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! :)