That’s right folks, an era has ended.  What do I mean by that?  Well, simply put, this blog will no longer be hosted on WordPress. I have a lot of reasons, and I wrote a nice pretty post about it on the new site, so if you want to keep following go to: http://roseworksjewelry.blogspot.com/

I was recently tagged that by Spirit Mama in a blog game!  I’m supposed to reveal 6 secrets about myself and then tag six others so…here goes! And sorry, not all of these are really secrets…

1. I can’t keep my hands still.  I mean, not like they shake (well except for when I’m all drugged up for asthma), but I always have to be doing something with them!  All the time!  If I don’t have anything to play with, I go for my rings, earrings, necklace, bracelet…

2. I once had an ER Tech offer to go through the drive-through at the place I worked so I wouldn’t have to bother with calling in.

3. I deal with severe chronic depression and I was suicidal when I was younger.  No, you don’t have to worry about me killing myself now, and all my etsy friends go a long ways as a natural therapy for depression! Thanks everyone!

4. I’ve danced on tv, twice.  I’ve also been known to dance in the middle of store isles, on random stages not currently in use, on the side of the freeway, and even in a War Memorial that looks like Stonehenge.

5. I own over 400 books – ok, not a secret, but a fun fact

6. I’ve been known to do whatever I can to freak out telemarketers.  When I was unmarried my phone was listed with just my first initial and my last name.  So when people called asking for Mr. or Mrs. Andersen I’d freak out, “would you people quit calling me? He’s dead ok! Let me mourn in peace!”  Or I’d ask when I’d married my brother…  Yes, I know, I’m mean, but I honestly didn’t do that more than maybe, 10 times?

Ok now it’s your turn! I’m too tired to think of who I want to nominate that I don’t already know has been nominated…so I’m just going to challenge YOU to reveal all!

Celtic Swirls

This weeks wonderful artist is a friend of mine!  Her name is Connie, but she goes by Sunfire on-line, and she runs the wonderful shop BreathoftheDragon!  I had a lot of fun in August when we both participated in the 1st Annual Ellensburg Craft Fair and got to chat and see each other’s work in person.  We’ve been chit-chatting on-line ever since and she never ceases to entertain and amuse me Not to mention I love her work!  But enough from me…I’ll let you get to know her for yourself!

1. Tell us your story, what got you started in this business?

I was in the US Navy for 5 years, got out back in April 2006 because I did not want to ruin my body to meet their physical standards (I had shin splints that only got worse because of the running test each year). I finished my time, and was Honorably Discharged. Within a year of being out, and living in a town in WV, without getting a job within biking distance, I had to move, so I told mom “Here I come.” Now I’m living at home here in Wenatchee with my mom (thank the Gods she loves me as much as she does). Being around her and the crafty aura kinda rubbed off, and I decided, in late 2007, that I wanted to be crafty and make money, too. So I picked up a hobby I had tried once before – wood burning. Over the holidays, I made quite a few pieces to pass the time while jobless (still), and I got quite a few encouraging words from friends and family. Someone suggested I list a few things on Etsy, and in January, I did. The rest is, well, history in the making.

Speaking of gel candles, she currently has as start-up kit and other supplies up on etsy on destash!

2. Do you make any other crafts?

– I’ve tried making gel-candles before, but I didn’t enjoy it as much as I did the wood burning. I would like to try a variety of things, including making my own incense. But there are also a lot of different crafty things I can do with my wood burning, as my current “to try” list shows: keychains, coasters, picture frames, candle holders, bookmarks, and maybe eventually using wood pieces in jewelry…

3. What’s your favorite piece you have up on etsy right now?

That’s tough. I can’t decide if my favorite piece is the one I had the most fun making (Gypsy trinket box: made for an Etsy Team Challenge);

The one I am most proud of (Dream / Cherish / Live);

Or the one that I personally just love the most (Kanji Elements magnet set).

4. Where do you do your work and what do you listen to while you work?

I usually work wherever, as long as I have somewhere to plug in my wood burning pens. I have a handy tempered glass mat to work on, which sits nicely on my lap. Most of the time, though, I can be found burning at my desk, where I spend a lot of time anyhow. As for what I listen to, if I’m not watching soaps with mom, I’ve got my XM Radio on. Sometimes it’s set to the dance channel, sometimes the Hitlist, just depends on my mood and what I’m making. Detailed pieces I like to hear soothing, ambient sounds. Simple yet repetitive work is good for the techno stuff.

5. Looking at your work you have everything from Chinese characters to Celtic swirls – what draws you to the patterns you use in your work?

I go with things I like, and I’ve always been one that likes a lot of different things. Also, I wanted to make sure I have a variety of stuff, for a variety of people. I do market to the Pagan population, but I don’t want to alienate other religions or cultures. Coming up soon you should see the Eye of Ra, dragonflies, fairies, dragons, and probably some more Kanji (Japanese writing) symbols. I am also open to custom orders, so if you like unicorns or angels, or flowers or anime, just ask. I’d love the chance to practice different styles and themes.

6. Tell us one random thing about yourself!

Besides the fact that I can be very random? *breaks out in the Smurfs theme song* LOL
Well, I go barefoot a lot. I love a man who lives over 5000 miles away, whom I last saw in 2002. I don’t eat certain foods because of their texture in my mouth. I have a bad habit of starting things but not finishing them (except this hobby so far). Hmm… I’m sure I could go on and on, but I’ll save you all from that

Now here’s a few of my favorite pieces by Sunfire!

Sorry – you can’t buy this first one!

But how could I feature my friend without showing you the magnet I bought from her?

I love this Rose!

And I think this star is beautiful

I had these fancy ideas that I would keep track of the hours put in on the project, take a picture every 5 hours, and post updates that way.  Well, that was a nice theory except 5 hours came and went with no ability to take a photo.  Hours tracking has fallen by the wayside as well.  I think I’m a little over 7 hours at this point.

I realized early on that it was a great thing that I had this on my computer so I can write all over the printed design as much as I want.  After the first few times of having to pull things out because I had screwed up, again, I started drawing lines through each row as I finished it.  Helps a LOT.  I’ve still made mistakes and had to pull things out…but no where near as many as I would have other wise!

Anyway, I’m getting close to finishing the first side!  The pattern is dark – but I like it.  Just almost impossible to photograph…

Manifestations of my geekiness have long been evident in my day to day life.  Everything from the little green Yoda that sits on my book case, to the many sci-fi and fantasy books I own, and of course the jedi-cape that my stuffed Koala bear wears!  Most recently I joined a team on etsy full of people dedicated to the memory of the show Firefly.

And now, the latest evidence of my geekiness, a bracelet dedicated to the show Heroes!

But that’s not all folks!  The geekiness continues…  Over the last few days I’ve been working on designing a whole line of “geek themed” bracelets!  Look forward to Mario, Legend of Zelda, Batman, and more to be debuting in the next few months

Only problem is going to be fitting this in around my many other projects I’ve got going…

Ok, so this is SUCH an over due blog!  I’ve been planning on writting this for days and for some reason it just keeps not getting written.  In my defense – life has been insane lately.

One of my goals has been to review items that I buy on etsy so that you guys get to see wonderful things that I get!  Free publicity for the sellers right?

The first is actually not beads.  Despite the title of my blog   I got some AWESOME lip balm from rachel323.  Here’s the pic she had up to advertise it:

I forgot to take a picture of the actual lip balm, but I can say that I love it!  Rachel was really sweet when my original purchase got lost in the mail.  Not only did she send me an new tube, she sent an extra one!  I was so surprised!  And honored   It’s not a scent that I like, BUT I’m going to give it one of my best friends and I can’t WAIT to see how she likes it   I definitely will be buying more when I have money   I’m thinking blackberrry, cappuccino, and fresh lime…

Now on to the beads!

My friend who runs breathofthedragon recently put up some beads on destash – and I snapped ‘em up!  Not sure yet exactly what I’m going to do with them, but they are gorgeous shells

I recently custom ordered some beads to go with a pendant I traded for with my friend gogokioko:

The beads are shaped like coffee beans!  They are reddish and I’ve got a few ideas of how I’ll use them with some wood beads I have to make a wonderfully addictive necklace

I also bought these from the same seller, crazyladybeads.  I don’t know precisely what I’m going to do with them yet.  I might put them in a fancy bracelet or I might make some spendy and fancy earrings…

Lastly, but definitely not least I went CRAZY in justDESTASHbeads and bought WAY more than I should – but the price was sooooo righ!  Imagine my joy when I opened the pack and saw all of these…

Oh yes I’m a happy girl   The only down side is…I had to leave most of my beads in Ellensburg when I came home to stay with my parents for a week while Moses finished packing up our apartment   I’ve been keeping myself busy with weaving projects and doing designing!  And, the good news is, I’ll have plenty to keep myself busy with over the next month or two as I hope and pray for orders to come in to replenish my bank account!

I had a customer recently that was really awesome and ordered several pieces from me.  She just e-mailed to tell me I got a mention in her blog!  That’s always exciting

http://beccasbackyard.blogspot.com/2008/09/etsy-shops.html

I have this dream in my head, a dream of myself as a well-established jewelry artist.  Totally prepared for each season and trend that comes along.  Planning in advance and not scrambling to make my ideas a reality in time for them to fit in with the season or current themes.

I think it’s a wild pipe-dream, but a girl needs to dream right?

Right now I’m juggling putting together three lines of jewelry, being sick, and moving.  Yes, I’m insane.   Working hard to remind myself that it’s ok if I don’t reach all of my goals due to my health problems.  I’ve certainly had a lot of set backs due to them recently!

Speaking of which, thank you so much for all the encouragement and support from everyone who commented on my last blog post or who’s been talking to me in the forums.  You guys are wonderful and I don’t know what I’d do with out you!

Now, back to the jewelry…

The Colors of Fall

Yup, that’s what I’m calling my “Fall line.”  I feel rather silly calling it a line, but that’s the term jewerly artists tend to use and since it is a set of jewelry with a common theme…that being the colors…I decided I’ll call it my fall line and just feel silly while I say it

Some of the pieces you’ll find are simply items I already had in my shop that are appropriate to the time and season.  Like this Wise Old Owl Necklace that I have:

I am also working on adding new pieces though!  My recent increase in health problems has made that harder, but here’s one of the new pieces!

As with any project, there have been set backs with this one.  I was planning on putting this line up two weeks ago and I can’t even begin to catalog the problems I ran into with finishing up pieces!  I have one piece I made that I love, but due to apparently needing smaller needles I had two beads break.  I’ve decided to tear it apart and remake it before I list it, but I have to get new needles before I can do that.  Here’s a sneak preview of it though

If anyone’s interested in pre-ordering it just request a custom item and tell me you’d like my FIRE necklace!

Looking Forward:

We’re only a week and a half from October!  October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and I’ve decided I wanted to do what I can to support this cause.  To that end I’m working on a line of jewelry that I will start posting up next week hopefully, and I will be carrying a special section in my shop.

I’m really excited about my pink ribbon bracelet that I’m weaving!  Here’s a sneak peak:

I’m having a lot of fun with it I’m adapting it from a cross-stitch pattern I found on-line and using pink thread which shows through the white beads a little to add to it’s over all pinkness   Only problem: I need smaller needles because the one’s I have keep breaking beads.  So, until I get to the store, I have to put this on hold.  I’m hoping to get to the store in the next day or two though so I can have this piece done in time!

During the month of October any item sold from my Breast Cancer Awareness Section will have 25% of the proceeds donated to the Susan G. Koman Fund, and any other sales made will result in a 10% donation of the proceeds.  I’ll keep you updated on how much that comes too!

As you may know if you talk to me in the etsy forums, or if you read my other blog, life has been rather interesting this last year.  I have always had really serious asthma problems, but over the course of this last year those problems have escalated to a point that has been terrifying.  I’ve spent most of the last year fighting to get through the simplest chores, and there have been times I’ve quiet literally been confined to the couch or my computer chair.

The doctors have suggested several times that it might be the Eastern Wa. climate that was messing me up so bad.  I’m from Western Wa. and my husband and I had moved to Eastern Wa. for school.  Well, even knowing they were probably right, I fought for any other solution possible other than moving home.  I had a lot of reasons for doing that, I like the school, I’m stubborn, and I truly had no clue it would drag on this long.

Over  the summer that decision seemed to be justified as I was improving over all.  I still was a far cry from healthy, but I was getting more done in the day to day.  I had a couple of scares, but we got through it.

Then, during the last few weeks, I started getting really sick again.  I had to drop the class I was taking and I’ve been pumped full of meds yet again.  Finally, even I had to admit that moving was really the only option left to me.  So we started putting things into motion to move and we had everything set up to move next weekend.

This last week has been really hard for me.  I’ve been chomping at the bit to organize things so that the  move would be easier, and I’ve been really struggling with my asthma so I’ve been able to do very little.  That’s been really hard on me emotionally, but at the same time confirmed that we were making the right decision.  The week started out with me having an attack that I should have gone to the hospital with, but decided not to. (bad Ruthie)  It took a few days to recover from that, I had one good day, and then yesterday was really bad.

Yesterday I was trying really hard not to push my body to hard at all.  By early afternoon I was doing terrible.  Finally, we went in to ER.  I got the star treatment!  Which is actually rather frightening.

It was scary to have them whisk me away so quickly and have 3 people hovering over me.  It was scary to have them running blood tests, something they don’t normally do when I go in for asthma.  It was scary knowing that I was already on a high level dose of steroids so I shouldn’t BE having this many problems.  Scariest was after I’d been there for awhile, been treated, was doing better but not good, and having the doctor tell me that I wasn’t doing bad enough to be admitted.

While I do know that my doctors considered admitting me last winter…this is the first time I’ve had a doctor talk to me about it as having been a possibility right then and there.  I know it shouldn’t shake me, I knew deep down inside that I was doing bad enough that was a possibility, but it still shook me up.

Went home, called my Mom to tell her what happened, and she offered to come get me.  I talked to Mo and he was relieved that she was going to be able to!  I was so drugged up and exhausted that I hadn’t really even registered the doctor suggesting I leave town as soon as possible to get me in a new environment.  Mo couldn’t really take me because he really needs to work this last week because we’re going to need what ever money we have as we deal with all of this.

So, this morning, my Mom and brother drove up and got me.  I’m “home” in Vancouver at my parents house and trying to rest.  I’m still not breathing very well at all.  I can’t walk more than a couple feet without sounding like I’ve been running, and I’m even out of breath sitting down. I also hurt really bad from all the lactic acid build up that you get in your muscels when your short on oxygen – just like what a runner feels.

I’m really emotional right now.  I know this is the only option right now, but it’s hard to drop out of college and move back home.  We’re not going to be living with our parents, we have a house sitting gig for two months and hopefully we’ll be able to get an apartment by then, but it’s still really hard emotionally.  Having to leave a week earlier was even harder.

I know most of you guys didn’t even know half of this.  I decided I’d be open and share with all of you because the main readers of this blog are my etsy friends, and you guys have been an incredibly supportive community.

So that’s why I haven’t been around for the last day and half.  And if I sound a little extra loopy in the near future – well – I can blame it quite honestly on the really high level of steroids and other drugs in my system right now.  And lack of oxygen…

Garnet Cross Necklace

This week’s artist is the lovely Jeanette of Crown Prince Jewels!  She’s a member of the Eastern Washington Etsy Team, and great lady   Have fun getting to know her!

1. Tell us your story, what got you started in this business?

Hi. I’m Jeanette Prince. This is Crown Prince Treasures jewelry. My true treasures, however, are my two little boys and my husband. I actually discovered the love of jewelry making and gemstones shortly after the birth of my youngest son. The pregnancy was difficult and I became very ill with a thyroid disease that had gone undetected for a serious amount of time. The result was a mental, emotional and physical collapse for me on Mother’s Day of all days. Needless to say it was a very difficult time for us. But as with all hardships, many good and beautiful things came out of it. One happens to be that I discovered that I enjoy making jewelry and that others enjoy wearing my jewelry. I took up this art form to calm my nerves and give me an outlet to the difficult and strenuous task of raising two boys. And it was very therapeutic as I recovered my health (and sanity) after giving birth. The boys love my jewelry ( okay, mostly they just love throwing it, and tying up their action figures– oh and the baby likes to put it in his mouth). My husband is for giving me tons of support. He is also one of my best artistic critiques and I appreciate that. But, most importantly (warning I’m about to get mushy, cheesy and other such….) he is truly my best friend (and darn handsome too!). We hope you love our jewelry as much as we do. We appreciate you taking the time to enjoy our jewelry and we wish you all the love and joy you deserve.
Sincerely, Jeanette Prince

Crown Prince Treasures

2. Do you make any other crafts?

I do make soaps on occasion and sugar scrubs but i have no desire to sell those as my passion is jewelry and music.

3. What’s your favorite piece you have up on etsy right now?

My Favorite piece on etsy right now is my sterling silver tree of life. it means a lot to me as i have had potentially life threatening problems with my health.

This piece of Jeannette’s means a lot to me as well as I also face life-threatening health problems.  Thank you so much both for creating this beautiful piece Jeannette, and for sharing it’s meaning with us!

4. Where do you do your work and what do you listen to while you work?

I work in my dining room and i listen to the absolute stillness of the night. The peace inspires me.

5. Tell us a little bit about the teams your on and the benefits to being a member of them.

I am on easternwateam. which is a team for those artists who live in eastern Washington. They are great. I am still new to the team so I don’t know many members yet and I fumble around the blog .  But so far I’ve had emotional support and friendliness and resources suggestions from them. Very friendly people.

6. Tell us one random thing about yourself!

One random thing about me is that im an insomniac and work mostly at night when the kids are asleep.

And now for a few of my favorite picks from her shop!

I love the colors in these earrings!

And we all know I can’t resist purple…

And look! She makes children’s bracelets!