Here's to my favourite Etsy team!

I'm not much of a joiner, but the Tradeholics team is one of the best on Etsy, and I love to trade so you can bet I'm a member!
It's one of the best teams on Etsy, I think. Very easygoing, inclusive, supportive and FUN! They have monthly 'trading parties'--and you don't have to be a team member to participate!
The most recent trading party (called a Trade and Stay, or Trading Frenzy) saw me making three trades with team members!

PeculiarParchment (a seemingly tireless team leader) traded some of her 2x2 notecards in exchange for a pair of my blue shimmerstone earrings, very similar to the ones below.

 I've previously traded with TheHappySoul for some wonderful  massage/bath oil, so this time she traded one of her custom salt scrubs in amber & sandalwood (to go with my bath oil) for a hand-drawn, one of a kind art journal from my ParadoxMoxie shop.

 BragginRightsBath has a cool line of 'whipped body butters' that I've been wanting to try for a while. They feel AMAZING, not at all like lotion and they literally melt right into your skin! The scents are divine too.

So we traded. She traded a set of mini body butters in Sex on the Beach, Coconut Almond and Sweet & Sexy for my Desert Nectar anklet.

If you're interested in trading, hanging out or joining the team, visit these sites to get a feel for the team:
Etsy Traders blog lists the current team members and what each has to trade, the Tradeaholics forum team thread where traders come to chat about their lives, their shops and team news (members and non-members alike are welcome), and the hub of the team is the Tradeaholics Ning site, which is where you get all the news, links to trading threads, party dates and monthly design challenges. You can also run an Etsy search for 'team trade on' to find an ever-changing array of items up for trade.

Are you a Bead Geek? (or, How I Made a New Line)

Are you a bead geek? Do you get excited over technical little details (like sparkling inclusions in a quartz strand) or read bead catalogs for fun, or want to correct layman mistakes in spelling of a kind of stone?
My 'bead geek' moment came recently, when I realized not everyone read bead catalogs as teenagers, and therefore not everyone knew what 'calibrated' meant. For the record, 'calibrated' refers to standardized common sizes/shapes of cabochons, such as those in this chart (courtesy of Fire Mountain Gems):

And I'm having a 'bead geek' moment now. Oh how excited I am! After receiving several special requests for calibrated cabochons, I am now introducing a permanent line of shimmerstone cabochons in calibrated, uniform sizes and shapes, for my customers who love incorporating them into their pre-fired metal clay projects, for polymer clay enthusiasts, and people who work with vintage and modern cabochon settings.
When I first decided to make a special section for the calibrated cabochons, I thought I'd have to buy a lot of new supplies, but when I looked in my drawer of glass, I saw I had enough materials left over from the commissions to make a decent number of calibrated cabochons to fill a new section. Joy!

Shimmerstones as published in Step by Step Wire Jewelry!

The other day while paging through Step by Step Wire Jewelry, what did I see but my very own shimmerstones, published in the Cool Stuff department! I had sent them in for consideration a few months ago, but didn't know the issue had gone to print. When you're waiting for months, you tend to feel like you're always going to be waiting 'just a few more weeks' until it hits the stands! SO EXCITING!

'The Beaded Passion': announcement and call for entries!

I'm giddy to announce my newest ongoing project: a self-published how-to beading magazine, called 'The Beaded Passion'! It will feature jewelry made from various materials, using a myriad of techniques at many different levels--but they will all reflect a passion for beading! There are still some things to work out and finish up, but I hope to release the premiere issue around the end of January.
In the meantime, what better way to celebrate the upcoming beady joy than with a contest? So, I call for entries to 'The Beaded Passion Contest'!

This beading contest is to show off your skills designing with one or more cabochons! The cabochon/s may be gemstone, bone, vintage or modern glass, polymer clay, metal clay, or Shimmerstone.Techniques you might use in your entry piece include but are not limited to: wiring, bead stitching, looming, bead embroidery, clay work (polymer or metal), and chainmaille.

Rules for entering:
Entries may be jewelry or functional art object.
Judges not eligible to enter.
Your entry must incorporate one or more cabochons, and must be your own original design.
New work is encouraged, but previous works done within the past six months are acceptable.
Put in the listing description that this is for the 'Beaded Passion' contest, with a link back to this post.
To submit, simply comment on this post with a link to your entry. Alternatively, you may send me a DeviantArt or Etsy note entitled 'contest entry' with a link to your entry.
Last day of accepting entries is March 31. Winners are notified and announced within two weeks.

The prizes are as follows:
Most Unusual~$15 gift certificate to my bead shop ParadoxMoxie
People's Choice~$20 gift certificate to my bead shop ParadoxMoxie
Best Entry~$25 gift certificate to my bead shop ParadoxMoxie

In addition, each of the the winning designs will be featured on my Bright Circle blog, my DeviantArt journal and in an issue of my upcoming bead magazine, 'The Beaded Passion'! All entries will be featured on my DeviantArt journal as they come in.

 Entries will be judged on creativity, technical skill, aesthetic appeal, and use of the cabochon in the design.
If you would like to furnish prizes/be among the judges, send me a DeviantArt note or Etsy Conversation.

Contest rules subject to change depending on the number of entries received. For example, a deluge of entries may necessitate the introduction of contest categories. Rest assured, any changes will be posted.

And I Thought I Couldn't Multitask

Over the past several days, I have been busy doing...well, all sorts of things. Probably everything but what I SHOULD be doing (beading, and beading a lot! I have a deadline by which several major jewelry pieces need to be finished, and I'll post on that later).

Project one that's been keeping me busy: revamping the look of my Etsy shop. In keeping with my shop name, Bright Circle, all the old rectangular photos have been replaced with circular ones (see my photos to the right for a sample of the new look)! Does anyone know how long it takes to edit 28 listings in a row?? All I have to say about that is, I'm so thankful my Internet isn't Dial-Up no more! And the results of all that work is pretty darn satisfying; the circular pictures really seem to be memorable.

Project two: getting famous on Flickr (not!). I was lured into this Place Of Many Photos by a link to a group who does cool things with each other's photos! (It's called Pimp My Pixels!) I like to do cool things with photos, and people on Etsy say that Flickr is a good marketing tool (I guess, the more people who know you, the more potential customers you have?) so up I joined. The photos I 'pimp' have a very distinctive look to them, and I like to think my style is instantly recognizable. My profile photo is an excellent example. Here is another:

Project three: making my own 'light box' with which to better photograph my stuff. Rustling up a nice pair of scissors, a cardboard box of suitable size and shape, a nice length of white fabric, a glue gun AND glue sticks in the correct size (and enough of them for the whole project), well, it isn't a given that I'll be able to find all those things at the same time. I'm happy to report, all those items were actually readily available when I needed them! Though I did have to borrow the glue gun from one of my brothers.

Project four: setting up a second Etsy shop, www.ParadoxMoxie.etsy.com! I haven't listed anything yet, but I will be selling mostly my 'tattooed' rocks, along with shiny magnets and anything else I can think of. But I'm gonna concentrate on the rocks. Here is a preview of what is to come!