New Item - Beaded Dragonfly Garden Stakes / Flower Pot Stakes Wire work

Dress up your garden, your pond or your flower pots around the deck with these fun and whimsical Dragonfly Garden Stakes.  Each one is unique in design and color with colorful, glass beads.

The Dragonflies are approximately 4-5" with hand weaved wire stake measuring about 15" or so.

Save 15% on these with coupon code: SPRINGSALEBAY at checkout. Click on picture below for more info.

New Item - Forged Silver Vine Hair Barrette with Coral

You will just love the Silver Vine Hair Barrette.  I made this barrette out of thick .925 sterling silver wire, hammered and twisted with great difficulty.  I added a touch of color with Red Sponge Coral (which represent the color of berries) with tiny 4mm Petrified Wood beads.  Although it is constructed with thick gauge, sterling silver wire, it is delicate in design.  The entire barrette is less than 4" long.  It's not suitable for silky straight hair, but holds nicely with thicker hair. If you have a vision and would love this barrette with different color stones or crystals and pearls, please email me.  I love custom work.  :)  These barrettes make great gifts for that special person in your life with long locks.  Click here for more info.



New Custom Order for Client

I made this Necklace and Earrings set as a custom order for one of my clients.  This necklace is made with a large, red Tigereye Cabochon and 14k gold-filled wire work.  The filigree design gives the overall feel of ancient, old world, Roman or Grecian Jewelry with a touch of Victorian.  I also handmade the chain links with a thick 20 gauge 14k gold-filled wire and finished it off with a sturdy clasp.  I really enjoyed making this design and I will put together a few more of these to add to my store as part of my new spring collection. 

This particular design would also be awesome for a wedding (by exchanging the red Tigereye for a whitish or even a Rainbow Moonstone would be awesome)!

My New Suncatchers Design for Spring

I just finished a really nice sun catcher design.  These will be part of my new Go-Green, spring collection made of recycled glass.  I will be making different designs, but this is the first of many I'll be designing.

I really like the contrasting colors between the dark red copper and the green glass.  The whole thing is constructed with very thick gauge copper. 

I took a picture against the wall, but these look their best in a window or out on the patio.  What a great garden accessory.

Here is the picture of my latest design.  Let me know what you think.  Please leave me a comment.

Learn Digital Photography

After my brother got me hooked to photography last year, it seems that everything in my eye's view is a potential picture.  Although, I have always appreciated and paid attention to the smaller things in life (a delicate flower, a seemingly insignificant grasshopper or caterpillar enjoying its lunch under the warm rays of the sun, the distinctly different, yet harmonious sounds of chirping birds, the hypnotic beat of raindrops tapping my window...), I appreciate them even more.

When I first looked through the viewfinder of my Pentax K200D, everything I looked at was different; the perspective had completely changed.  I needed to adapt to this new way of seeing things.  It took me a good six months of experimenting and many hours of viewing fellow photographers on Flickr to understand what to focus on, how much to focus on and why I would focus on.  When I first began, I felt sloppy, awkward and very disoriented; not knowing what to photograph, what lens to use, how much to zoom in, etc.  I was really out of my element. 

My brother gave me a book on digital photography, written by Scott Kelby.  He told me I needed to read this book and that it would give me a good foundation to my new endeavor.  As far as I'm concerned, every beginner should read that book.  The author, an experienced and very renowned photographer himself, is down to earth and has the knack of simplifying what could easily become a complicated series of explanations.  He doesn't clutter the text unnecessarily with fancy words that obscure the sense of the very essence of what he's trying to say.  I found the exact book on Amazon.  Click on the Photo below to view more information about this wonderful book. He also has a box set which I think is a steal of a deal!

Beeswax Candles and Votives

I've been making candles, melts, votives and wax scented bears for a few years now and I love it!  I began making votives and candles for the main reason of it being the perfect addition to my handmade candle holders, votive holders, etc.  While I was researching about different types of wax and comparing the properties and the price, I came upon the most amazing bit of information about beeswax.  I learned that this seemingly insignificant little creature, that is the bee, produces a product that when burned releases negative ions into the air and therefore replacing the positive ions (pollutants).  In other words, this natural, organic wax is the best air purifier you'll ever find, as far as I'm concerned.  If the beeswax candle maker takes care to use only 100% cotton wicks, then you're guaranteed to purify and freshen the air in your house in no time. This is especially great for asthmatics and allergy sufferers.

Stinky Fish Odors-  I do this all the time:  After cooking fish, I burn a beeswax votive on the kitchen counter.  I let it burn 1 hour or so and usually the fish smell has completely disappeared from the house. It's unbelievable!  It doesn't mask the smell or fill the air with harmful chemicals as a spray can air freshener would.  It literally makes the fishy odor disappear and replaces it with the sweet, healthy scent of honey.  You'll need to try it to believe it.  I brag to all my customers in my walk-in store about this.  I do have my satisfied, happy, repeat clientele.

A part from being a healthy choice, beeswax candles and votives also look great!  They have that look and feel of a by gone era, and yet have adapted so well into our so called "modern way of living."

To read more about the amazing properties of beeswax, click here and read the description.

New Items in My Etsy Store

I've been working really hard to bring up the inventory in my Etsy Baysidewiredesigns and Artfire Baysidewiredesigns2 Stores.  It takes much time to set everything up for the picture part and then I need to process the pictures somewhat (zoom in, crop, lighten up, sharpen and re-size);   Then I need to prepare my little packages, price them and write up the descriptions, calculate the shipping and store them till they're adopted and find a home that will love and cherish them forever.  This is tedious work indeed, but I'm not complaining, it's all worth it in the end.  The store looks great when it's filled with beautiful products that are made with tender love and care.  It is even more rewarding when people love the creations I make and want to be part of who I am by purchasing them.

I've added a couple of really nice sea glass pendants (they are reversible, 2 in 1 pendants).  Here are a couple of pictures of the first one I made; click on the picture to see the second one (it's worth it because it's a piece of light rose depression glass - probably the knob part of a small dish cover or decanter).

My New Jewelry Supplies Store

I've been working hard to get things rolling with my Bay Supplies Jewelry and Craft Supplies store and it's coming along really good.  I made my first sale. Hooray!! I continue to add different components and findings  I've been making copper earring findings, hook and eye sets (which I will be adding soon) and of course my fused glass cabochon which I make regularly in an array of beautiful, rainbow colors. 

I've also decided to bring vintage beads and findings into my store.  I'm all about recycling whenever we can.  You'll also notice the different cabochons made from my recycled, bottle glass collection. 

These cabochons are perfect for wire wrapping, wire work.  I've made many different pendants and earring sets with these and they look great!  Here are a couple of pictures with jewelry made from my glass cabs:

Custom Order

Here is a photograph of the custom order pendant that I made.  The customer brought in a stone and wanted it wrapped in a 14k gold filled wire design.  The stone is really thick on one side and gives it kind of a unique look; I brought the wire up on the sides as a wire basket support. 

Here is the picture -

I also made her a ring that I'm not quite finished yet.  I need to put the finishing touches.  I'll be posting a picture later. 

The Ball is Rolling

I'm not sure if I deserve a pat on the back because I didn't quite accomplish what I set out to do yesterday.  I did work on my custom orders and finished the pendant (I'll add a picture later today), and I did add the swarovski crystals to my Bay Supplies Store and my Artfire store which I'm really happy about.  Before judging me, you must know that the only reason I didn't work on the glass project (I know what you're thinking, but this is not an excuse, I assure you) was because I passed some quality time with my hubby (now your thinking: ohhh how sweet!)  Sometimes you just need to set your priorities straight and husband goes before work... Right??  OK, so now that I've got that in the open, I feel much better.  I've posted a picture of some of the beautiful crystals I was talking about.  See below. 

Aren't they gorgeous!  I just love the awesome turquoise color - they would make terrific jewelry for the new spring and summer collection!  I really like the teardrop shape; these would look great in any wedding or fancy jewelry design or tiara.  They're a really nice size too.  They measure 8x12mm which I find to be the perfect size for any design.  Of course these are crystals so they sparkle like diamonds in the light.  I also have them in pink, light sapphire, peridot, topaz, amethyst. 

What's on my schedule for today:  I want to start that ring I was dreading to do and I will be working on adding more supplies to my Bay Supplies Store and Artfire Store and if I have time this evening, I will begin a glass project. 

If all goes well, I should be able to accomplish everything, but we never know what can come up during the day.  We'll just see!