Gem Show Haul

Today I went to my first gem and jewelry show which was a wholesale show so you had to have a business ID number. It was the first day of the show and I got there pretty much when they opened around 10:00 am. Wow, what an experience. All I can say is good thing I came early and good thing I came on the week day. I would hate to see how crowded it was on the weekend.

I have been preparing to go to this show for over a week, checking out the website and making a note of which vendors I wanted to make sure I stopped by. There were lots of booths of finished jewelry and tons of booths selling bead strands. I was more interested in the cab sellers, which was a small amount compared to the other seller types.

First I went around to all the booths to check out what they had available before heading back to them a second time to make purchases. I found two sellers who had some wonderful things. The first specialized in larimar and amber. I picked up these 4 amazing larimar stones. The size and color of these are absolutely beautiful and I can't wait to wrap them.

Then the second seller had a good selection of stones I was looking for which was rutilated quartz and rainbow moonstone. The moonstone all have a beautiful blue flash at the wearable angle.

They also had some beautiful tourmaline cabs that I couldn't resist, pricey but I picked up a nice ruby colored one and a darker blue/purple one. Dave also picked out the Ruby Zoisite piece that he thought was interesting looking. All of them are going to make stunning pieces.


All in all it was a great show and it will be back again in May so I am looking forward to doing it again.

When is fall getting here?!

It is the last week of October and it is still in the low to mid 90's here in Florida. I guess for some people that would sound great, but for me fall was/is my favorite time of year. When I lived in Texas, usually starting the middle of October we would start getting cold fronts in and by Thanksgiving it was already staying a nice constant 70+ degrees or cooler. Here it doesn't seem to get even remotely cool for a set amount of time until January which is kind of dissapointing through the holidays.

This last weekend I did absolutely nothing craft related and it was nice to take a break. This weekend there is a gem and jewlery show going on at one of the convention centers in the area that I'm hoping to go to. I have a couple things I'm looking for and some special requests as well. I'm anxious to go and hoping to find some neat stuff. The sponser of the event already listed a list of those that will be there and where they will be located at the convention center so I have my list of booths that I want to visit. It should be fun at the least.

On to new things

Okay, so it's Wednesday and life is grand again after my frumpiness over the lackluster show on Monday. Now, on to my custom order I was talking about yesterday.

Over the weekend I received a request from someone on etsy about shawl pins and if I did cats. We conversed back and forth and settled on a black cat head with a cute little gold fish. Here is a picture of the base model (yet to be glazed so he's not as shiny)
And after I finished making a base one I had some different colors of clay lying around and also made this version (who is glazed)
Too cute right?! So this inspired me to draw up some other animals. Now, there is also a dog, complete with boneAND an owl.
The owl is my new favorite with the turtle a close second. This one has turned out SOOOOO cute I can hardly stand it. I couldn't think of anything better to go with the owl than a leaf though. I thought about maybe a crescent moon or even a mock up of a lollipop in honor of the Tootsie Pop owl from the commercials but just couldn't decide, so for now he gets a leaf until I think of something different or someone else has a cool idea.

I also am planning on revisiting my fish design and I have a couple of other bird designs in mind like a parrot/canary and a penguin.

Monday's Show

So Monday was the craft show where I work. This year was the first year we did it for one day and made it an all day event. In the past it's always been two days, usually on a Thursday and Friday and only from 11am to 3pm. I got in at 7:30 and got my table set up, ran out of room as always between my jewelry and scarves. I have to say that being on a Monday was NOT an improvement.

While setting up I had one person ask if I would hold one of the scarves for her later, so I was thinking this is a good start. Then closer to 10am people started coming down and looking around and I sold another scarf (that black and white one I posted about a while ago). Sold a couple of pendants made out of glass beads and then things got quiet for a while. Then they picked up a little and I ended up selling some more glass bead pendants and a couple of resin pendants.

I was bummed that none of my wire wrapped pendants or hoop earrings sold and that the person who wanted the one scarf backed out on it late in the afternoon. Also, it seemed the only thing people wanted to buy were $5 earrings or costume type jewelry. But on the positive side, at least I got lots of genuine compliments on the pendants and now I have some new scarves, bracelets and even pendants to list on etsy.

I wanted to get pictures of some of the new things yesterday afternoon but I was exhausted when I got home. I think I was asleep before the little one because when Dave came out of his room from reading him stories and putting him to bed I was dozing on the couch. So, today I want to get home and hopefully get some outdoor photos of the scarves and I have at least 5 new wire pendants to take pictures of and list. I also have a custom ordered shawl pin to finish that has turned out too cute and get that posted on etsy. But I'll post about that tomorrow.

New Mini!

Earlier this week I bought a mini laptop through Dell and best of all it's purple! Yay. It didn't get delivered until 8:30 last night :0 but I am loving it so far. Now I just have to decide if I want to buy a cute little case for it or knit one.

This past week I've been busy crocheting scarves. I was going through some pattern books that I have a couple of weeks ago and found this woven scarf type pattern where you crochet a "grid" and then weave in yarn. I used it originally for a black and white scarf I had posted about earlier but this time I used it for some ribbon yarns and other novelty yarns I had. They're pretty quick and actually kind of fun to make too. Plus they are a GREAT stash buster for extra yarn. Here's a photo of the ones I've made so far. It's a toss up of my favorite being the beige sort of neutral skinny scarf or the bright multicolored one.

Feels like fall

Here in Florida we had a "cool" front that came through knocking the highs of the day down to the 80's. It's been wonderful to come out in the mornings and it be cool and crisp. So this week it has actually FELT like October should feel. Of course this won't last for long. Already the temperatures are starting to rise again and I'm sure by the middle of next week it will be up in the 90's.

I've been busy trying to keep my stock up. The last two weeks have been great with sales, of which I'm extremely grateful, but now I have to play catch up. I did manage to make 4 new pendants this past weekend and two yesterday that I have yet to post. I also got in a bunch of new ring sized stones for some metalwork. I'm hoping to do that this weekend as well. The craft fair at my work is being held on October 19th so I have a little over 2 weeks to get myself in gear and get everything together.

We've been working with Little G on his potty training the past two weeks. He's doing really good and is starting to get the hang of it I think, which is a good thing. The past two days he has been great and no accidents. Of course since I've typed this I'm sure today will break that streak, but all in all he has been doing terrific.