White Buffalo Turquoise Magnesite Pendant

This lovely gemstone is Magnesite, also known as the White Buffalo Turquoise. It is not actually from the Turquoise family, but due to the matrix like veins it has been referred to as white turquoise for many years. The Native Americans believe this gemstone to have mythical powers, and is a cherished part of their culture. Last year for Christmas I made my mother a pendant, and matching earrings for her birthday. You may remember them if you follow this blog. This gemstone is actually quite fragile, with about a 4 on the Mohs hardness scale, and care should be taken when wearing or cleaning it. Due to this being a pendant, it is pretty safe, rings, and braceletes would not be recommended. This pendant was made using copper colored craft wire, and it shows the front and back of the pendant. It is reversible and can be worn either way, with the design slightly different on either side. This lovely pendant is available for sale in my Etsy store, for 14.99, or can be purchased through this blog if you do not have Etsy. Please contact me at darien04@gmail.com for details, or click on my Etsy mini on this blog.

Make A Peridot Briolette Necklace

Learn to make this lovely Peridot briolette necklace. Peridot is the birthstone for August. So if you know any August babies, learn to make this in plenty of time to give her a gift.

SS Faceted Black Onyx Rope Design Earrings

These are sterling silver Black Onyx post earrings. They are 10mmx8mm oval faceted genuine Black Onyx gemstones. They are a good size, but not too large, and do not have much of a dangle to them, so they could be worn in professional settings. You can not really tell by my picture but they have a fancy rope design around the edge. These are bezel set, no prongs. These are available for sale, here through this blog, or you can purchase them at my Etsy store for 14.99 If you are interested in these you can contact me at darien04@gmail.com Great Mothers Day gift.

Chainmaille Earring Tutorial

Here is a tutorial for a pair of chainmaille earrings. I have watched it, and it does not look incredibly difficult. I will be attempting to make these soon, to match the necklace, I posted a few days ago. Give it a try, and tell me what you think.

Yellow Labradorite and Ruby Red Ring

For those of you who have followed this blog, for a while, have seen me post about the Andesine/Labradorite scandal that went on last year. This is Yellow Labradorite from Mexico, and is the true natural form of the gemstone. It is a member of the Feldspar family, and is truly unique in that it is crystalline clear with a soft yellow color, and even a hint of peach undertones. It is an antique cushion cut, set in a sterling silver setting, with accent Ruby stones on the shoulders. The ring is a size 6, and is available for sale in my Etsy store. The price is 49.99, if you do not have Etsy, you can purchase through this blog by contacting me at darien04@gmail.com USA buyers only, please.

My First Attempt At Chainmaille

I blogged about this lovely Island Rights Wood Pendant, last week. This lovely pendant is from Artbeads. While deciding what I wanted to do with this lovely pendant, I came across some blogs about Chainmaille. I thought it looked interesting, and would give it a try. I found these lovely colored jumprings, they are aluminum, not sterling silver, or gold. The pretty blue ones are 10mm, and the soft green ones, are 8mm. I assembled them together to make the necklace, and drop for the pendant. I did not use any tools, when assembling the necklace. This is rough on your hands, but it assures that I do not scratch the jumprings. I am not overly pleased with the results of the pictures, as it does not show the beauty of the colored rings. I will be taking more pictures today, to post tomorrow. This lovely necklace, will be available for sale in my Etsy shop for 49.99 You can also purchase it here through my blog, by contacting me at darien04@gmail.com for details.

I really enjoyed the Chainmaille, and will be looking for more designs to try.

Interesting SS Dragon Peridot Ring

This is an interesting sterling silver ring, for those who love Mythology and Folklore. It is a dragon, and a fine quality 7mmx5mm oval Peridot gemstone. Peridot is the birhtstone for August. It has a hardness of about 7 1/2 so you do have to be careful when wearing it. It is is size 6, and is available for sale in my Etsy shop Missy69 for 29.99 If you do not have Etsy and you are interested in this piece, you can comment me here, or contact me at darien04@gmail.com I only ship to the USA, and Paypal is the payment format. Please ask questions if you need to.

The Beautiful CZ

For those of you born in April, the beautiful diamond is your birthstone. As we all know Diamonds are very expensive, especially if you want a nice one. That is where the CZ comes in. CZ's are not only affordable, but beautiful. There is both synthetic, and simulants where CZ's are concerned. You can read my post on that subject, in my archives. Some popular CZ's are Pink Ice, Fabulite, Yag, Moissanite, Bella Luce, Signity Star just to name a few. CZ's can also be a substitute for engagement rings. If you do not want to spend a fortune on your engagement ring, a CZ is a wonderful substitute. The trick is to be sure to buy a size, that fits your wage level, so that is believable. For example, if you work for minimum wage, you will not want a 3 ct engagement ring, because no one will probably think it is real. However, if you buy a CZ engagement ring that is 1 ct or less, no one would ever guess it was not real. Some people think it is offensive to wear a CZ as an engagement ring. Why, no one would know unless you told them. I am a very frugal wife, when my husband and I got engaged I told him to buy a CZ. Why spend all that money on just a so so diamond, when you can get a lovely CZ for a fraction of the price. No one ever knew mine was a CZ, half carat size, and I got all kinds of compliments. Plus it gives you a reason to upgrade, on a later anniversary. I am still waiting for my 1 ct blue diamond solitaire, someday. CZ's make awesome right hand rings as well, and they come in all kinds of wonderful colors, and hues. The two rings pictured, are both CZ's The round one is a 6mm round, diamond cut set in a sterling silver setting, size 6. The other is a 8mm Princess Cut, size 5, sterling silver, and that one is especially stunning. Both of these lovely rings will be available for sale in my Etsy store, or you can buy through this blog, using Paypal. USA buyers only. Contact me if you are interested.

Lovely and Simple Rhodochrosite Ring

Rhodochrosite is a lovely pink gemstone. It is almost always found in cabachon form, but recently has been available in faceted form. It is very pricey, and expensive, in faceted stones. This lovely Rhodochrosite is 5.5mm round cabachon, from Argentina. It is a lovely pink color, with very little if any banding noted. It is set in a sterling silver simple ring setting, it is a size 6. Rhodochrosite has a hardness of only 4 on the Moh's hardness scale, every day wear is not recommended. This lovely ring is available for sale, here on my blog, or in my Etsy store. If you are interested in it, you can visit my Etsy store Missy69, or contact me to buy through this blog. Price is 24.99

Look At What My Eight Year Old Son Made

My kids have been watching make my jewelry, for years. Obviously they have picked up on some of the things when I do it. I had purchased this ring casting, and thought I bent it, so I set it aside thinking it was unusable. My son came to me the other day, and said look what I made for you. He had a nice synthetic Ruby, he collects stones too, and he had set it in the casting. Now it wasn't perfect, I had to tighten the prongs more for him, but still he did a good job. He was so excited, and I wear it proudly. Do you have crafty children? Please share.

Happy Easter

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My First Layaway Customer

For many years I used Ebay, to sell my used items, and my jewelry pieces. With their fees constantly going up, I went to Etsy. I have done pretty well there, considering how bad the economy is. I have always offered a layaway option, for my buyers, but have never had any takers on Etsy, until now. This lovely Kunzite ring has been placed on layaway, through my Etsy store. Neither me, or the customer, knew exactly how to make it work. After some reading, and asking around, you just check other on your checkout, and then I send a revised invoice with rules of layaway. I am so excited about this, and I hope I get more customers that would like to give it a try.

Canvas On Wood Pendants

These wonderful pendants are from Artbeads They are called Canvas on Wood, and they have a huge selection to choose from. I had a hard time picking one, but this one named Island Rights, was just stunning. Their picture shows the detail much better than mine. It measures 43x25mm and is not heavy, like I thought it would be. It is light weight, so it will not drag your neck down lol. I really can not decide how I want to showcase this lovely pendant. I have looked at several options, and can not make up my mind. There are so many different color schemes in the pendant. I will have to play around to see which I like best. Be sure to visit Artbeads and check out all their lovely pieces, they have available. Their website is huge, with all kinds of awesome options for jewelry making, plus tutorials, and their customer service is wonderful.

Diamonds Are A Girls Best Friend

If you were born in the month of April then the splendid diamond is your birthstone. This lovely ring features 1 carat of genuine blue diamonds, with white baguette diamonds going down the shoulders. The center stone is not a diamond, and I am unsure what it is. I took this picture outside, because the inside ones just did not justify the true beauty of this ring. This was given to me as a semi mount, without the center stone. I set the center stone myself. It is a size 9, solid 14 k gold, and thick gold at that. This has been worn, as it was an engagement ring, for the original owner. I love this ring, but I can not honestly ever see me wearing it. It is so large, and I have such a small hand, it looks freakish on me. One lucky buyer can buy this ring for 500 dollars, payable with a verified Paypal account only. It will be insured for 500 dollars, USA buyers only, and shipped with signature required which means you will have to sign for it to get it. There is one baguette on the side that appears to have a flaw, but does not at all take away from the beauty of this ring. This would make a stunning engagement ring, or right hand ring gift for your birthday. If you are interested please contact me at darien04@gmail.com or comment here.

I Am Looking For A Few Good Bloggers For Blog Support Group

I want to start a group, on Yahoo groups for bloggers, to support each other, leave comments, advice, tips etc. It is free, and open until 100 bloggers have joined. Once I get a few that are interested I will post the link to join the group. It will be easy, just go to the group, at least three times a week, view each blog listed, and leave a pertinent to the topic, comment. Easy, and everyone wins. You can also post topics for discussion on the group. If it gets to where only some people are participating, those that do not will be deleted. It will be capped at 100 blogs, so let me know if you are interested. Please comment me here, or on either of my other blogs, to let me know you are interested.



We are on Spring Break next week, so no lesson plans to post. Spring cleaning, to come.

A Few Things I Have Learned

The other day I posted about using a dichroscope to test for unheated Tanzanite. I messed around with my dichroscope last night, it is a secret though because it is a Mother's Day gift, so shh do not tell anyone. Anyway I had some Tanzanite pieces, and I tested them, and some of them do have the yellow/green colors that show through the dichroscope. So I am excited to think I have some natural, unheated Tanzanite. I also learned when using the dichroscope, be sure to have white paper behind the piece you are looking at. What a big difference that made. Also, I have been suffering from headaches, when looking at stones, and making jewelry. I went and had an eye exam, and was prescribed glasses for up close work. If you wear glasses, for up close work, you need to wear them when looking through the dichroscope. Without them, I could not really see a thing. With them, it was amazing the difference. Those are the new things, I have discovered in my endless journey to learn to identify gemstones. More soon, have a great day, everyone.

My Top Ten Entrecard Droppers

Every month, on the first, I showcase and thank my top 10 Entrecard droppers. Please take a few minutes, and visit each of these great blogs.

http://singaporedraws.blogspot.com/
http://www.splitrockranchllamas.blogspot.com/
http://www.laaneloves.com
http://hellokittygifts.com
http://cinnamonspiceandeverythingnice.blogspot....
http://www.laaneworld.com
http://www.computerhelpandadvice.com
http://myheartvoice.com
http://www.techspotlight.today.com
http://quantumindonesia.blogspot.com


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