I feel pretty accomplished.

I feel pretty accomplished.  Despite the fact that I am exhausted (woo, holidays!), I finished a necklace for one of my best friends.  Might not seem like much, but I made the stone in August of 2014... so it's been over a year that I've been "working on it."  LOL

One of the major hold-ups was the chain - metal bothers her skin, so I had to do something different from my usual for her.  I ended up grabbing several colors of these rubber cord things and she picked the purple / gray one.  I had gray, a blue / gray, and also black, but not surprisingly, she chose the more odd color.  This stone does include a purple / pink shimmery polish in it, but it doesn't show in every light.  The cording is also weird because the purple in it doesn't always show.  I got a few pics in different lighting to try to show that.

All in all I think it kind of oddly works together.  I probably would have put it on the gray or black if it was my choice, but I'm boring and Laurel is not, so that's ok.  As long as she likes it I'm totally happy, too.  😃

So that's one down - I have one more to go!  I'm hoping to finish Emily's in the next few days.  I'm trying to complete what projects I can before school starts back!  😃

I haven't really had time to make stuff lately...

I haven't really had time to make stuff lately, but these are two custom necklaces I made fairly recently.  One is from Dr. Who and one is from the Legend of Zelda.  Shadow chose an image off of the internet to use on the Zelda one as a gift for a friend.  The Dr. Who was a collaborative group effort and I promised the owner of this one that it would be One of a Kind.

If you have photos or graphics that you would want to wear in a necklace, ring, or keychain I am up for doing that.  I can't really sell this kind of stuff commercially on my Etsy since it's all copyrighted, but I'll do it for friends.  I usually sell necklaces for $20, keychains for $10, and with the rings it depends on the size and setting.

I am not necessarily over here trying to scrounge up business because with school and work I'm busy enough, but if you want something, I'm happy to make it as long as I can have a week or so to work on it.  You can ask Shaun - I'm a perfectionist so I will do the same thing over literally 20 times and pick the best one to sell you.  (I promise it's not a waste - as long as I don't set the stones I can acetone the images off and use the glass again.)

I just came across these and thought they looked nice so I wanted to share.  🙂

Shaun hates these...

Shaun hates these because they are not symmetrical.  I like them because they are not.  Etsy-ing them now.  🙂

Not my best photos, but...

Not my best photos, but I don't feel like cropping the individual shots and uploading right now.  It's a housework day and I gotta get some stuff done before I lose my motivation.

So excited that I was finally able to set some of my watermarbled stones.  😃

The pink and black ring on the left... that one might be mine.  I don't know why I like it so much.  I'm not usually a pink person, but that one just makes me happy.

This needed to happen, and now it has. 😃

This needed to happen, and now it has.  😃

Made with nail polish.  Specifically, 40 Below by Loaded Lacquer.  ❤

Break the Ice by Wet n' Wild, 40 Below by Loaded Lacquer;

unbranded plate HD01;

Stamping and Sponging techniques

Got some better photos of my new stuff today.

Got some better photos of my new stuff today. I will get them all put up later. For now, here is a shot that Shaun took with his phone where you can actually see the rainbow.  😃

Wearing one of my holographic triangle necklaces...

Wearing one of my holographic triangle necklaces today. Gotta say, I'm not a fan. I have to look down to see the rainbow. I much prefer having something pretty on my hand so I can see it effortlessly. LOL

These are my first finished necklaces!

These are my first finished necklaces! Woo! I did a thing! 😃

From left to right we have a flame water marble, 2 rainbow water marbles, a silver holographic triangle, a green holographic oval, a black holographic triangle, and a silver holographic oval.

If you think the holographic pieces look pretty now - just wait until you see one in real sunlight. They have a much more pronounced rainbow effect IRL - quite beautiful. I will try to get better photos this week. 🙂

I am gonna have to charge $20 for these necklaces or $15 without the chain. The water marbled pieces are SO HARD and the holographic polishes are expensive, so I think that's just what I have to do. I don't actually have chains for the larger pendants yet, but I will come up with something.

I have all this new stuff I'm working on and I haven't even had a chance to get it put up on my Etsy or anything. Updating all of that is so time-consuming and I can't stop painting long enough to do anything. 😳

Anyway, I'm happy about these. I have many more stones I haven't set, but I'm waiting for more of my findings to come in. In the meantime I'm gonna keep on painting. LOL

I hope everyone is having a good night. I'm so exhausted that I'm about to crash. Gotta get all of my ani-pals tucked in, then I'm calling it a night. ❤

About to get off of here...

About to get off of here and try to finish up some of the billion things I've started.  I feel so crazy and like I can't even slow down.  😳

So... a few things about the jewelry.

I'm not usually one to toot my own horn, but I wore one of my flakie sets yesterday and today and those things are fucking pretty.  Unlike holographics they don't even need sunlight to sparkle and color-change.  You can be indoors and still see how pretty they are.  I'm still not a huge fan of wearing jewelry, but I figured if I won't wear it, how I can expect anyone else to?

More on the flakies.  I made stones with the newer generation of FingerPaints flakies and they are more pastel and less bright.  I'll try to get photos of the completed pieces in a few days, but I'm not sure if I like them as much as the first set.  I do have a blue / purple and a pink-ish one, though, which I had interest in.  I may need to invest in some more flakie polishes.  I know there are some super pretty ones out there - just not in my collection (YET!)  😃

I've been making so much stuff that I am running low on jewelry supplies.  I am planning to order more in a week or two.  I wish I could do it sooner, but school's about to start back, so I have to make sure Shadow is squared away first.  We still have to get school supplies (the 9th grade lists aren't at Wal-Mart like the rest), and he also needs a haircut and some clothes.  So that's my priority.

BUT WHEN I DO GET TO ORDER I am thinking that I might not go with leverback earrings this time, but rather get the settings and use earwires.  From work and from research titanium earwires seem to be the least irritating, so I think I might go with that.  They are hypoallergenic and have no coatings that can wear off like gold filled and silver plated or whatever.  Input and thoughts are welcome, as I'm really not much of a jewelry-wearer so I am kind of clueless.  I guess I could just get an assortment of wires, but it's just more to keep up with and think about.  I was hoping to keep things simple.

If all goes as planned when I get to order I will be getting pendants for necklaces as well as some bracelets, and even some clip-on button earrings, since I've had requests for those at the farmers markets.  Also, another benefit to doing earwires instead of leverbacks is that I can get those "pierced-look clip" things that let you have dangle earrings as clips.  If you don't know what I'm talking about I can post a photo.  We use those at work and they seem to be ok.

Anyway.  You all can tell where my brain has been.  Let me know if you have suggestions or whatever.  I'm just trying to get this all figured out.  Hoping to look like something special by the time OxfordFest rolls around.  😃