Tucson Gem Show Purchases II

One of the most fun things we did while on our Arizona odyssey was to visit the relatively new Musical Instrument Museum in Scottsdale. When I say that it was the most wonderful museum I have visited in a very long time, I am not exaggerating. We spent over 5 hours there and could have spent 2 days! If you find yourselves anywhere near the place, it is a must see.

Now, back to gemstones!  These fabulous marquis shaped labradorite briolettes have amazing flash and are a really nice size at 27 -29 mm long. The strand (only one) had one broken stone, which netted me a very nice discount.

On a much brighter note, this collection features 2 strands of chalcedony embracing a strand of nicely faceted citrines. The vendor that had these stones had the most extensive selection of chalcedony I've ever seen. They dye it in the rough and then cut into stones. Sounds impressive, but for all I know, that's the way all chalcedony is handled. However it's done, I usually care most about the pretty factor.

More to come in the next few days ... thanks for sticking with me!

Tucson Gem Show Purchases I

Our fabulous tour of Arizona ended with 5 days in Tucson for the Gem Shows. In all honesty, that was a bit too much time given the budget I have. I spent a little more than I should have, but that's ok. It was great fun as usual.

Now it's time to share some of the gemmy goodness I found there.

Top to bottom: faceted black spinel, bronzite (or bronze agate -- couldn't really understand what the guy said) and the exact moonstone briolettes I was looking for!

Next up: smooth carnelian, marquis shaped little amethysts, beautifully faceted citrines

And: sweet little lapis cubes ( I really like this shape) and lapis blocks, drilled across the top, to be used as pendants

I have more photos that I plan to spread out over several blog posts, so stay tuned!

Wire Wrapped Necklaces

I used to dread making necklaces like these. It was boring and tedious ... just keep repeating the same motions over and over. Now, I think of it as therapeutic. And of course, I'm a lot quicker at it, which helps a great deal.

Having said all that, it felt like forever until this necklace was long enough to go around the neck twice without using a clasp. I can envision wearing it with a linen colored silk sheath style dress.

It was worth the time it took. I alternated champagne colored pearls and smoky quartz rondelles for a earthy, warm look. Here's a close-up:

I've worked on several necklaces in this same style. Here's my favorite. The beads are fluorite and vary in color but are mostly shades of purple and seafoam, traditional fluorite colors. The shape is also quite enticing: faceted stylized cubes.

These pieces are too tricky to photograph for me to list them in my etsy shop, so I'll probably reserve them for local sales at craft shows.

Crafting with Beer

Well, not really beer. More like the 6-packs they come in! I've been saving 6-packs with interesting artwork for a while, and I think I've even blogged about this in the past. I used the artwork to make a batch of fun little books. These aren't serious books -- I used a glue stick and the simple pamphlet stitch for binding. They are of the "quick & dirty" variety of booklets.

Here's the whole batch:

I really enjoy selecting the papers for inside the covers. It gives me an opportunity to go through the huge stash of paper I've been collecting over the years.

This one is my favorite. It's from a 4-pack of specialty beer that I bought for Rick a few years ago.

This one is obviously NOT from a 6-pack and it's for Chelline, who gave me a stack of Mount Gay Rum boxes. What's going on down there in Soldotna anyway??

Remember I said I might do another give away? I'm considering the Samuel Adams book as the next one. Stay tuned!

Scarf Give Away Winner!!

The winner of the green scarf is Elisbeth!!!

Thanks to all of you for visiting my blog and taking the time to comment. Stay tuned -- I may do another give away before I head out of town to buy more gems at the Tucson gem shows.

New Knits and a Giveaway

When I'm not making jewelry, I usually baking, cooking, making cards or knitting. Yay for knitting! The only problem with my love of knitting is that the finished products keep piling up. I know you're thinking I should either stop buying yarn and slow down my knitting, or try selling some of it. Well, I can't seem to stop buying yarn and I do try to sell some. But I don't try very hard. I have some scarves listed in my other etsy shop, A Peaceful Life and I have some bags and scarves for sale at Dragonfly Gallery in Soldotna. These two outlets don't even make a dent in the pile of knits I'm looking at.

Soooo, it's time for a giveaway!

 I bought this gorgeous hand-dyed yarn from Phydeaux Designs. Check out her etsy shop where you will find tons of lovely yarns and fun patterns. I purchased a beautiful neck warmer pattern from Rabbit Ridge Designs. It was a match made in heaven. Here is the resulting neck warmer:

Sorry, but that is NOT the item I'm giving away. What a tease, right?

Naturally, I had a bit of that multi-colored yarn left over. I searched through my massive yarn stash and found some solid green pima cotton/tencel blend yarn that looked great with the Phydeaux yarn. I turned to one of my favorite scarf patterns and here is the result:

It's about 62" long and 4" wide and the body of the scarf is done in seed stitch, which adds a nice bumpy (but so soft) texture. The ruffle is done with the leftover yarn from the neck warmer.

 As you can see, 60" is long enough to go around your neck twice. Yes, this is the item that I'm giving away! All you have to do is leave a comment and I will use a random number generator to select the winner. Because this is a holiday, I'm going to keep this giveaway open through the end of the week. I will select the winning number late on Friday, January 4.

May the odds be ever in your favor!

(Yes, I stole that line from the Hunger Games.)