New in Shop: Gemstone Jewelry

I have a small stash of gemstone jewelry that I made quite some time ago and has been patiently waiting for a photo shoot. There's more to come, but here's a little taste of what's already been added to Athena's Armoury Etsy Shop & Artfire Studio.

1. Valentine Frost Lariat Necklace, 2. Valentine Frost Earrings, 3. Peace, Love, & Joy Gemstone Stretch Bracelet Set, 4. Sweetheart Gemstone & Pearl Bib Necklace closeup

Valentine Frost Lariat and Earring Set is available on Etsy and Artfire.
Peace, Love, and Joy Stretch Gemstone Bracelet on Etsy and Artfire.
Sweetheart Gemstone and Pearl Bib Necklace on Etsy and Artfire.

American Version of Running with the Bulls Sale

One of Scott's sisters made the joke that this weekend is the American version of running with the bulls as a joke about the crazies people get as they hit all of the sales. Personally, I will not go into a retail store this weekend, but that won't stop me from shopping online. Or from offering some sales of my own.

In honor of the insanity of the Thanksgiving holiday shopping weekend including Black Friday and Cyber Monday, Athena's Armoury will be offering sales in both Etsy and Artfire shops until midnight EST on Monday night.

All orders will ship for free (except armor) and come with a free gift. The free gift will be a suprise, but it can be anything from a cell phone charm, a pendant, a bracelet, or a pair of earrings.

So, come check out Athena's Armoury Etsy Shop or Artfire Studio for special sales for this weekend only.

Friday Finds is Postponed This Week

Instead of Friday Finds for today's blog post, Athena's Armoury will be offering Free Shipping! I recently decided to take the beginning steps in a change of career which included ordering Lesson One of Rosemary Gladstar's The Art and Science of Herbalism. Much to my surprise, I was excited to find it in my mailbox today. I opened up the envelope and was so excited that I could barely focus long enough to read the intoductory letter.

In celebration of my new endeavor, Athena's Armoury will be offering free shipping from now until midnight on Sunday, September 27, 2009 with coupon code: anewbeginning.

Thanks & happy shopping!!

Where the Day Will Lead...

I went into work yesterday and was having a hard time focusing on anything. It was one of those days where I really didn't have much to do and wanted to be elsewhere were it not for the paycheck. I was quite unsuspecting of how the day would turn out.

First, I found out that they are changing around our health plan at work and are also taking away half of our sick time for this coming year. We only have five sick days now which, even though I very rarely take any sick time, I still think is wrong. My boss's boss continues to gun for our department. Without going into details: I don't know what her problem is, but it feels like she has a vendetta against us. Lastly, I found out that I have to work a very long day on Thursday and come in on Saturday. It's a good thing I don't really have a life. Anyhoo, all of those extra hours meant that I got to leave work yesterday at lunchtime and not have to go in at all today. That's good at least.

So, I go home to find an Etsy Convo from my Fantasy Artists of Etsy Street Team friend Becky of Up From The Ashes (you must check out her amazing shop full of fairy wings, tiaras, and leather masks!!) telling me that she spotted my work on the Etsy Front Page!
My Titanium Stretch Chain Maille Choker was included in an amazing treasury curated by Green Post.

I haven't gotten any sales from the exposure, but have gotten tons of views and a few more hearts. By the way, I had hearted Green Post just recently and wonder if I made it into her treasury by that simple act. She's got an amazing shop full of eco paper, seed tags, and cards.

After that bit of excitement, I decided to head down to St. Pete to check out a store called Puckett's Store Fixtures that I had heard about from other area crafters. The place is a warehouse treasure trove of all manner of things for your business. It seems like it's mainly geared for people with a storefront, but I managed to pick up a new femaille model for $35 which I thought was a good deal. She's in really great shape and I needed a model for necklaces & such. I had to put a shirt on her, the poor thing looked so naked. I'm thinking about possibly painting her black, but we'll see.

Next stop, was a local nursery. We really haven't done anything with the outside of our house since we moved in. Admittedly, at first I really just didn't know what to do with it, but we also have had so many other big projects that we've had to deal with that it's been on the back burner. I've gotten really bored with how plain it is though, and have been thinking about doing some planting. Being stuck in a drought, however, is making me put that idea on hold a bit longer. It was fun walking around the sanctuary of the nursery and getting some ideas, though. My potted herb garden is certainly making things a little cheerier (I finally found some peppermint yesterday!) and I don't know if any birds have found the feeder yet, but it makes me happy anyway. I'm also thinking about making a garland out of seashells & twine to hang around the lanai to decorate it a bit out there.

Grocery shopping, a stop at Costco,Borders for magazines, and finally a quick browse at Target and I was finally home. I had been thinking about getting a terrarium for our sun room, but scored this adorable little succulent garden at Target for $5. I love it. It feels so Zen, which of course makes me content and happy. I might still add a terrarium later. All of this green is making me so happy lately.

Finally at around 9:00, I sat down on the couch with the cat, my Sage Woman magazine, a glass of iced green tea, and a lovely Aveda scented candle and relaxed until Scott got home half an hour later. What started as a day of scattered frustration at work turned into quite busy and delightful. You just never know where your day will lead sometimes...

New in Shop: Aeracura Necklace

In honor of this weekend's summer solstice, I just listed the Aeracura Necklace both in my Artfire Studio and Etsy Shop.

Aercura is a Celtic and Germanic goddess who multitasks as an Earth Mother Deity, a fairy queen, and also as a bridge between earthly life and the hereafter. She is especially fond of assisting artists and inventors. Aeracura is a goddess devoted to blossoming.

This fun, summertime, hippy style choker necklace is infused with lovely flower glass beads. They are set inside a Romanov pattern in the Byzantine chain maille weave. The metal used is bright aluminum which is 1/3 the weight of steel and just as shine as sterling silver at a fraction of the cost. The necklace measures 17" including a lobster clasp and 2" extender chain to vary the length.

Don't forget to check out the Summer Solstice Sale at Athena's Armoury, too!!

2nd Annual Yart Sale on Etsy June 10-14: Day 5 of 5 Daily Specials!

Today is the last day of the huge Etsy-wide Yart sale! For more information on the Yart Sale check out this blog post.

Athena's Armoury is continuing to offer
Free First Class USPS Worldwide Shipping
all week!

***Athena's Armoury Daily Yart Sale Special for Sunday, June 14, 2009***
Free Euro 4-1 Chain Maille Bracelet with your purchase over $15!

2nd Annual Yart Sale on Etsy June 10-14: Day 4 of 5 Daily Specials!

Are you participating in the Yart Sale? I hope it's going well for you!! For more information on the Yart Sale check out this blog post.

Athena's Armoury is continuing to offer
Free First Class USPS Worldwide Shipping
all week!

***Athena's Armoury Daily Yart Sale Special for Saturday, June 13, 2009***
15% Off Your Entire Purchase!
Either wait for a revised invoice or you will receive a refund via Paypal.

From Yesterday's Blues to Today's Excitement

Sorry about that downer post yesterday, but I now have some excitement to counteract it!

First of all, I woke up to an overnight Etsy sale: my Chain Maille Rosette Watchband. Sales in general still have not gotten old and, for some reason, waking up to them is even better. I just think it's so much fun knowing that someone was mysteriously scoping out my goods overnight and some kind of magic happened thus creating a sale. The selling fairies were with me during the night!

Next, a past customer has contacted me about doing another custom piece for her! Our first collaboration resulted in an amazing (if I do say so myself) purse which I need to share with you in another post.

And the last bit of Armoury excitement: a girl I work with has commissioned me to make her a chain maille ring. We first started talking about doing a European weave similar to the one at right (available in my Etsy shop or my Artfire shop), but using gold, sterling, and copper and making the weave a little denser. The design changed drastically today when she saw the diamond shaped Japanese 12-2 ring I'm wearing. I showed it to her as an example of something and she loved it. So, now we're going with that in gold and sterling. It's going to look amazing in those metals. Plus, this is the first opportunity that I have had to work in gold, so I'm very excited.

On a personal note... As you probably gathered from my last post, I'm kind of desperate for a little bit of fun. Work has been dragging me down for a while and it's been a long, long time since I've been able to get away (we bought our house two years ago and have spent every extra dime we have dealing with some stuff). After looking at our finances, it just didn't seem like it was going to happen again this year, but I didn't give up looking. Today, I found some hotel rates over in St. Augustine that I think we'll be able to afford for a nice long weekend away. There's a beach there, a fort, a fun walking around area, and supposedly a really nice museum. Then Scott came up with a fun idea: we've been talking about getting bikes for a while now and this might be a great opportunity to get a couple to tool around the town. I probably shouldn't get excited yet because we really haven't made plans yet, but I can't help it!!

Busy, But Boring

I'm playing a little bit of catch up right now. I realize that my blogging kind of ebbs and flows according to what's going on in my life, but I guess that's only natural. Things have been busy for the past month, but with nothing too terribly exciting. With Scott having been home on worker's comp and my renewed commitment to working out, it seems I haven't had time for much else so I feel like I haven't had much exciting news to share. So here are a few little recent tidbits:

This past week was Scott's birthday and we took up Disney's come for free on your birthday deal and celebrated with Scott's parents in Epcot. He had never been, so we decided to eat our way around the world for his special day.

He's doing better, too. His shoulder still hurts now and again, but the doctor cleared him to return to work on light duty starting this week and his physical therapy will probably continue for another couple months.

I recently hit the 40 sale milestone in my Etsy shop! Thank you so much to all of my wonderful customers that helped get me there.

I also recently surpassed 500 Hearts on Etsy: I'm now at a whopping 515! Thank you to all of you heart givers out there, too.

Back in the beginning of April, I thanked all of the folk who used me as their Artfire referral, thus granting me the opportunity to earn a Free Ride for Life and never ever have to pay any fees of any kind. Artfire doesn't actually tell you who used you as a referral, so I was kind of going by memory with those thanks and mistakenly left out Kathy from Gypsy Goods. Oops. Sorry, Kathy and thanks for letting me know!


Lastly, Scott and I are trying to think of a fun weekend get away for this summer. I love the beach and he loves to keep busy. We're also on a bit of a budget. Any ideas?

Customer Appreciation: iWunder

Way back in November or December, the Florida Etsy Street Team did a holiday secret swap organized by Kelli of Red Marionette (if you haven't seen her adorable felt critters, do yourself a favor and check them out). The chilly weather we've been having lately made me want to share with you the wonderful swap that I received! It was an extra long, skinny scarf in chocolate brown with resin and wood beads woven into it by iWunder. It's cozy and gorgeous and can be worn long, wrapped multiple times, or even as a belt. Here's one very similar to mine that she's got in her shop right now:


Everything in the shop is hand knit and hand dyed and she's got such a wide assortment of items including tops, purses, appliques, and even some felted bowls in addition, of course, to her scarves and yarn. Go ahead and get yourself something warm and cozy and give this amazing shop some love.

Love at First Flight FAE Exhibition

I spent a lot of time today thinking about what I'm going to do for Scott for Valentine's Day. Especially since it is only 10 days away (I swear I started thinking about it back in January!). For those of you who are like me and still thinking about what to get your honey, the Fantasy Artists of Etsy Street Team's Love at First Flight Exhibition is chock full of options. You will find: mermaids, fairies, dragons, steampunk, magic vials, and more. Follow the above link or you can get a small sampling of the items included in the mini at the bottom of this page.

I've got three items included in the exhibition -- see if you can find them!

Customer Appreciation: The Green Cat

Once upon a time, I used to travel the country (and then some) as a stage manager for Broadway tours. On one of these tours, I worked with Cat: a fellow stage manager, quilter, environmentalist, and all around awesome woman. I was reading her blog and found out that she opened an Etsy shop (using her sewing talents and in keeping with her environmental ideals):

TheGreenCat ~ Handmade Items from Repurposed Fabrics ~

****Using up every scrap of fabric I can get my paws on!****

Jack had something from her even before I did! When she heard that I had a new family member, she sent him some catnip mice. Jack absolutely loves these little guys. You can pick up your own in her shop.

I had been in the market for some cloth napkins and fell in love with the fabric she used for those featured below. She sent them lovingly packaged and even included some napkin folding instructions (a great touch!) plus an extra little present for me.

She has coasters, wreaths, and the most adorable little birds.

She's having New Year Sale in her shop, so be sure to check it out!!

I'm clearing out some stock so for a limited time you can receive 25% OFF ANYTHING IN THE SHOP! Just put "newyear25" in the notes to seller and wait for your revised invoice before paying.

Last Minute Holiday Shopping? Priority Mail Upgrade!

I started my holiday shopping early in the hopes that I wouldn't have to deal with the hordes of people in stores and at the post office this late in the game, but alas I'm still there. I've still got two boxes to send out today and possibly one more later on.

So, in honor of those of you still shopping, I'm offering a free upgrade to Domestic Priority Mail shipping until December 20 at Athena's Armoury.

**However, I must have your order in by 10:00am (EST) on December 20 in order for me to have time to package it up and get to the post office before they close.**

Happy Shopping!

Etsy Convo's Downtime

In case you haven't already heard. . . Etsy is doing some "necessary site maintenance" to a few features this weekend: convo's (Etsy's internal messaging system), Alchemy, Kiss and Make Up, and Filing New Non-Delivery of Goods Reports. From Etsy:

"The maintenance will take place from 7pm Sunday, September 21 to early morning on Monday, September 22 (Eastern Daylight Time). During this time, all Convos will be inaccessible. However, none of your Convos will be deleted and will reappear intact after the site maintenance."

The engineers are using fix.etsy.com for status updates. For more information, check out the Storque Post.

In the meantime, if you need to reach Athena's Armoury, feel free to leave a comment here or send an e-mail to Janine [at] AthenasArmoury [dot] com.

Chainmailler's Guild Street Team on Etsy

I'm very excited that we finally have a street team on Etsy just for us maillers! It's a very talented and supportive group that I'm proud to be a part of.

We have our very first contest open for voting right now, so go check it out! You can vote for your two favorites (ironically, I have two entires in this contest. . . hint, hint) and if you leave your contact info in the comment section, you have the chance to win a prize just for voting. There really are some amazing pieces in the contest. The entries are anonymous, so check back in two weeks to find out who won and which shop (besides the Armoury, of course. . . hint, hint) has your favorite pieces. Click here to vote.

Another exciting happening with the guild is a trunk show this weekend in the Etsy virtual labs. I'm hoping to be able to show not just examples of my work, but also some pictures of how to coil and cut rings by hand. Check out the info below. Can't wait to see you there

Sneak Peek: New Mojo Bag Line

I'm very excited to share a little sneak peek of a new line at Athena's Armoury: Mojo Bags containing healing stones. The idea started with this Spirit of the Sea Mojo Bag:


I listed this at the beginning of the summer as a talisman for beach lovers to keep a little bit of the sea with them all the time. There's a chunk of violet sea glass on the inside with a cowrie shell adorning the outside. Plus, there are a few small holes at the top where the rings aren't all connected if you want to add a couple small treasures of your own to the bag.

As the summer progressed, I gained a renewed interest in the healing properties of crystals and stones. I was trying to think of a simple way to carry these powerful amulets when the idea struck me to incorporate them into these little bags.

I ordered some fantastic stones from No Stone Left Unturned and received them yesterday. They are gorgeous. I was immediately drawn to them and couldn't wait to get started working on them:


But this is just a little sneak peek! You'll have to wait a little while longer before they are done and available in the shop!

Summer Solstice Shopping

In honor of the Summer Solstice tomorrow, I'd like to share with you the Fantasy Artists of Etsy Street Team's Midsummer Night's Dream Exhibition! There's a little something for everyone here: art, jewelry, art dolls, hair accessories, statues, ritual oil, bags, vases. . . I've got three items featured including my For a Good Cause: The Nature Conservancy Bracelet: $5 from your purchase of this bracelet will be donated to the Nature Conservancy. It's a gorgeous exhibition full of beautiful items from some very talented folks. The exhibition is maintained by the tremendously talented Kristin of the Etsy shop aquariann.

Trying to Make Nice with a Little Sparkly

My blog isn't talking to me right now. She's a little disgruntled that I've been neglecting her lately. I'd like to make it up by sharing a pretty sparkly I finally had time to photograph.

The Feminine Warrior Handflower

I love the way this came out. This versatile piece is part jewelry, part armor. Made using stainless steel jump rings and accented with red glass beads and rosettes in the ring, bracelet, and body; a hammered, hand forged clasp completes the piece. This handflower is delicate and hardcore all at the same time.

Are we friends again?

Athena's Armoury Featured on NeatoStuff.com

Very cool news: Athena's Armoury has been featured on the homepage of a shopping guide website called NeatoStuff.com! It's a ring called Finger Armour. It was made using the Euro 4-1 chain maille weave which is the very same weave used to make armor for centuries. I've been told that the ring will be on their homepage for a full week and then be available in their archives for forever and ever. You can go directly to their listing here.

If you click through on the picture on that last page it will actually bring you to the ring section of my shop, so it shows that I have other ring options available, too. Yay!

Moving Right Along

My local Costco is now carrying Caravan Canopies! Yay! I will be able to make a tent purchase locally and be able to save on shipping. I'm so happy. Now, I only have to figure out how to decorate/disguise it. I have a few ideas that are very earthy and nature oriented, but need to think more about how to suit it to my metal. The thought of maille curtains crossed my mind.

I just recently finished one of my Crown Royal sized Dice Bags for a friend at work.

Now that that's done I'm moving on to bulking up my inventory with more armour. Coming soon: a Bishop's Mantle. I can't wait to start on a big project again. I actually enjoy them more than the smaller scale jewelry items. Work in progress pic's to come soon. First though, I have to coil and cut all of my rings.