Best-Selling Earrings

"For me, the exciting thing about designing and making jewelry is that the creation process doesn't end when a piece leaves my worktable; instead, the process continues every time someone wears my jewelry to enhance their unique wardrobe and style."

 

 

Read more about me and my jewelry here: My Etsy Profile

 

Check out the earrings here: Industrial Chic Hex Nut Earrings

Sometimes Life Just Hands You The Awesome

Not one, but TWO good looking, muscular, genuine Scottish guys in kilts, snuggled right up to me.

A Quick Note To My Liebster Nominees

If you don't want to play along, that's okay!  I was only kidding about the plague of frogs.  There isn't one headed your way.  You also don't have to worry about boils, locusts, or rivers running with blood.  Your firstborn is perfectly safe.

I understand that time is at a premium for everyone and that you may be busy getting kids ready to go back to school, writing the great American novel, or saving whales.  (Or maybe all three, in which case you're an over-achiever and you should slack off a little because you're making the rest of us look bad.)

Really.  If you've got other things to do, it's okay to walk on by. :)

I'd Like To Thank The Academy

I guess it's what I get for having a "sporadically updated" blog, because I was tagged a week ago by Juneli of Fashionably Yours for the Liebster Award and I didn't even know it until yesterday!
The Liebster Blog Award is given to upcoming bloggers who have less than 200 followers. The Meaning: Liebster is German and means sweetest, kindest, nicest, dearest, beloved, lovely, kind, pleasant, valued, cute, endearing, and welcoming. Thanks, Juneli! You're as sweet as you are adorable!

The rules for receiving this award:
1. Each person must post 11 things about themselves.
2. Answer the questions the tagger has set for you.
3. Choose 11 people and link them in your post.
4. Create 11 questions for the people you've tagged to answer.
5. Go to their page and tell them.
6. Remember, no tag backs!

So here goes. 11 Things About Me:
1. My favorite food is popcorn. That's right, popcorn. If I were stranded on a desert island, I'd bring a bag of popcorn. And a popper. And a kick-ass cabana with a kitchen where I could plug the popper in. And a cabana boy to pop it for me.
2. I almost never watch a movie made after 1965. On the rare occasions when I do, the film usually has the word "princess" in the title or it's a costume drama set in the 19th century.
3. I belt out show tunes at the drop of a hat. I am not a good singer. Some people don't enjoy my singing but I don't worry about it because Big Bird said not to.
4. I believe it's never too late to have a happy childhood.
5. I am a devoted aunt to 6 smart, talented, beautiful girls and two smart, talented, handsome boys. I talk about them almost as much as I talk about my cat, which is saying a lot.
6. I'm taller than I sound on the telephone.
7. Although I tend to be blunt, I try not to be unkind -- unfortunately, sometimes I'm a little unclear on where the line is.
8. I am likely to spend the last $20 in my pocket on a book. In fact, I have.
9. I am most happy when I'm making something, whether I'm drawing, writing, sewing, cooking, or making jewelry.
10. I love the sound of rain.
11. A friend called while I was writing this list and he said to tell you that I'm a "good friend who is willing to share her experiences, both good and bad, to help her friends and give them hope." Isn't he sweet?

My Answers to Juneli's Questions:
1.In which place would you like to buy/own your dream home?
~  In the mountains of northern West Virginia.
2.What kind of music do you enjoy?
~ My tastes change and evolve as my interests change; currently, I'm listening to a lot of classical music and old standards.
3.What is your favorite pastime?
~ Reading.  I didn't even have to think about that one. :)
4.What is your idea of a perfect vacation?
~ Relaxation and getting away from my usual routine, seeing new places and having new experiences.
5.Which aspect of blogging do you find most interesting?
~ I'm always interested in what my fellow bloggers are up to, and I learn a lot from reading other blogs.
6. If you are a book worm or a couch potato, what is your all time favorite movie/TV show/book?
~ It's hard to choose a favorite book, but if I have to it would be Right Ho, Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse.  It's some of the funniest stuff I've ever read.
7.What would you wear on a first date?
~ Probably a skirt and top or a cute dress.  Something girly but with just a little bit of an edge.
8.Name a few of your favorite fashion brands.
~ I don't tend to shop by brands in my actual price range, so I'm going to dream here and say that I'd love to wear Chanel, Dior, Lanvin, and Alice+Olivia. 
9.Love, work, family, friends- how do you prioritize them?
~ I try make this my motto: People first, principles second, material things last.  If  do that, it's pretty easy to make my choices from there.
10.How would you describe your style of dressing? For eg, girly, edgy, lady like, Bohemian, casual, sporty, elegant etc.
~ Updated classics, but often a little girly, a little edgy, or a little bohemian depending on my mood and where I'm going.
11. Sunshine or snow-flakes?
~ Both.

Now for the bloggers I'm nominating:
1. Jacqueline at Blether.  She writes about food, cooking, and life in general.  She's also an inspiration because she maintains a fabulous attitude in the face of significant health issues.
2. Louise at Eat Thru The Pain.  Reading her blog makes me spew tea out of my nose on a regular basis.  She's hilarious.
3. Vivienne at Thrifted Shift.  She writes about fashion, books, and thrift shopping.  And she has a cute dog.  What's not to like?
4. Mod Mom Beyond IndieDom.  She's a mom and a rocker.  I aspire to be as cool as she is, but alas, it's not looking good for me.
5. Wendy at Salt and Wine.  She writes about all kinds of interesting stuff like food, thrifting, and DIY projects.
6. Veronica at Pret A Penser.  She blogs about food and fashion in two languages (English and Italian) and posts amazing photos. Honestly, she had me at the name of the blog.
7. Rita at Nana's Memories.  Her blog, which is "a place of recollection and reminiscence" is as sweet as she is.
OK, I'm stopping at 7. Yes, I know it's like not following through on a chain letter and God will smite with with plagues of frogs and things, but a lot of blogs don't have their number of followers listed on them.  And if I have to spend any more time comparing myself to people who have tons of followers without, so far as I can tell, having passed middle school English, I'll start doing tequila shots -- and nobody wants that.

The lovely ladies I have tagged, however, are all talented, relatively new to blogging, and quickly gaining traction.  You should totally follow them.

My 11 questions for the blog award:
1. What is the air-speed velocity of an unladen swallow?
2. Who is your celebrity boyfriend or girlfriend?  (You can have either or both, and they don't have to be currently living.  Also, I am assuming they don't know about it, but if they do, WE NEED DETAILS.)
3. What are you reading these days?
4. In the kitchen, what can you make better than anyone else?
5. What would (or will) be the title of your memoirs?
6. If you could dive into any book or movie and live there, what book or movie would it be?
7. Name one thing on your bucket list.
8. Are you a cat person, a dog person, or some other kind of person?
9. When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?
10. Picture it: you're in the car, listening to the radio. A new song starts, you shriek with horror and punch at the radio buttons to make it stop.  Who's playing?
11. What do you collect?

Ye Gods, that is the longest blog post I've ever written, and if you read this far you're a rock star.  I don't know about you, but I'm exhausted.  I'm setting this to post in the morning and going to bed. 

This Week at Sow's Ear Jewelry

This industrial chic hardware bracelet is by far the most popular piece in my Etsy shop.  It's also, oddly enough, one of the first pieces I ever designed.  The original was created a couple of years ago for my niece Katie, who is a photographer, an artist, and an all-around cool chick.  She loved it. 

Last fall, I made one for myself and found I wore it all the time because it was super-comfortable and flexible, and it added a touch of subtle edginess to even my most tailored outfits.  It also looks great stacked with other chain or beaded bracelets.  I get tons of compliments on it -- especially from guys, which surprised me.  When do guys look at jewelry?  I guess when it's something they can picture themselves wearing, they do.

I've sold more of this bracelet than any other single item I've made.  It also gets more pageviews and "favorite" clicks than any other piece.  Recently, it was featured in an Etsy Treasury with other upcycled and recycled items, and the same person posted her treasury on her design blog.

It also got pinned on Pinterest, but I have no idea how to find it on the site, so I can't show you.  But it did, honest.  Not bad for a piece of jewelry that began with the question "What would Katie love to wear?"  I'm beginning to understand why designers are advised to have a customer in mind before they begin the design process.

Words of Wisdom: Marcia Lacher

Hands tell so much. Mine are overworked and give away my age more than anything else, but they also show how much I work with them in my craft, garden and kitchen. They are my best most coveted tools, and even if they are vintage, they were custom made for me.

-- Etsy seller Marcia Lacher at TheMillineryShop, commenting on the Etsy blog

A Lightbulb Moment

Gentle Readers, although you may not have noticed it I have taken a month or so off from blogging. I needed time to think, to regroup, to decide where to focus my energy.

A fortuitous opportunity to spend some time in airport bookstores and watching a little reality TV with my sister finally made me realize something: pastimes in our culture are aspirational. The things most people watch and read are about who they think they are or who they wish they were. We may laugh at the Real Housewives of Wherever, but they are setting trends and selling products and people can't get enough of them.

And let's face it, my friends, nobody aspires to the life of an old maid with a cat. In fact, most younger people probably laugh at my exploits, but laugh in that uncomfortable "Dear God, don't let that be me someday" kind of way. People my own age tend to pity me, and to make suggestions about how I could be more successful or date more if only I changed everything about myself.

People have been asking me since I was a teenager (usually with a degree of irritation) why I'm so hell-bent on being myself and I have no answer for that. In fact, I have a hard time understanding why anyone would want to be anything but him- or herself, why they would spend a lifetime searching for that mythological something outside themselves that is supposed to make them feel like they are okay. Whenever I've tried that, the results were very bad indeed.

All of which is the long way of explaining why I'm not updating here very often. There isn't much of a readership for an old maid with a cat, even if the old maid has a wicked sense of humor and still gets hit on by men young enough to be her sons.

I'll continue updating regularly over at My Life In Food: A Culinary "Art" Journal, but focusing it more on the silly pictures I enjoy drawing (one of which was recently published in the online food magazine Pork and Gin) and less on trying to make it into a Food Blog.  Maybe I'll draw some cartoons for this blog, too.  We shall see.

I'm just an ordinary person whose ambition is to be as kind, as creative, and as happy as I can be on any given day. It's not aspirational, but it works for me.