Happy Holidays!!

Here's wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year 2011! May you have the happiest of times with the best of company, family and friends!

Love from India,
Som

Holiday Sale - Black Friday through Cyber Monday

Please use Coupon Code 2010GIVETHANKS10OFF to receive 10% off on all items in my Etsy store for Black Friday through Cyber Monday, the 29th of Nov.

This sale is on in both my Etsy stores:
Gemstones: http://www.etsy.com/shop/somsstudiosupplies
Jewelry: http://www.etsy.com/shop/somsstudio
The same coupon code is valid in both my stores.

Some of my new Bridal necklaces:

Swarovski Pearl, Pear cut Cubic Zirconia Asymmetrical Brooch necklace

Swarovski Pearl, Pear cut Cubic Zirconia Bridal necklace

I just received these gorgeous Mystic Quartz gemstones yesterday and these will be listed in my gemstones store tomorrow.

Blue Mystic Quartz Faceted Hexagon / Star beads

Pink Mystic Quartz Faceted Heart beads
Pale Green Mystic Quartz Faceted Teardrop/ Pear beads

My Guest Post on the Curation Nation Blog

Today I have a guest post on the on the Curation Nation Blog. I wrote a small article with screen shots of how to factor in your Etsy and PayPal fees into your profit so that a truer number is reflected. I have created a simple model on MS Excel.

I hope that you will find this useful, so head over there and take a look!

Swarovski Crystal and Pearl Colors

These are the crystal and pearl colors that Swarovski offers. All my Bridal designs can be customized to any of these colors.

Hippo for Christmas hit the Front Page on Etsy!!

I am so excited to share that the treasury I curated hit the Front Page on Etsy!! Congrats to all that were featured! This is a first for me, so please click and comment and share the love!

Etsy Purchases

Check out these gorgeous tags I received from the very talented Curation Nation teammie and friend Shari of luvs2create2.




Also received these beautiful flowers from HandmadeFlowers.

Bijoux d'Odalisque Giveaway!

Holly of Bijoux d’Odalisque on Etsy is having a giveaway on the Belle de Couture blog.

***ONE LUCKY WINNER WILL WIN THIS AWESOME NECKLACE***

{This is a red topaz concave faceted oval briolette with a handmade wire wrapped bail. It weighs 28.4 Carats and is absolutely flawless. It hangs from a delicate, gold fill chain that has two tiny faceted red corundum rondelles hand linked near the toggle clasp. The chain is 17.5 inches long. The red topaz pendnat measures slightly over one inch long (including the bail). Retail Value = $298.00}

Hurry on over to the Belle de Couture blog and enter!

BRIDAL PORTFOLIO - ELIZABETH

I received these gorgeous pictures from my beautiful bridal customer Elizabeth! Wow! There is a world of difference between making jewelry with pearls and wire and then seeing how someone wears them and brings them to life. I get so excited, and somewhat emotional whenever I get these mails showcasing the jewelry that I made.

(Pictures by http://www.bellapictures.com/)

Elizabeth wanted a pearl and rhinestone Flower Necklace. She liked my double stranded pearl necklaces but wanted a simpler version. I made this single stranded version of my best seller brooch necklace. I used a smaller Cubic Zirconia component that I generally use for my chandelier earrings. I used all Swarovski pale ivory pearls. The CZ component can be worn at the left or the right (as Elizabeth choose to).



She also wanted a matching bracelet and earrings. More pictures of the jewelry can be found here.



Elizabeth also got these chandelier earrings, but choose to go with the plain Swarovski pearl studs to keep with the simpler jewelry.



Wedding pics: Copyright Elizabeth Brown 2010
Taken by: http://www.bellapictures.com/
Jewelry pics: Copyright Som's Studio 2010

Launched My Bridal Store Today

I am very happy to announce the launch of my Bridal store on Etsy:
http://www.etsy.com/shop/somsstudio

I hope that you like my designs as much as I enjoy making them.

What is Cubic Zirconia?

Cubic Zirconia or CZ is is the cubic crystalline form of zirconium dioxide (ZrO₂). The synthesized material is hard, optically flawless and usually colorless, but may be made in a variety of different colors. It should not be confused with zircon, which is a zirconium silicate (ZrSiO₄). Because of its low cost, durability, and close visual likeness to diamond, synthetic cubic zirconia has remained the most gemologically and economically important competitor for diamonds since 1976.

Rhinestone or paste or diamante on the other hand, is a diamond simulant typically made from glass. Glass is silicon dioxide, also known as silica (from the Latin silex), is an oxide of silicon with a chemical formula of SiO₂. The availability of glass rhinestones was greatly increased when around 1775 the Alsatian jeweler Georg Friedrich Strass had the idea to imitate diamonds by coating the lower side of glass with metal powder. Hence, rhinestones are called Strass in many European languages. Crystal rhinestones are produced mainly in Austria by Swarovski and in the Czech Republic by Preciosa and a few other glassworks in northern Bohemia. In the US, these are sometimes called Austrian Crystal.

I have been using CZ and rhinestones in my Bridal jewelry for many years now. Both are very attractive and provide diamond like sparkle. The CZ I currently work with is by far one of the best stimulants that I have used, primarily due to the incredible faceting of the stones.

(References: http://en.wikipedia.org)

Curation Nation Natural History Treasury Challenge: Winner

I am thrilled to bits that I was chosen the winner of the Curation Nation Natural History Treasury Challenge!

Due to being the winner, these gorgeous Center Drilled Maroon Garnets from my Etsy Supplies Store were chosen as this week's featured item on the Wednesday Item Treasury Challenges. These beads have been featured 19 treasuries as I write this...and counting!

Being featured brings a lot of exposure and traffic to our online stores. You could be featured in an upcoming Wednesday Challenge too! The featured Wednesday item is picked from the winning shop of the Saturday challenge. Everyone is invited to play - these challenges are open to all, not just to team members of Curation Nation. Please check out the details on the Curation Nation blog.

Making a treasury following the simple rules is really very easy. So please make one and drop a comment on the Curation Nation blog. Just tell them that Som send you.

BRIDAL PORTFOLIO - JENN

I am so thrilled to have received some professional pictures from my gorgeous bridal customer Jenn! Wow! What a beautiful wedding and what fabulous pictures!


(Pictures used with permission from Danielle Aquiline Photography.)

Jenn wanted a pearl and rhinestone Flower Necklace. She also requested that the pearls used on the side be smaller than the ones I used in the Cubic Zirconia component for a sparkly yet delicate look. I made her necklace using genuine Freshwater pearls, Cubic Zirconia components and solid sterling silver parts. The Cubic Zirconia and pearl component was based off an earlier best selling design, just replaced the central Cubic Zirconia with a genuine freshwater pearl. More pictures of the necklace can be found here.



Keeping with the delicate angle, I included these petite pearl earrings as a thank you gift!


It’s such a great experience making jewelry for brides!
Thank you Jenn!

A gift from Jamie Bowers of Viola and Jean

I received these gorgeous earrings as an unexpected gift from my customer Jamie Bowers of Viola and Jean. What a pleasant surprise!! These earrings traveled all across the globe and I immediately wore them although was still in my PJs. They were so lightweight and comfortable that I wore them all evening too.


These playful earrings are a slight different take on her Cinderella earrings. Jamie describes them as "The color combination has the distinct feeling of sunset. A Baroque white pearl starts the tassel made of Gunmetal and Silver Chain with Tundra Sapphires in red, orange and taupe, a deep yellow Tourmaline and Tiger Eye, finished by a silver pearl hung from handmade earrings hooks. They’re perfect for flagging down a ride and finding glass slippers. Never feel stranded again."

Thank you so much Jamie, for this wonderful gift! I will cherish these earrings forever!

Rooted in Love

A very special customer of mine had a concept called "Rooted in Love". She wanted me to make pendants reflecting this concept, so I picked up my pen...em...my mouse and set to work.

Earlier prototype.

Final design of "Rooted in Love"


Final design of "Mini Rooted in Love"

I gave these designs to my manufacturer, who cast them in sterling silver to make these lovely pendants.

Final design of "Rooted in Love" cast in Sterling Silver

All pictures © 2010

New Concave cut Gemstones are just in!

I am super excited to receive a whole bunch of specialty concave cut faceted briolette beads that are just plain gorgeous!

Smoky Quartz Concave Cut Briolette Beads - Hearts

Lemon Quartz Concave Cut Briolette Beads - Hearts

Rock Crystal Quartz Concave Cut Briolette Beads - Hearts

Pink Amethyst Concave Cut Briolette Beads - Pears

Prasiolite or Green Amethyst Concave Cut Briolette Beads - Pears

Lemon Quartz Concave Cut Briolette Beads - Pears

Beer Quartz Concave Cut Briolette Beads - Pears

I received some other regular gemstones too, as requests.

Rainbow Moonstone 3-D Teardrop Briolette Beads


Tanzanite Rondelle Beads


White Topaz Faceted Pear Teardrop Briolette Beads


White Topaz Faceted Pear Teardrop Briolette Beads

All of these gemstones will be also be available at my gemstone store on Etsy starting tomorrow.