I Never Thought I'd Get Excited About Dishcloths

Really. Who gets excited about dishcloths?

We desperately needed some new ones, so I searched Etsy and found this beautiful set of orange and yellow cloths hand crocheted from Yarn Coture. These cloths are bright and cheerful, soft, absorbent, and extremely well made. They're a thousand times better than anything I've bought from a big-box retailer, and you know how I love supporting small businesses whenever I can.




I was even more excited when I discovered Yarn Coture has an amazing selection of hand knitted and crocheted goods. Aren't these necktie scarves gorgeous?

I've Got New Ads from Promo Pixie!

Up until now I've made my own not-so-good ads. It takes me hours to create the most simple 125x125 ad possible, and I feel mega-stressed the entire time. I want to expand my advertising and needed a variety of ad shapes and sizes--the thought of trying to do that myself was too overwhelming.

Then I found Promo Pixie! She created these ads for me--and quite a few more--much more quickly than I expected. Promo Pixie was cheerful and professional through the bazillion revisions I asked for. I've been placing the new ads on blogs and other websites and I get such a thrill when I see a page with my new ad!

The Joy of Hand Washing

I've been working on a series of fused glass soap dishes for a few weeks now, and I've finally got one listed in my Etsy shop! Each dish needs several rounds in the kiln, and each kiln firing takes about 24 hours to heat up, hold, and then cool, so it's a long process from start to finish. I've got quite a few soap dishes in various stages of completion so I hope to be able to show more off soon.

I'm doubly excited about this because with the purchase of any soap dish you'll also receive a fabulous sample size soap from Karen's Soaps. Her lime essential oil soap would look beautiful in the sparkly green soap dish!

Look What Mr. LuckyGirl Did!

I've been talking for over a year about the progress (or lack thereof) of turning our garage into my studio. What I haven't mentioned is that part of the workspace is for Mr. LuckyGirl--he loves to work with metal and create jewelry. He surprised me with this beautiful pair of earrings! They're made with sterling silver and 14K yellow gold, and feel terrific. I've been struggling to get a decent photo of them--they are amazingly tricky to shoot--and although these are my two best shots now I can't decide if I like either of them.

Mr. LuckyGirl is considering making more of these earrings. We've not created much precious metal jewelry to sell, only to wear, so coming up with a reasonable price is a bit tricky. We need your help! Would you consider buying a pair of these earrings, either for yourself or a gift? And what would you consider to be a fair and reasonable price?

New Sterling Silver Rolo Chains

I've finally got the new sterling silver rolo chains available for purchase! When I look at them I automatically thing "FUN!" They're 2.1mm wide, and I've got them in 16", 18", 20" and 24" lengths. You can search my Etsy shop for "rolo," or just click the link to see all of the rolo chains. I've been thinking about getting these in a larger width, so if you're interested in chunkier rolos let me know and I'll be sure to add them to my next order.

Lucky Deal of the Week: April 7, 2009

I know, I know, I'm late posting this (thanks to all who reminded me--now I know for certain that you like these deals!). This week's bargain is 10% off on anything in my eBay shop, including items that are already marked down, with shipping at exact postage cost. Most of the items will ship for between $2 and $3, but the heavier jewelry boxes will be a bit more. Interested? Leave a comment with a way for me to contact you, or send an email to me at luckygirltrading@yahoo.com. Want to know how much something is in non-U.S. currency? Try this handy currency converter.

My First Tie-Dyed Bottle Plate

Okay, it's not really tie-dyed, but it does remind of a tie-dyed shirt. This bottle took over two weeks to make. I thoroughly washed and dried an empty liquor bottle, then diluted some kiln-hardy blue paint and dripped it in inside. Then I waited for the paint to dry. And waited. And waited. Several days later it was dry enough to add the purple paint, and then the waiting began again. I didn't want to put the bottle in the kiln while there was any hint of moisture inside for fear of the bottle popping in the heat and causing a lot of damage. Seven days later it looked dry, so I let it sit another day just to be safe. After a full day (and night!) in the kiln, it came out looking like this. I love the look, so I've got a few more in progress. In the meantime, I'll have this available for purchase in my etsy shop tomorrow.

My Donation for the Animal Shelter

I dropped off my donation for the Durham Animal Protection Society's Tails at Twilight Gala yesterday. I hesitated about posting about it here, because it feels a bit like saying "Look what I made and you can't have it nya nya nya." I spent so many days braiding the kumihimo cord for this necklace that I wanted to record it in some way, so here it is. This is over 40 inches long, worked in a spiral pattern with spring green and yellow silk thread, with a sunny yellow fused dichroic glass pendant. I really love working with silk thread because it just feels wonderful!

I hope this brings in a nice amount for the 7,000 or more animals our local APS takes care of each year. And if you really want this piece I can make a similar one for you--but you can't have this one. ;)