pearls and silver

pearls and silver, a photo by elizabethannwrightclark on Flickr.

brown and white and brass (love)

brown and white and brass (love), a photo by elizabethannwrightclark on Flickr.

coupon for my etsy store

Ready for the Holiday season?  If you like to shop in your nightgown as much as I do they you might appreciate this coupon for my Etsy shop.

20% off in stock items with this coupon, use HOLIDAY2011 at checkout and enjoy!

Mad Genius at Bergdorf Goodman

Since I moved to Chicago I didn't think that I would get to see the absolute genius creative stylings of the Bergdorf Goodman window magicians but I was lucky to be in the city for Thanksgiving.  These windows always get my creative juices flowing.  They also give me a bad case of the 'I wants'.

Enjoy.

Tiger tiger, pretty little things for your neck.

I bought these pretty little tiger eye stones a few years ago.  I wear mine layered, of course, with other necklaces.  I love the bold facets and high shine.  They are on oxidized sterling silver and will be in the Etsy shop soon.

Update: they are there now.  Use the coupon code HOLIDAY2011 for a 20% discount. 

Etsy

peppermint lasso 

These pink beads are from Mangum's Beaders Paradise, in Idaho, they are striped, streaked, stripy, striated and streaky.  They also have a pressed pattern on one edge and they are remarkably interesting - really.  I put them on a long linked necklace, my favorite kind of necklace, with some faceted grey and muted pale pink vintage glass beads.  It wraps around twice if you don't want the long-swinging-necklace feel.  (I like the long-swinging-necklace feel)  Also coming to the shop.  Currently sitting by my desk waiting to be posted...

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Ready for the Holiday season?  If you like to shop in your nightgown as much as I do they you might appreciate this coupon for my Etsy shop.

20% off in stock items with this coupon, use HOLIDAY2011 at checkout and enjoy!

Presents for under the tree

I always send your purchase in a silver gift bag, it works well for travel and to protect your jewelry and it makes a fantastic "ready to go" gift of your purchase.  Think about that and be ready for a coupon coming soon.....

Silver gift bags 

Long pink and grey necklace on oxidized sterling silver

Peacock blue glass earrings on handmade sterling silver

Earrings

Earrings are like lip balm, I never get tired of them and I always want more.  All of these are made with vintage glass beads and oxidized sterling silver.  I made the circles and the head pins in my studio in Wyoming.  Oxidized sterling silver is warmer and richer than the plain shiny stuff and just gets richer with wear and time.  I also feel comfortable wearing it with gold.  Which is good because I like to wear gold.

Pressed vintage glass beads on sterling silver

Pink and grey vintage glass on sterling silver

Stormy skies, vintage glass beads on sterling silver.

The morning light slashes through my bedroom in my new apartment.  It bounces right off of my necklaces that hang on the wall, it's so pretty and shiny and glittery.   

layered pinks and browns

morning light

It was a beautiful, sunny day in Chicago today.  My lover and I had lunch by the lake at the little cafe near my new apartment, (oh yes, it's there).   My lover looked at me and said, "those are beautiful earrings", he is amazing that way.  

ombre earrings

On a lovely day by the lake, with blue water and the sailboats floating by, I felt very happy to be wearing such lovely earrings.  You can have a pair too......

happy sailing

A fresh start in a new city.  I have so much more light in this beautiful apartment.  Looking forward to taking photos with natural light instead of setting up my whole light/tent thing. 
  
Everything looks better this way.....


Now if only I could unearth all of my beads and get going.

New digs

Case of the blues

Peacock blue is this season's hot color.  These moody earrings do just fine!  Beautiful blue/black vintage glass beads with oxidized sterling silver chain tassels on oxidized sterling silver wires.  Just perfect for the coming season.

mamabetsy.com

If you look in my shop right now you will find that summer styles can be had for a discount.....

say it isn't so...

Summer is ending, it's true.  I will be moving to my new apartment by the lake just for the end of the best season.  I will wear my white beads and bring a sweater.  Cooler weather will not push me indoors, or into wool, just yet.  So keep your summer jewelry on and get to the water while we still have time.  Then start planning that beach vacation.

mamabetsy.com

Vintage coral and tan glass beads on oxidized sterling silver.

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 IF, however, you are planning your autumn wardrobe consider these neutrals...

mamabetsy.com

vintage glass and brass with 14/20 gold filled chain - sexy.

mamabetsy.com

Vintage glass on oxidized sterling silver.  These long beads look like bamboo to me, they are special beads.  I like the length of these earrings like skinny jeans for your ears!

Where I will not be this summer....

I will not be in my beautiful, wonderful, studio (unless),  making silver earrings like these.  It is a sad, sad, truth.  Maybe in the winter...........

Still hot

It's hotter yet.  Air conditioning is my only love...  (well maybe not my only love)  Pretty things still hold sway.

Hot, hot, hot

It's getting hot here in the big city.  I like to wear a loose dress and a long necklace.  The less confining the better.  Let's hope for a breeze and working a/c on the subway...  For those of you at the beach, well, I envy you.  Let's just leave it at that.  Here is a summer sizzler for you.

My pile

Lately I have been grabbing things from inventory to keep for myself.  The pile is getting a little too big, but I am just sure that I need them all....  Maybe I just need more hooks to put them on.  When I move I will have to devise a better system.

Many layers

I just finished this long necklace of green, white and coral colored vintage glass.  I love the white ruffled beads so much!  The coral glass beads are dear to me as they are very hard to find.

I messed around with some layering options.  This one is simple and obvious.  The pendant here is a vintage glass cab wrapped in vintage brass on gold filled chain.

This one gets a little crazy - I added a big chunky quartz necklace to the ensemble.

I liked the quartz so much that I thought it might look great with this turquoise and mother of pearl pendant necklace.  This is a great union.

Detail of the pendant necklace.

Another take on the turquoise with the coral, green and white.

layering necklaces...

I have to use my mac photo booth to take self portraits so they have this cool, grainy quality to them - which I kind of like, actually.  Anyway, the purpose is to show how I like to wear my jewelry.  Layered.  

This is the grouping that I love the most right now.  My, current favorite,  yellow necklace (long) with two smaller necklaces of linked beads, vintage of course, and a pendant necklace with tiger eye quartz and a little mother of pearl flower.  It makes a pretty great combo.....

Things that I love

I spend a great deal of time in bed, sitting up looking out my window.  So I have things that I love on the windowsill to please my eye (turns out this is "good" for my mental health).  My lovely aunt gave this beautiful bird to me - she gives the best presents.
My shell jars remind me of my mermaid soul.  This yellow necklace is my current favorite.

It is made from vintage (of course) glass beads that I bought from Wilma Mangum at Beader's Paradise in Blackfoot, Idaho.  She traveled the world with her husband buying up old beads.  I have been buying beads from her for many, many, years.  The last time that I was in her store, last summer, I was privileged to be in the room with Wilma, her daughter, her granddaughter, her great granddaughter and the newest addition to the lineage, her great great granddaughter.  How amazing is that?

One of the things that I love about Wilma's beads is that I don't see them anywhere else.  These beautiful yellow beads are a great example of that.  They are strange and lovely.  I think that they make a classically beautiful necklace that fits well with today's trend of bright, bold colors.  I've been wearing it often.  There is just this one...