End of Summer Musings

Here it is past the middle of September, and the Autumnal Equinox will occur this coming Friday at 5:04 am EDT.  It is easy for me to remember this event because my older son and daughter-in-law got married on this date five years ago, and the recessional song at the end of the ceremony was Earth, Wind, and Fire's "September."

September is also bringing about some cooler weather for Texas and a few scattered showers here and there, although Stephenville has been the recipient of only about .25 inches last week.  A slight chance for more later this week.  Keep praying.

September is also bringing about some new jewelry in Nancy's Crystal Fantasies jewelry studio.  A few Halloween pieces, which could also be just harvest celebration pieces, have made their way into my collection, and now I am working on some fall pieces with fall colors.  I'm adding a lot of copper, which seems to really enhance the fall colors.  Football and team spirit jewelry is also increasing, and several custom orders have been and are being filled.  I have been a busy lady lately.

Here are pictures of some of the latest pieces.

Online Purchasing Without a Paypal Account

If you have had much experience with online shopping, you know that many sites prefer Paypal as the way to pay.  In fact, on some you can ONLY pay with Paypal.  But not everyone has a Paypal account and not everyone WANTS a Paypal account.  So what do you do?

There is a way you can make a purchase using a credit card through Paypal without opening a Paypal account. Here is a link to a page on Etsy that explains how to do this.

http://www.etsy.com/help/article/361

 

Hope this will help some of you in your online shopping experience.  Happy shopping!

200 Facebook Fan Giveaway Winner

We have a winner!  Ta Dah!  The winner is . . . . . . .

KLMNBogue

Her jewelry selection was selection 2-- the pearl, Swarovski crystal, and gold chain dangle earrings.  Congratulations!

There will be another giveaway when we reach 300 fans.  There are already 222 fans, so tell your friends who love beautiful jewelry to head over to my Facebook page and become a fan.  And please continue to follow my blog.  I try to post at least once a week, and sometimes there is interesting information about gemstones, how to care for jewelry, and some other topics.  I may even include some tutorials for some simple jewelry techniques.  So come back often.

Here is the winning piece for today's prize.

I'm Honored--The Liebster Award

I am so excited that Jules of Studio Jules wrote about my blog and one of my pieces.  It is such an honor and thrill to be noticed by others and have your creations written about.  Jules is a creator, too.  She designs quilts and has shops on ArtFire and Etsy that you need to visit.  After all, we WILL have cooler weather--hard to believe, I know--and you will be wanting a nice quilt to snuggle under.  Make a visit to her blog too.  She has some really interesting insights posted there, both personal and creativity related.  She has also just recently been awarded a Liebster Blog award by one of her blog readers, which means Favorite Blog, and she has passed it on to me.

The idea is to create a post with a link back and choose 5 other blogs with under 200 followers to do the same.  I'm hoping to capture a few followers and help others in the process...so here goes.

The Polished Peasant 

Graceline 

One Scraptastic Grandma 

Pink Fish Designs Jewelry 

Made by Tammy 

If you visit each blog and follow each one you like the numbers will increase dramatically and you will have made numerous new friends and contacts!

The Great 200 Facebook Fan Giveaway

Well, Facebook fans, we have reached the 200 fans mark, and to celebrate I am hosting a giveaway right here on my blog, since Facebook has some really strict, confusing rules about conducting giveaways on their site.  I have selected four pieces of my jewelry, shown in the four posts below, one of which will be given away to a Facebook fan.  Here are the rules for the giveaway.

1.     You must be a fan (like) of my Facebook page.  Names of entrants will be verified with the list of my fans.

2.     You must become a follower of this blog Treasure Chest of Handmade Jewels either through Google Friend Connect or Networked Blogs.  The follow buttons are both on the right hand side of this page.

3.     Post a comment about which one of the four selected pieces shown here you would like to win, telling why you want that piece and what attributes of it you like.

4.     One name will be chosen at random using random.org

5.     The winner’s name will be posted on this blog on September 9.  The winner must contact me by email (ncfjewelry@nctv.com), giving me her email and mailing address so that I can mail the prize to her.

6.     The contest will end on September 8.  No one who responds after the deadline will be considered for the giveaway.

Please do not make comments on Facebook.  Those comments cannot and will not be considered.

My email address is ncfjewelry@nctv.com.  If you have any questions, please send them in an email to me.

Selection 1--Long Crystal Earrings

These earrings dangle 3 inches from the top of the hypoallergenic French wire earhooks. Clear hexagonal crystals that are wire wrapped are suspended from the the bottom of the earrings. Above these crystals are square Celestial aurora borealis crystals that are enhanced with silver bead caps and a Czech cathedral crystal bead. A round filigree silver bead is at the top.

Selection 2--Pearl, Swarovski Crystal, and Gold Chain Dangle Earrings

White glass pearls, aquamarine Swarovski bicone crystals, and gold figaro chain were used to create these feminine and dressy dangle earrings. The pure white pearls are 11mm, while the aqua blue crystals are 4mm. Five strands of gold plated figaro chain are fastened to a hand wire-wrapped loop at the top of each pearl, which is topped with a gold plated filigree bead cap. The chains dangle below gold plated fishhook earwires with an overall length of 2 1/2 inches from the top of the earwire.

Selection 3--Black, Silver, and White Bracelet

This bracelet was designed using round black glass beads, sterling silver plated stardust beads, and iridescent white faceted crystals.  Iridescent seed beads were added as spacers, and a charm with a silver stardust bead, black Swarovski crystal, and iridescent seed beads dangles from the decorative toggle clasp.  The bracelet measures 8 1/4 inches long.

Selection 4--Green and Gold Bracelet

This bracelet is created with round, coin-shaped green marble stones, gold coin-shaped lampwork beads, gold rondelle czech crystals, and a green heart-shaped lampwork charm and crystal dangle.  I also added some seed beads as spacer beads.  The heart is securely attached to the bracelet with a wire-wrapped loop, and the crystal dangle is also wire wrapped.  The length of the bracelet is 7 3/4 inches.