Steampunk Rings contest!

Today I am here to tell you about some awesome rings =)

I had seen CatherinetteRings's shop before, back when her avatar was of one of her Cube rings (still think those are amazing). I recently rediscovered her over on Twitter (sigh, Twitter!...haha, my fiance calls it a 'lazy person's blog' and wishes I'd stop using it, but it's kinda fun...turns out I joined it right as a lot of other Etsians did too so there's been quite a lot of Etsy-connection going on there for me) and have started checking out her blog as well as her new Steampunk rings...if you don't know, Steampunk is a pretty interesting subculture that's getting a bit more attention lately (click on that first "Steampunk"back there to get some background on it).

Anyways, CatherinetteRings has just started a new contest on her blog and I am making this entry not only to spread the awesome, but in the hopes of winning some of the awesome myself...haha. She plans to give away two of her rings at the end of November, which would make a pretty sweet 20th birthday present if you ask me...=D

I actually had a much harder time picking a favorite ring than I thought I would...haha, seriously. I looked through all of CatherinetteRings's Steampunk rings and just found so many really neat things that it took me a while to narrow it down. I think I'd have to go with her Golden Rutilated Quartz ring though:

(photo by CatherinetteRings)

...Can't help but to also mention this Indian Agate ring and this Smoky Agate ring - haha, it's hard enough to limit myself to only those. Back on topic - I'm not typically a fan of gold-tone things, but for some reason I love that ring...it's just so bright and lovely (for the record, CatherinetteRings takes some great pictures of everything she makes - it all seems to glow a little =])

So! Make sure you take a look around CatherinetteRings's shop and enter the contest with me - take a look at her blog, there's a few different ways to enter, all of which are simple - maybe we can both win a fantastic ring together =)

Renewing =/

So a lotttt of my items are coming up to their expirations dates and I just started to renew some things for the very first time...ahhh. I don't know why but that makes me feel very weird. I guess I'm just feeling that thing some people on the forums seem to get sometimes, where they start worrying that they're wasting their money...I just don't have a ton of money to work with right now so it makes me paranoid to spend any of it...haha. I'm not going to renew everything that's expiring - at least not right now - but it's stressing me out a little regardless.

Anyways, I'm working on some jewelry right now for a friend - she bought some buttons and beads today and asked if I'd make some earrings and necklaces out of them for her. I think she's going to make me some things in return, so yay...I got one pair of earrings done before she had to go, and this is her modeling them:

I personally think she makes a very good model =)

Alright...be on the lookout for some new pairs of horns to go up soon...and look at my freshly renewed items as well!

<3

Exciting things and a cute kid!

I really need to be better about updating this!

Okay, exciting thing #1 - I had TWO sales in one day last Sunday! I was really really happy because I hadn't sold anything in about a month, plus I sold some stuff I was pretty proud of - a pair of horns and some Pokeball earrings (my first polymer clay sales, yay). I also had a last minute awesome idea for the earrings...

They are stuck into a piece of canvas paper that has my logo printed onto it =) Haha...it was actually a failed experiment at making a patch of my logo to put on my jacket (turns out printer ink washes off of canvas in the washing machine, sigh) but I think it worked out alright in the end. The earrings were a gift for someone else, so I wasn't sure how to go about my usual thank-you-note/reciept-thing...this turned out to be a pretty good compromise because I still got my name out there without feeling too weird about it, and I was able to write on the back that I hoped she liked them and to be sure to thank the person who got them for her =) Plus it's sturdy enough to be a good backing! All around goodness.

What is exciting thing #2, you ask? I got a convo earlier from someone asking about another pair of horns that they are thinking of buying to be a part of their dog's Halloween costume =) Tell me that doesn't sound completely adorable! A tiny little dog with horns on! MY horns! Haha...hoping to hear back from them on whether or not they'll work out after all - seems promising so far!

Besides all that business...I took the day off from school today! Which felt extremely nice! At least the sleeping in part was good, I spent most of the rest of the day going through boxes and trying to get rid of things - I have a terrible problem with holding on to farrrr too much paper, not to mention lots of strange random things...sigh. Made some progress but I've got a lot more to do, both for my peace of mind AND to make room for my fiancé - in about two weeks, he will be driving down from Wisconsin to stay for good! =D! My dad is going to let him stay with us for a little bit to give him a chance to find a job and get an apartment, which is very very awesome. I'm going to have to try to get a good job myself as well so that I have a shot at being able to move out with him very soon...

And now, because he is cute and I saw him on Sunday, check out my nephew Jacob!

He always makes me take him out by the pool when he comes over...he really likes the water (and the duck). And I don't think you can tell in this picture, but he has Wall-E shoes! Awesome =) Haha, and by the way, his mom liked the jewelry I made for her after all, so yay for that.

Okay...I think I am all caught up now...good night!

<3>

New plugs and my latest personal project...

Man, I meant to make this entry like a week ago...haha...sigh. Last Thursday I recieved my most recent Etsy purchase: a pair of 6 gauge glass plugs from iriejen! I got really excited when I realized that there are actually lots of plugs on Etsy and had been doing a lot of shopping around when I found iriejen, and I just thought these were a really neat, and not too expensive either...

(photo by iriejen)

And of course, the obligatory vain-happy-customer picture:

Yayyyy, now I am up another gauge size...haha. I don't intend to go any higher than 4 gauge because I don't want my ears to be permanently stretched, but it is a little addicting...plus, some of the most interesting plugs only come in bigger sizes! Sigh. I think I was always destined to be a modified individual...seeing my older sister get her first piercing when I was little and my dad with his couple of tattoos got body modification into my head early. So far, it's just a lip ring on the right side of my lower lip and the stretched ears (haha, and that actually started out of boredom...). When I have the money, though? Septum piercing for sureeee and some tattoos, the first of which will be something for my nephew (see last entry). Really really need to get that done soon...but alas, Etsy is my only job right now and I only had one sale last month. Hopefully things will pick up soon with the holiday season...that's what I keep hearing is supposed to happen on the forums...haha.


ANYWAYS! Personal project! Yay! Haha, so I have this jacket for a band whose music I like, but whose overall reputation and image I do not...I got it at a show of theirs that I got into for free because, quite frankly, it's practically impossible for me to go to a concert and not bring back some sort of merch. Plus I was in need of a smaller jacket at the time...anyways, the point is, because wearing said jacket now makes me feel like a jerk, I decided to cover up the part that has the band's name on it with a patch I made! And after doing that I figured, hey, I should just cover this whole damn thing with homemade patches! It'll be soooo punk rock! ...haha. See, I'm very serious about that "punk-rock poser" thing. Because Pokemon patches and the kinds of things and bands that I'm really into...are not punk rock. They are just dorky. And, well, the music isn't very punk at all.

I am rambling a lot today...back to the point! The patch I originally put on the jacket was one of three Pokemon patches I made a while back with an old shirt and fabric markers. I ended up safety pinning it and the other two onto the jacket in various places. A couple days ago, I made a patch of a red balloon on some new fabric I bought a 1/2 yard of, and last night, I took another old patch I made and put onto something else off of that something else (haha, yeah, make sense of that) and sewed it to the back of the jacket under the screen printed picture that's there that is really, seriously, not really all that related to the band - it's Ferdinand the Bull sitting under his cork tree. Strangely, this is also the same exact picture that my fiancé has tattooed onto his shoulder in honor of another musician who has a somewhat more logical (and less forced) connection to Ferdinand than this...other band...haha. I'm not sure why I am so adamant about not mentioning their name here, but it's kind of just for fun now. Okay, okay: PICTURES NOW!

Alllllrighttttt...that's more than enough for one day! Talk to you all later <3>

Lots of horns and something for my sister...

This is a picture of all of the horns I've made so far (minus the ones I sent to my friend recently...)

(you can click the picture to make it bigger)

The first two are the original pairs I made this summer, and the rest have been made over the past week or so...haha, I think I've gotten better already, and each pair is getting harder to part with. Still have to list the last two, but I've heard that around 7pm on weekdays is the best time to list, so I might wait until tomorrow for that...you know, unless I get impatient =)

I also started on something last night that I've been meaning to make for my sister for a while now...it's got a bit of a story behind it. My nephew Eythan died this past January after fighting cancer for six years...he was ten. He was a big fan of The Legend of Zelda and he used to draw triforces on everything. When he died, his parents really got into the whole triforce thing and it's just kind of synonymous with Eythan for them (and for me) now. Anyways, my sister requested that I make her some triforce-related jewelry for her and this is what I ended up coming up with last night and earlier today:

I had been hesistant to start working on this because I wasn't sure I'd be able to do it at all, but I finally just sat down and started and acted like I knew what I was doing...haha, it worked for the most part. I know I could have done a better job, but overall I'm okay with how it turned out, and my sister is excited about getting them.

Alright...hopefully I'll be posting again tomorrow!

<3

FINALLY! Horns on Etsy =)

It has taken me farrrrrr too long to do this, but at last, I have a pair of horns up for sale on Etsy! Yay!

Orange and Black Swirl Horns

I'm pretty excited and I've really got to make another pair or two - I'm offering to do custom orders, but you know, Halloween is probably the best time to get this sort of thing started and I want to have a few pairs on hand in the shop.

I also uploaded two more rings:



Orange and Pink Stacked Ring / Blue and Purple Twist Ring

Other than that...just stressing out like mad. I'm worried about school, I didn't get this little online job I was hoping to have, and I'm worried about my fiancé moving down here (money is tight, etc.). This whole growing-up business is terribly overrated and I'm just hoping to be able to do it without killing myself in the process...

Until later...<3!

Rings and a lollipop...

Got two of my rings and the lollipop pendant posted on Etsy =)


---------------Pink Swirl Ring--------------Rainbow Mushroom Ring-----------------Lollipop Pendant-------------

And as we speak, I am baking a pair of slightly shimmery orange and black horns and a ring with pink and purple stars. Sweeeeet. I'll try to get pictures of them up tomorrow.

Oh, and tonight, perhaps in an effort to make myself feel better, I bought something new off of Etsy...haha, sigh. Expect a full report when they arrive...

<3