More crystals!

I am still adding more crystal bracelets to my shop! Only a couple left, though, so I should be completely done with them this week until I decide to make more. I think my focus will first be on other styles of bracelets, however. My stock of spiral bracelets is quite low, and I could use some new strung bracelets, too.

Anyway, I just listed Dark Gloaming Gothic Crystal Bracelet. Tanzanite is a great color for Fall and Winter, it has a bit of a grey undertone that goes well with more understated colors. Not that the Pantone forecast for Fall is very understated, but if you're a Goth, you're probably going to stick with more muted shades like this.

Personally, I'm starting to get excited for Fall. Maybe it's because I remembered that I have green faux suede boots. Maybe it's because I just ordered an awesome new hoodie. Maybe it's because Autumn is the busy season for belly dance performances. Either way, I am ready for Summer to make its exit!

More Autumn Treasuries

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

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

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

Treasuries on Thursday!

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

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

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

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

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

Autumn is Back

There's a chill in the air today! Looks like it may really be Autumn this time. As much as I do enjoy warm weather, it's unnatural for it to be warm this late in the year, so I guess I need to resign myself to lower temperatures.

My Dad came over today and winterized the cooler and set the furnace up for us, so I don't have to worry about freezing. We needed to ask for his help, as I'm afraid of heights and there's no way Chris was going up on the roof with one bad hand. It's nice to have family close enough to help.

The cool weather put me in an Autumn-y mood, so I put together a tasty dinner of ahi tuna, grain medley with dried berries, and squash tossed in a mixture of butter, maple syrup, and chai spices. Yum! We washed it all down with hot spiced cider. Hot drinks are the best thing about cold weather.

Who invited you, Autumn?

It was really windy yesterday. I had this silly hope that the wind was blowing in some much-needed rain, but no. It was blowing in Autumn! It's still windy today, but it's a cold wind, the kind that cuts right through clothing and leaves you shivering.

Summer was nice while it lasted!

Here in Tucson, sometimes we have very warm Halloweens, and I can wear belly dance costumes outdoors. Othertimes, like this year, it's the sort of Halloween where I want to just wrap up in a beautiful cloak. I'll probably compromise, and wear a belly dance costume, but not bare my midriff. Or I might just wear some Ren Faire clothes from my pre-dancing days. We'll see what mood strikes me on Saturday. Who knows, maybe it will have warmed up a bit.

Trees in the Wind

I snapped this picture a week ago at the Bead Retreat, as the wind was blowing in the clouds that would later dump snow on us. Those yellow and orange trees in the middle were the only ones I saw that were changing color. Of course, the mountains themselves were covered in evergreen pines, but all of those trees look like the sort that should have been colorful.

It's hard to believe that I've been home for less than a week... this has been a very long week, and slightly overwhelming. I'm having a hard time catching up on everything I need to do. At least I'm getting a little beading done, as yesterday's post illustrated.

Today I finally went back to the gym. It kicked my butt, but at least I don't seem to have injured myself this time around. On Tuesday I restart the evening classes, since I missed more than half of them the first time around. I'll still miss a third due to dance class, but oh well.

I guess it's time to think about Autumn

Autumn Flier is today's Daily Special! With my increased focus on fantasy jewelry, I probably won't be doing as many butterfly and dragonfly necklaces, so you should snatch them up while you still can!

Some of my on-line friends who live in colder climates have been lamenting that with August starting tomorrow, Fall is close on its way. I have a had time getting into this way of thought, maybe because it will be warm well into October here, and maybe because most of our trees in AZ are evergreens, so there's not a whole lot of falling leaves. Maybe it's because I don't go to school, so I don't equate the start of the school year with the end of Summer. Or maybe I just don't feel like beading in Autumnal colors yet. Maybe digging through my collection of leaf beads would help... except that most of them are green. Nevermind!

A couple of other things really quickly...

Class was awesome last night. Learned some new moves, did well at some and poorly at one. We're reaching the point of doing variations and combinations based on the moves we learned in the first two classes, which is pretty exciting. I also bought some nice new additions to my costume wardrobe.

Meri Greenleaf, frequent commentor on this blog, featured one of my necklaces in her blog's Thursday Trove post. Thank you, Meri!

Finally, brooches may be a little delayed, as I'm dealing with a bit of beader's block about them and may even decide to rip out all of what I've done and start over -- I'm not satisfied with how the beads are lying.

Hello? Powers That Be? I'd like my Autumn back, please!

Bleh. It's 80+ degrees today, and windy. My friends in NM have been complaining of wind, too, and I know wind is contributing to the CA fires, so it feels like there's just this huge wind blowing across three states. It could at least have the decency to be cool, and bring some rain with it. It doesn't feel at all like October. I have a feeling that I will not be wearing my cloak for Halloween, which means I have to decide which dance clothes I want to wear instead.

The Nightmare Eyes bracelet project isn't working yet. I may have to come up with some other way to do it. I'm considering trying to come up with a concept that uses these red nailheads that I have... but first I'd have to find said nailheads. I'll probably let the whole idea simmer in my head for a bit and work on something else instead. I'd kind of hoped to have it done before Halloween, since it has a creepy vibe, but then again, nightmares are creepy all year 'round.

Autumn Musings.

Ahhh, I'm loving this beautiful Autumn weather! Last night I actually had to break out a blanket for the bed. My girl cat Lira likes to get under blankets; when I still lived with my parents, I had a waterbed, which was of course nice and warm. During the Winter, Lira would spend pretty much every night under the covers with me, curled up right between my knees. Now she contents herself to spend a few minutes snuggled up against my chest before moving on to her usual nighttime haunts; but for those few minutes, she purrs like a motor-boat! So sure enough, last night I wasn't in bed for more than 10 minutes when there she was, pawing at the blanket to get me to let her in.

Another great thing about cool weather is that it's perfect for hot drinks. We had some delicious tea last night, and I'm sure we'll have more tonight. It's also about time to buy hot chocolate again! Mmmm. Chris makes coconut rice for me sometimes, and it doesn't quite use a whole can of coconut milk, so I love to mix the remainder into hot cocoa for a creamy treat.

The other great thing is that when it's not too hot in the kitchen, Chris cooks his delicious marinara sauce. Just tonight he made a huge batch of it and we had our neighbor over for a big pasta dinner. I am SO stuffed.

I tell you these things now, because in a couple of months I'll just be grousing about the cold and how much I hate it. This is my proof that I'm not always negative!

Yesterday's take-along project turned out to be a lovely new spiral lariat. I don't know if I'll finish it in time for tomorrow's update, but it's unlikely. It will definitely be ready for next week, though!

October Already?

It's hard to believe that it's October. I can't exactly say that time is flying, because honestly, now that I've been busy with homework and side projects and ad tracking and whatnot, the weeks have felt a lot longer. But it still doesn't feel like it should be October already. Not that I'm complaining, mind you. I love October! The weather cools down a bit, which means I can start to bake again. The stores are full of candy. And at the end of the month, I'll have another convenient excuse to wear a costume. All in all, it's a great month.

And today certainly feels like the start of October. Outside it's grey, with sporadic drizzles of rain. It's that perfect temperature where you can walk outside in a t-shirt and not feel hot or cold (that's Fall weather for a desert dweller like me). Of course, all of our trees are still green. My neighborhood is full of palm trees, pines of various types, eucalyptus, mesquite and palo verde, none of which lose their leaves. There are a few varieties of tree in Tucson that shed their leaves, but most of them turn yellow and drop rather quickly. We have none of the beautiful, dramatic colors of the Eastern states. But hey, did I mention... t-shirt weather?!?

In other news, my site and e-mail are once again behaving as they should, and all is right in the world. I don't have any new jewelry for today, so I think I'll update the sadly neglected Gallery instead. Tune in tomorrow for more on that.

Musing on Inspiration.

Image: Contemplation, spiral rope necklace with double focal

When developing a specific product line, such as a seasonal collection, it's important to have some sort of unifying theme. I could never limit myself to a single theme, so for my Fall Line I decided to have a few specific color ways and elements that I would focus on, for a look that is coordinated while still allowing each piece to stand on its own as a little work of art.

The three main trends that I homed in on while observing well-dressed people and store displays were earthy browns, sharp black and whites, and variegated grape tones. All of these held their own appeal for me, so I decided those would be the palette for my Fall Line. You've already seen some great browns and black-and-white pieces; I'm having a bit of trouble finding the perfect purple beads, however.

With colors out of the way, I turned to styles. Spirals are always an element in my work, hence necklaces like Contemplation (above), and bracelets like Organic Treasure. As for leaves, they pretty much go without saying, as they're a part of my work no matter the season, and are extra-appropriate for Fall. This means I've gone a little wild with leaves lately. You can see them as a focal in Medeine, dangles in Faerie Gold, and a main element in Moonlit Garden. Dangles and movement are favorites of mine, too, as seen again in Moonlit Garden and Faerie Gold, and also in Pan's Grove and Forest Singers.

Just creating new jewelry utilizing old favorites isn't enough, though. Luckily my muse came through with a new fascination: dual and multi-segmented focals. I first became captivated by the possibilities of this technique when I made the Beautiful Brown Birthday Bauble way back in May. I explored a different possibility with Dragonfly Pond. That settled it: stacking various beads to form a focal point was addictive. I could coordinate different colors and media for an even more unique look than usual, and give myself an excuse to buy even more lampwork, carved beads, and cute pendants. Life is good! You can see this concept illustrated in Medeine, with the lampwork and accompanying leaf dangle, and Contemplation, where a lampworked bead accents the bone pendant, and in Pixie At Rest, where a lampworked flower and silver pixie combine for a very illustrative focal. Next week's update should contain two variations of this exciting new theme.

I have to say, I'm always at my happiest when I'm inspired, and this last month and a half has been downright blissful. I look forward to sharing the fruits of my muse's whisperings with you in future days!

The week of updates is complete!

I hope you've enjoyed this week of daily updates. I had fun doing it and may have another one in the future. To wrap it up today, I added three more items:

Organic Treasure -- A spiral rope bracelet with a carved stone focal.

Growing Things -- A crystal bracelet in one of my favorite combinations, olivine and bronze.

Harlequin -- A classy black and white crystal bracelet.

Yes, I'm finally listening to the rest of the world and making black and white jewelry. I'm not a huge fan of the color white (probably because I look terrible in it) and I usually only use it with bright colors. But I've seen so much great black and white clothing lately, that I just had to make jewelry that would go well with it. I have a great necklace for next week's update, in black, white, and silver.

Tonight I'm working on a present for myself, a reward for all of my hard work on my website and classwork this week. Not that I really need to rationalize making a necklace ;) I had hoped to maybe complete it in time to wear to the Best Bead Show tomorrow, but it's turning out to be more time consuming than I thought. I might be able to get it partially done and wear it anyway.

As referenced above, I'm going to the Second Annual Fall Best Bead Show here in Tucson tomorrow before D&D. I plan to pick up some focals, maybe some seed beads, maybe some pressed glass -- I'm really running low on larger black beads, and I'd like to stock up on some more browns. We'll see what I find. Expect a show report on Sunday!

New jewelry is here!

Oh yeah! Now we're talking... There's new jewelry up at Erthe Fae Designs! Are you excited? I sure am!

First, the earrings that I posted last week, Pan's Grove.

Next, the adorable necklace that you saw on Saturday, Pixie At Rest.

Finally, one of the many luscious bracelets in my Fall Line, Ancient Treasure.

And there's more where that came from! In fact, every day this week, I'll post at least one new item from my Fall Line. That means there will be updates tomorrow, Thursday, and Friday. Then I'll take the weekend off, and return to my regular weekly schedule, with more new jewelry on Monday!