Almost Halloween

My kids attend preschool 5 days/wk, which also means they get to parade around in their costumes on both Thursday AND Friday. Lucky! I'm not going to reveal what they'll be, so you'll have to stay tuned on Friday and see for yourself.
In other news, I've been pretty busy in the jewelry shop this month, which is great! Keep the sales coming, thankyouverymuch. I'm Aruba-bound in December! Yippee!! Just me and the Mr for a few days of peace and quiet and frozen cocktails. Auntie will be babysitting and will do a fantastic job as usual. Maybe I can sneak a cabana boy into my suitcase for her.

ANYWAY, back to business...new stuff in Etsy shop this week and more coming later this month! I'm creating a few more simple silhouettes than usual, with the primary focus on one gemstone. Here are a few pics:

I Think I Can

This post is dedicated to Thomas. He's (sort-of) potty training and basically he's the cutest thing ever. I don't have much to say today, just wanted to post a few pictures of him in action. Have you ever seen someone so enthusiastic about this? Hahahaha :)

October is...

Fire Safety Month!

Julianne had a fireman come to preschool today and apparently there was a fire truck there too. I thought back to early September, when our village had a firehouse open-house, geared especially for children aged 6 and under. Joe and I took the kids to see what it was all about. The kids were able to climb up on the firetrucks and into the ambulances, and explore a bit. There was even a demo of a firefighter putting on all the gear. I have a whole new respect for firefighters after I discovered how heavy their gear was, and how insanely hot it is under all that protective equipment. Here are some cute pictures from that day:

FREE SHIPPING ALL WEEKEND! Yay!

In both of my Etsy shops, I'm offering free shipping!
I've just added this gorgeous keshi pearl necklace to my jewelry shop, hamptonjewels. Truly one-of-a-kind! Like gorgeous white rose petals. I've titled it, "Le Jardin des Perles", or The Garden of Pearls. C'est magnifique! :)

Silly, silly day.

Okay, so some days are just silly. I'm happy to report that today was one of those days! The kids were great. Julianne had her school picture and she got dressed up in a favorite dress (!). Yes, you read that right. A dress. Take a look! And, she was sporting her new hair cut. Tommy wanted a cameo too so he posed with our pumpkin as well.
Apparently we had a visitor--check out this praying mantis! Hopefully it's a symbol of good luck. I told the kids it was; they were a little afraid since they'd never seen one before. It had been many years since I'd seen one myself!

Things turned silly after dinner. We had so much fun at the table tonight! Here is the evening in pictures. :)

On motherhood

Today was a great day, start to finish. I find that the best days end with happy toddlers -- no bedtime meltdowns, hysteria, crazy running around while I'm trying to brush teeth, and so on. Nights like tonight, we happily head upstairs (I've discovered the secret -- setting the microwave timer loudly after the first "it's almost bedtime!" announcement, for 5 more minutes. When the timer goes off, Julianne pronounces that it is, in fact, Bedtime. And up they go after a "On your mark, get set...go!" from me.).

Of course, we had our share of crying, impatience and restlessness the rest of the day, but who wants to focus on that? The day ended well and that's good enough for me. The rest of the day included returning ill-fitting childrenswear at Kohl's and experiencing terrible customer service (never shopping there again, thankyouverymuch--certainly not with kids in tow), meeting one of my favorite customers to deliver her custom jewels, running into HomeGoods to look for a fall wreath and shopping at Target where I was talked into a Sleeping Beauty DVD and a Thomas the Tank Cascading Waterfall toy. I'm a sucker, I admit. I love toys! But all this in 2 hrs. It was a lot, even for me. And I'm 32. The kids were good sports.

But the highlights of the day were things my children did and said. I hoisted Tommy out of the tub and wrapped him up in a towel, holding it around his chubby face. He said, "Wook, Mommy. Wittle old man!!" and I laughed and covered his face in kisses.

Fast forward one hour. The kids cleaned up the den (okay, Julianne cleaned up the den) and was so proud of her work. I gave them reward stickers and they were so happy! The littlest things, it's wonderful.

And lastly, while I was rocking Julianne in my comfy big upholstered rocking chair (which these days is more Julianne laying across my lap asking me to scratch her back), she proclaimed, "This is the life." I laughed so hard! Of all the things to say! She laughed hard right back. I asked her where she heard that before, and she told me, "Max and Ruby". She said, "Ruby says, 'This is the life!' and then Louise says, 'It sure is!'". Talk about retention. This child does not miss a trick. Proof that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

I'm a Lollishops Vendor!

I was accepted as a vendor on the soon-to-be-open Lollishops.com! Hooray! I am very excited about this opportunity because I love everything Lollishops stands for: low listing fees, a tight-knit artist community of talented women, a fantastic atmosphere to share and learn, and most of all, have fun! My jewelry will fall into the "Romantic Inspirations" category. I have to say, I've done very well as a gemstone bead vendor on Etsy, and I have no regrets. My bead shop there has been open less than three months, and I've had over 350 sales (!). But, the fees are killing me! This month alone I racked up $116. OUCH. That's a big chunk of sales. If I had more time, I'd figure out what percentage of sales that was. If I had to guess, I'd say 15-20%. Way too much. I'm hoping that while I won't be selling beads on Lollishops, that the structure will suit little old me much better. I'm a SAHM first and foremost, and the fees are just too high. I'm hoping for the best.

I've already met so many fabulous artists through personal artist pages on Lollishops. Stay tuned for the grand opening in November! :)

Yummy new sparklies

So, a week or so ago I found some beautiful strands from my regular NYC supplier, and a few nice strands at a gem show in MA. I couldn't wait to start playing with the smooth purple amethyst briolette beads....they reminded me a bit of juicy grapes. Here are a few strands before:and here are the earrings I designed with some of them:

I'm very happy with the result and put them in my Etsy shop. I just wish I had more time for creating earrings like this -- these took 2, 2.5 hrs to do. Probably because I'm a perfectionist when it comes to cascade earrings. The spacing has to be perfect or else I'll start over. And I'm really picky when it comes to wirewrapping the briolettes. Again, I want them as perfect as I can get them.

Maybe for my next pair I can create something with these dreamy London Blue Topaz...love love LOVE them!

October already???

I can't believe October has rolled around already! It's time to start gearing up for the holiday season, and as a designer that means burning the midnight oil in preparation of trunk shows, craft shows, online sales, etc. It's going to get crazy! I just finished a nice sale on my Etsy beads, and the shop inventory was pretty low, so I went back into NYC today to replenish. Here's a quick picture of all the loot.

I found some beautiful smoky quartz, green garnet, pink topaz, and some really incredible keshi pearls from my best pearl source. Don't these look like beautiful flower petals? I don't think I'm going to break up this strand; rather, I may make a special necklace just for me. :)Also beautiful are these small, sparkly pink topaz briolettes:

Hmm, better list these gems in my shop before I'm tempted to use them all for myself! :)

Getting Ready for Etsy Showcase!

Okay, so I bought two showcase spots for tomorrow on Etsy. Both are in Main Showcase, and one spot is for Hampton Beads, and one is for Hampton Jewels. So I need to get crackin'! I have several things I'd like to make for the showcase, and I have been planning on adding more jewelry to my jewelry shop. And, I need to oxidize a few new pieces as well. Everyone here is feeling less than 100% today, so it's going to be a challenge.

My bead sale has been pretty successful; yesterday (Saturday) was a busy sales day and I hope today will be, too. I'm heading to a bead show next weekend, so my goal is to clear out some inventory before adding more. If you're reading this and you love gemstone beads, definitely visit my Etsy shop. Scroll allllllllll the way down and check out Etsy Mini on the bottom of this blog for a preview of sparkly little treasures. :)

Stormy Weather

This weekend has essentially been a washout here. The highlight, though, was my little nephew James Lorenzo's visit on Friday afternoon. My sister and her husband had a friend's wedding to attend on the Island, so after Emily transformed herself from new mom into glamorous party-goer, Joe and I babysat their 5-wk-old Peanut. Let it be known that he was the easiest child of all three. Thomas was easygoing too -- my Pip was the true handful. Here she is in a quieter moment. I know she was just excited to see her nephew, but the pandemonium was a little over-the-top. Something had to be done. Super Dad to the rescue!! Joe saved the day and took Julianne and Thomas to Gino's, our beloved pizzeria, for dinner. A stop at Blockbuster afterwards for Toy Story 2 made them very happy and afforded me a little more quiet time with James before the kids returned. james was a bit fussy after his second meal here, so I put him on the floor and he loved it!

He was sleeping when they came back, and I put him in Julianne's beautiful and cozy Amy Coe Moses basket. I should tell Karen how much that basket has come in handy. James looked like a little sleeping angel in it. Too bad they don't make adult-size ones! :)

Anyway, James, you're a lovely little man and you're welcome here any time!! Although I have to admit: any scattered thoughts I'd been having lately of trying for Baby No. 3 were quickly put away for another time. I don't think I could handle a third child right now -- this was a fun experiment, but I'm happy it was just that. For now, my two-ring circus is juuuuuust fine. :)

Whirlwind Day

Today was delightful. We had Julianne's classmate Emma over to play. When you're 3, this means you roll with an entourage, so it was Emma, her mom, and little baby sister. The weather was beautiful. After grilled cheese sandwiches and Pillsbury pumpkin cookies (of which I ate too many--before baking!!!), the kids played in the basement (with Thomas in tow, of course), and then we all headed outside for sunshine. Soon 3 pm was upon us and the natives were really getting exhausted, so we called it a day. But the kids really enjoyed themselves and I had a great time having an adult conversation with someone whom I quickly discovered I have a lot in common with.

My house has been very messy lately (okay so it's usually always messy). I LOVE hosting playdates and dinner parties because it forces me to clean. In the 2 hrs before our guests came over, I took out all the trash, did 2 loads of laundry, hauled clean laundry up to my bed, straightened up the kids' bedrooms & made beds, cleaned the kitchen, cleaned the downstairs bathroom, vacuumed the den and kitchen, went grocery shopping, went to the post office, did the preschool pickups, unloaded groceries, swept up and threw away the dead pile of weeds on our front steps, and put on some makeup. In that order. Someday maybe I'll manage the makeup first. For now, I'll just continue to scare the other moms at preschool. Hey, you can't have everything.

What else is new...Cherie and I picked up a trunk show appointment for November. This is a result of doing the West Islip Country Fair. I spoke to two ladies who were each very interested. November's going to be a mad-crazy month! But, I'm not complaining. After all, my goal is to get to the Tucson Gem Show in February. Maybe a pipe dream, maybe not. Gotta keep chugging along and one day, I just might get there with my faithful assistant Joe. :) Speaking of craft shows, here's a picture of the kids from an August show in Bridgehampton. End-of-the-world rains pretty much ruined the show, but not before I snapped this great little shot.

And, last but not least, I'm finally getting around to listing some starfish necklaces on Etsy. I sold 6 of them on Sunday, they were a popular item. This is after Joe had been telling me forever to make more items with starfish. Okay, so he was right. I was big enough to tell him so, and he looked very proud of himself. When he's right, he's right! Here's a peek at them:

Stuck on You

This particular post is dedicated to my wee man, Thomas. It seems like just yesterday, we were right about here:

He gave me his heart from Day One and I carry it carefully around with my every day. He gives me unconditional love and never stops smiling and laughing. Such a happy-go-lucky little fellow. Those warm, chubby little cheeks are just irresistable, and I can't help but kiss them a million times a day. Unfortunately for Thomas, I take a look at his stubby little toes and plump feet and know exactly who he inherited them from -- me -- but he's too little to know, much less care. They don't keep him from running helter-skelter around the house, missing corners of tables by thiiiiiiiiis much, and avoiding doorways by a hair. The most daunting is when he runs with his head thrown back, leaving me to wonder how the heck he knows where he's going. Thump, thump, thump go his flat little feet.


Since he's not so "wee" anymore, and is a strapping 30 lbs., we've taken to calling him Little Man. Which he is: the spitting image (almost) of Joe. Next-door-Joe calls him Mini Me. He really is a Mini Me to his proud daddy. So, so cute.

Here's a picture of my sweet little dreamboat. Two important things to know about Little Man. 1. Thomas loves stickers. More to the point, he loves wearing stickers. 2. Thomas loves to sleep. He feigns resistance to naps or bedtime, but within minutes he is happily scooting around in his cozy blankets, asking me to sing Tinkle Tinkle Wittle Stah. This photo incorporates both loves:
So, someday, when Thomas is all grown up and finds a special girl to marry and start a family of his own with, I will give him back his sweet, loving heart. Then, he can give it to his girl to cherish forever. Until then, I carry it safely with me, its Protector. I love you too, Thomas. :)

Blog-bloggity-blog-blog!

Wahoo! Introducing the new look of my blog. Goodbye vanilla, hello color explosion! Many thanks to Renee of thompsondesigns -- visit her Etsy shop if you want professional graphics in a wide variety of styles. http://www.thompsondesigns.etsy.com/. She's just wonderful to work with, I can't say enough great things about her. She helped incorporate a unified look between my Etsy shops and this blog. Renee, if you should happen to read this, THANK YOU!! :)

What else...earring sweatshop today, people. Making about 7-8 pr a day in prep of Sunday's big show. 300 craft vendors. I hope the weather will be gorgeous!

Hmm...what else-else....going into NYC tomorrow!! One of my gem suppliers tells me that a big shipment of beautiful aqua chalcedony briolettes has just arrived. I'm crossing my fingers! I hope there is more of this! (I'm sure my frequent chalcedony customers hope so too.)

and, looking for more of these beautiful London blue topaz rondelles. Truly exceptional in cut, color and clarity.