Vintage Costume Jewelry Additions, Jewels of Passion & Feeling more like myself today!

I spent some time antiquing today. Here are my finds! I’m pleased with new additions to my vintage collection and this wonderful beaded (perfect condition!) purse to boot!

These lovely Vintage West German clip on earrings were a steal! Wonderful filigree and AB blue stones really caught my eye.

A large Florenza Vintage brooch and pendant was calling my name! What a wonderful emerald green foiled center stone! Surrounded by chatons of green and yellow this piece has a wonderful Victorian feel to it as Florenza is known for.

This antique amber bracelet is unmarked but has such wonderful amber pieces I could not leave without it! What a find!!

While I was recouping I had the pleasure of receiving Jewels of Passion authored by Sherri Duncan. Look for my review of this wonderful book in the very near future at Bella.

I’m happy to say I’m feeling much better and thank you so much to all my friends and family for their loving care.

Vintage! MyGemStoneBox new additions!! MyGemStoneBox on Etsy a new piece and Full Editor Status on Bella!

I adore these new pieces that I found today! They are all listed on Bonanzle.... stop by and check them out!

The first and second pieces are unsigned, but lovely vintage pieces.

The third piece is an older Avon vintage snowflake brooch.

The last, but certainly not the least, is my favorite~ a Weiss vintage brooch with beautiful raspberry and emerald rhinestones.

We had a lovely day looking for my new treasures and enjoyed the summer like weather.

Don't forget to leave a comment and enter to win my April drawing!

I listed a new piece at Etsy this week.... This is one I am very proud of and I think I can say it is technically my best piece. I take great pride in this one, my design and my technique have greatly improved. See what you think:

And last on the list for tonight, I have been promoted to Full Editor Status on BellaOnline. I completed all the requirements and now have full access to the site!

Sold this on Etsy this week:

It's been a good week!!

New Studio in progress! New member to a Jewelry Collecting group and New antique bracelet added to my Collection!

It has been a long time coming.... I have been creating jewelry on the island in the kitchen, on the couch in the living room....stealing any spot I could. I'm hopeful, that one day in the very near future I'll be able to report I finally have a studio!!
My husband, Fred, is very handy and has wanted to convert the 3 season room for me for sometime now. But, one thing after another~ including this health issues have prevented this from happening. He is feeling better now....so I benefit! I love sunflowers and that is the color I have chosen for the Studio that has a wonderful view of the pond. Ebony, our cat, is over-seeing the project.

And yes, those are wire wrapped onyx and citrine gemstones hanging from the pull chains on my ceiling fan!

I have joined a new group of Jewelry Collectors at http://www.jewelcollect.org/ and they have given me a wonderful welcome. I'll keep you posted as to the types of information that is traded on that mail list. So far, everyone has gone out of their way to make me feel welcome. I'm looking forward to making new friends there as well as networking.

I'd like to share with you one more new item... I splurged and bought myself a piece of vintage jewelry I have wanting for I don't know how long.... a Renoir piece: this is a classic 1950's piece. I can't wait until it arrives!!


Don't forget to sign up for my earring give-a-way!!

1) Leave a post to any one of my entries for the month here on my blog ;2) Visit my Etsy site at http://www.unicorngem1994.etsy.com/ and pick your favorite piece. Return to my blog and leave an entry telling me your choice;3) Visit BellaOnline at http://www.bellaonline.com/about/JewelryCollecting let me know what your favorite article is or leave me an idea for a future jewelry collecting article.

These could be yours:

Introducing MyGemStoneBox by Diane's monthly jewelry give a way!

Beginning with this entry I’m introducing a new feature for MyGemStoneBox blog~ a monthly give-a-way that you~ my favorite reader~ can win any one of three ways:
1) Leave a post to any one of my entries for the month here on my blog ;
2) Visit my Etsy site at http://www.unicorngem1994.etsy.com/ and pick your favorite piece. Return to my blog and leave an entry telling me your choice;
3) Visit BellaOnline at http://www.bellaonline.com/about/JewelryCollecting let me know what your favorite article is or leave me an idea for a future jewelry collecting article.

That is all there is to it!! A random entry will be chosen and announced during the first week of the following month. Good Luck! April's give a way are these lovely copper and opalite earrings.

New listings this week at Etsy

Princess Aqua and Silver Earrings

Wild and Earthy Necklace

Watch for my upcoming blog entries on S&T Creations, Saundra and Teri, two very special & talented eSMArts Team members and more about our team store!

Natural Celtic Necklace

Social Marketing- for those of us selling on line!!

In the most simplistic terms Social Marketing is very much like going out and making friends. You visit different venues and make contacts (friends) and interact with them… talk (chat, email, leave comments etc.), find common interests and truly get to know them. During this process you introduce them to your business. This is also referred to a “soft sell”. You mention the new piece you are designing or the new order you received and before you know it you are discussing your business! Sounds easy right? Well, it is and it isn’t. We need to dedicate time each day to building these relationships just like “real life”. We can’t have friends and not spend time with them; right? Otherwise, you wouldn’t call them friends!

Here are a variety of ways to accomplish social interaction on the web:
Blogging or mini-blogs: We write about ourselves and our business usually on a set schedule… our readers begin to expect to see something new on a regular basis. We develop a following of readers who get to know us through this process and hopefully we build and cultivate a rapport with them. These new friends become a source for sales. This is done through commenting on the different posts. Sites like Blogger and Wordpress make it easy for us to establish a blog. Sites like “Ning” are set up for mini-blogs arranged in communities. There are sites that we can join that are communities for blogs and attract specific types of readers.

Writing “expert” pieces on topics relating to our business is another way to social market our stores. There are sites established to help us do just this. Squidoo, Hubpages, OpenZine are just a few. Each is set up a bit differently but they all have help along the way. With a little effort we can be published and searchable on the web! Searches are based on the key tag words we use and the content we post. Another way to get published is to write articles for a favorite magazine or websites. Write and submit them on a regular basis. I’m testing out being a volunteer Editor for a woman’s site called BellaOnline where I write articles on Jewelry Collecting and interact with readers through a forum there. There are many ways to become published.

Join social sites like MySpace, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, & Flickr. Each has it’s own benefit but the idea is the same… it is an interface we can use to meet new people on a personal or professional level and share information about ourselves including pictures, video, writing, chatting and yes even having fun all the while turning those new friendships into a source for sales.

Esmarts Team members I have posted additional information to the Yahoo forum in a document called “Social Marketing Portfolio”. Please take sometime and review it to find links to all the sites I have listed here and more. I’m available to answer questions and help you along your social marketing journey.

Diane Geisel
Social Marketing Director for eSMArts

The new bracelet at the top of this post is for SPRING...soon to be added to my Etsy store!!

Something old, something new~ antique jewelry and writing for Bella

I'm finding that I really love to write and I think BellaOnline is a great outlet for this facet of "me". Deep down, I've always been a "teacher".... I love to help others learn. The focus at Bella aligns with this completely and compliments the jewelry designing perfectly; looks like this is a great match. During the time I spend preparing for articles I find I have to research (another love!).

I am becoming familiar with jewelry history and learning about antique and costume jewelry. I'm fascinated with the fact that Providence was once the "jewelry capitol of the world"! From where I work, I can walk to the jewelry district down city.....but those days of glory are over. If you are interested in reading more about Providence's jewelry hayday check out this hub I wrote. Lucky for us the jewelry of that era still remains. I'm tossing around the idea of creating a few pieces based on some antique pieces.....we'll see how that goes.

If there are any articles that you would love to read about please contact me! I'd love to hear from you and I can always use ideas on new collections to write about.

I've listed a few more items in my Etsy shop...stop by and take a look!

Esmarts Team Challenge and BellaOnline

Jamie, our Esmarts Marketing manager has polled our team and asked what we would like to do for a springtime/Easter challenge? Here were our choices:

Butterflies butterflies and more butterflies! Use butterflies in some form in your project! 25%

Pastels! Pink, green, baby blue, yellow, all the great colors of the spring! Base your project on those pastel shades for something beautiful! 66%

Babies. Who doesn't love a baby? Tie babies (human, furry, feathery, whatever) into your chosen project. 8%

When we tallied up the results it was clearly pastels. We could design anything we wanted as long as we used pretty pastel colors. Here is what I came up with. I posted it tonight to my shop. Candy jade in pink and green with pearls and pastel pink and green Swarovski opaque crystals all wrapped up with sterling silver. Thanks Jamie for coordinating this fun team event and I can't wait to see who wins~ all those great entries....It's going to be tough to decide....

Here is an update on my BellaOnline training.... I am set to graduate this Tuesday!! Yes I have managed a 97% on the quizzes and have kept up the required articles even during the Christmas and New Years holidays. I have been given moderator status for the Jewelry Collecting forum and continue to shape the site based on visitor feedback. If you have not already signed up for my newsletter here is the link to do so! http://www.bellaonline.com/about/JewelryCollecting
Scroll all the way to the bottom. You can also find this link on the bottom of any article I have written.

BellaOnline has a very strict policy regarding spam and keeping your email addresses private. The editors can not even see them! They never sell or trade this information and take your privacy seriously. So.... sign up to keep up to date on all the newest information.

Thanks to all those who visit me there!!

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.