Unknown Taxonomy

 Remember when I bought that strand of jade cicadas? I finally created something with one of them! Of course, upon further thought I'm not sure if it's actually a cicada... maybe it's a firefly? Stone insects are so hard to identify!

 Have a closer look yourself. What's your vote for its species?

Here it is in the wild, being worn by me at the drum circle at the Arizona Renaissance Festival. I'm dancing with my friends Jen and Mary! Jen is also wearing a necklace that I made.

But the most exciting part is that this is my first piece as part of the Allegory Gallery Design Team! The two sizes of brown beads that I used in the necklace were provided by Allegory Gallery. They're very nice plastic. I don't normally use plastic at all, but I'm trying to overcome my snobbery. Besides, that stone pendant is SO heavy, it was nice to be able to cut down on the weight of the necklace by using lightweight beads. The plastic has a beautiful marbled appearance that makes it look like glass or stone from the distance; very classy.

In addition to the stone cicada (firefly?) and the plastic beads, I also used some antiqued jade beads to match the focal, some Afghani coins (including one that serves as a "clacker" turning the focal into a bell), a little Thai silver and a little red tiger's eye. I love it!

Working at Best Bead!

Please pardon my quietness, it's GEM SHOW TIME!!! I'm working at Best Bead and amassing a pile of new beads, too. If you want to come see me at work and also buy some awesome crystals and seed beads, you can find me at the Beyond Beadery booth, conveniently located in the dance and aerobics room.

Wintry Treasury

I was included in this beautiful treasury by Mermaiden! A lovely winter FAETeam collection.

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)

New Year Treasuries

Hello there, blog readers! Sorry about the long hiatus. I got really busy getting ready for my last two belly dance performances of the year, as well as finishing up all of the holiday prep. Then I got really sick! Now that the holidays are behind me and I'm mostly healthy, it's really time to get some stuff done. Stuff like making treasuries!

And being included in them!

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.

Hard to photograph

I love these glass cabs with printed images, but they are so tricky to photograph! I always end up with lots of glare and reflection. I can't decide if I should list this one with the photos I already have or if I should try to get better ones.

Busy busy!

I'm busy making holiday presents, which of course I can't post here because then I might accidentally spoil some surprises. Instead, have a picture of Topher. Awww, such a fluffy kitty!

Winter has arrived early in Arizona, by the way. It's been cold and rainy, there's snow on the mountains, and I am ever so glad for my warm fuzzy robe, cuddly pets, and the vast amount of tea in my cabinet.

Remember the Muffin Tin?

I made this necklace as part of the Muffin Tin Challenge earlier this year and then never got it listed on Etsy. This was the only photo that turned out from the first batch so I had to take more. Then only one turned out from the second batch! So I'm still waiting to add a close-up to the listing, but if you like what you see from a distance you can make Green Guardian Dragon Necklace your very own.

And if you're wondering why I didn't keep this one, since I love olive green and bronze together, and I love dragons, the simple answer is that I already have necklaces in this color scheme that I like even better. It's pretty similar to my Garuda necklace, in fact, so I felt like it was best to put this one in the shop and let some other green-lover add it to her collection.

There she stands, this lovely creature

Treasury inspired by the Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds song Lovely Creature, and my attempts to work out a belly dance solo to it. Also inspired by items in my Etsy favorites, as you can tell from all the olive shades.

Filling up the shop

Confession time: I have a lot of perfectly wonderful jewelry that is not in my Etsy shop due to pure laziness. It's a lot of work to get things photographed. There are plenty of items that used to be on my old website and just need new photos, or items that I made but when I took pictures they didn't turn out, or items that I've made and not yet taken photos of. Basically what I'm saying is that photography is always a huge hurdle for me! Once I get some good images everything else is easy.

I just listed Winged Dancers, which features a lovely Thai silver butterfly pendant. It's part of my campaign to fill up my shop for the holidays. It seems like every time I think I'm going to break 100 items in the shop I sell a few. This is a good problem to have and a trend I'd like to see continue.

Still here

 Sometimes I am surprised by the things that don't sell. I mean, I fully expect that my most expensive items will take a while to move -- everyone loves them but no one can afford them. I make beadwoven jewelry because I enjoy making it and it's nice to have some WOW pieces to draw people into my shop. But when I have something that is awesome and affordable and then no one buys it, it confuses me.

Waiting for a Key is a good example of this... It's a nice, simple necklace. Adjustable length, pretty chain, art bead focal. Only $25. What's not to love?

 Gossiping Pixies are pretty much the cutest thing I've ever made, so I'm especially surprised that I still have them. Of course, people don't seem to really search for faerie jewelry very often, so I guess it may take a while for the right person to find them.

Disembodied Zombie Heads are only ten dollars. They feature bright green skulls. They are perfectly delightful in a punk-horror sort of way. I am honestly shocked that they did not sell within a week of being listed. If I was out shopping, and I saw these for only $10, I would totally buy them.

I guess this just goes to show that I am much better at making things than at predicting what people will like!

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.

Scarabs!!!

Have I mentioned lately that I am obsessed with beetles and scarabs? I've loved them ever since I read an article about beetles in the Smithsonian when I was a teenager. They're so varied and beautiful and awesome. This week's treasury is an ode to my favorite critters.

Check in tomorrow for info on my Thanksgiving weekend sale!

New coin bra

 Being in a troupe called for me to make a new coin bra! It's been a work in progress for a couple of months, as I would stop at a stage in which it was wearable but not quite done yet. I think it's done for now, though I may eventually cut off the original straps and replace them with something sturdier.*

The trim is made from a belt that I loved which was simply too small for me. It was a bit difficult to stitch down to the bra, but definitely worth it to have embroidery and mirrors instead of simple brocade ribbon. I added the coins by hand -- that was this week's project, and it only took me less than 4 hours, spread across two nights of DVD-watching (season 3 of Parks and Recreation, in case you were wondering).

The center piece is a kuchi pendant. A couple of the dangles were missing, but no big deal, I just rearranged them to make a hole in the middle and attached this scarab pendant that I've had forever. There is definitely something to be said for having DIY skills and a huge stash of beads to pull from.

My next bra project will be more fusion-y than traditional tribal and will involve covering the entire bra in fabric. I'm pretty excited about it.

*Belly dance purists -- I know a lot of you have a pet peeve about coin bras that are clearly lingerie bras with stuff sewn on them. I get it. But everyone in my troupe wears this style of bra and we always wear a tie top or Turkish vest over them, so that pretty much only the trimmed parts show.

Already gone!

These hamsa earrings are already on their way to a new home! I never would have expected them to be so popular! I'm going to look for some more styles of hamsa charms and pendants to expand my line and offer a little more variety.

Are there any special symbols you'd like to see added to my line? I'm thinking of throwing in some "om"s and maybe some Buddhas. The belly dance and yoga communities overlap so much that those are really popular with my friends.