My CrAzY earring creating binge today

Today was TJ's last day of school before summer vacation.  After dropping him off for a half day, I managed to create 25 pair of earrings.

 I was into trade beads and crosses today.  I will need to be placing another Fire Mountain Gems order soon!

Hopefully I will get these listed in my shop by the end of the week.
Check out earrings in my shop here.

My designs vary depending on the day's mood.
Sometimes I go with kitschy vintage plastic gumball charms and other times it Swarvoski crystal or genuine gemstones. Here are a few of my recent color mixes.
Check out my etsy shop to see what I created with these beads!

Summer Fun Odds and Ends

Well, I guess I chose well for my last entry. Two of the four sold already. I am excited to finally have used s few of the antique celluloid animal charms. I paid close to $100 for the stash of vintage celluloid animal charms that I have, back in my crazy ebay sales days.

I have a few new creations, but haven't found time to list them yet.

Tomorrow is my birthday. Not sure what we will do. I know it will involve the beach and some good food, other than that, what more does a girl need?

Close to closing on the new house. I can't wait to get moved into my new studio. I may have to forgo beading for a little bit to get the rest of the house organized.

I created a bright and fun etsy treasury today. Check out my etsy shop for a link.

Non-stop creating...

Ahhhh, summer is finally here. The garden is in and school is out; it is time for some creating. I recently went on a creating binge that resulted in an eclectic mix of new necklaces foe my etsy shop.

I finally got around to breaking out my huge stash of vintage celluloid bubblegum charms from the 1940's. It is hard parting with them, as I know that they are hard to find, but I am thrilled with the resulting necklaces on antiqued brass chain.

I creating a few more chunky turquoise creations and started to experiment with some vintaj brass. I am really happy with the results.

Now, I will have to sit back and wait to see how sales will be. I recently looked at some Paypal statements and realized that my etsy sales for the year were about one sixth of my sales for the previous summer on ebay. I am still happy to trade the sales in for the relaxed pace and friendly atmosphere of etsy! Money isn't everything.

JunQue Jules ended up being featured in three etsy treasuries last week! What a great way to kick off the beading season!

Ocean Potion Treasury with mermaid treasure bracelet

Celebration Treasury with sparkling Pink and Purple Necklace

Fun Red, White, and Blue Cowgirl Treasury with my Vintage Gumball Charm Cowgirl Bracelet

Sharing the stash

Earlier this week I shared a little Junque from my stash with some of my students after school. We had a great time. They were amazed at how easy it was to make earrings, and some are wearing their new creations to the dance tonight. Fun!

Bead Trends and ideas

The deadline for submitting work for the August 2010 issue of Bead Trends magazine is tonight. I submitted three things earlier today. I was planning on more, but a list of materials is required. That can take forever to compile! This is the first time I have ever submitted my work to any magazine. I have noticed some of my fellow etsy sellers had their work featured in the February 2010 issue and thought "Why not?". I actually submitted a few of the things i was considering for the Bead Star competition. Notification is March 2nd, so I figured I may as well since I will still be able to enter them in Bead Star if they don't make the cut.
Sometimes I wish my stash wasn't so extensive because it makes it difficult to create a materials list when I have items that I have been hanging onto for 15 or more years.
Speaking of magazines; I was quite excited by a feature in the March 2010 issue of Coastal Living. Chart Metalworks from Portland Maine was featured. She creates awesome pendants and charms by placing pieces of nautical charts under resin with brass or sterling silver bezels. You will not catch me casting metal-ever. Fire and I do not mix well (hence the lemon net bag I set on fire last night with candle night).
Since my husband and I dabble in stained glass a bit we were already considering creating some of the foiled stained glass pendants featured in this month's Bead Trends, but I was concerned about ink from my ink jet running and I wasn't sure just what I wanted to sandwich between the glass. Bingo! My parents just happen to be in the marine business and are chart agents. My mom has oodles of old charts laying around. These will make fabulous charms for my mermaid treasures bracelets! Who knows when I will actually get around to this. I have been meaning to tumble the antique glass I dug up in my backyard into "sea glass" for two years now. On the sea glass subject: I think my husband has found us a spot to collect real sea glass on Lake Michigan. If you haven't tried before you may not know that it is not easy to come by!