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WillOaks Studio on Etsy

I was doing my usual Entrecard drops a few weeks ago and while on WillOaksStudio blog noticed this post where Karen mentions that she is featured on another blog. It was in between all those beautiful photos of flowers she has been posting lately. Well, now who doesn't like to be featured, right? I get myself over there and find another great blog to check out regularly. It's as easy as sending an email with your Etsy Mini so why not.


Cut Your Heart Out on Etsy


Jessica has a shop on Etsy and sells some lovely jewelry. I don't know why but I just love owls and so this necklace of hers stuck out for me. If you stop by her blog you will see the mini right at the top and if you want to be featured too just drop her an email which is listed on the right hand side of her blog. Really I just wanted a good excuse to feature some of the other lovely jewelry designers that I have come upon over the past few months and as a way of re-paying the favor of featuring me. So, I hope you will take a moment to check out their blogs and shops. Gotta spread the love!

Top Entrecard Droppers for June

Wow can you believe the year is already half over?!!? Where the heck does the time go and why does it go so quick the older you get? Ahhh the questions of life. Now to the important stuff, these are my top droppers from Entrecard for the month of June. Sorry I missed out posting these stats for the last 2 months.

1. Free Stuff in Las Vegas Baby
2. Split Rock Ranch
3. PJ's Prose
4. Go Las Vegas Baby!
5. My Gypsygoods
6. The Beadings and Buttons of Randomcreative
7. Juliana's Lair
8. Stuff and Nonsense
9. Frugal Healthy Choices
10. Pat's Encaustics - Art in the Wax

Thanks to everyone who stops by, I hope you enjoy what I have to say as much as I enjoy what you do. If you haven't been to any of these blogs, then you should check them out as they are certainly ones that I enjoy too.

New Treasures and an Award

I've been trying to create a bit more rather than sit on the computer or in front of the tv all the time. The above pendant was one that I had actually started probably about 4-5 months ago. It was all done except for the bail which I finally got off my lazy butt and finished this past weekend. It wasn't like it was difficult either. This was a complete departure for me as far as the colors I used in it. I admit it, I like pink (the brighter, the better), orange, turquoise, purple and green but it has to be neon green. For this pendant I used a Swarovski Rivoli which is called Sahara but in layman's terms, it's green with golds and browns depending on which way you move it. The smaller Swarovski bicones around the edge are Colorado Topaz and Smoked Topaz Light and I used gold seed beads. Gold is not a color or metal I wear at all, other than my wedding band and a pair of opal earrings I wear all the time and the only reason I wear the earrings is because my dad went to Australia when I was about 12 and brought back 3 pairs of opals which he had made into earrings for my mother, one of his sisters and me (no wonder my sister hates me..lol). I have to say that I was quite happy with how it came out seeing as I'm not used to working with this combination of colors.

I also managed to get a few more cabochons made and wrapped one so far. Now, when I was done with this one I was pretty happy with how it turned out. That balloon soon burst when I showed it to my husband and he says "It looks like a Christmas Tree". Then again, I could take it as a compliment....right? You'd think after 20 years of marriage I should know better than to expect him to NOT say something like that. Don't worry, I'm used to it and just laughed it off just like he does when I say something about sports that he thinks it's ridiculous. I did have to get the opinion of my friend Jennifer as to whether it was too much at the top and luckily she lied like a good friend should and said it looked fine! I've got more wire on the way to me so I'm hoping to get a few more done and maybe do a few other wire projects.


Well, as I was in the middle of this post, writing about my great award from PJ who has a great blog that I love to read here....my darn Firefox crashed! Must be telling me something! So, PJ I apologize but I am not going to pass it on but I will tell you the 7 things I love (if I can remember them lol).

1. My Husband - Yes, it's sloppy and obvious but he is my best friend as well as all the other things that go along with being a husband. I couldn't have wished for a better partner in life.
2. Music - Yes of course, The Boss comes first in this category but he isn't the only one. Music means so much to me.
3. Creating - It's a part of me that I lost along the way in life and found again.
4. Travel - My travels have shaped me as a person. It has meant more for me to stand looking up at the Sistine Chapel or view the Sydney Harbour Bridge in person rather than to read about them in books or online.
5. Sports - Watching (in person, preferably) NOT playing!
6. Nature - It's just so darn cool and amazing.
7. Animals - Mostly dogs but all animals. If I'm ever down, all I have to do is watch Animal Planet and I am instantly cheered up.

So, as I say, I was in the process of getting blogs I wanted to give this award to which was a task in itself since there are so many out there that I really enjoy and then the darn browser crashed. Luckily most of this post was saved. That will teach me to save it every once in a while rather than just keep on typing. Needless to say, I hope all of you out there enjoy my blog half as much as I enjoy reading yours. Actually, consider yourselves ALL tagged with this award!!

Camera Woes, Tagged and Thanks

Ahh so many things to blog about that I am using one post for all three. Firstly, my camera woes, or more specifically my rechargeable battery woes. Monday I decided I needed to take some photos, I have a section in my Etsy shop which is 10 Bucks or Less. I thought it would be good to pad it out a bit. I knew my batteries were dead so come the afternoon I plug in my charger and leave it. Fast forward to next day about 10am, I get my nice little home-made lightbox all set up and get all the earrings I want to photograph, put the batteries in and my camera starts up just fine. Then, the battery icon lights up and POOF it turns off! Ugg how frustrating, I've only had the batteries since January, did I overcharge them? So, I go to the Energizer site and can't really figure out what I did but I figure I'll call Customer Service. Sure enough, the woman helping says I most likely did overcharge them and would I like for them to send me a $15 coupon to use to buy some more? Ummm YEAH!! Of course I want to save money if I'm going to have to buy new batteries. As you can see I did manage to charge the batteries enough to get a few pics so I've already started listing the earrings and will be doing so over the next few days.


Now onto being tagged. Lisa from Alterity Art has tagged me and I gotta tell you Lisa I tried to start this post as a response to the tag. I really did. I had the first paragraph done and then when I got to the part where I had to list 8 things I'm looking forward to, well I got to number 2 and then, that was it. Then I looked at the next 8 I was supposed to write about, 8 things I did yesterday. Oh my goodness, I really don't want to bore people to death with my blog. Believe me, the most exciting thing I did yesterday was walk to the Post Office and back. I will tell you what the 2 were that I managed to fill in for what I'm looking forward to:

1. My 81yo mother-in-law coming over from England for a visit on Sunday.
2. Getting a job

I was tempted to fill in the last one for the rest too but I didn't want to sound like a complete loser (haha). So thanks Lisa for the tag and well, at least I tried ...right?

Lastly, I want to thank John over at John Wright Art. I received my print today that I won here on his blog. It is lovely and I can't wait to get a nice frame for it.

Top Dropper For March

Thanks to all my top Entrecard Droppers for March. There are a few blogs we will now lose as far as drops but I have bookmarked the ones that I will continue to visit despite not being on Entrecard because of the new set-up.

Here's the list and thanks to everyone, not just my top Droppers, for stopping by.

Dropper	# of drops
Youniquely Chic	31
Pat's Encaustics - Art in the Wax	31
Las Vegas Baby	30
Three Fates Design - Beaded Jewelry	30
My gypsygoods	30
Split Rock Ranch	29
Stuff and Nonsense	26
Alterity Art	26
John Wright Art	25
Art Joolree	25

The Sisterhood Award

I have been given this award by Timeless Designs who is also a member of the EJDSS Team on Etsy, thank you. If you haven't seen her blog then make sure you check it out as she has some absolutely beautiful jewelry designs. Now, the rules of the Sisterhood Award are:

1. Put the logo on your blog or post.

2. Nominate at least 5 blogs which show great Attitude and/or Gratitude!

3. Be sure to link to your nominees within your post.

4. Let them know that they have received this award by commenting on their blog.

5. Share the love and link to this post and to the person from whom you received your award.

Here are my 5 nominated blogs:

From A Yellow House In England
You've Got Maille
Be Jeweled By Candi
Confessions of a Sin City Craft Addict
NyBlaque

Hope you enjoy these blogs as much as I do.

Tagged for Life

So, I just noticed that I have actually been tagged 3 times. I guess I should play and at least it gives me something to write about! Here are the rules regarding tag:

1. Each blogger has to reveal 7(8 according to some) random facts about his or herself.
2. People who are tagged have to post the rules.
3. At the end, I have to choose 7(or 8) people to tag.
4. I then need to leave a comment for each person who has been tagged, telling them that they are "it".
5. The "taggee" needs to then leave a comment for the person who tagged them to read your list.

Here are my random facts about me:

1. I love Indian food - tandoori chicken, aloo gobi. I could probably eat it most days. Mexican food on the others.
2. I'm a BIG Boss fan, as in Bruce Springsteen. We travel all over to see him and went to 7 shows on the last tour and none were home shows in Las Vegas (he didn't play here).
3. Despite growing up about an hour from San Francisco I did not go to my first Giants Baseball game until I was in my 20's.
4. My wedding was at 9am on a Saturday morning in Newcastle, England and at 3pm we were at St. James' Park to watch a soccer (football) game.
5. I am most vain with regards to my teeth. I could go bald and buy a wig but I never want to lose my teeth.
6. I was a punk in High School (still am really). Complete with varying shades of hair color from week to week.
7. I DO NOT like Chick Flicks, give me Pulp Fiction any day.

Now, on to who I shall tag. I hope a few decide to play.

1. Strawberry Anarchy
2. Chez Chani
3. Dragons Fire Chainmaille Designs
4. Rojagato Designs
5. Jude McConkey
6. Red Books & Chairs
7. Timeless Designs

So have fun and don't forget to let me know so I can see your random facts.

Blogophobia

Yes, I admit it, I'm a Blogophobe. So what is blogophobia? Simply, it is the fear of Blogs, pretty obvious, huh. So why be scared of blogs? Well I'll start with the main reason - what to blog about. I could start off just talking about myself but that would get boring for both myself and the world at large, very quickly. Plus, I'm not an Opera Singer - MEMEME (requisite joke). I realize that I do have to divulge some information about me, my life, my craft but as to day today stuff well, that's just filler really isn't it?

Another reason for being a blogophobe is failure. There I said it, the big 'F'. No one wants to fail in life. Sure we can't all be Bill Gates and come up with some incredibly successful idea and most of us are comfortable with that. It would be nice though to be happy with our jobs, lives, relationships, at least happy enough to be able to say "yeah, this is good". So you start a blog with the best intentions and 2 people read it, not very encouraging. To be honest I'm still not sure exactly how this whole blog thing works so it will take time for me to get up to speed. I know that sportspeople and movie stars have them and I can see why people might be interested in reading those. Then you have your political or Current Events blogs which can also be interesting reading.

So how can I not be a blog failure? Well, I guess there are no guarantees in life so only time will tell. All I can do is blog about things I know and enjoy and hope you, the reader, find them enjoyable as well. Obviously the main subject would be my jewelry designs and then expand on that. Seeing as I have other interests too I may throw in the odd blog about music or sports.

I now have taken my first big step towards curing my blogophobia and if I can do it, anyone can. I just hope my fear doesn't go all the way to the other end of the spectrum and turn into obsession. Wait, that would actually be another reason for being a Blogophobe. What if I like it so much that I can longer function without my blog. I guess that is just the chance I will have to take.