Color Blog Challenge!!!

Ok, I might be a wee bit excited about this... just a wee bit... I had so much fun with this.  When I saw that Erin was doing a challenge involving colors... and these amazing palettes by Jessica Colaluca of Design Seeds... well, I had to give it a go!  I knew I was going to be super busy with craft shows and holidays and my daughter's fourth birthday... so I chose blue because I'm comfortable with it.  I know, I know, seems like I wimped out, right?  Well, not really, the palette chosen for me has colors I've never used before!  I was so excited to get it!

Isn't it amazing?  You can click on the pic and go straight to the image on her site and tell her how awesome it is :)  So the colors I had the most trouble with were the middle three... three colors I've never used.  Sort of a beige-y, cargo khaki-y... I like it, but man was it hard to find just the right beads!  And then that lovely soft grey and the darker grey with the hint of blue to it... so... ready to see what I came up with?

So let's briefly talk about what's here...  there's the sky blue seed beads, of course.  I have to admit, I do not normally work with seed beads, but I wanted to step out of my comfort zone some and thought this would be perfect.  The blue amazonite jasper rounds are one of my new favorite things, I think they are just gorgeous.  Then there are three different shades and sizes of fire agate... dark brown, khaki, and shades of grey with a hint of blue.  I also added two wickedly fabulous enameled beads by Sally Russick of Wireworked (she totally rocks, in case you were wondering).  All of the gorgeous metal is Fallen Angel Brass (they are such cool ladies!).  And the perfect little heart is by Janice of JLynn Jewels (who is the sweetest!), I used it because the colors fit the scheme... and the swirls reminded me of the branches of the tree in the pic :).  Here's one last close up of the beads:

Now!  Onward!  Many more fantastic blogs to check out :) Thank you so much to Erin for organizing this!!  Can't wait to see what everyone else did!  Oh, and I've decided to leave my sale up in my shop another day or two... so feel free to check it out! Thanks so much for dropping in :)

~Jennifer

Here's the rest of the list!!

Here is the official list:
 

1	Norma Turvey	Teal	Color Crave
2	Jeannie Dukic	Green	Mineral Tones
3	Mary McGraw	Teal	Embellished Hues
4	Jo Tinley	Red	Decadent Tones
5	Rebecca Anderson	Pink	Tulip Tones
6	Kristi Jaro	Red	Temple Entrance
7	Stephani Gorman	Green	Dew Tones
8	Melissa Meman	Green	Fruit Star
9	Kathleen Lange Klik	Teal	Silk Hues
10	Cynthia Riggs	Red	Autumn Comfort
11	Heidi Post	Teal	Flora Bright
12	Cece Cormier	Teal	Merino Teal
13	Amy Freeland	Gray	Cultured Tones
14	Alice Peterson	Blue	Island Play
15	Rose Noble	Gray	Autumn Stacked
16	Kristina Johansson	Yellow	Sunny Flower
17	Kirsi Luostarinen	Teal	Dragon Hues
18	Tari Kahrs	Orange	Citrus Tones
19	Mallory Hoffman	Purple	Petaled Dark
20	Molly Alexander	Brown	Peppered Tones
21	Regina Santerre	Red	Frosted Berry
22	Emanda Johnson	Teal	Color Purl
23	Amy Severino	Orange	Winged Tones
24	Bobbie Rafferty	Teal	Lime Hues
25	Tanya Goodwin	Gray	Pecked Tones
26	Lisa Lodge	Blue	Nocturnal Tones
27	Hope Smitherman	Blue	Bloom Tones
28	Linda Landig	Green	Cacti Dark
29	Ambra Gostoli	Teal	Perched Autumn
30	Lori Bowring-Michaud	Blue	Sharpened Blue
31	Pippa Chandler	Teal	Hungarian Hues
32	Keirsten Giles	Purple	Mineral Brights
33	Jennifer Justman	Blue	Autumn Rays
34	Sandy Richardson	Purple	Moroccan Brights
35	CJ Bauschka	Teal	Teal Air
36	Shaiha Williams	Teal	Sushi Hues
37	Kay Thomerson	Purple	Autumn Spectrum
38	Sally Russick	Purple	Golden Gate Tones
39	Cilla Watkins	Purple	Autumn Infused
40	Shirley Moore	Purple	Frozen Heather
41	Jenni Connolly	Gray	Paw Tones
42	Tamara Soper	Green	Field Tones
43	Sharyl McMillian-Nelson	Blue	Nested Blues
44	Jen Velasquez	Pink	Sweetened Tints
45	Maria Grimes	Red	Bright Bloom
46	Elisabeth Auld	Gray	Petaled Tints
47	Susan Kennedy	Pink	Zinnia Tones
48	Shannon Chomanczuk	Gray	Autumn Leaf
49	Holly Westfall	Yellow	Sprinkled Tones
50	Patty Gasparino	Red	Color Carton
51	Angela Little	Pink	Singapore Brights
52	Lizzie Zawinski	Green	Budding Hues
53	Kristen Stevens	Pink	Scooped Tones
54	Dawn Doucette	Brown	Jarred Tones

SALE! Oh! And a giveaway too! :)

Well, I was going to start my sale on Small Business Saturday... but my husband talked me into starting it early. Woohoo!  Lucky you all!  :)  I will be at a craft show from nine-ish to four-ish today.... but when I get back I will pack up everyone's orders and try to get them out on Saturday (Monday at the latest, swear it!).  So... get on with the sale, you say?  Ok!  I have three, THREE codes for my shop... one for my Twitter buddies... one for you lovely bloggers... and one for my fabulous Facebook like-ers.  And if you are all three... well, you will get all three codes.  They are all different, for different amounts, and for different types of items :)

My most popular item is my wrap bracelets... so for you fantastic bloggers... you get 15% off of any wrap bracelet in my shop, using the code: WRAP15

Now... not only are you getting fifteen percent off, but I always ship free in the US and every item comes to you (or can be shipped to someone else) in a lovely organza bag.  And I'd be more than happy to include a nice note if it's being sent as a gift!  So what can you get with this code?  Here are some examples...

and...

or how about...

Oh but I'm not done yet!  LOL.  I'm doing two giveaways as well!  One on FB and one here! To be entered into the giveaway on here is easy, three quick steps!

1)  Like me on FB and/or Twitter  (I won't lie, I'd love it if you did both *wink*)

2)  Share this blog post on FB and/or Twitter (see above *grin*)

3)  Leave a comment telling me you did!  Easy peasy!  And what do you get if you do?

These lovelies... I'm calling them "Gypsy Snowflakes" and I <3 them!

I'll use the happy random number generator on Sunday to draw a winner.  My sale and the drawing are open through Saturday night :)

Thank you all of you for your support!  You guys rock!

~Jenn

A Quick Moment for Thanksgiving...

The pic I submitted for JLynn's Photo Challenge

And I mean that in the way it should be used... for giving of thanks :)  I saw a lot of people were putting up posts about what they are thankful for... and realized I wanted to do the same.  Here are just a few of the things I am giving thanks for this year:

~My wonderful husband of almost seven years... he still tells me I'm beautiful even when I'm a mess.  For going to school and working hard so that we can have a better life.  For giving my children a father they can look up to and be proud of.  And for his loving us all so much.

~My beautiful, brilliant, absolutely amazing children... for loving me even though I'm not supermom.  For giving me hugs and kisses when I need them and even when I don't.  For making my heart melt each time they tell me they love me and for reminding me how beautiful the world is.

~For my best friend, Marjorie, for being the amazingly warm and wonderful person she is.  For her patience, for her ability to make me smile and laugh, for her inspiration, for her time, for her ability to keep me going even when I feel I'm going to fall.

~For my other best friend, Charissa, for sharing a love of coffee, crazy kids, sarcasm, 80s teen flicks, certain book series... and for letting me turn you into a girl who likes fashion and make up.  HA!

~For my brothers, my parents, my uncle... my grandparents...  thank you for being there.  Thank you for loving me and supporting me and helping me become who I am.

~For all of my incredible online friends... meeting all of you has been an honour.  Thank you for being a part of my life, for inspiring me, for being the little beacons of light in my days :)  You are all amazing!

~For the ability to create I thank God. I don't know how I could survive without it.

~For music... of all kinds.

~For coffee... without which I couldn't survive daily life ;).

~For rainstorms.

~For the ocean, which I miss on a daily basis, but which I can see and hear whenever I close my eyes.

and... so many other things.  But it's been more than a quick moment, time to get back to daily life!
OH! Before I forget!  I'm going to be having a sale in my shop on Small Business Saturday (this Saturday).  My shop will be "offline-ish" on Friday because I'll be at a show.  But everything that doesn't sell will be available on Saturday.  I will have three sale codes available... one for my bloggers, one for my FB like-ers, and one for my Twitter-ers.  So keep your eyes peeled!  I will also have a couple of giveaways!!

Happy Thanksgiving, loves, may your holiday be full of joy!
~Jennifer

https://www.facebook.com/SoulsFireDesigns
http://twitter.com/#!/SoulsFireDesign
http://www.etsy.com/shop/SoulsFireDesigns

How did it go?

I've heard that question a lot in the last week and I always have to think about it.  I suppose it all depends on how you look at it.  There were plenty of people passing through the cafe/cultural center.  Everyone's displays looked fantastic!  And I met the nicest people, the other vendors were all absolutely wonderful and I also met many other people who stopped by my table and looked around that were just so friendly :).  All in all I think it was a good chance to get out and meet people and try out my new displays.  I'm pretty proud of my displays, I think they turned out really well.  My husband somehow in the midst of his law school insanity managed to drop by the hardware store and create stands for my wrap bracelets.  I knew exactly what I wanted and he managed to find it!  All in all the stands took him like ten minutes to make once he had the wooden pieces lol, but they are perfect!

Here are the not so great pics I took with my ipod:

I want to cover the cork with fabric but ran out of time, I'm hoping to have that done before the next one... though it's in a week so we'll see :).   I received quite a few compliments on everything and it was so nice!  Everyone seemed to love being able to touch everything and I had one woman say she came hoping I'd be there so she could see my work in person!  That was an amazing feeling!  People weren't much in a buying mood, but it was so nice to talk to people and be around other vendors.  And the coffee smell was just soooo wonderful!  LOL.  Here are a few of the things I've been working on, some are in the shop and some aren't quite yet.  If you see something you love and it isn't listed yet, feel free to send me a message!

That last pair are my favorite... I'm calling them Wind and Fire... the way the boros swirl with the blue and then the bits of fiery oranges and coppers and reds.. LOVE!  :)  Let me know what you think!  Hope you all had a great week and have a wonderful weekend!

~Jennifer

Pre-Holiday Fair Madness

I have never done a craft fair... I've been to a handful over the years and always thought how amazing the vendors were.  To be able to make beautiful and or useful things with their hands seemed so wonderful to me, still does :). So now, to be doing this myself is just crazy to me, but exciting :)  Doing all of this prep for it has been a bit exhausting and I'm still nowhere near done, it's amazing how the smallest tasks take forever when you have three littles lol.  I've got about a million ideas for jewelry pieces in my head right now and I've started acquiring ways to display my jewelry, thank you second hand stores!  Unfortunately they need to be sanded, which I started last night and I had forgotten what a pain that is to do by hand...  hopefully I'll be able to paint tonight or tomorrow.

I thought I'd show you what my bead table looks like at the moment, to give you an idea of the chaos reigning ;)  I have finished pieces mingling with barely started ideas...  Marsha Neal silk ribbon... KAS ribbon.... tons of Fallen Angel Brass Co. brass... charms, chain, jump rings... swarovski crystals.  Yup, a royal mess LOL.

It's actually much better today than it was last night... sad as that is LOL.  And I won't even show you the floor which is even worse... boxes of beads, packaging, silks, my metal working stuff... it's a disaster.  Here's one of the things I picked up to use for displaying, it needs a bit of work, but it has potential.  I was playing around with it last  night trying to imagine how I was going to use it.

It's a nifty cork board with a wood frame that appealed to me, I really like its length.  But it definitely needs a little something, so we'll see what I end up with when I'm finished jazzing it up.  I also got that pretty little tray in the first pic above on the left.  Sorry these pics aren't the best, used my ipod lol.  See those earrings in the middle pic?  I got some new and insanely gorgeous lampwork beads from one of my favorite artists (Iris Glass Art) within hours of getting them earrings made themselves, I swear it!  

I had big plans for taking the kids and the camera and getting pics of them in the leaves this weekend, but... didn't happen lol.  They've all been fighting with a bit of a cold and I decided we'll try maybe after school tomorrow :). How was your weekend?  Did you do anything deliciously autumnal?  Or is Old Man Winter nipping at your ears already?  Whichever it is, I hope you had a lovely weekend and it leads to a fabulous week!

~Jennifer

Sage and Mage

Oh... where to begin?  I can't even remember how I found her sweet little FB page, but Gennifer (the lovely woman behind the shop) is just the sweetest soul.  I love to read her descriptions on everything she creates... her handmade from scratch goodies all just sound like heavenly goodness.  She makes everything from perfumes, to lip balms, to teas... to gorgeous jewelry.  And when I say gorgeous?  I mean it.  Her color combinations make me swoon.  This one for example, it's one of her Happy Bracelets:

Really does make you happy, doesn't it?  It just makes me think of delicious candies or something... so rich and luscious.  I'm also totally drooling over her chocolate mint lip balm... yum!

Check out her awesome shop intro:

"If Sage and Mage was a real-life shop, it would be a small, old house. You would release the smell of lemon thyme by treading up a soft, green path to the porch. The porch steps would creak, a raven would call, and the door would open, welcoming you. Light would stream in the windows, illuminating shelf upon shelf of tinctures, treasures, trinkets, lotions and potions. Strange and wonderful herbs would hang in bunches from the ceiling. 

But what you are looking for would be in a small back room with the phantom scent of violets, in an ancient wooden cabinet, in a tiny drawer, in a tiny box...

Welcome, and I hope you find what you are looking for..."

Isn't it fabulous?  Don't you just want to check it out?  What are you waiting for?!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/sageandmage?ref=ss_profile#

There's her shop link.  Now I was the insanely lucky winner of her giveaway last month, I just got my bracelet a few days ago and it is just absolute perfection!  She let me pick my own color scheme and I said something "ocean-y"  and oh my!  It is so beautiful!  And it smells like yummy amber too.  *happy sigh* Love this woman.  Here are my pics, first up, when I opened her package (all the way from Australia!!! How cool is that?) she made everything so beautiful!

And then...  oh oh!

and of course... a few shots of it on...

and the smaller flower:

Isn't it just stunning?!  I cannot get over the layers of fabric on the flowers, so delicate and just GORGEOUS. I am in awe.  Thank you, thank you, Gennifer!  You are wonderful!  My oceanic dream come true :)  Now... just in case you missed it the first time.. here are her links:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Sage-and-Mage/121978711166491

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

Go and see her beautiful shop!  Check out her oils, her balms, butters.. perfumes... and lovely jewelry!

Happy Tuesday everyone!

~Jennifer