Adventures in Bedlam

Let Peace Begin With Me

I woke up to a lovely surprise this morning.  A seller on Etsy called Ivy Lane Designs emailed me to let me know one of my items was featured on the front page.  That in itself is a very cool thing, and in this time of very slow sales, I need the promotion.  But when I looked, I saw that not only was I featured on the front page, I was also included in an article about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., whose birthday we celebrate today.

The item featured is this one:

I wish peace was as simple as putting on a necklace.  Sadly, not so.  But however you choose to celebrate peace on this important day, remember that it truly does begin with you.

Ahhh, The 80s

My sister was born when I was 12.  The first three or so months, she cried a lot.  We found out later there was a reason for it (other than the general brattiness that she retains today) but during those times I remember I'd hold her and dance around the living room, listening and singing this song:

I still love this song and to this day can't hear it without thinking of those days, dancing around, trying to get my sister to shut up.

It still hasn't happened.

And They're Off

This year for Christmas, my family decided to give handmade gifts to each other.  It was my sister-in-law's idea, and everyone embraced it.  Everyone except me, however.  I need to qualify that by saying that my intent was to purchase all or most of my gifts on Etsy because I knew I wasn't going to have enough time to make gifts for everyone (and Etsy is a handmade marketplace, so I figured handmade is handmade, right)?  And I did buy most of my gifts from Etsy.  Just not the ones I gave my family.

I got some really cool stuff from my family though, and I totally regretted not thinking harder about what I could make.  For some reason I got stuck in one of two places--jewelry (um, I think my family has enough jewelry made by me by now) and knitting.  I had these grand visions of knitting the bestest gifts ever, but you know how that goes.  It takes time to knit.  It never occurred to me to make something else.  The possibilities are endless!

That's why this year I'm off and running.  I've already started making my Christmas gifts and I'm gonna do my best to make every single one.  Several members of my family admitted they'd already started their projects as well.  Should be interesting (and fun) to see what people come up with!

The Ears Have It

After a couple of weeks of not having access to my home studio, I spent most of New Year's Day making jewelry, specifically, earrings:

Hammered Square Earrings - $18

Twisted Circle Earrings - $18


Diamonds & Squares Earrings - $18

As you can see, they all pretty much follow the same design.  Ever since I made a variation of my lotus earrings with french hooks soldered directly to the main design (as opposed to dangling), I've liked this style.  Here are the earrings I'm talking about:

Lotus Earrings - $25

I will be experimenting more with this style in the coming months--adding gemstones and more details, depending on the individual design.