I love vintage beads

 One of my great joys as a jewelry designer is finding and using unusual vintage beads and components! I just listed these Absinthe Crystal Chandelier Earrings in my Gothic Jewelry section. They feature some of my favorite vintage beads -- those teardrops are hollow blown glass! How cool is that? I can't even remember where and when I got them, because I buy vintage beads from so many places.

However, I do remember where I got the vintage cabochon, teardrops, and bicones in Ghost Portal. They all came from this weird shop in NY that was tucked away in a warehouse-y/industrial-y district on Long Island. It was one of the must-stop-shops whenever my mother-in-law and I would go bead shopping. Sadly, the store has since been closed down and torn down, so there are no more fun afternoons of wandering around picking out weird vintage beads, but I do still have a pretty impressive stash from the few years that I did shop there.

New Jewelry!!!

It has been way too long since I added new jewelry to my Etsy shop! To make up for lost time, I have multiple items that will be going up over the next week. I started yesterday with Ganesh Enshrined. I don't normally do religious-themed jewelry, but Ganesh is so popular with belly dancers and I thought this pendant was really awesome, so I decided to make an exception.

What else do I have coming down the pipeline? A beautiful beadwoven Gothic necklace, chandelier earrings, hamsa earrings, key earrings... And that's not even counting the in-progress items that I need to finish up and list!

It's all me this week

Well, no treasury features for me so far this week, so this post will just be about treasuries I made! Luckily I made two because I felt like it. The above is a non-FAETeam collection for once. There are a few FAE items in there but mostly it's stuff culled from my Etsy favorites. I really do love fancy hair accessories!

I did of course make a FAETeam Treasury too! It's called Squeee! and it features a bunch of cute items because I felt like I needed a break from Halloween and Fall-related themes. Besides, who could resist that little otter's face?

More Autumn Treasuries

Seems like treasuries are all about Autumn and Halloween right now! Can't really blame people, it's been a pretty harsh Summer all across the country and I think we're all ready for Fall. Of course, it's still in the 90s and even up to 100 some days here in Tucson, and when we do get Autumn weather, all the leaves on the few non-evergreen trees just turn brown and fall right off. So my treasury is inspired by the sort of Fall that I never really experience.

Crunching through the Fall Leaves was curated by one of my Phoenix dance friends and shows that same longing for some real Autumn weather and sights.

As What Caught My Eye isn't specifically Fall-themed, but you can tell that Mermie has Autumn and Halloween on the brain based on what did catch her eye.

Belly Dance Picture!

I'm busy cleaning my bead room/putting together a package of beads for a swap, so instead of something business-related, here's a picture of me dancing! I honestly have no idea what I was doing when this was snapped, but whatever. I still feel pretty ;) This weekend's performance was at Studio 455, where they currently have a display of photos from and related to the All Souls Procession, which was really cool! Behind me there's a picture of a dead, mostly-skeletal animal AND a dead bug being eaten by ants. I really should have taken the opportunity to get super Gothed-up and danced to something really dark and heavy to go with the dead things!

New lower prices on Chandelier Earrings

I decided recently that some of my chandelier earrings were overpriced, so I've been working on repricing them. Today I lowered the prices on two pairs by $10, which means that you can now get Sunset Shimmer or Enchantment for $40.

I have the findings to make some more awesome crystal chandelier earrings, but right now I'm kind of focused on taming the mess that is my guest room, since there's talk of in-laws coming to visit next month and the bed is buried under beads and jewelry!

My booth

Here's a shot of my booth from the Desert Shakedown this past weekend! I packed my canopy, but when I got there I found that my spot was under a roof. It was so nice to not have to worry about anchoring my canopy, or tearing it down at the end of the night. Decor is provided by my collection of sarongs and thrift-store saris.

I definitely want to continue replacing my black "velvet" displays with teak wood. The wooden ones may be heavier, but they're also more durable and don't attract cat hair. I had to throw away several of my velvet displays due to flocking loss or breakage.

Treasuries on Thursday!

Yesterday my husband took the day off and we enjoyed the rare chance to be completely lazy, which meant I didn't update my blog and as a consequence, you get this week's treasury round-up on Thursday instead of Wednesday. Above, you can see my latest Halloween-themed FAETeam collection, this time focused on spooky critters.

Three features for me this week. Of course Phoenix Feathers found its way into yet another treasury: gold colors. It was also wildly popular at the Desert Shakedown, so I'm pretty sure it's only a matter of time before someone makes this beautiful necklace their own. Admire it while you still can ;)

A pair of purple earrings found themselves in The Color of Royalty, which is a delightfully luxurious collection.

 Into the Pumpkin Patch we go... is a great Autumn/Harvest/Halloween-themed treasury with my "Hungriest Pixie Ever" pomegranate faerie necklace included.

Thank you to all of the artists who included me in their Treasuries this week!

Happy new homes

 Although Saturday's show wasn't the rousing success I had hoped it would be, I did actually make more money selling jewelry than I spent on new belly dance costuming goodies, so it was still good! And I'm very happy that several pieces went to new homes where they will be worn by dancers that I admire.

This necklace event went home with one of my troupemates, which means that I will get to see it often! She wore it for our photo shoot, which meant there were three of us wearing my jewelry in our professional photos. I'm so happy and excited!

I did create some new items that didn't sell, so I will soon be adding them to my shop Handmade Jewelry by Erthe Fae Designs. I also plan to get some more destash lots listed soon, too, so if you're looking for more beads (especially leaf beads) keep an eye on the shop or this blog to find out when I have them up.

One lovely treasury

It was a quiet week for treasuries, so this one that I'm included in is all I have to share. I'm really busy getting ready for the Desert Shakedown this weekend and that was my main focus yesterday. I'll be back to making treasuries next week!

New Bracelet Display

I bought this beautiful teak wood bracelet display back in February, but I haven't used it until now! I decided to save myself some set-up time and put my bracelets on it now instead of Saturday morning. This also allows me to see what colors I could use to have more of -- like red and orange, for example. And I really should have more than four spiral rope bracelets!

I'm getting really excited for the Desert Shakedown! It's going to be an exhausting day, what with a workshop and a performance and vending all day, but I think I'm going to have a lot of fun... and hopefully sell a lot of jewelry! My Square card reader just arrived today so I should be able to accept credit cards at the show, too. It's so awesome living in the 21st century.