Ancient Fossils

 

Okay, I have officially hit "panic mode"!!! With three shows, a 40 piece wholesale order, a new store location opening and not to mention some special orders coming up within the next few weeks, I am definitely.... Scared Silly! As of late, I have been feverishly working to get my inventory in both my Etsy shop and for these upcoming events underway.

This past week, I did manage to create an "Ancient Fossils" line that features million year old ammonites paired with beautiful natural gemstones.  Ammonites are ancient cousins to the modern day Nautilus and are fossilzed shells that millions of years ago contained living creatures. They started out the size of a speck of sand and would grow incredibly fast, some even reaching a foot in diameter. Ammonites, in all sincerity, are the oldest thing I have in my antique stash and they have been such fun to work with. They are just so darn cool, and to know you are wearing something around your neck that roamed the earth with dinosaurs, well, is just quite amazing!

 

 

The ammonites I used in the necklace below are around 200 million years old. They are called "Psilocercy" and come from Dorset, England. They became extinct in a cataclysmic event in the Cretaceous Era with the dinosaurs about 65 million years ago....

 

The ammonite below is absolutely stunning because of its Pyrite druzy accents. I paired it with my all time favorite Victorian bar pin and some beautiful pink spinel faceted briolettes...

 

This particular ammonite is known as "Kosmoceras Pyrite" is around 150 million years old and comes from Russia. Isn't the age of these things just mind blowing???? In this special ammonite, its original shell is naturally fossilzed with Pyrite over the millions of years it has sat in the earth. The druzy Pyrite fills the inside of the chambers and leaves its sparkly glittery gold coating to create one stunning fossil....

 

 

 

 Below, is another "Psilocercy" from Dorset...

...I paired this pretty iridescent fossil with aquamarine, quartz, labrodite and mother of pearl...

 

I really loved the fiery earthy tones in the ammonite below...

 



 

 

...so I paired him with abalone, wood, rhinestones, agate, citrine and bone elements...

 

 

 

 

A couple of other new pieces I finished this week...

 

The Parisian Holiday...

 

and Miss Mary Davis...

 

All of these new pieces coming to my Etsy shop this evening. You can see more pictures of the beautiful ancient ammonites there.

Oh yeah, one last thing! One last, really important thing.....the WINNER of the earring giveaway.

Remember the giveaway I was hosting for the black onyx, Scottish thistle earrings? Well the random number generator at RANDOM.ORG picked entry number "12". The 12th comment entry belonged to  "Robbie Girl". Congratulations Robbie Girl!!! Please contact me at my email address above and I will get these one of a kind earrings to you. Thank you to all who participated in the giveaway, more giveaways to come, so stay tuned!!! Have a great week everyone, be back soon with more designs from my very busy and chaotic studio.

:~)

 

 

A Happy Place With An Extraordinary Bonus...

 

I am just getting back from one of my favorite places on the planet...the Suwanee River's beautiful music and camping park, "Spirit of the Suwannee".  Hubby and I go every year to this incredibly beautiful place to relax, camp, and listen to some brilliant bluegrass musicians. This year was the 'best of the best' line up, starring Emmylou Harris and Bonnie Raitt. It was quite an AMAZING show, to say the least!  And I am pretty sure my husband fell completely in love with Bonnie.

 

 

 

...the 2012 Lineup....

 

 

 

...one of the bluegrass bands, doin' their thing...

 

 

...a hula hoop dancer in the amphitheater...

 

 

...the extraordinarily talented Bonnie and her band....

 

 

...the boys making some 'grass angels'....

 

 

 

...one of the campground's permanent residents. Isn't he cute in a scary kinda way?

 

 

 

...our campsite neighbors having a baptismal ceremony in the Suwanee...

 

 

What a perfectly great place to profess your faith to God!

 

 

And upon my return from 'recharging my batteries'...I've been busy, busy, busy with some new pieces coming to Etsy soon...

 

Stay tuned, I have lots more pieces coming this weekend!!! And I will announce the winner of my earring giveaway too.  For all that haven't entered...it's still not too late, become a follower of my blog and leave me a comment and you will automatically be entered in the drawing. Take care everyone and see you back here this weekend!

Jewelry Making Weekend...

 

Bonjour Amis!!! I have been working hard all weekend trying to get caught up and prepared for some upcoming shows and orders. Here are some of the new pieces that 'sprung' together 

 and will be coming to my Etsy shop this weekend...

 

 

 

 

 

There will be a "Key to Heaven".....

 

 

....a  "Victorian Hand".....

 

 

...some "French Angels"...

 

...thanks to Rhonda over at "A Little Bit French" for the beautiful bezel of French angels. It was just too gorgeous not to use in one of my designs, so I added it to this old locket and made a necklace out of the sweet piece. If you get a chance, go by her blog or Etsy shop and check out her whole collection of fabulous bezels.

 

 

 

 

...there will also be an old "English Sovereigns Locket"...

 

 

 

...and "My Redeemer" will also be there tonight!

 

Thanks everyone for stopping by to visit. Remember my earring giveaway is still on until the end of the month.  Thank you to all who have already left the sweetest of compliments about the giveaway and the earring prize. Will be back in a few days to show you what I am getting into this week  ;-)