more and more Christmas designs for your Holiday Bling!

Here are some more of my Christmas designs....will put some more up a little later this week so come back soon!  don't forget to go to

www.facebook.com/designsbysusan to see all my designs!  Great prices for you and/or gifts for someone else....just think, you could have your own personal custom designer ;)

Sterling silver plate collar with large hole removable Crystal beads. $18
Glass bead earrings of red and green to match or wear alone. $ 7

Sterling silver plate collar with large hole removable Crystal beads. $18
  

Simple glass bead earrings. $6

Swarovski Crystal Snowman hanging from a suede leather necklace (I have other colors of the necklace if you prefer). $18

Czech Fire Polished bead bracelet. $ 18

Glass angel on a suede leather necklace. $14

Metal and enamel Christmas charms intermingle with large, cheery beads with a Bali Silver end cap and lobster claw create this charming bracelet! $ 28
Earrings in either red or green. $6

 These faceted glass beads catch and reflect the light. $ 7

Green and gold Czech Fire Polish beads brighten up any outfit! $8

A happy metal and enamel Angel brightens up this starter charm bracelet. $12

 These faceted glass beads catch and reflect the light, as you can see. $ 7

Not just for Christmas…faceted silver glass beads. $6

A little silver flower separates these two glass beads. $8

Bali silver bead cap decorates this beautiful bead. $6 (can get red also)



Love these long tube glass beads. $8

Sterling Silver Plate chain with Bali Silver lobster claw and bead caps. $26
Earrings in red or green. $6

Large hole crystal beads on a Sterling Silver Plate chain. Accented with a little metal and enamel Christmas tree charm. $15

Over 70 giveaways with 70 different crafters at the virtual craft show .

look on day three for the secret discount code that last until the end of the show.  hope to hear from you!

lots of crafts, free drawings, great discounts, only a couple days left. look on day 3 for my give away!

virtual craft show is going on!

check out this great show, online, with crafters (more than just jewelry too).  find my secret code to get discounts on my designs!  (hint, see day 3)

virtual craft show with Christmas designs

Here is a sampling of my Swarovski Crystal earrings, just in time for you or for gifts!  Each pair is $12 but if you buy 3 or more (yes, you can mix and match) they are $10 each.  I can make them with sterling silver wires or 14 KGF wires or post ($2 more) or just post.  Just let me know. 

whoops, this one wasn't supposed to be here....check tomorrow for other Christmas designs and also, please check my facebook page at

www.facebook.com/designsbysusan

It's a first and I'm excited!

stay tuned for more later!

waiting...and praying...

I sit here on a Friday nite, reading beth's blog, worried, thankful and prayerful.  Got a phone call about an hour ago from Jaime, Sam's dad.  They are up in Spotsy with 'the cousins' (Ginger 's {Jaime's new wife}) and Sam loves going up there.  Anyway, Jaime called, immediately I knew something was wrong.  Thankfully, Jaime stays calm when giving bad news to me, probably because he know I'm a reactor.  Anyway, he begins to tell me about a football game, a huge tackle by a huge cousin, throwing up, hospital visit, etc...(Of course, my stomach is in knots.)  They think concussion, but here, talk to Sam, he really is fine.

Sam assures me he is fine, no mama, don't drive up here.  I will give you tons of hugs when I see you next...

An update call (thankfully Jaime is good at updating me), next on the list, a cat or kat scan.  will call back with the results.  Still, no mama, don't come up here, really, I'm fine!

Constantly praying, and as I read beth's blog I read about bo_ __no.  He puts peanut butter in his chili.  I just can't comprehend that. or imagine that. or even try that.  Anyway, Sam and I say prayers every nite and have since he was a baby.  We try to always thank God for something we are thankful for (clean sheets, cats, snow, baseball, etc).  It can be little, big, silly, or serious.  The other thing we do is pray for others we know need prayer.  The Ivans, Pinos, Paces, Dulios to name just a few).  And we keep praying even when it seems the crisis is over or resolved  or whatever. 

Sam does not know Ali Dulio, but he knows she is a little girl who is very sick with cancer who lives in Powhatan.  She has been on the list for months (now, we don't always pray every nite for everyone but we do pray, often, for them).  Anyway, Sam asked, out of the blue, how Ali was doing.  I told him I wasn't sure.  Just the next day, I read that her blood scan came back clean.  That nite when saying prayers I told Sam this.  My child, who is seeing God work in answer to some of his prayers, did a huge fist pump and yelled, YEAH!  I am thankful.

Guess I just felt like writing tonite.  Waiting on the next update from Jaime.  If you read this, add a prayer for Sam, for Ali, Bob, the Ivans and the Paces.  God is not linear, so you can pray forward, backward or present.  He just wants to hear from you.  thanks for listening.  I know following my divergent, add rambling is not easy, but thanks

an update, Sam is ok.  even though all his symptoms screamed concussion, the cat scan was fine.  Thank You God!!!!

seaglass

I know it's been a while but life has gotten awfully busy.  Now that school is back in, I am hoping life is going to slow down.  We will see...

I, like many, am loving facebook.  I have reconnected to so many people that I lost touch with over the many long years.  This blog is about one of them.  An old friend from college, Jeane Matejkowski Taylor lives in Seaside Park, New Jersey.  Hold on while I explain a little more and then finally get there...

My best friend from college, Terri Hildreth Beck is married to Steve Beck.  He is a collector. of.many.things!  One of them is sea glass.  He is A LOT of sea glass.  Different colors.  Different shapes.  Different sizes.  I tried to steal some, but he wouldn't let me when I told him what I wanted to do.  Go figure.  Anyway, it got me thinking, and that led my thoughts to Jeane.  Now, back to Jeane.

Jeane has mentioned that she finds shells and sea glass when ever she goes to the beach (and that is a lot~).  I thought, oh, let me ask Jeane if she would be willing to share some sea glass with me.  And ta da, she was happy to and I was happy to accept.  This is what I made for Jeane with 3 special pieces she sent me.

Now, I have never wire wrapped sea glass.  This was just an experiment and I was a little worried that she wouldn't like it.  Thankfully, she did.  That got me inspired some more so I made a sterling silver wire wrapped charm bracelet.  I also wrapped a few more pieces.  I think I have the hang of it now, you tell me!

A beautiful collection of sea glass creates this charm bracelet. Thanks to my friend Jeane from NJ who does the collecting. cobalt blue, jade green, white, amber, pink/lavender, champagne and lime green pieces of sea glass are wire wrapped with sterling silver wire and attached to a sterling silver plated chain bracelet. $70

Here are a few tidbits of info on sea glass that Jeane shared with me: 

as an avid sea glass hunter. red is one of the most precious and rare to find usually comes from Victorian bed lamps or tableware from the depression. The cobalt blue is another rare find- usually med bottles. They used a cobalt oxide to melt into the glass cuz it was easiest to work with and make mistakes, and the Aqua is another rare piece usually used for water, beer or mineral bottles at the turn of the century.

According to Linda Jereb, NASGA Founding Board Member, 99 percent of peach-hued pink sea glass comes from decorative Depression glass. However, there is an extremely rare, true pink sea glass from an art glass called "flash glass." "Rose glass was originally white magnesium glass. When the chemical manganese in the glass is exposed to UV light or heat, the glass turns shades of rose."

Here are a couple other pieces.  this one is aqua green.  pretty large also.  Will look great hanging on a leather cord, I must do that.

cobalt blue is a rare find...most glass workers added this oxide to their mixtures because they could make a mistake and no one would know due to the dark shade of blue

this one is almost a heart, love this shape.

Now, check out more of my designs at facebook.com/designsbysusan and let me know what you think of my latest adventure!  Thanks for taking the time to read my ramblings.