Wednesday Ramblings

Hey girls!  I guess I've been MIA for the past couple of days on the blog.  Not much to show here since I'm patiently waiting for supplies to roll in.  I did manage to practice stamping and put together a few earrings sets.  Nothing too exciting.  Here's the first attempt at stamping.

Not great but it's a start.  I started the metal stamping on a piece of wood.  How dumb was that?  Let's just say that piece of wood has seen better days.  And I was first trying to stamp with a soft rubber mallet.  I guess you live and learn.  Jeanette at Fundametals.net sent me several helpful hints to help me out with this process.  I love her advice on using several layers of tape to create a lip to line your stamps up on to create straight letters.  She covered everything from what type of hammer to use to how hard to hit the stamps.  Those art stamps are little stinkers.  It's tough to get all those details in.  Anyway, this is a "practice makes perfect" project that I will hope to perfect.

The spotlight item for this week on my website is the "My Copper Penny" bracelet.  Whenever an item is put up as a spotlight item I will offer an extra 10% off along with free shipping.  That brings this little gem down to $17.99!

These are the little earrings sets I made recently.  I'll put one on Etsy and one in the Bei Mondi shop.

Isabella's Secret Swarovski Earrings 

Lots of Swarovski crystals to gleam and sparkle.  I left the sterling silver alone and didn't worry about oxidizing since I thought it might take away from the shine.  This matches perfectly with the Isabella's Secret Skeleton Key necklace. 

Pretty in Pink (in Bei Mondi.com later today)

Tourmalines again but this time in a pretty soft pink.  Lots of these babies dangling everywhere with one tiny Swarovski crystal in the middle.  Sterling silver has been oxidized and polished.  Well, that's all for me today.  I hope you ladies enjoy your Wednesday!  :0)

Help With Birthday Gift and Stamping Mania

My next door neighbor and close friend has a birthday in September so I've decided to make her a bracelet. She loves the fall colors especially since she has olive skin and hazel eyes. She's one of the only people I know who looks good in orange. So, I need help! I want to make her a special piece with these colors. She's especially fond of plum purple which is not an easy color to find. I'd love to do gemstones and amethyst is an option but I think it's a bit to dressy for her taste. So, once again I am reaching out to my veteran beaders who have been through this and know where to find the good stuff. I'd like to use copper which I know will just compliment the colors even more. Also, any recommendations for personalizing this piece? You know I am open to all advice and I appreciate your input. :)

So, back to my labor of love. I just can't seem to get away from using copper. It's a good thing for me that it's in style right now. I still get frustrated with bending the thicker sterling wire. It's just so hard! I guess I'll figure it out in time. You're sure to see stamping galore once I get all my goodies.

Creme Caramel Lampwork Bracelet

Thanks for the advice yesterday on the stamping sets. I purchased one of the basic sets from Fundamentals.com along with a few copper blanks and polishing cloths. I can't wait to try it out! I figured I'd start less expensive and if I really get into stamping then I'll upgrade later. Who am I kidding? Of course I'm totally going to get into it. I love metal and personalized gifts so it only seems fitting that I'd be into stamping. I was peeking around Etsy to see what others have done with stamping and I found a few cool ideas that maybe you haven't seen before.

Ok, so I just added this one in for laughs. Who couldn't use a good laugh on a Thursday, right?

And this one is such an inspirational piece and look at that hand formed "L" in the center. So pretty! Both of these styles are from Punky Jane (gotta love that name). She has lots of great stamped items so check it out when you have the time.

Oh, I almost forgot. I also bought a few more interesting items to help me along with my stamping. Here's a few cuties that I ordered from Tropacopy and Stamping Sisters.

Yeah, I couldn't pass up the owl and I thought it would go great with the moon. And the hot air balloon was just too cute and something you don't see all the time. I'd love to see pictures of what you gals have created with your stamping sets so post away!