Sale for Facebook Fans Only!

To celebrate the opening of Marjorie's Cracked Plate Jewelry Facebook Page and to welcome all who have joined, I've decided to extend a special offer to each and every fan. From now until July 15th, if you're a fan of my jewelry's Page, you will receive a 15% discount on each and every order at www.marjoriescracked.com.

This offer applies to every item that is available on that website. It does not apply to those items shown as being available in local stores.

So if you're not a fan of my jewelry over at Facebook yet, join up today and take advantage of this offer. If you're not a member of Facebook, it's really easy to join.

If you would like to take advantage of this offer, please do not use the shopping cart on the website. Please just contact me and let me know what you would like to purchase so I can give you the discount. If you have any questions at all, please let me know.

Click here to join

Hope to see you there!

Marjorie's Cracked Plate Jewelry on Facebook

I've been spending quite a bit of time on Facebook lately. What a great place to meet people with similar interests! It's so easy to connect with people you already know and to meet new friends. What I like about it even more is that your friends can meet each other and interact too. Wonderful way to keep in touch with everyone.

I've started a business page for Marjorie's Cracked Plate Jewelry on Facebook where I'll post all news of my jewelry, including new items, sales and upcoming events. I'll be importing this blog there too. There will also be a discussion group where I hope to receive customer input regarding my jewelry business and also connect with other jewelry designers. There will be tips on how to design jewelry such as mine (broken china, wire wrap and wire crochet).

I hope you'll join me there and help make my Facebook page a great place to meet for fun, networking, learning and friendship!

Marjorie's Cracked Plate Jewelry Facebook Page

My cracked plate jewelry sign!!

I had asked my daughter (she's truly the artistic one in the family) to work up a sign for me to use when and if I take my jewelry to craft shows.  I don't know how she found time to do it between her full time job as a real estate paralegal and her college courses, but there was a knock on my door tonight and there she was with the finished sign.  And I love it!  It's cracked - just like my jewelry!  Because of the sea glass I've now included in my work (and I think because she loves the ocean so much!), she created a mosaic-like scene of the ocean crashing on rocks.  It's wild - it's funky - and it's sure to catch people's eye.  Now I have even more incentive to get cracking and make arrangements to take my jewelry to a craft show.

Thank you, Rebecca Elizabeth!!

Collingswood Auction, Collingswood, NJ

Just popping in to let everyone know that I'll have my jewelry available at Collingswood Auction, Collingswood, NJ on Saturday, June 21, 2008 (the first day of summer!).  I'll be there bright and early at 7:00 a.m. and hope to stay the whole day.  Stop by and say hi and check out my jewelry in person.  I've made quite a few new pieces this week that aren't even up on the website yet.  My friend Renee will be sharing the table with me and will have all of her treasures for sale too.  See you there!

Some new jewelry - a bit different from usual

I tried a few different kind of things today and wanted to share them with you.

I've done quite a few wire wrapped rings, both with broken china and with sea glass.  They're pretty much all done the same way, only with different color wire.  I think wire crochet can lead to more versatility in my rings and I'm excited about trying different versions.  Here's today's design.

This shell has the most beautiful pearly finish to the inside of it.  I couldn't think of anything that would go better with it than - pearls, of course!  There's a line of natural holes in the shell going up in a curve (you can only see three of them in this photo) and I ran the pearls to follow the same curve.  I'm very happy with the results!

This is a broken conch shell which resembles a flower.  The swirl of shell underneath the top of the shell looks like its stem.  The picture doesn't show it too well but there are lovely blue and white lines throughout the shell, so I added a blue crystal and a white one.  It ended up being quite a unique piece!

I'll eventually get back to working with broken china again.  I have so many pieces that would be beautiful for the summer.  But I just can't seem to resist choosing these unique beach jewels when I sit down to craft some jewelry.

Introducing two of the very best friends I've ever had.

I'd like to introduce you to two of my very best friends - Patches and Dickon.

Patches will be 15 years old next week.  She's a calico and has a lot of Maine Coon in her.  She's been a companion to me since she was a tiny kitten.  She grumbles a lot but she's a real sweetheart.

And then there's Dickon.  And Dickon, well, Dickon can be a real dickens!  I first met Dickon  at the Monmouth County SPCA where he had spent the previous four months.  His name was Smoky then and he was a year old.  He's 9 years old now though he doesn't believe it.

These two are my most loyal and constant friends.  They never criticize me.  They never let me down.  They never are jealous of me or talk about me to others.  They are always forgiving.  And they always love me unconditionally.  What more could you ask of friends?!

Quote of the day

This will be a short one - have had a really hectic day and need to go relax for five minutes.  But I just had to share a quote I just read:

"Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes.  Art is knowing which ones to keep."

Scott Adams

I love it!  So stop coloring between the lines, take a chance and make some mistakes and may your mistakes turn into glorious creations of art that will surpass anything you've done before.

Sara Gruen's Fund for Horses

Sara Gruen's book, "Water for Elephants", has become hugely popular and has done much to increase awareness of the suffering inflicted on circus animals.  Hers is a story that will remain in people's memories and hopefully will help bring about change in the lives of circus animals in the future.

I stopped by her website to see what she was up to and was pleased to see that she has a new book coming out in 2009 called "Ape Lessons".  I was even more pleased to read about the fund she helped to co-found called the Fairfield Equine Hay Fund.  Here's a little of what her website says about it:

Sara is one of the co-founders of a hay drive to aid horses in the southern U.S. Severe drought conditions have led to a critical hay shortage and loss of pasture. Horses are starving to death, being slaughtered, or simply set loose. Rescue organizations and foster homes are overwhelmed. YOU CAN HELP.

Please read her more detailed account of the problem horses are facing in drought areas where owners are turning them loose to fend for themselves because they have nothing to feed them or are turning them over to slaughter houses for the same reasons and please send a donation to the fund at their website at:

http://www.fairfieldequine.com/hay_fund.html

What a blast garage sales are!!!

Yes, I'm a garage sale-aholic, I admit it.  Yesterday I was about 5 minutes from work and had about 2 minutes to get there and I still stopped for a garage sale I passed (and I AM a very conscientious employee!).  I just can't resist them.  There's just something about them.  You never know what you're going to find.

Of course, there are the days that are a complete waste of gas and time and you come home empty handed.  But then other days make up for it.  Today wasn't an extremely exciting day but I did have a few finds.  The first thing I found and of course couldn't live without is a flowerful "C" - of course, I had to find it - I'm Mrs. "C" after all!  It's already up on the outside of my house.  Here it is - pretty, isn't it?

And then, of course, I'm always looking for china to make jewelry from and also anything I can use to display my jewelry.  I found a beautiful bowl and two wire photo displays that I plan on using to display my earrings on business cards.

I can't wait to break this bowl!  Right now I have a lot of sea glass pieces to finish up but as soon as I break my next piece of china, I plan on taking photos of the entire process and sharing it here with you.

My jewelry is now at World's Images!

Yes, my jewelry is now available at World's Images, 1110 Main Street, Belmar, New Jersey.  What a great store Maggie Mercado has there!  She told me that she makes 7 trips a year to other countries where she buys unique handcrafted items and brings them back to sell in her store.  Her store is like a museum, with fascinating items from all over the world, only everything there is for sale!  I'm very proud that my jewelry is now a part of her inventory.

Belmar is a tourist town on the Jersey Shore and Maggie's store is right on the main drag of town.  If you're ever in the area, stop in to meet Maggie and see all the beautiful items she has there.