trading for Christmas presents

Right before we moved to Milwaukee, Yvonne (yjja123) asked me if I'd be interested in trading with her.  Believe it or not, she's already thinking about her Christmas shopping!  I definitely did want to, but I also wanted to wait until we moved, so we just completed our trade this past week.

We have traded twice in the past.  Both times, I kept the pendants that I got.

Somewhere I have a picture of myself wearing the first pendant.  But it isn't saved on this computer or posted anywhere on Facebook, so it will stay in my archived picture CDs.  Anyway, this time I decided that I would give my pendants away.  I asked female family members if they had any favorites in her shop before I make my selections.  This is what I ended up getting.

The recipients of these lovely pieces may be reading this, but hopefully they will have forgotten all about it by the time Christmas comes around.  I wouldn't have picked either of these myself, but they are still really gorgeous.  Yvonne does wonderful work.  She's also great to work with for these trades.  I would trade with her again any time.

If anyone is curious, this what she got from me in the most recent trade.

I had never put these pieces side by side before I packed them up.  I couldn't believe how well the colors coordinate!

I don't trade a lot on Etsy, but I do enjoy it sometimes when someone has something that I really like or would give as a gift.  If you're ever interested, feel free to contact me.

jewelry Christmas presents

Happy New Year's Eve!  I hope that 2010 is wrapping up well for everyone.  As I waited to post the cork board coasters until I'd already given them out, I also waited to post pictures of the jewelry Christmas presents that I gave this year so I wouldn't ruin the surprise for anyone.

These earrings were for my mother-in-law.  I made her a tubular triangle pendant like this one (but without a chain) for her birthday in the fall so she has a little set now.  These earrings are available here.

These earrings were for my little sister-in-law.  I made her a bracelet like this one for her birthday in the summer so she also has a set now.  Until I sat down to write this post, I'd completely forgotten to add these earrings to my "add to Etsy" list even though I'd taken pictures of them.  So they're not up yet, but they will be at some point.  (Or you can request a pair now if you can't wait.)

I made this necklace for my brother's girlfriend.  My brother gave her this bracelet for her birthday in the summer and the coordinating earrings when she got back to the states this fall (she spent last year in Scotland getting her master's). I was undecided about what to make her for Christmas until I saw her at Thanksgiving.  She looked through all of my jewelry while she was here and was interested in the button jewelry more than anything else.  So I went ahead and completed the set.

I made a custom button necklace a while back but hadn't made one in the charm bracelet style before.  This next picture is more so that you can get a little glimpse at me (as opposed to the necklace) because I don't post a lot of pictures of myself.

And one more of the necklace by itself.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone!

We're having a good Christmas. Angel is, too. :) Here she is with the wrapping paper on the floor last night (we opened our presents after midnight mass).


And again this morning.

We're going to visit family the 26th-28th. I'll have my work laptop with me, but I most likely won't be posting and dropping Entrecards as often as usual until the 29th. Here are all of our family presents packed up for tomorrow.

Enjoy the rest of your Christmas! :)

revisited design and more button magnets

Happy Christmas Eve everyone!

I have not had an opportunity to photograph in sunlight in a couple weeks now. Most of the time that I'm at home now, there isn't even any natural light. Since I'm at home more during the day now for Christmas break, I finally caved and shot in natural light sans sunlight yesterday. I was pretty pleased with the results.

I finally finished my blue embellished cuff (revisited) that I picked out the beads for back at the end of the summer. The listing on Etsy is now updated with new pictures and measurements.

The green version is still available here in my Etsy shop. I'm pretty sure that I'll be making a red/purple version next, but as always, am open to other suggestions, too.

I made two more sets of button magnets for Christmas presents. I did go with the color combinations that I previously mentioned: pink/green and black/white. I don't know if this is something that I'll be offering in my Etsy shop at some point, but I am having fun with them. Any thoughts about this would be appreciated! I would like to try some button tacks at some point, too.





Cheryl (littlestonedesign) posted a great message on the Etsy Beadweavers' message board earlier this month about her success with sending a monthly newsletter for her Etsy shop. It's no secret that I don't have a ton of Etsy sales and would like to do more with what time I have to promote my shop. Has anyone else had a lot of success with sending a newsletter? If you have, I would love to hear more details about it!