I love Knitting (and talking)

Well, that's a theme. :-) I'm excited to present the latest pandora style charm bead in my crafter's series: "I Love Knitting". Can you see the little needles? I designed the needles to be short, so they wouldn't snag on thing. This will be available in my shop later this week. Etsy convo me if you would like to pre-order one.





Ah yes, the Cellphone charm bead! This one has typing capabilities.

English Tea and Viking Chain

English Tea Set is my latest design. I like the off-set feature, so they are different on each side.
Flower Tea Cup, Flower Tea Pot. I was tempted to sell them as a set......


I would like charm lovers to be able to wear their charms on a necklace. The one necklace I had in the shop was rather dear, so I've been searching for something more affordable. I bought one of these handmade Viking style chains for myself and just love it. It's made by basically hand knitting the wire, then drawing it down through wooden "drawplates" with a smaller and smaller diameter, until the little loops of wire are fine and smooth.

I've been wearing mine for three months now and adore it. I can wear pendants as well as my charm beads! 15" which is about collar bone length. If you are interested in a longer style, let me know.

I'm also going to carry a really simple silicone rubber necklace. It's fun and inexpensive. May also be a nice accompaniment to a gift bead.

These will all be in the shop in the next few days.

Travel, food, hobbies, oh my!

I'm so excited about all the new designs that have come in this week!

Food, hobbies and travel? Those are some of life's great joys. Let's celebrate- European bead charm bracelet style.

Sushi Tray charm bead.
My family loves Sushi Station, where we sit at the bar, watching the chefs prepare all the yummy sushi, and place it on the conveyor belt for us to choose. The kids know all their favorites and are willing to try anything new. Here's one for all us Sushi lovers!




BoomBox.
For musicians, music lovers, dancers, this little boom box charm bead with get your groove on.


Lucky Sapphire Dice charm bead.
Feeling lucky? Maybe you'd like to have this sparkly sapphire and ruby cz to remind you. What do you feel lucky about in life? Or do you need a little extra luck? Bling bling.


Lil Camper charm bead.
I designed this European charm bead camper after the tiniest of Airstream style campers. It's so cute, I just wanna eat it, or go traveling!!!
Food, hobbies and travel? Those are some of life's great joys. I hope you get a kick out of my new designs debuting this week.

Important News: Please shop the "sold" section. WHAT? Yes, let me clarify: as it is my mission to keep bringing the latest, greatest, newest choice of designs into the shop, I can't possibly contain all my designs at once. I pick up a few of each new design as it comes out, and when those are sold, I move onto the next new set. BUT most of the designs are continuously available behind the scenes. So, please feel free to ask for things that have sold recently. I can either get them for you right away, or put you on a waiting list. My production team has made changes that get the "refills" to us sooner, so the wait won't be long in most cases.

Coming soon: my English garden tea set, and Irish pot of gold.

Gingerbread for the Holidays

New bead friends for the holidays: Gingerbread Boy and Gingerbread House. Can you guess that I like gingerbread?

I like gingerbread cake with real chunks of crystallized ginger, and a dollop of whipped cream.

When I was little, mom and I made gingerbread people for all our friends and family, decorating each one to look like the recipient. It is one of my favorite childhood memories. Mom made frosting in cake decorating tubes, so we could apply appropriate colored hair, eyes, glasses, and clothing. I loved it. Now, I do the same with my kids.

Though I "cheat" when it comes to making gingerbread houses. We use Graham crackers!

Japan treasury- european beads Maneki Neko

My Charmish bead, Maneki Neko, landed in this etsy treasury collection. Many of the items were so cute, I had to visit their shops and mark favorites. The ninja buttons made me laugh.

Charmish beads are designed by me, but not handmade by me, so they must be marked as a "supply" which puts them outside of Etsy's regular search engines. "Supplies" are their own category. Thus, word of mouth is incredibly important in helping my Charmish business grow. It's fantastic and very much appreciated when Charmish gets blog coverage, makes it into treasuries, and excited customers share my business cards with their friends.

In an effort to get beyond a "supply" I'm about to market bracelets featuring collections of my beads. I've commissioned a local glass artist to make several sets of custom glass beads that enhance my designs. Collaborating with another artist is a great deal of fun. Im a big fan of lampwork glass.





Holidays: you will start to see a smattering of holidays bead designs entering my shop: Christmas Elf, Gingerbread Boy and Cottage...... other wee surprises. Planning ahead for holiday fun.

Happy August!

Let them eat CAKE

Yey! I'm happy to announce the release of happy cupcake charms! Cherry on Top and Crown topped.

Let us also celebrate that the photos are now watermarked. The European beads market happens to be a little competitive. Knock off companies will not only take my designs and copy them directly, they will also snag my photos for use in sales. Talk about lack of creativity. As serious as that sounds, I don't worry about it, or spend time looking to see who's got what. I'm full of new design ideas, and always moving forward. Creative, positive minded people rock, right? LOL!

I'm posting them in the store now. Enjoy!

Fantasy Series - pandora style beads for charm bracelets

Inspired by folk takes, I designed this series of Fantasy charm beads. Everyone has a bit of magic in them, they may simply need reminding........






The Frog Prince has been arrested? What's the rap? Can he still wear his crown in jail? I think the King will bail him out shortly. He is a real prince after all..... he just needs one simple kiss. Is that so hard to come by?

Don't worry, it's only the size chart photo.



The Wishing Well. Did you know that tourists throw just under 3 million pounds per year into wishing wells? (In November 2006 the "Fountain Money Mountain" reported). Clearly wishing well beliefs are still getting high marks in our modern day world.

I had a wonderful time researching the history and symbolism of wishing wells for this design project. Would you care to learn more? Read on.

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From the Wiki
A wishing well is a term from European folklore to describe wells where it was thought that any spoken wish would be granted. The idea that a wish would be granted came from the idea that water housed deities or had been placed there as a gift from the gods, since water was a source of life and often a scarce commodity.

The Germanic and Celtic peoples considered springs and wells sacred places. Sometimes the places were marked with wooden statues possibly of the god associated with the pool. Germanic peoples were known to throw the armour and weapons of defeated enemies into bogs and other pools of water as offerings to their gods.

Water was seen to have healing powers and therefore wells became popular with many people drinking, bathing or just simply wishing over it. People believe that the guardians or dwellers of the well would grant them their wish if they paid a price. After uttering the wish, one would generally drop coins in the well. That wish would then be granted by the guardian or dweller, based upon how the coin would land at the bottom of the well. Traditionally coins were made of copper or silver and had biocidal properties which kept the water from going sour (bacteria produces various acidic compounds which affect the taste, notably Hydrogen sulfide). It was thus lucky to throw coins in the well.

The tradition of dropping pennies in ponds and fountains stems from this. Coins would be placed there as gifts for the deity to show appreciation.

This may be a left over from ancient mythology such as Mímir's Well from Nordic myths, also known as the ¨Well of Wisdom¨, a Well that could grant you infinite wisdom provided you sacrificed something you held dear. Odin was asked to sacrifice his right eye which he threw into the well to receive not only the wisdom of seeing the future but the understanding of why things must be. Mímir is the Nordic god of wisdom, and his well sits at the roots of Yggdrasil, the World Tree which draws its water from the well.
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The Good Wizard. What is the castle or the king and queen without a loyal Wizard at their side? He wields his magic only for the good of the kingdom, of course.

Symbolism: knowledge, magic, education, and goodness.

Visit my etsy store Charmish to see the whole fantasy series: Castle Keep, Wishing Well, Wizard, King (Queen coming soon), Frog Prince, Mushroom, Book. Shop while supplies last.

Australia Series - pandora style european beads charm bracelet

I'm pleased to share the Australia charm bead series. I have been eagerly awaiting the first production of these beads to arrive. Eventually there will be more animals in the set, but these beauties are a great place to start collecting.

This is the Australian flag super-imposed on a map of Australia, and wrapped around the bead. I have designed one for the US, and UK as well! (soon soon). Unique pieces for your European Charm Bead collection.




This shows the scale of the tiny tiny work and the craftsmanship. See Tasmania down there? So cute.



Koala mum and baby. Many of the Australian souvenir jewelry and other company's charm beads show a single animal. I wanted to celebrate the special animals of Australia and motherhood! Coming soon: Mother kangaroo and joey, Echidnea and Platypus.


Sydney Opera House. I wear one of these on my own charm bracelet along with the Eucalyptus Leaf bead. I feel like I have a little pieces of Australia with me. I was inspired to design this series for my children who have dual citizenship, but haven't visited yet, my beloved Australian clients, and of course my natural love for Australia.

If there are any opera fans out there, you might like to know that many SOH productions are available to view on Netflicks! Huh.

Koala, Kangaroo, Clown Fish, Eucalyptus, and Sydney Opera House are still available. The sample set with the Map/Flag of OZ sold out, but I'll be getting more in. If you are interested in these, please ask to be on my waiting list. :-)

New Birthstone Series- European Beads Charm Bracelet

New birthstone charm beads available at Charmish! I love the two styles I have in my shop, and wear both on my own bracelet, marking my children's birthday. This is the Pebbles Birthstone style, which comes in all birthstones of course. :-)




Special of the week: $10 off a bracelet with purchase of one bracelet and one bead. It's a great time to start your very first bracelet, or enjoy a second one. They look great in two's and three's on the wrist. Be sure to send me your wrist size in the message to seller's box. We add one inch or 3cm to allow room for the beads.


This gives a good sense of the actual size and detail in each bead. Centimeters on top and inches on the bottom.

Birthstones, Beads and Bees

Charmish beads update:



Birthstones are in at Charmish! I love this design and wear it on my bracelet (with my April birthstone). I don't have them all listed just yet, but have all the birthstones in stock. A nice bit of bling!

I also have a Love Yo Motha, sale going on, with selected heart designs. Easy to spot in the "featured" section of Charmish.




A view of my bracelet. I don't have it filled with charms yet. I'm holding out for some designs still in the works. I have been collecting handmade glass by different artists. Hand made, lampwork glass looks gorgeous next to all the silver charms.


Spring bee friend, hanging out on the bamboo, during a photo shoot. I'm planting some bee- encouraging flowers in the garden and yard this year. Oh and I got a new camera. You probably can't tell the difference, but it's really lovely to use!

Garden project- Spring goodness:

Before: You can see we had planted two curly willow starts in the previous fall. Actually we'd put in three but one died. Willows and threw some leaves on to kill the grass over winter. Oooo, it's gonna be so pretty! It's part of an out door "room" by my art studio.

See that tall green tool against the fence? That's my dandelion puller. I got it for my birthday two years ago and LOVe that thing! It's so much fun to use, neighbors literally stop by, when I'm out front, and ask to have a try. Then I have to wrestle it away from them 20 minutes later.... We had a six year old child over for a play date, and HE got picking dandelions for half hour. I had to lure him away with a snack. Later I told his mum what HE'd like for his next birthday.... oh yea, everyone loves this tool. LOL.



Digging in the stand-up bricks and getting them even was a JOB. I'm glad to have Max's patience! I love the planning and doing parts, but not the fiddly stuff. I put in two lovely bushy flowers, a lava rock and an old stump, and lots of seeds. The funnest part was planting a whole package of alpine strawberries by seed! I put them in all along the bricks, as a surprise for the kids. I hope they grow. Have you ever planted strawberries by seed?

I'll take some more photos for you as things start growing.



This stump has been in our vege garden for two years and we've worked around it. Who wants to dig out a stump that big. One day Max discovered that it was just sitting there on top of the ground! LOL. Turns out you can just pick it up! It was home to a garden snake and many bugs and spiders (sorry for the relocate guys). I brought it to the flower garden as a fun focal piece, and tamped dirt and seeds into crevices to see what happens.

Birthdays and Gold Star days

I'm having a great birthday! Thanks for the emails and birthday greetings. xoxoxoxo





Hugging Kitties. I wear this one on my charm bracelet for my two beloved kitties.

I have some fun new European beads charm designs in my shop, Charmish. European beads is the name for this style of charm bracelet, that's popular all over the world. Many people call them "Pandora Beads" because that's one of the top companies who make these styles. Its nice that all the major brands have standard sizing so everyone can mix and match their charm beads from different companies.


Bracelets are IN!!! You can see the thick 4mm sterling bracelet, the enclosure clasp (great engineering to keep that bracelet closed) that also looks like a bead, and the first part of the bracelet with the threading. Threading allows the beads to twist on, the slide freely without falling off again.

Measure your wrist, and let me know your size when ordering. I add one inch to the length to allow for the beads. Start with one bead or a whole set! Very fun to collect.

Fortune cookie charm. 6mm wide. Tiny with perfect details, and the "777" good luck fortune just peeping out. Love this one!

Example of a fuller charm bracelet, including birthstone beads, dangles, locks and lettering beads.

I'm eagerly awaiting the arrival of some new bead series:
Gnomes and Mushroom home.
Tree of Life series, with six different leaf styles, acorn, tree of life and leaf dangles.
Aussie animals, including some most Americans have never heard of!

A little later this summer:
Favorite dog breeds.
Yoga, meditation, kung fu, healing arts energy series.
And dun da dun! Right before the big "Talk like a Pirate" celebration day, I have a big pirate series arriving! So exciting!

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What's a Gold Star day? Some of you have heard me talk about a gold star day. It means I've sold something out of each of my three etsy stores on that day. It's really fun, and rather pleasing to sell an item from each store.

The Meet Your Maker indie craft show was so fun last night! Lots of my High Flying Easter Bunnies went to good homes. The crowds were constant, and people were so chatty and friendly. That's how we like it. It's fun to interact, hear people's thoughts, know if they have been in central downtown at the gallery tour, or just here for the wine bar, and hear what they like in my shop. Very fun to sell in person when folks are chatty and friendly. And I always love seeing my etsy vendor friends and meeting new vendors. We support one another and exchange ideas and fun.

Thanks for coming down!!!
xo