look wonky in the least. This is top notch, professional work in my opinion (I am the granddaughter of a tailor-my mom taught me some things she learned from her dad). I'm so impressed and pleased that I had to share my purchase and this wonderful Etsy artisan!

Poll time!

So I just figured out how to add a poll to my blog. This may be too much fun. NOTE: Please only vote once. I've been curious about my Caged Bird pendants. I have three frame shapes for the birdies: the OVAL, the SQUARE and the CAGE. See the pic above for reference. My question is...

more at twiigs.com...

Oh and hubby fixed the computer. Buh bye virus. Woot!

Prolific Wednesday and Thursday!

So, I would have some pictures to put up but unfortunately my computer got some mega-virus and I'm only now checking my internet at the library.

The upside to the down computer is that I was *really* busy last night and this morning making items! No way to waste time on the internet. ;) I filled a couple of custom orders and tried out a couple of new ideas. I made myself some earrings but I don't know if I'll sell them in my shop. They are really basic and not at all like the rest of my work. Well, except they use sterling silver wire.

Gotta go! The munchkin is getting ready to scream at the top of his lungs in the library...

Cage Caged Bird Pendant

I made this set for my mom. It just arrived at her home today and she loves it! This is only the second time I've made a cage frame that is more cage like in shape.

shopbatty.com for Beads In The Belfry!

Hey you! Go to shopbatty.com. What did you find? My Etsy shop of course!

I hadn't dedicated a post to this before, just alluded to it. I recently acquired a domain name! So to find my work easily, you can now go to shopbatty.com! I think that is a lot easier to remember and type than beadsinthebelfry.etsy.com don't you?

For the time being, both link to my Etsy shop. In the future, that may not be the case-maybe I'll actually build a website! For my blog you still have to do beadsinthebelfry.blogspot.com. Sorry :P But, if you subscribe to my blog, you don't have to worry about any of that! ;)

I like this domain name because it fits with the name Beads In The Belfry, but also leaves me room to grow and expand. Jewelry is not the only thing I make and maybe one day I'd like to offer different things along with my jewelry designs, you know?

In other news, I just finished the prototype for my newest design! Super excited!!! I don't believe in false modesty so I'll just go on ahead and say it's awesome and you're going to want it. ;) Oh, now I bet you want a picture don't you? You'll just have to stay tuned...

Business Card!

So since I got some help with my domain name, shopbatty.com, I can now hand out my business cards. Wee! Now, at first I loved these cards. When I was designing it I was all like, ooh yeah, collage! Now I realize, there is too much of a good thing.

One image would've been better. So that is what I will do for the next set. I'll be sending these out with orders that have been placed in the future. After all, these people won't be too thrown off by a collage as they've ordered from me previously and have seen my work. ;)