My family rocks!

Let's take a little break from talking about business to talk about how much fun last night's holiday gathering with my family was! It will also serve as an explanation as to why I won't be posting any new jewelry today. You see, my brother Joe and his girlfriend Michelle challenged us to a gift wrapping challenge. We lost mightily because I waited too long to start, but I did get props for hiding their present (a Groupon for an event they wanted to attend) inside last year's pocket calender, which had all the pockets stapled shut and decoy papers in most pockets. The calender was in turn covered in tape, wrapped, put inside a laptop box over-stuffed with bubblewrap, which was in turn wrapped twice.

But Joe and Michelle brought in a box larger than my washing machine, which had layers of boxes inside, including one in paper mache made of the paper leftover from her family's Christmas. And inside that, the best thing ever... a box wrapped in candy. Michelle did this for Joe last year. It was the first time we met her and needless to say, it made a great impression! We were very happy to be this year's recipient of the candy box :) It has sweet, fruity candy for Chris and chocolate for me, yay! Inside was about 7 more layers of wrapping (including two of tinfoil), and inside that, individually wrapped presents to make for the perfect game night -- a fun nerdy game, ginger beer and rum to make Dark and Stormies, hot chocolate and homemade marshmallows from Michelle's family's chocolate shop, caramel corn, and so much more!

What does this have to do with listing items? Well, all of those treats and the paper they're wrapped up in are covering the dining room table where I do all of my photography! Today is going to be mainly dedicated to cleaning up the post-holiday mess, although I will also work on making some jewelry, too.

In other news, my Mom is awesome. You might think that the above mask is leather, but no, Mom made it from polymer clay! It's the perfect blend of black with some iridescent green-gold clay in it, echoing the shimmer of raven feathers. It's so gorgeous! I'm already thinking of all the occasions I could wear it for -- a Gothic bellydance performance, masquerade at Wild Wild West Con (and any other conventions with masquerades), handing out candy on Halloween, etc etc. I really love masks and this one is extra special because it was handmade with love by my mother.

There were a lot of other cool handmade gifts. My brother has really gotten into leatherwork, so Dad and Chris both got awesome belts with lots of accessories for their steampunk costumes. Mom made Dad a sporran to go with his Utilikilts, and Michelle a black and red kitty hoodie. Michelle assembled and painted a Warhammer miniature for Joe (he was really touched, which made me exclaim "Nerd love!" I have joke immunity, after all, I was excited about the Goblins of the Labyrinth book that Chris gave me). And there was so much more! So many of this year's presents game from artists and crafters, whether made by one of us or purchased at Etsy or local conventions. I love how dedicated my family is to supporting artists!

Did you have some happy holidays?

Did you enjoy the holiday season? Topher sure did! He decided this bit of wrapping paper was a bag and crawled right inside -- you can see his tail in the corner of the couch on the left side, barely. He's also been enjoying the shoe box that the paper was wrapped around, as it is perfectly Topher-sized. Plus there's been so much tissue paper to shred! And we haven't even reached the big gift exchange with my family on the First. Truly, it is a good season to be a Fluffmonster.

Anyway, now that Christmas is past, my Etsy shop is open once more! And starting this afternoon I will be back to listing items in my continuing quest to get all of my current stock listed in the shop. Plus I will keep making new things, so be sure to check this blog regularly for in-progress posts and pictures of the goodies I'm making for myself.

Closed for the holidays!

Earlier today I put my Etsy shop into vacation mode for the holidays. Normally I leave it open after my soft shipping deadline just in case someone wants something last-minute and is willing to have it overnighted, but those transactions are just so stressful! So this year one of my gifts to myself is actually closing the store entirely until the 26th.

I will still be blogging in-progress projects, though, and who knows what else, so keep checking in over here. I am in a beading mood. On these cool nights it's nice to watch a DVD with a blanket and a tray of beads in my lap, with endless cups of tea.

FAETeam Holiday Swap

 It's about time that I posted about the FAETeam secret holiday swap! I was assigned Aquariann as my secret fae, and since she likes pearls and Atlantean myths, I made her this necklace. The focal is a lampworked bead with a Green Girl mermaid bead hanging below it. Freshwater pearls, Czech glass and Swarovski crystals make up the main necklace.

And MY gift comes courtesy of Shannon from Gypsy Moon Art Studio! I love Shannon's wirework, so I'm really happy to own a custom-created necklace by her! She perfectly encapsulated my sense of style -- steampunk, tribal, and a little creepy, in copper and olivine green. It goes perfectly with a lot of my dance costumes, and as an added bonus, I already had crystal and eye earrings from Mermaiden that match it.

Mysterious Package

I can't tell you what's inside of this package, or who sent it to me, until everyone who participated in the FAETeam holiday swap has received their gifts and we do the big reveal. But WOW just look at that pretty wrapping job! I love the feathers. I think I'll incorporate them into something to wear when I dance.

(Yes, I am still alive. No, I did not mean to take a 20 day hiatus from blogging. I just haven't been feeling particularly interesting)

Happy holidays!

I decided to actually make a Christmas-themed treasury! What is the world coming to? I really don't like red and green together that much, but it's still pretty cute and there are a lot of awesome FAETeam items. Isn't the red yeti just adorable?

I was also included in a holiday-themed treasury by Mermaiden!



I like that we both included the same faerie door ornament but otherwise our treasuries are completely different :)

Holiday Deadlines

Soul Eater is the only red and green item in my shop. Somehow I don't think he quite exemplifies the holiday spirit, but he does illustrate how I feel after fighting holiday crowds in the stores.

Anyway, it is that wonderful time of year when you have to start wondering whether the things that you order will arrive in time for the holidays. Oh no! I'm here to tell you that if you are an international customer, I don't know if your order will arrive before Christmas if you order it now, but I'll be happy to ship it to you anyway. US customers, you should have no worries. However, I will stop shipping after December 15th and may even put my shop into vacation mode.

Local people: I can deliver! And if you're a personal friend or family member, you can even come to my house and shop for jewelry in person, although you will have to pay a horrible price -- you will get licked by the corgis.

One last thing. Sales have been picking up, and everything that I make is one of a kind, so if you have your eye on something don't hesitate! Seize the day!

Pouted too soon!

After a dry spell of treasury features, in the past two days I have been included in two holiday-themed treasuries! The above was created by FaerieKat to thank the curators who had included her work in their collections, and includes my beautiful white crystal necklace.

Christmas time in the FAE by wonderful costumer Rhonda features items from FAETeam -- and not all of them are holiday-themed, they just fit the lovely holiday color scheme. I am happy to have a pair of my chandelier earrings included.

When visiting these treasuries please remember to give the curators some love!

Magic for the Holidays

A collection of magical gifts from FAETeam.

Yet another week with no treasury features for me. I think I'm going to pout! Well, not really. Everyone's pretty busy getting ready for the holidays now. I almost didn't even make a treasury yesterday but I had a few spare minutes so I came up with an easy theme and it pretty much built itself.

Small Business Saturday!

I think I've mentioned before how it kind of drives me crazy the way this weekend is broken up... Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday. Most businesses seem to have some sort of sale that runs the entire weekend, because they don't want to miss people who can't or won't shop Black Friday anyway.

But small businesses are near and dear to my heart, and not just because I run one. I think that the best things come from artists and unique little shops. I would much rather spend all day at 4th Avenue browsing thrift shops and gift shops than hit the mall and look at the same stores that are in every mall in the country. I'd far rather browse Etsy than Amazon.

I prefer to eat at local restaurants, too. I'd much rather have something that's made fresh that day than something that was cooked and frozen at a central distributing center and sent to my town. Of course I'm lucky to live in a town that has a disproportionate amount of amazing local places.

I'd love to link you to some of my favorite small businesses and Etsy sellers, but that would take forever and I have guests coming over any minute now ;) So instead I'll just urge you to reconsider your holiday shopping at the mall and big boxes, and look to unique stores and artists to support. In this economy us little guys could really use the boost!

Shameless plug alert! You can support my small business by visiting Handmade Jewelry by Erthe Fae Designs and using code thxabunch for 15% off your purchase. Sale ends at 11:59pm MST Monday night.

Happy Thanksgiving!

 One thing I am seriously thankful for this year is the ability to be part of not one, but two great dance communities! Here's my beloved Anaya Tribe in the Phoenix area...

And my wonderful friends and classmates here in Tucson! (Also photographic proof that I wore red and didn't look horrible).

It's hard to believe that we're near the end of November already. This year has flown by in a flurry of activity, and there are certainly things I planned to do and never got around to. But over all I'm feeling pretty happy and accomplished.

But I really should be making potatoes right now, so I'll cut this short. Before I go, let me mention that all this weekend you can use code "thxabunch" for 15% off of your entire purchase of Handmade Jewelry by Erthe Fae Designs.

I'm having a sale!

Wow, it feels like I've barely been home at all this week! So to make up for the lack of new jewelry listings, and to celebrate the three day weekend, I'm having a sale! Use coupon code DISCOUNTME to get 20% off your entire purchase at Handmade Jewelry by Erthe Fae Designs. The beautiful beaded anklet shown above is just one of the over 90 items currently in stock right now!

I hope everyone has a fun weekend, whatever they do. I'm looking forward to being home, as my next three weekends in a row will be spent up in Phoenix for dance events!

Happy Green Day!

Ok, yes, technically it's St. Patrick's Day, not Green Day, but I am really, really, really not Catholic. My family is so predominantly protestant that I don't think I'd even met anyone of the Catholic faith until I was around 15, and that was only on the internet. And though I do credit my Irish heritage with giving me pale skin, freckles, and red highlights in my hair, Irish is only one of about 8 nationalities that make up my heritage, so I wasn't even raised with Irish cultural heritage. I think my Mom made corned beef and cabbage once in my childhood -- and I hated it. I still refer to corned beef as "zombie beef" due to the fact that I was reading Xanth books at the time, and zombies in Xanth are pickled.

So to sum up: I am not Catholic. I am Irish, but they are probably going to take away my Irish license for the zombie beef joke. And I am a colossal nerd.

So I like to think of March 17th as the day where everyone pretends to love green as much as I do! Hooray! Let's all wear green! And eat green food! And drink green beverages!

To celebrate, let's look at some beautiful green jewelry from my shop! Above, the always-popular Turtle Talisman necklace.
Medeine, a woven spiral rope necklace in soft shades of green, perfect for Spring.
This crystal beadwoven bracelet is made with two richly saturated shades of green. I call it Marsh.
Verdant Pageantry is a very elegant pair of chandelier earrings, adorned with drops of my favorite stone -- malachite!
Eternal Spring earrings feature crystals, cane glass, and lovely opalescent green leaf beads.

This is just a small selection of the beautiful handmade jewelry available from Erthe Fae Designs. There's plenty more in green, and even some in other colors, too :)

Gothic Romance

I told you I wasn't going to make traditional Valentine's jewelry! Instead, I'm offering two darkly romantic offerings. First, Romance and Corsetry, which features a sexy little pewter heart by Green Girl Studios! This beauty was already featured in a treasury, I give you my HEART for Valentines Day.

Love Hurts is less elegant and more in-your-face. The awesome focal is by Earthenwood Studios, and is paired with black pyrite and red Swarovski crystals. Very dramatic and Goth.

I have to admit that Valentine's Day is not a big deal for my husband and I -- it's sandwiched neatly between gem show and our wedding anniversary, so I'd feel rather greedy asking for anything to mark the day. But I'm more than happy to facilitate a happy holiday by providing handmade, romantic jewelry from Erthe Fae Designs.

Wuv.... twue wuv... that dweam within a dweam...

Valentine's Day is just a month and a half away, which means that most people aren't even thinking about it yet -- we're all basking in the post-Christmas afterglow, enjoying our gifts, getting ready for New Year's revelries. But as a jewelry designer, I have to think ahead and decide what I'm going to create to capitalize on the holiday. To inspire myself, I created this Thoughts turn to romance... treasury. It features elegant designs that evoke a Valentine's Day feeling, while still holding a year-round appeal. I've never been one for making blatant holiday jewelry, maybe because I've never been one for wearing it. So I'll design with hearts and flowers, and in red or pink, but not all of those elements together. Starting next month, keep an eye on Handmade Jewelry by Erthe Fae Designs for new one of a kind pieces evoking a sense of Victorian romance.

This was supposed to post while I was in Vegas, but it didn't. Apparently if you accidentally post something right away, and then try to change it to post later, it doesn't work. So I apologize for the long silence here. I had intended things to be slightly more entertaining while I was gone!

Vegas was fun, it was nice to spend a few days with one of my friends, just shopping, enjoying the sights, and hanging out.

Christmas Eve, and a new blog!

I don't really have any Christmas-y pictures on my computer, so here's good ol' Snowdrop, my go-to winter necklace. I hope that those of you who celebrate Christmas have a wonderful one, that those of you who don't just enjoy a nice, relaxing Saturday, and that no one gets into too much trouble while I'm gone! I will be in Vegas from the 26th to the 30th, and I'm just taking my Droid with me instead of my laptop, so I won't really be in touch.

As for my Christmas, instead of dog sitting like I normally do, I'll be going to Christmas dinner at a friend's house. Actually, the same friend who I usually dogsit for! But instead of being there alone with 3-5 dogs, I'll be there with Chris, and my friend and her husband, and several of their friends, so it will be very festive and there will be tons of food. I honestly can't remember the last time I had any sort of large, traditional Christmas dinner, so I'm really looking forward to it.

On a completely unrelated note, last night I started my new blog, Confessions of a Dance Pants Addict to track my 365 days of practice and generally blather on about belly dance. If you are more interested in my dancing life than my beading life, you will want to follow that blog. If you are more interested in the beads and jewelry, you'll want to stay here. And if you're interested in both, then you'll just have to read both blogs!

Picture from recital

This picture was snapped by my friend Jen while we were in the dressing room before recital... I wanted to make sure I had at least one picture of me wearing the necklace that I designed to go with my costume. I still need to get some nice photos of said necklace, but my usual photography table is sort of buried under an explosion of holiday shopping, cookies, and wrapping paper.

My daily dance practice has fallen by the wayside due to extreme amounts of holiday stress. It looks like I will have to tackle it for earnest on the 1st. I've decided that I'm going to go ahead and make a separate blog for tracking it -- I'll still mention my major dance milestones, like performances, here on this blog, but I don't want the beads and business to get lost in the chatter about dance practice and inspiration.

Recital Video!

Ah ha! This time, the video of my recital is just short enough to actually upload on Blogger! So here it is. I actually messed up a lot this time around, but oh well. We learn from our mistakes, right?

I'm performing with my fellow Anaya Tribal classmates, from levels 2-4. We're dancing to Mausam and Escape by A.R. Rahman from the Slumdog Millionaire soundtrack. And it was my first time performing ITS with zills, and my first time performing in a 25 yard skirt (well, unless you count the one song that Ghazaal Beledi pulled us on stage for at Ren Faire).

Anyway, in other news, I am more or less on vacation from my store, Handmade Jewelry by Erthe Fae Designs for the rest of the year. I had a customer (ok, my mom!) over to purchase a couple gifts for co-workers yesterday, and I may work on some jewelry to get ready for Valentine's Day, but for the most part my focus is going to be on creating last-minute gifts for friends, working on Wings of the Morrigan, getting some dance practice and tidying up the house. I'll try to keep updating the blog, but I will be in Vegas for most of next week, so I might just pre-schedule a few fluffy posts.

A zebra in a dirigible!

I don't normally decorate for the holidays. Chris and I don't "do" Christmas, and even if we did, where would we put a Christmas tree without it getting destroyed by the cats and/or the corgis? But this year I was feeling sad about my lack of decor, so I decided to do something about it. After hitting JoAnn's and World Market (armed with coupons and sales fliers, because I am a savvy shopper), I put together this adorable semi-steampunk wreath.

The base is a pre-made fake evergreen wreath. I didn't realize how off-round it was until after I took the photo, so I may need to bend the wire frame a bit to fix it. I added a bunch of picks from the holiday floral decor section, and a couple ornaments from World Market (the zebra in the dirigible and the starburst). It's green, it's festive, it's sparkly, and it's non-religious. Perfect for my non-descript winter holiday celebration!

My Maine Coon mix Topher was very interested in it while I was assembling it (I hung it on the door and stuck stuff on it and rearranged until it look right), but he's been ignoring it since I finished, so hopefully I won't come home from class tomorrow and find that he's taken a flying leap from the couch and pulled it off the door!

Don't forget that it's not too late to make YOUR holiday more green and sparkly with a purchase from Handmade Jewelry by Erthe Fae Designs (I think that's my most shameless plug yet).

Dance goal update: Last night's practice was running through our song for recital a couple of times. Not anywhere near half an hour, but there was all that chair dancing earlier in the day.

Winter Colors

I'm almost done listing gray items in my shop, Handmade Jewelry by Erthe Fae Designs. Of course, Guildmistress (shown above) also has blue and brass in it, in case you find monochromatic pewtery color schemes boring. Make sure to check out the link, there's some great close-up shots in the listing!

Now is probably a good time to mention shipping deadlines. Christmas is less than 2 weeks away... yikes! It's 79 degrees here today, so honestly, it feels like it should be more than a week until the solstice. Anyway, I'd recommend that international buyers not try to purchase any Christmas presents from me right now -- they'd likely not arrive in time. For domestic customers, please make your purchases by the morning of the 17th so I can get them packaged up and mailed out before I leave for my recital. Tucson-area customers, I may be able to deliver your items up until Christmas Eve, but please contact me to make arrangements before purchasing.

Dance goal progress: Last night's practice was divided between practicing for recital (complete with zills), doing an exercise from the Daily Bellydance Quickies e-mail, and typing with a sword on my head. I decided the last one counted as practice at least for yesterday, because my shoulder was a little too sore for 30 minutes of actual dancing. I guess it objected to the 120 push-ups I did yesterday or something. So far today I've just done a little dancing in my chair while working on Etsy things :)