After a while, I found myself bored with it. It seemed that my necklaces all looked alike. I found the repetition and routine, which I used to love, lacked the stimulation it once did. I developed callouses on my fingers. It wasn’t fun anymore. So I stopped and started looking for my next big love.

It’s been a long time since I’ve played with pearl knotting. Since then, I’ve seen tons of beautiful new ideas and designs with pearls and silk. I may just give it a try once again… Everything deserves a second try, I say.

How about you – have you ever fallen out of love with a technique?

This post is part of the 52 Weeks of Blogging Your Passion series by Tara Gentile of Scoutie Girl. If you’re interested in participating in the group, pick up her e-book today! You can start at any time.

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Word of mouth is amazing. I still consider it – hands down – the best method of marketing. I wouldn’t have a web development business if it wasn’t for word of mouth. The same goes for my jewelry business…

Recently, thanks to “word of mouth”, I was recommended by one of my friends to one of her soon-to-be-married friends to get custom necklaces created for the bridesmaid party. There’s something about making bridal jewelry that I find puts me in a good mood. I guess it’s the thought of the celebration. How can you not be happy when two people are committing themselves to true love?

Back to the jewelry…the bride requested I make illusion necklaces. I can’t remember the last time I made illusion necklaces…mainly because once I worked with wire, I never looked back. I still had tons of the illusion cord and other components. All I needed to purchase were the large quantity of crystals and pearls. After a quick trip to the local bead store (researching colors for future wholesale purchases is a must), I sat down to the task.

As I worked the individual pieces of this initial necklace, I was reminded how much fun they were to make. It also made me think that I would like to get back into pearl knotting. I enjoyed that a lot as well, but I think I’d like to take it into a different direction other than the traditional pearl knotting you think of when someone mentions Akoya pearls and the sorts.

Maybe I’ll sit down this weekend and create a new pearl knotted piece. Time to find my silk cards!

Some of the best photos, crafts, decor, you name it, come from the good use of color theory – whether or not the creator knows it! That’s why if you’re an artist of any kind, it pays to learn color theory.

I never took any courses for color theory in college (mainly because it’s not part of the curriculum for computer information systems), but I never fail to appreciate the emotions colors can evoke. That’s why I felt it was important for me to learn color theory. While I am not an expert, I hope you’ll bear with me as I learn all about it along side you.

If you have a love for color or just want to learn, come join the  Color Theory Craft Flickr group! As you can see from the photos below, color is just fun!

HAPPY EASTER! by flymissy on Flickr

pleated cab in greens by glasperlenwerk on Flickr

Golden Crickets by Crickets Creations Fringies & Scarves, on Flickr

Waterlilies Bracelet – Custom for Irene by Pavoreal, on Flickr

What are some of your favorite photos or projects that use color theory?

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What I realized is that I truly miss making jewelry. Sitting there in-between customers, I had the chance to work on a new piece and it was a great. Wrapping the wire around the frame I hammered into submission, selecting stones to match and putting it all together. It was as if I was still making jewelry on an everyday basis. It was as if all the creativity I thought I had lost was still right there.

Should I make this a necklace or earrings?

So I’ve decided that I’m just going to have to make time weekly to create. Now, just to add two more hours to the day…Everyone’s up for 26 hour days, right?

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For the 12 Days of Holiday Deals, I’m offering one item on my site at a discount of 30% – 50% off the original price of the item. You only have until midnight EST to make your purchase on my limited edition pieces the day I post them on my blog. So if you want this item, don’t delay. Tomorrow, this deal will be gone!

And as a little extra to everyone who stops by during my 12 Days of Holiday Deals, for each item purchased or each comment left (1 each a day), you’ll get entered to win a $25 gift certificate to my shop! That’s 24 chances to win over the course of 12 days!

The Iolite Cluster Earrings…Blue is so fantastic. Pair it with gold and it just turns the most ordinary into the most eyecatching and extrodinary. For example, these fantastic iolite cluster earrings can turn any casual outfit into a spectacular outfit! Made with iolite rondelles and coins, these stones are securely wired to a handformed wire frame and dangle from handformed earwires decorated with a vermeil bead.

The earrings hang approximately 1 1/2″ (3.81 cm) from the top of the ball post. All metal is 14kt gold-filled or vermeil (22kt gold heavily plated over a sterling silver core.)

Sorry! The day has passed and this Holiday Deal is done. Go check out the latest Holiday Deal in the series!

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If you’ve been visiting my site for the past month (and wondering why I hadn’t posted in such a long time), you can attribute part of the delay in news to these beautiful earrings shown above. Back in May, I was contacted by SheFinds to participate in a promotion to help raise money for Count Me In, the leading national not-for-profit provider of business resources and education for women entrepreneurs.

During September, SheFinds will feature original accessories created by independent designers that incorporate either the Count Me In motto “Believe In You”, their logo or program logos, and/or the official colors into the design. The designers are all pledging to donate a portion of the proceeds from all sales of these items made from September 1st to December 31st to Count Me In. Once the promotion starts, you can keep up on the designers by clicking through to the SheFinds site or through the image at the right.

The Count Me In mission of promoting economic independence and the growth of women-owned businesses really hits home for me. As a woman entrepreneur who has not one (jewelry), but two (web development) businesses, I understand the necessity for programs to help women in all aspects of business.

My hope is that by donating 25% of the proceeds made from the sale of these earrings, which will be a limited edition series, Count Me In will get one step closer to their organization’s goals. The great thing about this is that I’m not the only one who feels like this and I’ve heard that plenty other designers are stepping up to the plate.

If you know anyone who can benefit from this organization or who would be willing to make a purchase knowing that it was for a good cause, please take the time to forward this information to them. Help yourself or someone else grow their business!

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I haven’t written one in a long time, but as you can see, once I got started I couldn’t stop. This week has clearly given me fodder for the art:

Then it was my time
But it was taken from me
For now I must wait

Many hopes dreams gone
Echoes are all that remain
Of what could have been

I wait eagerly
The next opportunity
Time passes slowly

Overwhelmed so much
Hard to break the news to all
How do I move on

One day at a time
No more, no less to survive
Soon it will have passed

So I know all that was a little bit depressing. I am up and down myself. Bear with me a bit…I promise to make an effort to keep my grieving off the blog…mostly. :/

In the meantime, let me leave you with some eye candy lest you run screaming in the opposite direction:

These earrings are called Spice Market. Lovely chandeliers I made sometime last month while inspired by perusing one of my favorite photographer’s Flickr feeds. I enjoyed making these so much, that I think I’m going to start an “Inspired” series based on photographs or whatever else inspires me as I come across them. I expect the series to be really good. :)

I’ll be posting these on the site sometime next week.

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Recently, I mentioned that I had a customer ask me to recreate a criss cross bangle into a ring. After spending several days in search of uniform 4mm freshwater pearls in various colors, I finally decided to abandon my quest and move forward with other suitable solutions – in this instance, Swarovski pearls.

The first thing to tackle was getting an array of colors for the ring. Swarovski traditionally selects more muted and toned down colors for their pearls than what I originally used for the cuff. Since I wanted to make sure that I had colors that matched each other in tone and saturation, I bought 9 different strands of Swarovski pearls to play with. I’m glad I did as some of the pearls I originally selected would not have worked well with each other! Luckily, I already had the gold pearls from a long ago project.

After selecting 6 colors to work with, I have to say I’m very happy with the outcome of the ring. It’s absolutely beautiful and I will definitely be adding it to the listing of available rings made-to-order.

(As an after thought, it occurred to me that this would be a great post for this week’s Etsy Bloggers Street Team theme of Carnival of Colors, hosted at Bead Jewelry by ShopGirl. So there you have it!)

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I know I’m not the only other blogger who feels this way. I just happened to read a very engaging post on The Switchboards forums about this same thing…a new blogger was wondering if anyone was reading her blog. She saw people hit the blog, but with no comments, she was getting very discouraged.

So, after taking a look at my blog, I do realize that there are things I can improve. One of them was the comment leaving process. For a while I was getting sooo much spam that I felt the need for a trip to Las Vegas to gamble! I installed a CAPTCHA module (a random number verifying system, for those not familiar with that term), but even I was having a hard time reading the numbers. It’s my blog and I will persevere in trying to leave a post, but I’m sure others would not do the same.

Say “bye! bye!” to those annoying numbers! With a little bit of searching, I’ve installed a new spam filtering module. Yay! I hope you will all join me in commenting now.

Oh, and since I like pictures in my blogs, here’s a quick picture of three pairs of custom earrings I made for a friend of mine. She likes dainty drops and I think these are about as dainty as you can get.

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Now, I’m in love with this piece! I’m very tempted not to sell it. I bought this center-drilled turquoise flower pendant from one of the vendors at the Hong Kong shows last year and now I wish I had bought more. Unfortunately I was on a budget.

I remember many a day it would sit and stare at me…as if it was saying “Use me! Use me!” So now I have! Haha!

I put the pendant on two strands of figure 8 chain as it is quite substantial, but I also think it adds to the piece. It looks fantastic on a neckline. It’s definitely a focal people will compliment!

Oh, and in case you’re wondering, I abbreviated the “Use What You Have” Challenge to “UWYH” since I find it kinda long to write. Makes it easier for me when writing blog entries. :)

This jewelry collection will feature carved abalone, mother of pearl and golden lip pearl shell flowers in addition to shell buttons with flower motifs. I may sneak in a few gemstone/mineral stone flowers here and there, but the bulk will be shell.

My hope is that when you wear these pieces, you will feel like a goddess as well.

Here are a few sneak peeks of what’s to come:

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The first piece is made with natural Chalcedony squares. The variation in shades is so nice with these faceted squares. I paired them with them with sparkly Swarovski bicones in white opal star shine. The crystals have the slightest blue tinge to them, which makes them a perfect match. They are set on sterling silver beading chain and decorated with Bali spacers. The necklace was made to match these earrings.

This second piece is a little less flash, as they were made to match this necklace. (One of my favorites, hands down.) Small yet somewhat rugged, these earrings are made with Swarovski rondelles in light colorado topaz (one of my favorite colors, if you can’t tell), Thai silver beads with a flower imprint, Bali spacers (yes, I mix my silvers) and these fantastic triangle ball headpins…or at least that’s what I’m calling them.

I really hope she likes them all.

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