Which do you like best?

Lately as I have been trying new ideas for jewelry and other creative endeavors I have wondered, What do ya like best?

Silver or Gold

Gemstone or pearl?

Greens, blues, reds, pinks and or yellows and oranges?

And colors? monochrome? or a pallete?
Also 1 more question...
do you prefer things "folky and rustic" or  refined and precise?

Just wondering you know how these inquiring minds can be.............

I'm Your Fan Friday

One of the things I have really enjoyed since I have started making jewelry and Blogging, is that I see what other designers and bloggers are doing as well. I love commenting when I can and getting comments, and so often I see so many things that I really, really like, but for some reason I can't share them at the time. I'm your fan Friday came out of that need to share pretty things and great ideas. On Friday's I am planning to gather some links to things that I have really enjoyed during the week and feature them here. This friday I am your Fan:

Bits n Beads by Gilliauna

I love a lot of her work but I think the knotted pearl and Jade necklace has to be one of my favorites. The funny part is, I don't usually like necklaces. I love this one though. Check out her blog at and her website.


I am also a big fan of Dana over at  Dana's jewelry designs. I love tutorials of any kind and Dana posted one this past week that made swirls and curls look easy, ( I am still having a hard time keeping them even.) Dana also makes awesome jewelry pouches and Gem Trees. You can find her work at Artfire. Take a minute to check out their shops. I think you will be certain to find something you like.

Take a minute to check out their shops. I think you will be certain to find something you like.

Fresh from the Forge... Well sort of....

My mind went on vacation last week and left the rest of me home pouting, but I still kept busy. I managed to spend some time making jewelry, but not enough time in the garden or on the beach. Anyway, I thought I would offer a sneak preview of some of my new jewelry pieces. I will list them in my Etsy shop later on this evening. I will also be listing some things at eCrater as well as ebay. Most of these involve more chain maille than forging, but I just couldn't resist the title.

This bracelet and earring set features turquoise dyed howlite rondells with little wooden spacers and hand forged sterling silver infinity symbols.

These earrings might just be some of my new favorites. The little crosses are made from mother of pearl and indoors they look kind of gold, but outdoors the colors looked a little more rosy. The gemstones are garnet rondells and the ring is a gold plated solid twist circle. They are light weight and easy to forget you have them on.

I've also been playing with pearls and chain maille. I just love doing this. It's so much more fun than going back to work.

If you would like to see more, check out my shops at etsy and ecrater. I don't have an ebay store, but you can find my listings there as Sandypetals.

Have a wonderful Monday!

I finally got a "Roun'toit"...

Do you remember being on vacation and stopping in one of the normal touristy type stores and seeing a "rountoit"? Basically It was just a circle of wood with the words " round to it" painted on it. It was simply a reminder to stop procrastinating and get around to doing whatever your project may be. Well, someone must have wished me one because I finally got "around" to photographing some of the jewelry pieces I have been making and decided to share. I am still learning a lot about metals and design, but so far I have only made a few things I didn't like and needless to say, you won't see those. I truly thought I had made more, but tonight as I was photographing my pieces, I realized I must have dreamed it because I didn't have as many as I thought.
Anyway, I have learned some forging, some wire weaving, some beading and some wire wrapping. These two peices are my attempts at forging.

This pair combines hemimorphite stones with some tiny seed pearls. They are surprisingly comfortable too. I love the aqua color of the stones mixed with the copper.

This bracelet I forged from brass wire. I was using it to practice with and I think I like using it as well as copper. The brass is a little stiffer and just seems to hold it's shape better than the soft copper.

The next 2 pieces are green onyx that I made a woven Bezel for. I was really happy with it, because I haven't ever woven a bezel before now.

I love these open circles with the weaving between the frames too.

These are pebbles I picked up off of the beach. I love rocks and I have loved picking up these little pebbles for as long as I can remember. I have wrapped them as pendants, which is strange because I don't wear any necklaces but I think they are just too big for earrings.

Wire filigree caught my eye and I had to just try it. This is my attempt. I believe next time I will use a smaller guage for the filigree than I used for the frames.

Freshwater pearls are hard to beat. I wrapped these coin pearls to a hand forged teardrop frame and put some 1/2 ear wires on them. They are incredibly comfortable and fun to wear.

I will post more later on, I am just getting started and I am trying out some new designs too. I have so much to learn, but right now my hands are sore and I need a little break.

Maybe next I will design something with crystals or faceted gemstones.