Macrame Jewelry with South American Stones

Usually, when I think of Macrame, I think of those owls that hung on the walls of homes in the 70's. It's kind of a lost art, really, in that you don't see a lot of people who work with macrame anymore.

After seeing today's feature shop, though, my vision of this form of artwork has changed completely.

GitanaMama on Etsy is filled with macrame jewelry. In fact, the jewelry in this shop is nothing like those long ago owls but instead is delicate and earthy and absolutely gorgeous pieces made by knotting thread to create patterns and designs unique to the artist.

Catie Atkinson from Santa Fe, New Mexico has spent a good portion of her life backpacking through South America with her husband where they learned the art of jewelry design, leather work and macrame. In their travels, the places that they visited and people they met became inspiration for their jewelry designs and art.

Many of the pieces in GitanaMama are made with semiprecious stones and other beads are sometimes incorporated into the work as well. Each piece in the shop is a one of a kind design you won't come across again so you can be guaranteed to have purchased something uniquely yours.

YOU CAN CLICK ON THE PICTURE ABOVE TO VISIT GITANAMAMA ON ETSY AND TAKE A LOOK AROUND OR, IF YOU PREFER, YOU CAN CLICK RIGHT HERE.

A Three-for-One Thursday Theme

The theme today is metal artists who create jewelry! Jewelry is one of my absolute favorite things to shop for in the handmade marketplace. There are always so many talented designers out there and I love that I can take the chance today to introduce you to three of these artisans that aren't just talented but innovative as well!

Here are three pieces of jewelry that caught my eye and an introduction to the designers who created them.

Beautiful rings with an added twist. These rings are also spinners, meaning that the inside ring spins while the larger band remains stationary! It's perfect for someone who can't resist fiddling with their jewelry and is sure take anyone's breath away. Visit KBerlin on Etsy to check out these rings and more! Harmony Twiddle Spinner Ring with Gem Stones - $168.00 USD

I'm an admitted Volkswagen enthusiast... a "Bug Freak" to be completely honest. I have a thing for vintage style Volkswagen Bugs and buses. So it's no surprise when I saw this pendant by BronzeGirl1 on Etsy that I would fall in love with it right away! Made in sterling silver and hand-stamped, it's style is unisex and perfect for gift giving for any VW lover. This shop also celebrates my other passion as well with lots of nature inspired pieces filled with leaf themes and wildlife depictions stamped, carved and molded in sterling silver. Sterling Silver VW Bus Hippie Pendant - $75.00 USD

Whether you're an Alice In Wonderland lover as I have been all my life or you are looking for unusual jewelry to spice up your collection, UntamedMenagerie on Etsy is filled with bracelets like the one that I found myself irresistibly drawn to that's pictured here. The bracelet is cut from stainless steel and is an eye catcher like many other pieces you can find in this shop. Down the rabbit hole.. Bracelet - $35.00 USD

As a jewelry aficionado, the handmade market place is a perfect place to shop. There are tons upon tons of jewelry designers in the handmade venue creating beautiful, innovative pieces that are often unique, one of a kind pieces of art you can wear for special occasion or everyday wear. Be sure to stop by places like Etsy and Artfire to explore these venues for what they have to offer!

Handmade Custom Jewelry, Crystal Earrings and More

I admit there are times when browsing around the net that a jewelry shop is just another jewelry shop. Sometimes they can run together, because honestly? A lot of places sell the same old thing.

Today's shop, JewelryByJaynemarie on Etsy, is not one of those shops. They defnitely have a few classic pieces, of course, but what really drew my eye to this shop in particular is the section in their shop named "Handmade Special Jewelry".

When I first saw the name, I thought... oh, a sale section. But what I discovered was something even better. In this section of their shop they have a variety of remarkably creative handmade pieces like the piece you see pictured here.

Unique designs abound, created from a combination of sterling silver and high-quality gemstones and abounding in creativity galore.

She also does custom designs and creates beautiful bridal jewelry as well, making this artisan a perfect choice if you're looking for something special designed just for you or for someone you love.

Jaynemarie is very proactive in her craft as well. She is constantly seeking out new techniques and ideas through the many jewelry classes she explores through local schools and shops in her area. This keeps her designs in her shop fresh and interesting and new ideas flowing through her collection of pieces on a regular basis.

YOU CAN CLICK ON THE PICTURE ABOVE TO VISIT JEWELRYBYJAYNEMARIE ON ETSY AND TAKE A LOOK AROUND OR, IF YOU PREFER, YOU CAN CLICK RIGHT HERE!

You can also explore further at the Jewelry by Jaynemarie's blog, or if you like you can stop by and visit Jaynemarie on Facebook or Twitter!

[This blog post is a "BESTeam Feature" for the Boosting Etsy Shops Team. The BESTeam is dedicated to helping its members promote their shops and assisting each other in marketing, advertising and sharing the tips and tricks of running an online business. If you are a seller on Etsy and are interested in becoming a member of the HERE.]

Sterling Silver Jewelry, Gemstones, Birthstones and Pearls

If you like silver jewelry, pearls and elegant style you're going to love a browse through today's feature shop.

CKSilver on Etsy is filled with all of these things.

CKSilver offers handcrafted sterling silver jewelry that is beautiful, timeless and elegant. Each piece of jewelry is unique, and many are one of a kind.

The shop is stocked and ran by a mother and daughter team of artisan jewelry designers, Cindy and Marilyn, who both love creating classic pieces of jewelry that are perfect for everything from casual wear to elegant ensembles, weddings and more. Most pieces incorporate a combination of components from sterling silver and freshwater pearls to semi-precious stones and swarovski crystals.

Cindy and Marilyn are both highly creative women with terrific taste and a talent for combining together different components into unique pieces of jewelry any woman would feel beautiful in and be proud to wear.

Marilyn and her daughter both have similar taste and designs but each put their own personal flair into their pieces, creating a shop that's stocked with a cohesive style and variety at the same time.

Each piece is created with experience, excellence and pride in workmanship, and they even offer custom orders (including custom requests for specific birthstones, gemstones, etc) for those shopping for a piece of jewelry that has a bit of a more personal touch and feel to it.

YOU CAN CLICK ON THE PICTURES ABOVE TO VISIT CKSILVER'S SHOP ON ETSY AND TAKE A LOOK AROUND OR, IF YOU PREFER, YOU CAN CLICK RIGHT HERE.

You can also stop by and visit Cindy and Marilyn on the CKSilver blog!

[This blog post is a "BESTeam Feature" for the Boosting Etsy Shops Team. The BESTeam is dedicated to helping its members promote their shops and assisting each other in marketing, advertising and sharing the tips and tricks of running an online business. If you are a seller on Etsy and are interested in becoming a member of the BESTeam, the team is accepting new members and you can find more information about the team as well as apply to become a member HERE.]

Earthy and Elegant Hand Crafted Jewelry by 41Park

As an artisan, today's artist has worked professionally as a production potter, a commission artist, a decorative painter and art teacher in her life not to mention having a degree in Fine Art and Art Education. She has lived all over the world and loves to soak in new cultures and cultural diversity wherever she goes.

Liza Curtis, of 41Park on Etsy, now designs beautiful jewelry with an earthy flare and delicate appearance. I'm in love with her spiral copper pieces which come in rings and bracelets, both. There are also beautiful earrings and necklaces to browse through. All made with recycled and vintage glass, natural gemstones, recycled fine silver, silver wire and copper. The styles are simplistic and elegant, earthy and just plain beautiful!

If you're hunting for the perfect Valentines Day gift or if you love copper and silver jewelry, this is definitely a shop you're not going to want to miss and will want to stop by and take some time browsing around.

YOU CAN CLICK ON THE PICTURE ABOVE TO VISIT 41PARK ON ETSY AND TAKE A LOOK AROUND OR, IF YOU PREFER, YOU CAN CLICK RIGHT HERE.

You can also visit Liza Curtis on her blog or stop by and say hi on Facebook or Twitter!

[This blog post is a "BESTeam Feature" for the Boosting Etsy Shops Team. The BESTeam is dedicated to helping its members promote their shops and assisting each other in marketing, advertising and sharing the tips and tricks of running an online business. If you are a seller on Etsy and are interested in becoming a member of the BESTeam, the team is accepting new members and you can find more information about the team as well as apply to become a member HERE.]

Spring Celebrations You Can Wear - A Rare Post by Leal

My birthday is coming up. It's right around the corner actually, on the 1st of May. And although in my family, birthdays aren't special days or particularly celebrated, my twin sister and I were fortunate enough to be born on a major holiday, which meant that whether my parents wanted to celebrate our birthdays or not, there was always a celebration regardless.

May 1st is May Day, which is also known as Beltane. In many religions including our family's, this is a religious holiday. What that meant for us is that our parents always had the day off of work and my sister and I always got the day off school.

Not only that, but there was usually a party of some kind to go to involving moon cakes, cookies, dancing and a lot of fun activities for kids and adults. This made our birthday special, even if that wasn't the point of the actual celebration.

Beltane celebrates the fertility of spring and the greening of the earth and is the last of the three spring festivals, which heralds in the arrival of summer. It's filled with celebrations of fertility including maypole dancing, which is one of the more popular and well known ways off celebrating this special holiday.

I've chosen the pictures in today's post from a shop on Etsy that is filled with a wide variety of beautiful jewelry that, to me, celebrates this season to perfection.

I especially like the floral pendant necklaces in this shop, which I think are remarkable and perfect for the season.

These necklace are made by Magdalene Jewels in collaboration with Zuda Gay, who created the pendant itself.

In fact, the artist at Magdalene Jewels will gladly custom design any piece from Zuda's shop, according to the colors of the Flowers you choose and your personal specifications.

TO VISIT MAGDALENE JEWELS' SHOP ON ETSY, YOU CAN CLICK THE PICTURES ABOVE OR, IF YOU'D RATHER, CLICK RIGHT HERE!

Versatility and a Statement - A Rare Post by Leal

When you run a business where you need customers for your income, one of the hardest things you can do for your business is trying to find your target market. It can be extremely beneficial, but that's not to say it's not without its difficulties.

Today we're featuring a jewelry designer that has found that market and carefully incorporated it into their products with stunningly beautiful results.

John Tozzi of Seattle, Washington is the artist behind these beautiful pieces that I'm referring to. (Be careful Googling him, he also is a rather inspiring nude photographer so some of the links you come up with might not be exactly "work friendly", but if you like nude art photography, I definitely recommend looking him up.)

He's focused his jewelry design on pieces for women who gear their wardrobe to have as much versatility as possible. These are women who fill the majority of their closet space with separates that they can mix and match in order to get a lot of mileage out of just a few pieces.

John Tozzi's jewelery is then designed to be just as versatile and views his jewelry not as an accessory so much as an extension of that kind of versatile wardrobe.

Galleria di Giani is John Tozzi's jewelry shop on Etsy, and you can find a variety of these beautiful, versatile pieces available there. What I personally enjoy about his pieces is that every one of them uses gemstones in their design, some of those gemstones being very unique, like the Kashgar Garnet that he and I are both apparently drawn to very strongly.

It's an honor to know John personally, and I can vouch for his dedication to his work and his designs. He's very personable and easy to talk with and, I imagine, he's just as easy to work with as well.

YOU CAN CLICK ON THE PICTURE ABOVE TO VISIT JOHN TOZZI'S GALLERIA DI GIANI SHOP ON ETSY AND TAKE A LOOK AROUND OR, IF YOU PREFER, CLICK RIGHT HERE.