More Luxe Gemstones

Our move towards greater reliance on luxe gemstones is underway. The Ariana bracelet features 160 carats of genuine gemstones in an eye catching palatte appropriate for year round use. Truly a modern heirloom collectable, this bracelet is a very comfortable piece of wearable artwork. Ariana has spectacular topaz and ruby specimens in a cornucopia of gems including pink sapphire, yellow sapphire, orange sapphire, yellow topaz, london blue topaz, sky blue topaz, pink tourmaline and rose quartz.

One of the most diverse and interesting aspects of my jewelry work is my bridal hair accessory creations. The new Era Heirloom FloraVine Comb was a joy to design and create. This piece which incorporates cream, ivory, champagne and soft pink freshwater pearls is sold, but if you'd like me to create something similar, just drop me a note with your ideas to get things started. Your bridal hair accessories can be matched to your gown or dress or designed to coordinate with the bridal party, flowers, etc.

My sterling and vermeil findings order from Indonesia arrived last week, all neatly vacuum packed in a cute box with cello wrapping - immaculately packaged. My only concern is how FedEx left the package (still in its bonded wrapper) at my front door where anyone could have grabbed it. Other than that, I'm totally delighted with this first direct buy from Bali and I can't wait to start using some of these great components. The MiGem order is on its way too, so those stones will be a pleasure to work with.

On a pleasant note, today is Amy's first birthday. Amy is my sassy airedale. And one sure sign that perhaps Amy is starting to mature (just a wee bit) is the fact that today for the first time, Amy spent a few minutes alone outside in her fenced enclosure *without* barking or whining at all. She simply sat there soaking up the gorgeous sunshine, taking in all the wonderful scents and sounds in the backyard. Maybe there'll be two moons in the sky tonight.

Lacy Flower and Vine Comb

Wow, I just figured out how to adjust the frame widths on this blogger template. All those years of struggling on my own to learn html are paying off. I feel this new layout is more visually pleasing. Monday was a good day project wise. I figured out how to create a custom Error 404 Page Not Found document for one of my websites. That's a project I have been meaning to get to for years.

I also have finally created a sitemap and uploaded it to google. Those .xml things are still a mystery to me though :)

In jewelry, I'm working on Corra's new zhu ring tutorial (from deCor's Handmades) which I haven't figured out yet, but I did create an amazing folded wrap of copper wire (I'll call this technique "zhu wrap gone wrong") that I'll incorporate into something special for a later post.

Finally as noted elsewhere, this is the season when I'm busy designing bridal hair accessories. My garlands, hairvines, tiaras and hair combs consist mainly of freshwater pearls of various shades wrapped in genuine sterling silver wire embellished with a sprinkling of glittering swarovski crystals. This New Era Heirloom Lacy Flower and Vine Bridal Veil Comb is representative of the delicate bridal sprays that I enjoy creating. A sterling silver spray with pearl and crystal accent can add pop and sizzle to so many aspects of a beautifully pulled together wedding day - from bridal centrepieces, bouquets, boutonnieres and corsages to yes even the cake!

Our bridal accessories can be produced using either glass, swarovski crystals or genuine gemstones (at a minor upcharge). We will incorporate coordinating or matching freshwater pearls or we offer imitation pearlescent beads for the value conscious.

How about a little blue sapphire to add that "something blue"? Or what about incorporating tiny birthstones to represent both bride and groom? It's so easy and lovely to create these customized statement pieces that I really have fun with them! And I hope it shows....

Slow Progress Today

This is one of the those days when absolutely nothing has gone well. One of my vermeil orders arrived. By mistake I left it in harm's way so Amy grabbed it and chewed it up. She detects cigarette smoke and other nice strange odours on mail so she destroys just about any and all mail she can sink her huge airedale teeth into. And in one of my other companies it seems everything that can go wrong is doing just that. Well things aren't exactly going wrong, it's just a swell of bad press that seems suspect to say the least. And it caught me off guard. So I haven't been sleeping.

At the supplies store a customer placed a huge order and then kept writing that he couldn't get paypal to work. Perhaps it's my background in the financial services sector, or the fact that I've been dealing with online sales for so many years now, but when customers complain that they can't use PayPal I turn a deaf ear. I'm so tired of hearing this stuff from folks who either haven't got a paypal account set up, or they didn't complete the verification process, or they can't figure out how PayPal works, or well there are dozens of explanations I've heard. Anyhow, this poor guy kept saying that payment couldn't be made using credit card and I really wasn't listening. Finally I get a convo from him asking me to cancel the sale because there was never this problem before when he tried to use PayPal and pay via credit card. So I'm thinking, okay then your account really is set up and it does work. Maybe there's something askew at my end. Guess what? Our PayPal account settings are blocking all kinds of things. We were set up to block all unverified US addresses. and the real kicker - we didn't have PayPal Optional enabled. Go figure!

I think I've fixed the PayPal optional problem. Now my buyers can purchase using a credit card without having to set up a PayPal account. Let's hope that customer tries one more time to pay!

At SassyDLite I had a necklace order to ship. The buyer requested a longer chain. Folks don't realize it but these last minute changes can sometimes mean virtually rebuilding the entire piece. Anyhow I got that shipped. And hanging over my head for several days now has been a custom bridal hair comb creation that I'd been putting off. The buyer gave me an outline of her specs and I had difficulty envisioning how I would pull the project together. Anyhow here it is. What do you think of it?

The one thing that has gone well today was hearing from Danielle that she loves it. Thank God! I really didn't want to have to take another stab at this project. The clear swarovski crystals seem way too monochromatic for my taste. It's no secret that I like a broad palette of colour.

I suppose I'm frustrated because I started a fabulous pair of handmade chandeliers several days ago and I haven't had even a moment to develop the creation. I'm one of those designers who lumps the components together to see how they'll look when combined. That means each partially finished project is strewn on my bench. I'm currently looking for a better storage system, and I've found some that are nice (nice and expensive too), but most of these systems don't allow me to see the materials at a glance. All the gems are laid neatly away inside drawers and I'm not a fan of that approach. But I may have to adjust to a new system like that in order to get better organized.

So my bench is a mess and the 26g headpins finally arrived from Magdalena Borejko of Magdalenas Atelier in Poland today. I've been waiting weeks for these materials. Now I'm ready to get creative, unless more orders arrive.