Featured in Texas Autumn Treasury

Someone new to the Etsy Texas Crafter team chose to initiate herself into the group with a Texas Autumn Treasury featuring my "Harvest Moon" earrings.

Featured in Pumpkin Spice Treasury

I should have a few posts up later in October, including one on photography and my new design series Elysia.



Fall is my favorite time of year, and I think most of my designs are more appropriate for cooler weather, especially my Honeyed series. One of my new pairs of earrings, "Cinnamon Honey Molten Lava," were picked for this awesome Pumpkin Spice Treasury.

New Design Series - Fruit Basket

I'm slowly creating a new design series for my www.magdalune.etsy.com shop, partially in an attempt to revitalize it, and partially because I always need to be doing something new as my imagination strikes me.

This jewelry series looks good enough to eat, and the five earrings so far that comprise the series practically glow in the light. None of that glow about is manufactured - it just captures the light perfectly.



To the best of my knowledge, all the cabs are vintage, although I can only promise that the acrylic ones in the first picture are. Honestly, these earrings are just plain gorgeous and make a bright bold statement. Well worth the slightly higher price than most of the other things in my more casual and kitschy store.

Find my Fruit Basket series here.

Preview of Elysia

This is a preview of a necklace for my www.theothermagdalene.etsy.com shop. Elysia is a design series inspired by the fantastic, characterized by the colorful, the fanciful, and the fictional. It's slow-going and it's taken a little more financial effort than I'm used to, but I think it'll be beautiful in the end.

BIG 30% OFF END OF SUMMER SALE

The prices on these items are insanely low in honor of the end of summer. Full of ice cream sundae jewelry, a Summer Highlights series, and roses made from soda cans, it seems that my www.magdalune.etsy.com shop is made for summer.

My ice cream sundae jewelry is made with old-fashioned, nostalgic ice cream and soda shoppes in mind. They vary from the smaller pieces made from stones and the larger ones made from glass. You can also ask for custom flavors. Most of these are under $15 now, with a few even under $10!

My Summer Highlights series is made with huge, bold, and colorful resin beads that remind me of the best things about summer: beach balls, sand, ocean waves, Jello... Most of these are under $20 now, nearer to $15.

The soda rose series consists of soda cans folded to look like small roses. These are now between $10-20.

Stop by the shop over the next week or two and take advantage of these prices that do not happen often. You can save around $5-8 on some items.

$5 5th Monday Etsy Texas Crafter SALE

That's right, ETC artists including me will mark down certain items in their shops to $5 in order to commemorate a fifth Monday of the month. In order to take advantage of these awesome deals on handmade goods, search for "ETC5" today only.

Both of my shops will have earrings available for $5, which can be up to 50% off.

In Magdalune's shop:
Mini Mint Ice Cream Sampler Cone earrings
Mini Orange Sherbet Ice Cream Sampler Cone earrings
Flavored Ice Cube earrings
Mini Chocolate Ice Cream Sampler Cone earrings
Mini Vanilla and Caramel Swirl Ice Cream Sampler Cone earrings
Mini Strawberry Ice Cream Sampler Cone earrings
Glitter Beach Ball blue and white earrings

In TheOtherMagdalene's shop:
Golden Honey Amber Nugget brass bracelet
Crimson Cubed Gothic earrings
Marble Fudge 1 earrings
Marble Fudge 2 earrings
Strawberries and Cream silver earrings
Lemon and Honey in your Tea silver earrings
Golden Spun Sugar glass earrings

Progress Report

Over the last month, I came into a bit of freelance money, and since I give myself half of that money to put into buying supplies, that meant that I was able to go a little crazy with new components. So weeks regularly felt like holidays for all the packages that I received. And suffice it to say, I'm excited about all the new components, although I still have more to buy as the money gradually comes in.

Once I finished my last freelance gig and let my hands rest from carpal tunnel syndrome and muscle strain (typing injuries are not fun), I got started on new jewelry pieces. As of now, most of my pieces are only partially constructed as components come trickling in. But I'm ecstatic about my fall and winter designs. I tend to make jewelry that's more appropriate for the colder seasons anyway - it's simply my preferred aesthetic. However, there's a sort of rush that you get when you're making something new, when you deviate from some of your old styles. I get to really experiment with layering, gluing, and wire-wrapping in a way that I haven't really done before. It's rough, raw, and occasionally frustrating, but I have quite a few products that just keep getting lovelier and lovelier.

A few things I'm trying, aside from using glue for cabochons:

- I've come up with a new series to stimulate some activity on my first shop. There is not much more that I can do regarding ice cream sundae flavors (except get more expensive components and making them appeal to a different subset of the population, which I'm considering), and the soda roses are incredibly time-consuming for something that really hasn't taken off. So be on the look-out for "Fruit Salad," brightly colored glass and acrylic jewelry that practically glows. They look awesome.

- Layering brass filigree and glass components. Gluing in general is new to me, but gluing filigree requires a little finesse in order to keep the glue from being seen or felt.

- Some of my necklaces are not going to be as minimalistic in my second shop as they have been. I want to dive into more fanciful and fantastic items that draw on the imagination. Keep an eye on my second shop for the new series "Elysia."

What I love about both of my shops is that they don't tie me down to just one or two styles. I can go pretty nuts, limited only by my ability. And in that respect, I'm still learning. My wire-wrapping is getting a little better, which is good because it's probably one of the more frustrating disciplines for me since I go through wire that I don't want to waste.