100 Sales Milestone Giveaway Contest

My Etsy shop reached 100 sales during the second week of July and to celebrate I have been brainstorming a fun (and simple) giveaway contest.  I have finally finished scheming and here are the details!

100 Sales Milestone Giveaway Contest by Pretty Sensitive Ears

NOTE: If you do not have a google / blogger account and do not want to set one up, please email your guess to me at prettysensitive@gmail.com.  Thank you!!  (edit on August 1st)

The winner of this contest will receive one free pair of earrings for sensitive ears (either Surgical Steel or 100% hypoallergenic Niobium) from my Etsy shop found at http://www.prettysensitive.etsy.com.  Shipping will be free.  The winner gets to choose any one pair listed for sale in my Etsy shop!

To enter, simply leave a comment on this blog posting with your numerical guess of how many seed beads are in the tube of beads pictured below.  Please be sure your email address is included in your comment (unless you have a blogger account with your email address included).  If you are the winner, but I don't have an email address to contact you at, I will have to choose the next closest guesser!

I have included a US dime (10 cent coin) for size reference in the photo.

The closest guess without going over the number of beads actually in the tube will be the winner!  You can only guess once to be eligible.  Repeat numbers will not be eligible; so, guess early so that your number won't be taken by someone else!

The winner will be announced on August 5th, 2011.  I will have my husband count the beads in the tube twice through (lucky guy!  hehehe) and give me the official count.  Then I will announce the number of seed beads here on my blog along with the lucky winner, and contact them via email!  The winner will then be able to send me the name of their favorite pair of earrings along with their mailing address.

This fun contest is a way to celebrate the 100 Sales Milestone in my Etsy shop.  Thank you for the support and best of luck to everyone!  A fun, simple way to win a free pair of handmade earrings for sensitive ears (either for yourself or as a gift) - pretty wonderful, huh?


While you're waiting to hear if you've guessed the correct number (or come the closest!), please stop by and take a look at the wide variety of earring styles for sensitive ears I offer in my shop.  Take a peak at the surgical steel hooks, posts, and posts with dangles, AND the niobium hooks, posts, and hoops, to get a feel for your favorite silhouette and material!  Also, remember that I can work with customers to create customized jewelry - never hesitate to contact me!

More information on materials can be found at my website at http://www.prettysensitive.weebly.com. 

I can be contacted through my website, my Etsy shop, or email via prettysensitive@gmail.com.

You can also join me on my facebook page, twitter, or tumblr!

Thanks very much for your visit!

~ Amanda J

Interviewed!

Featured right now on the Heart Handmade Blog, is an interview that I completed that explores my inspirations, motivations, etc.  To learn more about me and my handmade jewelry for sensitive skin, please visit the following link:  http://www.hearthandmadeblog.com/handmade-hypoallergenic-niobium-jewelry/

You can share the interview on facebook quite easily from the top of the page too, if interested! 

Online Ganoksin Exhibition Feature - "Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder"

 My wire wrapped ring called "The Black Flower," made using 100% hypoallergenic Niobium wire, a mother of pearl button, and vintage black flower button, is featured in this online exhibition of jewelry items all made without using precious materials.  Here are a few photos of my featured ring: 

There are some amazingly beautiful items featured - and all are made without using gold, silver, or platinum.   Here is the press release regarding the online exhibition.  I hope that you will check it out and share with others!   ~ Amanda Jensen


 Online Exhibition: "Beauty Is In the Eye of the Beholder"
   http://www.ganoksin.com/gnkurl/beb

   "Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder" showcases 247 images chosen
   from entries from over 55 artists representing North America, South
   America, Europe, Australia, Central America, Africa and Eurasia.

   The drive to adorn the human body is surely as old as human kind.
   From pre-historic times this drive has led humans to use the
   materials at hand, combined with the technologies and tools
   available, to create objects to adorn the human body. The oldest
   jewelry found to date goes back to at least 75,000 years ago in
   Africa.

   Early jewelry was made of bones, shells, sticks, and whatever other
   materials the people could find and shape. Over time the ability to
   mine and shape metal developed, and jewelry was made from bronze,
   silver, gold, platinum and other metals. Gold has long been thought
   of as a "precious" metal, and today it is joined by silver and
   platinum as the three main materials modern jewelry is made from.

   While much jewelry today is made from these three main metals, a
   large body of jewelry world-wide is still made from a much wider
   range of materials. This exhibition, "Beauty is in the Eye of the
   Beholder", focuses on jewelry made primarily of materials other than
   gold, platinum and silver.

   Jewelers today are still using found objects such as shell and bone;
   they are using "green" materials - upcycled and recycled objects and
   materials; they are using cutting edge plastics and newly developed
   technology; and they are using older metals such as copper, brass
   and bronze.

   Some of the more unusual materials include vinyl LP's, velvet, VCR
   components, rattlesnake vertebrae, corian, canvas, paper, crab
  claws, magnets, synthetic rubber electrical insulation tubing, and
   aluminum grounding wire.

   More traditional materials used include copper, bronze, brass,
   glass, various types of wood, gemstones, pearls and seeds.

   Techniques range from traditional metalsmithing, through a range of
   beading techniques, textile techniques, photography techniques and
   cutting edge industrial fabrication.

   Participants range from professional jewelers with international
   reputations to students just learning their craft.

   Hosted on the Ganoksin website, the world's largest internet site
   devoted to jewelry- related topics, the exhibition is a snapshot of
   what jewelers around the world are exploring, and an inspiration to
   all. The exhibition was conceived Beth Wicker, an artist from South
   Carolina, in the USA, and curated by Beth and Hanuman Aspler, founder
   of the Ganoksin Project.

   Beauty Is In the Eye of the Beholder
   http://www.ganoksin.com/gnkurl/beb

   For more information about the Exhibition please contact: Beth Wicker
   onlineexhibition@earthlink.net or Dr. E. Aspler (Hanuman)
   service@ganoksin.com

As Promised - More Photos of Niobium Post Earrings

6mm Amethyst Niobium Posts

6mm Malachite Niobium Posts

6mm Tiger Eye Niobium Posts

4mm Nephrite Jade Niobium Posts

6mm Lavender Amethyst Niobium Posts

4mm Powder Green Swarovski Pearl Niobium Posts

2mm Stainless Steel Ball Niobium Posts

4mm Onyx Niobium Posts

4mm Lapis Lazuli Niobium Posts

All are currently listed for sale in my etsy shop at http://www.prettysensitive.etsy.com.  100% hypoallergenic post earrings for sensitive ears made out of Niobium and all come with rounded silicone backs.

More Niobium Posts

I showed pictures of my very first pair of 100% hypoallergenic Niobium post earrings for sensitive ears in a previous post here on my blog.  That post can be found here.

Since then I've sold several pairs of Niobium post earrings with freshwater button pearls.  Here is a photo of these:

I also had a custom order request for another pair of Niobium posts with crystals.  The customer requested dark green.  Here is a photo of how these turned out:

Up next, I have a variety of gemstones that I will be mounting on to Niobium posts.  Included in the lineup are:  amethyst, tiger eye, onyx, lapis lazuli, nephrite, malachite, and more!  These gemstones range in size from 4 mm for those who prefer their post earrings to be more of a subtle accessory to 6 mm for those who love to have their posts stand out more.

I also have the concept in mind for how to create a dangle element to these Niobium posts.  My first shortcut method did not work.  But, method number two is more complicated, but should just do the trick!  Stay tuned!  :)

P.S.  I do like to work with individuals to create custom earrings that are in your preferred color and/or material.  Don't hesitate to contact me either by email:  prettysensitive at gmail dot com  Or via the contact page on my website:  http://www.prettysensitive.weebly.com

Dremel & Bloggie

My 30th birthday has arrived!  And I have to say, I feel just fine.  ;) 

My parents gave to me this birthday a gift of a Dremel tool which I have long wanted!  I am so excited (and also a little intimidated!)  I perused the owner's manual and took a look through all of the various attachments and am now working on dreaming up its inaugural project!  I think that once I can start playing around with it I will learn quickly what I can do with it.  (hopefully without doing much damage to any of the attachments!  but, you know, sometimes you just gotta learn by making mistakes!)

My husband gave me an amazing little techie device called a Sony Bloggie.  It is a small digital video camera with dual screens:  one on the back as we've all typically seen with digital cameras, and another screen on the front!  It's so I can set it up on a tripod and video myself and be able to see what I'm recording (my kids love this feature - lol)  He got it so I can record videos of earring making to share online!  I think it's going to be sort of fun - whether it's for making brief tutorials or for sharing the inspiration and work behind a particular pair that I've made.  This camera is so sleek too - and can take still pictures while video recording too. 

A few more sentimental thoughts on turning 30 before I end this blog post...

I have had my dearest family and friends nearby to help me welcome this new decade of my life - and it really means a lot to me.  I've always been a "quality" not "quantity" type of girl when it comes to friends, and I feel really blessed to have the real, supportive, quality friendships that I do.  In general the last few months have been ones filled with thought and reflection on life thus far and onward, and I am sincerely thankful to be where I am in my life.  Each day I grow more and more comfortable in my own skin, I keep learning more and more, and gain more and more wisdom.  There's nothing quite like experience to help you truly understand the wisdom our elders try to pass on to us at a young age.  I see this quite simply with my own children, and feel it myself when I have an 'ah-ha!' moment of realization about advice given to me by elder loved ones since passed. 

Sentimentality aside, I know my 30's are going to be grand!  :) 

And back on the topic of Pretty Sensitive Ears...  ;)  I have really enjoyed so far the handful of feedback I have received from customers who are having great success with earrings they've purchased from me.  It's a great feeling to help people out.  Thanks for the feedback and support.  I am enjoying this "job" much more than any other I've ever had!

Weaving

I spent a bit of time (through three episodes of 30 Rock on Netflix) experimenting with some weaving techniques.
The first used small seed beads and a french weaving technique to create beaded leaves or petals. I first tried with these pretty iridescent ivory colored seed beads that are more chunky and have sort of a square perimeter. I found that it was very difficult to get the strands to wrap close together.

So then I tried again using small (very small!) pink seed beads and found it was much easier to keep the weaving tighter and more to the size I preferred. When I got done I added an extra shiny gold iris glass bead on top and twisted the wires below and created an open spiral out of them. I really liked the multiple textures that were created overall.

The next weaving technique used just wire to create a herringbone weave. I saw this done around a pearl on a listing on Etsy and thought it was so beautiful. I found that it coincidentally is the same process as the french bead weaving from above, but without the seed beads! It was a bit difficult to keep the wires where I wanted them, but ultimately, once I got it going, it was pretty smooth going and turned out very pretty! I used it to create pendants for earrings, but I also thought it would look really pretty as the top of a wire wrapped ring too!

I am sitting now with my girls finishing up an episode of The Backyardigans (oh how they can sing a harmony!), but once I have a moment I will definitely be adding pictures to this post so that my descriptions will make more sense.
Happy Friday!

Edit:  Pictures now added!  :)