Black Friday thru Cyber Monday sale at Etsy!

Stop by my Etsy shop to take advantage of a four-day sale taking place there starting Black Friday, 11/28/08 through and including Cyber Monday, 12/1/08. Free shipping on all US & International orders.

Plus, my Etsy team at Etsy NJ will also be holding a Cyber Monday sale. Many of their members will be participating and you'll find great buys at those stores. Stop by www.etsynj.com to find all the participating stores (mine's included there). I'm sure you'll be able to satisfy all of your holiday shopping needs online by shopping for Indie products at these stores.

Happy shopping!

A Day of Thanksgiving

As those of us in the US celebrate Thanksgiving, I'd like to take a moment to thank those who have given me such wonderful support and encouragement this past year.  Starting a jewelry business in this year's troubled economy led to some rocky roads for me.  The following people made the journey a much smoother one.  And to them I wanted to extend a special thank you.

Mona of the Jewelry Connection

Rod of Artisans Challenge

Liz of Wickedly Chic

Mallory of Stylelist

Louise of Catwalk Creative

Amber of Athena Magazine

Jamee of Jonara Blue Maui

Craft Gossip

The Art Zoo

Re-Creazione

Greco Woodcrafting

Etsy Cottage Style

Etsy NJ

Etsy Veg

Retro Handmade

Beadingaholics Yahoo Group

Wire Wrap Jewelry Yahoo Group

Shore Things of Avon, NJ

Absolute Necessities of West End, NJ

World's Images of Belmar, NJ

And all the friends I've met this past year during my jewelry adventures - there are far too many to mention.

To all of you who have extended your hand to me and shown me kindness, support and encouragement - you have my gratitude.

Thank you.

I'm Twittering!!

OK, I finally bit the bullet and joined up at Twitter.  I have no followers yet so I can't really twitter yet, can I?  My Twitter name is marjoriecracked (marjoriescracked is what I wanted but it was too long so I had to shorten it!)

Would you like to follow my Twitter?  Please do so - then I can start twittering too.

Marjorie's Twitter

And if you'd like me to follow you, just post a comment here and I'm your loyal follower.  So then I can see how YOU twitter so than I can know how I should twitter.  How good a Twitterer I will be remains to be seen.  

Happy Twittering to all!  :-)

New Holiday Jewelry - Available Now!

The holidays are right around the corner and to celebrate the season, I've created two new lines of broken china jewelry. The first line is designed from English Spode china (The Christmas Tree pattern, of course!). The pieces can be worn alone or mixed and matched for a set. All of these pieces are currently available at www.marjoriescracked.com.

First is the holly pendant, which is 2" x 1" (not counting the bail) and comes with an 18" black velvet cord with 1" extension chain. The bail is large and will accommodate almost any of your favorite chains or cords.



Next is the wire crochet necklace. This necklace was created with silver artist wire and is 18" long with 2" extension chain. The broken china pendant itself is 1" x 1".

A set of holiday jewelry wouldn't be complete without earrings and here they are! They are wrapped with silver artist wire and have silver hoops. The earrings, not counting the hoops, measure 1" long.

And last, but not least, is the holly brooch, which measures 2" x 1-1/4".

So there they are, all available at my website at Marjorie's Cracked Plate Jewelry Store.

Next up - Whimsical holiday jewelry!

Such a lovely article by Etsy Cottage Style!

What a beautiful article the Etsy Cottage Style group wrote about my jewelry! Here's the link:

Marjorie's Cracked About Her Craft

This is such a friendly and helpful group. They made me feel welcome right away. And now they've written such a lovely article. And isn't their blog the most beautiful you've ever seen?! Here's what they say about their group:

We are a group of women, artists and sellers of the beautiful, whimsical Cottage Style. We are not an Etsy Street Team, but a loving, supportive community of like minded talented women. If you love the Shabby, Romantic, Whimsical, Cottage style, and sell on Etsy come pay us a visit and apply for membership at "Etsy Cottage Style". If you love to shop, like most of us do, you will find lots of cottage style boutiques to shop at right here.


Thank you, Sherry of Etsy Cottage Style! :-)

My new shop at 1000 Markets

Now, in addition to my official website and my Etsy shop, you can find my broken china and sea glass jewelry at 1000 Markets.

1000 Markets just opened their doors this week and they promise to be a great place to shop. Here's what they say about themselves:

Our markets are more than just collections of products; they are full of people and stories. They have voices and personalities.

Our merchants are small, independent, artisan businesses built by people who love their craft. They make and sell unique products, based on their own vision, personality and story. Working together, these artisans create marketplace communities - gathering places where merchants can exchange ideas, and customers can browse and talk.

So stop by and take a look at my newest shop and post a comment to my wall or my blog. It's pretty bare bones at the moment but I'll be adding more products, photos and blog postings soon.

Enjoy!

On Athena Magazine - Indie Jewelry: Sea Glass - Jewels of the Ocean

Stop by the Athena Magazine Weblog to read my Indie Jewelry article for this week - featuring that most mysterious of all gemstones - sea glass! There are so many different way that artists use sea glass in their jewelry designs. I've shown some of them, but if you know of sea glass designs not mentioned, please post a comment on Athena's blog and let us know about them!

Indie Jewelry: Sea Glass - Jewels of the Sea

Simply Sarah's Blog Giveaway!

Now here's a delightful giveaway! Just click on Sarah Skeen's Wake Up and Live Blog to find out how you can win these beautiful earrings. What fun! Sarah has a lovely Etsy shop called Simply Sarah's.

An Etsy success story!

I recently met Celeste of Crickets Creations at the EtsyVeg team. She sells lovely hand knit scarves on Etsy. I was very interested to read on her blog that Better Homes & Gardens had bought one of her hand knit scarves for a photo shoot to be shown in their magazine. I thought it was such an encouraging story for other sellers. Hang in there - you never know who will find your product on the web and fall in love with it!

Here's a photo of the beautiful scarf that Better Homes & Gardens snatched up for their photo shoot. You can see why they loved it!




I've included a link to a posting by Celeste on an Etsy forum where she gives her tips on how to be a steady seller on Etsy. These tips are valuable to any seller on the internet.

Steady Sellers: How Do You Do It?

The Artisan's Challenge - Please Vote!

I have an entry in this week's contest at The Artisan's Challenge - how very exciting! I'd very much appreciate your vote. If I win this week's challenge, I'll be eligible for the Annual Grand Champion Challenge held next month. The contest ends on Monday, November 17, 2008 at 9:00 a.m.

Thanks so much for your support.

The Artisan's Challenge

This week's feature on Athena Magazine - Jonara Blu Maui

I've already featured the beautiful beach wedding jewelry of Jamee Jones (Jonara Blu Maui) on this blog. But now that I'm writing a weekly feature over on Athena Magazine Weblog, I couldn't resist featuring her work there too. So I spruced up my article a bit and now Athena Magazine readers can enjoy reading about Jamee's jewelry.

Indie Jewelry: Jonara Blu Maui

EtsyVeg Team Feature

This is certainly the week for Etsy Team features for my jewelry! The EtsyVeg Team, a very friendly team of Etsy sellers who believe strongly in a vegetarian lifetsyle, have posted a feature on their blog at:

http://etsyveg.blogspot.com/2008/10/interview-with-marjoriescracked.html

Kylie, the member who interviewed me, wrote so nicely about my jewelry that I have to repeat a bit of it here:

"Complex swirls, wraps, and twists of wire woven into delicate cradles for sea treasures and for the loveliest of china fragments- that's just a sampling of the gorgeous jewelry creations you'll find in Marjorie's shop."

It's very encouraging to be part of teams on Etsy where sellers work together to promote and support each other. I hope to have time to fully participate in each of the groups I'm a member of.

Thank you, EtsyVeg Team!

EtsyNJ Team Blog Feature

The teams on Etsy have been very helpful and supportive since I joined them just a few weeks ago. And now EtsyNJ is running a feature on my jewelry on their blog.

EtsyNJ Blog Feature

Thanks so much for doing this, EtsyNJ! Your support is very much appreciated.

This week's feature on Athena Magazine - Simply Sarah's

Just a note to let you know that my jewelry feature for this week is now up on the Athena Magazine Weblog. Sarah Skeen of Simply Sarah's is the featured artist. Sarah's talents don't stop at jewelry design. She's also a talented photographer, seamstress, crocheter and baker, all while she raises her little girl Lily.

Indie Jewelry: Simply Sarah's

Retro Handmade Treasury

I recently joined an Etsy Team called Retro Handmade. They're a group of Etsy sellers who specialize in items that are handmade and vintage-inspired. That would include anything that resembles things from the past or have that vintage vibe. These are all brand new items.

I don't think I've been a member much more than a week and haven't had a chance to even say hi to the members yet. To my surprise, I received an email today saying that they have included one of my pendants in their team's Treasury West!

What a lovely way to say "welcome" to their new team member.