I finally have a tumbler!

Oh and it works so wonderfully!!! After attempting to purchase one through Harbor Freight online, I ended up cancelling it. They sent me one that didn't work (the motor was shot or something) so I sent it back and requested another one. But over two weeks later (today), I called and found out it was backordered until late December. After chatting about it in the Etsy forums, I found out we had a store here in Greensboro. Who would've thunk it?!?!? So, after work tonight, I went and got one from the store.

I've already tumbled two bracelets that I sold to a guy I bowl with and I'm now tumbling two rings and Ted's bracelet. Let me just say I don't see how anyone can live without one of these! It's so awesome! It takes the tool marks right out of the rings and shines them up super bright. I'm gonna have to get the jewelry I made for my boss' wife and clean it up for her really good. =)

Well, bowling last Friday sucked. I bowled two 158 games and one 148. It's way off from what I've been doing (I have a 172 average I think), but hopefully this Friday will be much better. I think my problem was the Strike Pot. You can put in 1$ and get a strip of paper with 3 or 4 strikes marked in any given frame for each game. If you get all the strikes marked, you win money. Right now the Women's Strike Pot is up to $4500 and the general Strike Pot is like $7000. You only get 1/2 the money in the pot, but that's still some major bucks. Of course, since I'd been doing so well, I decided to do the pot. When I bought in, I didn't look at the paper because I didn't want to have the pressure of knowing which strikes I had to get. Evidently that didn't help me because I was stressing and trying too hard to get 'em. I didn't do too bad... got 1/2 of what I needed, but of course 1/2 just isn't good enough. LOL Not sure yet if I'll try it again this Friday. But hey... if you don't try, you'll never win. =)

Ted's Christmas party was good. We ate at The Phoenix in Greensboro. It's a mixture of Japanese and Thai food. Of course I had Thai... Chicken with Basil and man was it good. It wasn't very spicey, but it did have alot of flavor to it. It was almost sweet tasting. I highly recommend this restaurant for special occassions, as it is a bit pricey for every day dining.

Tyler's 19th birthday is tomorrow. My baby is growing up so fast and I'm having a hard time letting go. He just got hired where I work, doing 3rd shift on an injection molding machine... full benefits after 60 days. I think that is so wonderful! I may have helped him get his foot in the door, but they hired him based on his great work. He is a hard worker! I'm so proud of him. We're either gonna take him out for a steak dinner tomorrow night or this weekend. Honestly... that's what he wanted for his birthday. LOL

I'm headed off to bed now. I hope everyone who reads this has a wonderful week (and of course everyone who doesn't).

Ahhh... The Weekend is Here

and I am soooo very happy to see it. It looks like we (or I) have a fairly busy one with jewelry pictues to improve on, a Christmas party and some serious shopping.

I'll be experimenting with and retaking alot of my jewelry pics this weekend. As I get more used to my camera and it's capabilities, I find that the pictures I once thought were good (or at least halfway decent) are now crap. LOL Since it's dark when I get home from work, I only have the weekends to take pics outside. I figure this will fill up the majority of my daylight hours tomorrow and Sunday. I'm looking forward to it even though photography is not my favorite part of the business. I'm gonna try to find some interesting things to use as props. I don't know if I'll have any luck, but with a garage full of stuff, I should be able to come up with something.

We also have Ted's work Christmas party to go to. I'm looking forward seeing some of the people he works with. They're all really nice. Of course the guys are geeks, but I can talk and hang with the wives. They're having it at a Japanese restaurant, so I'm hoping they'll have Sushi. Mmmmm... yum! That's my fav now and I do crave it on a pretty regular basis.

Shopping... oh how I hate to even get out in the crowds. I do have to get some things for my son, then the majority of my holiday shopping will be done. YAY me!!! =) I try to order online when I can so I don't have to fight people for parking, wait in long lines, or wade through tons of other shoppers just to get to the next aisle over. I'm making 3 gifts this year... my mom's, my dad's and Ted's moms. I may make something for Ted if I have time and rings left over. I have no clue what we're getting Ted's dad, his nephew or my niece. So those will be the only 3 left to shop for. Not bad, I'd say.

Oh and I have bowling tonight! I almost forgot about that. Two weeks ago I shot a 244. Not the best score I've had (which was a 276), but it is great. I usually get high 100's with the occassional 200+. I think I'm finally getting used to throwing my new ball and it's working out pretty darn good. Wish me luck tonight.

I do have another Featured Artist this week... TofuNutloaf. Please check her out over to the right of the screen. If you click on her shop pictures, it'll take you right to her shop.

Have a great weekend!

I've decided to have a sale

What better time to have a sale than Christmas. For the next two weeks, I'm offering a 15% savings on all beaded and semi precious stone jewelry in my shop. Please see my shop announcement for more details.

I haven't spent much time the last few days on jewelry. I did make a pair of chainmaille earrings for the Christmas party last Saturday. Then Ted and I made two ornaments for the hostess. Ted said he didn't realize it had to be a guy gift and a girl gift until I mentioned it Saturday, so he rummedged around the house to see what he wanted to get rid of for the guy gift. He ended up giving his voltage meter (can't remember the real name of it) as the gift. I have to say, once it was opened, it got snagged up a few times, until the hostess, Jen, ended up with it again.

Sunday, Ted and I went supply and organizational item shopping. We ended up buying some ribbon for our ornaments and two 7 drawer tote thingies to store all the PC stuff in. We now have our kitchen table back to it's full functioning use of an actual kitchen table. =) And we actually ate dinner on it tonight. LOL I don't know how long it'll last, but for right now it looks nice.

I made my first Etsy sale today (thank you to the buyer). Got it packaged all up tonight and ready to ship out tomorrow. I don't know if she reads my blog or not, but it really meant alot to me that she bought an ornament!

Ok... I'm headed off to bed. I didn't get but 3 hours of sleep last night and it's hitting me pretty hard right now. Hopefully my kitty, Moe, will follow me up and snuggle with me. =)

Nighty Night!

Latest Piece

I just listed this gorgeous Sterling Silver Barrels weave this morning. It's been sitting on my work desk for a week, waiting for pictures to be taken. Since I don't get home from work until almost 6:00pm, it's already dark, so I have to wait for the weekend to take them. If you would like to read the description of it, click here http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=8182288.

We have our Softball Christmas party tonight, so I'm off to make a pair of earrings for my White Elephant gift. Ted said he wanted to make an ornament... not sure he'll have enough time since he's in Chapel Hill this morning, but we'll see. If he can't make it, I'm sure he'll come up with something else to give.

I hope you all have a great day! It looks like it's gonna be beautiful one! =)

Random Thoughts

This will be a quick post, since it's almost 5:00.

I'm still hammering away on my Freethinker's project. I ran into a little snag last night with some of the rings and have to work my way through it. I don't think it'll be too difficult to do... it's just a matter of getting the same result a different way, using different (bigger) rings.

I had to give my Christmas list to my boyfriend yesterday. The entire list was chainmaille stuff. LOL Of course he asked "This can't be all you want?"... yep, it sure is. I want to learn all the weaves I can and I need the rings to do them in different sizes and would love to have all sorts of extra rings to try my own thing (kind of off the beaten path of regular chainmaille).

I really want to push myself with this and see just how creative I can be with chainmaille. I do love the standard weaves... they're all so beauiful, but there are at least a dozen people on Etsy selling the same thing I am. If I don't start getting creative with it, I'll remain lost in the flood of jewelry items being posted every day.

Someone posted in a forum today that in order to have an item on every page that day, you would need to list something every 11 seconds, all day long. That's alot!!! I'm kind of wondering if the move to Etsy was such a great idea. I do love it and love the people I've met, but a ton of artists and their products are getting burried, and it's not gonna stop or slow down. I'm giving it a year, no matter what though. I do have some sales outside of Etsy, but haven't had any since joining the venue in September. I wonder if the Christmas season and all the shoppers that come to Etsy will change that for me?

New Project for the Etsy Freethinkers Group

I've been thinking about what to make to go along with the Freethinker's theme (Peace and Tolerance) for a while. I had a general idea, but yesterday all the little details finally came together in my mind. Of couse I haven't written anything down... that'll come after or while it's made. It's all stored up in my head for now... and I really hope it stays there.

I started creating it last night and I really think my vision is gonna come through for me. It is a chainmaille piece, mixing Argentium Silver and Gold Filled rings. It may take me a while to complete it, because it is a bit detailed and seems like it's gonna be a bit tricky in spots. But I have a feeling it's gonna be beautiful! And I have all the patience in the world for chainmaille.

I can't decide if I should post pictures of it in process or not. Would anyone be interested in seeing it being made?

With Christmas coming up, I really need to get started on gifts for family and friends. I'm currently waiting on some more rings to come in for the family part. We have a Christmas party coming up this weekend that we need two "White Elephant" gifts for. I thought about making a pair of earrings for that, but I think everyone else will bring actual gag gifts. hmmm... have to think about that a bit more. I don't have much time though, so I'll talk to Ted tonight about it.

Off to the right, I'll be featuring a different Etsy artist every so often, so be sure to have a look. I haven't decided yet if it'll be once a week or less, so be sure to check back often so you don't miss anyone.

Hope y'all have a great day!!!