Searching for inspiration, I tend to look outside first. I feel like there is only green as far as the eye can see. (May have to do some pot gardening to get some color in my landscape.) Is it just me, or what do you think?

However, I do have this beautiful little cactus garden that my mom and aunt created for me when they visited last month. I keep it at the front door and glance at it often. Apparently, the dead plants I had in the house were not to their liking. To each his own. ;)

What I find most interesting about my cactus garden (aside from the fact I am taking care of it as taught and some of the plants are *still* dying) is this one cactus in the middle. It is crowned with a beautiful trio of blooming flowers:

Upon closer inspection, I noticed that the flowers look like they were hot-glued onto the cactus. Here I was thinking how beautiful it was to see a cactus bloom…clearly not the case in this situation. (Do cactuses even bloom?)

Regardless, I like the colors and find them inspiring…enough for me to pick out pearls and gemstones to make a new piece or two:

Who knows? Maybe I’ll just grab some wire later tonight and spend an hour making something. I’ve gotten this far so far, right?

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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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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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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(Yes, I know this picture was taken in January! All good things are worth the wait. ;) )

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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 Climbing the Vine Earrings – Keishe Pearls, Smoky Quartz & Vermeil…The green of winter is deep and rich, just like the keishe pearls climbing these earrings. Set in a stack, the pearls are complimented by a perfectly faceted smoky quartz coin accented with the vermeil components. These are exquisite earrings with a lovely swing.

The earrings hang approximately 2 3/8″ (6.03 cm) from the top of the earwire. All metal is vermeil (24kt 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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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 Prehnite Cluster Necklace…A cluster of faceted Prehnite rounds adorn the bottom of this hammered and hand wrapped wire circle adorned with tiny balls. The clarity of the green of the Prehnite and the gleam of the gold circle make this a beautiful statement piece.

The necklace is 20” (50.8cm) in length. The pendant is 1 1/2” (3.81cm) long. All metal is 14kt gold-filled.

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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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 Fresh Cut – Quartz and Peridot Wrapped Sterling Silver Earrings…Lovely, gemmy and suncatching quartz hearts hang above bright faceted rondelles of Peridot. Reminds me of water drops falling on blades of fresh cut grass on a sunny day.

The earrings are 1 1/2″ (3.81cm) long from the top of the earwire and 3/4″ (1.91cm) at its widest point. All metal is sterling silver.

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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Swarovski doesn’t make the same saturation of colors in the smaller sizes of pearls as they do for the next size up. However, the necklace still looks fantastic! I’m very happy with the results and excited that she gave me free reign again to create a piece for her. Hopefully she will like it just as much!

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However, the other day I got a message from Shannon at Anodyne Design that was just pure delight:

She featured my Garden Cluster Bangle on her blog! So, thank you Shannon! (And if you are familiar with Shannon, you can get to know her more through her blog Anodyne Design or at her Etsy shop anodynedesign.etsy.com.

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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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The first gift in her care package are fish magnets from TV Tray Art. (Thanks Susan! You always make the best things!):

Also, since her favorite color is purple, I made here a charm necklace:

And finally, I had my hubby pick her up the Glory Revealed album, because I think it will speak a lot to her, her husband and what they are going through.

You’re in my prayers. :)

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Since we can’t compete with anything as fantastic as a laptop, I decided to make her a special bracelet/bangle – fancier than anything else I’ve ever sent her:

Let’s hope she likes it!

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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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If you’re looking for something fun to do today, go check out Boutique Cafe’s forums for a fantastic contest they are running. They’ve invited indie crafters to show something green that they’ve made for a chance to win $20 dollars. Lots of fun stuff there…it’s definitely worth a look!

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