Baubles of Mine

I know, it's been awhile..and I'm sorry. With all my PTO duties, I've been sidetracked. Plus, last week was my 10th Wedding Anniversary and hubby had a beautiful day planned last Saturday.

Anyway, I've been acquiring some new baubles for my ears lately. Be it a purchase or finding a delightful Etsy SNS Secret. I'm really enjoying finding all these wonderful pieces of jewelry and I'm getting some great sales too. Alas, some of these sales are over but if you're an Etsy shopper..you need to peruse the "Promotion" section of the forums. That's where I find out about all these wonderful sales/contests etc. Today is Saturday and starting at 5pm you'll find the SNS sale thread on the Promotions forum.

One of the awesome sales I had found was a BOGO, buy one get one free, on earrings at Lilly Queen's store on Etsy. These one's on the left are Scroll & Berry cluster earrings. Pretty scrollwork and the maroon glass pearls set off the metal nicely. The other pair I bought were these on the right side and they're called Pina Colada. It's pretty white & honey jade on brass. I'm trying to find earrings of different colors, styles etc to go with any of my outfits. Just like a girl, isn't it.

I was able to pick these two beauties for only $9 YES FOR BOTH!

Prices for earrings at Lilly Queen are from $15 to $23. I actually like the simplicity of the designs. The colors and styles are simple, yet classic in design. Nothing too outlandish but just right.

This next pair of earrings I got are from Strands of Light on Etsy. These were a SNS Secret item. For those of you unfamiliar with the SNS secret...you can get one secret item per week and they generally are free or just the cost of shipping. You have to search through the store's listings to find the phrase "SNS Secret" or "Secret" somewhere in the listing. These I really like. The vintage glass beads hang from a copper ring on sterling silver. The glass beads are white with flecks of painted color. They are smaller in person (I was actually concerned they might be too big from the picture) but they are sweet and dainty. These earrings cost $23 normally. Earrings at Strands of Light range from $20-$30. If you like this style that I got, there are a few there right now that are very similar..just different beads.

These dainty lil gold ones come from Amanda Mackay's Etsy Store (she does have her own website with more jewerly). We've got glass pearls, crystal beads and freshwater pearls and gold-plated ear hooks. As you can see the pearls/beads are in varying shades of blue. These are very dainty and very feminine. They are very light on the ears (which I like cause my ears hate me if I wear anything too heavy) and easy to wear. Amanda's Etsy earrings run from $8 to $30 and there are some there now, similar in style (different colors, metals) to these that I have. These were another SNS secret I had found but originally cost only $6.

There are just so many options on Etsy! I spend hours just "window" shopping there. You can always find something new on Etsy.

Something Somewhere for Everybody

Jewelry is always a very personal choice. In my travels across the net, I've usually found something I like in just about every online Indie jewelry site. Whether it's earrings on one site or pendants on another..there's something somewhere for everybody. Here's some of my recent discoveries that I wouldn't mind having for myself (ahem..my birthday is coming and if any of my teachers are reading..so it volunteer appreciation week :-) )

Silver Dot Jewelry on Etsy is soo lucky..Judy Kaplan, the artist at Silver Dot was just recently featured on Good Morning America. I doubt that I can give her as good as publicity as GMA, but I can try. If you want to see the video, here's the link:

http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=4402853

It features several of her pieces..but you won't see the same ones here on my blog. I want to show you some of my favorites from her site.


This necklace features Amethyst (one of my favorite stones) and Smokey Quartz briolettes on a Sterling Silver Chain. I've been becoming fond of the briolette stones and I like the trio of stones. $28.50 is all this one costs. I like how the purple of the Amethyst plays off against the darkness of that Smokey Quartz.




The other piece that I like from Judy's site is this pair of Rose Gold Vermeil earrings with the Smokey Quartz stones.


The pink of the rose gold vermeil is striking against the quartz. Alas, these are reserved for a specific buyer so you can't buy them for me. $17.50 for these lil beauties.

Don't forget, we have our own special code at Silver Dot. Check out the new Coupon Code section in the right hand sidebar. Thanks Judy!

Another Etsy store that caught my eye recently is Kimberly Monaco Designs. I periodically peruse the forums, especially the Promotions forum. Every Saturday evening there are the Saturday Night Specials. And this Man in the Moon Necklace was pictured and I just love it. It's simple yet it just makes a statement.

Just $28!

Another piece I found via perusing the Etsy forums is this glass pendant (limited edition) from Laura at Talisman. There was a post on the forum that she was having a sale because of the evil insurance companies (regarding her daughter) and I wanted to help out. I'm like you though, I can't afford to buy too much at one time..but I really liked her work and the "LOVE" series. I've gotton so many compliments from my teacher friends over at my school. I bought this one on sale so I cannot guarantee you will find one like this at the same price. She was just at a craft show recently so alot of listings were pulled so she could bring them to the show. I'm just fascinated by her work. The uniques melding of colors in the glass is just beautiful. The photo really doesn't do it justice.


The one thing I can recommend is that you do a search thru the jewelry categories at Etsy. You can basically find anything and everything there. I love the unique designs that I find there. If I was only rich!!!!

Silk Duomo Earrings

Awhile back I was contacted by Carmela DiLeva who creates these beautiful Silk Duomo earrings. It's truly a unique jewelry that I personally have not see before.

Carmela creates these earrings by layering silk over hand hammered metals (first a hand-domed piece and later adds the hand-hammered sterling silver). Then she hand paints them using these brilliant French dyes. The hard part for her is to make sure that each piece matches it counterpart for a set of earrings..since she makes all of them by hand.

This set is called Four Square and the price is $48. I like these because they are so bright and colorful.

Here's a close up of the style that Carmela sent me. She was right on the money as I had just gotten in the mail, this beautiful red sweater I had ordered from Victoria's Secret. These earrings match perfectly. And even though they look like they're going to be heavy, they are light as a feather. Very easy on the earlobes and just very pretty to look at.

Here's a detail of how they look on the ear.

This red pair costs $40. In fact, other than the Four Square, the rest of Carmela's gems will run you $40.

Time is running out for that Christmas shopping. These earrings are that one of a kind gift so why don't you go and take a look at the rest of Carmela's designs at Silk Duomo Jewelry.