My aquamarine engagement ring is featured in BeforeTheBigDay blog!

My genuine aquamarine 14k rose gold ring was recently featured in a lovely blog from England,  BeforeTheBigDay .  The feature is entitled "Reasonable Engagement Rings" and had a lovely selection of engagement rings for under 250 pounds.

Here's the aquamarine ring that was featured:

BeforeTheBigDay is a lovely blog, with wonderful ideas and stunning photography.  Be sure and pay it a visit, whether you're planning your own big day, or just interested in England, weddings, or beautiful photography.  You won't be disappointed! :)

My Chocolate diamond ring made the Etsy front page, thanks NewHopeBeading!

View an Etsy Front Page Treasury List - The Vault on Craft Cult

Dalkullan Jewelry is featured

Appledoor Studio on Etsy has featured my shop on her lovely blog.   After reading about my shop on her blog, be sure to visit her gorgeous shop on Etsy, AppledoorStudio for beautiful handmade felt items.

Our sailboat Wind Chaser

Last month my husband and I took a major step.  After a few years of renting time on other people's sailboats, we finally bought our own boat.  She's a Beneteau First 38, made in France in 1983.

These pictures were taken by the previous owner.  As you can see, she's a beautiful sailboat.

The sailing season here on Lake Michigan runs from May 1 to Oct. 31, although most people have their boats in winter storage sometime in Oct. and don't bring their boats back to the water until later in May or even June.  Lake Michigan can be pretty rough at times, with gale force winds and high waves.

Here's another picture of Wind Chaser, also taken by the previous owner.  

She's currently on a steel cradle, which supports the boat on four places on the hull, at a marina in Milwaukee.  It's about a 2.5 hour drive from where we live in Chicago to the marina, and we go up about once a week to work on the boat.  And since she's almost 30 years old, there's a lot of work to do!

I'm really looking forward to sailing season in 2013.   It's going to be a long winter, but it's fun to go work on the boat, adding new equipment, varnishing and cleaning, and especially dreaming about cruising Lake Michigan next summer.

Hope where ever you are, that life is beautiful for you! :)

Pro Tips on Creating a Successful Etsy Shop

I was reading through the Forums this morning, coffee cup in hand, when I stumbled upon some wonderful advice from Holly of Five Little Gems -- beaded jewelry designs .
 

Holly makes gorgeous jewelry, this is her Chunky Seafoam Crystal and Pearl Multistrand Necklace.

And this is her creative, cute and fun Silver Watering Can Long Necklace.

Holly handcrafts romantic beaded jewelry creations in crystal, pearl, glass, and gemstone beads.  She has many styles for brides, bridesmaids, formal and every day wear!. You'll find beaded wire and wire crochet necklaces, beaded bracelets, charm necklaces and simple earrings. Have a question about something or a custom order request, just convo her for more info.

Holly also makes statement gemstone jewelry at Rocktopolis
and scrapbook and paper creations at The Cropping Block
You can also follow Holly at Facebook for insider info and sales and giveaways.

Holly runs three successful Etsy shops, and also is raising 5 children, in ages from 3 to teen years.  Truly an inspiration!

Here are the great tips from Holly on how to have a successful shop on Etsy:

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"Want some pro tips?

1. don't worry about your banner right now, it really doesn't matter as much as people seem to think. it's a nice, polishing touch, but it's not going to get you sales and it's not going to pull people into your shop.
2. don't worry about your avi right now. put whatever you want there. people say a professional avi is of utmost importance. i get more business when i have my ridiculous cat/neck model one up there. :D
3. don't worry about treasuries right now - if ever. people put too much stock in those. i was on several power treasury teams. i sell more now that i quit them.
4. worry about your seo/relevancy first and foremost and get your titles and tags situated asap!
5. worry about your photos. this is how you put your best foot forward. you don't need a fancy camera. i don't have a fancy camera. you just have to figure out how to use the one you have. it can be done. my photos definitely didn't look as good as they do now when i first started. we all have to start somewhere! oh, and yes, use all your photo slots. and the whole white background/no white background argument. white works. it's a fact. but what's most important is having a clean, uncluttered background that doesn't detract from your subject. you can have the giant redwoods looming in your background, just so long as they're blurred and the focus is on your item, not your background
6. don't listen to all the advice given to you in the forums. not all of it is good advice.
7. never stop working on your shop
8. believe in yourself - if you don't, you will fail
9. read read read - etsy forums (you'll start to recognize who the valuable ones are you should listen to and look for posts from in the forums after you've been here a bit). etsy's blog - TONS of good info there on how to get your shop ship-shape
10. have fun doing this. if it's not fun, then it's a chore, and it shows.
11. don't take things here too personally. people online don't know you. try not to let them hurt your feelings. some are actually trying to help you. and some are just nasty. but none of them should be given the power to upset you, and only YOU can give them that power.
12. list list list list list. the more lines you have in the water, the more fish you're likely to catch. there is no magic number. there is no such thing as having too many pages of things in your shop. just keep working at it. if what you're making isn't selling, then make something new. you never know what magic item is going to get you noticed.
13. don't worry about the front page. been there, done that. it really didn't have as much of an effect on my business as actually WORKING on my business did.
14. find some etsy friends. real etsy friends are invaluable. it took me awhile to find some tried and true and honestly, i find myself needing to talk to them on a daily basis and i miss them when they have the nerve to go on vacations and such. lol. but no one understands your dilemmas here more than a fellow etsian. and it's nice to have someone to lean on who understands you.
15. don't listen to all the advice given to you in the forums. not all of it is good advice. yeah, i know, i said this already. it's important.

now pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and get to work! you have a lot to do! and welcome to the wonderful world of etsy, where dreams really CAN come true. :)

one more little snippet of advice. take it one step at a time. don't try to tackle it all, and don't feel defeated if you get halfway through one thing and have to work on another. i've retaken my photos no less than 7 times in my 3.5 years here, and each time i start anew it's before i've even finished the last. happens when you have 300-400 items in your shop. :) and when things like relevancy rear their ugly head and you have to drop everything to pay attention to that.

Rome wasn't built in a day! neither were the vast majority of successful shops on etsy! "

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Thanks so much Holly for graciously allowing me to quote you, and for all the help and encouragement you give to others -- you are really a gem!

Thanks everyone for visiting my blog, I appreciate it!  Please feel free to comment, I'd love to hear from you. :)

My Emerald ring is featured on refinery29.com!

My emerald ring was selected by refinery29 as part of their feature -- Affordable Engagement Rings -- They Do Exist!  My ring is #2 in the slide show.  Here's a screen capture:

I'm really excited that they picked my emerald ring!  I hadn't heard of refinery29.com before, but it's a very beautiful blog, with lots of great fashion tips.  Go take a look at it, I think you'll like it! :)

Contest -- how you could win a free piece of gorgeous Dalkullan Jewelry!!!

Valentine's Day contest! The lucky winner will win any one item from my shop, worth $70.00 or less. How to enter? Just post a comment on the Dalkullan Jewelry fan page on Facebook between now and 6 p.m. central standard time on Feb. 14th. It needs to be an actual comment, not just a 'like'. If you'd put up a link from my shop of the jewelry piece you'd like if you win, that would be great, but that's up to you. :) Any Facebook fan of Dalkullan Jewelry can enter, so please tell your friends! The contest results will be announced at 8 p.m. on Valentine's Day. Wishing you good luck!

Been away for awhile

I haven't been able to craft jewelry for about a year due to illness.  It's great to be back at the jeweler's bench, it was like I'd never been away when I picked up my torch again.  There's something about  solder as it melts under the flame of the torch that is very refreshing to my spirit.  It's very enjoyable to be hammering, sawing and filing away, so grateful to be able to create jewelry again!

I'm working on new designs -- incorporating new gemstones,  new settings, and I'm signed up for classes to learn new techniques, which I'm really thrilled about.  Here's a picture of my latest design,  an almandine garnet ring, and my first listing at Dalkullan Jewelry which employs a prong setting.

Some of the new techniques I'll be learning are keum boo, a way to combine 24k gold foil permanently to sterling without using solder, engraving and carving metal, and enameling.  Whew!  I'm going to be busy! :)

It's great to be back, I've missed my blog and hearing for you, my wonderful blog followers!  Thank you so much for stopping by!

Harvest day in the garden

This year I wasn't able to get outside and garden as much as I would have liked, in fact, the garden had to run on auto-pilot this year.  That, coupled with the dreaded Japanese beetle, resulted in a pretty small harvest from the garden.

But we did get some lovely grape tomatoes, which were kind enough to seed themselves around the compost pile.  The compost pile is always a source of surprise plants.  :)

Now that it's Fall and the beetles are gone, the roses are blooming again.  And there's always the hope of next year, and hopefully a glorious garden.  And now, the glorious colors of Autumn.

Thanks for dropping by, wishing you a blessed week!

A Walk in the Woods in Autumn

Here's a couple pictures from a walk I went on Saturday.  The leaves were starting to turn on the trees, it was a perfect Fall day, sunny and crisp. 

Those red berries looked delicious, but I doubt they're edible.  At least, I didn't sample them to find out.

Hope you get a chance to take some walks in the forest this Autumn too, and enjoy the beauties of God's creation.  :)