oh my. front page joy.

so i'm out with J doing property inspections (and sneaking off to have lunch) when my blackberry goes off and it's Julie.  with a bbm telling me that i'm on the front page of etsy.  in a treasury that she made!  (see the shot of her computer screen above?)  seriously, it totally made my day - plus, in the hour that it was up, i received over a 1000 views of my DIY stack of sterling skinny rings, 30 new shop hearts, and tons of miscellaneous traffic!  it couldn't have been a better advertising opportunity.  so thank you again, Julie - for putting me on your wish list!  (and hey - your new pretties are in the mail!!!!)

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still thinking about the name change...

 i am still thinking about renaming my shop.  even though i am horribly relucant to let go of the "muffintop" (the one i possess in real life, not so much, sigh!) i really do feel like i should.  i know that julie and L doth protest much, and M likes the muffin stamp i designed ages ago and still use on my packaging, but i think that "jewelry by muffin top designs" does not look professional as a byline on the fashion pages of InStyle.  not that i'd ever get there, but a girl can dream, can't she?  i also seem to get a lot of web traffic to my blog and my shop by people searching for things like "muffin top jewelry" or "muffin top shop".  can i give that up?  i don't know.

anyhow, the latest name i am enamored with is "TheLovelySmith".  (i wiki-ed the definition of "smith" - here it is.)  i can envision a handcrafted wooden sign hanging outside a small, thatched roof studio cottage in the forest and me hammering over an open flame.  kind of dorky and sappy, huh?  i do kind of feel badly referring to myself as "lovely" (self-esteem is not my strong point, obviously) but it just FITS for some reason.  i don't know if i can parlay the muffin into a lovely smith, but maybe this is what i've been looking for?

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the way i am.

i can't remember where i stumbled upon this song, but it's been in my rotation for quite some time. quirky and sweet. and catchy to boot. plus, really, is there anything better than someone who will just take you the way you are? thank you, ingrid michaelson!

(i am sure this would be an appropriate segue into billy joel's "just the way you are"... but i'm not going to do that.)

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kewtsy. deal.

a quick note - i am running a deal on the fabulous site kewtsy for the next couple of days! you can check out the details here!  i've been working with linda, who is fantastic.  if there is anyone who wants to pitch a deal to her, you can click on the "vendors" link!  thanks, linda!!!!!! 

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expensive happy accident?

i don't know what i was thinking when i placed my last supply order, but when it arrived, i realized that i was now the proud owner of some fantastic, albeit super expensive, 4mm wide sterling silver wire.  gorgeously silken and shiny and smooth, the wire is heavier and more substantial than the stock i usually use.  and i haven't worked with silver this thick in width unless i've cut it myself. 

of course i made a plain band with it immediately.  (how could i not?)   and it's beautiful.  molten and almost flawless except for my signature unfinished seam.

the success of the initial band then led to the stamping experiments.  i have not been successful (at least in my mind) with using stamps because i am notoriously crooked and i don't always use even pressure, resulting in - ahem - typos.  i made two rings, one with the word "love" (of course) and the other with the word "evolve".  i oxidized the deep grooves of the letters, then threw them in the tumbler.  i wasn't 100% that i would like the finished product because of course the letters were uneven, slanted and one of the "e"s was backwards.  but when i pulled them out of the water, they were almost heartbreakingly sweet, with a definite rustic handmade feel to them.  which i LOVE.  i'm not sure if i will ever sell them in my shop, but i am almost crazy over these.  the two stamped bands are way too large for me, so i might just wear them on a chain around my neck. 

yup, i already have more wire on order.

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