Blog-o-sphere Think Tank - What am I thankful for?

Such a fabulous topic for this time of year!

A friend of mine asked me to substitute teach for his yoga class. It's a little bit different class than what I've been teaching, or even just the standard beginner class, so I've been doing a bit more preparing than I usually do. I decided I'm going to add a "gratitude" theme to the class - seemed fitting as it will be 2 days before Thanksgiving!

In thinking about what to teach, it has gotten me thinking about all that I have to be thankful/grateful for. All those little things that we usually take for granted every day (or maybe not depending on who you are!) - easeful breath, smooth joint mobility, the ability to bring awareness to all those little things...

I'm thankful to be happy, to have learned tools to work towards greater ease and happiness. I can still get stressed, have a mental melt down and feel unnerved, but I've learned how to move past those things much more quickly. It is kind of subtle, but something I am extremely thankful for.

There is also a huge list of other things of course, love of my sweet heart, amazing friends and family, the best kitty in the world (although most cat owners think that... haha!), my health, a successful business, no debt other than the usual mortgage and student loan (though i am thankful those are both being paid down at an excellent rate!), health, happiness, and my brand new yoga ball that is super fun to sit on while I work. :)

Make sure to check out the other participants this month!


Andes Cruz: http://www.andescruz.wordpress.com
Kathleen Krucoff: http://mysticalmythicalmetalwork.wordpress.com/
Stephanie Clark: http://thethinkingsofacoldweathergirl.blogspot.com
Diana Fazio: http://metooiguana.blogspot.com/

EtsyMetal Blog Carnival - 11.7.11 - Holiday Preview

This month's EtsyMetal topic is "Holiday Preview".

When I first saw the topic, I thought I might not participate. The past couple years since my business has changed, my approach to the holidays is much different. Considering the vast majority of my orders are "made to order" and I'm usually on a 5 - 6 week turn around... well, most shoppers are too late by the time they notice or get around to thinking about it. I, too, am a late shopper, so I totally understand.

This year, I'm trying to think ahead a little bit. Though I may not end up actually making a lot of new pieces for the holidays, I will be offering a lot of ready to ship items. I often make rings as samples, or exchange out sizes, and end up with a stock of rings that, in theory, wait around until someone comes along and just happens to need that exact width/size/style, etc... Which does happen sometimes.

However, with rings I make as a new design or sample idea... often, not many people ever see them. I even have photographs of most of them! It is the editing and the listing that I never seem to make time for. I wish the photos would magically just directly upload to etsy, perfectly sized and that the descriptions would write themselves.

So this year, I've already started getting to work - taking and editing those photographs and *gasp* actually creating listings! Friday I put up 9 new listings! woohoo! and more will be added every week. Great for me, great for customers who want me to be able to actually ship something the next day (or same day). I also have a lot of earrings, pendants and bracelets just sitting around up to no good. Pieces that would be fabulous for holiday presents!

These items have been listed already:

Diamond Studded Lunar Landscape Pendant

Autumn Leaf Ring

Love Knot w/ 4mm diamond

Argentium Sterling Organic Vine Earrings w/ 14k Gold

And each of these rings will be listed soon!!

Make sure to check out other EtsyMetal members for their holiday previews as well!

Michele Grady Designs
Erin Austin
Cynthia Del Giudice
2Roses
Nodeform
Rebecca Bogan
Panicmama Jewelry
Kate Jones
Evelyn Markasky

Blog-o-sphere Think Tank - Favorite season

The month's blog-o-sphere think tank theme is our favorite season.



This is so easy - Spring! I'm not crazy about the cold, course, I'm not super crazy about the extreme heat either. But the feeling of spring coming alive after it's been cold and dead all winter is intoxicating. I love all the beautiful spring flowers and the days getting longer. The spirea is one of the very first flowers that comes out in my yard in the spring time. It says "Spring is coming, spring is coming!" And it makes me happy. Winter makes me want to hibernate, though because of our society, that isn't generally accepted, when you know, things like work have to happen.

Fall/autumn is a close runner up - the change in season after a long hot summer is so welcome and exciting. But it also means that winter is coming, so it isn't an occasion for joy the way spring time is.

make sure to check out the other participants this month to find out which seasons are their favorites!

Andes Cruz: www.andescruz.wordpress.com
Kathryn Cole: www.kathryncolejewelry.blogspot.com
Natsuko Hanks: www.jewelrybynatsuko.blogspot.com
Barbara Donovan: www.barbaradonovan.blogspot.com
Diana Fazio www.metooiguana.blogspot.com
Thomasin Durgin: http://metalriot.blogspot.com
WATTO: http://www.wattoonline.com/news

New Shop Name!!

I am incredibly excited to announce that my original etsy shop - bcyrjewelry - is now just BethCyr! woohooo! When first signing up for etsy back in the day, before I had any cohesive idea of what I was doing, I signed up w/ that name. I've wanted o change it for a long time b/c people seem to never realize that it was supposed to be B. Cyr Jewelry. When to me, it looks like bc yr jewelry or often people would call me "bcy" - what? so, anyway, no more confusion! I also did away w/ the jewelry since I am still selling tshirts and whatever else I feel like. I feel like it is wide open to do with what I want now and it doesn't have the word jewelry attached!! Yayyyyy!!!!!

SALE!

Pearl and Sterling Drop Earrings

It is EtsyMetal's 5th Anniversary and my birthday (it was yesterday), which are both cause for celebration. Going on now in my regular jewelry shop - all ready to ship items are 17% off (b/c my birthday is the 17th) - enter code ETSYMETAL for the discount when checking out. I will be photographing and adding new items throughout the week, so check back! Feel free to ask me to reserve something for you. Sale ends Saturday Oct 22nd so any reserved items would need to be purchased by then to receive the discount.

For my wedding ring shop - US customers can receive free shipping (no international shipping and % no discount) - entering the same ETSYMETAL code.

Also - be sure to check out all the other shops participating in the EtsyMetal anniversary sale:



discomedusa
metalriot
Inbar
markaplan
Juju By Sarah
Maria Goti
wildflowerdegsigns
AdobeSol
Silentgoddess
Shirlee Grund
Lichen and Lychee
Under Distress Jewelry
Hartleystudio
ReaganHayhurst
Panicmama Jewelry
alisa miller
LaJoailliere
Cynthia Del Giudice
L. Sue Szabo
Erin Austin
Jennifer Lawler
Michele Grady Designs
SimplyAdorning
Victoria Takahashi
NRjewellerydesign
Karla Wheeler Design
QuercusSilver
Kathryn Cole
Ashley Akers Jewelry
Iacua
Sarah Hood Jewelry
Howlindoggie
LivelyHood

EtsyMetal Blog Carnival - 10.3.11 - Food!

This month's topic for the EtsyMetal Blog Carnival is Food!

The weather is cooling, Fall cooking season is 'round the corner. Tell us about some of your eating habits, philosophies, favorite foods and share a seasonal recipe!

I thought it might be an easy topic at first... now I'm having way to many ideas! I don't really use recipes, so I can't easily share a favorite. It would turn in to add a little of this and that or if you don't have that, you can use this, etc etc.

An easy thing to start out with is that I'm vegan. I'm not much of a philosophical vegan in that I want to convert anyone or talk about it much. I don't like people questioning how I eat, so I'm not going to tell anyone how they should eat. I can say that I feel incredibly wonderful not eating meat or dairy. I do think that food is medicine and believe that if people were a lot healthier with their diets, there would be far fewer health problems.

Being vegan has also made me so much more creative in the kitchen, which is really fun. Though to be honest, my husband does cook more than I do! We watch a lot of cooking shows and figure out ways of adapting their dishes in to vegan ones. We eat a lot of Indian and Thai (lots of stir fry), Mexican (just started making empanadas), Italian (made some fabulous "meat balls" the other night). Now that it is cooling off too, there are lots of soups I love making. I'm pretty cold-natured, so I love a good hearty soup! Last winter I had posted a "recipe" of one of my favorite's - "chicken" and rice soup.

Another recent fun thing I made - mashed cauliflower. My brother had told me a couple years ago how good it was and I just now got around to trying it. Though I love veggies, it has been lower down on my list of favorites. After trying this, it has definitely moved up. SO easy and far more yummy than I would have imagined. You should try it.

Make sure to check out the other etsymetal members and see what they think about food!

Inbar Bareket - http://www.inbarbareket.info/blog
Cynthia Del Giudice - http://cynthiadelgiudice.blogspot.com
kate jones - http://www.katejonesdesign.blogspot.com
nova of sweden - http://www.nova-designs.blogspot.com/
Nodeform - http://nodeform.blogspot.com/
Rebecca Bogan - http://www.AdobeSol.com/blog
Panicmama Jewelry - http://panicmama.blogspot.com
Evelyn Markasky - http://www.evelynmarkasky.com
2Roses - http://www.jewelrytutorial.blogspot.com
Jenny Baughman (Gecko J) - http://ridgeschool.blogspot.com/

EtsyMetal Blog Carnival - 9.5.11 - Etsy Metal Studio Tour

This month's EtsyMetal Blog Carnival topic is:

A Few Tips On Buying Handmade Jewelry
Share a few of your personal tips when it comes to the purchase of handmade art jewelry.

For a long time I didn't buy any one else's jewelry. Then I started trading and buying my friends' work.

Though it probably isn't necessarily advice on how to buy handmade jewelry, but for me, it is one of my criteria. If I wear something that will get a comment - I like for it to either be a piece I made or a piece a friend made and be able to advertise. It is great for people to know that the most amazing jewelry is handmade by a real person.

Other things I look for:

Uniqueness or trademark piece - sometimes the pieces just really speaks to me, other times I like getting a pieces that is very expressive of that artist's style, particularly when it is something that either I don't know how to do at all, or something I find to be really difficult (or annoying) to make!

Quality - of course! Who doesn't want quality craftsmanship?

Material is something that is important to me - I don't care for anything that is plated or "filled", just my own preference. I'd rather spend extra and great a really great quality piece, than spend less just to buy something I like the look of.

Those are the main things I look - not too complicated! It is a great perk of being part of a fabulous group of metalsmiths.

check out everyone else's tips/advice/buying preferences:

Danielle Miller-Gilliam - http://daniellemillerjewelry.blogspot.com/
Rebecca Bogan - http://www.AdobeSol.com/blog
2Roses - http://www.jewelrytutorial.blogspot.com
Inbar Bareket - http://www.inbarbareket.net/
Cynthia Del Giudice - http://cynthiadelgiudice.blogspot.com
Thomasin Durgin - http://metalriot.blogspot.com/
Nodeform - http://nodeform.blogspot.com/

EtsyMetal Project Runway Challenge Season 9 - 1

scrap pile

Yay! I skipped participating last season and maybe the one before that too! I'm going to do my best to make something each week this time.

The first week's challenge was was to make something from scrap on our workbench. What a fun challenge! I had a piece I cast probably about 2 years ago, maybe more - with a rough green sapphire. It was still attached to the button! I cleaned it up and using only other bits of wire and chain from the same scrap pile - I finished the necklace I meant to make so long ago! Maybe not the most creative, but I'm glad I felt inspired enough to get it done! yay!

August EtsyMetal Blog Carnival: Roots

It's August already! And the topic this month for EtsyMetal's Blog Carnival is "Our Roots" - Where we came from. How our families have influenced us, artists in the family, etc.

I think I was like a lot of kids who loved to draw and color - starting with crayons and markers, and colored pencils. I remember when I was 7, having drawing of a tree I did in the Alabama State fair. It was a crayon resist - yellow crayon and brown water color. There was probably more to it, but I don't remember... I'm not even sure if I ever got it back. No artists in the family, but my mom was always very supportive and really creative. I had a wonderful art teacher in elementary school, Mr. Lyles. I used to stay after school and use the kick wheel - learning how to throw little pots was the first 3d thing I remember learning. There were a couple week long art camps during the summer I went to. One of my grandmothers was really creative to and did a lot of different crafts. I remember painting and decorating fancy easter eggs with her, as well as a lot of other crafty creative things.

Sadly - there was minimal instruction or direction once I got to middle school. There was a fire in my school that damaged the wing the art room was on - my art class was relegated to a small trailer - so the curriculum was a bit lacking...

I had a great and supportive art teacher through part of high school. We even had a dark room where I learned how to develop my own photos and really became passionate about photography. Sadly my wonderful teacher left and was replaced by someone... not so wonderful and I didn't even get to have an art class my last year in high school. The other high school in the county had a dark room and a couple times I got permission to go over there and use theirs after ours was out of commission.

And then I went to college and was surrounded by wonderful art teachers and all the art classes I could ever want!

make sure to check out the other participating etsymetal members:

Erin Austin - http://metalmusing.blogspot.com
Nodeform - http://nodeform.blogspot.com/
Elizabeth Scott - http://esdesignsjewelry.com/blog
Inbar Bareket - http://www.inbarbareket.net/
Cynthia Del Giudice - http://cynthiadelgiudice.blogspot.com
2Roses - http://jewelrytutorial.blogspot.com
Evelyn Markasky - http://markasky.blogspot.com/
Twigs and Heather - http://twigsandheather.blogspot.com
Andrea - http://www.artigianojewelbox.com/category/blog
Danielle Miller-Gilliam - http://daniellemillerjewelry.blogspot.com/

Rising Temperatures, Rising Costs and Rising Prices

Watching the price of gold continue to increase so drastically over the past couple years, I've been a bit like an ostrich - with my head buried in the sand. Occasionally I'd peak out flutter my prices up a bit and think that was good enough and how I felt bad for increasing the price for my customers. Alas, the time has come that I'm having to truly evaluate everything with a fine tooth comb. Part of this occurrence is the fabulous accountant I have. I've become a lot more organized and actually calculate my profit and loss each month. *Gasp* (That's what I do when I see it calculated)

And it is time I quit keeping my head buried, quit being in denial, and realize that my cost of materials has gone up so. much. more. than I have raised my prices. In the past year, gold has gone up about 33%.... in the past TWO years - gold has nearly doubled... While, apparently I've raised my prices less than 10%. So if you know anything about math, I think you can see how the price of gold really affects my income. Instead of getting a raise, I've been demoted... It all goes back to that being in denial and thinking the price of gold will go down and it'll all be okay.

So I've been doing some seriously calculations and changing prices - some quite a bit and some not so much. But I am feeling a bit more secure that I'm not merely buying gold and giving it away.

I'm puttin' on my big girl pants and realizing, that yes, this is what it means to run a business. I love my customers and I want to provide an excellent product at a fair price - fair, for both of us.

Oh and what do raising temperatures have to do with it all? I have no idea, but it is darn hot in my studio. I'm ready for fall - and falling gold prices. One will come in a couple months - the other... well... I don't think I can keep my head in the sand that long.

EtsyMetal Blog Carnival - 7.11.11 - Artist Inspiration/Influence

This month's EtsyMetal topic is:

Artist's Work That Has Influenced My Own

It is a really interesting topic - particularly because I've tried to not be influenced too much by anyone and really prefer to try to find my own way. For a long time I didn't want to look too closely at any other jewelers' or metalsmiths' work. Going through art school - we were often assigned projects where we had to choose another artist and base something off of their work. I generally tried to pick artists far away from metal! For years I did a lot of mini nude female pendants and rings inspired by Gustav Klimt. I loved the flowy nature of their bodies in paintings like Medicine and Philosophy - which are a bit different than the standard you think of when you hear the name Klimt...

medicine

philosophy

You can read more about these paintings - on wikipedia of course!

Though to look at my work now, you probably wouldn't see the influence so much, but I know it is there.

Another artist I love that I think has influenced me on a deeper level is Andy Goldsworthy. If you aren't familiar with his work, you should check it out! His connection with nature is truly incredible as is his way of looking at patterns and attention to details.

Make sure to check out all the other participating EtsyMetal bloggers!

Theresa - http://tkmetalarts.blogspot.com
Kate Jones - http://www.katejonesdesign.blogspot.com
Fluxplay Jewellery (Maria Whetman) - http://www.fluxplay.blogspot.com
2Roses - http://www.jewelrytutorial.blogspot.com
Elizabeth Scott - http://esdesignsjewelry.com/blog
Andrea Ring- http://www.amuckdesign.blogspot.com
Nodeform - http://nodeform.blogspot.com/
Inbar Bareket - http://inbarbareket.net
Cynthia Del Giudice - http://cynthiadelgiudice.blogspot.com
Evelyn Markasky - http://markasky.blogspot.com/
AdobeSol - http://www.AdobeSol.com/blog
Quercus Silver - http://quercussilver.blogspot.com/

Look for photo updates on Facebook Fan Page

Recently I got an iPhone - which I love - including the amazing Hipstamatic app which is really fun for taking interesting photos. I also figured out how to post photos on my fan page really easily and have started updating with progress photos of customers rings! So "Like" my fan page and keep an eye out if you've ordered a ring from me - you may just catch a glimpse of the process!!

Inspiration

It's create your own quote day!!

Okay, so I doubt that is ever really a day... but today is mine!

I woke up super early this morning - feeling full of inspiration. So early, it was still dark and I was hoping to fall asleep again. Lots of thoughts were coming up, mostly about inspiration. Not just the inspiration for being an artist and being creative, but inspiration to DO things.

and the thought I had (here it is... my quote! and yes, you can quote me if you want)

Allow your inspiration to become action.

How often I am totally inspired by something, but nothing further than lovely and pretty thoughts. Which is great, the feeling of being inspired is wonderful. But it is totally another world to put that inspiration in to action and actually create something from it. Is there some sort of inspiration threshold. Something is SO inspiring it triggers some sort of action button in the brain? maybe... after thinking about it further though, I am going to work on it being an awareness - harnessing that inspiration and allowing it to come out.

What am I so inspired about... skydiving. Elephant Journal posted this video (loove the elephant journal) and it nearly brought me to tears (not so much the swimming w/ the sharks or base jumping from the Eiffel tower) as the gliding in the special flying squirrel suit - which after some reading is apparently called proximity flying. and the song is amazing - I bought the album and now I think about skydiving when I listen to it...



I've only been skydiving once (tandem, wonderful present for my 25 bday from my boyfriend/now husband), but it was possibly the most amazing feeling ever. My thought at the time was, "when I have the money, I'm going to take lessons." Then it was more like, "when I have the time, I'm going to take lessons." And that is currently where I am - finding the time to have a "hobby", much less a hobby that needs to be taken seriously. I can't even seem find the time to paint - which wouldn't require going anywhere or buying anything! But skydiving is something I want to do, not something I want to have only done once. So my goal - within the next year, go tandem again. Get that feeling back first hand, not just the fabulous feeling of watching an inspiring video. (which by the way, Roberta, the gal in the video, is only a year younger than I am) Then I'll talk to them about the specifics of taking lessons. Sounds reasonable right? Making a (very public) declaration I find is also extremely helpful in following through.

But even more than this one instance - it really has sparked this internal dialogue of what inspiration is. Not just what is inspiring, but what do you do with that inspiration? What do I do with that inspiration?

Blog-o-sphere Think Tank - Favorite Past Time Activity

For this month's installment... the topic is a favorite past time activity.

Interesting.

I'm not really sure I have any "past time activities"... it makes me think of things I used to do as a child for fun and maybe still do?

And pretty much the first thing that came to mind was holding my breath. Most kids do that don't they? Like in a swimming pool or bathtub - see how long they can hold their breath. And I still do. sometimes yes, in the bathtub. I'm sure if I had a pool I would test it out in the pool as well. But now, because of my yoga practice, I can hold my breath in a much more controlled and healthy manner. And still love it.

So I'm not really sure if that was a good answer for the topic, but it was the first thing that came to mind, so I figured it would be an entertaining post :)

Make sure to check out everyone else's favorite past time activities!

Andes Cruz
Kathleen Krucoff
Mary Spencer (WATTO)
Stephanie Clark
Shaun Young
Shannon Koochin
Brad Severtson
Wendy Kelly

EtsyMetal Book Club - Hyperion

Yet another new fun challenge from my buddies in EtsyMetal. Erin proposed a book club - and since I love reading, it sounded like a great idea to me! And to have an excuse to make a fun, non-commissioned piece sounded nice as well.

The first book we read was Lost by Gregory Maguire. It was... not so great in my opinion. I can't remember reading a book where the lead character was just so horrid. It wasn't very inspiring even though I did have a good idea for a piece. I think I resented the fact that anyone could think this was a great book and didn't want to actually make the piece. Either that, or I was just too busy and not really all THAT inspired... But I just wanted to mention it since it was technically the first one we ready. Moving on....

To the second book - Hyperion by Dan Simmons, was by far more inspiring, and well, a better read. Science fiction tends to be one of my favorite genres, so that helped. Simmons is also an excellent writer and I found very easy to read. It was a little rough at first. Many of the 'other worldly' aspects were given names, but not really described. To start with, it seemed a bit confusing, but very quickly I found myself just accepting these new words or objects and using my own imagination to create the mental landscapes. What better to create a jewelry piece than an author who encourages the reader to use their own imagination so strongly?

So I don't have time to write a full review or description of the book (you can look it up if you like) - the basic plot - there is a group of people going on a pilgrimage to see the Shrike at Hyperion - the planet that is home to the Time Tombs. The Shrike is a legendary "being". From Dan Simmons's description, my own imagination and discussion with the EtsyMetal gals - the idea for my piece was developed. The Shrike is a dangerous and vicious creature - maybe somewhat humanoid - or giant armadillo/sea urchin made out of metal. An entirely metallic being with armored plates and spikes and blades, but still organic in nature. It is mostly a character of legend, not making a direct appearance in the book. And I found it to be wonderfully inspiring - and created the Shrike Ring! Maybe a ring one of it's followers would wear... since I doubt it has anything resembling a finger or any need for a ring...

It was the first piece I have just made for fun that isn't a wedding ring in a really really long time. In fact, I can't really remember the last time I just made something. Yay!

And there are more photos on flickr as well.

EtsyMetal Blog Carnival - 6.6.11 - Etsy Metal Studio Tour

Yay! It's EtsyMetal Blog Carnival time! This month's topic is:
Etsy Metal Studio Tour

Show us where you work!
Describe what you love about your work space and/or any changes you would like to make in the future.

This past weekend, I got an iPhone! and I am SO excited. I love some of the photo apps, particularly the one I've been playing with the most - Hipstamatic. I mean, it just makes my studio look so interesting doesn't it?!

Today I was doing a quick casting (very short burnout) and decided for the blog post, I would document the process, in addition to some other general studio photos of my work stations. I meant to get a photo of the thermometer today... some other day... There is no air conditioning and by the afternoon most days, it's near 100. ouch. and with the kiln going, it doesn't make it any better. ah, well, I think it's better than huge blizzards in the winter.

Here's my photo journal for today!

investment about to be mixed

investment about to be mixed

mixed!

debubbleddddd

more debubbbblingg

setting up

metal all weighed out!

flasks are ready (and normally, no, the door isn't wide open)

melting sterling

melting gold - sooo pretty! it's my favorite part!

cast!

cast and cooling

quenching

all cast and ready for clean up!

casting area and torches

soldering/fusing area

second workbench, mostly for engraving and mini drill press (hidden under the bag)

my main work bench - a total mess like most jewelers' I know!

So that was my studio! Hope you enjoyed the tour! Make sure to check out the other EtsyMetal members who are participating in this month's blog carnival!

Rebecca Bogan
Shirlee Grund
Elizabeth Scott
Cynthia Del Giudice
Michele Grady
Erin Austin
Nodeform
Evelyn Markasky
Kathryn Cole
2Roses
Lauren Anabela Beaudoin/Creative Dexterity

Blog-o-sphere Think Tank - #4 - May Edition - Favorite Quote

It is that time again for the Blog-o-sphere Think Tank! This month's topic is a fun one. And though I thought it would be easy... apparently it isn't! I'm one of those people who loves quotes. In college, I had different quotes pasted all around my room. It's hard to not love anything by Einstein. I mean, he was a genius after all!

"Imagination is more important than knowledge" just might be my favorite. I had this tshirt when I was in high school. Though I quit wearing it, I kept it b/c I loved it so much - it's in my studio for inspiration.

I also remember loving this one the first time I heard it:

"Your mind is like a parachute. It only works if it is open." - Anthony D'Angelo

And really they both relate to each other. Having an excellent imagination and an open mind go hand in hand!

Must post one from my dear Swami Satchidananda: "People often ask me, "What religion are you? You talk about the Bible, Koran, Torah. Are you a Hindu?" I say, I am not a Catholic, a Buddhist, or a Hindu, but an Undo. My religion is Undoism. We have done enough damage (with religious dogma). We have to stop doing any more and simply undo the damage we have already done."

Love. It.

And my favorite made up quote.... "Everyone has issues, some people just have more than others." catchy right?


Make sure to check out everyone else's favorite (or favourite) quotes!

Andes Cruz
Brad Severtson
Kathleen Krucoff
Wendy Kelly
Mary Spencer
Stephanie Clark
Barbara Donovan
Laura Flavin
Thomasin Durgin
Shaun Young
Kathryn Cole
Natsuko Hanks
Andrea Bell

Jess and Erin

I had been having a rough day this week when I got a wonderful email from Jess sharing her and Erin's wedding photos with me. It warmed my heart, brought tears to my eyes and completely made my day. Like most artists and jewelers that I know, I have days where I wonder what I'm doing, why I'm doing it, etc. And then I get to actually SEE the why. It is wonderful to see two people completely in love and my rings involved in that! I feel so honored to be a small part in the lives of these two gorgeous women. Thank you Jess and Erin!!

Jessica bought Erin's engagement ring from me last year,
and then I made the two bands as well.

these photos taken by and copyrighted by Gary Sexton

EtsyMetal Blog Carnival 5.14.11 - Pages from a Sketchbook

So this is a funny and kind of ridiculous topic for me to write about. I just hardly ever use a sketchbook, and if I do a sketch is usually for a piece I am making right then. I suppose if I had times when I could just make something as opposed to having a list of commissions, I would try to sketch things out, write things down etc, to have them fresh and ready to go. Most of the pages in my current sketchbook are notes and tiny sketches from meeting w/ customers. It rarely happens in person, so I don't even have that many pages like these - but I thought it would at least bring another image in to this blog post!


and the rings as they turned out...


and I scanned two more pages - these were from over a year ago, but at some point will be a new wedding ring design. I thought they were particular fun b/c you can clearly see my doodle to idea fulfillment process. and on the one page you can see the sharpie bleed through from another sketch. clearly you can see how serious I am about my sketchbooks! haha!





Make sure to check out pages from everyone elses's sketchbooks! (or lack of sketchbook)


Rebecca Bogan
Shirlee Grund
2Roses
kate jones
Erin Austin
Nodeform
Michele Grady
Elizabeth Scott
Su Trindle
Evelyn Markasky
ArtigianoJewelBox

Emailed Hacked

So... in case you were wondering - no, I did not take a trip to Malaysia. Though that would have been lovely - the getting mugged part wouldn't have been.

Sadly - it has been a giant mess to clean up. When they hacked my email, the completely locked me out, changing the password and the backup email so there was no way for me to get in to my account. Gmail's customer support... for lack of a better word... sucks. The account that got hacked was the one connected to this blog and my google checkout account (which is no longer). I will not be opening another google checkout account at all. Ever. Because I was locked out of my account - there was no way for me to easily contact ANYONE about shutting down my account. Long story - but just beware, unless you have to have a GC account - I wouldn't bother. Even with all the paypal issues people have had - at least they have customer service people that are fairly prompt and not simply robots... but that's a whole other soap box.

Long story short - I finally have access back.

Thank you to everyone that contacted me and even sent links to government websites for reporting these sad pathetic people.

My advice to all of those like me that think "oh it'll never be me":

- change your passwords - make sure no two passwords are the same and really... not even similar. The time and energy I have spent dealing with this is far beyond what it would take to change your passwords every few months or so.

- back up your email contacts - I had the vast majority of mine backed up on another email address, but was still missing several hundred... and those of course are the most recent ones.

- back up your email if you can - Luckily through the apple mail system - and my lack of deleting emails - I still have 10,000+ emails from the past 5 years. (sad I know...) but still - it would have saved me if I hadn't gotten access back.

I have no idea how my email got hacked and I doubt I ever will. I feel like I'm generally pretty cautious, but obviously not enough. I suppose I'd gotten too comfortable in my little online bubble. Now I am utterly disappointed and let down by gmail/google. I feel out of sorts in terms of security. And am completely overwhelmed by the fact that my whole business and much of my life revolves around the computer and that one particular email.

The good news is, I appear to have everything back. No loss of contacts, no loss of emails, no tampering with anything of super importance that I've found yet... but I still feel like I have hours and hours ahead of me of changing passwords and log-ins, deleting certain things and reorganizing everything in a new email. Sadly a new email I don't like as much.

There is part of me that feels like overall I'm handling it okay and more calmly than I might have thought I would. And there is another part of me that feels totally overwhelmed and is ready to shut down.

So for any customers that are waiting for a response from me, many apologies in any delay.

oh oh and the kicker... I'd planned on emailing my entire contact list to tell everyone what was going on... apparently b/c of all the emailing... I can't do anymore mass emails or I would be in danger of having my account shut down for being a spammer. great. thanks. so... here's this blog post!

Happy Monday!

xoxo

Blog-o-sphere Think Tank - #3 - April Edition - Favorite Book or Movie

oooh such a fun topic, but oh so hard! There is NO way I can pick just one.

I tend to be the sort of person that doesn't rewatch movies and rarely rereads books. I think it is because I like the surprise or the suspense of not knowing what is going to happen. Once I've read it or seen it, I know already and it just isn't as fun the 2nd time around. I would say I've read far more books than I've seen movies over my life time - though recently most of the books I've been reading are 'fluff' type books - highly entertaining and easy to read - but uh, most aren't something I would even mention...

So I guess the qualification comes then in what some of my favorites are by ones I am willing to read or watch again and again.

I'm going to start with books b/c that will make you giggle. Yes. I read the Twilight series. and yes, I read all of them more than once. more than twice. But that is all you get from me on that topic. oh, and no the movies are no where close to the top of my list. I haven't even seen all the ones that are out.


As for movies - I can't pick just one - just can't do it. All of my top movies are equal in some way - they're all different and fit in to a different favorite category... but the image is a bit of a give away. The Fifth Element is one of my all time favorites. It is one of those movies that if it is on tv, I'll start watching it from where ever it is. MULTI-PASS! And honestly, I don't know why I love it so much. I think the visuals are so fun and quirky, there is always something new to notice.

Next on my list is the first Lord of the Rings. I have seen that movie maybe more than any other movie. When I was in college I would just put it on when I was working on some random project. I couldn't quite figure out what I liked to much about it. The costumes were great - the jewelry fantastic and utterly inspiring - lots of trees and forests. What it comes down to though, is the complete and utter devotion of having friends there to protect you and help you along the way. And seriously... there were some hot friends, just sayin'.

Then there is the Grindhouse duo - Planet Terror and Death Proof. I think Death Proof slightly wins over those two, but they each have their charm. I love a strong badass female character, or group of them.

Changing genres now... Best In Show. Hilarious. If you haven't seen it - you are missing out. One of those movies I laugh so hard I cry. Parker Posey is incredible.

And then... last but not least in any shape or form are my beloved kids movies. I love animated movies. I have seen Finding Nemo and Monsters Inc more times than I can count. And my newest favorite is Despicable Me. The little girl in Monsters Inc - who is very much like one of the little girls in Despicable Me - that was me as a child. "It's SO FLUFFY!!!" again - a must see.

So that is it - all my favorites - sorry I couldn't pick just one over all winner.

make sure to check out everyone else's favorites!
Andes Cruz
Kathleen Krucoff
Brad Severtson
Stephanie Clark
Wendy Kelly
Andrea Bell
Barbara Donovan
Shaun Young