The Christmas Season Is Here!

When I was a little girl (in the late 'fifties and early'sixties), it seemed that Christmas didn't come until about 5 days before. In Hot Springs, Arkansas where I grew up, the yearly Christmas parade was on December 2nd - I remember because that was the birth date of my younger twin sisters. But between the 2nd and the day of Christmas, the time crawled unbelievably slowly, and it was only then that some stores began to put up Christmas decorations; most people got their Christmas trees the week or a few days before Christmas.
      However, while many people deplore the early start of Christmas nowadays, I love it! Christmas decorations take time to put up; it's good to leave them up for more than 5 days or so.
    I love the Christmas mood that many people seem to share this time of year, too (as long as they are not desperately shopping on Christmas Eve day!).
    I love Christmas songs which I've been singing to my grand-daughter before she takes her afternoon nap. "Christmas songs or regular songs?" I ask her as she lies on the bed, and she quickly answers, "Christmas songs!" She seems especially to like We Three Kings, O Holy Night, God Bless Ye Merry Gentlemen.
   Christmas is especially enjoyable if you do your Christmas shopping early and online.  At Cluny Grey Jewelry, I am already doing some custom pieces, and I can do them exactly as the client wants them since we have plenty of time to email back and forth and for mailing.
   The newest additions to the site are here:  above, a blue topaz bangle bracelet with gem quality London blue topazes and sterling silver Thai Karen Hill Tribes accents.
     Below, a favorite combination of mine is lapis and 14 karat goldfill.  I am very fond of chain bracelets; this lapis bracelet carries the lapis theme to the other side of the bracelet with coin lapis beads.  A hammered disk adds texture and interest so that whichever side of the bracelet shows, it looks beautiful.  The large focal lapis rectangle is wrapped with goldfill and has a goldfilled flower charm on it.  A gold sand dollar hangs beside the goldfilled toggle clasp. Gold and lapis is a jewelry trend that is here to stay!

Below, a rose quartz bangle bracelet with the prettiest pinkest faceted squares and rectangles of rose quartz with sterling silver.  Pink and sterling silver are so very pretty together.  The toggle clasp has a flower on it.

Below, I love drusies, simply because I love sparkle! This blue chalcedony drusy is complemented by Montana agate ovals in black and grey tinged with blue.  Intricate sterling silver  and a blue topaz charm add to its charm.

This simple necklace is really a knockout because of the three wonderful carved genuine aquamarine leaves. The leaves are a gorgeous shade of aquamarine blue and rather thick (so many carved gemstones are very thin) and rich.  The leaves hang from a goldfilled chain.

Enjoy this Christmas season, and if I can help you with a gift for someone very special, please let me know.



SHIPPING IS FREE WITH PURCHASES OVER $50, ONLY $1.95 UNDER 50.

Our Favorite Jewelry Pieces Under $70

I am busily making jewelry and trying to enjoy the summer, too! While the prices for my supplies, especially sterling silver, continue to rise, we do have some great deals on our Cluny Grey website. All the bracelets here are on our website and are under $70.00!!! Naturally they are well made with genuine stones (unless otherwise specified) and sterling silver, vermiel or 14 karat goldfill. The earrings that you see here are mostly under $30.00! So if you are looking for a bargain, a gift, or just something special to spice up last year's summer outfit, check these out! They are the tips of the iceberg in our lower-priced jewelry!

  Above, on our Nugget Bracelets page, we have a blue opal and amethyst bracelet with sterling silver. The soft blues of the opaque blue opals complement the wonderful purple translucence of the amethyst.  At $53.99, it's a real steal!

  Below, one of the few glass stones we have ever used is strawberry quartz.  We just had to have these because the flat, faceted stones are so pretty and chunky.  The horseshoe-shaped clasp and charm hanging beside it are both sterling silver.  And it's under $50.00!

My favorite thing about this chalcedony bracelet (found on our Chalcedony Jewelry page) is the chalcedony gemstones.  They are a wonderful yellow that seems to glow!  How perfect for summer! The sterling silver toggle clasp is large enough to carry these pretty faceted nuggets. We also have yellow chalcedony earrings found on the same page (there are more yellow chalcedony earrings, too). These earrings are special because of the pretty earwires which have intricate roses on the front.

Some of our best bargains in bracelets can be found on our Freshwater Pearl Bracelets page. About 5 years ago I was fortunate enough to buy a huge quantity of freshwater pearls in different shapes, sizes, and colors. I bought so many that I received them at a wonderfully low price and I still have some stockpiled!  Below, this freshwater pearl bracelet is made with creamy marquise freshwater pearls and rainbow moonstone rondelles with pretty flashes of blue! The flower charm and curved lobster clasp are sterling silver. At 51.99, this bracelet with its quality rainbow moonstone is a bargain!

The bracelet below is composed of larger yellow freshwater pearls and Swarovski crystals.  The sterling silver really adds to the feminine look of this bracelet.

   The brown freshwater pearl bracelet below boasts 14 karat goldfilled accents and a gorgeous faceted olive bead of smoky quartz.  It will be on our website shortly.

The earrings you see above can be found on our Coin Pearl Earrings page.These bronze-brown earrings have Swarovski crystals and sterling silver. These are gorgeous and they are only $19.99!

   The earrings below are from our Coral Earrings page and mix peachy-pink coral rounds with vermeil and pretty black onyx faceted teardrops.  They have a wonderful Deco look to them and would be perfect for your summer wardrobe.

Above and below are ruby earrings, yes, genuine rubies! Above, the rubies are mixed with 14 karat goldfilled accents, and below they are mixed with gold vermeil. Can you imagine owning ruby jewelry for under $70.00 - and these are not microscopic ruby chips, either.

Here is a pair of my favorite earrings, found on our Unusual Jewelry page.  These gorgeous earrings are made with 14 karat goldfill, gem-quality Swiss blue topazes and rectangular citrines, and amethysts carved into the shape of flowers.  I love these! Unique and beautiful!

Another good source of bargains on the Cluny Grey website is our Bangle Bracelets page.  Here are two sterling silver bangles, the top with citrines, the bottom with Swarovski crystals. The bottom bracelet is made with older sterling silver stock bought when it was much cheaper. The result: this silver bangle bracelet is only 56.99!  With today's materials, it would be close to twice that much since it not only has Thai Karen Hill Tribes sterling curved, hand-decorated sides, but intricately made accents of Turkish sterling silver.

Also, to keep costs down, don't forget that we ship first class FREE in the USA with every purchase over $50.00 and a low $1.95 for purchases under $50.00! Enjoy shopping!

Raise the Red Lantern

Or perhaps it would be more apt to say, "Raise the red jade." I had a customer who was interested in red jade, so I made a bracelet using some of the scarce red jade I had. You know me, I had to make more red jade bracelets, and although I am running out of the pretty red jade, it has caught my imagination and instead of just jade, I'm seeing red. . . anything red!
The last bracelet, the bangle bracelet, is the one I made first. The red beads were so shiny that I wanted to work with them some more (just like a magpie, I cannot resist shiny things). So. . . the second bracelet with lots of sterling silver added and expanded to two strands instead of one. Finally, I did the top bracelet with these great lampwork beads from James Derrick Reeves (surprise!). You can see these on our Jade Bracelets page.

I found a great site for ceramic beads today: Earthenwood Studio. They have great handcrafted porcelain beads and a slew of other products, too. Check them out. I already have my eye on some great pendant beads.





jewelry jewellery jewelry trends The Jewelry Blog fashion accessories shopping handmade jewelry handcrafted jewelry beads handmade beaded jewelry helmi gioielli smykker takı juvelen