I went into the Etsy Treasury for a quick poke around this evening, with the intention of soon after knuckling down to work.

But there was this empty list looking pleadingly at me. Normally they get snapped up so quickly and I thought that if I just ignored it then it would surely just disappear.

But no … and I found I could not resist its charms!

So I now have a shiny new Treasury list called Silver which will be in existence for the next 48 hours. It’s a collection of work by members from the lovely Etsy Metal street team, of which I am also a member.

Go there now to click and comment!

A little group of metalsmiths has gathered together on Etsy as a street team - to market ourselves and Etsy more generally. And in the space of just a day or so we’ve got a load of excellent ideas bouncing around. Plus we managed to nab two Etsy Treasury lists … and one of them got picked for the home page!

So thank you to bcyrjewelry for making the list - and for putting my work in it.

If you’re interested, find out more about the multi-talented metalsmiths who are currently part of Etsy Metal. And if you’re a metalsmith on Etsy then think about joining in - so far it’s a very vibrant and enthusiastic group.

For a little while now I’ve been participating in a new social shopping site called ThisNext - as you’ll see if you look in the sidebar of Make Me. In fact, without realising it at the time, I signed up and started using it within days of the site launching.

I’ve been using it as a way to show my handmade jewellery to the world, as well as to recommend just some of my favourite handmade items by other indie designers.

And it’s great! I’ve had a play with a few social shopping sites and ThisNext is by far my favourite for its excellent design, fast loading and very user-friendly interface. Plus the people who run it are all (in my experience!) lovely and very supportive of indie design.

Today ThisNext have featured a couple of my pieces of jewellery in their blog, as well as those of other handmaking types and a great write up about the joys of shopping at Etsy.com.

In terms of my own work, my cherry blossom earrings and one of my Japanese etch pendants featuring a chrysanthemum design were written about in this blog post by Kristopher Dukes.

Also read read the great review of shopping at Etsy which features some wonderful designers and makers who all sell their wares via Etsy.

Don’t forget to have a look at my ThisNext recommendations. And if you do sign up to make your own recommendations then visit my profile and recommend me too - the world needs more recommending!

I’ve managed to get another Etsy Treasury list up and running for the next (just under) 48 hours. This one is all about trees!

In my new list is this absolutely beautiful watercolour by rhradcliffedesigns.etsy.com. If someone wants to buy it for me as a gift, please do feel free - I promise I won’t complain even a little bit and will instead love you long time!

By the way this image is just a portion of the whole piece, which is entitled Rites of Spring.

My too much jewelry on etsy? Treasury list has been selected to be today’s Etsy home page list of featured work! Yay!!

I love that people are going to see that there really is some wonderful jewellery on Etsy which is definitely above the run-of-the-mill stuff and also isn’t limited to precious materials or metalsmithing techniques.

In case you didn’t read my earlier post, Etsy Treasury lists only last for 48 hours so you may find the link above no longer works, but there will be plenty of other engaging lists for you to enjoy nonetheless.

Now … back to work for me.

I’ve managed to get a list onto the shiny new Etsy Treasury which features some of my favourite pieces of jewellery for sale on Etsy. My list is entitled too much jewelry on etsy?.

Note that this list will expire in just under 48 hours of posting this entry so the link above will no longer be valid after that time.

As I have commented on my list, too much jewellery is never enough! Except when it’s rubbish of course … and there is a fair bit of that on Etsy, I admit. Although that’s just my very biased opinion, of course!

But amongst it all there really is a healthy amount of very beautiful, well made and clever jewellery - of both the precious and non-precious variety. Some of it is by makers who are already well known there for their engaging work, but there are also some very good and relatively undiscovered finds too.

One such find is howlindoggie, a fellow Sydney-based jewellery maker and someone who studied at the same place I did - Sydney College of the Arts, which is part of the University of Sydney.

Have a look at howlingoddie’s Etsy shop as there are some beautiful and beautifully made pieces to enjoy.

This is my delicious new Flicka laptop bag, handmade by the lovely Alice - you can find Alice’s shop at flickaalice.etsy.com.

It arrived yesterday and of course it looks even more gorgeous in the flesh than in photos. It’s very well made, certainly stands out from the usual laptop bags and my Mac Powerbook fits perfectly.

Given the love affair I confess to having with my Mac (even though it is getting on a bit now) I felt it was apt to get a really nice protective bag to carry it about in when I take it elsewhere to work - and now I’ve got one!

Flicka bags come in various sizes, with a myriad of fabric designs available and they are made for both Macs and PCs - although why you’d want to put a nasty PC in such a lovely bag is beyond me ;P.

(Note to self: must be less mean to PC users in public).

So that’s a hearty recommendation from me. If you’ve got a laptop or know someone who does, you should go shopping!

Yes, it’s been quiet around here for a few days.

I’m currently in Adelaide and am mostly embroiled in non-work stuff - my Mum’s 60th birthday, hanging out with my three-year-old niece, delivering said niece back to her abode in the country, dying from pharyngitis, wishing I was getting more sleep, etc..

On Thursday I shall return to Sydney and to working - although have a rather daunting array of things to get to which will mostly bore you and not be worth writing about, such as design and typesetting for a newsletter and an annual report! But hopefully I’ll get some jewellery making happening in the mix as well.

So seeing as I’m being quite boring on the jewellery making front, I’ll share one of my favourite finds on Etsy.

This seriously lovely accordian booklet, The Deer Garden, is made by printmaker ohmycavalier, whose Etsy shop can be found at: ohmycavalier.etsy.com, where you will also find a really great array of cards (I love the undergarments series) and even pin cushions.

Enjoy!