Buy Your Mother A Gift She Will Cherish Forever!

Promises and Keepsakes- These are some of the best pearls I have ever had in my posession. The creamy yellow Jade pendant and sterling filligree heart create an ambiance of elegance and finery. Your mother is sure to feel special while wearing this classic piece!


Update on Carmella

Carmella goes back to the vet on Saturday.

Her paws are much better

although not completely healed.

As the areas that were affected heal they seem to turn kind of purpleish.

I took the cone off for awhile after giving her a bath today with the special antibacterial shampoo. I do this once a week.

She still sneaks a lick at her paws every once in awhile.
Now patches are developing again on her fur.

I hope her Mange isn't coming back.

As you can see it looks as though her hair is getting choppy again in certain places. Tomorrow is the day I put more Pro-Meris on her. She is on a double-dose of this for what she would normally get if she was having it applied just for flea-killing. I am beginning to wonder if this stuff is wearing off after only about a week and a half instead of lasting for two weeks even at this higher dose. She gets the amount a very large dog would have. Apparently research has shown that this is effective in controlling Mange on a maintenence basis, but I'm not sure what we do next if this is not controlling it. Maybe, we should try Ivermectin.

I did try the boric acid and peroxide way back after we discontinued the dips and I think that actually just inflamed it more. Lemon helped a little, but still didn't fully get rid of it.

I could try pure Tea Tree oil, but from what I read it stains everything. Since she sleeps on my bed and I am always hugging her throughout the day I don't know how feasible that would be. It would get all over my clothes, the carpet each time I let her out of the kitchen to go outside, possibly all over the walls if she leaned against them, and also I don't know if I'd ever get it out of her fur.

I woke her up from a nap tonight to give her her pills and she was kind of groggy at first, but then got really rambunctious and started to get in one of her chewing moods. She grabbed onto my sleeve and tried chewing my arm too!

Then she jumped on her stuffed aquirrel as if it were a real one that she was trying to kill.

The Carmella-cam is down again and I had to write the hosting service to see what could be done to get it working again. Since I have the free account they might take 4-5 days to respond. I hope it will be up and running again soon.

The little duckling died over the weekend. I was really bummed because he was starting to get quite tame. He had begun to stick his head out of the bars of the cage to greet me every time I came into the computer room, and was able to stay on my open hand that last day without trying to run. One morning I woke up and went in to check on him and found him lying completely still in his cage. I picked him up and saw he was not breathing and that he was cold.

He had eaten heartily the night before and was very active. There was no clue that he was going to die anytime soon. I am beginning to think maybe his mother abandoned him because he had something wrong that I couldn't see by looking at him. It may have been a genetic defect of some internal organ.

The last day of his life I took some more pictures of him luckily.

I had really hoped he would make it and I would be able to raise him.

Rest in peace, little guy. :(

Back to some happy news; I finally sold something after a slow period. Promoting for the previous weeks had been like breaking rocks with little result. Oddly, it was when I'd almost turned my attention away that it came in, but it seemed to happen while I was renewing things that had expired. I checked my Etsy store after walking away from the computer to do somethng else and then coming back, and found that my number of sold items said 82! When I checked to see which piece sold I found that it was a pair of my Haiku Earrings. The pair I sold had Variscite rondels, but my last pair has frosted Amethyst. At only $8.50 just about anybody can afford them.

This line is just perfect for Earth Day, with natural wood and genuine gemstone!

It is simple yet still retains the elegance I strive for in all my pieces. If you have not bought from me before and would like to make use of my 20% off Repeat Customer Appreciation Sale, you could buy these at full price and then use your discount on something more substantial! Just imagine what you could save on one of my Budding Vine bracelets for instance!

I also finished a necklace recently using a Blackberry leaf and set a Citrine cab in it.

Here is it in it's entirety, with a hand-made patterned bail, and lovely flat link chain with a Bali sterling hook.

Buy your mother a gift she will cherish forever!

http://Giftbearer.etsy.com

Wear Something PurrfectlyDevine

Victorian Crystals Bracelet - $25.00
Sworovski crystals, glass pearls, and daisy spacers, and large memory wire (2 1/4" diameter instead of 2" diameter)

Purrfectlydevine is owned by a woman in York, PA who is a Special Education teacher by day and works in a grocery store deli part-time, and is a beader by night. Her co-workers encouraged her to start selling her work when they saw some of the things she’d made, and her friends and family have been supportive of her interest.

She also crochets, and is considering adding some of those items to her online store along with her jewelry, and there are currently a few other craft items available.

Victorian Inspired Necklace and Bracelet - $45.00
A set made with Rose-colored Swarovski crystal in 2 sizes, small green pearls, and larger mauve pearls. All metal is sterling silver. The necklace measures 18 1/4" (46.4 cm) long, and the drop is 1 1/4" (3.1 cm) long. The bracelet is 7 5/8" (19.4cm) long. Both pieces close with a spring ring clasp.

The next piece is clever! The design is very simple but clearly looks like 3-leaf clovers the way the glass beads are arranged on the chain.

Irish Necklace - $60.00
A Gold-plated chain with faceted emerald green Czech crystal glass beads

**************************************Be sure not to miss her weekly sale, FABULOUS FRIDAY FRENZY — Every Friday from 12:01am to 11:59pm Etsy time (Eastern US Standard time), take 15% off the selling price of any item in her shop that is not already reduced (such as EBTW items). Shipping will not be discounted 15%. Put FFF in notes to seller.
**************************************

To see what else she has check out her Etsy online store;
http://purrfectlydevine.etsy.com

If you’d like to keep up with this seller’s current activities, be sure to read her blog;
http://purrfectlydevine.blogspot.com/

Branding, Brazilian Style

Isa Style Pastel Necklace - $334.00
Triple-strand with more than 180 carefully chosen beads: Jablonex glass beads,Vintage crystal, mother of pearl, murano style glass beads, swarovski rondelles and bicone beads, Cloissones, Venetian square silver beads, gold-plated clasp. Measures:
1st strand- 42 cm2nd strand- 45 cm3rd strand- 50 cm

Contasbrasil, a multi-pronged network of online stores, and a more recently added boutique, is owned by two sisters from the city of Curbita, capital of the state of PARANÁ, in the south of Brazil. Suzy Wortberg and Bebê de Soares, and a third artist, Suzy’s best friend Ana Paula Vilas Boas (creator of The Waterfall Necklaces) make jewelry for the enterprise. The most recent addition to the close-knit group was Sandra Fukelmann with her unique doll bags after Suzy shared a stand with her at the fair CPD in Düsseldorf.

Suzy makes the following, just to name a few: Santinha-Pastel Colour, Beads Allerei, Chanel Lovers, Isa Style Pastel, BlacknBlack, Green/Lavender Fields. Bebê's makes Shades of (all of them), Onyx and Nude, and Volcano.

Bebê made the necklace called I Love Pearls.

On November, 15th, 2007 Suzy opened their new brick and mortar store in Cologne. While she was taking care of the renovation of the shop, her sister Bebê was busily promoting it on the web. To make her new shop a "must visit" when tourists come to Cologne, Suzy decorated the walls with coconut shells and the fabric that they use as a bag for their necklaces (called chita). Now that the majority of the preliminary work is completed Suzy hopes to have more time to network.

Currently the new store sells only ContasBrasil jewelry and Doll bags, and until now has been the only store in Germany to carry them.

It all happened a bit more than two years ago” says Suzy. “I was already living in Germany for 13 years with my husband and daughter, and had finished my ballet Dancing career. As a Christmas present, I got a beautiful necklace from my best friend Ana Vilas Boas, who lives in Brazil. She is an Architect and we’d danced ballet together. It was a piece made by her. She had never done jewelry before, but just for fun, started to make some and give them to her friends. I was fascinated by her talent! I asked her to make 4 other pieces so maybe I could show them to my friends in Germany.”

Back home in Germany Suzy looked at her jewelry box, took some pieces that were broken and some others that she was a bit tired of wearing, carefully chose some of the beads, and decided to give it a try herself. She created her first necklace and once she started she was captivated by this new excitement she felt as the beads were strung onto the nylon thread (the only thread she knew to use at that time.That very first necklace she made was similar to the necklace Beads Allerei, and the very first one she ever sold! After that, she began selling Ana Paula's work with hers.

Then came the name of the shop, Contas, which is an old Portuguese name for all kinds of beads, and the logo. She described how she wanted it to look and her husband drew it. Bebê was then an actress, living in Sao Paulo at that time (actually she was in Germany before Suzy moved there, and then moved with her German husband and kids for 6 years in Brazil). After 4 months of selling very well but mostly to friends and family, someone told Suzy she should try a fashion fair.

“Bebê, who was then moving back to Cologne helped me a lot” said Suzy, “ because she could buy beads and Brazilian stones for the collection in Brazil and also look for someone that could make our folders, banners, etc for the fair. Here in Germany it can be immensely expensive!” Bebê got so involved with everything that even she began to make some necklaces. A bit embarrassed, she told Suzy she would like to send some pictures of her work. “I couldn't believe my eyes” Suzy exclaimed, “especially when I saw them (come to) life! And that's how everything happened...”

Bebê and Suzy currently live in Cologne but they fly once or twice a year to Brazil where their large family lives.

ContasBrasil became a full time job for Suzy. Bebê started rehearsing for a new theater play a month ago, but still manages to make wonderful pieces for the new shop. She is continuing to promote the shop on the web, and plans to keep making jewelry for Contas.

Ana Paula still works as an Architect in Brazil but never stopped creating her beauties for the business.

After the fair, Bebê’ and Suzy placed work in 15 shops in Germany. After that Suzy set her sights on opening her own shop. “Four shops are still selling our work, and now that my big dream became reality, I can plan the fairs again.”

Suzy remembers an early experience with a particularly promising and interested customer.

“My very first client at the fair was someone from Japan. I was very impressed by that. In the end we never managed to make big business with them because we make everything ourselves and the pieces are unique. So it became impossible to fulfill the expectations of the Japanese...But this shop now is my big success! I have to say thanks to Bebê’s perseverance; whenever some technical problem would appear, she was immediately looking on (the) internet for a solution, better material, new methods; our work improved a lot!

I think my mother's perfectionism in her work (she has a ballet school in Brazil) and my father's great communication talent to people (he is an Ophthalmologist) were somehow a big influence to the quality of work we are delivering. We experience a great amount of positive feedback not only because of the beauty of our jewelry, but also the way we transmit what is behind this work; our Brazilian identity.”

The most expensive piece they’ve sold was one of Bebê's necklaces, a very exquisite design, with a big yellow Agate, Brazilian seeds, Lapis Lazuli, and Swarovski crystal. The buyer was so enchanted by the piece that price was no object!

Although up until now ContasBrasil has only produced beaded jewelry, Suzy and Bebê plan to learn soldering to expand their repertoire of techniques.

In preparation for the coming holiday season Bebê is making X-Large necklaces, Ana Paula, the Pernambuco Collection (Pernambuco is a State in Northeast Brazil, very warm and colorful, where she spent her last Holidays), and Suzy is busy working with metals and stones.


BluesnBlues Waterfall - $58.00
A lovely Murano style Millifiori central bead and different blue beads, tons of wood, glass, acrylic and crystal beads.


Murano Style Bead 24mm X 14mm - $8.00
Turquoise color with large holes that run through the middle, top to bottom. 35% OFF


FLOR DOLL BAG- $218.00
Tall: 20cm/7.90 inches Wide: 27 cm/10.60 inches

ContasBrasil has done a great job of selling its exotic cultual image, a growing practice in business once frowned-upon but now recognized as a very savvy and effective marketing practice. It is a beautiful example of how diversity can be an assett rather than a liability, a perfect way to celebrate a heritage and a means through which to educate the public on the value of preserving culture in modern society.

Be sure to check out both of their online Etsy stores:
http://contasbrasil.etsy.com
http://contascoeln.etsy.com/

Their other website:
www.contasbrasil.de

and to learn more about what they’re doing, take a look at her blog:
http://contaskoeln.blogspot.com/

Doing the Twist

Fruity Anklet- $25.00
Pastel colored pearls, and faceted Czech rondelles, 9 ½” with 1 inch extender

Sweetirie was started in 2005 and the name came from the artist’s cat’s name which means Supreme Joy.

Bursting with pearls of all kinds, the passion for this kind of work is evident and many of the pieces incorporate various dangles painstakingly wrapped with sterling silver wire.

The ring below has wire that wraps around a large central pearl in a flowing way that creates the look of movement, swirling around it like waves following the contours of the beach.

Pearlized Ring- $9.00
8mm cream pearl, ring 6.5" but can be made to custom size

This design uses an interesting way of wrapping seven pearls together. This simple but very artsy shape creates a subtle taper which gets very gradually larger at the bottom. This slight shift away from the outline of the pearls adds extra interest to the piece and the whirlwind of wrapping at the top adds contrasting texture to the smooth lines of the rest of the piece

Teresa Silver Earrings- $22.00
Wire-wrapped pearls with non-tarnish sterling silver

Her Saturday Nite earrings use the same kind of simplicity and cleverness with a minimum of lost motion.

Saturday Nite Earrings- $22.00
Wire-wrapped Peacock Pearls

The artist is a member of FEST (Florida Etsy Street Team), and Etsybead.

If you don’t see exactly what you want she will take custom orders.

To see more of this jewelry artist’s work, go to:
http://sweetirie.etsy.com

Or check out her blog;
http://www.sweetirieoriginals.blogspot.com