It's a total blank ...

... but first things first. Back on track (hopefully) and Creative Bloggers is going around again. Macaroni and Glue is up in the spotlight and I'm seriously liking the banner! I don't recall seeing this, but it has been a while since I paid Kelly a visit. I'll blame the Texas heat and I'm sure she'll understand! Check out her Facebook fan page too!

Another artist being featured is Susy of Earth Expressions. Susy creates exquisite jewelry. But she also is creative with her blog and I loved her post about with packing and shipping tips. I can imagine a new customer of hers receiving a package and thinking: "What a class act!"

If you head over to Facebook, please take a look at my fan page. I set it up a while ago, didn't quite know what to do with it, but I've been learning. There is no documentation from Facebook about how to fully use the application, but there are some giving souls out there who are sharing what they know. It's a learning curve, but learning is great for keeping the gray matter within the skull nimble and functioning!

And I've been slowly building my Twitter following. Twitter is like the wild, wild west of the internet. All sorts of colorful folks. And all sorts of nuts too. All sorts of lazy people amassing huge followings by using automated applications, but it's only about quantity, not quality. So I'm doing it the old fashioned way. One by one with absolutely NO AUTOMATION, not even an automatic welcoming message.

A friend of mine has developed a new application for social media. It just launched so take a look at TipDrop. I signed up, but haven't authored a tip sheet yet. Jon gives us 255 characters which beats Twitter's 140, but 255 is not always enough. My plan is to blog tips here and link to this blog from the tip sheets. Hopefully Jon has programmed the application for follow through links.

I've created some new handcrafted jewelry pieces for the summer, but every single last piece has sold. Sold without pictures too. I'm a dunce. o_O Beautiful pieces, too, using "Candy Jade" which has become a new favorite of mine, and some shell/pearl/crystal pieces. Ooooh, even writing about them is making my fingers itch to make more!

Oh, and another thing, I've been making a ton of paper craft bookmarks and cards for a friend of mine to take to a special international convention (worship related) to pass out as gifts to all she meets. I've so enjoyed my monthly workshops I take from my local StampinUp representative that I've decided to sign up as a demonstrator myself! Since it will be about handcrafted paper goods, I figured it would be a nice fit with my existing creative business and I will keep it under my '57 Design Studio business umbrella.

Now, I must remember to take pictures!

Creative Bloggers

Oh my, how could I miss last week's blog! Chainmaille by MBOI is written by one of my favorite handcrafting peeps in this world! Not only is Andrew a talented jewelry artist, but he is a most enthusiastic supporter of all handcrafting artisans.

This week's featured artisan is Carol of The Blue Cat. I am a huge fan of all things whimsical and Carol's artwork is whimsical in a really large way. This picture looks a lot like it came from my house.

If you are a Creative Blogger, please visit our Ning forum and join us. The third blog ring group is forming. Each week we focus on one of our incredibly talented bloggers and give them some highly valued links.

Will the Real Competition Please Stand Up!

I've been asked, time again by many people, why I share my space and hard-learned information with other jewelry designers. Even my Project Wonderful and Entrecard ad spaces are typically occupied by other jewelry artists.

Most people cannot grasp the idea that jewelry designers, while in a black-and-white world are competitors, don't view each other as such because we are first and foremost artists and artists rarely deal in black-and-white. Even using a black/white color palette, there are so many shades of gray.

Artists feel a connection with other artists, even if we are using the same medium ... even when our art is our business. At every event I attend jewelry artists are drawn to each other and we compare and share notes (and wine, too!). At every on-line community I belong, jewelry artists form their own groups to compare and share information.

It is my pleasure to feature another jewelry artist, Jill of Liv'nGood Jewelry, who is also a fellow chainmailler! The latest post on her blog hits a note in me because we both seem to be having trouble getting caught up on the photography that is necessary to get our art listed on our various on-line selling venues.

I have my eye on a pair of her earrings! I need to sell some of mine so I can buy them. Yes, I said "buy them" because copycats are not playing fair, even if one is copying for their own use.

Jill is also a member of Creative Bloggers and I invite every creative type reading this blog who also blogs to come and join us!

So, there is real competition for jewelry artists, but it is not from other jewelry artists. I'll leave it to the reader to figure it out. I've made a promise to myself not to market me by stomping on others. Besides, there is plenty of room in this wide world for everything under the sun.

Thank You!!

As promised, here is a list, with backlinks, of all the wonderful people who have left comments on my blog this past month! There are a couple who have chosen not to make their profiles public so I'm not able to link back to your blogs, but I do appreciate your interest in what I write.

Comments mean so much to bloggers!

Bonoriau: http://bonotravel.blogspot.com/
Connie: http://mickeyfanatic.com/
Lidian: http://kitchenretro.wordpress.com/
Rayne: http://thoughts.marascreations.com/mambo/
Thyme2dream: http://thyme2dream.blogspot.com/
Three Fates: http://threefatesdesign.blogspot.com/
Jennifer: http://redbooksandchairs.blogspot.com/
Tina: http://treasuresbytina.blogspot.com/
Bagladee: http://emma-bagladee.blogspot.com/
Lux (a real cool cat!): http://awhitecat.blogspot.com/
Frostygirl: http://frostygirl.bundublog.com/
Silver Canyons: http://silvercanyons.blogspot.com/
Helen: http://neferiti-thesearchforself.blogspot.com/
Liz: http://craftfrommyheart.blogspot.com/
Petula: http://petulaw.blogspot.com/
Quartz Crystals: http://www.heqr.com/quartz/crystals/
Harmony: http://sweetdaisy.blogspot.com/
Wendy: http://wenlopred.blogspot.com/
Margie and Edna: http://margieandednasbasement.blogspot.com/
Leet: http://leet-gallery.blogspot.com/
Jacqueline: http://myideas1.podbean.com/
Claire: http://thehousethatkoenclairerebuilt.blogspot.com/
Zyriana: http://www.zyriana.com/
BeadedTail: http://beadedtail.blogspot.com/
Betty: http://amomslife.slashbe.com/
Pam Hoffman: http://seminarlist.blogspot.com/
LizzyT: http://lizzytdesigns.blogspot.com/
RandomCatGirl: http://randomcatgirl.wordpress.com/
Cathy James: http://houstonwahms.blogspot.com/
Jack: http://travelreviews.today.com/
Deb Disalvo: http://artisticflairbydebdisalvo.blogspot.com/
Lucky Girl: http://luckygirltrading.blogspot.com/
Susan Helene: http://blueribbonbloggers.blogspot.com/
Happy Panda: http://happypandababy.blogspot.com/
Mike Golch: http://mjgolch.blogspot.com/
Lynne: http://sewingmom.com/
Kelly: http://theneuroticmom.blogspot.com/
Bintang4: http://snapshotcap.blogspot.com/
Sara: http://newsfromnola.blogspot.com/
Craft Junkie: http://craft-therapy.blogspot.com/
Tammy: http://tammywarren.typepad.com/adaytoshare/
Rebecca: http://freakyfrugalite.com/
Doug: http://www.dougsmissoulablog.com/
Lonestar 818: http://3runningincircles.blogspot.com/
Purrprints: http://purrprints.blogspot.com/
Miss Cat: http://4300bourbondrive.com/ (I hope you got out of Gustav’s path, dahling!)
Money, Love and Change: http://www.moneyloveandchange.com/
BeaderJoJo: http://beaderjojo.blogspot.com/
Taher: http://taherbharmal.blogspot.com/
Patricia: http://communicationexchange.blogspot.com/
Janet: http://folkartbycampbelljane.blogspot.com/
Meg: http://plushdesignspa.blogspot.com/
Leah: http://www.michondesign.com/jewelry-blog/
FeeFiFoto: http://blog.feefifoto.com/
Tiffany: http://jrgoddessdesigns.blogspot.com/
Christis: http://christis-blahblahblog.blogspot.com/
JenniBeanV: http://jiggetyjigg.blogspot.com/
KentuckyGal: http://backporchervations.blogspot.com/
FurKidsMom: http://friendsfurevercatblog.blogspot.com/
Sue: http://momoftwounder18.blogspot.com/
Elle: http://elle3belle.blogspot.com/ (Hope ya’ll are OK too!)
Melissa: http://www.melissashomeschool.blogspot.com/
My Bug Life: http://foodientravelbug.blogspot.com/
Shiny: http://shinyadornments.blogspot.com/
Lady Language: http://www.ladylanguage.com/blog/
Liza: http://mlizcochico.blogspot.com/
Desert Rose Door: http://desertrosedoorrefinishing.blogspot.com/
MekhisMom: http://cutiebootycakes.blogspot.com/
A.: http://travellingspouse.blogspot.com/
Jennifer Robin: http://byjenniferrobin.blogspot.com/
Jennifer: http://thedirtyshirt.typepad.com/
Yoshiko: http://crystallizedbyyoshiko.blogspot.com/
Ashley: http://myashleyleigh.blogspot.com/

May all your page ranks rise!

Thank goodness for Skwiggazine!

Say what? Go here: Skwiggazine. Cool place and I belong to a group within this network for bloggers. At the moment, it's the one thing that keeps me showing up here. I know, that's bad, but we all know how many hours there are in each day and we probably all feel there just isn't enough. But eventually, things get done ... we hope.

As part of this blogging group, we all visit each other's blogs and each week we post a link and a comment to the featured blog of the week. I missed last week (I'm hanging my head in shame) but I'll make it up to Stacy next time. This week is another Stacy, and ... well ... you all know the power of pictures. Get ready and say ahhhhhh!

And kudos to Stacy for being environmentally astute by using cloth diapers. They certainly have changed in the 13 years since I used cloth diapers!

OK, here's my obiglatory picture:
This piece was designed for a wonderful woman I met in one of my networking forays who is a director for Mary Kay. I'm told there are new Director's Suits out this year and they are brown. I was also told that bling is the thing for all things Mary Kay so I used all Swarovski, both crystals and pearls. And lots of 14k gold-fill metal things, too. Click on the photo to see the BIG picture.

The networking experience I've embarked on several months ago has been quite a ride! It's one of the main reasons my poor blog has been pushed under the proverbial couch. So has my Etsy store and my website. But I have met some amazing women these last few months and have learned quite a bit about lots of different things. I will be sharing some of the really cool things I've discovered along the way in the next couple of posts! And hopefully get some more photos worked up of all the new pieces I've been designing.