Pottery for your earrings!

It has been way too long since I have done a post on earring holders. This is one of my favourite Pottery sellers on Etsy! They make amazing bowls with holes along the edge, just to hold your Everyday Earrings! I love the colour and finish. I think these are an amazing idea!

 I hope you all take a moment to visit Hodaka Pottery in their Etsy shop and see what else they have!! You might just find the perfect treasure for yourself or your mom for Mother's Day!

Have a great weekend!

Marie

New Pendants for the Dragonfly and Butterfly lover!!

I am so excited to present to you my new 1X3 dragonfly and butterfly pendants! It has taken me all week to finish them. This is just a small sample of them and I will have many more in 1X2 coming soon. I am pre-selling them on Facebook until the end of the day. After that I will photograph and list the rest in my Etsy shop. 

 They are images from Ella of Calico Collage. I have been trying to convince her to make some new butterfly and dragonfly sheets for months and we finally came up with a style that I just died for! She let me have them for a few days to create with and will be listing them today for everyone else! She has created them in both 1X2 and 1X3. I am really excited about these ones!!

 Look at the amazing colour! I really think these are my favourite of all time!

 So these are just a couple of examples. Please feel free to go visit my Facebook page to see more of these. I should be listing what is left this weekend...

Thanks for stopping by!

Marie 

Celebrate Earth Day!! {and a giveaway}

{Image found through Google} 

I think today is a day to become more aware of our planet and to start or continue taking care of her.

I want to share with you some things I do to help keep my planet a better place for my family

We are a family of 8. My Husband, his parents, our 4 children and myself live in a 2000sq ft house. It is not luxury by any means. we are comfortable and we love each other. That is what counts.

When my in-laws moved in, I noticed they were not much for recycling. Over the years this has changed and gotten much better. This family of 8 only produces about 2 bags of garbage each week. It used to be a lot more! We recycle at least 4X more than what we throw away. The rest is compost. I used to compost casually. I stopped when I got sick and never really thought of it. As I got better I felt that I was supposed to change that. I felt that there were changes needed to be made, so I ACTED on my feeling.

I now compost what I think may be half a garbage bags worth per week! Don't think you can make a difference all by yourself? That add up to 26 bags of garbage per year!!! After 10 years that adds up to 260 bags of garbage that have not gone to the landfill! Things like vegetable peels, melon rinds, crumbs, leftover rice, egg shells and anything else that is food that contains no meat.

Do you know what else you can compost? Human hair! Tissues used from blowing your nose! Finger nail clippings! Dryer lint!! There are so many things that we just throw away that need to be composted!! Start today! Act on it and help save your planet!

 

{Image found on Pinterest}

I am planning garden beds this year. I try to plant a little something here and there every year. This year I am going all out and planning raised beds and I have even already started growing indoors! In my yard I have over a dozen trees. We get a LOT of leaves in the fall. Why send all that to the dump? I am going to fill the bottom of those garden beds with those leaves. A natural compost that will break down over time. Granted I won't be able to do that every year, but there has to be a way! I may have to mulch them somehow...

Nothing like planning to be more self sufficient! Do you know how much packaging you go through when you buy produce at the grocery store? Too much! lol! No I don't have an exact answer. I just know it's too much. I am looking for reusable produce bags to start, but there is nothing I can do about berry containers. That is, except plant my own food! We will have to see what budget allows, but I plan on expanding these beds every year and helping my planet a little more in doing so.

Here is the Giveaway!! In the comments tell me what you do to help save our planet and give me ideas and tricks to help me get better at it!

With every share, Facebook, Twitter, your Blog etc... come back and leave me another comment to be entered again. Follow my blog for an extra entry, or just let me know in a separate comment that you already follow. Same thing with my Facebook page, follow for another chance :)

Get 5 chances to win if you shop in my Jewelry Shop!

I will give away this pair of earrings

International welcome to participate! 

Help save our planet!

Marie

{I will update with link later, blogger is not allowing me to add links right now. Thank You} 

Bead Partner with Vintaj Natural Brass!!

One of the things I have been working on for a couple of months now is my Bead Partnership with Vintaj. I was invited to participate in the Weeping Willow Theme, and I have to say I don't think they could have chosen a better theme to offer me!! The colour palette is perfectly suited to me and the weeping willow tree one of my faves!

 So I worked with Ella at Calico Collage to give you a selection of images that are exclusively for the Vintaj challenge. You will of course find all the pendants in my Etsy shop. They are all listed and ready to go! Just remember if you are interested in using one of these for the Vintaj Challenge, don't wait too long to order as they are shipped from Canada and may take a bit longer.

Here is one necklace I have made so far using one of the pendants from the theme. I wanted a soft elegant necklace that could be work to work or on an evening out. I wanted the focus to be on the pendant, so I pulled the colours from the image and used them in accent beads and made delicate chains of beads with chain for added solidity.

 You could do something similar or completely different with this pendant. You could purchase your own pendant like the one in the necklace Jess Italia Lincoln made for the Challenge. 

 Just don't forget to enter your creation into the challenge this month. I think it will be one of the best ever!!

 I hope to have time to create more pieces for the theme this week. There are so many inspirational pieces you can use to create your own versions of the examples assembled by the amazing designers at Vintaj!! Check out the Vintaj Blog for the latest post!!

Don't forget to grab your Weeping Willow Pendants in my shop!!

Marie

Overdoing it

 Well darn it all! It seems I have done it to myself already! I am so ready to get going and really bring new life to my business that I think I have worn myself out and am making myself sick. Woke up with a massive headache and now I am so dizzy I can barely work!

I have managed to get some important things done this week so far. I got my new ad made with the help of my dear friend Ella of Calico Collage. What would I do without her and my sister when it comes to graphic design!! Keep your eye out for this ad in a few strategic places coming soon. 

 Here is another version of it. They may be a little blurry but I enlarged them so you could see them better. I am really excited about the amount of exposure that Skye Jewels and More Skye Jewels will be getting this year. I am really pushing my brand so that it can become more and more recognized as I push myself to achieve more. I have so many things on the go, so many new ideas to share, I can't wait to see what happens this year!

Now I am going to ghet back to work and hopefully find some time to rest this afternoon. I am supposed to go to the doctor's for my post treatment checkup, but with the way I feel right now...we will see.

See you again soon!

Marie 

Some Fabulous new pieces!!

I am so excited to be back in the swing of things. I have been creating some pieces that I am really happy with! This first one here is a new style I am working with and I am in LOVE!! I can't wait to get more large pieces to keep making more!

 I have been going more often to make my own lampwork beads. I took the year off while I was getting better and now I feel the urge to melt glass again! Loving the results!

 You will be seeing a lot more patina pieces coming out. Some I purchase and some I make myself. I love the look of patina and it sells well, so I have big plans for it!

 These rustic pieces are great sellers for me too, so I am hoping to be able to keep these as a regular item. They will all still have their own unique charms and the beading or chain will always be different. A challenge for me to keep the OOAK, but what the heck!

 This is the first one I made in this style, I was smiling ear to ear when it was done. So happy!

 Came out with some new spring pieces, fresh and clean, simple but elegant. I will be listing as many of these as I can this week.

 Loving these earthy beach pieces. I will be needing a lot more of these beads. They seem to be a favorite in the bracelets and for sale on their own. You can find a few of my bead sets listed in my Supply Etsy Shop and the Jewelry is listed in my Jewelry Etsy Shop. Please take the time to visit both and see what is listed.

Thanks for stopping in! Share my blog with your friends and lets get the followers higher!!

Marie

Changes on the horizon!

I have been editing listings all morning with this picture. I am now offering wholesale on my charms and pendants. The change Etsy has made with the coupon codes inspired me to do this. Being able to set a limit made all the difference. So from now on you can take advantage of coupons all the time! Just make sure you have the minimum order and enter the coupon in the proper place.

No refunds will be made if you forget your coupon. The picture is quite clear and helpful as to where you need to enter it.

I am very excited to offer this wholesale program. I have thought about it in the past and finally get to make it a reality!

I am working on some other changes right now. Being healthy is an amazing feeling and I am taking full advantage of it! Keep coming back for more frequent postings, bead partner program,design team, advertising opportunities and who knows what else!!

Exciting times are upon us!!

Marie  

Thank You Canada Post! {insert sarcasm here}

Let's start off this post with a pretty picture, because I am mad!

I went to ship packages this morning and inquired about insurance. I was inquiring because I was replacing a package that never reached it's destination. I learned something that I was not aware of. Although I knew they had raised shipping slightly, a cost I have been absorbing for my customers, they no longer offer insurance on packages!! WHAT??? Seriously?? Oh you can get tracking of course. I asked how much that was. Here is a package with $50 worth of jewelry in it going to Australia. Shipping $5.20, tracking $49.10!!! I say again WHAT??? Not going to happen. This is going to hurt businesses everywhere. So I figured I may as well ask. Package going to Greece, once again $5.20 Tracking $63.36!!! EXCUSE ME???? No way!!! I am shocked!!! So if I wanted to have tracking on a package to a shop overseas that wanted to have a wholesale order, I would not be able to accept it, because the tracking would completely put off anyone buying merchandise! Ridiculous!!!

So unfortunately, I will no longer be able to replace packages that get lost. It is coming out of my pocket and I can not afford to be generous anymore. Another perfect example of the big companies taking advantage of the little guys! No wonder so many businesses never make it past the first year of business! I will try to work things out on an individual basis, but it can no longer just be assumed that these things will come out of my pocket. I am an honest hardworking person. I take your packages to the post office where I know the employees well. They are also honest individuals. The laws are quite strict here on messing with the mail. My packages get to where they are going unless they get lost along the way. There is really nothing I can do after they leave my hands.

I hope you all understand and keep shopping with me. I will do my best to make things work for both sides.

Sincerely Yours

Marie