MyGemStoneBox new Etsy store additions; Blog Award and more!

On the left is a new commissioned piece that I have listed in Etsy tonight. It is a family birthstone family pendant wire sculpted in Sterling Silver. Kristina found me on iCraft.ca and contacted me to make this for her.

The small pendant to the right is for my niece, Jahazala, using a gift from a friend in Greece, Ariadne. She is a teacher of English and an avid sea glass collector. She loves the sea, the beach and making things with her hands. I made contact with her on Ning, at a group called sea glass artists. You can visit my page here: http://seaglassartists.ning.com/profile/Diane

Ariadne and I decided to do an exchange of sea glass I found here in RI for pieces she found at her home in Greece. The necklace is a piece of sea-pottery that I wire-sculpted in sterling silver and used the little star fish charm Ariadne used to adorn my package with! It is sweet for my little sweetie!! We are starting her off young… when she comes to visit she goes right for the jewelry…. girl after my heart!

One of my most favorite artists and jewelry friends, Theresa of Studio618 has presented my blog with this lovely award! Thanks so much Stu!! You can see Theresa’s beautiful creations on ArtFire and on Etsy.

Here are the rules for this “One Lovely Blog Award”:

Accept the award, post it on your blog together with the name of the person who has granted the award, and his or her blog link.
Pass the award to 15 other blogs that you’ve newly discovered. Remember to contact the bloggers to let them know they have been chosen for this award.

1 Tashina of Dragonflykey

2 Maryanne of Middle Earth Jewels

3 Mads of Maddies Original Designs

4 Klayfriends, Collectible Jewelry AND Clay

5 Liz of Mad Bush Farm in Australia

6 Jane of Handmade-Jewelry-club

7 The Beading Gems Journal

8 Jamie of Creations by JAE

9 Kim of Creative Eye Studio

10 Ken and Barb of Magpiedreams

11 Mei of Wire Bliss Jewelry

12 Kristie-Lou of Sculpted Windows Jewelry

13 Paulette Mixed Media Artist and Mom

14 Sharon of Magnolia Blossom Art

15 Mary Anne of Starlight Blog

I hope you enjoy taking a look at these wonderful blogs and let the artists know what you think!

Don’t forget to post a comment here as that enters you to win my June giveaway

I've just gotten word that I have been accepted to receive and review Wirework: An Illustrated Guide to the Art of Wire Wrapping by Dale "Cougar" Armstrong!! I'm excited to be able to obtain a copy of her new book hot off the press!! If you are interested in taking a look feel free to follow the link.

BellaOnline, More Seaglass and Another Special Rosary

I have an annoucement... I've been accepted as the Jewelry Collecting Editor for BellaOnline website! This is a great opportunity for me personally- to exercise and improve my writing skills and also to use this interface to promote my work and the work of my eSMArts team-mates. (Don't forget to click the link to see what is new in our team store!!)

I'm thrilled to have been accepted into the one month mandatory training offered by BellaOnline as a free service to their editors.

Here are more links about BellaOnline:

2nd largest woman's online site;

over 400 topics and 300+ editors volunteer their efforts to inform and entertain;

over 20 million pageviews a month!!

I am eager to be an active member in this community founded by women for women and they are not for profit... they run enough adds to cover the cost of the site and donate the rest to charity... click here to see those organizations that BellaOnline has helped.

Another Seaglass Adventure

My husband and I thought we would take advantage of the unseasonable warm weather today (60 deg...and to think my last post was about a snowstorm leaving behind over a foot!!) and head to the beach for more seaglass. WOW did we hit it right! We spent less than an hour beachcombing and have over 50 new pieces to show off! Cobalt blue, green, aqua, yellow, amber, brown, clear, pink all but my elusive red! Oh well, maybe next time!

I'm designing yet another special rosary for Lisa in the UK... this one is for her boyfriend's mum who will be celebrating her 50th birthday. I'm honored she thought of me to make this special treasure. Besides representing the family's birth-months with Swarovski crystals she loves Egyptian motif. I will be using some special scarab beads and an Egyptian Anka all in silver. I will post the finished product when it is ready to ship.

My First Bulk Buy- Esmarts Team

Thank you Dani!!

Danis Garcia runs the Yahoo Group JSBulk Buy . This group was brought together to bring the best quality stones and findings at the lowest prices to designers and retailers. Take a look at what my first buy landed me!

I am so excited that I gave this a try...all the lovely creations that are begging to be made from these lovely gems. Garnets, Flourite, Amethyst, Black Onyx, Smokey Quartz, Tiger Eye, Carnelian, Tourmalinated Quartz, Silver Leaf, Botswana Agate, Moss Agate, Candy Jade, African Jade, Amazonite, Dumortierite, and Lapis.

Besides running this group Dani is also a member of eSMArts Team on Etsy. The Etsy Social Marketing Arts Guild (eSMArts Guild) is a global collaborative of mixed media artisans intent on further understanding and applying eCommerce advertising and promotion techniques. If you are an Estian and interested in joining an active team feel free to visit.

Here are more items from that purchase- Sea glass beads in various colors and lovely Bali style silver beads and spacers.
Here is how to contact Dani:
DG Designs, Custom jewelry
Gems, Stones, Jewelry Supply
Danis Garcia - Blog
DGDesignsTx - Etsy Store
Texas Artisans Promotions

How much fun was this...RI seaside treasure hunt!!

Richard....my son, Fred...my hubby and I went on a treasure hunt on Friday. I have been reading about sea glass and researching the beautiful jewelry made with these gems from the sea. I talked them into coming with me on my adventure.... let's see what we can find! Rich was not to excited about the whole thing... he loves the beach as do I, but summer time is his thing. He loves to skim-board and body surf. Going to the beach on a day that got to a high of about 40 deg. was not on his favorite "to do" list for sure. My dh just went with it....

Here are the fruits of our labor... we walked and talked and found a few interesting items. The large piece of green/black glass was found by Rich...he was soooo excited. Funny, just a few minutes before he seemed like he really would rather have stayed home! My dh found the aqua piece...what a lovely color.

We also came upon some pottery shards..... this was my "find of the day". Definitely looks old to me... the ware or patina of the surface indicates that it has been around for quite a while. I have a vase that belonged to my maternal grandmother that has the same type of age or wear on the surface and I know that to be at least 100 years old.

We enjoyed some together time as a family and had fun seeing what we could find. Upon leaving all I heard from the 15 year old was .... when are we coming back??!!

Here is what "Mom" made with one of the finds....

I'll be listing soon on my Etsy site.

This piece of sea glass found in upper Narragansette bay in Warwick RI has a wonderful patina and is all wrapped up in sterling silver.