My work for the weeks of July 12th through July 24th.

~CUSTOM ORDERS~

 Pet Memorial Jewelry. Memorial jewelry of any kind is one of my favorites to make. I love that it holds a special meaning and sentimental value for the wearer and I am honored when asked to make a memorial piece.

 Earth Goddess Bracelet. The focal of this bracelet is obviously the goddess figure created with copper wire. The center bead is an opalescent glass bead. The sides of the bracelet represent the chakras and are made from coral, agate, serpentine, aquamarine, lapis lazuli and amethyst. Chain and a lobster claw give it a customizable fit and finished with a handmade copper headpin.

I made one of these for Father's Day and had a few requests for more. I love how simple this is in contrast to the intense meaning.
                     ~UP FOR GRABS~

 I love the simplicity of this necklace! Magnesite beads with three emerald green, acrylic spikes. Available in my etsy shop....www.etsy.com/shop/pariscreekjewelry

 Free Spirit. This style of necklace is one of my favorites. It'a unexpected, it's fun and it's full of positive energy! Made with a Magnesite 'tooth', quartz crystals, Turquoise and other natural beads. Available in my etsy shop! www.etsy.com/shop/pariscreekjewelry

 This bracelet is very personal and I made it for myself. I lost my step-grandma and 2 pets over the last couple weeks. I made this to remind myself that there are always angels watching over me and the ones I love. <3

 Thelma and Louise....always one of my most popular necklace sets! I chose Lapis Lazuli points to pair with the hand stamped charms because it is believed lapis is the stone of friendship. Also available in my etsy shop!

 I love this necklace!!! Mind, Body, Soul....each tag is hand stamped (one with each word) and dangles from a copper wire-wrapped quartz crystal which hangs from a leather cord wrapped in sari silk. Also available in my etsy shop, just click on one of the above links!

 Ok, if you can't tell by now, I love natural stones! I just feel like they add such a healing energy to my jewelry! My Dusk Until Dawn bracelet is full of natural stones and positive energy. Also in my etsy shop. ;)

I know sometimes it's hard to picture what a certain piece will look like when it's lying on a flat surface so here are a couple photos of me wearing some of my favorites. :)

Imperfectly Perfect

 I readily admit....I am far from perfect! But when making my jewelry I try to make it as perfect as I can. I often have to remind myself though that I am a person and not a machine....I don't do perfect!

 I have been handstamping jewelry for around 3 1/2 years. I bought an inexpensive set of stamps from Fire Mountain Gems (www.firemountaingems.com) just to see if I liked it....or if I would be any good at it! My first attempts were decent but I learned pretty quickly that handstamping can be a frustrating process. (Thank goodness my photo quality has greatly improved as well!!!)

 You can see that I did ok....but certain materials are easier to stamp than others. Some surfaces are more slick and when your stamp slips it can really mess up your piece. My hand stamped pieces quickly became popular, undoubtably due to their customizability but this was definitely a difficult technique to master with my tiny stamps.

 One day I unknowingly entered a contest on Facebook for ImpressArt and won a $70 set of stamps! Woo-hoo! They have been amazing and definitely kicked my stamping up a notch! Bigger stamps are definitely easier to work with and I no longer need to use tape for a guide when using those stamps.

 Above all I have learned to roll with the punches (hmmmm....was that a metal working joke???) and embrace mistakes. Sometimes a stamp slips...usually it still looks fine and won't make or break the visual design of the piece. Here are a few of my most recent stamping as well as one of my all time favorites which was unfortunately stolen from a local business where it was on display....

Above is my most recent work. Below is my most popular necklace of 2013.....

And lastly....one of my favorite bracelets. The one that was stolen. I hope whoever swiped it has been enjoying it and treating it well. Maybe someday I will make myself a similar piece. Sigh.....

Sometimes I impress myself and unintentionally make something darn near perfect without even trying (like the placement of the words on my Mind, Body, Soul Necklace pictures above) while other times....things just have to be imperectly perfect. It's the nature of handmade jewelry. ;) Just remember to keep this thought in mind while shopping for anything handmade....Seek beauty...not perfection. Until next time.

Balancing Act

We all try to find balance in our lives and the same is true for artists. I am a "work-at-home mom"/jewelry artist/Thirty-One Consultant constantly trying to find balance between family life and work life. I always wanted to be a stay-at-home mom and when I had the opportunity just after my daughter's 5th birthday, I took it!

Though I love nothing more than to be able to be readily available to my now 3rd grader, I will admit, working from home is hard. When there is a huge pile of laundry or dishes (seriously....where does all that come from?!?) it can be tough to get into the creative zone! Housework is never done, as every mother knows and there are never enough hours in the day to do everything I set out to do.

Not only do I have a daughter, we also have a small (ok maybe not so small?) collection of animals that are always in need of my time, attention and love.

(Yes, this is pretty typical of a night in our house. Usually no cat on the table though. Lol)

On top of our dogs, cats, rabbits, ducks, fish and turtle, this spring we added a hamster, 2 new ducklings and 6 chicks. Yes, I have probably lost my mind. ;)

Then our 2 adult ducks threw us for a loop and hatched out a baby!

We've had our fair share of babies at the Riebow Funny Farm this spring and things are finally starting to settle down here a little as far as all the extra work that comes with babies is concerned.

So.....with all this going on how do I find time for my jewelry business? Sometimes I don't. During the school year I have the house to myself while my daughter is at school and my husband is at work and after taking care of any necessary chores it is usually easy to find an hour or 2 here or there to bust out some new pieces. Then comes summer and we are squeezing every available drop of sunshine and warm weather out of our day and sometimes jewelry making falls to the back burner. Summer brings it's own form of crazy that the school year lacks and I often end up mostly working on custom orders. Thankfully lots of my fabulous customers are looking for fun, summery pieces like hemp/macrame bracelets which are easy to work on anywhere. Plus I have tons of previously made jewelry from fall and winter still waiting for new homes. ;)

And sometimes even when I have time for jewelry, things like wedding gifts need to be made and I get sucked into a different kind of craft world for a while.

I am so thankful to my amazing customers for their patience, understanding and support. Making custom jewelry is very important to me but my family always comes first. I am just trying to live day by day and enjoy every moment while doing my best to balance it all. I would love to hear how YOU find balance in your life. I am still searching. ;)