New Designs Added This Week

Another busy week making new designs. Here are the latest additions to my Etsy shop. Click on the individual titles for full descriptions.

English Rose Locket

Topaz Twist Earrings

Smoke Earrings

Starry Night Necklace

Heart of Steel Earrings

Caviar Necklace

Latest Additions

I've had a busy week or so adding new items to my Etsy shop. All but two pieces are new designs, and two have been reworked. The Midnight necklace has had the beaded chain replaced with a plain one as I felt the original one was overly fussy and detracted from the pendant, and the Coal earrings have been re made in gun metal as I feel it complements the Obsidian cubes better than the brass used for the original pair.

Here are my latest additions. Click on the title to see the full details.

Posy Necklace

Midnight Necklace

Coal Earrings

Captivate Necklace

Mercury Earrings

Mercury Necklace

Pop Art Earrings

Pop Art Necklace
Flying in Circles Necklace

Denim Necklace

Festive Banner

The snow has put me in a festive mood, so I've designed a new banner for my Etsy shop.


I started by creating a pale grey marbled background and added snowy dots all over it. I didn't want it to be too Christmassy being mindful that not everyone celebrates Christmas, but I couldn't resist topping the C of Chameleonite with Santa's hat. I was quite pleased with how restrained I managed to be because my original design had a couple of Christmas trees and sprig of holly. But it didn't reflect my shop or say anything about what I sold, so I finally decided on one of my scarlet polymer clay roses placed at either end. Not very Christmassy, but such lovely festive colours!

You can see the scarlet rose incorporated into my designs in the side bar on the right. Details of the necklace can be found here, and matching earrings here.

Black Friday Sale

I am offering Free Shipping in my Etsy shop from Friday through to Tuesday morning. All listings have been adjusted, so there are no coupon codes to enter, just click and buy. Happy holiday shopping!

Here are my latest offerings: Click on the Title Name to take you through to the item listing in my Etsy Shop for a full description.

Cafe au Lait Earrings:


Lemon Bon Bon Earrings:


Petite Fleur Earrings:


Sage Earrings:


Rebel Earrings:


Gold Pearl Stack Earrings:


Pink Pearl Stack Earrings:


Green Pearl Stack Earrings:

Half Price Sale

I'm holding a half price sale in my Etsy shop. A huge 50% off everything for the next 48 hours. Sale ends Wed 10th Nov 10.00am UK time. I need to make room for some new designs coming soon.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/Chameleonite

What better time to start your Christmas shopping!

Europe For Charity

Etsy's European Street Team have set up the Europe For Charity shop on Etsy to raise funds for humanitarian relief organisations to send aid to such disasters as the floods in Pakistan.

Please consider supporting the Europe For Charity shop by making a purchase from a wonderful array of goods from all across Europe.

I have donated these earrings which can be purchased here

Heartstrings Earrings

Front Page

I discovered today that while I slept last night I was lucky enough to have my Spring Breeze Teal Lucite Flower earrings featured in this lovely Etsy Front Page Treasury made by EsmeDodsworthDesign.

Thank you Esme! :)

You can check out her lovely shop here:

Being on the Front Page resulted in the sale of my new Rosebud design earrings which I'm thrilled about, an enquiry about another item, and lots and lots of new shop and item hearts! :D

Fifi Friday

Still feeling poorly so not done a lot this week. My energy levels are depleted and it's all I can do to take my dog for a very short morning walk, then it's back to the couch for most of the day, and early nights.

But I managed to make, photograph and list a pair of earrings. It was an experiment really, to see if I could find a way to use these gorgeous beads that I ordered which unfortunately came without holes. I fixed them with super strength E600 glue inside the lower petaled bead cap. They are very secure, and I'm really happy with the result.

Fifi Earrings:

Sunday - a Day of Rest?

Today is Mother's day in the UK, a day, as I'm sure everyone knows, when children show their love and appreciation of their mum. I received cards off all my 3 adult children, phone calls from the 2 who live away, a big box of chocolates from my daughter, and my son hoovered the house as a treat, which was lovely.

But Mother's day or not, I seem to have been busy all day. I was up early and out in the freezing cold garden photographing the earrings I made last night and edited them all even before walking my dog. After lunch I listed them in my Etsy shop, and set to work making a necklace, which meant more photos, editing and listing.

Here is what I made...

Ballerina Earrings: So called because they remind me of Pirouetting ballerinas.


Dew Kissed necklace:


Clematis Earrings:


I love these turquoise lampwork flowers. I first bought some last year and have just found them again in limited supply, so I bought quite a few for my bead stash. I also have them in a lovely shade of pale green.

I am fortunate to be currently featured in no less than 3 treasuries and an alt in another one. They are all beautiful and I'm delighted to have some of my items chosen. Thank you!

You can check them out here over the next couple of days:

Yay Spring:

Enigma Ring:

Raspberry and Chocolate:

I'm an alt in this one... Touch of Elegance:

New Year New look

I've got a new look for my Etsy shop for the new year. I've made a new banner which I absolutely love, and plan some new packaging to go with it. After trying various designs and layouts, I opted for a more subtle look with turquoise rather than the bright colours seen above. However, it turned out that another Etsy shop already had a similar styled banner, so it was back to the drawing board.

When I first decided to change the look I initially intended to keep the brightly coloured spots, change the grey background for a brighter turquoise, and incorporate some photos of items currently available in my shop. But I had a real problem with the red circles. They looked great on the Seashore site I was working on, and looked lovely when I uploaded them to Flickr, but when Etsy got hold of them, they looked truly awful!

I tried everything I could think of to rectify the problem; saving to various file types, using web safe colours, toning down the contrast, but nothing would remove the dark outline and squiggly pattern on the surface of the circle. It looked very much as something viewed under a microscope; lots of wriggly worm shapes. The larger circles weren't too bad, but the smaller ones were very noticeable. I think they looked more pronounced against the turquoise than they did against the grey.

I ran a search in the Etsy forums and discovered others who had experienced the same problem with red, especially when used in conjunction with a darker colour. It seems to occur when Etsy compresses uploads and only affects certain colours. Red is the main culprit, but only if there is a block of colour, and at first it appeared to only affect warm colours. But after much experimenting by uploading different coloured spots on test banners (hope no one was viewing my shop at the time) it transpires that it affects red and royal blue the most, and purple and pink to a lesser degree. I tried replacing the red spots with orange and although it was a good clean colour, it didn't look right with the other colours.

I wasn't going to be beaten and spent hours trying various combinations, but I just couldn't get it to look right. So in the end out of sheer frustration I ditched the circles altogether and opted for the plain turquoise background. But as I said above, it turns out the layout was seen by some to be too similar to another person's banner. The colours, font, and photos were entirely different, but the layout was the same. Although the other shop owner didn't mind in the slightest, agreeing with me that it was a very basic layout, and was happy for me to leave it as it was, it didn't hold the same appeal for me anymore and I wanted to change it.

I tried various layouts, but couldn't get it to look significantly different, so I went back to my original theme of circles. Accepting there was no way around the red problem, and not liking any other substitute colour, I decided to keep it simple and use complementary tones of the main turquoise. I think the result is more in keeping with the way I envisage taking the style/look of my shop.

As is often the case, things that start off as an annoyance can often turn out to be a blessing in disguise. The resultant design is not only different, but I actually prefer it to the previous one. I'm also in the process of ordering some beautiful new packaging to match the new colour scheme. So all in all I'm very pleased with the way it's turned out. :)

Looking Back Whilst Facing Forward

I've never been one for celebrating New Year's Eve. I tend to find my thoughts creeping backwards, trawling over the past, and I'd much rather be looking forward in anticipation of new experiences to come.

But being the end of a decade, I allowed myself to briefly reminisce. I could hardly believe ten years had slipped by so quickly. Time sure seems to go quicker the older I get!

A decade ago I was in a very bad place, the lowest point in my life, so best not to dwell on it too much. I'm just incredibly happy to be where I am at this point in time. But it does feel good to see how far I've come and acknowledge all that is good in my life. Recounting lessons learned also acts as a gentle reminder to keep me focused and feeling positive.

Horrible as the beginning of the last decade was, I wouldn't wish to change anything about it, except maybe how I handled it, because my reaction affected those closest to me. But events helped shape me into the person I am today, and I am a lot happier with myself these days; less angry, less selfish and more compassionate towards others, with I hope, a willingness to try to understand people and their behaviour, even when it impacts negatively on me. I don't have to accept what they say or do, so long as I strive to understand where they are coming from.

What I can do is to chose how I respond, if at all. Forgiveness and letting go keeps me moving forward, resentment and hanging on keeps me in the past, and ultimately hurts me more. Understanding removes much of the fear and anxiety. Acknowledging and owning responsibility for any part I may have played is also imperative, because often our behaviour has some bearing on the behaviour of others. I can't change their behaviour, but I sure can change mine!

So here we are, at the beginning of another year/decade. The past 12 months have been interesting and rewarding. I reached a milestone in turning 50 and wanted to do something to mark the occasion. I also needed to get back in touch with my creative side, so I started selling my jewellery on Etsy.

The experience has been immensely enjoyable, if not profitable. It has led me down so many avenues, each one a new learning experience. I feel so much richer (or poorer - depending how you look at it) and more rounded as a person (that'll be the cake)!

Etsy is definitely THE best thing that happened to me this past year! I've had my wobbly moments (not cake induced wobbles...or wine for that matter)... although there's been plenty of those... rather the wobbles that shake your confidence. But that happens when you try to run before you can walk. I'm going to take 2010 at a steady pace and look forward to seeing where it takes me, and what I can learn along the way.

Happy New Year! xx

Weekend Round-Up

Members of the Etsy UK thread are running special promotions for individual members in the run up to Christmas. The lovely IslayBower has kindly volunteered to co-ordinate this mammoth task and is doing a fantastic job of keeping everyone up to date. The second half of last week was my turn to be in the spotlight. Members very kindly promoted me in various ways. QuercusSilver started a thread in the Promotions forum, other people tweeted my shop or selected items, some included my jewellery in their Treasuries, and BigBlueBed featured me in her blog, as did Angela Callanan in her Preciouslittlebirdy blog.

I was even asked to take part in an interview for Etsy member SnowdropAndDaisies blog. Snowdrops sent me a list of questions and I provided the answers which she turned into a lovely interview accompanied by a selection of jewellery photos from my shop. I think it fair to say she was a little surprised at my response, but very kindly took it in the humorous spirit intended. If you have time to spare, you can read it here. But you'd better make a nice cup of tea first... oh and a slice of cake... I do go on a bit!

It's been a lovely few days that's resulted in many views and hearts, and I'd like to say a big thank you to everyone who took part. Apologies if I've missed anyone!

In other news, here are a few new pieces I've recently made.

Clementine Necklace:


Olivia Bracelet:


Honour Bracelet:

Another First

Don't you just love first time experiences... providing they're good ones that is! But even bad experiences can teach us such a lot. In fact I'd go so far to say that it's the bad experiences in life that offer the most valuable lessons. I've certainly found I've had my biggest growth spurts during times of adversity!

But enough of bad experiences. This experience is a good one, and one that I hope will yield a growth spurt for my Etsy shop, because I've just discovered that I've been featured in my very first Etsy Gift Guide!

This particular gift guide features freshly emerging shops that have been open for six months or less and/or who have less that thirty sales. It was AMIdesigns who first brought it to my attention by telling me she had suggested me for it. Thanks Alison! I then popped into the gift guide thread and rather cheekily suggested myself too! I think one or two other UK members might have mentioned my name as well. So thanks to anyone who did that I haven't mentioned. They're a great bunch over on the Etsy UK thread, always supporting and promoting each other!

In fact we're having a special UK promotional push in the run up to Xmas where we are promoting two UK Etsy sellers every week, and the current lucky seller is none other than AMIdesigns so please do drop into her shop and take a look at her wonderful range of jewellery, not to mention her new line in Xmas decorations! They really are fab!

So, Etsy get to choose which particular item they feature, and they have chosen my Ruby Tuesday Red Czech Glass Bellflower Earrings:


You can also check them out here along with the other lovely items featured in the Freshly Emerging Shops gift guide.

My first Custom Order

This week saw another first for me, a custom order! It came about as a direct result of my earrings featuring in a treasury on the Etsy Front Page. The customer wanted me to make a pendant necklace using the same beads. I'm delighted with the way it turned out!

Vintage Powder Blue Lily



In other news, I have had another pair of earrings featured on Etsy's Front Page. This time it was for my Dew-Kissed Blue Lampwork Earrings which were included in this gorgeous treasury.

Playing Catch Up

I've neglected this blog recently, so had better do a quick catch up of recent events/activities. First off, I finally made the Front Page of Etsy! A pair of my earrings were featured in CreamRose's treasury. I had been an alternate but she very kindly swapped me in at some point, and it made the front page. Thank you CreamRose!

It was my Maia - Vintage Green Lily earrings that were featured. I hadn't realised the impact a brief spot on the front page could have. I had an extra 560 views 17 shop hearts and 65 item hearts (25 for the lily earrings) and two enquiries about possible custom orders.

It took me a few minutes to make sense of the sudden increased interest. Admittedly, I hadn't been awake long and was on my first black coffee of the day. Then it dawned on me that I must have been on the front page. My Google Analytics visitor graph looks really weird; there's a little wavy line running all along the bottom of the graph, and then all of a sudden a witches hat appears as the line spikes upwards to the very top of the graph in a sharp point, and back down again to continue it's amble along the bottom.

I thought the witches hat rather apt... not because we're fast approaching Halloween, but because I had been moaning to fellow UK Etsian MoaningMinnie who is always on the front page, that I had never been on the front page. So she said she'd cast a spell to put me there. Low and behold that very night I was on the front page! How spooky is that!! MoaningMinnie makes hats by the way, not witches pointy hats, but beautiful vintage inspired cloche hats. Check out her amazing shop and see for yourself why she's so popular!

But enough of Minnie... this time it was my turn to be in the spotlight, albeit briefly, when the world and his wife was in bed.

Here is the treasured treasury:



In other news, recent items I have made include:

Vintage Plum Wine Bracelet

Chestnut Bracelet


Harvest Bracelet


Enchanted Whisper Necklace


Harmony Blues Bracelet

Topsy Turvy Seasons

Browsing the internet for autumn colours for 2009, I came across Under the Loupe, a blog by jeweller Annette Piper, and in particular an article concerned with selecting stones and beads to compliment this years autumn fashion colours. This piece was written way back in March, and I was impressed by her forward thinking, wondering perhaps if I should have been planning this seasons designs and ordering supplies many months ago.

It was only when I saw her most recent post, concerning spring shows, that I realised she was in Australia and her March piece about autumn colours would have been written as they were entering autumn!

The reason I mention this is because I recently went through my Etsy shop collection changing and updating my tags to reflect the upcoming seasons of autumn and winter and deleting all references to summer. Bad mistake! I have potential customers in Australia, and have sold to someone there already. It must be really frustrating for them to be constantly bombarded with references to seasons months ahead of theirs and offered jewellery that is totally at odds with the colours they are wearing.

So, I shall pay a little more attention to my tags and promote some of my more summery colours, because many potential customers will be looking forward to the lazy hot days of summer while we're heading into winter, not to mention those who choose to spend their winters in warmer climates.