Surprise Halloween Charm Sale!

Halloween is coming and I am offering you the treats! I created a new blog banner today to celebrate the Spooky Season and was inspired to put all my Halloween jewelry on sale!

Order by Saturday, October 3rd to save 10%, plus receive a FREE ball chain and FREE shipping too! Call me crazy, but I think everyone should have fun jewelry to wear for the Haunted Holiday and I start wearing my charms on October 1 – for a full month of Ghoulish FUN!

Ready to shop? Click HERE to come visit for a spell! xoxo ~ Joy

Having Fun With Customer Requests

One of my sweet customers contacted me recently with a request for a Broken China Cross for her mom. This is not a product design I was making, but I told her I’d be happy to experiment in the studio and see what I could come up with.

These are a few of the sample pieces I made. What do you think? It was a bit of a challenge because I hand-cut each cross from one single piece of china. I am very particular about my work and struggled a bit getting each arm of the cross even. Even though I make handmade items, I don’t necessarily like my pieces to look too handmade. I was pleased enough with the end result that I am considering adding them to my product line. Yeh or Ney???

A Joyous Celebration!

Mr. Cupid and I had a wonderful adventure last week! We spent several days on the opposite coast of Florida from where we live. Living on the gulf coast, where the water is calm and most often resembles a large lake, visiting the Atlantic Ocean side is a wonderful change, where the sea is alive and the waves crash on shore with a constant roar.

This is the view we enjoyed from our 11th floor balcony, and enjoy it we did! We did not take this short trip on a lark. There was a purpose. Mr. Cupid attended a conference where he was to receive a big planning award handed to him by the Secretary of State of Florida. May I tell you how proud I am of him?

That’s Mr. Cupid above in the tan shirt with the marker!! This photo was published in our local newspaper last year when he facilitated a public hearing on a new stadium plan for our Tampa Bay Rays baseball team. Isn’t he CUTE!!! While he attended meetings and sessions during the day, I was able to enjoy a little time on the beach and poolside, where I clicked away on a laptop while working on several projects of my own.

As a rule, I do not divulge much about our private lives on this blog. But I will share this - after enduring too many painful years in an ill-fated first marriage, I never thought that the heavens above would smile on me with a true man who could make up for the emotional devastation and exhaustion I felt after going through a much needed divorce. But I have been blessed and everything that is good and true in my life today has come from a base of love and support provided by this wonderful man… my own personal Cupid. I often say that although this is my second marriage, he is my first husband. I am so honored to be his wife and was so honored to be with him as he accepted his special award last week.

Maybe some day I will share the story of how we met over14 years ago. It’s a pretty unusual story, but if you know the song “The Chair” by George Strait, that’s pretty much our story…. but with an interesting twist of fate tossed in… but that’s for another time.

Save The Date! Holiday Trunk Show!

If you listen close enough, you can almost hear the giggles and pitter-patter of little elf booties in my studio these days! I have been working every spare minute on new designs, trinkets and sparkling treasures for the upcoming holiday season.

You are invited to come visit with me, right here on my blog, on Saturday, October 24th and be among the first to see my new Holiday 2009 Collection. I’ll also be offering a very special Holiday Package Giveaway to a lucky winner who comes by to visit me that day, so please be sure to mark your calendar and save the date!

Recipe Treasure Box

I came across this vintage recipe box at an antique store and the stories it contained touched my heart.

The box is not very old… maybe mid 60’s, but the contents inside were collected over a number of decades, dating back to the late 1930’s. Many of the recipe cards are tattered, brown and show the spills and stains accumulated from a cooks kitchen. To me, recipe cards or books with heavy stains are the recipes that are most loved!

I’ve sorted through the recipes and some of the vintage cards will be saved for special art projects, but most will stay tucked away safely in the box, as they seem too precious to alter.

I found several notes inside addressed to “Dolly” and judging from her collection, she had many friends who shared recipes and memories with her. I found Mary Murphy’s Orange Salad, Jeanie’s Crab Imperial, Arleen’s Chicken Casserole, and Uncle Bob’s Best Brisket recipes, to name a few.

There were newspaper clippings, receipts for egg deliveries in 1938 (7 dozen for $1.62!) notes from friends and even a Christmas card tucked between the Peanut Butter Pie and Lemon Meringue Pie recipes.



You can tell this little box contained a lifetime of favorite meals cooked for family and friends throughout the years. It’s a bit heart breaking that her special recipes ended up in a heap of whatnots at an antique store.

But I am happy that I was the one to rescue her treasure box because I plan to try some of her recipes and I promise to share some of the best ones right here with you. Maybe in this small way, Dolly’s special recipes will live on. Stay tuned…..

Teacup Flower Arrangements

Happy Friday! Do you ever use teacups for making flower arrangements? They’re perfect for holding small cuttings and I like to use them all over the house.

I like to use flowers from our yard. Flowers you would not typically think of using in arrangements, like the Impatiens in this arrangement. I’ll also take clippings from shrubs to use as filler. You might be surprised at all the indoor cuteness you can create from outdoor flowerpots and shrubs!

I like to put teacup arrangements beside the bathroom sinks, on our nightstand, in the kitchen and also on tables in the living room. You can scatter them everywhere and I think they add a nice touch to any décor, but the best part is you can do this for free!


Hope your weekend is filled with beauty. ~ xo Joy

Sparkling Swarovski Crystals

If you’re a girl who loves sparkle, then there is nothing that can compare with the twinkling brilliance of Swarovski crystals. I love working with these components and was thrilled when Artbeads invited me to create a project using items from their Swarovski product line of beads, rhinestones, pendants and components. Talk about a kid in a candy store!

I started with these components…..

For this project, I decided to create something elegant, something with a lot of sparkle and something that had a bit more modern edge to it. I also wanted to design something that would look as beautiful with a little black dress as it would with my favorite pair of blue jeans and crisp white shirt. To me, I love the look of silver, white and clear sparkle as an elegant combination.

First I made a simple sketch of how I wanted the necklace to look, and then I cut measured lengths of chain I already had, so the necklace would drop to the lengths I wanted. I thought a pretty and delicate Swarovski silver-plated filigree lily crystal pendant on the top chain would add a pretty feminine touch.

And I thought this pretty “statement” Swarovski silver-plated crystal filigree round would be beautiful as the focal point for the necklace.

I really love the Swarovski crystal cup link chain and it was fun to take sections of this chain and connect the pieces along different points of the metal chain. I also love the look of Swarovski pearls! They have such a beautiful luster about them and they are my favorite pearls to work with. I also like to add a little sparkle against the pearls, so using crystal faceted rounds and roundelles is a fun way to do this. I created a number of pearl and crystal sections and connected these along the chain too.

And here is the finished project!



I also made a pair of coordinating earrings….

It’s so much fun to take an assortment of different beads and findings and then figure out a combination of putting them all together that will make a pretty piece of jewelry. Something unique and something created by you!

Thank you Artbeads for your special invitation and your special gift. And for all my blog readers who would like to create a project like this or have some fun creating a design of your own, I am sure you will be thrilled with the sparkling beads and supplies you will find at Artbeads.com

Happy Beading!

My New Shop On Etsy!

Just wanted to let everyone know that you can now also find me on Etsy! I initially joined Etsy way back in February 2007 with the intention of setting up a shop, but for one reason or another, I never got around to it. Here is a screen shot of the shop I finally put together.

Why Etsy? Right now, I am in the middle of new product development and a revamp of my website, so I have decided to use my Etsy shop as sort of a clearance center for Cupids Charm. I’ll be listing items there that are my photo samples, one-of-a-kinds, or close out designs that will no longer be available on my website. And since I will be using this as my clearance center, prices will be lower.

My shop address is: CupidsCharm.etsy.com - or you can click HERE to come visit me directly. Hope you’ll come over and say hello!

A Sneak Peek From The Studio…….

Look at these sparkling pretties I recently received from Artbeads!

As a blogger for Artbeads, I am invited from time to time to create jewelry from their vast supply of beads and findings. This project will involve my favorite beads to work with – Swarovski Crystals – you just can’t find a better product for quality and sparkle.

I’ll be in the studio this weekend creating a pretty necklace using the components shown above, so please come back on Tuesday to see what I’ve come up with. I promise, with all this sparkle, it can’t help but be yummy!

Oh, and if you are beader too, be sure to hop over to Artbeads for their biggest sale ever for the Labor Day weekend. If you signup for their email newsletter you’ll receive a coupon for 20% off everything on orders over $60. If you like to create jewelry pieces for holiday gifts, as I do, now might be a good time to stock up on supplies. Their sale ends Tuesday morning at 9am. Just go to Artbeads.com Newsletter to signup and receive your savings coupon code.

I’ll see you back here Tuesday and until then, have a wonderful holiday weekend my peeps!