How are you today?

How's it going out there in the wide internet? Things are going good here. I had a pretty nice day, actually. Chris and I went out on a rare date. We saw Curse of the Golden Flower, had dinner at Texas Roadhouse, and went over to Barnes and Noble. My parents used to joke that it wasn't a date if they didn't go to Wal-Mart. For us it's quickly turning into not being a date if we don't hit B&N.

So first, the movie. It was beautiful but also very boring in some parts. I'm not much of a drama person, and I figured most of the intrigue out pretty quickly. There were a few good action scenes, however, and you have to see the costumes to believe them! WOW! The Empress especially has some beautiful outfits, amazing hairpieces and jewelry, too. I may have to see if I can find a screen-capture of her gold necklace and see if I can recreate it in beads. China has been making some incredibly attractive movies in recent years, with sets that are almost over-the-top and clever use of color. I found that there was almost too much color in the palace where 99% of this movie takes place. Over all, I am not sure if I liked the movie, but I enjoyed watching it from a sheer eye-candy point of view.

Next, dinner. My parents have been not really bugging us to try Texas Roadhouse, but every few months they ask if we've been there yet. So since we were in the neighborhood and wanted to try a new restaurant, we finally went there. The service was good and surprisingly fast for a crowded sit-down restaurant. My steak was good, my sweet potato was beyond delicious, and the sweet tea was just like what I always drink way too much of when I visit North Carolina. Chris, on the other hand, was disappointed with his meal. The steak was almost half fat, and the fries weren't that great, he said. He did like his chili, though, and we both liked the rolls. Neither one of us really dug the country-western atmosphere (I grew up on C&W and the music was inducing flashbacks). If you like southern American type food and country music, you'd probably enjoy your dinner there, but we'll probably be going out for teppenyaki at our favorite Japanese restaurant next time we crave steak.

And then, the book store. They didn't have Bead Unique either! I asked at the information desk and the nice man there said that although it was supposed to go on sale today, they didn't have their shipment yet and hopefully would next week. Of course we couldn't leave Barnes and Noble empty handed, so a trip to the bargain books section was in order. The first thing I found was this cool deck of stretch cards. Each deck shows how to do one stretch, lists what muscle groups it stretches, what its good for, stuff like that. I'm sure I'll get some good use out of it, as I'm always trying to learn new stretches to improve my range of movement and muscle control for dancing.

The real find of the night was spotted by Chris, however. It's a book called something like "The Secret Lives of Faeries and Elves" which purports to be transcribed from the journal of a 17th century Scottish reverend who actually traveled to Faery. The man in question, one Robert Kirk, apparently actually existed and his writings are said to be referred to in other texts of faerie lore. I own a copy of one of the books mentioned in the reference section, so I'm going to look him up in there later.

I have my doubts as to the reality of this so-called journal, however. The reverend records some faerie stories that he's heard, and the two that I've read so far are pretty well-known to me, having been mentioned in several different books. The second one concerned the tale of the faerie wife who gave her husband the following taboo: If he ever struck her three times, she would leave him. In the stories which I'm familiar with, her husband struck her three times in anger, and she left. This story takes a far more politically correct bent, one time he strikes her playfully, the other two are on accident. The way the story is changed to reflect contemporary mores makes me question its authenticity. Regardless of whether it's true, it's still proving to be an enjoyable read.

A few other things of note: I did end up dancing last night, and warmed up enough that I actually stayed warm for a few hours. This has encouraged me to not be so lazy, so as soon as I finish this post I'll dance again (it's taken this long for me to not feel like I was fit to burst from dinner!). After I got tired from dancing, I practiced with my fire fans a bit. Had they actually been lit, I would have scorched the ceiling, the carpet, my shirt and my pants. I need more practice! I also worked on my book a bit. I only have a few chapters left to edit -- thank God!

Inspired by last night's fannage, today I finally watched the DVD that came with the fans. I was hoping for some how-to info on cool fan moves (my brother sent me a video today of this guy doing some amazing dancing with paired fans), but it was all safety tips and interviews. The tips were of course good, and the interviews were interesting, but I'm still left unsure of how to properly spin a fan without dropping it or wrenching my fingers. Lots of practice will be in order, it seems. There's supposed to be a fire-spinning group here in town, so maybe I can find someone local who can give me some pointers. My brother unfortunately only spins a great big quarter staff.

Wow, did this post go on forever. I'm going to finish it up, because if I wait any longer, I'll be too sleepy to dance. Today's Cool Thing is Flexi-8 Barettes. I purchased one at the Winter 2005 4th Ave Street Fair and wore it almost daily for a couple of months. I only stopped because it had rhinestones and one fell out and I've been too lazy to replace it. I really should fix it and/or buy some new ones, because it is super comfortable!

Magazine shopping

Today I tried to get a copy of the Spring 2007 Bead Unique so I could read the BFAC article, but JoAnn's didn't have it yet. Instead I had to content myself with the latest Beadwork and Bead and Button magazines. Not quite as cool, but at least I got an evening of reading out of them, and there are a few projects I'll probably do. There are even a couple of chaimaille projects for Chris.

But I want my Bead Unique!!! Hopefully Barnes and Noble will come through for me.

Before it got really cold (that is to say, before the sun went down) I glued down a bunch of cabs. When I want to bead a cab, I don't want to sit around waiting for the glue to dry. It made sense to do half a dozen at once so I have a few projects ready to go. There are two projects worth for website stock and two projects worth for me. Now I've just got to thaw out enough to actually get the work done.

I know I shouldn't complain about the cold in the face of the bad storms that are happening out East, so I'm trying to keep it down. I just wish that I didn't get so sluggish in 50 degree temperatures.

The other thing that I did today was play with my Mohop shoes. I tried out a couple of different types of ribbons and experimented with different ways of tying them and discovered that yes, I can walk in high heels without breaking my ankle. I want to add some bead accents to my ties, of course. If the weather is warm enough, I plan on wearing my shoes with bright green ribbon ties to the Bead Dinner I'm organizing. Bead Dinner and show-and-tell go hand in hand, after all.

I'm going to go make myself dance, which will definitely warm me up once I actually get moving, and then I hope to finish my two spiral bracelets from Saturday. In the meantime, I'll leave you with today's Cool Thing: Table Travesties -- a webcomic by a friend of mine who happens to also be named AJ. There's only one strip up so far, but it is going to be a fantasy/gaming themed comic, and as you can see, AJ (not-me) has some awesome art.

Gem Show Countdown: 12 days!

An Earring Invasion!

Chris and I slept in and decided to stay home today instead of running errands, since he took Tues and Weds off work anyway so we have another nice 5-day weekend. So, with all that abundant free time, I decided to go ahead and add 5 new pairs of earrings to the website!

And to almost make up for not having a Fashionable Friday column for the past month, I now present to you... The Earring Invasion!!!! *cue the sixties sci-fi music* I combed the web to find great earrings by other artists for you to enjoy.

Dusty Road

Antique Angel

Plush Skulls

Sparrow Egg

Micro Macrame

Comet

Evil Eye's Earrings

That should keep you browsing for a while! I'll check back in tomorrow. Oh, and by the way... Gem Show Countdown: 13 days!

New Jewelry TODAY!

If you mosey on over to the site, you will find one new woven necklace and one new spiral bracelet. You'll also find that the View Cart buttons have returned to their rightful spot. I was going to get more done, but Chris had to tweak a few more things to make item listing work properly, so I got a very late start. I'll either list more on Sunday or Monday, or there will be a huge update next week.

Also next week, we will see the return of the Fashionable Friday column! I've missed writing them and I hope you're looking forward to reading them again.

Yesterday I made earrings. You may recall that I said that I wanted to have a few new pairs for the update... A few turned into 7. It's a good thing that it's almost gem show time, because I am nearly out of earring supplies. I just stocked up in September! The funny thing about earrings is that I usually go into the beadroom with the intention of picking out beads for one or two pairs, but then as I'm trying to match things up I just find more and more great combinations and I end up making half a dozen pairs.

Today's Cool Thing is Monkeyshines' awesome ephemera buttons. You know that I love buttons, and these have some very cool recycled images on them. I like the geisha images best of all, and will probably have to purchase some soon. I haven't purchased any buttons in months and I think I might be suffering from withdrawal.

New jewelry on its way!

Just prior to sitting down to write this post, I put the finishing touches on a new woven necklace for tomorrow's update. That puts me at three items already, and I'm going to make at least two pairs of earrings for the update, too. I also have some more woven projects planned, but I don't think I'll get them done in time, since I have a few non-beady things to do tonight and tomorrow will of course be taken up by photography and suchlike.

That said, of course whatever doesn't get done in time for tomorrow will be in next week's update! I am feeling pretty inspired lately and am hoping to dedicate less time to sleeping and more time to business. I have a whole lot that I want to get done before gem show, and only 16 days left to do it.

Hmmm... I think I'll start a gem show countdown in my blog! You can bet that with as much as I'm talking about it now, I will have tons to say about it during the show, or after, depending on how busy/tired I am.

Ok, on to very cool but non gem show things! Keep an eye on your favorite newsstands, because there is an article about Beading for a Cure in the Spring 2007 issue of Bead Unique! Some people already have their copies in hand, whereas others expect to not be able to get it until the end of the month. I personally don't have mine yet, but I plan to look for it this weekend. Everybody who's seen it has been hush-hush about whose work was included. I'm pretty sure mine wasn't, since I'm small potatoes compared to some of the truly awesome work done by my friends, but I still have to seeeeee.

Other-other cool news is the fact that I just found out that the animated version of Beowulf that is coming out later this week is Produced by Neil Gaiman! WOOHOO! Previously I was thinking that it was going to suck, because many animated movies lately have, but now that I know that Gaiman is working on it, I have pretty high hopes. Not that I'm a fangirl or anything. Not at all. What I found stupid, however, is that the MovieFone listing for the movie only made mention of him as a "graphic novelist" and Sandman. Aside from the fact that his novels are incredible, you'd think maybe they would mention MirrorMask, seeing as how it is a movie and thus quite relevant to the subject at hand.

As usual, I digress. Today's Cool Thing is shamelessly taken from another blog, because this jewelry is just so pretty that I want to show it to everyone! Ananda Khalsa's jewelry takes my breath away and fills me with covetous feelings. It may cause you to drool on your keyboard. You have been warned!

Tales of gem show madness.

Today it's grey and windy in Tucson. The forecast for the next few days calls for rain. Well, we definitely need the rain, so I don't mind, even though I have to do laundry tomorrow. I'm hoping that we get plenty of rain for the next week or two, and then it dries back up for gem show. As anyone who lives in Tucson knows, we almost always have the worst weather of the year during gem show season.

In case non-Tucsonans doubt me, let me tell you a story. Back before I started beading professionally, there was only one gem show that my family went to (this happened probably back when I was about 14), and that was the Congress Street Expo, which was right off of the freeway. It was one of those big tent shows with a dirt parking lot, with transient-looking people camping out in the patch of trees on the edge. It was the sort of show with cheap beads, hippies, and general "cool stuff." It was also far less crowded and easier to park at than the big show at the Convention Center, and free to get into. Basically a good way to kill an afternoon and pick up some jewelry and beads and doo-dads. This show has since moved to Tucson Electric Park, changed its name, and become more like a swap meet in a tent, but I digress.

During one of the last years that the Expo was on Congress Street, we had these huge storms. Being a cheap show, the Expo didn't have a real floor, so it was basically soggy, muddy astroturf, and it was kind of cold and drafty in there. But that wasn't the worst of it... One night, the tent collapsed. The high winds and the mud were too much, and it just came down. Luckily it was after hours so no one was physically hurt, but a lot of the businesses had it pretty bad. The supports for the tent fell down on peoples' booths, destroying displays and products. Tons of water got in. It was a MESS.

And I hear that a couple of years before I moved out here, there was an even worse storm-gem show debacle.

Needless to say, I'm very happy that I work at an indoor show these days, with a paved parking lot. I used to work in tents, one of which was a little better than the Expo and one which was really nice, but still a tent.

I spent a nice chunk of this afternoon on the phone with my boss Lois, making plans for said gem show. We've got it all figured out. With only two people working the booth (last year we had three) we had to plan things in such a way that we could both shop and schmooze, two very important elements of gem show. And of course we had to plan out our pre-show shopping, hitting those shows which will start a few days before the one we're working at.

I could talk all day about gem show, but honestly, since it's still almost 3 weeks away, you'd probably get sick of it fast if I talked about nothing but shows every post. That said, I will mention that today I am once again baking delicious tea cookies. The weather couldn't possibly be better for cookie-baking, and of course, I have L5R tonight, so there will be plenty of people to devour said cookies. Last time the entire batch went in one night, and this time I have to set some aside for Chris's tea-buddy at work.

My cookies need my attention now, so I'll leave you with today's Cool Thing: Delightfully Sinnful gothic dolls! If I had more room, I would spend some of my holiday money on one of these dolls. They're so cool!

On what happens when AJ doesn't sleep.

Wow, was today boring. I did housework. I won't bore you with the details. Instead I'll tell you about last night/this morning, when I could not sleep. It took me a good two hours to fall asleep. It could possibly be blamed on the tea I had, but that was only one cup and it was several hours before bed, and it wasn't even that strong. No, I think it can be blamed on the fact that it's almost gem show time (and by almost, I mean gem show is still three weeks away).

You see, whenever something big and exciting is coming up, instead of sleeping, I lie awake thinking about it. So of course since gem show is fast-approaching, I started thinking about the beads I would buy, which led me to thinking about the beads I bought last year, when led me to thinking about what I could make with some of those beads which hadn't been used yet. I came up with several good ideas, two of which will be for personal jewelry for me, but I still might use the techniques for some website stock as well.

Inspiration is nice, but I wish it wouldn't come knocking at 3-4am when I was trying to sleep!

My gem show schedule is falling nicely into place. Today I looked up colors for Spring, so I know what to keep an eye out for when I shop (otherwise I will buy nothing but green and black). This week and next I'll be combing through my current bead stash to get an idea on what I need to stock back up on and what sort of color gaps I have to fill. I might even get super-fancy and set a budget for myself, regarding how much I should spend on certain types of beads. We shall see.

In somewhat related news, I promised my friend and gem show boss Lois that I would dance for her while she's in town, which means I need to keep in practice! This will be made more fun by the fact that my husband now has a subwoofer on his computer... mmmm, loud dance music! I even found the missing iPod cord today. Go me!

Today's Cool Thing is the Gallery of Regrettable Food. Some of it is gross, and some of the commentary is inappropriate, but my goodness did Chris and I laugh our heads off at this site.

Ohmigosh, it's a SALE!

Yes, my New Website Celebration sale is going on NOW! There are items on sale in almost every category! Go, go, look!

Ok, I'm excited because I've never had a real sale before... it's always been silly stuff like "free shipping." Also I'm excited because it's almost gem show season, and the more jewelry I sell, the more new beads I can buy and the more jewelry I can make. I'm really in an "out with the old, in with the new" sort of mood.

Today was spent working on the website. I literally spent hours putting all of the necklaces back into their proper place, spellchecking things (I do so love Firefox 2), and putting items on sale. Then I decided to edit most of the text on my website. Plus I had to fix some errors, while my husband fixed bugs. Unless I sell anything, I'm not touching the site again until Friday... I am so tired of looking at my admin site, ha ha!

One thing I noticed today was whoops, there's no more "view cart" button. That will be fixed by Friday. Also by Friday the similar-item-linking should be implemented. And, of course, there will be new jewelry. I know, I know, it's about time. Hasn't been anything new since before Christmas, and that's just not right.

Today's Cool Thing is this awesome video of a man and his horses. It reminds me of those circus trick riders, only cooler.

Please pardon my dust!

There is some serious construction going on at my website! So far I've spent my afternoon poking around, getting things done behind the scenes, and discovering bugs for Chris to fix. Of course I would rather be making jewelry, but this is work that needs to be done ;)

Would you like to know what you can expect from the new and improved Erthe Fae Designs website?

-A search function! Since I have an average of 100 items on the site at any time, I thought this might make your shopping experience a little easier.

-The gallery will finally work! Now you will be able to see things like my Beading for a Cure projects, personal jewelry, and clay work.

-Similar-item linking. Now when you view an item, you'll also be provided with a few links for related items. Thus if you are looking at a nice black and red necklace, you might get links for a black and red bracelet and two pairs of earrings in the same color scheme as well. Purchasing coordinated jewelry has never been easier!

-Generally improved usability. The website should be faster, more efficient, and in some cases, laid out a little better.

-A big sale to celebrate! This week I am going to put so many things on sale. I'm slightly changing my focus, and so I'll be clearing out some things that no longer accurately portray my style. I'm also going to put some fall-and-winter hued items on sale. And I might put random things on sale just because I feel like it.

Most if not all of this will be showing up on the site throughout this week, hopefully culminating with new jewelry on Friday. Until then, you may notice some small problems with the site. For instance, today I discovered that when we made some changes to the order of my necklace categories, the necklaces themselves stayed in the same position... so my collars are the only necklaces that are actually in the right category right now. We're going to get that fixed today, though. In fact, depending on when you read this, it may already be fixed.

I must apologize for yesterday's brief post. My brother had been riding his bike home from work at 10pm and got a flat. Because we game on Saturday nights, he didn't call us for a ride until 11:30! Poor guy didn't realize that we'd been home since a little after 9. So of course I wasn't going to make him wait at 7-11 while I blogged! It WAS fun, however, trying to get my 6 foot tall brother and his mountain bike into our back seat... Good thing he was only 5 minutes away from home by car!

So, as promised, today you get two cool things. The first is The Toy Maker's free paper toys section! If you have a color printer (instead of a boring B&W like I do), you can print these up and assemble some cool little toys. How nifty is that? The other is this Knitted Albert Einstein hat. How cute! It really brought a grin to my face.

Back to working on the website for me! Have a wonderful day.

Ha ha! A Saturday update!

So, I'm trying to remember to actually post on Saturdays. It was quite easy to do so today, since my D&D game was over by about 8. Kind of anti-climactic, that, since we didn't start until after 3 and there was a dinner break in there, too. Oh well. During the game I worked on a new spiral bracelet for the site and I finished it when I got home, so that will be in this week's update.

The above necklace will also be in this week's update! The centerpiece is made from leaves designed by Barbara Grainger, all stacked up and stitched together, with a pearl in the center for extra class. It looks rather orchid-like, so now I need to do one in purple. I'm thinking maybe I'll attach it to a bracelet for a corsage kind of look.

I'd post more, but my little brother just calls and needs a hand, so I'm going to close this up now and not even give you a Cool Thing... so tomorrow I will do two to make up for it!

A regal unicorn.

The above pendant is what I made my Mom for the holidays this year. I am really happy with the color scheme here, it's so beautiful and regal. My Mom works hard and deserved something pretty and just a little luxurious. The cabachon is porcelain, and I've actually been saving it for a few years, waiting to be able to make something nice. I like the color scheme so much that you'll probably see it again in the future.

Ok, ready for the big news? The new version of my website is basically done. WOOHOO! If you go there right now you'll notice some changes right away, and over the next few days there will be a lot more changes as I take advantage of the new features available to me. Next week I'll go ahead and get all of my sale items set up, so that will be quite awesome. And late next week there will be new jewelry, finally, after way too long. Yay!

And now, I ramble about life stuff. First of all, I finished reading The Prestige. Wow. Awesome book. Although I really enjoyed the movie and I still think it's great and I'll recommend it to everyone I know, the book comes out better in the end. I enjoyed the writing style, I enjoyed the slightly different twists, and I really enjoyed the pure creepy moments that simply weren't in the movie. The film was a wicked tale of escalating revenge; the book had some elements of true horror which appealed to this Lovecraft fan.

Speaking of books, we went to Barnes and Noble today because I wanted to pick up this encyclopedia of mythological creatures that I'd been eyeing for months but hadn't purchased because it was the sort of thing that someone might buy for me as a present. It's a good thing I went and bought it today, because after previously having stacks and stacks, they only had 3 copies left. I nabbed one up. Then while looking for something in the craft section, my eyes strayed over at the nearby occult section, and I saw a copy of the Necronomicon. I pointed it out to Chris and he of course had to buy it. Nothing good can come of this, I am sure. Instead of keeping it under lock and key, we've got it sitting in the middle of the living room under the class schedule for Pima Community College.

Having sated our desire for books of varying degrees of occult nature, we went over to Chivalry Sports, wherein I purchased a skirt with mirrors on it and a green turban. I figure a turban will be a good way to wear my hair up when I want to dance with fire. It will also be a good thing to wear when I just want to look cool, which happens to be a frequent occurance.

I was going to dance tonight, but Chris had to set up his new computer which required cleaning off his desk, which somehow turned into "I'm going to pile all the stuff from my desk onto the living room floor." Between his desk and the empty packaging from the computer, there's approximately one square foot of floor on which I could dance. This is a real shame as his new computer came with a subwoofer, which practically demands that tribal drums be played.

In other totally not related to business or beads in any way news, I've been hard at work editting my book. I'm hoping to be done with this draft soon, which will allow me to start on my third book without any guilt. I really want to work on book three, as some wicked stuff will happen in it and it's sitting there in my head going "wriiiiite meeeeeee" which of course makes it hard to concentrate on boring edits to book 1. Such is the life of a writer.

Today's Cool Thing is just as random as this post: The 1936 Stout Scarab. This car is at once bizarre and awesome. Mostly awesome, because it has a scarab on the front. As a woman who owns a ton of pseudo-Egyptian jewelry and who spent way too much time playing Wolrd of Darkness's Mummy game, of course I would love a car with a scarab on the front.

Hey, I never claimed to be normal!

I made an octopus!

True story: Once upon a time, my parents had a pet octopus. His name was Fred. This might seem a little weird to you, after all, the Addams Family had a pet octopus, but no other popular TV family did. But you have to understand that my parents had numerous aquariums and all sorts of ocean-dwellers as pets. Fred was just the tip of the iceburg. Although I never knew Fred, I grew up dealing with aquatic creatures which ranged from feeder goldfish to sea anemones.

Of my two parents, my father is really much more in to the whole ocean and aquarium thing. I've been buying him gifts related to various sea creatures for years, and so this year I decided "Hey, I'll make Dad an octopus!" Christi Friesen's new book had instructions and they looked easy. I decided I'd even get fancy and put said octopus on an Altoids tin, so he'd be functional as well as nifty.

Armed with this confidence, I set off to Wikipedia where I researched octopus, because I really didn't know what color they should be. It turns out that octopus can be any number of colors due to their natural camoflage capabilities. I also learned that octopus are darned scary. They have no bones. They have three hearts. They're scarily intelligent. If they lived for more than a few years, they'd probably have taken over the world by now.

I decided I would make a red octopus, because that would be pretty striking and within the realm of natural cephalopod hues. But then I remembered that because I'm not a huge fan of the color red, I don't actually own any red clay. Drat. So what the heck, I decided I'd go for broke and make the Blue-Ringed Octopus. The funny thing is that I knew exactly how I would make an accurate depiction of those rings in lampwork. Too bad I'm not a lampworker.

I could go on at length about the difficulties I encountered while making this octopus. I could complain about the brittle translucent clay, the way the suckers kept falling off, or the fact that the best way I could come up with to make the rings was to make a tiny ball of blue pearl clay, flatten it out, and then poke a hole in with a sharp little tool (with the dot resting on my fingertip, which also often got poked) and then wiggle the tool around to enlarge the hole. I could even mention the fact that the octopus developed a few cracks when I baked him.

But you know what? The important thing is that my Dad opened his present and loved it, started talking about how cool octopus in general were and how beautiful blue-ringed octopus were. It was a good feeling, just like being a kid again and having either one of my parents say nice things about the drawing I did, or the little chunk of loomed beadwork, or the short, short stories I used to write.

So there you have it, my tale of octopus creation. I might make another one someday, for Chris who also loves octopus, but I'll be using a different clay blend which will hopefully behave better. I also had an idea this week for how to make a nautilus, so I might try that soon.

I'm going to go ahead and end this post now, before I decide to go off on a rant about my personal life, so I'm going to leave you with today's Cool Thing, which is the Vampire Squid. All this research on Wikipedia, by the way, has convinced me that the vast majority of what lives in the ocean is creepy. I'm never going to the beach again!

Jolly Belt of Doom!

If you're a regular on my blog, then you probably remember me talking about the belt that I was working on, and working on, and working on. Well, here it is at long last! The Belt of Doom! It probably deserves a better name, but after how many hours I worked on it, it also deserves its doominous status. I finished it a couple of days before Christmas and wore it for my Christmas Eve dancing. I am very happy to say that it is not so heavy that it slides right off my skinny little hips, which was my worry.

The Belt of Doom is made with Japanese seed beads in black and a whopping 9 shades of green (which is only a tiny sliver of the amount of green in my collection...) and then accented with peridot, aventurine, and silvery bells. It makes quite a bit of noise when I dance in it. Heck, it makes noise when I walk in it.

This is the sort of thing that I will probably never make up for sale. It took simply too long to be economically feasible. There are much cooler belts on the market that one could buy for far less than it would cost to pay me for all those hours of work. But for my own personal enjoyment, it is nice to have a truly unique belt unlike anything that any other dancer is wearing, and to be able to say "Hey, I made this."

In other news, one of my more minor gifts from Chris was a copy of "The Prestige" -- the book that the movie of the same name was based on. I decided to kick back and start reading it last night, and so far I'm pretty happy with it. There are definite differences from the movie, and because it's a novel instead of a 2-hour film, the story and the characters have more depth. With how many other things I have to do this week, it'll probably take me at least a few days to read, and I'll be sure to keep posting my thoughts about it.

I'm in a Japanese kind of mood, since the L5R game is tonight, so today's Cool Thing is Metalgami by Hapa! I've seen sterling origame cranes before, but I've never seen sea turtles and ninja stars like she has. Very cool!

I'm back!

Well, it was never my intention to take half of December off from blogging, but I got distracted that that's exactly what happened. I got busy with holiday preparation and gaming and generally being cold and lazy. I suspect that I may actually be a cold-blooded creature, as I become unbelievably sluggish when winter rolls around. I sleep for 11 hours some days! Ok, so only about 8-9 of that is sleep, and the rest of it is me going "Bed so warm... world so cold..." and snuggling deeper into my coccoon of flannel sheets and fuzzy blankets.

I have not been idle, though, even if I do spend half the day in bed! This week I'll be posting a pic every day to show you all what I've been up to. The above actually predates my sudden hiatus. I'd like you all to say hello to Mr. Crimson, the dragon I made for my friend and D&D GM Rene. Basically I blended some crimson and gold clay to make my MIL's present (which I forgot to photograph, DOH!) and said "Wow, this would make a cool dragon" so I used the leftovers to decorate Mr. Crimson. His body and wings are black swirled with gold, and the other accents are straight gold. Because he's designed to just hang around (reportedly he spent Christmas on Rene's tree), I was able to do things that I couldn't do on a bead, like make a delicate crest and gigantic but thin wings. He is without a doubt my best dragon to date!

One of my New Year's presents from my undeniably cool parents was the set of tools I've been wanting for clay work, so I will be able to do even better things in 2007. I'm really looking forward to that, especially since there's all kinds of things I've been wanting to try in Christi Friesen's "Under The Sea" book. I might even get bold and do one of those wall hanging with lots of sea critters on it.

My family came over on Christmas Eve and I finally danced for them -- that's one of the really big things I did last month. It was my first time ever dancing for more than one person, which made for an interesting challenge since they were sitting at two couches which are at 90 degree angles from each other. Also, my living room is already small, and when you factor in leg room for 4 people (my dad and brother both being in the 6 foot range), I had less room than usual to dance. Nonetheless, I feel that I did pretty well and everyone had a good time. It was a great feeling! Of course, because of said sluggishness, I haven't danced since...

But that's all going to change, oh yes! My wonderful husband Chris gifted me with a pair of fire fans for the New Year! Yes, FANS that you light on FIRE! Ok, so you light the wicks on the ends on fire, but still. There is fire involved! What, did I forget to mention that I am a (socially responsible) pyromaniac? I love fire. And I love fans. And these particular fans are designed to be held while one is dancing. So now I must practice dancing and practice with my fans (they are kind of heavy) so that someday I may do awesome fire dancing. I did just a little bit in my parents' front yard last night (don't worry, it's all dry gravel and we had a fire extinguisher on hand) and cars who were driving by slowed to nearly a stop trying to figure out what was going on. Good times, good times!

Anyway, now on to some business-related stuff, since that's really what this blog is supposed to be about. You may have noticed that my website hasn't been updated since about the 15th. That's because Chris is still working on the new version, and I can't currently easily access my editting features. The site is almost done, or so he keeps telling me, and when it is finally up, there will be nifty new options for you, the shopper, and me, the content creator.

Ok, so maybe nifty new options aren't quite enough to pique your interest, so I'll say this as well: Once the new site is up, I will be having a SALE! Discounts will abound! Out with the old, in with the new! I love sales and I'm pretty sure that you do, too, so watch this blog for a big announcement when it happens. I'm hoping for sometime this week, but I can't pin down a definite date.

Today's Cool Thing absolutely has to be a video of fire fans in action, so here you go! I really like this one because the interplay between the two dancers is wonderful. Enjoy!

Ah! My blog! It changed!

Yes, I finally gave in and did it. I upgraded to the new Blogger. You see, I tend to have a fear of change when it comes to internet stuff. Way back when, I had a website with GeoCities. Then Yahoo! purchased them, and you had to use a Yahoo! account to log on to your GeoCities account. Well, I tried to merge my Yahoo! account with my GeoCities account, and I could never get in to edit my website again! I was afraid that the same thing would happen with my blog when I had to make a Google account. Yeah, yeah, you can laugh at me now.

Anyway, I decided to test the new template editting capabilities, and I have to say that I'm very happy with the results. No longer does my blog look exactly like one of the default templates! Now it looks like something far more "me." And in fact, editting it was kind of fun. I could get addicted to switching the colors around...

This is what happens when you give an artist technology, by the way. They just go "Weeeee, pretty colors!"

Ok, on to business stuff! I finished putting together the choker-in-progress. Now I just need to rummage through my stash o' buttons and find the perfect one to serve as a clasp. I'm very happy with this choker, it's just as classy as I expected it to be. Actually, it kind of has a vintage look, maybe a little Haskellesque.

I've heard that Hancock Fabrics has the suedecloth like I use for bead embroidery on sale, so I'm hoping to mosey down there, maybe Thursday night. I was going to go there tonight, but my husband's getting stuck late at work and he's all cranky about it, so I won't make him drive halfway across the town to satisfy my desire for fabric. But once I do get my hands on a massive amount of lovely suedecloth, you can bet that there will be more jewelry like Lady Ghost for sale!

I'm really hoping that the new site will be up soon, that way we have time to iron out all the kinks before I start shipping again on the 26th.

Today's Cool Thing is Noodle Son, an entire website dedicated to Ramen noodles. They have a review section, which I find to be pretty cool. It also helps to figure out just what flavor the mysterious ramen from the Asian market in NY is.

Two weeks and counting!

For most of you out there, either your holiday has already started (and a Happy Chanukkah to you!) or is only a week away. I, on the other hand, have to wait another two weeks until I celebrate the New Year with my folks. Two more weeks of staring at the wrapped presents in my bead room and trying not to slip up and tell my husband what he's getting. Ahhhh, the anticipation!

Of course, since my friends and in-laws celebrate Christmas and Chanukkah, this is the week when all the presents start arriving in the mail. Hopefully by now my MIL and her family will have their box o' holiday goodies in hand, and a couple of boxes showed up for me today. Weee! The only problem is that I realized this afternoon that I haven't mailed out my cards yet. Shame shame! I need to go start writing them out after I post this.

It's feeling a little more like December here in Tucson. I woke up and it was grey and a little chill. I'm hoping for a bit of rain, we haven't had any in months.

The in-progress choker gave me a bit of trouble on Saturday, and I was out most of the day yesterday, so it's still not quite done. Almost, though! I think it's going to look really awesome, and the trick will be photographing it properly. I should be finishing it tonight, and then I'm going to start on a couple of top-secret holiday presents!

Today's Cool Thing is Dylon White's Etsy shop. Mr. White is the co-author of Lark's Chain Mail Jewelry book, so you know his maille work is awesome. He has a very nice selection of earrings and bracelets in his shop, definitely worth a browse!

Cookies and stuff.

Today I baked some cookies using those new limited edition swirled chocolate chips from Nestle. I picked up the dark chocolate/raspberry ones, because Chris loves all things raspberry. I decided to use the recipe on the back of the package and whip up a batch for my Friday night L5R game. Well, the chips are good but I'm not too keen on the recipe. The cookies aren't nearly sweet enough. In fact, if they were any less sweet, they'd be crackers! To top it off, I burnt myself on a fresh-from-the-oven cookie sheet. BAH! Luckily, my friends all love cookies, so it will be worth it when they enjoy them.

Geez, when did I become so domestic?

In today's mail, I received a booklet from G&LW, which is apparently supposed to convince me to go to their shows by tempting me with lots of ads. Of course I was already planning on going to their shows because so many of my favorite vendors are at Gem Mall. It will take more than glossy full-color advertisements to ever get me to return to Holidome or brave the Rodeway, though! The book did serve to remind me that I need to pre-register and start thinking about what I'm going to buy at which shows.

I spent the late part of the afternoon and early part of the evening making little beaded leaves from Barbara Grainger's book, to be used to accent my choker. I have a little over half an hour left before I have to leave for my game, so I'm going to try to make a couple more.

Remember! If you want to order anything for the holidays and you do NOT live in Tucson, place your order tonight! Poor Chris had to go to the PO today and he said he really doesn't want to go again, so I guess it's good I'm not staying open until sometime next week.

Today's Cool Thing is Squidfire Designs. I saw one of their shirts over on Rare Bird Finds today, and I liked it so I went to their site. I kept finding more shirts that I liked, and basically I discovered that I liked more of their stuff than I was neutral towards. Very cool designs; I will have to get some for Chris and myself.

What I am up to.

First, a reminder! Tomorrow (Friday) is the last day to place an order if you want it shipped in time for the holidays! And also, any orders placed tomorrow that total $25 or more will receive an upgrade to Priority shipping at no additional cost to you! Oh yes, and I won't be writing a Fashionable Friday column tomorrow, as many other e-stores will be closing up for the holidays this weekend, so you wouldn't be able to shop much anyway.

I'm looking forward to my little holiday break. Oh sure, I'll make some things to list on the website, but I'm also going to make presents for family and presents for me. I have this lampworked bead that's shaped like a belly dancer dressed all in shades of amber with hints of green. I'm hoping to finally make a necklace for her over the holidays, or at least get started on it. I'm also going to finish my beaded belt, by golly!

As far as business-related beading goes, well, my spiral bracelet stock is getting a little low, so I need to make a couple more of those, and a few pairs of earrings to replace what has sold recently. On Tuesday I pulled out an old choker base which I had woven a while ago, and I'm working on adding the proper accents. It should look pretty smashing. And ideally, I'll make more anklets and strung bracelets, since I only have one item each in those sections right now.

The colder weather had deterred me from dancing for a while, so I'm trying to get back into that, too. Let me tell you, it is hard to feel sensuous and exotic when you're dancing in a sweater! :P I just danced a bit tonight, I'm finally getting better at this one challenging song. Now, bear in mind that I am a dancer, not a musician, so I have no grasp of musical terms. Basically this song has a lot of similar, repeating motifs, and sometimes those motifs have a flare or accent at the end, and sometimes they don't. Dancing looks awesome when your moves echo the accents of the song. It looks lame when you misguess where the accent is and do a sudden bold arm movement when there's no equally bold music. But ha ha! The song will thwart me no longer, I almost have its timing down :)

But the major thing I've been doing is editting the heck out of my book. How did that heck get in there? Well, you see, I was writing at 4am and not paying much attention... No, seriously. What I'm really doing is tightening up some phrasing, removing inconsistencies, adding a subplot with a character who got neglected, tying up more loose ends, and adding some extra character development. There are three people who are greatly deserving of shout-outs for reading the messy first draft and helping me with edits, and they are my awesome Dad Rick, my incredible husband Chris, and my dear friend Helen. Without them I never would have gotten this far!

I've told myself that after I finish editting the first book, I can start writing the third book. Of course, I also need to edit the second book, but my muse would really like to work on some new material for a bit. In the meantime, I have lots of ideas that I need to jot down for books 3-5, because I've been thinking ahead a lot.

Today's Cool Thing is the jewelry of Alex Sepkus. Usually I see gold and gem stones and I go "meh" but his work makes me go "WOW!" If I'm ever rich, I will own something of his. I especially like his earrings, and since they're gold, I could probably even wear them for a short time.

Celebrating!

Well, today was a pretty big deal, because they did lay-offs in my husband's department. Actually, in his entire building. He and most of his friends survived the cuts. This is a huge weight off of our shoulders! To celebrate, we went out for a delicious teppenyaki dinner. We also got to talk about some plans for the future, now that he doesn't have to worry about possibly finding a new job and changing his schedule and stuff. It's nice to no longer have that uncertainty and to be able to think about things more than a couple of weeks in advance.

Oh yes, before I forget, I'd like to point out that Friday the 15th is the last day to order presents for the holidays! After that I will not be shipping anything out until the 26th. To help ensure that your items will reach you in time, orders of $25 or more will receive an upgrade to Priority shipping at no additional cost until Friday. Also, if you are in Tucson and would like to arrange for delivery or pick up of your jewelry, well, I can do that pretty much right up until Christmas.

Hopefully we'll get the new website up and running while I am "closed" for the holidays. I also plan to get some interesting new jewelry prepared during my break, and maybe work on better pictures for some of my existing jewelry. I have a couple more presents to make, too, and it's tradition for me to make something for myself. Not sure what that will be this year.

Today's Cool Thing is a comic strip called Sheldon. It's generally funny, insightful, and 100% safe-for-work, unlike most of the other comics I read. There's something like 5 years worth of archives to read through if you have a lot of time to kill.

It's beginning to look a lot like... September.

The weather has returned to being beautiful here in Tucson. It makes me feel almost guilty for spending so much time here at my computer. I should get out and enjoy these nice days before it gets cold and nasty again. With all of this pleasant sunshine, I can't believe that it's less than two weeks until Christmas! It feels more like early Autumn.

My immediate family celebrates the winter holiday season on New Year's Day. It's just more convenient and less stressful that way, and being able to buy wrapping paper and last-minute gifts at the post-Christmas clearance sales is an added benefit. My in-laws and friends, however, all do Christmas and Chanukkah, so I've been trying to get presents together. And of course, I have a small selection of cards which have already arrived in the mail. So there's a bit of holiday cheer to be had!

One thing that helps me get into the holiday mood is listening to the great holiday music from the HP Lovecraft Historical Society. Yes, that's right, I get all bright and cheery listening to songs about the Great Old Ones ruling over mankind, and all of the madness that goes with it. I never claimed to be normal. I recently picked up their second CD, An Even Scarier Solstice. This has some wonderfully put-together songs with wickedly clever lyrics. I simply love it! I think that the first CD was a little easier to sing along to, but this one just sounds great and still has a few songs that demand that you add your voice to the mad chorus coming out of your speakers. Although these CDs are primarily for Lovecraft geeks, a few of the songs have proven pretty popular with my generically geeky friends as well.

And while I'm touting recent purchases, I'd also like to tell you about the delicious teas from Herb and Ginger. These are some of the most beautiful and tasty teas I've ever had! I highly recommend the Bollywood Star and Candytopia flavors, and I look forward to trying more in the future.

I need to wander off and wrap some presents, since my Official Present Hiding Drawer (tm) is overflowing, but before I go, I will leave you with today's Cool Thing, which is this awesome article on treasures that were rescued from the destruction in Afghanistan and kept hidden by some very brave people. This is like adventure movie stuff, but in real life. You've got to read it!

Holiday Glitz

This is the column which should have been posted on Friday -- please enjoy!

The holidays are upon us, even if it may not feel like it in some parts of the world. And the holidays of course bring with them those fancy parties where one naturally wants to dress to impress. I'm actually a bit disappointed that my husband's building doesn't seem to be having their usual holiday soiree this year. I bought a beautiful velvet and lace ankle-length jacket all the way back in May and I've been dying for an excuse to wear it!

I'll assume that you've already got the perfect dress to wear to your winter festivities, and now all you need are a few smashing accessories. And I am here to help!

If you're going to be wearing black or red, this beautiful scarf from Kimono Momo would make a stunning accent to your outfit! She also has some great clutches and other scarves.

For a classy pair of heels, look no farther than Mohop! I own a pair of her shoes and I have to say, they are far more elegant than my feet are used to!

And of course, you'll need a handbag as well. I like this sparkly Tulip bag from Bake Sale Designs, and the red and gold make it particularly festive! One thing I don't like about evening bags is that they don't have room for anything, but this one looks big enough to hold all the neccessities without being bulky and obtrusive.

But really, this is a jewelry blog, so let's get down to that! From my own site, there's the delectable Frost Elf's Bauble (pictured at the top of this column), which is oh-so-decadent. Lady Ghost is still one of my favorites, and is really meant to be worn to an upscale formal occasion. Gothic Romance earrings would make a wonderful accessory as well, what with their sparkle and motion. And of course, any of my ever-popular Crystal Bracelets would serve to complete your outfit!

For a necklace that is both elegant and unusual, try Paper Jewels' Kanji Love necklace. The pearls and crystals do an incredible job of dressing this piece up, and I love how balanced the whole thing is.

In my mind, a nice collection of rings is neccessary to be properly dressed up. Only the most casual of occasions will find me wearing just my wedding ring! If you feel the same way, you may want to see see Manic Trout's ZsaZsa ring, which is made from an awesome chandalier crystal. And Ex-Boyfriend has a super-sparkly bead and sequin ring that reminds me of all the lights and ornaments from a tree, all condensed to fit on your finger!

Earrings are a must, especially if you have short hair or an up-do! Jeweled Elegance has this stunning pair. I love how the metal stations look like either snowflakes or flowers, depending on your mood! Designed by RJ has these feminine earrings, and best of all they're on sale! Last but not least, Casto Creations has some great Disco Ball earrings!

Ready for those holiday parties yet? I sure hope so!

Column Delays

I had all of these things I was going to do today... Make some jewelry, finish the dragon, take some pictures, update my site, post the Fashionable Friday column, bake cookies, do laundry... But then my husband came home from work really early and I said "Hey! Let's beat the crowds and go to the Street Fair!"

And so we did.

Although I should feel guilty for shirking all of my responsibilities, I don't. I had a great time. The weather was beautiful, comfortable temperatures with just a little wind. The Fair was crowded, but not in that "wall of humanity" sort of way. I got presents for my parents and I saw local lampworker Margaret Zinser from whom I purchased a beautiful ring/bead (we're calling it a ring because it's ring shaped and then I didn't break my vow to not buy any beads until Gem Show), and I also got a cute little dragon ear cuff. I saw many beautiful and clever things, successfully resisted the urge to buy sparkly clothes, and generally had a great time. Afterwards Chris and I went out to dinner at a Chinese restaurant we've been meaning to try, and we had delicious crispy fried pumpkin and jasmine tea. Oh yes, and entrees, too. They were also good.

Chris and I get so caught up in our gaming and work and whatnot that we don't often just go out and spend the day together having fun, so it was a very nice change.

Fashionable Friday will be published Sunday or Monday, and I'll hopefully post some new jewelry around then, too. I have a busy weekend planned, so I might not post before then. I hope you all have a great, happy weekend and that if you're in Tucson, you head out to the Street Fair and support some artists and small businesses!

Today's cool thing is Dirty Car Art! I love this site, and will never look at a dusty windshield the same way again.

Technical Difficulties

Well, I didn't mean to be so quiet, but I got caught up in working on holiday presents... and then without warning, my desk chair broke yesterday! I had to steal my husband's chair to do my e-mail and stuff today. I guess I'll have to go buy a new chair this weekend. I'd had the same chair for probably a good 5 years now, and with how much time I spend at the computer, that's a lot of sitting hours.

Anyway, I've been doing some clay work... a secret present and then a dragon that I can talk about because its a present for someone who doesn't read my blog! Ha ha! Plus I'll probably give it to the recipient this weekend, if I can finish it (I usually sit in my desk chair for clay work...). It's a pretty awesome looking black, gold and crimson dragon with huge wings.

Over the last couple of days, I also did a lot of writing.... filling out the end of my second book, and then writing a silly short story which takes place between the second book and the as-of-yet unstarted third book. I've been thinking about the 3rd, 4th, and possibly even 5th books lately, so I really need to sit down and start making some notes and really get to work on editting the first and second books.

It looks like I'll be joining another D&D game this weekend, further cementing my position as a nerd. Since I'll now be spending every Friday night and Saturday afternoon-night at gaming, I really need to come up with more portable projects to work on at games. Lately I've been doing more complicated work which doesn't travel well. My beaded belt, for instance, uses 10 colors of seed beads and 3 types of accent beads. I'll be working on that at home, thanks.

My other plan for this weekend is to finish my holiday shopping, which will be accomplished by going to the 4th Avenue Street Fair. This is a HUGE outdoor arts, crafts and entertainment fair which happens twice a year in Tucson. I always spend too much money there, but I get the greatest stuff. Last year I got a wicked sterling silver fish pin for my button bag.

Today's cool thing is this news article! As an unabashed bibliophile, I love the idea of free books on the web, especially old books from far-away libraries.

Monday again!

Well, I had a decent enough weekend -- nothing really spectacular happened. I played a few games, worked on my beaded belt, and ran errands.

Today I went out with my Mom to do a little holiday shopping. Well, actually, I only bought one present because I'm all done shopping for everyone except my Mom, and I can't very well shop for her while I'm out with her! But I got the last thing that I needed for my husband, and I also hit the used bookstore, where I got some fresh reading material, and JoAnn's, where I picked up the latest issue of Beadwork. There are a couple of things in there that I might try, and some pretty cool articles.

One of the things that I nabbed at the used bookstore was one of those fancy Australian cross stitch and beading magazines. This one was totally Asian themed and there are some really cool Geisha graphs which I'd like to make use of. I'm just nerdy enough to adapt them to try to look like my L5R characters. Hey, how many other geeks have beaded character portraits?

Hopefully tomorrow I'll have time to do a little clay work. I've got to get it done soon if I want to give it as holiday gifties! Too many things to do and far little time.

Today's Cool Thing is my friend Ellen's charity auction! This miniature Christmas tree is adorned with many of Ellen's beautiful lampwork beads. I own some of her beads, and let me tell you, they are quite nice and she's only improved since I purchased them. If you can afford to bid, you'll be getting great beads and helping kitties in need. What could be better than that?

Fashionable Friday -- Jewelry Gift Guide

Ahhh yes, here it is, December. Truth be told, I don't like December very much. It has a bad habit of being cold, the mail gets slow because of the holidays, the stores are all crowded, and everywhere I go, bad Christmas music. Now, don't get me wrong, I enjoy the holidays. I just don't like some of the trappings that go with them.

What I do like is the giving, receiving, and selling of holiday gifts! I love holiday shopping, as there are few things more satisfying than buying something that you know is just perfect for your loved one. Making presents is fun, too, when you know that the receiver actually appreciates the work that goes into it. And hearing that my jewelry is being purchased as a gift always gives me a warm fuzzy feeling -- and believe me, in this weather, I need all the warm fuzzies I can get!

(Yes, I know all of you who are in genuinely cold climates are going "Oh, boo-hoo AJ, it got down to 33 degrees, you poor baby!" Yes, I am a weather wimp)

Where was I? Ah yes. Jewelry makes a great present for many people: mothers, sisters, daughters, wives, girlfriends, ME ;) You'd think that by now I might say "Oh no, no more jewelry for me, I've got enough!" but I just keep looking for and making more.

My crystal bracelets are very popular as gifts. Everyone seems to love them, and I have them in a wide variety of colors. There's still time to make a custom order before the holidays if you don't see a combination that grabs you. I can even make these as anklets.

Spiral Bracelets are also very popular. The spiral is a motif which has almost universal appeal, and it's very attractive when rendered in beads. My stock on hand is currently a little limited, but this is another item when I can easily make custom versions of. Spirals also make for very nice necklaces!

If you need a smaller gift, earrings are a great choice. My selection has grown by leaps and bounds this year, and I try to add new ones every week. Starting at $10, they easily fit into tight budgets, and there's a dizzying amount of options if you'd like a custom pair. Don't forget that I can make earrings to match most necklaces and bracelets in my inventory!

If you're in search of something even more unique, I have a huge selection of Strung Necklaces currently available. Although weaving is my speciality, I do enjoy the occasional strung project, and they often feature unusual focals, such as lampworked beads or carved stones.

While I would of course love it if you'd shop at my site for all of your holiday jewelry needs, I understand that my style might not be for everyone. So I'd be almost as happy if you shopped at any of these fellow jewelry designers, who do beautiful work!

Bead Indulgences is the perfect place to find chainmaille and wire-work jewelry. If you want a gift with a real "WOW" factor, be sure to check out her necklaces!

VChoy's beadwork also has a high "WOW" factor! You will probably not believe how awesome her beadwork is until you see it!

As you probably already know, I love Elle B's earrings. They blow mine out of the water. What they were doing in the water in the first place, I really don't know.

Dreams and Jewelry does some very awesome work, cool metal and resin and other materials. I like the vintage key necklace that she has up right now!

If you don't mind dealing with International shipping, Hana Jewels from Japan has some absolutely adorable jewelry, much of it with floral patterns. And her prices are unbelievable!

I really like JewelLace's work, too, and will probably buy myself some someday.

Ossabelle has some very cool glass slide pendants, including Lovecraftian ones! Excuse me while I squeel like a fangirl: EEEEEEE!

I could go on all day about awesome places to buy jewelry, but I'm starting to get hungry for dinner, so I think now I'll move on to great ways to store jewelry, in case you're shopping for someone who already has more than they know what to do with!

ErinLillies has a couple of beautiful handmade wooden jewelry boxes. I love the lid on the top one, such pretty wood grain... mmm.

Shevon Grant Ceramics makes some lovely jewelry trays, for keeping jewelry by your bedside. I need something like this for my desk, except that with how much jewelry I deposit here, it would have to be the size of a turkey platter!

Opalessence has some very cool "Jewelry Guardians" which are sculptures designed to hold your jewelry. I especially like the one that I linked you to, but there are a couple more in her store.

Hopefully between all of these links and the vastness of the Internet you'll be able to find the perfect gift for the jewelry lover in your life!

Of dragons and photography

At long last, here it is! The necklace that I made during the Thanksgiving weekend. I made the dragon and the sea star and then created the necklace for them, all over a period of two days. I'm pretty proud of myself! ;) The focals are made with Premo! clay. The dragon is accented with mother-of-pearl, Czech glass, and a seashell. His little starfish buddy is accented by a single mother-of-pearl bead. The necklace has freshwater pearls, mother-of-pearl, lapis lazuli, Czech glass, seashells, and Swarovski crystals.

I wish I'd decided not to patina the dragon, though. I'm not as good at patinas as Christi Friesen is, and they always seem to mess me up. I didn't intend for my dragon to be so sparkly and silver! Ah well. He's still cute.

Today I did my photography, which leaves me with one less thing to do for tomorrow's website update. Hurrah! As you can see, I now have real necklace displays to fascilitate picture taking... oooh, fancy! Of course, before I used them I had to brush the cat hair off of them. Black velvety surfaces and fuzzy cats are just never a good combination.

The only beadwork I got done today was some repair work that I'd been putting off. I might spend the evening fringing my bead belt, though.

Today's cool thing is The Daily Kitten. Awwww, so cute!

Brrrrr.

You know what? It's cold today. It's so cold that my font turned blue! Of course, those of you who live anywhere other than the desert or the tropics will be mocking my idea of cold, but it was 55 degrees and windy today, and in my book, that's just too cold. My husband, on the other hand, is from Long Island. He wore a t-shirt today and drove home from work with the windows down. I suspect that this has something to do with the time that he bonked his head on a kitchen counter as a child.

To distract myself from the fact that I am cold and as such, somewhat close to miserable, I kept busy today. I've been working on my beadroom. I put away some beads and magazines and sorted out some books to get rid of (why did I still have 3rd edition D&D books? Because I am a geek), that sort of thing. I also found a necklace which had been sitting unloved on my bead desk for most of the year and finished it. While I was at it I made a bracelet that I thought of last night, and I'll probably make some matching earrings tomorrow. All of this and more will be part of Friday's update.

It's supposed to drop below freezing tonight. Oh yes, and with all this cold wind, I discovered that my front door is drafty. The problem with getting a cheap apartment is that you end up with problems like a front door which isn't hung straight, and as such, has spots through which you can see daylight. 3 or 4 by my reckoning. Oh yes, and my desk is straight across from the door, about 5 feet away. Brrr. This will at least deter me from wasting all of my time browsing the web.

I didn't end up dancing today, but I will tomorrow. Gotta keep moving to stay warm, you know.

Oh, stop laughing at me! I live in the desert because I don't "do" cold.

Today's Cool Thing shall be... Mistress Mousey Designs, who has some really awesome rag skirts. I would absolutely wear one of these, and I don't usually go for short skirts. They have a great goth pixie look to them. Go forth and look!

My cat is helping me type this.

Yes, there is a very fluffy, friendly cat sitting in my lap as I type this message. He has a bad habit of biting my fingers as I type, so any typos are his fault.

So, first the important stuff. My new website is still not done and I'm not going to say when it will be done, so I'll stop looking like an idiot when it isn't done when I say it will be. Does any of that make sense? Luckily I convinced my webguru that a night of downtime in the middle of the holiday shopping season was not acceptable, so he'll be making sure that doesn't happen.

And now, the dancing stuff. So lately I've been feeling all cool because I'm dancing and trying new things. I did a little floorwork the other day. I decided to do more today, and I decided it would be awesome if I went to the floor at the end of one song and then danced my way up at the start of the next song... really snazzy, right? So I get up to one knee, and try to get up to the other knee, and something goes wrong and my leg says "Nope, not doing that!" and somehow I fall backwards into the couch with a little yelp. This freaks out both my husband and the cat, who seem to think that I have greviously injured myself. Luckily the only thing that hurt was my pride. So today's lesson is: I am not nearly as cool as I think I am. I couldn't even act like I meant to do that. Stupid reflexive yelps.

Today's Cool Thing is Miss Doxie's Holiday Shopping Guide! It is cool because not only are my earrings listed in it, but lots of great products from other Indie businesses are listed as well, and many of them offer discounts! Plus it is funny. I suppose maybe I should warn you that it is also peppered with expletives, so if that sort of thing offends you, stay away. Otherwise, click, read, and shop!

And now... holiday shopping.

Today was largely spent on-line, doing my holiday shopping. Honestly, even with having several items already bookmarked and a really good idea of what I wanted to get and where I wanted to get it, it took me hours to get everything ordered. Not only that, but I spent a good $25+ on shipping alone, and that was with getting free shipping on two of my orders.

And you know what? It was still better than going to the mall. I dislike the mall under the best of circumstances (honestly, these days it's just 50 stores selling variations on the same clothing, which I could just wait and get at the thrift store next year for $5/piece), but during the holidays? Forget it!

On-line shopping is not without its problems. If I go to a store, I just give them my credit card, sign the slip, and it's done. On the internet, I have to fill in my contact information and payment info, and some sites want you to even sign up for an account before you can so much as get a shipping quote and decide if you want to order after all. I signed up on one site, got ready to check out, and only as I was poised to type in my credit card info did I see that they wanted to charge me $20 to ship $35 worth of stuff. It's not like I was ordering bricks, either. Luckily a friend was able to hook me up with another source, with better prices, selection, and reasonable shipping. Hurrah!

The good news is that my holiday shopping is mostly done. I even purchased a few gifts for my in-laws, though the brunt of that will still fall to my husband. Now I just have to do my holiday crafting! I'll start tomorrow by making a present for the Secret Santa swap I'm taking part in. After that, it will be time to clay it up. Unfortunately, I won't be able to post this stuff until after the holidays, as some of the gift recipients have been known to peek at my blog.

In other news, the new website is not done yet. Hopefully tomorrow. I am assured that it will be cool.

Speaking of cool, today's Cool Thing is Legends by Valkyrie. I admit it, I played with Barbies when I was a girl, but these are way beyond that. Very cool custom dolls with clothes, weapons, and sometimes even beaded jewelry. I especially like her faeries and goddesses!

Who told the weekend it could end?

And here it is, Sunday night already. In a few more hours my super-long weekend will be done and it'll be back to the daily grind, such as it is. The nice thing about being a self-employed artistic type is that the daily grind mostly consists of things that I like to do. And since I have ideas for new jewelry, it should be a great week.

I finished the anklet I was working on, and while it's quite cute, I'm a little bored with the technique I used. I'll be trying to make some anklets in other styles this week, which should result in a good variety for the website and maybe a couple of prototypes for my own personal wear. I also had an idea for a lariat which I'll have to gather the appropriate materials for.

As I type this, my webmonkey husband is hard at work on a new version of my website. Hopefully I'll be blogging about that tomorrow! It should be really awesome, assuming there are no icky bugs to be worked out. You never know with new websites. Once all the technical stuff is done, it will be time to focus on the artistic and get some pretty graphics up!

Today's Cool Thing is Dornick Designs! She has some really cool jewelry. I especially love her pendants and see a few that I might like to buy for myself. My willpower is still holding strong, though, so I probably won't shop until after the holidays. My willpower doesn't have to stop you from shopping, however, so have a little look-see!

I'm having such a good weekend!

So, yesterday I finished my sea dragon, but just as I was putting the finishing touches on him, the mail arrived and there was Christi Friesen's "Under The Sea" book. I read through it while the dragon was baking and well heck, it was so much fun that I just had to make something from it. So my sea dragon got a little starfish buddy. And then once he was baked, well, the two of them needed to have a necklace together. But I realized that if I made a two-strand necklace, I'd be really limited on what I wore it with, so I decided to be all sneaky-sneaky and make two complimentary necklaces that could be worn together. AH HA! And that was essentially my day yesterday.

Well, there was also the late-night Legend of the Five Rings game with my crazy friends which involved much laughter and mayhem. And there was also the housework, but I'm not about to blog about that because it's boooring.

Today has been pretty lazy so far. Hopefully I'll get a few things done after I fortify myself with pizza. There's an anklet which needs to be finished, after all, and I need to start planning some more projects and thinking forward to the holidays.

And here is your Cool Thing: Reel Opinions is my go-to spot for movie reviews. It's hard to find a good reviewer who will tell you straight-up whether a movie is good or lousy, without getting bogged down in subtext or gushing like a fanboy over every single movie. Ryan Cullen does a great job of giving you an honest review and being entertaining at the same time.

Fashionable Friday -- Black Friday

Yes, here it is, the dreaded Black Friday. It's about 3pm, so the usual madness is long past. For the record, I've spent the entire day at home, and won't be leaving until almost 10, when I have a game to go to. Black Friday sales are not worth the mayhem.

Allow me to wax nostalgic. No more than 10 years ago, Black Friday didn't seem like such a humongous deal. For my mother and I, "getting up early and hitting the sales" meant that we were up at what, 6am, to go wait outside Target. The people who really wanted the bags of free samples and junk would mob the front door. The clever people like us would wait outside the garden department. I can't even remember what the heck we'd buy. We didn't do it very often, being fond of sleep on long weekends.

Nowadays, "getting up early and hitting the sales" means that at midnight, you're camped out hoping that you can get one of those $250 laptops. When the doors finally open, everyone's shoving and being nasty. People get hurt sometimes. The lines to check out stretch through much of the store. All for stuff.

Don't get me wrong. I love holiday presents and good deals as much as the next gal, but I think that the Day After Thanksgiving sales have reached a level of insanity usually reserved for villains in Batman.Honestly. Is it worth getting trampled for a really good deal on a TV?

And then there's the concept of Buy Nothing Day, which suggests that we should not make any purchases today. Meant as a protest against consumerism, it's supposed to send a message to the merchants. All very good and nice, but people who buy holiday presents are going to buy them anyways, whether they buy them today, tomorrow, or already finished their holiday shopping back in March because they're so much more prepared than the rest of us. However wonderful a concept Buy Nothing Day is, the crazy people will always camp out in front of Best Buy, because that's what they do. If they weren't waiting to get a $250 laptop, they'd be hoping to get one of the 12 Playstation 3s in the store.

Don't even get me started on the militant anti-consumerism activists who go so far as to fill store locks with glue to try to prevent people from shopping. I will always believe that turning to violence or vandalism is not the best way to get your point across -- it just makes people think of you as a bad person or organization.

A recent development is the so-called Cyber Monday. Supposedly the on-line equivelant of Black Friday, it seems to really not be all that it's cut out to be.

So what's a socially conscious shopper to do? I believe that rather than focusing on when you shop, you should think about where you shop and what you buy. And while I'm not going to say that you should avoid all large retailers, because there's a few I shop at myself, I do think that one of the best things you can do is shop locally, and/or support small and independent businesses. As much as possible, support artists and those out trying to make it on their own!

I link to a lot of small businesses, indie shops, and artists in my blog. If you search past posts, you can find a lot of great things. You can also seek out your own new and exciting shopping spots! You can check eBay or Etsy for listings by artists in a variety of mediums, or small businesses which do their selling through auctions. Shopping blogs are a great spot, too. Check out Rare Bird Finds; Indie Fixx; Artisans, Artists, and Anything Indie. Explore the Links pages of your favorite artists and small shops. Click through some ads on Indie sites. Or ask your friends about their favorite shopping spots.

During the holiday season and beyond, it's important to support small businesses and artists however you can. And of course, as an added bonus, you find gifts far more unique than anything in the department stores. Happy shopping!

MMmm, so full!

Thanksgiving is such a fun holiday! I might feel differently if I had to cook the giant meal (especially since I'm a lousy cook), but I just love getting together with my family and not worrying about presents, just relaxing and joking and catching up. As an added bonus, I got to play with the dogs. Dogs adore me and the feeling is mutual. Mom and I spent a little time looking at Petfinder, but honestly, I live in a two-bedroom apartment, what am I going to do with a dog? There was this adorable Aussie mix whose ears were kind of rounded so he looked like a bear. SO CUTE!

Yes, I am highly susceptible to cute animals. It's been months since I saw that chinchilla in New York and I still want one.

Anyway, since I had a few hours before going to my parents' house, I played with clay. I was going to cover some Altoids tins, but a search of my beadroom revealed that I don't actually HAVE any Altoids tins. Refusing to be thwarted, I decided to make a sea dragon instead. He's my best dragon yet! I'll put the finishing touches on and bake him up tomorrow. Pictures will be posted this weekend. I had so much fun that I might even make another dragon this weekend.


Today's Cool Thing is Christi Friesen's books, which would teach you, yes you, to make cool polymer critters and leaves and things, too. Believe me, if I can learn how to do it, so can you!

Pleasant Wednesday.

Well, I didn't do a whole lot today. Mostly spent some time on-line, received my package of displays and supplies (yay!), and watched some Babylon 5 on DVD. I also went to my local bead store, where I purchased scandalously expensive chain. This is why I prefer to shop on-line! After I post this, I'm going to relax and enjoy a nice cup of tea. Afterwards I'll either work on an anklet or play a video game, depending on how motivated I feel. Holiday weekends were made for laziness, after all.

You may notice that my website is now green. Its appearance may change several more times in the future, but for now it is a pleasant shade of green. I guess it's a little more cheery than the old black.

Tomorrow I'm going to play with some polymer, unless something comes up. We're not due over at my parents' house until late afternoon, so even if I sleep in, I have a few hours for clay fun. Besides, it's about time I start my holiday crafting!

I hope that everyone enjoys the holiday tomorrow -- and if it's not a holiday where you are, just have a beautiful day.

Oh yes! Today's Cool Thing is Project Gutenberg. FREE BOOKS! Ok, they're e-books, but still. FREE! For you to read! Lots of cool old books. Enjoy!

Looong weekend.

Tonight marks the beginning of the long holiday weekend for my husband and I. Of course, I'll still be doing my work on the weekend. I have stock to make and an apartment to keep tidy.

We don't really have any big plans for the weekend. Tomorrow I'll go to the bead store to pick up some chain. I'm planning on adding anklets to my stock soon, and I'd like to make them adjustable. Ankles are a pretty varied and fickle body-part, so it's good to have a little leeway on sizing.

Today's Cool Thing is Forgotten Toybox. Ohmigosh their books are awesome! After the holidays I plan on buying myself one of their book pendants. I'd love to have a full-size book, but honestly, what would I do with it? I tend to buy journals and never use them. A book pendant, though, I could wear, even to Ren Faire! If you visit their site, be sure to drool over the gallery, too.

I'm a dancin' fool!

First of all, I finally finished the lariat I've been working on all this time. Hurrah! It will be in this week's update. It looks like the update will happen this weekend; my husband decided to take Wednesday off to make for a super-duper long holiday weekend, so I'll probably spend the day lazing around with him instead of updating. My new displays are scheduled to arrive on Wednesday as well, which means I should be able to get some nicer pictures. Woohoo!

It turns out that I'm not sick, thank heavens, so I celebrated by dancing hard tonight. A good 20+ minutes of dancing, and it was the first time my abs have hurt in a long time. It felt great. The dancing, not the sore abs. Almost every time that I dance, I start off with QNTAL's "Levis" which is currently one of my husband's top 3 favorite songs. I followed it up with Wench's "Voodoo" which gives me goosebumps when I really get into it. Tonight was a goosebumps night.

This bout of dancing was partially inspired by today's Cool Thing: a great gallery of photographs from Pennsic 2006, by Ron Lutz II. I looked through the Musicians and Dancers gallery, and I have to say "WOW!" His excellent photography perfectly captures the grace and beauty of the dancers. I found myself saying both "I want to dance like that!" and "I want to dress like that!" Enjoy!

In other news, there are only 10 days left to vote in the Rare Robin Awards! Remember to vote for me and any other great shopping site that you'd love to brag about!

Nameless Blog Post

Well, let's see. My gaming on Friday and yesterday was good, for the most part. My tea leaf cookies were delicious. And my dichro lariat still isn't done. That's about the size of what's going on in my world right now.

I feel like I might be coming down with something, which would of course suck. If I am sick, I need to at least be better by Thursday, to fully enjoy the turkey and puppy-filled experience that is Thanksgiving with my family. I'm hoping that I'm just dehydrated and will be all better in the morning. The tasty tea that I'm brewing right now will help me with that plan.

I'm hoping to do some writing of some sort tonight, either working on the collaboration with my husband or tinkering with my second draft. I took a few days off from that since I hit the part where I have to write new material. It was such smooth sailing before then!

Nothing else really to say, so here's today's Cool Thing: Kimono Source. Oh, how I love to drool over vintage kimono, obi, and other awesome Japanese clothing. So shiny!

Fashionable Friday -- Seeing Red

Red is a traditional Autumn and Winter color, perhaps because of red falling leaves and the red and green of Christmas. I've seen a lot of red on display recently, so I guess the tradition is still holding on. Now, I personally don't wear a lot of red. I'm one of those pale, freckly Irish kind of girls, so only a few shades of red look good on me. However, red (especially paired with black) is one of my best-selling colors, so I buy and use a lot of red beads. Best of all, I'm never tempted to keep them for myself!

Gothic Romance, the above earrings, are one of my newest red items. I also just added the Vampy bracelet, featuring plenty of lovely red crystals. And if it's a red necklace that your looking for, I recommend the Midnight Passion collar, which is both sparkly and dramatic. There are many other red items on my site, some of which have been featured in past blog posts. Just a few minutes of browsing will help you find them!

Sometimes one needs to dress up this time of year. I tend to like to wear something out of the norm -- case in point, I showed up to my husband's company's Christmas party wearing my hand-painted dragon cloak. If I wore red, I would definitely look for an excuse to wear this dress.

Of course, it's hard to find an occasion for such an elegant dress. For more casual gatherings, I like long, flowing skirts like this one. And if you need to look mature and professional, you could wear this stylish vintage blazer.

As far as other jewelry artists working in red, well, Elle B comes through as usual with some awesome earrings. And I also found this great necklace from Tomoko, a Japanese beader.

There's plenty more red to be found, whether it's at your local mall or your favorite web merchant!

Little stuff.

Whoops, I sort of forgot to blog yesterday. I got caught up in editting my story and playing video games. Actually got the first two chapters worth of revisions done, GO ME! Now that I've finally started, it's not too hard to do. I'm making changes I didn't even expect to, which will hopefully improve the flow of the story.

Today I made two items for tomorrow's update, and they look pretty awesome. I'll try to get the update done a little earlier in the day than usual, as my Wednesday game has been moved to late Friday nights, so I have to bake cookies tomorrow. Mmmm, cookies. I'm going to try a recipe which has tea leaves mixed in. As I mentioned in a previous blog post, I LOVE tea! Luckily most of my friends enjoy tea, too, so everyone should like the cookies.

Oh, and just a head's up, while I will be doing my usual Fashionable Friday column on Friday next week, I think I'll do the jewelry update on either Wednesday or Saturday, depending on how soon I get jewelry made. Thursday is of course the big dinner with my parents, which promises to be delicious. My Dad will BBQ the turkey, and Mom will make a ton of fixings, and Chris and I will bring pickles and lots of olives (Chris and my brother Joe usually manage to eat an entire can while dinner is cooking). Also, I'll get to meet the new puppy, Storm. I do so love puppies!

The cool thing for today is Gothic Charm School, an etiquette advice site for Goths. It's at once amusing and informative. The Lady of the Manners has Faith and the Muse in her music links section, which makes her instantly awesome in my book. Come to think of it, it's been way too long since I listened to said band, other than their cover of Dead Can Dance's "Mesmerism" which is on my belly dance practice CD. Time to break out some music!

Accomplishments.

Well, today I finished up the gift I was working on yesterday, and finished the earrings that I was working on last week. I also prdered some business stuff, displays and the like, and finally got to work on the second draft of my book. I'm feeling pretty good about actually getting a lot done.

Last week, someone on one of my forums posted an article about time management at the office. It was more geared towards people with traditional dayjobs instead of a home business like mine, but it's still good advice. They suggested that every day, you should get something done before you check your e-mail. And you know what? It's true. I get so caught up in e-mail, IMs, forums, and other web stuff that some days, 2 or 3 hours pass before I even think about getting anything done. So today before I even started the computer, I did those earrings and some housework. I'm going to continue this for the rest of the week and see how it goes.

Today's Cool Thing is the artwork of Nedda Angelina Shishegar. I mentioned her leaf jewelry in my Fashionable Friday column, but I also really love her faerie paintings. In fact, the very first button on my infamous button bag was one of hers. Be sure to also check out her guest galleries, where she features other faerie artists.