She is roughly (ruffly) made, with a slight girlish figure.  A bright blue flash that erupts from the darkness.

Substantial, yet petite, she'll stay with you always.

Protecting you, bringing joy and comfort.

Ring A Week 2/52

In the shop.

 

For 2011, I have joined a group called Ring A Week, and will be making.....you guessed it: one ring every week!  

Above is my first ring, which I titled "A Catfish For Tom".  Recently, one of my friends passed away after a tough battle with cancer. Right after he passed away, I had a dream about him. He and I were standing in a pool in a river, trying to catch fish, but we had no poles. So, Tom said we had to slap the water in a really fast rhythm with our hands to make the fish come up to the surface. We did so, and a bunch of black catfish started swimming to the surface. We stood there, slapping the water, and then grabbing the fish and throwing them onto the banks. In the end, we had stacks of black catfish! So this one goes to Tom...may his journeys be full of fish.

Each week, I will be posting these rings...some will be for sale in my Etsy shop, and others will remain in my private collection.  Enjoy!

I was once told by a professor not to make the stone the focal point of a piece of jewelry.  Perhaps that works for small stones, that can be hidden in secret places only to be found by curiosity, but personally, I select stones that want to be seen.  They want to stand out, and be worn with pride.  They deserve to be seen, and fawned at in their beauty.
 

These stones, to me, hold mystery and stories.

What can you see within them?

 Lichen Ring in Green and Gold

This features a gorgeous Ocean Jasper with a variety of colors.  I love how the colors spread through the stone, accented by the spot of yellow among them.

 Oceanic Earrings in Yellow and Grey

These stones are some of my favorites.  I had the Ocean Jasper custom cut, and the feature orbs of white, grey, and yellow throughout.

You can find these, plus many other creations, in my Etsy Shop!  

This month, I am happily participating in EtsyMetal's Blog Carnival.  What is a blog carnival, you ask?  It is when a group of members from a group, like EtsyMetal, write on a certain topic.

This comes at a pivotal point in my life.  Many big things will be happening this year, which I'm very excited for.  For one, I'll be getting married in August (yay!!), and shortly after, will be ending a 5 year journey as a nanny for a family that I love.  In the midst of all this, I am changing the way I work into a more business-related model, so that I can push my jewelry making from "hobby" to "business".  That means pushing the wholesale side of my jewelry-making a lot more, which I am excited to do.  I know it will be difficult, on top of working 40 hours a week as a nanny and planning a wedding, but as long as I take baby steps, I believe it can be done (and honestly, baby steps may just be the best way for me to do it!).

In other aspects of my life, I have been working on things like relaxation and meditation, as I tend to worry and stress a lot.  Working on my relationship with food and physical activity is an ongoing process, but I definitely want to push towards a much higher level of fitness (not necessarily thinness), as my fiance and I will be backpacking for our honeymoon.

Most of all, what I am planning for this year is to enjoy life, spend more time with friends and doing what I love, and having more adventures.

What does 2011 have in store for you??

If you would like to read what other EtsyMetal members have to say, please have a look!