The Dreaded Bump

For my birthday (back in September) I got my nose pierced. Everything has been great and grand with and it's been healing nicely. Then about a week ago I noticed what looked like a pimple that had come up beside it. I left it alone and it eventually popped on it's own. Well now I have a "bump". I know these are common to cartlidge piercings but I thought I was in the clear since it's been over a month since I had it done. Luckily it isn't that big nor is it that noticeable but today I'm off to find some Tea Tree Oil that is recomended to help dry it out and continue with some sea salt soaks. I think as soon as it clears up I'm heading to the mall to find a hoop and another stud to change this one out with.

On the crafting front I FINALLY got wire in this weekend so I'm hoping to get a chance to work on some of those beautiful new stones that I picked up. I've had a couple of bigger shawl pin orders the past couple of days so that has been keeping my evenings busy. Here is the newest design just in time for Christmas.

I did have enough wire to wrap one of the Tourmalines from the show in a two tone style with gold and silver. I absolutely love how it turned out.

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.