Gypsy Earrings Take One - Jewelry By Mignon

A dear friend asked me if I could design and create her some gypsy earrings. My mind raced to a single pair of copper chandeliers I have been holding onto and to a purchase of Czech glass that I had been saving for a special occasion. The copper chandelier pieces are not a style I think I can obtain again and the Czech beads - well look at the ones on the earrings and you get the idea - they're just lovely all together. This is a Take-One because I have to get a notion about what the dear friend has in mind. Now that I've designed such a scrumptious pair, I just may have to design some more, but I don't foresee any being precisely the same as these.

This pair really is quite sassy and I can just imagine the lovely gypsy who would wear these traveling the world seeing the sun set and rise over all the oceans and exploring lands far and near.

New Design at Jewelry By Mignon

A New Design is posted in the Jewelry By Mignon shop. ;)

Being a outdoors kind of person in the first place is only more focused when our beloved Gulf of Mexico is fighting a battle right now. When I came across these fantastic Mother-of-Pearl handcut square stones dyed seafoam no less, then a beach-inspired design was sure to follow. The lovely Mother-of-Pearl earrings are completed with links of sterling silver chain and the best part is the earrings can easily be shortened to your preference by removing links.

These earrings won't get lost in long tresses of hair and will look beautiful with short hair as well. The color just makes me want to pack a bag and head south until I reach the seashore. I can see the clear aqua blue water and just imagine I hear the waves hit the shore when I look at these exquisite earrings.

:) Mignon

Jewelry By Mignon

I've taken a bit of a hiatus from writing. I've not taken a hiatus from life however. ;) It's been quite a busy spring in the JBM household. :) I've flown to Denver, drove all over the central north and west part of Mississippi, camped with the scouts, and we drove down to Gulf Shores so our family could enjoy the gulf one last time before unknown disasters from the oil happened. We're still praying on that one.

I'm starting my endeavor into vending at various markets in Mississippi, so if you are at a market in Mississippi, do look for me, you never know, I just may be there. ;)

I've been at several of the Farmer's Markets on Saturdays in Jackson now. The vendors are such a delight to get to know.

On Saturday, June 12, 2010, I will vend at the Clinton Olde Town Market in Clinton, MS. Our hours are 9 to 1. I look forward to seeing you there and/or at some of the other markets I will be vending at as the year proceeds. ;)

What If....

So, God knows the deepest most secret desires of your heart. Wishes and dreams so special that you don't even utter them for fear they would blow away like dandelion seeds in a spring wind. He can create a life for you that includes the deepest hidden dreams and create a life for you that is beyond your comprehension. This happened to Job, I believe from my readings and understanding, after he suffered loss after loss and disappointment afer disappointment in those who were supposed to be his family and friends.

What if....

Belhaven Market 2010, Handmade Spark, and Jewelry By Mignon

It's been a wee bit quiet on the Jewelry By Mignon homefront as of late, but things are certainly heating up this month. I've just been hired to be a freelance writer for Examiner.com and if you are interested in applying with Examiner, then I have referral information I can share with you.

If you also love all things arts and crafts related, then please do click the 'email list' button on my Examiner page, it says email subscription, but there's no fee for getting on the email list to receive my articles.

Here is my Examiner homepage http://www.examiner.com/x-40171-Jackson-Arts-and-Crafts-Examiner and I've just published two new articles late last night and this afternoon. My writing topic is Arts and Crafts for the Jackson, MS area. This includes artisan interviews, interviews with promoters of craft festivals and markets, spotlighting brick and mortar locations that promote artisans and their art, promoting arts and crafts events and so forth. I've wanted to do this very thing for well over a year now and to have a freelance writing job doing just that is absolutely perfect. I'm already meeting many wonderful people.

Also, I've just been hired to be a freelance writer for Handmade Spark which as I understand is the brainchild of Timothy Adams - one of Etsy's extremely talented artisans. I'll give you a headsup when my first article is up and going on Spark. On Spark, I won't be limited to just writing about Mississippi arts and crafts happenings, so for those of you who are outside of Mississippi and across the world, then I now have a location to write articles about you and your online shops.

As far as Jewelry By Mignon goes, I got to vend one time so far at the merged Belhaven and Mississippi Farmers' Market on High Street in Jackson, MS and then the flu set in, but I'll be back there again in upcoming weeks and I fully anticipate being a regular there as time and cub scout obligations permit.

So, if you are a Mississippi artisan, I have an interview form for you when you are ready.

If you are outside of Mississippi, I can now say I have an interview form for you as well. ;) This is exciting news.

I'm so ready to get back to designing new jewelry designs now that I'm getting back to myself.

Wishing everyone well and I'm glad to be getting well!

Mignon

A Charming Giveaway Over at Sweetlimes

Sweetlimes is hosting a sweet little giveaway for a darling clutch. Do go check it out. All you have to do to enter is to leave a comment on her blog beneath the posting on the giveaway. Easy peasy.

Mignon

Mississippi Arts and Crafts Freelance Writing

(photos are courtesy of Kay Olliver)
Probably a year ago, I applied with Examiner.com to become a freelance writer. My angle was to write on Arts and Crafts for the local Jackson and Mississippi area. I got the job. My very own Examiner webpage is up and live. My first article on the Belhaven and Farmer's Market has been posted.

This is very exciting news. I am in a position to fully promote our local Mississippi Arts and Crafts festivals as well as interview Mississippi's own artisans and crafters. Just think, what better way for someone who is so rooted in supporting artisans and their families to be able to do just that in such a public venue.

There is a subscribe option on the Examiner page so that you can get the Arts and Crafts articles delivered right to your inbox. Please do support me while I promote and spotlight local artisans and festivals.

The Arts and Crafts page can be found at Examiner

Work in Progress - Jewelry By Mignon

This is first draft, so to speak, of a cherry pendant request using lovely smooth round red glass with green Czech glass leaves. The metal is sterling silver with oxidizing. The stems are Japanese metalic glass beads.

After the Sale - Jewelry By Mignon

Do you smoke? Do you smoke in the same house as where you store supplies you sell or store the supplies you use to make your art piece? Can you smell the smoke on the items you are shipping? Not likely if you are the one doing the smoking. Is it ethical to sell your product, whether supplies or artisan piece, and not disclose to the buyer that the item is stored and worked with in a smoking environment?

What's the harm, right.

Well, to the average person, there probably isn't any 'harm', they may not buy from you again if the smell repulses them, but probably not any harm. However, what about the asthmatic person who just so happens to be allergic to the mere smell of cigarette smoke? That person can have an asthma attack due to your lack of ethics in disclosing the smoke-filled environment. What's an asthma attack? It's just a little wheezing breathing thing where the person just takes a couple puffs of their inhaler and are right as rain, right. Seriously, what's the harm.

Asthma can kill. It is literally the equivalence of drowning because even though the air is right there, you cannot breath because your lung muscles have swollen shut due to the attack.

So, if you sell, create, produce anything in smoke-filled environment, please disclose this to the buyer on your shop's front page. The actual bubblewrap mailer from which supplies I ordered came in had the strongest smell of smoke. One would have thought it was the equivalence of having been in a closet with the smoker while they were smoking. I literally couldn't get the product out of the mailer quick enough and then had to fling the mailer, tissue, and mini ziplock bags across the room to pick up later as an attack was coming on.

And, while I'm on the soap box of many cigarette smokers not having a clue of the potential harm and dangerous risk they cause, and understand that I realize that most smokers 'do not realize'...... they risk the lives of asthmatics when they light up just outside the exit of a building or lighting up for that last puff while standing in line at the movie theater - I mean really people, your rights versus another's life. Seriously. Step FAR away from the building, step FAR away from the exit and DOWN-WIND, and disclose the smoking environment of your product to your buyer.

Jewelry By Mignon is in a BNR Treasury ;)

Jewelry By Mignon is in a treasury.
Want in??
Buy from any shop on the treasury and you take their place on the treasury. It does not have to be the item from the shop that's in the treasury. It simply has to be an item from a shop on the treasury. :)

http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=110297

Wicked is Having a Giveaway :)

Do go see Wicked's lovely soap shop with much more than just handmade artisan created soaps.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/wickedsoaps

and the darling host of this giveaway is

http://auntiedis.blogspot.com

Auntie Dis is also on Etsy with lovely SOY candles and charming earrings.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/auntiedis

Custom Valentine Request - Jewelry By Mignon

Becoming a jewelry artisan who shares her work with other people has enriched my life so very much. I had originally started on this journey for only making and designing pieces for myself. However, the fates aligned such that sharing my designs with others was inevitable. Sharing has led me to being able to be a part of so many lives for fleeting moments. There's the little girl who wears a sweet little pair of earrings I designed and her mom wrote me to tell me she can hardly get her out of her earrings to go to bed. Then there's the wedding where the flower girls all wore lovely pale lime green pearl and copper bracelets which showed up beautifully against their pale blue dresses. There are friends who smile a little bigger because they know I made them a piece with love. I have lots of sweet stories that touch my heart even from people who don't buy but are so moved by the jewelry that they touch my heart.

This time another sweet person has touched my heart with her story and we are currently chatting back and forth trying to align what's in her head and what comes out of mine. This bracelet is a culmination of this ongoing discussion.

The cord is a colorfast cotton cord that lasts longer than leather. The sweet faceted beads are uniquely enough acrylic beads I had bought to make gifts for nieces and other little girls who are in my life via the wee one's class at school, but they just may foot the bill for this order. The findings are copper. The heart is created by hand by me. I used a length of round copper wire, shaped, hammered, soldered, and antiqued. The heart has a nice varied pantina that will only become more beautiful with age.

I love this happy bracelet for all ages. Don't you?

Jewelry By Mignon - Mommy's Fairy Dust

Mommy will become Mom or Momma one day soon, but not tonight. For now, I still get to be Mommy for a little while longer. Our precious miracle son went to sleep tonight with a Benadryl and a stuffy nose. By 1 A.M., he was awake, in tears, the Benadryl having worn off, and his little nose completely stopped up. Earlier in the night he had a boo-boo on his foot and he was in pain from where the kitten accidentally scratched him. I pulled out my magic band-aids and they made the pain go away a bit. Upon the wee one waking at 1 A.M., I set the kettle on the stove to bring the water to below a boil for the wee one a cup of Jasmine Green Tea with honey. Hubs administered Benadryl, Aleve, and Robitussin. Of course none of the meds have any magic. Mommy's honey by the tablespoon has a nice sprinkling of magic while we wait for the water to warm. The scrumptious cup of jasmine tea has all the magic of any fairy's wand. So, we sat on the antique sofa in the art room across from the kitchen, drank Jasmine tea with extra honey, and watched a smattering of Antiques Road Show in the middle of the night. It is wonderful to be Mommy, more wonderful to have smatterings of Mommy magic, and most wonderful of all to have the trust of one's own child who knows when hurts or sickness come that Mommy will be right there with hugs, kisses, magic band-aids, tea, and honey all in the cupboard - all coverd in fairy dust.

De-caf Jasmine Green Tea and other enticing flavors can be found at http://www.etsy.com/shop/teaman

Jewelry By Mignon - New Shop Banner

I created a new banner with sterling silver hearts I created from a coil of sterling silver wire. I cut the wire, shaped it, hammered it, soldered it, polished it and created a new design for Jewelry By Mignon. I've had the heart design in my head since before Christmas, it just takes awhile to get the designs out of my head to the work bench sometimes.

http://www.jewelrybymignon.etsy.com

Let me know what you think of the new banner and the new pieces found in the banner. :)

M.

http://www.artsycraftsy2.etsy.com Valentine Giveaway

Artsy Craftsy 2 is having a Valentine giveaway. ;)

Click the title to go straight to her blog for the giveaway.

Click the link below to go straight to her lovely shop.

ArtsyCraftsy2

M. ;)

Giveway Information for Dawn Correspondence on Etsy

Dawn Correspondence is having a giveaway for some of her classy and lovely correspondence. Dawn is a fellow Etsian and I just love her shop.

Click the title and you'll go straight to Rik Rak's blog - she is hosting the giveaway.

You may find Dawn's lovely shop by clicking the link below.


Dawn Correspondence

M.

Valentine Ideas :)

Do you have Valentine's on the brain yet?? We artists have to start planning the next occasion well in advance of the big day so that we have awesome ideas to get those cogs turning about what you might would like for the big day. I'm already planning next Valentine's jewelry presentation and this one hasn't gotten here yet. That's how we do it. So enjoy the first pieces in my Valentine Ideas thinking box. ;)

M.

Thinking About a New Giveaway

Why do giveaways??

Giveaways are fun for those who enter and those who do them. It's a great way to advertise, but have fun while doing so. I can pay for advertisement, which I do here and there, or I can do a giveaway. Which would you rather do? Pay for advertisement which doesn't really make anyone smile or do a giveaway which makes both the shop owner and the entrants smile. It's fun, it's quirky, and at the end of the day - giving someone an unexpected gift is very rewarding and leaves a warm spot in your heart. I did a giveaway in December on Facebook and I can't wait to hear from the recipient about her necklace. What's really fun is the people who tell me they've never won anything in their whole lives, yet they win a piece of jewelry from me. It's rather a pay-it-forward endeavor. So, look for the next giveaway to be coming soon, but this one will be on the blog. ;)

Hope are you having a fabulous New Year so far! ;)

M.