Blog-o-sphere Think Tank - January topic - if you could live anywhere... where would it be, and why?

Doesn't this yoga retreat look awesome?

If you could live anywhere... where would it be, and why?

Such an interesting topic! I love watching that show, House Hunters International. The other day I asked my husband if he could live anywhere for a year, where would it be.

My own personal answer... I think somewhere like Bali. Lush, vegetarian friendly, yoga destination, interesting decorative arts... I don't know about long term, but thinking of a place to live for a year, that sounds really lovely!

Long term... I actually really like where I live and I don't know any place I'd rather live right now. It is vegetarian and arts friendly, not too cold in the winter, but we do get snow every once in awhile. It does get hot in the summer.... but that means it doesn't get too cold in the winter! I have an amazing yoga community here that I don't think I could easily find anywhere else. I'm kind of centrally located in the middle of a most of my friends that have moved away. Not close enough to anyone for a short day trip unfortunately, but close enough to be able to make a long weekend trip. And... the cost of living here is pretty low - makes for a great location to make a living selling online!

So, yeah, I'm really happy where I am, but wouldn't mind going to Bali for a year :)

make sure to check out the other participants this month!!

Andes Cruz http://www.andescruz.wordpress.com

Mary Spencer (WATTO) http://www.wattoonline.com/news

Natsuko Hanks http://jewelrybynatsuko.blogspot.com

Stephanie Clark: http://thethinkingsofacoldweathergirl.blogspot.com

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/