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

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!

Latest Additions

This week I've added a few more memory wire bracelets to my existing collection. They're becoming quite addictive. I find the making of them very relaxing; there's something about threading beads in a sequence and watching the design build, that's very satisfying.

Dotty: A simple, yet striking design. Six wraps in black and white form a nice deep cuff.


Spangle: I love the zesty citrus orange and Lime in these crackle beads. They remind me of the hard fruit flavoured spangle sweets I had as a child.


Autumn Fruits: Many of the wooden beads in this bracelet are vintage ones I've had in my bead stash for many years. I seem to remember I bought them from Janet Coles Bead Catalogue... anyone remember her? This was way before the internet, and I loved pouring over the glossy pages of wonderful beads she had personally sourced on her travels all around the world. Here I've mixed them with apple coral and carnelian.



Christmas: I know it's early, but it will be here before we know it. A four wrap bracelet in festive red and green.

Beautiful Memory

Decided to introduce a few memory bracelets to my shop this week. I like the simplicity of them, the fact they are easy to wear with no fiddly clasps, and one size fits all. But I absolutely hate the way they devour all my lovely beads!

I'm a typical magpie, I hoard my little beauties, take them out, play with them, gaze at them lovingly, then put them all away again. Well that's not strictly true, of course I do use them in my designs, but I'm not used to depleting my entire stock of my absolute favourites all in one sitting!

Simple to make they may be, but it's definitely not a case of less is more where the memory bracelet is concerned, in fact the more the merrier! I adore the deeper cuff style of at least 3 or 4 wraps or more, so looks like I'm going to have to go on a bead buying binge... again!

Mulberry:



Cool Water:



Autumn Berries:



Misty Ocean:


But I haven't given up on my polymer clay roses, and here is my latest....

Purple Passion:

Birthday Sale BOGO Half Price

It's my birthday next week and to celebrate I'm having a Buy One Get One Half Price sale on selected flower themed jewellery in my Etsy shop.

Many items are One Of A Kind, never to be repeated designs, so once they are gone, they are gone.

On purchasing two items, half of the lower priced item will be refunded through Paypal.

Check out what's included in my birthday sale here

Sale ends Friday 21st May 2010

Happy shopping! :)

Friday Focus

As I haven't done a great deal of creating lately, I thought I'd share my ramblings on some recent thought processes.

I have been pondering opening a second Etsy shop for some time now but couldn't settle on what to sell. Jewellery is such a saturated market on Etsy with many hundreds of lovely shops that it's very difficult to be seen amongst the masses, unless you have a unique product, or your prices are extremely competitively priced i.e very low.

I have yet to discover and develop that elusive niche, and I refuse to be drawn into a pricing competition of drastically reducing my prices to compete with many who sell very cheaply with the main intention of amassing high sales figures. I know some people sell cheaply because it's just a hobby, indeed it's mainly a hobby for me too, in the respect that I don't rely on it as a source of income. But I'd rather sell less often at a price which I feel reflects the care and attention to detail that goes into my creations, and it is important to me to feel my work is valued and appreciated.

Having said that, sales are slow despite working very hard on promoting my shop. I did briefly consider selling supplies as a means of increasing sales and income, but very quickly decided against it because there would be very little creativity involved, and that too is very important to me.

So where is all this leading? Well nowhere really.... just yet. Oh I'm such a tease! ;)

It is true, I have come up with an idea, though by no means unique, and it may yet still reside under the umbrella of jewellery... I'm not decided on that yet. I will have to see where my creative muse leads me. It's something I became interested in many years ago and have rekindled my passion for. So I've ordered supplies and will be spending time with my new hobby, which may or may not be the focus of a new shop. It will keep my creative juices flowing if nothing else.

But back to my jewellery... here are my latest pieces:

Rosebud Earrings:


These beautiful earrings were made with faceted Vintage lucite beads, topped with antiqued brass petal caps with an olive green Swarovski crystal nestled in the petals of the uppermost leaf cap.

Apricot Blossom Earrings:


I used faceted crystals of warm honeyed topaz for these little beauties. I have layered them with antiqued brass caps and topped them with dainty topaz Swarovski crystals.

Either pair would be lovely to wear this spring, and are suitable for either day or evening wear.

Spring is in the Air

I seem to have been so busy lately that I haven't had time to update my blog. I'm about to put that right with a gallery of my latest Spring Flower Collection. My flowers seem to be my best seller and after a couple of them were recently featured on the Etsy Front Page interest has grown (no pun intended) and orders have increased. So I figured I'd extend my range with some new designs. I can't claim they are botanically correct, but I have so much fun making them, and it beats gardening in this chilly weather!

Daffodils:



Nightshade Lily:


Bluebell:


First Dew:


Springtime:


Passion Blossom:



Tiffany Fleur:


Spring Green:



Summer Sky:



Lime Blossom:

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

Christmas Round Up

I've had a lovely, relaxed and peaceful Christmas. We've had quite a lot of snow so I haven't used the car since last Friday. The steep hill leading up from our close to the main road is like an ice rink and I've seen too many cars skidding all over the road to even attempt it. So Bailey's daily walks have been limited to the green at the top of the road.

But today the footpaths aren't even safe to walk on, so the poor lad has only been in the garden. It has rained a little tonight, so I'm hoping it will help to melt the ice. My son very kindly did the food shopping at 7.00am on Christmas eve morning... he caught the bus there and back, so I really have had a lovely stress free break.

Snowy garden


Christmas tree and fireplace garland


Sepia Christmas


As far as my jewellery is concerned I haven't been very productive lately, but here's a necklace I made recently:

Lemon Sorbet Vintage Lily Pendant


I made these earrings today. Not very festive, and more reminiscent of balmy summer days by the sea. But I figured if exotic holiday adverts are shown on Boxing day, then why not. Anyway I have customers in Australia to think about!

Ocean Drops



Happy New Year to Everyone! xx