I just have to mention this one thing........

I know, I know, I'm on a blog break, but I simply must sneak in for a moment and tell you about this jewelry swap I participated in that was hosted by my dear friend, Molly Alexander, who is about the most amazing jewelry artist I know (and, her prices are so very reasonable - I do tend to drop some money in her etsy shop).
So, I know y'all are giggling and asking yourselves, "hmmmm, I don't think I've ever seen any of Jan's jewelry in her etsy shop. It must sell REALLY fast....".
So, okay, y'all know I'm basically a paper artist but, hey, I've made jewelry in my day....it's just been a lot of days since I made any. HeeHee

My secret Santa that I 'designed' *making myself smile* for was Crystal Neubauer. So, I check out her site and was simply blown away and started praying immediately that there would be a mail strike, a huge blizzard in this part of Texas, she was blind, SOMETHING. But, oh, no, God said go forth and make thee a piece of jewelry fit for a jewelry artist.

Well, normally God gets what he wants, but in this case I made a piece of jewelry only a paper artist could create. I did my best!!

And, then today I received my piece of jewelry from none other than Carolyn Mallin.
Now, here's where you would see a picture of the jewelry but, my camera isn't working and I can't figure out why. New battery, not too old of a camera, changed batteries just in case, so you're going to have to visit Molly's blog (trust me, you want to anyway:) to see the beautiful earrings she made for me *which I will wear to church tomorrow*.

You will be totally blown away by Carolyn's gift, Molly's, all of the artists that participated in this exchange! And, I'm so glad that Molly invited me because now I've got my jewelry stuff out where I can see it and maybe, just maybe, I'll be able to throw a couple of pieces and some one will take pity on me and buy them for their blind mother-in-law.

Okay.............break's back on.
You'll not hear from me again until I have this exciting announcement to make.....(and, no, it's not that I'll not make jewelry:)

Love you all, peace over all of the lands, praise our Lord, and Happy Birthday to dear, sweet, wonderful Jesus!

xoxOO, Jan

A NEW CUSTOMER, A NEW FRIEND AND A FUN SWAP!

So, I order this fabulous necklace from Molly at Miss Molly's Designs - I had to have it, I loved it.
So, she goes to my etsy shop and places an order with me and after exchanging some emails and becoming blog friends *we really hit it off* we decided to have a One on One Swap!
It was so much stinkin' fun!!

I wanted to show you this simple, different, yet gorgeous necklace that Molly made (I found it in her etsy shop). She made all of the links, has added fabulous beads and this wonderful old key. I love the simplicity and the use of a found object, the color of the beads............okay, I just love it!!!

And, now for my swap items from Molly!
Look at all of this!
It's all so wonderful - the square bingo cards are stiff cardboard *never seen anything like them*, the found objects (yea!!), a wonderful copper square that's been etched (stamped?) with the definition of "celebrate", other metal pieces (yea!!), these wonderful turquoise wee bitty bird beads and the clear gold "rhinestones", the retro' metal pink flower, these awesome buttons AND the container the necklace came in with the necklace so you can see it one more time:).
We're going to do it again, we had so much fun doing it the first time!
And, I want to do a destash - heck, I could do more than one of those! LOL
Go visit Molly's Etsy shop - she has a real gift! And, her blog, wonderful reading:)

Thanks for sharing in this wonderful swap with my new friend, Molly.

And, my loyal readers - gosh, I love y'all!
xoxo, Jan