Dreamers Into Doers - Martha Stewart

I was thrilled to have my photo of a Mother's Necklace design featured on Martha Stewart's Dreamers into Doer's website.  Thank you!!

Dreamers Into Doers

A Beaded Affair - Lois A. Linquist is one amazing lady!

Almost a year ago Lois was kind enough to write about me on her blog.  The title and link is Have you met Melissa?  I felt honored that she had taken the time in her busy life to do this.  Especially seeing her beautiful designs! 
Now it's time to honor her!  This past year I have followed Lois and  her incredible drive from designing, running a store to publishing magazines.  Let me just tell you a little bit about it all.  This only touches the surface, I'm sure.  She creates some of the most beautiful jewelry including flawless wire wrapping.  I have included a picture of her design here of a beautiful pearl bracelet incorporating a very hard pattern of chain maille (I struggle with chain maille horribly).  She runs a supply store that has pretty much everything you need including gorgeous gemstones, copper findings, pearls and so much more on her website at A Beaded Affair and at her Etsy store .  You will love her products.  In addition to this, she has created a group called Copper Wire Jewelers where designers meet, talk and discuss techniques, offer tutorials, showcase their designs and have the opportunity to submit their designs to an online publication of Copper Wire Jewelers Magazine.  This is her 4th publication!


Lois is doing all of these things while dealing with the pain of recovering from recent back surgery.  I just can't imagine how she does it.  I personally want to thank you, Lois!  You're amazing and you deserve many rewards for all you do. 

Family Spiral Necklace

My family spiral necklaces are one of my special designs.  I love making these.  It forces me out of my comfort zone and challenges me each time.  Each one is carefully made by using a 20guage piece of sterling silver sheet metal.  A spiral is drawn on the metal with a sharpee pen, then cut with a jeweler's saw.  This is not an easy process because you still have to file and cut more out because when you go back to stamp the names, it spreads and overlaps where you have cut.  There is a lot of filing and buffing with this project.  This is when I'm very thankful for my Foredom Flex Shaft.  Each one is special to me.  I add the birthstone before or after the name based on your specifications.  Birthstones can also be left off and a design added in it's place. This necklace is $56.00 with the sterling necklace.  Special bails with Swarovski crystals or cz's can be added for an additional cost.  This is a great gift for that mother or grandmother for Valentine's Day or Mother's Day.  It can also be stamped with a special saying or verse instead of names.  Feel free to contact me with your order.

Spoon Jewelry

I went antique shopping for silver plate spoons and to my surprise I found 3 fabulous containers just waiting for me to swoop up.  I can't wait to share my new designs with you.  Here are a few pics from some I created with my last batch of finds.  Hope you like them.  If you're interested in ordering one, please let me know via email.  They go pretty fast when I post them.  Thanks for looking!!

Publication! Copper Wire Jewelers Magazine

I'm thrilled to expose that I have been published in another magazine.  This is an honor to be included with so many other talented designers.  Check out the link.  I'm on page 17.  I plan to create some more bangles similar to these to add to my website for great Christmas gifts.  Check back often for new designs!!  Link to online magazine

New Items at the Trading Post!

I've just filled up my booth at the Northwest Trading Post in Glendale Springs, NC.  If you haven't had the chance to stop by yet, you should.  They have so many things to choose from.  Homemade fudge, sourdough bread, candies, Mel's jewelry (ha ha) and so many more items.  Check them out!!

Thief!!!

We have a local thief on the loose. Our local Trading Post in Glendale Springs, NC is kind enough to allow hard working local artists display and sale their handcrafted items to the local and travelling tourists.  We are just trying to make a living and we all work very hard.  This year we have someone that we have narrowed down as being local because they come back often.  The first time it happened, it hurt my feelings a bit, but the repeated times are causing me to get angry.  Every time I go to refill my booth, something is missing. Today it was this. The person(s) is getting brave. Now they just cut the pendant right off. If you are local and you happen to visit a store that has this pendant, please contact me. The other jewelry artisan at the Trading Post has also lost some valuable pendants as well. This is just cruel. I want to catch them. If you're the one and you're reading this......I will catch you!!!!! If I don't, God will.

New Footprint Charms

This one was created for a special friend for her birthday.  Her daughter's feet were a little challenging (or should I say her baby feetprint)  ha ha.  When I shrunk them down, they were just too light and the left one didn't even show up but at the top so I had to fill in with black to make it work.  I am so thankful for photoshop software.  I was able to keep all of the lines, etc and only darken what was already there.  I'm so careful to make sure that the charm is a perfect duplicate of the actual print.  That's what makes it so special.  I am so thrilled with how this one turned out!  I polished it to a super high shine and it has the birthstone embedded down in the silver.  The Polymer Plate turned out perfect and the clay fired great.  I couldn't be more thrilled.  I made this one nice and thick and took a lot of time buffing and polishing.  I'm having so much fun with precious metal clay.  I hope you like it and I hope my sweet and dear friend loves it!

UPS...

Well, it's official...I have decided that UPS has some problem with me and does not want me to get my packages.  Within the past 5 months I have experienced delayed delivery of 4 overnight packages that I paid dearly for.    The 3 earlier in the year were due to weather.  The crazy thing is that my store is directly on Main Street and through out the day I see numerous UPS trucks zipping by.  On one of the occasions that I didn't get my overnight package, my sister that lives in Crumpler and has a driveway that is a nightmare in snow managed to get her regular ground package.  Still I didn't.  I ended up making arrangements to drive down to Wilkesboro and pick it up myself or risk losing customers. 
My question is...when you know that they are calling for 10 inches of snow and you probably won't be able to finish your route, do you not look though your packages and make sure that the people that paid for overnight or 2 day air get theirs first since they obviously need it or they would not have paid dearly for it???  I just don't understand.
Today was no different.  Except there was no snow....no explanation...just no package.  Well, I'm sick of it.  The 3 earlier in the year did not give me a refund because of the increment weather "clause".  So I lost so much money on those.  Especially when I had to use my gas and borrow a 4 wheel drive to get down the mountain to Wilkesboro.   I wonder what the "clause" will be for this one and will I get my $52.00 back?  Probably not.  If I'm lucky it will come tomorrow or the next day and there will be no "I'm sorry" or anything.  Just please sign here. 
So if there is anyone out there that has experienced the same problem...PLEASE speak up! 

Sweet Baby Feet!

This Mother's Day was so special for many reasons. I got the opportunity to create some really unique pieces for that perfect gift. The one that I really enjoyed the most was a new item for me that I have been working toward perfection for some time now. Baby footprint charms. I have always loved them and have been dying to learn how. So...I have been doing lots of research and alot of samples to get it right. I'm still trying and will continue to get better, or at least I hope I do. For now, this is my pride and joy. Well, someone else's pride and joy that I got to play with!! Here is a picture of a finished piece with two footprint charms that were taken from birth certificates, scanned, reworked, reduced, and with lots of time and effort, I created them into charms. 
Let me know what you think! If you would like one created, feel free to send me an email. I'd love to work one up for you.

Mother's Day

Mother's Day is a special time of year for me. I am so fortunate to still have my mother here with me. She is so special and I want to thank her for everything that she has done for me and my family. So much I have learned from her and still do.
I hope you don't forget to give your mother a special hug, gift, card or just a phone call to tell her how much she means to you.
I love you, Mom! Happy Mother's Day!!

A beautiful Easter Sunday

I cannot remember the last time we had such a beautiful Easter Sunday. Over the years I have purchased a beautiful spring Easter dress to wear and ended up wearing something from my winter blah wardrobe because it ended up being below 40 degrees and even snowing at times.
This was so nice to have a change. After church we went to "Granny Albertine's" for an incredible meal and sat out in the sun on her country porch and drank ice tea. My soul craves sunshine so I was warmed to the tips of my toes.
I hope everyone enjoyed the day as much as I did.
Beautiful Easter pictures to follow....

My Tree of Life gets an upgrade...

I have had such a wonderful response to my family tree design that I decided to create an upgrade. A lady asked me if I could make a family tree with the same design so I had her give me her information and I did a sketch to see how it would look. When I got done, I was trying to decide how I would distinguish the people and it came to me. The birthstone ring that my mom has from years back that we all saved up to get her for mother's day one year. So, I decided to fill the holes with birthstones. It worked! They look great and I have came up with so many different versions and styles, no two could possibly be the same.
I will be running a Mother's Day special with them this year. Check my website to see!

Cell Phones....why do we have to have them...???

Cell phones. I'm trying to remember exactly when I got one. How did I survive without it? I did just fine. I went all through school, moved away from home and lived in a large city (at least I thought it was when I moved there) Greensboro, had a child up to 4 years old and moved back to Jefferson...all of these transitions without a cell phone or even wanting one.
I was thinking about this today when I was standing in line at the local cell phone company after waiting "forever" to get the next representative so I could have them look at my daughter's constantly needing repair cell phone and fighting with another customer. (you can read more about this after the next paragraph)
Why have we become so dependent on them that we are suckers to pay this outrageous fee, buy the latest and greatest phones that have just hit the stores, sign a 2 year contract to get them cheaper, pay for insurance to hope they won't tear up, only to regret it before we even walk out the door and our phone is already out of date and not working properly?

We were next in line, had been standing there for over 30 mins and a woman weaseled her way in front of us and just started talking to the representative. Trying to be a good Christian went out the window and I immediately said in a strong tone, "Excuse me but I believe we were next". To get an idea of what I was talking to she had on 3 inch stilettos, skin tight jeans that I know she had to lay down in to get them on, a wig that was streaked black and white (yes, like a skunk), false eyelashes with rhinestones on them, and was insanely popping her gum with her mouth open. She was probably 5 inches taller than me and honestly acted like everyone else should have parted the red sea when she walked in. I had already had enough of listening to her constant sighing and gum popping and I was already on the verge of saying something even before she jumped in front of me.
Then she had the nerve with her sarcastic tone to tell me that she needed to see a supervisor and this lady was it. I told her we were next and she could see her when we were done. She started in about how she didn't mean to disrespect me and that I could "come on up here and do my thang". Well, I didn't get on up there and do my thang but I did tell my daughter that she could speak to the representative now. What makes people think that their time is more valuable than ours?? Anyway, she just kept telling my daughter that she didn't mean to disrespect and called her sweetie.

To get back to my point...why do we go through this only to have yet another phone in addition to the one at our home and work so we can be more accessable to talk. Yes, I carry one and will continue to carry one but I just don't know how I got stuck in this have to have a stupid cell phone....
Oh and by the way...the problem that my daughter was having with her cell phone....didn't get fixed because it didn't do it while she was there so we walked out with the same problem we walked in with. Hmmmm....
That's my story and I'm done. Thanks to anyone out there who reads this and understands.

A special pearl necklace for a special bride

I'm so excited to share my news!! A special piece of jewelry I created for a wedding made it to the cover of a local magazine, "All About Women". A wonderful customer of mine, Jama, came to me for a unique and vintage piece of wedding jewelry to wear on her special day. She showed me her dress and gave me some insight as to what she was looking for. After sketching and creating in my head, I came up with what became the perfect pearls! I searched for a brooch with history. Finally, I found one that a lady had purchased from a little antique store in Paris and she was selling. I purchased it and carefully removed the pin from the back and recreated a beautiful focal piece for the necklace. I added to strands of pearls to it with one coming to the back. To complete the set, I made simple post pearl earrings. With a bride as gorgeous as she is, anything more would have been too much.
Her lovely mother, Teresa, wrote in to the local magazine about her special day and was kind enough to mention me. She wrote more about my piece explaining the special qualities of it, however, they edited that part out.
I'm still thrilled that I was mentioned and more thrilled that Jama is on the cover. She is a wonderful person and beautiful. So deserving!
With that said, if anyone would like a special piece created for them on that special day, I'd love to work with you.

Ooh, I've Got Something to Show You!: Floral Affair Earrings

These earrings were on Etsy and a blogger found them and liked them. I was thrilled to see someone post about them but was sad that I didn't know about it until now!
Thanks anyway!!

Ooh, I've Got Something to Show You!: Floral Affair Earrings

My "Tree of Life" Pendant

I love how this pendant turned out. I made this by accident. I created this last year and was really proud of it but had no takers. It was the funniest thing. I decided to change the chain to some 4mm fancy jasper and few silver balls and put it in my store and bam! I had orders right and left. I am so thrilled! No two are the same as I do not use a pattern. I can also create one with the number of members in your family. The unique thing about this tree is it has a daytime side with flowers open and blooming and then when you flip it over, you will see the nighttime. I intentionally left the back side oxidized and slightly buffing it and the shadows left around the tree looked like the night. You also notice that the flowers are gone. You can purchase this pendant in many gemstone necklace choices, leather or on a silver chain. The cost is very reasonable starting at $20.00.

Long Time - No Post...Resin Cont'd

So sorry for the long time without posting. Alot has been going on but still no excuse. I thought I would be good about keeping it up but "life" got in the way.

The great news is that the economy has not hit my business yet as I have still been just as busy as always. In fact, I think I'm selling more. Alot of people tell me it's because my prices stay pretty much the same and are still affordable. I do try to keep expenses down so I can give the savings to my customers. I know I need to make money to stay in business so I don't give it all away but I also don't multiply the cost out the roof either.

Anyway...I have some new items to show you and I have also been working on some tutorials upon request and will be posting those as well.

I decided the Resin experiment wasn't for me for quite a few reasons. Number one: I'm not patient enough for all the processes you have to do and Number two: it's something I have to do outside because I don't have very good ventilation in my basement studio. The weather just doesn't hold out long enough around here to do things like that. Number three: I'm just a metal kind of gal...ha ha!! I just love metal and gemstones and lampwork and....well...you understand (I hope).

So...with that said I'm selling off the lot of items I purchased to do this. It's a long list but everything you need to get yourself on the way to some really gorgeous resin jewelry. I put about $250 or more in it if you included all the things I bought to drop in the mix and little this and thats at Michael's and AC Moore. I've decided to sell it all including shipping for $175.00 so if you're interested.....it sure is a great way to get started.

Here is the list of Items Included:

Resin (2 part epoxy) 1 gallon each minus 1 cup (each gallon)
4 resin molds with spray on mold release/conditioner
Glitter diamond dust .50 oz
Glitter Metallic mixes multi
Glitter Metallic mixes brass
Glitter metallic mixes copper
Glitter prisma tallics fuchsia
Opaque pigments 1 oz in the following colors (these will last a long time) Never used any but pearlscent (can't even tell I used it, 2 drops), Black, blue, brown, green, pearlscent, red, white, yellow
I got all the primary colors so they can be mixed to make secondary colors
Resin finishing spray
High Quality Embossing Heat Tool: Used for getting the bubbles out of the resin and smoothing it out without moving anything.
(I used this one time)
Book: The Art of Resin Jewelry by Sherri Haab - $19.95 value. read one time. Very helpful to make resin jewelry.

2 bottles with tips to easily pour resin into molds
I also will add any extra items I bought from Michaels to do these like brushes, stir sticks, cups, gloves, decorative papers, etc.

Feel free to drop me a line if you're interested. I'm not going to leave you hanging so here are some pics of the final results after they cured:

I have to admit....for my first time, I think they turned out pretty darn good. I know the pic is not that clear but if it was you could see how cool they are. By the way....I'm selling this lot of resin cabs on Etsy as soon as I can get them uploaded so if you see anything you would like for one of your jewelry designs....give me a shout!

Well, it's late and I have to get some things done before hitting the hay. I can't wait to show you my new jewelry. Thanks to Deb Wiess...I have some awesome turquoise to show you.

Nite!

Resin...Second Phase

Okay, so here I go. Making a horrible mess! I've learned some things from this first experience....It's impossible to pour resin from these cups into teeny molds without dripping no matter how careful I am. So....for my next step I will be using a bottle with a tip on it. I also learned that the gloves I bought are not thick enough for resin. I took my gloves off and my hands were coated with it, so I immediately washed then two or three times. Yikes!

I managed to get them all filled about 1/2 way and cleaned up the molds from drips.

Then I used the heat gun to get rid of the bubbles. It works great and I would highly recommend getting one. It's hard to see the resin as it is clear. I added some color to a few and also some glitter just to see how it would turn out.

I'm going to leave these covered out in the sun until it goes down and then I will bring them in and put them up for drying in a warm, dry spot.

After they dry, I will get some of the cutouts that I did and put them on top of the resin and cover it the rest of the way. Hopefully, it will turn out!

Pierce's Ballgame

My 9 year old son, Pierce is a pitcher in the minor leagues. We are so proud of him. He had a game today and is now at 56 strike outs for the season. I just had to put on my bragging hat a little. :) Here is a pic of him pitching. He told me that he just closes all the noise out and can't hear a thing. I have to admit, he is pretty consistant with each pitch. People actually come just to watch him pitch. Maybe we'll be parents of a pro someday! Never know....

He had a slow start with hitting. No matter what he did, the ball just would not make contact with the bat. He finally got a taste of it when he hit a really good pop up at the last game and now he is unstoppable. Hi hit a line drive today and it was awesome.

Today he made it home with a slide. I just happen to get a picture of it. The grin on his face was unforgettable when he came into the dug out. I was so glad to see him finally get to home. I know he was too.

AND HE'S...........

SAFE!!