Five Wide Cuffs for Wednesday!

Astute observers may notice that I missed a day, not posting any new items yesterday.  It's true..  my first priority these days has been to finish my internship report and poster so I can meet the deadline to be a January graduate.  Yes, that's right.  5 1/2 years after I first embarked on the grad school journey, I will FINALLY be getting that elusive Master's degree.  Come the end of the month, I should have a Master's in Environmental Science!  Which means it's time to start searching for a job...  (That 5 1/2 years involves two different schools with a year off in between)

But for today, I have listed 5 new items - wide cuffs all, and one of them is a first time listing.  That's right, a *new* cuff!  Okay, so it's over 6 months old (I photographed it before leaving for Sudan), but never before listed on Etsy!  Today's deal is a free matching pair of earrings made special when you order one of these cuffs before the next 5 is listed.

1. Offset Squares Herringbone Cuff - yup, it's the wide cuff in my blog banner!  I think this is one of my coolest patterns, and I have worked it up in a second set of colors (not photographed or listed!), with patterns for a few more color schemes..  Maybe I'll get around to those some day. :D

2. Dreaming in the Garden - Lacy, delicate, and floral!  

3. Midwestern Spring Breeze - One of my few freeform pieces, but it was so fun I may have to do more!

4. Gridded Circles in Orange and Blue - it's like an elementary school art project on your wrist!

5. Red Curls at Sea - The one you've been waiting for, the new listing!  Wide, playful, shimmering, what more could you want?

There you have it!  Head on over to my Etsy store, select one of these five cuffs before the next 5 are listed, and get a surprise matching pair of earrings free.

Polymer Clay Five

For something a little different, today's daily 5 are all polymer clay buttons.  And for today's deal, a surprise second (smaller) polymer clay button will be included with the purchase of any of today's buttons.

1. Whoa Orange Dots - one hole, and lots of bright dots!

2. Stripe me Purple - two holes, stripes and squiggles.

3. Don't hide that Green - tries to be subtle, but that lime pops through on this pair.

4. Sewn Heart - a little more cutesy than most of my stuff, but still fun. ;D

5. Six Eyes Green - one hole, and lots of eyes..  Creepy?  You decide.

Head on over, buy one of these five, and get a surprise in your package!

Sunday's Daily Five

It's day two, and as promised I have five more items listed in my shop!  Today's deal is *free shipping* on any of the items added today.  The shipping charges have already been adjusted, but will be changed back to standard rates when I add tomorrow's daily 5... 

Today's five almost follow a theme.  Four of the items feature triangles, and the fifth (item number one in the list below) matches one of the pairs of earrings too well to not feature at the same time.

1. Turquoise to Teal Narrow Cuff: Turquoise fades to teal in this unique cuff - definitely one of a kind with the handmade (by me!) polymer clay button for a clasp.  The earrings in item number 2 match this cuff perfectly.

 2. Turquoise Triangle Earrings: Dangly, turquoise, shimmery, triangles - what's not to like?  This is a fun pair of earrings featuring dimensional triangles, and goes great with the cuff above!

3. Fun with Geometry: This cuff features zig-zag peyote, triangles, and a wonky square - lots of fun shapes working together well!

4. Linked Triangles: Decreasing dimensional peyote triangles and a herringbone rope to complete the bangle - it's like a party on your wrist! (Okay, that was cheesy, but it is a pretty neat bangle in my humble opinion!)

5. Terra Cotta and Teal Triangles: We'll end with one last pair of earrings today.  Each one has two triangles with the terra cotta and teal beads reversed.  The smaller triangle is attached to the larger at the center.  Another fun pair of dangles!

That's it for today!  I may choose to list some of my non-beadwoven items for tomorrow's five, but no promises so you'll have to come back and find out. :D

Head on over and get your free shipping on any of today's five! http://njema.etsy.com

The Daily Five, or I'm ba-ack..

My Etsy store is finally reopened! I'll be relisting 5 items (nearly) every day until the inventory is all back up.  And with the daily five, I'll be offering a special deal..  Until the next daily five is announced, get 10% off any of the first five in my store by using the coupon code "DAILY5TAKE1" and come on by tomorrow to see the next deal! 

Here are the first five to reappear - you may notice they're the same items that appear in my banner. :D

1. Bright Polkadots Wide Cuff - a herringbone cuff with 9 different colors of dots in Czech seed beads and featuring homemade lampwork buttons by Heather of hmbstudios.

 2. Entangled - a wide cuff featuring a purple three drop peyote base embellished with spirals of green and orange, and completed with a handmade (by me!) polymer clay button.

3. Window Into Time - created for an Etsy Beadweaver's "time travel" challenge, this necklace features fossiliferous limestone and strands of gray-themed beads in various stitches.

4. Icy Fall Leaves - a pair of earrings featuring the Russian peyote leaf technique, combining a nice terra cotta brown and icy blue, reminiscent of the first frost on the last fall leaves.

5. Tropical Seas - a calming blue and green necklace with a hexagonal peyote cup holding a ceramic pendant created by Kristie of artisanclay is held by a herringbone rope and a string of blue and green glass beads.

Stop on by the store for these five, and come back tomorrow to see the next daily five!

My husband and I are back from Sudan!  It was pretty fantastic, and you can read about some parts and see some pictures at http://brachtadventures.blogspot.com

We're not fully settled yet, so I'm not back into full swing with my shop, the blog, etc, but hopefully by mid-January!

Light as a Breeze

The Etsy Beadweaver's challenge theme for April 2010 is "Light as a Breeze" and the instructions refer to the "delicate and gentle first warm breezes of spring." Well, here in Indiana spring breezes are not so much delicate, gentle, and warm. Spring is a fickle season, jumping from winter to almost-summer, then down to cold rain. There are a lot of gray skies, though you do get a few glimmers of warmth and hope mixed in. My ideal world is one where it's always summer. I'm fine with rainy and dry seasons, and while I like fall well enough, I wouldn't miss it. (Hmm.. I think I sound like someone who grew up on the equator!!)

So this bracelet is my interpretation of "Light as a Breeze." The wisps of blue and yellow represent the few delicate, gentle, and warm spring days in the midwest, glimmers of hope in the midst of the overwhelming gray, rainy, dreary spring days. But they do remind us that there will be summer once again!

Head on over to the EBW blog to vote for your favorite through the 14th!   

Buy Handmade - send Ginny & Stephen to Sudan

We're full swing into fundraising mode to get to Sudan for 6 months this year! While we've had a lot of generous donations, we've still got a little ways to go before we can leave. We need to raise enough to cover our airfare, living expenses, etc. From here on out, I will be funneling ALL proceeds (not profits.. EVERYTHING that comes in from a sale, excluding shipping) into our "going to Sudan" account. If I do a custom order and have to buy supplies, the cost of new supplies will be subtracted from the proceeds, but that is the only exception.

I also spent a good part of today uploading greeting cards to my Etsy store, so head on over and check those out!