When I ran across Jesika Jack’s shop, I was so impressed with the focus behind the idea. Her pieces are beautiful. I couldn’t help but write a quick post on her jewelry line.

Leo Constellation Necklace by Jesika Jack on Etsy

Virgo Constellation Necklace by Jesika Jack on Etsy

The necklaces are quite a statement piece. If they’re too much for you, take a look at some of her more compact necklaces or even her earrings:

Southern Cross Constellation Necklace Spiral Motif by Jesika Jack on Etsy

Southern Cross Constellation Disc Earrings by Jesika Jack on Etsy

Makes you want to wear your stars, huh?

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#12 - March Destashing Done!

The party was this past Sunday and suffice to say it was more for the adults than the babies. Between the lack of scheduling, mass of people and crazy kids running around on pool highs, our cranky, sleep-deprived babies were nowhere near ready to try their first bites of sugary fluffy frosting cake goodness. So much so, when we sat the three down to eat cake, it turned into a chain reaction of crying. It was truly funny stuff.

For the record, this was the “scary” cake:

Publix Puppy Cake

As far as the rest of the week, it’s been great. Aside from missing my husband terribly, I’ve been grateful to have this time to spend with my mom and see her play and bond with Fiona. I only wish it was time for her to retire so she could come live with us and enjoy her granddaughter all the time.

And I have to say I’m so excited to be picking up my brother from the airport tonigh. He had some training in San Fran this week and was planning on visiting mom this week, so I couldn’t have timed it better. I’m even leaving Florida before Hurricane Irene hits land on Thursday morning. All is good with the world…except for this mad longing to create.

My aunt is a master seamstress. I’ve sat here and watched her create dress after dress for Fiona. Effortlessly sewing pieces together and adding decorative borders…simple skill and muscle memory as if she’s done this tons of times…and she has!

So when we took a quick trip to JoAnn’s to pick up matching thread for a few final pieces, I couldn’t help but browse the magazine racks in search of, you guessed it, wire magazines. You know, of course, this piece just caught my eye:

Step by Step Wire Jewelry, August/September 2011

I love, love, LOVE the floral design. Hats off to the artist. We have to go back to the store tomorrow and I am about *this* close to purchasing the issue so I can make it myself. Just don’t know where I would wear it or how long it would last since Fi is all about pinching and grabbing anything around my neck.

Has anyone tried making this piece? How did it go for you?

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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 $50 gift certificate to my shop! That’s 24 chances to win over the course of 12 days!

The Ice – Rock Quartz and Rutilated Quartz Bracelet…One of the better finds at the last gem show I attended last year was this spectacular strand of rock quartz shards. Their shape reminds me so much of biwa pearls. In this bracelet, I’ve paired them with black rutilated quartz coins with distinctive rutile markings, sprinkled with a few bali spacers.

With a larger easy closure clasp and a twisted and smooth handmade chain link, this bracelet will quickly become one of your favorites.

The bracelet fits from 7″ (17.78cm) to 9″ (22.86 cm). All metal is sterling silver.

The earrings are approximately 1 1/4” (3.18cm) long from the top of the earwire and 1/4” (0.64cm) wide. All metal is vermeil or 14kt gold-filled.

$79.00 – $39.50

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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On the 3rd Day of Holiday Deals 2009...On the 5th Day of Holiday Deals 2009...On the 6th Day of Holiday Deals 2009...

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 $50 gift certificate to my shop! That’s 24 chances to win over the course of 12 days!

The Apatite, Shell and Crystal Chandelier Wrap Earrings…These eye-catching chandelier earrings are made with beautiful Israeli cut apatite, Swarovski crystals and teal-dyed mother-of-pearl rounds accented with Bali components. The silver has been oxidized for an antique finish.

The earrings are almost 2″ (5.08cm) long from the top of the earwire. The circle of the chandelier is a little over 3/4″ (1.91cm) wide from one side to the other. All silver is sterling.

These are one-of-a-kind. Once they are sold, I cannot remake this pair of earrings!

$59.00 – $29.50

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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On the 12th Day of Holiday Deals 2009...On the 5th Day of Holiday Deals...On the 3rd Day of Holiday Deals...

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 $50 gift certificate to my shop! That’s 24 chances to win over the course of 12 days!

The Ice – Rock Quartz and Rutilated Quartz Earrings…One of the better finds at the last gem show I attended last year was this spectacular strand of rock quartz shards. Their shape reminds me so much of biwa pearls. With these earrings, I’ve paired them with black rutilated quartz coins with distinctive rutile markings, accented with bali spacers.

The earrings are approximately 1 1/4” (3.175 cm) long. All metal is sterling silver.

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However, two weekends ago, I was doing some organizing and found the pair of earrings I was working on for the September 2008 challenge theme: “Cocktail-Inspired Pieces.” Since I found myself with some spare time, I decided to finish them up.

You can see my original inspiration here. I’ve never had a mojito myself…(I know! Considering that I’m Puerto Rican, you’d think I would have tried one by now), but I’ve always loved the color of the drink. Since I’m not a drinker, this may be as close as I ever get!

Love them as much as I do? Visit the shop page for more photos and to read more about the Mojito Earrings.

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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 Autumn Kites Chandelier Wrap Earrings…If these earrings don’t remind you of the fall leaves changing color, I don’t know what will! Inspired by the oak tree right outside of my office window, these chandelier beauties are made of citrine faceted rondelles, carnelian rounds and chalcedony faceted kites. They are perfect for announcing fall.

The earrings is 2 1/8” (5.39cm) long. All silver is sterling and oxidized.

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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On the 12th Day of Holiday Deals 2009...On the 10th Day of Holiday Deals 2009...On the 3rd Day of Holiday Deals...

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 Sterling Silver Tourmalinated Quartz Necklace…This necklace is made with gem quality tourmalinated quartz rondelles with many tiny facets that make light dance off of them. Ranging from opaque to crystal clear, the rondelles have distinctive black rutiles running through the rondelles.

A focal point of this necklace is the clasp. Handcrafted and unique in creation, it will look like part of the design even if the clasp flips to the front. This is a lovely necklace made just for layering!

Each necklace made with these tourmalinated quartz stones will be an individual piece due to the unique patterns the rutiles make within the stones. Some may have darker stones and others lighter and they may even vary in size, but the necklace will still be just as beautiful in its own right.

The necklace is 20″ (50.8cm) in length. All metal is sterling silver.

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

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Among other prizes, you’ll get a chance to win the following pieces from A Pretty Rock:

Bracelet – Butternut and Leather

Earrings – Simmering Summer

Go browse, comment and enjoy! I’m crossing my fingers for you.

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Happily Handmade is Back!

The group was started back in June with some fantastic theme’s to play around with. To kick off the challenge group, June’s theme was “La Dolce Vita”, which I previously blogged about. This was the piece I made for the challenge:

La Dolce Vita – $180

This necklace, made with quartz, keishe pearls and watermelon tourmaline, was a hit with the group. I think what they liked the most was its flexibility. Being wearable as one long 36″ necklace or doubled into an 18″ focal piece, really extends its life and usability.

For July, our theme was “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun!” and here is my take on the theme:

This was another hit with the group. The blackened sterling silver really set off the colors of the prehnite, carnelian and apatite stones I selected. The only thing was that we couldn’t decide if I should have used peridot instead of the prehnite. I’m actually still on the fence about that! I haven’t posted these for sale, but I’ll make sure they go up next week.

With my birthday and preparations for Dragon*Con, I wasn’t able to get around to making an August “Art-Inspired Piece” theme piece, but one of the great things about this group is that we can catch up on our own time. So I have the materials set out…some beautiful rutilated quartz and imperial jasper pendants that I can’t wait to make into their own little piece of art. My September “Cocktail-Inspired Pieces” theme piece will follow shortly, I’m sure.

There are other groups I participate in that have challenges, but I’m always looking for more to help me expand my creativity. If you like challenges, one of the topics of this week’s EtsyBlogger’s Street Team Carnival is challenges or contests. Reading the the carnival would be a great way to see what other events are out there for participating.

I’ve been thinking about posing a challenge myself. It’s time to use up some supplies! What does everyone think about that?

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A simple dowel, you say? Why, yes…it is! It slices and dices and…oh wait, wrong tool…

As you can see, I’ve customized the dowel with plenty of little sharpie marks to help me create different types of earwires. In addition (although not seen in this picture), the dowel has a hole drilled from one side to the other for wire anchoring purposes. While my dowel is simple, it has helped me create wonderfully fantastic pieces like these:

I couldn’t have made any of them nearly as beautiful without my dowel. I can’t be the only dowel lover here…or is your favorite tool quite different?

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So I just have two things for you…

A new necklace made for Glitz Lounge’s May Themed Challenge. (I’ll be posting this lovely for sale on the site later this week.) I had such a hard time designing this piece. I even started with a different focal! In the end, I kept thinking of plants and berries and how everything needs water to live and grow. So my quartz is the big pool of water from which the leaves (pearls) and berries (watermelon tourmaline) grew and blossomed a lovely flower (prasiolite.) Hence, La Dolce Vita!

The necklace is a total length of 36″, which makes it great for matching with other necklaces, or doubling up as a focal layering piece. I took great care to space the little clusters of berries and leaves so they would somewhat line up when the necklace was doubled to its 18″ length.

And…

More gemstone goodness! Can’t beat that for eyecandy. Now, off to get a quick nap…

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While I love all my pieces, this trait of mine really helps me to not keep everything I make. This is a good thing since I know I wouldn’t wear them on a regular basis.

As it turns out, one of this week’s EtsyBlogger’s Street Team blog carnival topic is “Loving the Craft”. So, I’m going to show you a few pieces that I have kept because I absolutely loved them and some that I would have kept if I had some place to wear them:

These I just made for a friend for her birthday. If I had more moonstone coins, I totally would have kept this pair.

These sat on my desk for months before I could make myself post them in the shop. As you can see, they went quickly.

These earrings are so springy and I wear so much green. I kept pulling them out of storage and almost claiming them for myself. But as you can see they are still available in the shop!

This is such a great summer necklace that goes with so many things. Maybe I should make another one for the shop.

These almost never made it to my mother in law’s for Christmas. I should probably make my own pair now as I still love them so.

These I kept. Mine…all mine!

Yet another necklace I absolutely adored. The original one sold, but there is another one still available!

Finally, another wardrobe staple that I totally forgot about. My personal pair is now a lovely shade of black from all the oxidization. With a quick polish, they always look beautiful. Of course, if you’d like your own pair, these are also still available in the shop while my supplies last.

How about you? What pieces could you almost not part with and what have you kept for yourself?

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Place your order soon! These are only available while my supplies last!

Oh, and make sure to check back frequently. I’ll be posting new items soon!

* Applies to orders over $40 after discounts. Shipping costs are not counted towards total purchase for earring promotion.

I do want to be successful with my list, so I know I’m going to have to tackle this problem differently. Having the list public on my blog is just not enough. Which means I have to learn from my failure quickly so that I can get back on track and not be demoralized.

I did manage to photograph some supplies for Goal #12!

This morning, I was reading my blog roll and I believe I’ve found the solution! Zen Habits had a post last month on 16 Killer Apps to Put On Your Brand New Christmas Mac. (I’ve had my Mac for quite a while now, but I didn’t believe that precluded me from using the list.) :) I downloaded and installed several of them, among them iGTD, which I was going to use, but I had just setup a good system that I want to give a fair shot. For this though, I believe it’s a good alternate use for application…so I’m going to fill it up with my 101 list items!

I’m really excited about that and should be setting it up this weekend. Since there are so many different goals on various “time limits” (not sure what else to call them), I think iGTD will work well for what I need. This will also allow me to get familiar with the program in a non-urgent kind of way.

When Week 3 rolls around on the 18th, I should be in a better position to succeed. (I’m crossing my fingers here.)

Does anyone have any other programs they can suggest for tracking to-do lists? I’d love to check them out.

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Choker – Fire Rose: View 1

I may have mentioned that in one of my previous posts and sadly that was the case here. However, I was able to find these fantastic fire opal agates with great faceting work. They are extremely beautiful. Here’s another view of the choker:

Choker – Fire Rose: View 2

I’m very happy with the way the choker came out. I hope the customer is as well.

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A one-woman shop is all I am, but this makes me think it’s finally time to get my husband on the band wagon. If I could get him to learn how to do the development work, I would have more free time to market and grow both businesses. But that’s just too much for me to think about right now. It makes me want to crawl into bed.

In the meantime, here’s a sneak peek of some new work going up shortly.

Now I’m gonna mosey off to bed…Good night!

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52 of Me: Week 2

When we had some down time, I did pull out the supplies I took with me to make some new pieces of jewelry and work on a custom order. Wouldn’t you know, aside from the custom order, I made not a single thing. On top of that, once I got home, I realized that I didn’t like the outcome of what I had worked on, so I started again from scratch.

Re-reading my customer’s email, she said she liked the style of the Amazonite Criss Cross Cuff, but was looking for something a little more low key with a mix of fire opal agates and rose quartz. She also gave me some ideas on what she envisioned. Then she gave me free reign to come up with a design.

However, due to the size and color of the rose quartz, I felt the bracelet would work best as two separate bracelets. She did mentioned that I could go that route. My hunch was that incorporating the stones into one bracelet would have made for a good looking piece, yet separately, but stacked, they would look fantastic. So, I chose to make two bracelets.

This is the first one with rose quartz rondelles, Swarovski crystal rondelles, Balinese spacers and findings and a Thai leaf bead. The bracelet is on a wire base, with a handcrafted enclosure and a chain extension to accommodate any preference for bracelet wear.

The second one is made with smooth fire opal agates and Balinese spacers and findings. This bracelet is also on a wire base, with a handcrafted enclosure and a chain extension to accommodate any preference for bracelet wear. With slightly more length in the cuff itself, the chain is shorter than that of the rose quartz bracelet.

The thing I like most about these bracelets is that they act as a cuff. With the wire base, they can be molded to fit the wrist tightly, like a cuff, or more loosely, like a strung bracelet. There’s lots of versatility in that. The best part? The thinness of the bracelets does allow them to be worn stacked and yes, they do look fantastic! One can never have enough jewels on the wrist when you’re in the mood…

When my customers give me free reign, it always makes me a little nervous, in a good way. So I’m hoping she loves the bracelets as much as I loved making them.

One of the things I’m very guilty of is jumping right into a project and using my precious stash of sterling silver and gold-filled components. If you’ve been following the market, you know that the metal prices have more than doubled in a span of less than 2 years without any real relief in sight. Working on something new without creating a sample first is really an irresponsible use of wire and findings. Considering that the cuffs take a large amount of wire to make, I thought it best to create a sample first. In a moment you’ll see why I’m glad I did!

This is the first cuff ring I made. It is made up of freshwater peacock pearls and Swarovski crystals. I measured it out for a size 10 ¼ and used a total of 75″ in wire. As it turns out, once I had finished the ring, it only fit a size 7 3/4! I’m very glad I didn’t use my precious metals. (Crafting wire was used, so I don’t think I’m putting it up for sale. However, if you are interested in it, just drop me an email.)

With this second ring, I decided to go ahead and venture into using the sterling silver wire. This one is made with faceted labradorite rounds and Israeli faceted iolite rondelles. With this one, I measured out the frame for a 12 ½ ring. Once all the stones were wrapped on it, it measured to fit a 10 to 10 ½ comfortably.

Now, neither one of these is the custom order that I was asked to make, but I wanted to make sure that I could make the ring as requested and that my measurements wouldn’t waste any valuable supplies. I’ll post the custom order ring when I’m done with it, because I’m really looking forward to making it. In my head it just looks fabulous!

So all in all, I really like these rings. They have substance yet can be molded to fit without fear of breakage. Oh, and you can wear them in two ways, with the locking swirl on top or on the bottom to get a full band of flashy gems and pearls! Definitely lovely rings!

BTW, today is my birthday! Happy Birthday me! :)

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So, without further ado and as the topic of the week for the Etsy Blogger’s Street Team, I present to you my latest collection- “Brassy”:

Each piece in this collection will focus on a single color accented by the brass element (with very few exceptions.)

I’ve already posted some of the pieces on this website, however, I just started posting the collection at my Etsy store. While I know you should never, ever, EVER compete on price, I’m secretly hoping the lower price point will renew other’s interest in my shop.

Like I said, I did buy a lot of components. (I have no idea how I would possibly use all of those in one collection!) So you may see a few of the components I didn’t use in any of the designs being sold at my