Client Highlight

Everyone once in a while, I get the wonderful chance to show off some of the jewelry my clients create with my handcrafted earring wires and today's one of those days!

Pat's Peruvian Blue Opal Chrome Diopside Sterling Silver Earrings

Pat Barden's jewelry over on her Artfire shop has a contemporary flair.  Her jewelry is filled with colorful gemstones that sparkle with movement. 

Pat's crazy lace blue quartz apatite sterling silver earrings

Pat been using several of the different style ear wires I offer over in my Shel's Jewelry Supplies Etsy Shop for quite a while now and I think her earrings make my earring wires look special!

Pat's citrine and hessonite briolette sterling silver earrings

I like Pat's jewelry because she takes the obvious and does the 'not so obvious' with her designs, creating jewelry that's hip, modern and fun, yet still classic enough to wear for years!

Pat's faceted square opalite sterling silver earrings lilac rain

Thanks Pat, for sprucing up my earring wires and for being such a valued client!

Hop on over to Pat's Artfire shop and have a look around - her gorgeous necklaces are something to behold as well!!

Pat's peruvian blue opal african turquoise bird lariat necklace

Until Next Time,

Peace, Love and Lovin' My Clients (and friends!!)

Cheers,

~Shel~

*All Jewelry and Photographs Compliments of Pat Barden*

Almost There,....

Happy Tuesday! Did you survive Cyber Monday?  I hope so!

I also hope you're ready for more fun and great deals this weekend as I host the Holiday Shop Hop 2011 this Saturday and Sunday, December 3rd and 4th, right here on my blog.

A big shout out to Rena Klingenberg for so graciously mentioning the Holiday Shop Hop in the "Neat Jewelry Website" section of her Jewelry Business Success Newsletter that's out today! Thanks so much Rena!!

There will be some great shops/blogs filled with handmade items and creative art for you to browse through at your leisure during the Holiday Shop Hop and up there on the top of my blog, where all the links are,...well, the Holiday Shop Hop button will have the list of all the shops/blogs that will be participating this weekend and it will have all those links for you to click away at from this weekend on through until at least January 15th, 2012.  This way everyone who's on Winter Break can enjoy shopping great handmade items even after the Gift Giving Holiday's are over! 

Now, on to some other things today.  I don't know if you know this about me but I LOVE making earrings.  Yes, I know you know that I love to make jewelry but Earrings are, by far, my FAVORITE to design and create!

Handcrafted Earrings by Michelle Buettner of MiShel Designs
"Snakeskin Components" by Kristi Bowman
Handcrafted earring wires by Shel of Shel's Jewelry Supplies

Anyhoo,....what I'm getting at is a few things. 1st, nothing destroys a great pair of handmade earrings (in my outspoken opinion, anyway!) than a pair of ugly, not-suited-for-the-earrings, pair of widely manufactured earring wires!  (Gosh, I cannot believe I actually said this out loud - I'm sure I'm gonna get eaten alive for this one!) 

Sleeping Beauty Nugget Earrings and Handcrafted Earring Wires
by Michelle Buettner of MiShel Deisgns

But anyway, my point is here is this,....I love to make handcrafted earring wires and several of my jewelry friends (and all of my clients) told me how much they LOVED my earring wires, so I started making them for other designers and opened another Etsy shop last year called Shel's Jewelry Supplies.  It's been going quite well, so much so that I actually blew out my poor elbow in February of this year and had to stop production for quite a while.

"Sexy Norm" Style Earring Wires in Sterling Silver
by Shel of Shel's Jewelry Supplies

Well, silly me, with the Holiday Shop Hop coming up, I've been less than productive in the 'supplies' category and have basicially, completely 'SOLD OUT' of my earring wires on my Etsy Site!  (Bad, bad Girl!)  So, I'm kicking myself in the booty and I'm gonna try to get a few things listed and back up.

"Elegant" Style Handcrafted Earring Wires in 14K Gold Filled
by Shel of Shel's Jewelry Supplies

BUT - in the meantime, here's the point I was trying to make in the beginning (yep, got a little side-tracked as usual!!)

There's the neatest blog out there that's dedicated to Earrings!  How cool is this?!  I mean, really - I'm in heaven! 

The brainchild of Heather Powers . She, and some other very creative designers who are contributors, have this wonderful site with some awesome designs, so if you're as crazy about earrings as I am - you gotta go check this out.  It's called Earrings Everyday - Inspiration and Adoration (Yes, that's what I'm talking about!)  It's got tons of inspiration and places to get fabulous beads and fun items for your earrings too -  you'll definitely want to check this out!

And, another favorite of mine, is the book Handcrafted Wire Findings, techniques and designs for custom jewelry components by Denise Peck and Jane Dickerson. 

Oh,...this is loaded with all kinds of wire findings you can make yourself and that will have your jewelry designs popping with personality (way more personality than mass produced findings if you ask me!) .

Anyway, one of the earring designs they have published in this book, on page 21 to be exact, is their pair of "flattened ear wires".  I Love Them!!

"Signature" Syle Earring Wires in Sterling Silver
by Shel of Shel's Jewelry Supplies

And, they're very similar to my "Signature" pair of earring wires that I've been making for over 15 years now (that my metalsmith teacher, Carol, told me were fabulous, by the way!) and so you just have to check out this book, if you haven't already done so, because the findings you will learn to create and be able to expand upon are wonderful!

It just gets your creative juices flowing and your mind racing!  Well, it did mine, anyway, and so I just had to share it with you!

So, as you're preparing your handcrafted items for sale this season (and any season for that matter) check out these two very lovely voices of inspiration and education!

And, don't forget to hop back on over here this weekend and check out all the really cool handmade shops that will be featured on the Holiday Shop Hop. There's handmade toys, soaps, candles, scarves and jewelry and jewelry related items, of course!  Yummy, Yummy!

Until Next Time,
Peace, Love and Living Creatively!

Cheers,

~Shel~

This or That Thursday!

Treat yourself and gaze at the amazing photography

over on Deb Duty's Blog today for

"This or That Thursday". 

You will be delighted!

I'm in awe of all the talent and the gorgeous photography - what absolute works of art they are!

I play along, even with my little point and click camera, just because I love to see everyone else's pics and because I would love to someday be that talented with a camera in my hand!

So, today, for "This or That Thursday"

I believe that the chili peppers need dusting

(along with probably everything else in my home!)

and that this little bracelet needs a name.

What should her name be?

Now, back to hammering metal for my

mega earring wire orders this week!

Until Next Time,

Peace, Love and This or That,

Odds and Ends,.....Bits and Pieces!

Cheers,

~Shel~

Bead Table Wednesday

I'm trying to stay organized today,...might be a bit hard to do, but I'm trying! 

Aside from the 'to-do' list of things here on my desk,...I have a huge earring wire order that's pending - over 80 pairs,....that's a lot of cutting, forming and hammering.  

So, time to get started!

Have a great Wednesday and feel free to hop on over to the Flickr group and see what everone else is up to and what's on their bead table today!

Until Next Time,

Peace, Love and Happy to be Busy!

Cheers,

~Shel~

This and That Today

Okay – remember these?  My hubby made this quite a few years back for me (and a ton more, too!!).  I think I’ll take it for a spin Thursday when I meet up w/my friend to deliver her bracelets and go to lunch!

These are so fun and such conversation pieces – wish he still made them.  I love the ‘artsy’ touches the really nice cigar boxes have! He made one for my friend Kathy that has coffee beans in it that you can see (and switch out, too, so the smell stays fresh) through this glass plate kind of thing – it was way cool!

Then, as I was putting everything back from our summer trip and getting the studio back to normal yesterday, I came across this picture of when I dumped one of the desk drawers all over the floor while trying to “re-organize” a few months ago.  Kind of like when you open your cigar box purse too fast – yep, don’t want that to happen while I’m out and about this week!  Phones and electro-gadgets are too expensive to just toss around these days, aren’t they?!

I’m excited to get some pics snapped today of the stash of beads I’m sending to my bead soup partner – Melissa with ‘Behind The Smile”.  I’ll try to post some ‘sneaky’ pics tomorrow.

Today I’m trying to get things ready and back up in my jewelry findings shop on Etsy.  I’ve had tons of requests for earring wires and clasps and things – so I am hammering away today and tomorrow and snapping pics like mad of the new things.  Not sure how the elbow will hold up – hopefully okay!!  It’s been a good summer of resting it – but it still hurts to pick up a cup of coffee! I was able to shovel sand into sand bags a month ago, yet I couldn’t tie the little suckers – it hurt my elbow like the devil to pull those strings – strange is what it is.  Go figure!

Anyhoo – I’ll let you know when things are back up and running over on Shel’s Jewelry Supplies. I’ll only be adding listings once a month this year and once things are gone, they’re gone until the next month (elbow thingy!!) and so I’ll try to make as much as I can so folks can stock up. 

Until Next Time,

Peace, Love and Tap, Tap, Tap,…

Cheers,

~Shel~

Thing I Need!

Another Great Team ESST (Etsy Street Supply Team) Treasury!

Go check 'em all out!





Until Next Time,
Peace, Love and all things needed!!

Cheers,

~Shel~

Team Treasury! Team ESST

Shel's Jewelry Supplies is a proud member of Team ESST (Etsy Street Supply Team) and we've got some great members with some awesome supplies and items that you really need to go check out!

Here's the TREASURY that I just created on Etsy: "SUBTLE HINTS,...Or NOT!"

Hope you're having a great weekend!

I'll be posting my "YOJP Week 6" this Sunday (or Monday if I'm still running behind due to all the earring wire orders I've received - they're going CRAZY on my Etsy site this week!!) so stay tuned!!

Until Next Time,

Peace, Love and Happy Weekend Everyone!!

Cheers,

~Shel~

Pretty Things!

I've got another wonderful client to feature today - Patricia Barden from Etsy! 

I'm grateful that Pat has used some of my earring wires in her fabulous designs and wanted to share them with you.

These stones pop with natural colors and would make great gifts for the upcoming winter holidays!

Think of chilly winter weather and then put these on and they instantly warm up your day!!  With their great organic look, they can be paired easily with either jeans and sweater or a nice dress, tights and your new favorite boots!!

There's also some really cool necklaces over at Patricia's shop, too - very unique, with cool stones and colors mixed together - go check 'em out!  Perfect for some attention getting!

Until Next Time,

Peace, Love and Great Designs!

Cheers,

~Shel~

Green with Envy!

Ooohhhh,...I'm loving these gorgeous Green, Vintage Inspired, Lucite earrings from LilyLeighs!!  They're oh so HOT - don't you think?!! 

They were created using earring wires from my Shel's Jewelry Supplies shop on Etsy!  (Thank You Karter!!)

These fab earrings are perfect for all the great fall styles out right now.  We can definitely see these lucsious green beauties paired with a striking camel colored coat, cream scarf and lace-up boots (for that super Army look everyone's tapping into) providing you with a very polished, vintage inspired and romantically bold fall and winter staple in your wardrobe! 

They have also been featured in this Etsy Treasury - Go Check It Out!!

Until Next Time,

Peace, Love and I'm Green with Envy!!

Cheers,

~Shel~