True Blood...mmm Tasty

It's coming...soooooon. And the encore of Season 1 begins June 4! Eeeeeep!

Wild Azaleas Bow Out

Wild Azaleas Bow Out
Originally uploaded by Simply Wired Custom Jewelry

Oh, flowers. I love them and I can't get enough. This year's spring planting did not happen yet (next weekend!), but our wild azaleas (sometimes referred to as pinxter-flowers and officially named Rhododendron periclymenoides) showed up right on time. Their exit will mark my responsibility to add more color and beauty to the yard, and I will do so with a smile on my face and dirt beneath my fingernails.

This particular photo was taken today, about an hour or so ago, and you can see their posture beginning to fail them, their edges slightly withered and brown. Today's rain knocked many of them off of the bush, leaving a scattering of petals along the dirt and the grass. Until next year, my pretties!

Pink Lemonade

Pink Lemonade
Originally uploaded by Simply Wired Custom Jewelry

How 'bout this lovely moth? It's the rosy maple moth, (Dryocampa rubicunda), as I just found out today. I think it's a female, because the antennae seem not-so-bushy.

Aren't the colors just great? They do remind me of pink lemonade...and summer. Below are some items that represent these beautiful colors, all available at Etsy!









This is one of the pieces by elleabelle. I love how she uses bright, bold colors of chalcedony in her designs. The photos pop, and her jewelry is sassy! These earrings are summery and juicy--perfect for the season.







Oh, AliciaBock, your photos make my heart swoon. She captures the "natural" of everything, and the final product is nothing short of beautiful. Pink Sugar reminds me of warm days filled with the sweet smell of flowers.










theferriswheels has been a personal favorite of mine since back in December. I have one of her masks, and also bought one as a gift for a friend! While I was sick, I had a severe sinus infection. If you happen to get one...take one of these, heat it up, and lay it on your eyes. Such calming, comforting relief.

You Should be Dancing Necklace

You Should be Dancing Necklace
Originally uploaded by Simply Wired Custom Jewelry

I've waited a long, long time to post this one! But I'm glad I finally did. You know where to get it!

Oh, So Long

Dear readers, I apologize. Dear blog, I apologize. Dear onlookers, I apologize. It's been oh so long since my last post. I do have my reasons, however. Holidays combined with an illness, plus continued illness that has only recently let up (in April, actually). I don't need to get into details and I don't need to spell it all out here, but let's just say it was quite exhausting and made me not have the time or energy to do anything outside of work and sleep. No worries though, it is NOT serious.

Spring is upon us; everything is beginning its own renewal. And so am I. New starts, new approaches, new ideas. I finally opened the shop back up today after a long hiatus, and it felt good to keep on checking in with Etsy to see how many views I've accumulated. A couple of changes you'll see--more of a focus on the "wire" of "Simply Wired Custom Jewelry." I'm trying to do some branding and I need it to focus on my strengths. New products will be coming; I have a ton of things photographed, but now I have to edit them and it takes a little bit of effort. Some of the others I'll probably have to re-shoot. I'm considering new backgrounds and new textures, so this will take some time. I'm also going to stop the "made to order" offering on most of my pieces...the reason is because my day job is very demanding, and I just don't have time to keep up. This will be a good thing, though...forcing me to "create" rather than "fill." We shall see what comes along.

Moving along, I promise to keep you updated on things in general, and share cool stuff and point you in all different kinds of fun directions. For one, I urge you to check out Wordle; that site is responsible for that lovely little graphic I have sitting up there ^.

Secondly, if you're a music fan like I am, and you haven't checked out Pandora yet, I urge you to do so. Right now, my favorite channel that I created is Gillian Welch, which provides me with a nice mixture of her, The Be Good Tanyas, The Waifs, and The Weepies.

I'll be back soon, I promise.

Finally!

Some new items coming to my Etsy shop this weekend...it's been a while, huh? Well, life has taken over these past few months...including a new kitten (see below), a bad bout of sickness, a big change in my day job responsibilities (for the good...yay!!) and finally, the holidays. But now it seems I'm finally catching up, and the creative wheels are spinning again.

This piece here is my first new one posted today, titled "In Clouds." The earrings will come later, along with a discount if you buy the set.

During this lovely little kickoff to the holiday season, I'm also offering free First Class shipping on all U.S. and international orders through Monday 12/1, so get your goodies while they're here!

I hope your Thanksgiving was bountiful and you have much to be thankful for.

Blessings,
Chelsea

A Sale and a New Family Member

Hello all! In case you haven't been to my shop lately, I'm having a rockin' sale to commemorate the one-year anniversary of Simply Wired Custom Jewelry. Discounts range from 15-50%, so get 'em while they're going on!

In other news, we have acquired a new family member, as shown here. Ain't he just the cutest thing? His name is Dexter and he is a Manx--meaning he has no tail. I had not heard of this type of cat before, until my mom told me about them when I told her I was going to get the little guy. My girlfriend actually showed up with him at my house; his previous home was a farm and they didn't mind if a few of the kittens could be taken to official homes. Of course I decided to adopt him ASAP! He's a little fragile...only 1.5 lbs, and he had some young kitty health problems, including round worms and a bad cold. But, we got him all fixed up, tested for everything, and he seems to be in good health. My big dogs, as well as my other kitty, seem to be adapting. Dexter likes to crawl on top of the dogs and sleep on them; sometimes, they let him. The size difference is really a site; I'll post more pics soon!

Not Slacking, I Swear!

Nope, I've just been a really, really busy girl. My day job keeps me occupied and sometimes it exercises my brain so much that I run out of creativity (not to mention, energy)!

Over the past month or so, I've been slowly building up some stock, working on some new pieces, and fulfilling custom orders. Earlier this week I also got sick and had to shut down the shop for a few days, but I think I really made some progress this weekend. It's a relief, I tell you.

To prove I'm not lying, here's a little peak at what I've been working on...freshly oxidized and laid out to dry, but not yet tumbled or polished. Some you'll see in my Etsy shop, and some you'll just see on my Flickr when they're done, since they're based on orders (especially that super-sweet piece with the Egyptian Coils at the top left!). I plan to get them photographed and listed over the next month, so stay tuned. A couple pieces will also be listed at a really awesome price because they just didn't come out how I wanted them. LOL.

For all of you wondering about the pieces and the types of stones in the pic...I'll describe as best I can...here goes:

• Top left: As mentioned, Egyptian Coils and turquoise nuggets.
• Top right: Some lavender chalcedony faceted briolettes.
• To the left of the lavender chalcedony: All of those ear wires contain a different bead, wrapped or with a bead cap. Includes sterling silver with prehnite, smoky quartz, or a spiral design. Some copper ones are included as well, and feature prehnite as well as carnelian wrapped teardrop beads.
• Below the lavender chalcedony: A new piece that incorporates labradorite and garnet, as well as another new piece that includes vintage lucite beads (purchased from blacksheepbeads; awesome shop!).
• Right: Wire wrapped focal pendants.
• Bottom: A peak at a remake of my Egyptian Goddess necklace, a custom order from a customer.

So...keep your eye on the shop and you'll see most of these pretty soon. Thanks for looking!

Computer Woes

Over the past few weeks, my computer has not liked me. My CD-ROM player decided to not let me open it up anymore (even when I use the "paper clip in the hole" magic trick), and Photoshop decided not to run due to insufficient RAM.

Both of these issues were mind-boggling to me, as my computer is only about a year old. So, since it is still under warranty, I was able to score a new CD-ROM drive at no cost to me. I also upgraded my RAM and bought 2GB extra from Crucial. I installed both of them over the last two weeks.

The CD-ROM drive was fine. Photoshop? Not so much. I'm running version 7, and after I installed the new RAM, it still wouldn't work. So, on a whim, I decided to Google the error, and sure enough, I found the solution: A teensy, weensy, tiny bit of code found in my settings for Photoshop (see Response Number 8). And that was all it took. I couldn't believe it. On a lighter note, my computer is now, as my friend calls it, "Wicked Fast!"

Anyway, now everything is up and running again, I have my camera back from my husband (who had it on a kayak trip on the Allagash Wilderness Waterway in Maine for about 15 days), and I'm slowly but surely creating some new pieces for fall. I'll keep you posted on new creations, dear readers. Thank you for your patience.

Endicia: Do I Love It? Maybe

So, about a week or so ago, I signed up for a free trial of Endicia. What is it, you ask? It's a service that enables you to perform just about any and all mail services from your home/business...from printing postage to ordering supplies. The reason I was attracted to it is because it allows you to print postage for First Class International directly from your home (customs forms and all!), which saves me a trip to the Post Office. Given that I've had a recent influx of international orders, I decided to give it a try. Here's a summary of what I've learned so far:

• Once you learn to use it, it's quite easy; however, it's definitely not an intuitive program. You have to muddle your way through how to set up a label; once you learn it, it becomes second nature. I like how you can copy/paste an address directly from Etsy, without having to enter items in separate fields like you do with PayPal. In case you're considering giving it a try, here's the general steps I follow:

1. Create a new address
2. Choose the layout (you can skip this step once you create your first label of the session [and you don't switch to international mail])
3. Print postage
4. Print customs forms (if international)

• Apparently not compatible with Vista (which is what I [unfortunately] have). I have not witnessed these incompatibilities yet; however, one thing that irked me was that you don't know about them until after you sign up. Given that I'm fairly astute at doing my own research in troubleshooting compatibility issues, this didn't bother me so much. However, someone who is not very tech-savvy may have problems. Also, since Vista has been around for at least a year now, I think it's bad form for software companies and services to ignore the fact that they need to perform an upgrade. That's just my opinion. I'm dealing with it, though. Take it for what it's worth.


• The management of previous orders is a plus. Endicia saves a postage log for you, which I like. If someone needs to know where their order is, or you need to track something for yourself, all orders are available within the postage log. If you included Delivery Confirmation, that information is available as well.


• First Class International is a time-saver. I love not having to go to the Post Office. This is by far my favorite feature, and is probably the main reason why I'll stick with Endicia and pay the monthly access fee.

So there you have it. I'm not going to start a Forum thread claiming "I Love Endicia!" or put their banner on my blog, but for now I appreciate the convenience and availability of Endicia's services. Who knows? Maybe sometime in the near future, they'll make the software Vista-friendly, and incorporate the use of "wizards" (to us Instructional Design nerds -- "Electronic Performance Support") to guide us through the process of making labels. Until something better comes along, I think I'll stick with it for a while. If nothing else, I assure you that I'm saving fuel costs.