I've been featured!

I've been featured on Wickedly Chic!! Hooray! What is Wickedly Chic's Daily Ditties? This about sums it up. Needless to say, big smile on my face today!
Quote from the "Daily Ditties" section on Wickedly Chic: "Daily Ditties should be your first stop every day to check out the newest, most chic & unquestionably fashionable indie items on the web. So don’t be a ditty, read the Daily Ditties!"

Chatting with the 'Chica'!

Today the girls and I had such a wonderful opportunity to sit down and talk crafts with Kathy Cano-Murillo - aka the Crafty Chica! We meandered through various topics like starting our own groups, various projects we have worked on, motherhood, funny stories of crafting mishaps, and ideas for future shows and events. Lots of fun and laughter was had by all and we even exchanged ornaments for the holidays. And "yum" - the Duck and Decanter food was delicious! I will definately have to go there again.



Me, Tressa (PackratStash), Kathy, and Astrid (RunzwithScissors).

We all ended up giving our ornaments to Kathy since she made 3 ornaments herself - one for each one of us. :)

Tressa made an adorable Santa hat that was too cute for words. I can't wait to commission one for myself. It was so soft, cuddly and cute. (Ack, forgot to take photos of the other ornaments - sorry guys!)

Astrid made a beautiful, paper heart with woven elements that is a Norwegian tradition from her childhood.

I made one of my signature Butterfly Dreams designs in red wire and hung it with some fabric ribbon.



Kathy made 3 beautiful ornaments for us that were all very special and unique - and of course with her trademark glitter! The other girls took theirs home, but here's my adorable ornament from Kathy below. I love it! I have a tattoo of a cherub on my ankle (for my daughter) - and so this little cutie will fit right in!



I enjoyed myself thoroughly and I hope that we get to do it again soon. It is so nice to talk with fellow crafters, and especially ones as talented and nice as the Crafty Chica! Once again thank you Kathy for all your support and friendship. I look forward to another "girls day out"!

- Mary
aka Blue's Creative Outlet from the Phoenix Craft Mafia

Huge Holiday Sale!!

♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♪♫♪♫♫♫♪♪♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♪♫♪♫♫♫♪♪♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♪♫♪♫♫♫♪♪♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫
HOLIDAY SALE!
25% off EVERYTHING in my store! Just put in SALE during checkout and wait for my revised invoice.
HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!
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bluembrownlee.etsy.com

New Times BEST OF PHOENIX 2007 - The Phoenix Craft Mafia

It's official...the Phoenix Craft Mafia has been awarded a New Times BEST OF PHOENIX Award for 2007!! I have taken a photo of the super shiny, awesome plaque and can't wait to have it added to our website and bring it to our shows! Congratulations ladies, you have all done a super job!! Keep up the good work!

www.phoenixcraftmafia.com

Mary - Blue's Creative Outlet
bluembrownlee.etsy.com

Missing In Action

Hey All,
I have been MIA for quite some time so thought I would fill everyone in. Over the past couple of months we have been going through classes and finishing up our paperwork so that we can hopefully adopt a baby and add to our family! It has been exciting and stressful and I'm glad the worst is over. Now all we have to do is wait, and wait....and wait some more. So that of course is not always the easiest thing to do but we have been managing. I really need to update my shop and get going on some new things, but until then I will post some uber-cute photos of my daughter's recent Halloween photos. Fun!


Ooo, what a scary witch she makes, haha.


Ready to get some CANDY!


Maren gets a faceful of icky pumpkin mess courtesy of Dad.


Myself (Blue's Creative Outlet), my daughter Maren, and my husband Johnny

bluembrownlee.etsy.com

BIRTHSTONE Bracelets Are Here!

Completely customizable, wearable tributes to your loved ones!



To order see my online store.
BLUEMBROWNLEE.ETSY.COM

Questions? bluembrownlee@gmail.com

**All of these bracelets will contain my hand wrapped coils in your choice of Sterling Silver, Gold, or Copper wire as well as your choice of gemstones and bead accents. Feel free to ask me any questions you might have.

New Babies, Texting, Child Rearing, Scrapbooking, Insanity

Hey All,

Today I've been busy hanging out with my best friend who is scheduled to deliver her 3rd child tomorrow. We had a blast getting some last minute girl time in before all heck breaks loose tomorrow, haha. I can't wait to see what the new baby looks like compared to her other two - who I have babysat many a time and who play with my daughter all the time.

So in between that, having my husband texting me from work all day, my daughter demanding food and drink, to play in her pool, to jump on the trampoline, the piled up dishes in the sink, her disastrous tornado-hit bedroom, and my desire to finally get caught up on a year's worth of scrap booking I'm behind on today as well as blogging here and ten more things I need to get done by this First Fridays - I feel like my multi-tasking abilities are getting stretched beyond their limits. So that's about it for now...I'll go head back and try to get a few more things accomplished by tonight without going crazy hopefully. WHEW!

bluembrownlee - BLUE'S CREATIVE OUTLET

BUTTERFLY FIRE

New! BUTTERFLY FIRE NECKLACE

**All of my butterfly creations are copyright protected. Thank you.

Shades of gold and red sparkle and shine within this fiery creation from my Signature Butterfly Dreams Line.

The focal point of this necklace is a gold butterfly that is hand shaped and hammered by myself for strength, beauty, and durability. It is made from decadent gold-filled wire, which is higher quality than gold plated and will not rub off like the plated metals because it has a solid layer of gold on the exterior of the wire. This gold-filled wire also has a solid copper core.

The rest of the necklace has a stunning assortment of lamp work glass beads, sparkly goldstone, red coral, and large 15mm natural Rainbow Red Sardonyx spheres. All links and metal components are shaped and hammered by myself with the exception of the sturdy lobster claw clasp. All of the wire is gold-filled like the butterfly.















For sale now in my ETSY online store!
bluembrownlee.etsy.com

MOMMY & ME Jewelry Line - It's HERE!!

They're HERE!! MOMMY & ME Designs

INTRODUCING: MOMMY & ME Jewelry!

My brand new line for mommys and daughters has finally arrived. I've been so busy making enough stuff to list on ETSY that it has taken days to get it all together. Then I had to take all the pictures and write the individual listings - ack! Lots of work. But the results are well worth it and I LOVE them and they look fantastic - even better on Maren's tiny wrists as you can see in all the photos. She makes a great 4 year old model.


























For more info and my online shop see here:
bluembrownlee.etsy.com

Coming soon...New MOMMY & ME Jewelry Line!

Fabulous designer jewelry in all of my most popular designs for mom's AND their little girls. What could be more fun?? Pictures to follow soon after I make some finishing touches.

WheeEEee!

Monday, September 10, 2007

What a Fun Week!

Well, this is my 1st blog for the Phoenix Craft Mafia...I hope I can do it justice. It has been a busy week. It started out with me receiving these in the mail.

I was so excited by how gorgeous they were (clear, faceted natural quartz), that I was basically intimidated into not touching them for a few days. But I got over it and placed them into a stunning necklace that I am quite fond of now...and don't plan on selling. That happens quite a lot around here. However if anyone else wants one too, I have some more of them hanging around *wink wink*.

Here's a visual of the necklace.

So the rest of the week was spent getting ready for First Fridays in downtown Phoenix and our 2nd show at The Plaid on Saturday. I had never been to First Fridays, so I was really excited. We set up outside and got there early, which was a good thing since people started setting up right after I staked our spot. We would have been SOL if I had managed to get there 10 minutes later.

The people started coming about 90 minutes later and they didn't stop until 11 o'clock at night. It was such a rush! We literally had probably several hundred people stop by. The feedback was phenomenal. I had 2 different people that made my entire month. One guy was telling me how fabulous my jewelry was, and then when I was explaining how I shape all of my own wire elements since most people don't realize this particular fact till I tell them, he said, "Yeah, I know...I've been in the jewelry business making my own jewelry for over 30 years. Your stuff is fantastic and unique. You don't see much of that anymore." I was blown away. I didn't quite know what to say except for...."Uuuh, THANKS!"...probably with my eyes all buggy and huge.

The 2nd and different guy later on in the night was admiring some of my stuff and then said, "Do you teach classes?" Since I do not and frankly have never even thought I was good enough to even think of going there yet anytime soon, I was floored. It turns out he loved my stuff so much he wants me to teach classes! Unfortunately I turned into a complete nincompoop after that from the shock of it all and forgot to take his card, or ask where, or get details....ack I'm such a moron. So I can only hope he'll email me later on sometime with the business card info I gave him. What a blond moment for me!

So even though I didn't sell boatloads of stuff this time (I sold a few things ~ but heck, we all wish we could sell tons of stuff each time), the feedback was so awesome I literally am on cloud nine and inspired to make even more yummy creations!! We will definately be planning on coming to First Fridays from now on. We all had great experiences and it was so much fun! Till next time my bloggy friends!

Mary ~ From Blue's Creative Outlet

Crafty Wenches - My Fellow Phoenix Craft Mafia Girls

Check them out closer up here!

Capturing Light

Remember those huge, gorgeous clear quartz gemstones I was muddling over what to do with a few days back? Well here they are, combined with sparkling Swarovski lead crystal cubes and Gold filled wire spirals and jump rings. Gold and diamonds ~ a timeless classic. The clear quartz seem to capture the sunlight and hold it within...simply breathtaking!

Hand Crafted, Customizable Kaleidoscopes

Another fun thing I do is create kaleidoscopes. They are so beautiful to look at and I love how the views constantly change from the inside. Plus they're lots of fun and bring out the kid in me. This one is for sale in my ETSY store right now.

If you'd like one for yourself in another color or with a specific theme, let me know! I can be reached at bluembrownlee@gmail.com.

Contemplation

I have just recently been on a bead run and picked these beauties up. Huge, faceted, clear-as-water, NATURAL quartz! Yuuuuuummmmy! I'm trying to get inspired (albeit with my dogs growling and tousling underfoot all the time and my daughter coming in the room with her helmet and scooter) and haven't quite gotten up the courage to put them permanently in a piece of jewelry yet. Oh I'm seriously tempted. They remind me of diamonds. And who doesn't like diamonds? Oh the things I could do with these beauties.

The blue stones are completely natural, UNALTERED turquoise - which is very hard to find and very expensive! They are right here from the Sleeping Beauty Mine in Globe, AZ - so of course we get better deals on this premium Sleeping Beauty Turquoise than the rest of you. So there, hehe. They are blue as the sky. Native Americans used to believe Turquoise was a joining of the sea and sky - and how fitting is that? My 2 favorites things, all wrapped up in one stone. I'll definately post pictures when I put these two into some wearable art sometime in the near future. So check back!

New Items

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All are available for purchase in my ETSY shop now !

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Tools of the Trade

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Ever wonder how some of my jewelry is made? Well here's a peek into some of my everyday tools and supplies I use to create my fabulous goodies.

Finger Bling

Need some finger bling?

~Let me know and I'll be happy to create your own personal finger blingin' style in whatever colors and delicious gemstones you'd like. This one is made out of Bloodstone and Green Aventurine with Sterling Silver wire. Yummy!

Need some bling?

~All of these and more can be purchased on my ETSY store at bluembrownlee.etsy.com.

~ Oh, and did I mention that I take custom orders? See anything you like but want different gemstones - or need a different size - or want a specific color? Just let me know and I'll be happy to whip something up for you.

*All of my butterfly creations are copyright protected. Thank you.