Friday Blog - Oct 31

Today is my favorite holiday of the year but I won't get to celebrate in my traditional way. First, I haven't decorated the house this year, and the neighborhood kiddies are sure to be disappointed, but I am going to be setting up tonight for a show in Philadelphia and won't be home to run the fog machine. That's right, I'm so halloween crazy that I have my own fog machine. So, if you are going to be in the Philadelphia area this weekend, here are the stats:

Artisan Fall Festival
Unitarian Society of Germantown
6511 Lincoln Drive
Philadelphia

Saturday November 1 10-4
Sunday November 2 12-4

It's a truly lovely show with remarkable artisans including myself with jewelry, my dad with wood carvings and turnings and our friend Millie who makes gorgeous pottery. We have our own little party every year in the downstairs room with the food. Please stop by if you can. Support hand made arts!!

In other news, my credit card program is up and working, my internet continues to be fast, and my son is going to be Ironman for halloween. I have continued working with flylady.net to get my house in order, the big project this week was cleaning out the "storage" closet in my daughter's room that has our extra quilts and blankets. I also got new curtains for the bathroom and our bedroom and put the nice quilt on our bed with the fancy pillow shams. Everything matches. And today, my boss at my home care job gave us really nice throws to celebrate National PT month. Yay for all the physical therapists who work so hard out there! We have a great group of very dedicated clinicians.

Don't forget, last day to sign up to win the free bracelets, just leave a comment on the October 3rd post. I will post the winner next week.

I also just joined "Twitter" so follow me at www.twitter.com/meleenia - as soon as i figure out how, I will post my twitter link to the right.

Coming up my open house - November 21-23, I'm busy getting ready for that, will begin baking next week, lots of tasty treats planned this year, I've been collecting recipes.

That's it for now, have a wonderful spooky safe halloween!

I Have Joined the 21st Century

I now have broadband. It's very exciting after being on dial-up forever. Things load instantly, but many of you know this already. So I'll get to business. First, my daughter's jewelry for homecoming, lovely victorian design featuring swarovski and vintage window beads in deep red.

Close up of the pendant to the left, pendant and earrings to the right. So pretty, as was my daughter at homecoming (If I do say so myself). The pendant is made from the design in a recent Step by step wire magazine. The necklace itself is my own design, alternating S links with links of orbital chain mail.

So what else is new? My next show is next weekend in Philadelphia at the Unitarian Society of Germantown, 6511 Lincoln Drive. Saturday November 1, 10-4 and Sunday November 2, 12-4. A very nice show featuring some wonderful artisans from Philly and the surrounding areas.

In December my work will be featured at Salon Fin in Lancaster at Frederick and Mary Streets. We are working on doing a First Friday event, but I have not received confirmation of this as of this time.

Lastly for today - don't forget to sign up to win a free bracelet on the October 3rd post. You only have a week to post. Winner will be announced November 7th, when the next contest will begin.

W Jewelry Online Shop Now Open

My friends at Addicted to Rubber Stamps now offer a forum for people to sell their handmade arts and crafts at little to no cost. I have listed my jewelry with them at www.wjewelry.shophandmade.com. Check out the store! You can browse the jewelry offered, some offered in multiple colors and pay conveniently with paypal. I tried to keep postage low but everything will be sent delivery confirmation and with insurance.

I have finished (nearly) my daughter's jewelry for homecoming and will have pictures tomorrow to post sometime next week. They grow up so fast. Just this week we ordered her school ring.

Don't forget to sign up on the October 3rd post to win one of my fabulous bracelets, not only are they pretty, but they conform to and feel so good on your wrist.

That's it for now. I'm off to post some more of my jewelry for sale!!

A quick update on what you may be seeing next season. I for one am always influenced by Hollywood, what I see in the shows and movies that I watch. I have been known to sketch crazily after seeing someone on a show wearing something that inspires me. Past inspirations include, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Videos on CMT, Bones (Bones always wears the coolest necklaces), and most recently the costumes of House of Flying Daggers.

Update on colors and syles from
Fire Mountain Style Report from the MAGIC Marketplace and Accessories: The Show
From the Fire Mountain Gems and Beads Style Team

Overall Trends

Lack of Uniformity -- less structure in jewelry designs and clothing as a sense of free-spirit abounds. Flowing fabrics, less-fitted clothing styles, mismatched materials and layers and layers of jewelry.

Importance of a Cause -- the upcoming election, combined with increased global and social awareness, brings many different causes to the forefront. Whether it is clearly spelled out or not, most jewelry and clothing designs have a message behind them.

Hollywood Hype -- the power of celebrity endorsements is bigger than ever as Hollywood continues to set the style scene. The ''as seen on/in'' seems to be one of the most powerful advertising statements.

Alternative Materials -- with a shift away from precious metals, designers are using bright colors and an increased scale to create over-the-top looks in a more economical way.


White is emerging as a neutral color trend and is truly becoming a seasonless color, working well throughout the entire year. Crisp, clean shades of white are seen as chic, cool and classy.

Rich jewel tones such as Imperial Plum, Fandango, and Midnight Sapphire represent luxury and elegance.

Earth tones including Sandy Taupe, Lavender Grey, Champagne and Palomino create the less edgy mood of the season.

Muted pastels such as Fall Rose, Fire Fly and Maize offer a feminine-inspired softness.

To read the whole report in living color click below!

http://www.firemountaingems.com/encyclobeadia/beading_resources.asp?docid=893G&WT.fmg_linksection=5DSTEZAY9EK4&WT.mc_id=NL081014

Don't forget to enter the contest for October and win yourself a bracelet!

The Work at Home Woes

I spent the whole morning, well, almost, devoted to fixing my credit card processing program, AGAIN. Seems li'l ol me on dial up is just not feasible anymore. So, now I'm looking for high speed hook up, wireless or something. Headaches. On the jewelry front, this problem did not give me much time to work on anything new, but I am researching some ideas for my daughter's homecoming attire. She actually asked me this year to make her something. I will be hard at work on that the next two weeks and will post the results.
Thanks for checking in, and don't forget to enter for the blog candy!
This month, flylady is having us attack our paperwork. Check into flylady.net if clutter is overtaking your house, she has really helped me.
Dianne

Friday, October 3rd

Wow, so proud of myself. This is really working nicely. I've posted consistently for several weeks, progressed toward trying some different outlets for jewelry, and managed to make something new. I've even continued "flying" and getting my house and office and in effect or maybe as a consequence - my life is more organized and less anxiety ridden.


But that's not why you're tuning in today, you want to know who won the earrings. Well, 8 people signed up and I went to http://www.random.org/ to generate a number from 1-8 for the winner. The winner was number 1 - Terri Durden. So - Terri - you will be receiving the earrings posted for the September blog candy!!


Now on to October. What can you win in October? I offer up your pick of one of my cuff bracelets. These are stitched in two drop peyote and since the drawing will be on October 31, I thought the colors were appropriate. Your choice is between an "ALIEN" green bracelet embellished in green, teal and blue, and a lavender bracelet embellished in purple and topaz. All you have to do is leave an entry on this post with which bracelet you like and your e-mail address so I can let you know you've won. The bracelet will be sent to you if your number is picked and I will send you the bracelet you picked postage paid by me.



So here are your picks - which one do you choose?

Tonight you can find me at the DREAMS event featuring entertainment and fashion at The Bird's Nest 10 S. Prince Street from 6-9PM. It is First Friday downtown, there's lots going on and this event is going to feature music, fashion and a little bit of everything for everyone.

I am also participating in a group open house in Mount Joy on November 14th and 15th. Hostess is Pam Barto of Olde World Collectibles. She makes the most amazing soft sculpture Santas. As a former soft sculpture and doll artist (something I hope to pursue again some day) I can attest to her creative and fine stitchery. Each Santa is a work of art. Her address is 215 Birchland Ave and the Hours are Friday 11-7 and Saturday 10-5. Stop by, I plan to do some Christmas shopping there for sure. Fifteen of us are exhibiting at her house and everything is guaranteed hand made as she knows each and every one of us exhibiting.

As the holidays approach, if you've been putting off ordering some special piece of jewelry, order it now. Things get tight as the holidays approach as they do in all our lives and I'd hate for anyone to be disappointed. I welcome your custom orders, making something especially for that special outfit for all those events we have coming up, holiday parties, work functions, homecoming dances and even New Year's Eve.

So long for now, and will be in touch next week!!