Ahhh.....quiet.

I hope everyone had a happy, happy holiday! We had a houseful over Christmas and it was a lovely time. Everyone is gone now and I'm kind of enjoying a little quiet time. It's back to reality and I really can't tell you how excited I am for 2010. Have I already said that? Well, whatever...I repeat, I think it's going to be a good year. I also have a sneaking suspicion it's going to be an eventful one. I'm not sure what's in store, but I just have this funny feeling that a lot is going to happen.

As far as Erin Jane Designs goes, I've been working on a list of things to do this year. First up, some branding updates - a little logo change, color palette update, etc.... I think I'll be ready to share concepts really soon :). I actually might need a little help deciding on some things.... Next, a bunch of boring organizational things that I won't go into (you're welcome). And, of course, I'm working on lots of new designs. I'm dying to have a full day in my studio - no interruptions. I need to recover some brain cells (too much sugar and booze the last several days) before I'm able to do that.

I'll leave you today with picture of a very cool Christmas gift from my talented brother in law. He drew a comic of my hubby and I on the Seattle waterfront...check out my butt...pretty nice.

Secret

If you are my husband, stop reading! If you know my husband and can't keep a secret...stop reading! Unless you want to ruin Christmas.

OK, now that they are all gone, I can tell you about a couple of my husband's gifts. I usually stay away from handmade gifts for the hubby - not really his thing. But, this year is a little different. I decided to make him some cufflinks and a money clip - he has recently ditched the wallet and just carries cards. I think he's going to really like them!! So, here we go...

For the cufflinks, I texturized thick silver sheet and cut out squares. I polished up my squares and soldered them on to sterling silver cufflink components. Cool, huh? And, totally manly... :)

The money clip was lotsa, lotsa fun to make. I cut a 7/8" x 4" piece of 20 ga silver, rounded the edges, sanded and polished up the edges and then the fun part...I drug the piece of silver perfectly straight across a piece of super coarse sandpaper (a few times - with lots of pressure), then drug it the other way to give it a cross hatch pattern. I bent it around a mandral, gave it a good hammering with a plastic mallet and...voila!

After Christmas, I definitely plan on adding these to my Etsy shop - plus work on a few new designs. I think they are pretty cool. And, I think guys will think they are pretty cool too...

You might have noticed my initials on the corner of the last photo...A few weeks ago I ordered this fancy stamp with my initials so I can stamp my pieces. I just got it in the mail a week or 2 ago. The stamp comes out beautifully! I still feel a little shy about adding my initials to my jewelry. I'm not sure why, but I AM sure I will get over it :) I mean, look how pretty it looks!

Ramping Up...for Christmas and 2010

Well, more neglect. I do apologize. However, I am still recovering. I even made a visit to the doctor! It turns out I have bronchitis. And, a case of pink eye...eyes...both of them. Which is why I went to the doctor in the first place. I thought only little kids got that. For some reason I was sort of embarrassed that I had it. :) Feeling better, but definitely not great. I had a busy week last week and it felt so good to be making so much jewelry! I'm really happy with the sales I had over Christmas. It was quite fun to be so busy.

A lot of bloggers out there are talking about this NY Times article about selling on Etsy. Even though I'm not surprised by anything in the article, it still got me excited about 2010. There's been a lot of sketching going on at my house lately. I've been making a lot of jewelry lately, but not many new designs, so I'm so excited for January. I hope to go nuts with new stuff!

In the meantime, it's all Christmas prep for the next couple days. My dad is coming to town and we will have 11 over for Christmas dinner. Should be fun. Dinner menu follows:

- Pear, blue cheese, candied pecan salad

- Roasted beet soup
- Mushroom risotto
- Thyme popovers
- My FAMOUS Garlic rosemary mashed potatoes
- Panetone bread pudding with cinnamon sauce

I'll post recipes soon. Still perfecting a few... :)

Where have I been?

I guess it's not too unusual for me not to post for several days, but I've been trying to be better about it and getting one out every day or every other day. Well, anyway, things have been busy and I've been yucky sick. Ugh. I'm not a good sick person. I complain...a lot. I might even whine a little. Worst of all, my brain doesn't work and it's not good for me to try and hold conversations. But, I think I've been pretty productive this last week all things considered.

I somehow rallied yesterday after wrapping, packing and sending out all of our out of town gifts AND all my jewelry orders from over the weekend. We had tickets to see Santa Baby by the Seattle Men's Chorus. Oh my gosh, it was fun. Beautiful music, hilarious skits, just overall insanely entertaining and festive. We went with some friends and we all decided it should be our new Christmas tradition. So, Seattleites - if you can't make it this year, make sure you do next year...

Well, I'm off to rest some more and hope for a healthier tomorrow. I'm having about 10 girlfriends over here for a little Christmas party tomorrow evening, so I better be feeling GREAT! :)

The making of a Ruffle Ring

I've been making a few Ruffle Rings lately. I love making this ring. Each one is just a little different and I fall in love with each one. Yesterday while making some, I decided to take some process photos. It's harder than I thought! I really have a hard time breaking out of my groove to stop and take a photo. I really admire all those artists out there that do this and share their expertise with other artists. I think it's so fun seeing how people work - like all art, there isn't just one way to do something, so it's fun to see everyone's process - and secondly, I love to pick up some tips. So I hope I can help someone out there! Here's a peek at what it's like to make a Ruffle Ring:

First, I use one of these to hand cut 3 different size discs...

Like this...

Then, I hand form each disc until they are "ruffled" to my liking.

I then take my 3 ruffled discs, flux them, and stack them so that there are several contact points between all the individual ruffles - to insure they all stay firmly together once soldered. I use medium solder and place little pieces of it near all the contact points. Now, it's time to solder! I heat my brick up mostly and then watch for my solder to flow. I throw my perfectly imperfect ruffle into the pickle and make a ring for whatever size my order is for (oops, forgot pictures of that...sorry).

I sand down a little flat spot on my ring, again, for a larger (hence, stronger) contact point for my ruffle. Flux everything. Then, I use my third hand to hold the ring on top of the ruffle, place a piece of easy solder between the band and the ruffle and solder.

Once soldered, my ring looks like this. Yuck, huh? Back to the pickle for cleaning.

Now, it's been pickled and just needs to be finished. I use a radial sanding disc with a pretty high grit to give the ring an all over sanded finish. Because, although I love the ruffle, I don't want it to be too pretty. I like to add a little roughness to it.

And here is the finished product...

Oh, and of course, you can also find it here :)

A day in the studio feels good

Ahhh, finally I have a full day of jewelry making! Such a great feeling. A full day only because I have a cold and am moving about 30% slower than usual. I have a little cloud in my brain today and I'm trying to listen to fun music to get me moving a little faster. The funny things is...the song I keep listening to is "Sleepyhead" by Passion Pit. Which is actually exactly what I am today. If there was a song called "You have 10,000 things to do today and you're moving really slowly for someone with so much to do" I would be listening to that.

Here's my little pile of goodies going out in the mail tomorrow morning. There's still time to order for Christmas! Plus, that whole free shipping thing I'm offering...get shopping!

As for our household's Christmas prepping update, the house is decorated, the tree is up, the hot cocoa mix is made, the peppermint bark is made, cookies baked...just a few things left to do!

Oh, and this is so sad. Kyra has had these antlers for about 10 years - since her first Christmas, I think. And this is what Lulu did to them today...bad girl.

A weekend of holiday goodness

Oh, where do I start?! Our adventure cutting our own pesticide-free tree down at Miss Becky's? Vanilla extract making with my sister? We did it all this weekend! Tree decorating. Wreath finding. Dog bathing. Christmas baking. Recipe testing for Christmas dinner. I'll just share a couple moments...

It was our first time cutting our own tree and I have to say I might never buy a pre-cut one again...so much fun. It felt so much more Christmas-y to go out in this farm and pick your tree and cut if yourself. Plus, it was a simply gorgeous day. The sun was shining, there wasn't a cloud in the sky and it was cold! I know! Seattle?! Sunny and cold? Weird.

The woman who owned the farm - Miss Becky - was hilarious! It took us at least 40 minutes to give her our money for the tree. It's a long story, but we basically chased her around to try and get her to take our money and we finally just laid our cash on a table and said, "Well, we'll just leave this here for you..." and left without getting change. It's not that she didn't want it, she was just like a little puppy - so distracted by anything. She would just disappear in mid sentence.

We didn't quite finish decorating the tree last night. OK, fine...we barely started. Anyway, I hope to finish tonight and take some photos of our lovely little tree. But, it's up and ready for some love!

Sunday my sister and I made vanilla extract for some Christmas gifts. Sorry to ruin the surprise for some of you :). I got the idea and recipe from Bethany Actually - you can see the process and directions there.

But, basically you just cut a couple vanilla beans in half for each bottle you are making, stick the beans in the bottle, fill with vodka and let them sit for a month or so. They turned out adorably! It was such a fun project. I made our labels in Word and even though I am certainly not a graphic designer (hence creating them in Word), the labels are super cute.

Last, but not least, it's so wonderful to have fluffy, fuzzy, clean and sweet smelling dogs once again. Kyra and Lulu say hi...

Christmas cards

I got my Christmas cards the other day! I'm so excited. They are beautiful and made by Smock Paper, they also have an Etsy shop. Smock prints on sustainable, pesticide-free bamboo paper and run their shop on wind energy. 1% of their proceeds goes to For the Planet - so it's just hard not to feel good about not making my own cards this year and sending these beauties out instead. Also, you HAVE to see their wrapping paper - oh my gosh, gorgeous...

I'm trying to stay distracted by all the decorating, baking, gifting, and crafting that I have coming up this month. I do love this time of year for all those reasons. But, I was hoping to be busy in my studio with lots of orders. Holiday sales for Erin Jane Designs just aren't what I thought they would be...maybe all those last minute shoppers will still come flooding in :). In the meantime, I still have the house to decorate, the tree to trim, the crafts to make and the goodies to bake! Every year my sister and I have our annual holiday crafting day. Sunday is the day and this year our gift is homemade vanilla...I'll post pictures soon. Should be a fun project. I have a few more up my sleeve too - I'll wait to spill the beans on those later!

Have a happy weekend!

*photos care of Smock

My adorable advent calendar

Ok, so it's not fancy, but I think our advent calendar is adorable. We put it on our fireplace so we see it everyday.

Here's what we did:

1. Cut 24 3"x6" pieces of X-mas themed papers

2. Fold them in half

3. Put the dates on the front - I found some stick on numbers and put them on sort of randomly. When I ran out of the stick on ones, I just used a marker to print the rest :)

4. Print out you list of activities on address labels. I used the Avery 8160 template - they fit perfectly in the 3" square, but use what you like. And, of course, you can totally just write in there, but printing was faster and my handwriting is horrid.

5. Randomly stick your activities inside the cards. We had several planned out activities that we had to do on certain days, weekends, or what not, but try to keep it random - it's silly fun.

6. Cut ribbons to go around the card to keep them shut. A little over a foot each.

7. Put double sided tape on the back of each card, over the ribbon, so it stays in place and stick on your fireplace, or wherever!

Oh, and it sure is getting fun - and it's only the 2nd of the month! We had an easy one yesterday - "get a new Christmas CD". We got the Nutcracker...so looking forward to that. Today's was pretty hilarious. It was "open a gift". Well, I don't know about the rest of you, but I haven't gotten much shopping done quite yet. I guess that's what's so fun about this calendar - you just don't know what's coming, so it makes things pretty entertaining. So, today while I was grabbing some wrapping paper, I looked around for something for the hubby. I can hardly describe how hard this man is to shop for. Doesn't like anything (well, maybe a few things!), doesn't want anything, doesn't need anything...I have had a few triumphs over the years, but also a few failures. I'll let you know what he thinks about his wine thermometer some other time :(. Yep, I said wine thermometer. It was last minute!

A treasury...now front page!

My beautiful ruffle treasury made it to the front page early this morning! How cool is that?! I'm sorry I slept through it, but one of the designers that I featured was nice enough to tell me about it. I don't have a screenshot yet, but I do have an archive so you can at least see what was featured (they moved a couple things around - enough where I didn't get any credit :(...). Here you go!

13.1 miles...finished

Well, we did it! 13.1 miles yesterday. Everything went great - no need to walk, the knees held out, weather was fine - all in all, a great day. We ended up getting to the race pretty late. It's weird enough to drive somewhere just to run for 13 miles, but to get stuck in traffic for 45 minutes and watching people walk by while your stuck is even stranger. Well, we finally got to the start line and I tried to mosey my way over to the fancy port-a-potties, but no one would let me through! Needless to say, I had to start the race with a full bladder and after one mile, I stopped and waited in line for at least 20 minutes to use the potty. Horrible. I was so antsy! I just wanted to RUN! I watched the last of the last runners and walkers go by by the time my turn was up. It took me the rest of the run to catch up to anyone that was running my pace. I finished in 2:16, but next time I plan on beating 2hrs. Use the bathroom before the start is my new rule.

I'm pretty sore today, but happy :).

Have a happy Cyber Monday and don't forget to SHOP!

A treasury!

So, those of you who aren't regular Etsians, well, you should be, but anyway, the Treasury is an ever-changing, member-curated shopping gallery of handpicked items. Members can feature their favorite items, items selected on a theme or just whatever they like. If "popular" enough, your treasury can be featured on Etsy's home page. And, I made my first one today! It was pretty fun and I can see that it could get addicting pretty easily. Anyway, here's mine. Leave me a comment and click around on the images...it helps get it "hotter" (more popular)....

Thanksgiving and Sale

I don't know about all of you, but I'm recovering from yesterday's overload of food, but still feeling very thankful. Just 2 more days until we run our half marathon and then my thankfulness will really be over the top :).

I wanted to give you some promotional codes for your holiday shopping with Erin Jane Designs. Here's how it's going to work:

25% off your ENTIRE order on http://www.erinjanedesigns.com from now until December 19th! Type the code "HOLFACE09" in the "promo code" box on the homepage to receive your discount.

__________________________

Buy One, Get One half off in my Etsy shop from now until December 19th! - http://www.erinjanedesigns.etsy.com. Type "Facebook Holiday" in the "notes to seller" when you check out and you will receive your refund via Paypal.

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving and here are just a few more designs you'll find in my Etsy shop all ready for the shopping season!

Holiday FREE shipping

A pre Black Friday and Cyber Monday heads up for you all! I'll be offering free domestic shipping and $2 international shipping through December 31st in my Etsy shop and my Erin Jane Designs website. It starts today, so go get your goodies now!

Noooo...you can't eat these.

I just got LOADS of new insanely gorgeous stones! I honestly can hardly contain my excitement. Don't they just look edible and incredibly tasty? You are looking at Smoky Quartz, Obsidian, Sunstone, Chalcedony, Crystal Quartz, Labradorite, Tourmalated Quartz, Rutilated Quartz, Amazonite, Star Quartz, Pyrite Quartz, Manifest Quartz, Amethyst, Moonstone, Charoite, Rhodonite, Aquamarine...the list goes on! Well, I will update you with my new creations soon. In the meantime, enjoy the pretty colors.

The Holidays....are here!

I can hardly believe it! The holidays are here! I think they come earlier each year...

Today I saw a super cute idea that you must check out by Jordan Ferney for an advent calendar. December 1st is rapidly approaching and I want one too! I have a rough list of some things for Hubby and I to do. Most of my ideas have to do with eating and drinking so far...hmmm, oh well. Here's a little sample:

1. Make a GOOD spiced wine and drink it by the fire

2. Make massive amounts of my now famous peppermint bark

3. Find (or make!) a new ornament for the tree that will forever remind us of this past year.

Lots more to go and I won't bore you with all of them.

One another note, here are a few new items that I just put in my Etsy shop. Can you say holiday party PERFECT?!!

Half marathon ready?

In 2 weeks I'll be running my first half marathon! Hubby and I signed up several months ago and now it's right around the corner. I'm a pretty regular runner and have been for quite a while. However, once it came time to start training a month or so ago I, of course, hurt myself. I never really figured out what is wrong, but I think I just have "runners' knee". After running downhill I get this crazy pain in my knee - like its going to buckle underneath me - and I just have to stop running. Insanely frustrating. So, I haven't really been talking about the marathon since I wasn't even sure if I would be able to run it. For the last few weeks I've been running only on the treadmill and on flat courses trying to heal my knee. But...today was SUCCESS! It was the first 10 mile run I've done in months and although I'm a bit sore, I didn't have to stop and my fears of not being able to finish the half marathon are just about gone. It felt great! It was pouring rain (just like it probably will be in a couple weeks) and pretty fricking cold.

I got some new gear from Lululemon the other day to prepare for running in the rain and since I agreed to do some product testing for them - I got this fantastic jacket for free! What?! That kind of stuff never, ever, ever happens to me. I am so excited.

I love it. It's super comfy, keeps me totally dry and is just warm enough. And, I have to say, its way cuter in person.

Anyway, wish me luck with my further training and knee health :)

Front Page of Etsy!

My Crystal Quartz Ring made it to the front page of Etsy today! It's a first for me...I'm so excited!

Oh! And new items to share...

Here are a few new things going up in my Etsy shop. I hope to get them all posted tonight. I really want a packed shop in anticipation for the holidays coming up. I will also post my holiday code for discounts and let you know the scoop on that in the coming days...

Vitamin D in Sedona

Hubby and I decided to take a quick weekend getaway to Sedona for some much needed Vitamin D before the Pacific Northwest winter really takes over. We got back last night and our trip was fantastic. The SUN was fantastic. Indescribably beautiful in Sedona. Pictures just don't suffice, but I will share some anyway :). Even though the airline lost our luggage for a full day (we were only there 2...) we had a great time. Our room at L'auberge was crazy! A little cottage with an outdoor shower and sunny deck. We got a great deal on the room since they are doing renovations, but we didn't even notice. For just being there a couple days, we did and saw it all!

Our absolute favorite thing was our trail run up Broken Arrow trail to Submarine Rock. I was a little worried about the altitude, but trail running is so fun and it was so gorgeous, I didn't even notice if I was tired or not. Of course I didn't have my camera with me since we were running, but I don't think I'll ever forget the views.

I have to say I am happy to be home. Normally, I want to stay wherever we vacation for...well, ever. I missed good food though!! Southwest cuisine is not my thing. Burgers everywhere! Fried this, fried that, green peppers and onions on everything. Every place we went had an identical menu. I finally found fresh halibut from Alaska the last night and was pretty happy. What a food snob I am. Now it's time to detox all the grease out of me...

Enjoy the photos!

Weekend Deals on Etsy - Buy one, Get One!

Gosh, I feel so car salesman-y.... But, I am holding a Buy One, Get One Free sale in my Etsy shop this weekend. For every item you buy, you get these earrings free. Just enter "weekend deal" in the "Notes to Seller" during checkout. So, get some holiday shopping done!

There are TONS of Etsy sellers doing the same all weekend long. Click Here for just a sample. You can also search "weekend deals" on the home page and get a ton more results of shop owners offering Buy One, Get One deals.

Have a great weekend!

Quiet night...

Well, a super busy week came to an end...all the family is gone - even my hubby is gone out of town. So, it's just me and the dogs and a seriously delicious dinner. I thought I would treat myself to a bit of a naughty dinner tonight...butternut squash pasta with brown butter. A couple weeks ago, hubby and I went to a little restaurant, La Medusa, and had a delicious dinner. I had a pumpkin pasta and just had to try and recreate it. Now, I'm no recipe writer, but I will do my best....

BUTTERNUT SQUASH PASTA AND BROWN BUTTER

Ingredients

1/2 butternut squash

1 shallot - diced

1 clove of garlic

small handful of sage leaves

dash of nutmeg

2/3 cup of ricotta

1/3 cup yogurt

Olive oil

salt and pepper

2 TBSP butter

pasta sheets

freshly grated parmesan

Directions

Preheat oven to 425

Peel the butternut squash and cut into small bite size pieces. Toss with a little olive oil and salt and pepper and roast for about 30 minutes.

While the butternut squash is roasting, saute the shallot and sage leaves for about 5 minutes, adding the garlic at the last minute or so. Cook your pasta according to the package. I used lasagna sheets, but I would have liked to use fresh pasta sheets. They are shorter and wider and just seem cooler. However, if you are less lazy than me, you could make ravioli too.

Stick the shallot mix and butternut squash in a food processor and add the ricotta, nutmeg and yogurt. Puree and add salt and pepper to taste.

Put the butter in a saute pan on medium to medium high for a few minutes until it starts bubbling and turns brown.

Place a couple pasta sheets in a bowl and add some of the squash mixture. Top with the brown butter and parmesan. Enjoy.

New Goodies!!

I've spent the last couple days making bezels, setting stones, filing, sawing, polishing...Whee! So, here they are....Look for these new goodies in my Etsy Shop in the next couple days. I will hopefully have time to post them super soon. More jewelry tomorrow and a super fun weekend coming up. My mom will be here and it's my sister's birthday, so lots of good stuff coming up!

Oh, and check out the pink Opal ring in the middle...remember that stone?? Oh my gosh, I am in love with it...

Studio Song

So, the White Denim album "Fits" just came out today - so now I can finally download my new favorite song - "Regina Holding Hands" - perfect for a day in the studio. Go ahead and take a listen - make sure to give the song 1 minute and 20 seconds and you'll fall in love...

I'm hoping to take some photos of all the goodies I've been working on in the next couple days...so keep your eyes peeled for those on my blog and in my Etsy Shop. Then, Thursday my mom comes for a visit - Hi Mom! (She's the only person who reads my blog, I think :). A good couple weeks coming up...

New stone setting projects

Ooooo...here are a few fun stones. I've been working on a few of them already. The big pink one is actually an Opal from Greece. I got it from a guy who got it from THE guy who found it and cut it in Greece. You will be surprised when you see what I'm doing with it...Oh, I love it! Then there are 3 Labradorite stones (1 bigger and round and the other 2 smaller and square), a Peruvian Opal - the triangular shaped one and then a Chrysoprase. It will be fun to show you what I do with them all! Wheeee!

A little blog love...

I had a really nice little blog feature this morning in the Seattle PI featuring my holiday collection! The blog is written by a gal who runs the Urban Fashion Network here in Seattle.

Very nice!

Now off to get my hair done. Nothing like a fresh cut and color...it's going to be a good day!

Launching my Holiday Collection '09

It's here! I am so excited to release and announce my Erin Jane Designs Holiday '09 Collection! It's only about 20 new pieces, but they are all FANTASTIC and so perfect for dressing up for the holidays, gift giving plus lots of basics for day or evening. Something for everyone! It's such a great feeling to have been able to include items that have soldered elements. For so long I've had design ideas that I've thought I can't do because I don't solder...well, not anymore! Yippee! I've been working so hard learning these new techniques and having even more fun. I'd love to hear from you on what you think of the new designs. Leave comments or email me at erin at erinjanedesigns.com.

Here's a little peek at what you'll see...

Metalsmithing and other new endeavors...

Wow, I've been so busy! A couple months or so ago, I decided to give metalsmithing a try. I've taken a couple classes before, but never really applied the things I learned in my own studio - thinking I couldn't have all that fancy equipment in my house, plus I wasn't ready or willing to spend the money. But, in fact, you can do a whole lot with some pretty basic tools...and a whole lot of patience. To refresh my memory, I bought a few books for reference and gave it a go. Oh! And YouTube! Good god there is a ton of cool stuff on there. Tutorials galore. I started with just some basics - soldering posts on to earrings, soldering circles and hoops closed, etc...I loved it! It was so satisfying. Since then I've set a few stones and even made a few rings! I can't even tell you how much fun I've been having. The items I've been making have been taking forever though. I'm used to pumping out tons of pieces of jewelry a day, but with some of these new techniques that I'm still a novice at, I can only get a few done a day - at the most :).

I'm also getting ready to release a small holiday collection for Erin Jane Designs. I'm hoping to get my photos finished, pricing done and launched on the website in the next couple weeks. I haven't released a new line since last spring, so I'm pretty excited. You'll see a lot of examples of my soldering...I couldn't really get enough. I'll keep you updated and also post some teaser photos :). Some seriously cool stuff.

One of my favorite (and most time consuming!) items I did recently, is this ring. I'll be putting it in my Etsy shop SOON! Here is a photo after I made the band, bezel and backplate and pulled it out of the pickle - plus the crystal quartz stone I would soon set. Then, the after...bling!!

I'm also working on a necklace setting - it's still a work in progress. Ugh, and it might be for a while. I'm having such a hard time polishing these little guys. I'm learning that there are still so many tools that I still need to make the job easier.

More to come soon...!