Finding a Groove

Working to figure out a schedule/groove these few weeks.  With Alex starting preschool, it gives me time in the afternoon while Max naps to get some work done.  It's like the old days when Alex was Max's age and I got naptime every day to work on my digital designs.  It's nice to have the time but it doesn't seem to help at all with the work that I still have to do at night.  I do love working, it just makes it tougher to get up in the morning when I work until 11pm and then still want to hangout with hubby and watch some TV to unwind before bed.  It leaves me up until 2am and then when Max or Alex wake up at 8:30 I'm a sleepy cranky Mama.  So here I am, trying to find balance once again. :)

Yesterday during naptime I did get some pieces that hold sold made again so I could relist them in the store.  They are some of my favorites and hopefully you like them too!

Sprout Necklace Giveaway Winner!

The entries, ready and waiting for a winner to be picked...
Alex digging around for a winner...
And the winner is Sarah! Yay! Sarah - I have emailed you and will send out your necklace to you soon! :) Thanks for playing everyone!!

Drawing Tomorrow!

Hey Everyone!

Because of my internet being down over the past couple of days (it came back yesterday afternoon) I will be doing the drawing for the necklace tomorrow.  Just wanted to keep you updated! :)

Gem Show

I sure had fun at the gem show today - look for some new goodies in the next few weeks with these little sweeties! :)

Ingredients...

for a new necklace I'm going to be working on tonight. Garnet and silver, yum!! :)

Sprout Necklace Giveaway!

Hi Everyone!  For those of you that haven't been here before, this is my new blog, and will be etsy/jewelry related stuff.  I'm not the best blogger, so I can't promise I'll update everyday, but will as I can.

So there's a giveaway that you're here for right?  This is for one of my absolute favorite pieces - the Sprout necklace.  I got these beautiful green amethyst (prasiolite) faceted cube beads last spring and they just reminded me of a fresh spring sprout of grass in the middle of the dreary winter's end.  So here is the lowdown on the giveaway - there are two ways to enter.

*please note that leaving a comment here and entering the contest will NOT sign you up for any sort of mailing list that is run by me.*
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1.  Leave a comment here on this post to say hi, how ya doing and maybe how you found me and my jewelry.  Nothing too crazy.  That will get you one entry, so everyone gets one entry free.

2. Purchase something in my store.  For every one dollar you spend in the Meredith Fenwick Jewelry Etsy store you will get another entry into the hat.  (Everything is whole dollar amounts in the store so we won't have to worry about rounding) *please note in 'message to seller' at checkout on Etsy that you are participating in the Sprout giveaway so I make sure I give you credit.

3. Post about the giveaway on your facebook page, twitter, or a message board (where it's allowed) and link to the blog posting here.  Then leave a comment with your name and link to the place that you posted.  You can do this up to three times.

BE SURE WHEN COMMENTING HERE THAT YOU USE YOUR CORRECT NAME AND EMAIL SO I CAN CONTACT YOU IF YOU WIN.
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So say you leave your comment here, then make a purchase in my store for $6 and post on your facebook and twitter about the giveaway.  That will get you one entry plus 6 additional entries from your purchase and two more for the postings.  Your chances will be a little bit better :)

All entries and purchases must be received by Sunday, October 4, 2009 at 11:59 p.m. EST.  After that all entries will be closed and the winner will be notified and announced on Tuesday, October 6th.  The winner will be chosen randomly from a hat - yes I will have each entry on a little strip of paper and probably have Alex pull it from some sort of container, depending on the number of entries :)

So there you go!  Thank you so much for stopping by and good luck!!!

Midnight Sun...

I first read the term 'midnight sun' when I started in on the Twilight series and Stephenie Meyer's website had that book on it, the leak of it already having happened and the uproar died down.  What is the midnight sun, I thought to myself?  To me, the midnight sun is a full moon, that is so bright in the sky it lights up the world.  I don't know if that's what it is to anyone else.  When I've seen moonstone, with it's brilliant blue flashes, this reminds me of the midnight sun, or that brightest of full moons.  So that is what I named this necklace...

I am terrible at photographing moonstone and translating the blue flash of the stone into pictures.
Besides the Stephenie Meyer novel, I love the song by The Killers, Dustland Fairytale.  In that song there are gorgeous lyrics, one part in particular that I love -


Is there still magic in the midnight sun
Or did you leave it back in sixty-one 
In the of the cadence in the young mans eyes
And were the dreams all hide.

These moonstones are gorgeous and let me tell you - I stumbled onto this cut a couple of months ago and picked up a half strand.  I fell in love, and tried to get my hands on more.  None of my suppliers could find them.  Finally, one came through and got me another strand.  But that's all she can find right now, so until these little babies run out, I hope you like these midnight suns :)

Jewelry Survey

I have a little survey right here you can fill out about my Etsy shop - if you complete it you get a coupon code at the end that is good through Oct. 31 :)

Mini Hostess Cupcakes

This post has nothing to do with jewelry.  Most posts probably won't, even though the blog title is Meredith Fenwick Jewelry.  I might have to change that. :)

So I love Bakerella - she's in my bloglines and I wish I was a cute and cooking-crafty as she is.  The other day, she had a recipe on her blog for mini chocolate chip pancake muffins.  I love pancakes, particularly chocolate chip ones, and muffins are pretty cool, so I thought I'd give it a go.   I cheated though - I'm not a from scratch kind of girl, so I used pancake mix.  It worked pretty well and here is the result...

I decided a good way to store them was to package them up in parcels of six and so I did just that, and that way Gordon can take them to work and Alex can munch a bag for breakfast.

So now I have these mini muffin pans.  What should I do now?  Make mini hostess cupcakes of course!  hehehe...

Okay, so there are all sorts of fake-it recipes out there where you can do them from scratch, but as I stated previously, I'm just not that kind of girl.  So I loaded up the kiddos and we hit Price Chopper for a Duncan Heinz Dark Chocolate Cake Mix, Nestle Tollhouse Semi Sweet Chips (12 oz.), Mini Muffin Paper Cups, Heavy Whipping Cream (for the ganache frosting) and the best part - a tub of white buttercream frosting from Price Chopper's bakery.

So I made the cupcake mix, put the first pan of cakes into the oven to cook and set about figuring out this whole ganache thing.  I know thought it would probably be easy, but was still afraid.  Luckily, Youtube was there to help my worry.  Jamaica from Jamaica's Cakes was there to teach me how to make a ganache in about a minute.  For my ganache I used 3/4 cup heavy cream and 12 oz. semi-sweet nestle tollhouse chips.  It worked well and stayed nice and easy to work with.

By the time that the first back was done, the ganache was close to ready too.

But, first I had to get the filling in the cupcakes.  One of the rip-off hostess recipes I found had this really intricate plan where you are supposed to carve out a cone of cake to put the frosting in.  That, is too much work people.  Here is what you do - fill a pastry bag with the frosting and put on a size 4 round tip.

  Just insert it into the middle of the top of the cupcake and squeeze the frosting in being careful not to explode the cupcake with frosting.  

Once the cupcakes are all set with their filling, you can either dip the tops into the ganache or spread it with a spatula.  I chose the dipping method and it worked out pretty well.  Now, for the finishing touch - take your pastry bag of frosting you were using to fill the cupcakes and that same tip can be used to pipe the frosting loops (or any design you choose) on the tops of the cup cakes.

I like them as minis.  But now I have 72 (okay probably more like 60 because we've been grazing on them since they've been finished) and don't know what to do with them.  That's a heck of a lot of mini cupcakes.  And man, they are tasty.  Probably would be a big hit at a bake sale or something.

In case you want to try these, here is a list of ingredients you'll need.

Chocolate cake mix (and whatever that uses like water, oil, eggs)

Buttercream frosting

Chocolate Chips

Heavy Cream

Piping tips & pastry bag

Mini Muffin Pan

Would have had something new to post tonight...

but I made a boo boo.  I went and put a mystic coated quartz stone into my tumbler for more than five minutes and now it is no longer the pretty mystic pink it's supposed to be.  I am sort of glad I did it though, because the coating may have been hiding a chip in the top of the stone, which is extremely evident now.  Of course, the stone could have also been chipped by the tumbler, but I'm not quite sure what I am going to believe right now.  Either way, the piece is now far from perfect so I am trying to decide what to do with it.  Keep it for myself, trash the whole thing, or maybe I should give it away - would someone want a knicked up stone in their ring?  It's pretty obvious when you look at it closely, but you can't see it from far away.

Well, I'm just finishing watching the MTV Video Awards and then I think I'm going to sleep.  Alex's first real day of nursery school is tomorrow, he's in the PM class, so that's nice - nothing to get up early for, here's hoping the kiddos sleep in tomorrow! :)

A new Treasury!

I haven't gotten to make a treasury in a while on Etsy, I'm always missing the brief window of opportunity :) Today I got the chance though and made a treasury based off of this gorgeous mixed media piece I found, Autumn's Harvest.

Isn't it gorgeous? I made it the centerpiece of the treasury and built the colors from more beautiful things I found around Etsy. I like it a bunch, I hope you do too - you can see the real treasury by clicking here, where all items will be clickable and lead to the stores they are in.

Free Worldwide Shipping Weekend!

Free Worldwide Shipping Weekend! All shipping is free in my Etsy shop this weekend as part of the weekend deals promotion here on Etsy. If you are an international customer, use the code 'weekend deals' in the message to seller box. I will refund your shipping within 24 hours of your payment via paypal.

Brand New Blog

I have had a blog for a long time now, probably four years. It was hosted on my site and I was a sort of regular blogger, although not always good about posting every day. Anyways, about a month ago the blog was hacked and I don't have the expertise or time to weed out the actual problem and fix it. So I'm starting a new one, and I think this one will be mostly focused on my jewelry. I've always wanted to have a separate blog for it, so I guess it's time for that now! So time to figure out how to customize this bad boy...