I Sold My First Broken China Pendant

I wanted to share with all of you my excitement. I sold my first broken china piece. I was in the tea room, working on my display and a customer asked "So, what's the story behind these broken china pieces?" So, I slipped on my saleswoman hat, and started explaining them to her. When she realized that I was the one who had made them, she couldn't believe it and paid me a wonderful compliment. She explained to me that the lady that she would be purchasing it for would be so thrilled with the story behind the piece and that she had met me. What an absolutely overwhelming feeling. I went into the backroom, did my happy dance and told my mother-in-law that I had just sold one of my pieces. I sold "My Heart Belongs to You" pendant.

So, in the spirit of happiness. I will be offering a sale in my Etsy shop until Friday, March 7th at midnight. If you buy an item from my shop, mention "blog" in the note to seller section of the checkout. I will take 20% off your purchase. I will send you an adjusted invoice. Remember, to add "blog" and this ends on Friday, March 7th at midnight.

Wearin' O' the Green Basket O' Fun

The INcrowd is having a scavenger hunt!

It is the yearly Wearin' o' the Green Basket o' Fun and will run from March 1 through March 15, 2008.

The prize will be a gift basket full of items generously donated by INcrowd members:

bagsandmorebypam

belladio (My broken china charm is shown above)

cadecrescentwench

erinlee

gnomeclothes

happylake

humantouchdesigns

keepsakecouture

kreatedbykelly

mimisjewels

nilochlainn

passionandpatience

redelephant

schwa

thepeachmartini

The rules are simple:

1. You must have an Etsy account, or sign up for one at http://etsy.com/ (easy and free).

2. Find all potentially participating shops by searching for "incrowd" in the search window at the top of the Etsy screen. Find every shamrock you can (they will be in with the pictures of one item on page one or two of a secret number of INcrowd stores). Convo Carolynn (http://nilochlainn.etsy.com/) with the total you've found and the names of the shops in which you found each shamrock.

3. The entrant with the most shamrocks collected will be our winner. In the likely event of a tie, the winner will be chosen at random from all the correct entries.

4. The contest will run for 15 days, from March 1 through March 15.

The winner will be notified via convo on March 17, and his or her name will be published on the blog and on the Etsy forums on the same day.

Happy McHunting!!

New Items Listed

I have just finished listing many new items to my Etsy shop. I am really excited, because part of the new offerings are new Broken China Jewelry. Here are my new pieces and each picture is a link to them on Etsy.

Leave me a comment and let me know what you think.

All That Shimmers and Shines

A self-proclaimed sparkle freak, Elektra Jewelry, is a shining shop on Etsy. Things that shimmer and shine have always attracted her. As a child, she would glitter anything she could get her hands on and always left a trail of glitter behind. Her love of all things that sparkled only intensified as she started wearing jewelry. At the age of 15, she traveled to Greece and this trip impacted her. Along with her Greek heritage and expossure to Greek artisan jewelers, you can see these influences in her love of working with 18k and 24k gold and gold vermeil.

She chose the name Elektra for her shop because it means bright and shining. She sets out to make one of a kind jewelry pieces that can accommodate many different styles and fashion trends. Her time and energy is devoted to creating pieces that can be worn and enjoyed for years to come.

If you would like to see more of Elektra Jewelry, you can check out her

Shop or her blog.

I Was Featured on the INcrowd Blog

I just wanted to share the feature posting on the INcrowd Etsy Street Team Blog. I was excited to be featured, but I was even more thrilled with the comments left for me. To have such wonderful things said, well, it sent me straight to Cloud 9.

Here is the posting:

*Where you are from in Indiana?
I am from Fishers, Indiana. I have lived here for 10 years, with 4 years in Anderson and 1 in Muncie.
*What is your craft?
I make jewelry. Right now, my passion is wirewrapped jewelry. I do make some of my own beads out of polymer clay. I have been working on a new line of broken china jewelry. And, I have dabbled in resin.
*Tell us a little bit about how you got started in your craft.
I am a Jill of many trades, not a master in any of them. I started beading about 7 years ago. A friend and I thought it would be a fun hobby to do when we met up for play dates. I eventually decided that I needed to expand my horizons and started playing with polymer clay. Teaching myself from books and tuts on the internet. I took one workshop on PMC and loved it. Unfortunately, it was to big of an investment at the time, so I went back to pc. But I have not ruled this out as a future endeavor. I became interested in wire work techniques on day when I came across Eni Oken's website. I was blown away with her work and new that I had to try this out. I am a long way from being in her class, but I am having a lot of fun trying. As far as broken china jewelry, this something that pulls at my heart strings. My Nana loved china and had a beautiful teapot and teacup collection. Since her passing, I can't look at a set of china and not think of her. So, to me, when I work on these pieces I have a bit of her with me. I know that sounds a bit mushy, but, hey, I am a hopeless romantic and a grandma's girl.

*Show us some of your featured items in your shop:
Waves of the Ocean Earrings:

Handpainted heart and wire bail necklace:

Pink and White Cherry Blossom Pendant:

Wired Flower:

Kaleidoscope Pendant:

*Is there anything else you'd like us to know?
I am truly looking forward to meeting and befriending fellow Indiana artisans. I find that when I surround myself with people who have similar interests it not only calms my spirit and gets my creative juices flowing. You can find my pieces in The Ruby Pear tearoom in Noblesville and Arts A Poppin' down on Mass Avenue in Indy.

Posted by ThePeachMartini at 8:33 PM 3 comments Links to this post

A Rose By Name

A rose by any other name would smell as sweet. We are all familiar with this phrase and understand the beauty of it's meaning. What truly matters is what something or someone is, not what they are called. With this in mind, at first glance, you would see the beauty of a rose. It has long been the symbol of beauty. But, don't let that fool you. A rose has also been a long-standing symbol for strength and courage. With it's sharp thorns, it has been used as hedges around homes to deter unwanted visitors and protects those inside.

You may be wondering what all of this has to do with A Rose By Name's Etsy shop and spectacularly beaded pieces. Well, to look at her jewelry designs, you may only see the delicate details and beautiful composition. But, like a rose, this Ohio designer is as strong and courageous as a rose. When I first began looking at her shop and profile in order to write my next posting in the 90 day challenge series, I was taken back by her designs. I have always admired anyone who has the gift of beadwork. During my researching, I came across her other blog, A Rose By Any Other Name. I thought that it would be another blog that featured her jewelry. I was wrong. I was fooled by the name. It is a completely different blog than I had expected. It solely salutes our men and women who are serving this country. The first thing that I saw was a picture of a young man, Navy SEAL Michael E. Koch. As I read on, I realized that this brave man had died in Iraq. As I scrolled down, I saw the faces of many other soldiers. She writes a weekly Wednesday's Hero Blogroll. And, I honestly was moved to tears. I realized how much I took for granted. That I would wake-up every morning and send my boys off to the private, Christian school that we had chosen. That I had the freedom to look at and say anything that I wanted on this world wide web. That these were my rights and that there are so many men and women that I will never have the honor of meeting and thanking. They have put their lives on hold, in order to protect what I take for granted.

So, this posting may have started out as a focus on a fellow Etsy artist, but, for me, has become much more. So, I would like to quote her, because I believe that I could not say it any better. "These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived."

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If you would like to see more, check out:

A Rose By Name's Etsy shop

A Rose By Name blog

Or,

A Rose By Any Other Name's Wednesday Heroes Blog