It's National Mutt Day and I love dogs! If you don't already know that, you will if you follow me on Facebook or Instagram.

We always get rescue dogs and right now we have 2 - Max (our little old man) and Bijou (the youngster). Max (a Westie aka West Highland White) is from Westie Rescue of OC. They do rescue mutts as well, but they focus mainly on Westies.  Bijou (a Schnauzer mix) is from Karmic Rescue.  I share pictures of both of them regularly since they're both so CUTE!

In honor of National Mutt Day I'm doubling my dog donation. Purchase from my Dog Collection before midnight PDT and I'll donate 20% of your purchase to Westie Rescue of OC. I normally donate 10% of Dog Collection purchases but, for all purchases today, I'm doubling that!! Just click on the products to buy. I have many more designs in the Dog Collection and I'll be adding more throughout the day. Buy some cute dog love earrings to help more fur babies find loving parents!

The Love Bone Earrings are customizable! You pick the gemstone or color of glass that you want for the hearts.

The Rescues Rock Necklace is one of a kind so grab it before it's gone!

Here's Bijou	and Max

Rescues Rock Necklace Yes that is a rock that I captured between copper.  It is held together with brass screws.  A one of a kind necklace to show you love rescues!

Love Bone Earrings I create the bones by hand by fusing argentium sterling silver, shaping it, hammering it and then polishing it.  You choose the heart you would like.  I have a variety of gemstones and glass colors to choose from.  You pick the heart that is perfect for you.

I Love ❤ My Person Brass Dog Bone Tag A fun tag you can hang on your dogs collar.  If you want a different message (maybe you want a tag for you?) send me an email and we can figure out a custom tag for you.

 

The Very Nice Group on Facebook had a challenge to come up with designs based on the colors and textures in this inspiration collage:





With this inspiration I had some fun making new designs.  These will be in my shop once the inspiration challenge finishes tomorrow.  In the meantime enjoy!

Earthy Shades - amethyst sage agate, artisan lampwork, freshwater pearls, yarn and sterling silver


Softly Sulfured Waters Earrings - artisan lampwork, Czech glass, crystal rhinestones, citrine and brass



Sunshine, Sunset Earrings - Bumblebee jasper, artisan lampwork, freshwater pearls, carnelian and sterling silver



Whispers of Blue Earrings - blue lace agate, artisan lampwork, freshwater pearls and gold fill

The foot at week 15 and the jewelry

A lot has happened since my last blog post!  I'm walking and, as of today, I can rise up on my toes!  Yep I celebrate the simpler things in life as I'm able to do them now.  I spent 6 weeks without putting any weight on my right foot (scootering around on my knee scooter) and then started to transition from walking in the boot to walking in shoes with lifts and now I'm transitioning to shoes with no lifts and barefeet!  Each transition takes some time for the muscles and tendons to get used to the new position.  Once I can walk with no pain and a decent distance with no lifts I can start gentle jogging for small amounts of time each day.  That's a little way in the distance.  I did want to share a before and after picture.  The bone spur (bulge) was pretty big before surgery!

As my foot has healed I've gotten back to making jewelry.  It is taking me a while to get back in the groove.  My creative stints are not as frequent, yet, as before surgery.  Here are some of my recent creations.  They haven't yet made it into my Etsy shop so if you're interested just go to my cserpentDesigns Facebook page and send me a message.

The Purple and The Green - amethyst, peridot and sterling silver

Purple Rose - Artisan lampwork and sterling silver

Palette on Black - Artisan lampwork, my own enameled on copper drops, aquamarine, Swarovski crystals, Czech glass and sterling silver

I'm working on new designs with some of the Mexican Purple Opal drops I got in Tucson in February!  Can't wait to share those with you!

New things to show!

Yowza! I haven't updated my blog in way to long. It's November already! OK - so I've been making new designs, selling them at online trunk shows and I'm getting ready to take some things up to the Fallbrook Art Museum for their Art of the Holiday show. I love making things for this show! I get to share my designs with a local audience and a portion of everything that sells goes to support the museum! Here are some of my recent creations ....

Blue Linen - Artisan lampwork, blue lace agate and sterling silver

Scarlet Lantern - Artisan lampwork, hematite and black rhodium plated sterling silver

Chocolate Wispies - Artisan lampwork, chocolate quartz and sterling silver

Dino-Mite - Dinosaur bone, etched glass and sterling silver

Vines and Flowers - Artisan lampwork, Swarovski crystals and gold filled

Sea Swirls - Artisan lampwork, Venetian glass, Swarovski crystals and sterling silver

    

Earring kick!

What can I say - I'm on an earring kick and, apparently, a blue kick.  I didn't notice until I gathered all my recent creations together that more than half are in blue.  Well - here are my recent creations - enjoy!

Aqua Venetian glass and sterling silver earrings

     Lava and hand forged argentium sterling silver earrings

AAA blue chalcedony, AAA pearls and argentium sterling silver earrings

Aqua and teal artisan lampwork, sea glass rings and sterling silver earrings

Golden pyrite and sterling silver earrings

I'll try to make something besides earrings in my next creative frenzy!

It's World Cup time!

OK - I admit it - I love soccer, I play soccer and I'm watching the first World Cup as I write (1-1 Brazil/Croatia right now if you're wondering what the score is).  I'll be rooting for the US as long as they last - hopefully into the next round but they are in a tough group!  And, since I also make jewelry I just have to share some of my soccer designs as well as some others - so enjoy!

Pink furnace glass soccer (futbol) bookmark

Soccer ball earrings - ceramic, Swarovski crystals and sterling silver

Soccer ball Iphone charm

Soccer peace crane

Hand crocheted soccer ball

Long time no post - love this post about opals!

Wow - I've been neglecting my blog!  Right now I'm rearranging my workspace and destashing a LOT of stuff I haven't used in years!  I'm amazed at the things I'm digging up and more amazed at the fact that I kept some of it so long.  Well - I may be neglecting my blog but Sharon of Shazzabeth Creations wrote a wonderful blog post about opals.  She included my oval opal earring stud in her post and I love the information she found about the Aboriginal history of opal.  Here is a picture of those opal stud earrings in my Etsy shop

Red and green flash opal and sterling silver

I used boulder opal in the designs for these two bracelets in my ArtFire studio

Chocoholic - Art glass beads, boulder opal, Swarovski crystal and sterling silver

Hint of Rose - jasper, boulder opal, Swarovski crystal and sterling silver

New holiday earrings!

I just finished up these fun, holiday earrings!

Red and green furnace glass dangles!

Wonderful snowmen for your ears!

Enameling Hoops

I finished up several designs with enameled iron wire hoops and they are all waiting to be displayed at the Fallbrook Art Center Art of the Holiday show on 11/29. I need to make more to sell in my own shops! I think yellow with some yellow aventurine hanging in the hoop would be wonderful and cheery.  Here are some of the designs I finished.

Gorgeous green with BC jade

Lime green with purple micanite and amethyst

Purple with gorgeous charoite!

Turquoise hoop with Pilot Mountain turquoise

 You can see designs I have for sale on my website - http://www.cserpentDesigns.com and you can see more of the items available at the show on my Art of the Holiday gallery web page.

Bullets and Bling!

Well I'm actually showing bullet shells and bling :)  My hubby does target practice and brought home some bullet shells to see if I could use them for anything.  I decided to use them with some blingy rhinestone chain and gemstone accents.  Enjoy!

40 caliber bullet shell, AA grade moonstone, Swarovski crystals and Czech rhinestone chain, sterling silver earwires, "Love my cat" charm

40 caliber bullet shell, AA grade moonstone, Swarovski crystals and Czech rhinestone chain, br earwires, "Love my dog" charm

9mm luger bullet shell, angelite, Swarovski crystals, Czech rhinestone chain, vintage 1930's rhinestones, brass earwires

Pretties for the September Babies!

I am thinking a little bit ahead this year!  I have some earrings ready for all those born in September and for those who just love blue sapphires and pearls.  Sapphire is the September birthstone.  You can ready some interesting historical and factual information about the sapphire gemstone on the AGTA website.  I will work on some designs without pearls - but I love the contrast of the beautiful, creamy white of pearls with the translucent blue of sapphires!

AAA freshwater pearls, AA natural sapphires and long sterling drop earrings

AAA freshwater pearls, AA natural sapphires and sterling silver earrings

Starting July with a BANG!

I'm starting July off right!  I made myself take pictures of some of my new designs last night so I can get them listed.  So, drum roll please ...... here are some new earring designs!

Multi-color Splash Earrings

Lemon Drop Earrings

And now, back to the camera!  You can find links to all my online designs at cserpentDesigns.com

 My Dusky Rose earrings are featured on the On Fire for Handmade Great Finds page.  Click on the box below to vote for your favorite!

 

and here are my earrings

Larimar and Pearls - a beautiful combination!

I LOVE larimar and, as any readers of my blog know, I always visit my favorite larimar sellers in Tucson - Cynthia and Jens.  Here is a set I made recently using larimar from Cynthia and Jens and freshwater button pearl drops.  I have another idea for this style of design combining wirewrap and stringing.  I'll have to give that a try to see if I like the way the beads hang better.  Enjoy!

Larimar, freshwater pearls and sterling silver earrings

Larimar, freshwater pearls and sterling silver necklace