we're still here

Between moving, finding jobs and raising a child....the C-R gals have been a bit busy. We have some great new pieces (necklaces finally!!) and fun new crafty projects to show you all. Needless to say Betty Jewels will be expanding a bit to more of a gift and accessories type biz. We promise to have all of this going for the holidays so you can buy your F & F (friends and family) some great gifts!

be back soon!

O my studs!

To compensate for my lack of studio here in California I have gone back to bead and chain work. But since I am a restless being I wanted to try something new. That's when I discovered cabs aka cabochon's.


Here are my Flower Power studs. Crappy pic
but super cute earrings! Get 'em at my etsy site!


I've confessed my love of cameos before...here they are
in earrings! Vintage and with gold filled backs, 20$.

I found them while searching around etsy and of course purchased a bunch. They are soooooooo cute and very easy to make into earrings. All you need is some epoxy and flat backed studs and Viola! They are currently my favorite style of earring.
I've since expanded beyond cabs to glass marbles, buttons and metal (huh?).
Seriously....look at the pictures.


"Are we there yet?" these are my road map babies.
An ode to my dad, sister and traveling gniece.

I love these earrings. They will catch you many a compliment. Of course you will catch people staring at your ears tyring to read the maps. No worries you will get used to it.


"Habla espanol?" I made these guys from one mini picture
of a newspaper. very cool.

I have many styles of studs....all you have to do is check my etsy site or shoot me an email and I can set you up with a pair. Prices vary depending on what type of post I used. Some of the styles have sterling or gold filled...the rest are nickel free silver color or brass. So if you are allergic make sure you let me know....I will not be sued over earrings!

ok more of my new earrings will be posted soon on my etsy site. www.bettyjewels.etsy.com

ps. did any one notice my CR plate? very cool....Chatterton-Richmond....yessah!

My New Favorites on etsy!

I always feel special when I see someone has added me to their favorites. When I choose favorites I choose carefully and I hope others take the same consideration. Not just anyone can make it into my Hall of Fame (haha). So today I will introduce some of my hand picked favorites so that you can fall in love with their handy work too!

1. ) KatKrafty aka Kathleen Bostick.
You can find her work on etsy at both www.studiometalsmith.etsy.com and www.katkrafty.etsy.com
She is a terrific silver smith..if thats what they are called...and cool lady. I know her from Dartmouth where she works in the jewelry studio. Check out her Big Carved Moonstone ring. It's fabulous and if you are familar with silver and stones....the price is very affordable.


Big Carved Moonstone ring on etsy. So beautiful.

2.) it's your life.
I don't know this artist personally but I just recently found her shop. She has all kinds of vintage goodies!! I love all things antique and vintage....which fits in with my love of history and archeology.
anyways...
She's from our neighbor to the north Canada...like so many etsy favorites....and she specializes in taking something old and classic and giving it a bit of new life. Very cool. Plus she has great pictures. The backdrops to her images are just as fun and colorful as her jewelry!!
I just recently purchased some pieces to make jewelry from her...look for them in my shop soon!


I love love love cameos! This is one of her many!


OK last one
3.) bonspiel
This clever and funny lady named Ellen also hails from O-Canada! They must have something in their water...
Screen printing seems to be en vogue these days but Miss. bonspiel stands out for me.
She does a beautiful job with her designs. Very simple but they all seem to make a statement. Plus she uses really great materials, American Apparel tee's (so soft and great fit) and yummy leathers for her bags (sorry vegans). It's a good thing I'm poor or else I might go broke buying all her work! I actually just bought one of her leather key chains with a puffy fish on it! It's adorable and affordable.
She also makes silly little "beings of cuteness" for the kiddos or for you!


A beautiful purple suede bag and a minty fresh bunny.
for prices and more items click here!

I am going to try to talk about my favorites at least once a month. So stay tuned for more Adventures in Etsy Land!

Green Key Weekend and nostalgia

(sigh) Students on the Green at Dartmouth
image located at http://www.dartmouth.edu/~gallery/

This coming weekend is one of the great times in Dartmouth's calendar year...Green Key.
We have Homecoming, very traditional, Winter Carnival, very historical, and Green Key. There are concerts, sporting events and tons of parties. I'm not really sure what goes on besides that. All the carnivals are fun but there's something about Green Key that students get really excited about. Alums crawl in from all corners of the country and everyone crosses their fingers the weather stays nice. Graduation and finals are getting closer and closer and pretty soon most people will leave Hanover. It's kind of like the last hurrah before everyone buckles down for exam period. It's hard to explain but there's just a blanket of excitement as people prepare for the weekend. My favorite part was the freedom to do everything or nothing at all. May in New Hampshire can either really suck or be incredibly perfect. I loved sitting on the Green (big grassy area in the center of campus) goofing off with friends not thinking about school work and not having to worry about practice since the season was over. You can get great parties in college any weekend but the feeling of being free from your commitments for even a short time was gold.
Right now many of the members of my class are heading back to Dartmouth for this weekend. I didn't even think of it. I go back east next week for three weeks. I should have just made it four and gone this weekend! O well...I will be at Dartmouth for senior week with my sister Jadah and my two best friends...can't get much better than that!

And to relate it back to Betty Jewels (for all those that made it to the end of this blog) i'm going to give Dartmouth students a Green Key discount this weekend. So if any of you are reading this contact me if you see anything on etsy you like!

Blogger dud

I'm refering to myself.
Geesh...how do people do this everyday! Is my life that lame I have nothing to talk about 7 days a week?
hmm......I should make a point to write at least once a week right???
Well I am going to blame it on my lack of computer acess. My poor little Mac is still broken and so is my wallet...so therefore it has to wait to be fixed. If I had it I could put it on my lap and blog away while I watch hours of TV. Maybe I will start a 'Fix my Mac fund'. All the proceeds from jewelry sales in June will go towards my sick computer.
Don't worry. I'm only joking. I would never do that. It would be dishonest and selfish.
But a girl can dream right?
Actually the truth is I would write more often if I knew people read it. What comes first, readers or the writing? Maybe if I write more interesting topics I will pick of some fans (ha!).
Or I could just post incredibly cute pictures of my niece.


This was when she was two weeks old. Shes 7 m now.

Isn't she precious?

Love Jewelry and Fight Cancer

See-thru my Heart(s)! 13$ at www.bettyjewels.etsy.com.
100% proceeds from heart earrings to go to RFL.

For the community of Hanover, NH the time has come to start putting teams together and rasing money for Relay for Life. For those of you who have no clue where Hanover is it is the home of Dartmouth College. For those of you who have never heard of Dartmouth....shame on you.
Anyways...
Relay for Life is still fairly new in Hanover but thanks largely to the students it has been a huge success! This year things are heating up already. I can feel the school record (yeah Track Team) about to burst. But that's a good thing! I hope Dartmouth raises more money every year!!! The big fundraiser last year was a Date Auction (yay track team!). We raised about 1500$ in a few hours. This year the whole date auction concept has been over done (boo to copycats) but no hard feelings. Who knows who will come up with the big deal breaker this spring......my money's on the Tuck Business School. They are not part of Dartmouth but affiliated...and did I mention Tuck is consistently in the top 10 for best business schools. So if anyone knows how to make --i mean raise-- money it's Tuck students.
How to help:
You can go to the American Cancer Society to donate, volunteer, sponsor or find an event to attend.
But if you want to personally help me and my friends you can donate to the Track Team's RFL team.
Or
You can buy some jewelry from our etsy shop!
Betty Jewels donates a % of whatever we have to RFL. For this month if you buy any of our Heart earrings we will donate all money made on them to RFL.


I wear my heart on my ears. 13$ on etsy.

Betty Jewels has purses now!

Well sort of.
It's a new project for my days off and when I need a break from making jewelry....hunting for used purses, wallets, clutches etc. Of course to stay en-vogue I must use the word retro or vintage instead of used...but let's face it...it's the same thing.
Once I find my new treasure I put a little embellishment on it to make it more trendy and fashionable.
I prefer stamps since they make inks in every color (or you could use paint) for non-porous surfaces including leather. And they are permanent. So as much as I would love to own a silk-screening thingy stamps are much more affordable and you can use them for a variety of other crafts.


A clutch I bought at an antique store.
(I added the domino). Someones junk
was my treasure! check it out on etsy.

I found a local store that carries my favorite stamps. Yes...I have favorite stamps. Until recently I wasn't even aware that artists had their own line of stamps. Claudine Hellmuth a fantastic collage artist has her own line, unless there are two Claudine Helmuths in the world. I also like Carin Anderrson's stamps.
Ok..enough of my nerdery for now.

Lentils and earrings

Southern California hasn't prepared itself for Betty Jewels. I walk into the boutiques and see only petite (a dime a dozen) earrings that are only moderately eye catching and flashy. I thought SoCal was fashion forward........hmmmm.....well maybe it's just Carlsbad. Anyways, the point to this mini-rant is that I have had Zero success at selling anything to boutiques. A few places looked, took a card and said they would call me (hasn't happened) but most places politely said they weren't right for their clientele. So I guess it will be up to me to bring "big, bold and textured" into the Carlsbad market.


I consider these "tame"...they are lighter, more delicate
but they still hang about 2 inches! haha. You can find
them on etsy.


I think my biggest problem will be that the target market is 40+ and stores are going to make the assumption that only young women wear big earrings. Well I think that is ridiculous. I hate those age rules.....I think that the older you get the crazier you should be able to dress! I plan on walking around in bright colors, big jewelry and even bigger hair until I can't walk anymore! I will celebrate any age by decorating my self in jewelry and no one will dare say a thing!


And these pieces are small to me! Both the snowladies (left) and mini
cut-outs can be found on etsy.

Aza the traveling Gnome!

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Aza baby at the Flower Fields in Carlsbad, CA!
well actually it's Aza under flowers....they wouldn't
let us put her in the field for a picture.

My family came to visit me in Carlsbad at the end of March. My dad, sister and niece drove from NH to Arizona to see my younger sister and then to Cali to see me.....and that was just half the trip!!




Even Aza wanted to drive! She's so cute!

One of my favorites. Look at her curling her toes!

Home-Sweet-Home!

This is a photo of my apartment complex. I live on the right. Below the apartments are our garages. Pretty cool huh?! That big green blob is a beautiful tree. I'm not sure what kind of tree it is but it has big waxy looking leaves...and its taking over the stairwell. Behind the stairs is the pool. Of course it's too cold for California's to be swimming in March. I'll post some more interesting pictures later...but I have only 10 minutes left on this library computer!
eeek!

New Things on Etsy!

Gold Cut-outs by Betty Jewels! They are about 1-inch diameter
and are made from NuGold. Burlap texture, gold filled hooks.
22$ on http://www.bettyjewels.etsy.com/

I've been trying to keep our etsy shop updated with new pieces but when your laptop is busted and your boyfriends desktop is at least 6 years old.......the process has proven to be very difficult. Today I am writing from the Carlsbad City Library. They have about 9 Internet computers.....I'm not kidding...that's all they have....but at least they are new and fast!

But anyways, back to etsy. I have added more metal pieces and some chain ones as well. Unfortunately I am still working out the kinks of how to make the jewelry look as good in a photo as it does in person. Let me know if you think the lentils work!

These earrings are made from 3 different

color fresh water pearls and gold-filled chain.

20$ on etsy.

Hello Carlsbad

Well I'v landed here in Carlsbad (thats north of San Diego) and so far it's great. 70 and sunny pretty much every day. I can walk to the beach and to down town....so life is good! I got a part time job (to pay the bills right away) at a tropical decor place and am in the process of applying to a few museum jobs. Betty Jewels is still going strong but I haven't found any studios to continue my work. Looks like I will have to set something up in my garage!

That's all for now.....I'll post some pictures soon!

I heart Modge Podge!

Here are some of our adventures in modge podge. As you can see
we like to use it on jewelry. All images are glued via thisglourious
substance. Even the lace. See our etsy shop for picture earrings
coming soon!

Last winter my sisters and I rediscovered the glorious art of decoupage. My mother was a big decoupage fan...and she was good at it. She decorated lampshades (I still have them, they are fantastic) and furniture to name a few of her projects. And too finish she would go all out with a professional varnish (shellac?) to make the surface super smooth and durable. Me....I stick with modge podge. It is my go-to craft supply that I believe is a must have for any artist and/or crafter. It is a glue, sealer and finish that comes in matte and glossy and it is non-toxic. You can use it on anything: wood, paper, metal, fabric, canvas...but be careful when applying it to paint or ink, it can make it run. Use a thin coat, let it dry and then apply a heavier one.

I must warn you though, using of modge podge can become addicting.

To see some of our mod-pod jewelry visit our esty shop: www.bettyjewels.etsy.com

Is the west coast the best coast????

(photo from http://www.nh.gov/oldman/)
I will be leaving New Hampshire just 11 days shortof my 24th birthday.
That means I have almost spent exactly 24 years living in 1 state....and
you know what.....I will miss every moment of it!

My days as a New Hampshire resident are coming to an end! I am packing my bags for sunny California.....southern California in fact! It's warm year round. Right now the weather says a high of 63...and that's considered COLD! But I love the east, especially the seasons. So will a NH native be able to survive the consistently perfect weather? Or will I be craving those windy fall days and those early spring smells.....I think so. I'm not sure I will ever agree with the west coast best coast theory but I'm going to give it a try.
CALIFORINA OR BUST!

Chapstick anyone?

Our mom Bonnie Jill (left) and my aunt Jackie (right)
These are the women who inspired Betty Jewels.
My sisters and I think this picture is pretty special....even the
damage gives it character.

Have you even been left stranded with chapped lips and no lip balm? You pat down all your pockets and rip through your bag...but still no lip balm. Well here in the icy tundras of Hanover, NH every extremity gets dry...so this happens to me ALL the time. But not anymore! My genius sister Ascher did a little research and found recipes for lip balm. Seriously....we made our own chap stick...little tube and all. (I will post a picture of it as soon as I get one.) We took beeswax, grapeseed oil, honey and flavoring and viola! lip balm. And it's good too. It has none of those addictive ingredients that just dry out your lips. Plus the 30$ you spend on materials will make 15+ tubes. That is much better than spending 3$ per tube only to lose them again and again....and again.
We call it Jack and Jill's (we made labels). My mom and aunt were both hippies so it seemed only natural to call our all natural lip balm after them.


a fuzzy picture of our chapsticks.

Going for the Gold

Look at all the gold goodies! The solid discs range from 15$-18$. The
large cut-outs are 20$ and the small ones are 15$. The chocolate isn't
for sale.

Here at Betty Jewels we LOVE LOVE LOVE gold! We love its sophistication, its glamour and most of all how it always seems to make you look good! When I look at gold I think of ancient treasures, pirates (mmm...Johnny Depp), Egyptian jewelry, extravagant living, dark chocolate (usually it has a gold wrapper), and of course my favorite...winning! To me gold represents success and mystery, greed, envy and love....so I guess it's no wonder why we love it so! The things man and woman would do for gold!


gold leaves and pea pods! 15$ each.

Although our pieces are not real gold (obviously)...they are made from a substance called NuGold. It has the same color, is MUCH more affordable and still fit for royalty.


The king is dead * Long live the QUEEN
I'm pretty sure Marie Antoinette would love Betty Jewels.