Jewelry Sale!

From time to time, I put up a few pieces of my gemstone jewelry on Facebook--mostly just to show off what I've been working on, but also so my fans and friends can have a chance to buy a piece now and then. But I realized I haven't been sharing them here, so to make up for that, not only am I going to do a post with some of my jewelry in it, I'm going to put them on a special sale, available only here! (They're all currently at The Artisans' Guild at their full price, but if you happen to live local to me, let me know.)

Here are a few necklaces that I thought my peeps would like. The first person to claim a necklace in the comments gets it. We'll then arrange payment through Paypal (or a check, if necessary, although I will cash the check before I send the jewelry). Or I could do it through my mostly-defunct shop on Etsy, but then I'd have to add a couple of dollars to cover their fees. Shipping will be $6 in the US, and more elsewhere.

#1 Amber & Jet w/ Pewter Goddess 22" long, $85 on sale for $72

#2 Amber & Jet with Double Sterling Pentacle 22" long, $89, on sale for $72
 

#3 Double Strand w/ aventurine, amethyst, moonstone with crescent moon, 17" and 20", $69, sale $59
 

#4 Aventurine & glass crescent moon, 19 1/2 inches, $69, sale $59
 

#5 Book cat pendant w/ black onyx, riverstone, tiger's eye, 20", $69, on sale for $59
 

close up of the kitty!

 #6 Black cat pendant with amber & jet, 18", $79 on sale for $69
 

I only do these kinds of sales a couple of times a year, if that, so if you've been longing for a Deborah Blake original, speak now or, well, wait until the next time! If you do want one, be sure to comment here first to hold the necklace for you, and then contact me either via Facebook or email (magicmysticminerva at yahoo) to deal with the details.

Either way, feel free to say how pretty they are.

Amber & Jet Jewelry

Those of you who follow me on Facebook have probably seen these already...

A couple of weeks ago, I posted pictures of a few new pieces of jewelry I'd made, one of which was an amber and jet necklace with a silver pentacle. To my surprise, people got very excited about that one (amber and jet is a traditional witchy combination) and no fewer than five people asked to buy it within a couple of hours of my putting up the pictures. So I made a few more pieces. And they sold too. (I was only putting the pictures up to show everyone what I was doing, and had intended to put them up on Etsy eventually. Needless to say, they never made it there.) So I made a few more, and they got snapped up too. Guess what I'm going to be doing this weekend?

Of course, my friend Kathy is visiting from Arizona, and Blue Moon Circle will be celebrating Lammas, plus, you know, WRITING. But I'll probably get at least a few more done and post pictures of them on Facebook too.

This was them. Which is your favorite?

amber and jet necklace #1

amber and jet necklace with chips #2

amber and jet necklace with fancy pentacle

amber and jet with sterling silver goddess

another one! chunkier

this one has a cool glass pendant

details of the pendant

Cover Reveal and Giveaway!

When I was in Cape Cod recently with my extended family, we did a rainy day shopping blitz and one of the things I picked up was a fun dish towel with a mermaid on it, because it reminded me of the mermaids in WICKEDLY WONDERFUL, the second novel in the Baba Yaga series.

Which in turn reminded me that I'd promised to give away the cool lapis mermaid necklace I'd made in honor of the book. Do you remember this?

Mermaid necklace!

Mermaid close up

And here's the fun towel:

I kinda want to keep it for myself. But I won't.

But of course, I'd need to have an excuse for the giveaway. You know, something to celebrate and shout about. Luckily, just as I was thinking that, my lovely editor Leis emailed me with the final cover for WICKEDLY EVER AFTER, the next novella in the series. The third book, WICKEDLY POWERFUL won't be out until February 2nd, 2016 (don't worry, that's closer than you think) but the novella will be out a few weeks earlier, on January 16th! (And yes, since you asked, they are both available for pre-order now. You're welcome.)

I had a blast writing Wickedly Ever After, because it let me visit my first (and favorite) of the Baba Yagas, Barbara, and check in to see what was happening with her and Liam and little Babs. Of course, things aren't going quite as smoothly as she'd hoped...

Here's the blurb for the story:

Having triumphed over a powerful enemy and ended up with both a wonderful guy—Sheriff Liam McClellan—and an adorable adopted daughter to raise as a Baba Yaga, Barbara Yager is ready to welcome her happily ever after. But first she must bring Liam to the Otherworld and get the Queen’s permission to marry him. The Queen, however, is not so easily persuaded. She gives them three impossible tasks to complete in two weeks’ time—and if they fail Barbara will have to watch Liam slowly age and die like all humans, and kiss her happily ever after good-bye forever.

And here's the COVER REVEAL!!!

I love that it shows a bit of Barbara's attitude, because goodness knows, she's got plenty of that!

Now, here's the giveaway I promised you! Tell me, what do you think of the cover? Are you looking forward to the novella? The novel? Both?

Addendum: Yes, this one is open to everyone, international too!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Jewelry, Jewelry, Jewelry

When a potter friend and I used to sit together with our wares at the local farmer's market, she invariably used to sell more than I did, so to make it up to me, she would sing a little jewelry sales chant under her breath: jewelry, jewelry, jewelry. (Set to whatever music suits your fancy.)

Later, we went on to found The Artisans' Guild shop together, which is where most of my jewelry ends up these days. I used to make it all the time (and do lots of craft shows, and had pieces in shops around the area), but most of my time and energy is now taken up by writing. Which basically means that about a month before Black Friday, I sat up and said, "OH NO, I need to make jewelry!"

Luckily, that happened to coincide with a rare lull in the writing push, so I've been madly stringing beads almost every day, singing the jewelry chant under my breath. Folks have asked me to post some pictures here, and not just on Facebook, so here's another bunch of finished pieces. [Any day now, in theory, I'm going to get a few of these up on Etsy, but in case I don't, just yell if there is something that catches your eye.]

Amethyst and hematite

malachite

aventurine and Venetian glass

aventurine stars

picture jasper stars

Long, large turquoise and black stone necklace

One of my favorites--black onyx and silver collar

black onyx and silver with a very cool face

black onyx and garnet with a dragon!

the dragon reminds me of Chudo-Yudo :-)

black onyx and snowflake obsidian, with a very cool agate slice that has a crystal in the middle

So tell me--which is your favorite?

Jewelry SALE Part One

First things first:
Big congrats to the winners of the recent giveaway. If you won, you should have gotten an email from me, so check your inbox. (The winners are also listed at the bottom of the giveaway gizmo on the previous blog post.) I'm going to TRY to get your goodies out this week, so be sure to email me with your address if you won. ( Porsha W, I still need to hear from you.)

I should be getting my author copies of Wickedly Wonderful within a week or so, and I'm fairly certain that another giveaway will ensue, so stay tuned. Can you believe that the book is out in less than two weeks? Eeeeeeiiiiiiii! Have you ordered your copy yet? (Please say yes. Please say yes. Please say yes.)

And now for something completely different, as Monty Python would say. I've taken a short break from writing to madly get jewelry made to sell at The Artisans' Guild during the holiday season. I've been posting some pictures of my shiny new things over at Facebook, and lots of people have asked me where they can buy them, if they don't live close enough to come into the shop in person. Technically, I do have an Etsy shop...but at the moment, I haven't had time to get over there and list anything, and it is a crapshoot as to whether or not I'm going to manage it, what with the promo for Wickedly Wonderful (TWO WEEKS! Did I mention TWO WEEKS!!?)

So I thought, why not put a few pictures up here? And then I thought (what with the crazy and all), why not give my blog followers a special opportunity to get my jewelry ON SALE as a thanks for being so wonderful and supportive?

So here's the deal. For the next week or so, I'm going to post some pictures and descriptions of some of the jewelry I've made. And here only, I will let people have 15% OFF until the Saturday after Thanksgiving. If you want a piece, just say so in the comments--first person to call "DIBS" on a piece will get it. If you have questions, ask those in the comments too. [Once you've yelled dibs, email me at magicmysticminerva at yahoo and we will work on the specifics. Paypal is usually the easiest way, but I'm flexible.] Shipping will be $5 for USA folks, and whatever the actual cost is for anyone out of the country.

Most of the pictures are necklaces, but I can make matching earrings if you want (in some cases there are already earrings in the pictures, but they don't come with the necklaces unless you pay for them too). Any questions? 

Here's the first batch:

This is all the Snowflake obsidian together, so you can see the bracelet and earrings too. Bracelet is $32 and earrings are $30--so $27.20 and $25.50 on sale. And yes, Snowflake obsidian comes from volcanoes!

Snowflake obsidian necklace #1 $72 -- on sale for $61

Snowflake Obsidian necklace #2 18" long, regularly $59, now $50

My favorite! Snowflake Obsidian cat-- 19" plus 1" cat. $72 on sale for $61

close-up of the cat

Ryolite, also known as Rainforest Jasper. Necklace #1 has lovely faceted beads, as does the  matching bracelet. 18" long and normally $69, on sale for $58.65 -- bracelet is $32/$27.20

Ryolite #2, a nice long 24" necklace for $85/$72.25

Another long ryolite #3 also $85/$72.25 (the earrings are $32/$27.20)

 
 That's it for today's goodies. Up next, Smoky Quartz, Labradorite, and a few misc. cool stones...

Jewelry, Jewelry, Jewelry

Sometimes it is hard to remember that I have a life outside publishing...but now that Wickedly Dangerous is out in the world and managing more-or-less on its own, I am taking a brief break from writing to catch up with my OTHER side job, jewelry making.

Here's a glimpse at what I've been doing, in case you're curious...

Ryolite, also known as Rainforest Jasper

Poppy Jasper--perfect colors for fall

more Poppy Jasper

Snowflake Obsidian stars--an unusual stone I can't often get, but I love it!

Blue Onyx with neat ceramic beads

Sodalite -- like Lapis, but without the gold flecks (good for healing and peace)

What do you think? Do you have a favorite?

Today I'm going to be working with carnelian, which is one of mine...

This and That

Congratulations to contest winner Paula! She won a signed copy of Wickedly Dangerous -- yay!!

There haven't been as many entries to the contests I've given lately, so I'm assuming people are tired of them and I'm going to stop doing them for a bit. Don't worry, I'll get back to them eventually.

I'm a guest today over at Manga Maniac Cafe, where blogger Julie asked me a fun question:
"What 5 Things Would You Never Find in Baba Yaga's Airstream Trailer?" I'd love to know what your guesses would be...then go see what the real answers are.

For those not on Facebook, as requested, here is a picture of the Necklace of the Week:

Fancy Jasper Stars

Have a great day? So really, what do you think would never be found in Baba/Barbara's Airstream?

Imagicka Book Signing Report

As some of you already know, I did a rare book signing at my pal Robert Wandell's shop in Binghamton yesterday. I thought I'd let those of you who couldn't be there get a taste of what it was like.

GREAT. That's what it was like. Okay, that's the short version. Here's the long one.

Rob has been asking me to do a signing at his shop for years, but it is about an hour and 15 minutes from me (which doesn't seem like much, but I don't do long drives because I have an unfortunate tendency to get drowsy behind the wheel after about half an hour) and frankly, book signings tend to be kind of a hit and miss affair unless you are famous. Which I'm not, for all that Rob likes to call me his favorite BNP. [Big Name Pagan.] Snort.

Still, The Witch's Broom has been generating a lot of excitement [side note--it's down to #50 on Amazon now. Pout. Someone go buy a book!], and Rob moved the store to a new location that I hadn't seen yet, and frankly, it's good to get the heck out of town every once in a while. So I said yes, enlisted my best friend Ellen to do the driving--in the new Honda Fit, which she enjoyed--and our pal Jo went with us. Rob suggested I bring some of my jewelry too, so I packed up a box of books, picked out a few pretty pieces of jewelry, and hit the road.

(Here's what's left)

The weather was a little crappy, but the atmosphere inside the shop was warm and lovely. And filled with temptation, since a Pagan/New Age/Cool Stuff store is My Kind of Place. But more on that later.

I was really thrilled with the turnout. Not only were there lots of enthusiastic folks, I got to meet a few people in person who I had only talked to here or on Facebook. The lovely Sarah Mawson drove FOUR HOURS with her family to come see me, because that was all she wanted for Mother's Day. That just made my day. (Waves at Sarah.) Caitlin Disler brought her mom Kathleen Livingston for Kathleen's birthday.

My friends Robin and George, who live nearby, stopped in with my goddess-children Nate and Sophie. That alone made the trip worthwhile! (You can see Jo guarding my table while Rob sells things on the right. Look at all that cool stuff!)

Nate found something he liked. Luckily for his sister, he didn't get to take it home. But he looks like his ready to take on the ravaging hordes, doesn't he?

We had an impromptu tattoo show-and-tell among my fans. (No, I don't have any.) This was my favorite. It was definitely the most relaxed and fun book signing I've ever done! I have the best fans on the planet. Just sayin'.

Rob was really happy I'd finally made the trip. And so was I.

I sold lots of books (including almost all the copies I brought of my older books, which I didn't expect) and a few pieces of jewelry. And everyone had a great time, which is even more important.

Of course, in the end, I did succumb to a few treasures for myself. (Hey--I worked hard! Besides, he had a store full of amazing stones, and I have a major weakness for stones.) I get this fabulous chunk of celestite, which is good for serenity (OY, could I use more of that!) and a wonderful little dragon bowl. I have always been fascinated by dragons, and they are the only thing besides cat-themed items that I could be said to collect. Now that I'm publishing the Baba Yaga books, which all feature dragons (in different forms), I am using that as an excuse to get a few more. Check it out.

Eventually we had to pack everything up and head home, but a great day was had by all.

Well, maybe not all. The cats were a little put out because dinner was late.

Truly, it was a fabulous day.

And speaking of days and fabulous, happy Mother's Day to my fabulous mom, Judy. Love you the most, mom.