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New stuff

It has been unseasonably warm for the past month or so here in Delaware. So warm that I enjoyed being outside–in January. I was secretly hoping for a snowstorm so I could hunker down at home and get some work done. Well, after being 60 degrees and sunny last week, it was gusty and freezing this weekend and we did have some snow blowing around. The result? I spent yesterday in my pajamas scanning the rest of my jewelry and updating the website. (e.g. the tornado-bead bracelet pictured here). This morning I did leave the house for church, but spent the better part of the day making samples for new classes and cleaning up my work area. I excavated a gorgeous strand of sapphires and a few half-finished projects, so that’s what I’ll be thinking about as I fall asleep tonight…

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Fresh sea glass

Yesterday morning I took Riley for a walk along the Delaware River. She pulls on the leash, which makes my hand hurt and prevents me from pumping my arms to get my heart rate up, so I tied it around my waist. This apparently appears to other walkers to be cheating (they chide me in passing); my response is that I’m not wearing roller blades so it’s not cheating.

The trail ends at a beach, so I let Riley take a sip (but not a dip) in the water. Meanwhile I found a few choice pieces of sea glass and, having no pockets, I made the decision to use her empty poop bag to collect it and hoped that nature wouldn’t call. I’ve been running low on cobalt blue, which is both the rarest and most popular, and found several pieces of it before I got cold and had to start back. Riley was back in the yard maybe a minute before nature called – whew! The photo is of yesterday’s bounty. That one piece is brown, not red, and you may notice several pieces of lavender. For more info about sea glass, click here.

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Classes & Galleries

Now that my orders are finished and I have a little more time on my hands, I I moved some things around on the AnneMade Jewelry website: class listings and the gallery pages.

I have some new classes starting in 2006, so keep the new class schedule page bookmarked to see when classes are scheduled: bangles, barrettes, earrings, rings, charm bracelet, and another wirework class. Also, if you click on a class title, it takes you to a photo and description of the class, including the materials needed.

I understand it can be difficult to tell if an item in the gallery is a necklace or bracelet without an accompanying description, so I divided the gallery into pages specific to each type of jewelry (necklaces, bracelets, earrings, and rings/barrettes). Hope this helps.

Merry Christmas, y’all!

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It’s beginning to feel a lot like Christmas

A big THANK YOU to everybody who stopped by during the open house on Saturday! I have a few more orders to complete and one more party to have and then my busy season is finished. Being a one-woman operation has advantages like having my own personal touch on each aspect of my business, but the downside to that is I am pretty busy at certain times of the year. Now that my events are almost over for the year, I’m looking forward to finishing my Christmas shopping and even doing a little Spring bead shopping.

One of my biggest challenges when I started to sell my jewelry is that I had to think ahead and visualize the “opposite” season. In the summer when I was sweltering in my studio (before the A/C was installed!), I had to think in terms of deep browns, reds, and greens. Then with snow on the ground and Christmas yet to happen, I’m working with pink, lavender, & lime. I realize that some people wear certain colors year-round, but a lot of my clients like to see seasonally-appropriate colors, and I have to begin making jewelry for the next season waaaay in advance so I have enough stuff to go around when the weather changes. Let me know if there’s a certain style or color combination you think I should try for Spring 2006!

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Ever wish you could clone yourself?

Hi, friends. I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! This week I’m working on special orders and new jewelry for some upcoming events, so I haven’t gotten around to scanning my stash and updating the site. I haven’t forgotten and I’m still planning to do that. Meanwhile, I’m trying to outsource my sleeping, cooking, and cleaning and so far my husband has been able to help out with the latter two (dear sweet man).

On Thursday evening I have been invited to participate in opening night of the Council of State Governments annual conference. It’s at the Chase Center in Wilmington so I know it’s big, but otherwise I have no idea what to expect.

I feel like Santa’s elf. Back to my workbench…

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Festival of Trees

If you’re wondering where I’ve been, I’ve been peddling my wares at various locations across the region. This weekend happens to be the Festival of Trees to benefit Delaware Hospice, and before that I was a guest vendor at a big company in Pennsylvania. I have a newfound respect for crafters who sell at festivals. After three days of sitting/standing by a table of my work and making small talk with visitors, I’m about through with this kind of selling. I love to sell wholesale to stores and have home parties because both of these are over in a few hours or less. I’d rather spend more time making jewelry than selling it! Stay tuned for the remainder of my new stuff to be loaded on the AnneMade Jewelry website after the dust settles from these festivals…

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1.21 Gigawatts

It’s not unusual for me to dream about beads, but last night I actually came up with this design while sleeping. My husband’s first remark was, “It’s like the Flux Capacitor.” Great Scott! Update 11/19: The lucky new owner of this necklace and it’s companion bracelet is Rosanne Fagan, owner of Polish Pottery Designs, Ltd. This gorgeous pottery is hand-decorated by artisans in Poland. Check it out, especially if you like cobalt blue!

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Almost Famous

The “Spotlight on Small Business” section of our newspaper features local entrepreneurs, and AnneMade Jewelry was featured in October. If you bring me a copy of the article, I might autograph it for you.