Happy Holidays to All!

Wishing you all a very Happy Holiday season. Hope you and your family are enjoying the holidays.

This is a busy time for all of us, but I look forward to a great, prosperous and exciting New Year!

Feliz Navidad y Prospero Ano Nuevo!

Martha

My New Creation - Wood Texture Jewelry

Here are my latest creations, jewelry made with a real wood texture. I discovered this great piece of wood by Bellows beach here on Oahu. I made a mold, put it aside and just recently had time to make the pendant and earrings. I'm making rings later when I have more time.

FREE Video Classes - Annealing Metal and Sawing Metal

Once again, one of my favorite sites Beaducation has more FREE online video classes.

I want to learn more about metalsmithing which is really a must if you make jewelry. I visited beaducation and saw 2 new classes. Annealing metal and Sawing Metal.

I have watched almost all of their FREE videos, which are fantastic. I'm sure I will be taking some paid classes soon. I love that you can stop them and go back if you want to repeat something. You can watch them over and over.

So check them out Beaducation

50 Great Jewelry Selling Techniques

Free e-book, 50 Great Jewelry Selling Techniques
by David Weiman, with great information on marketing your jewelry. Just sign up with name and e-mail for the free newsletter and get your free e-book.

My Son - New Hawaii Deputy Sheriff!

Friday was a happy day for us. My son Ben has graduated recruit class and is now a Hawaii Deputy Sheriff. I am so very proud of him and his accomplishments including his six years in the Air Force. I have struggled many years as a single parent, trying to raise my only son to be a good kid and it has finally been accomplished in my eyes. My hubby Ray and Ben's fiance Shayna have also contributed greatly to his success. We look forward to a great career in law enforcement.

A Great new Site - Beaducation

I stumbled upon Beaducation , a great site and signed up immediately. Beaducation has online video classes on many types of crafts and jewelry making. They also sell the kits to go with each class if you don't want to search for the items you need for the class. You print your instruction sheet and follow the video as you go along and you can stop, or go back while you work.

What really caught my eye was the FREE classes! Some of the free classes include Felted Beads, Byzantine Chain, Intro to Chainmaile, Making your own Earwires, Stamped Jewelry, Intro to Seed Beads, Coiling Wire by Hand and more!

Beaducation also sells supplies like charms, hard to find steel stamps, wire, stones with holes, jewelry kits and more.

If you ever wanted to take a class and couldn't afford it, or it's too far away, now is the time to check out Beaducation .

Martha's Vintage - My New Etsy Shop

I have a new Etsy Vintage shop named Martha's Vintage
! Check out some of the great stuff I have. The pic is of a cool vintage ashtray I'm selling now. I will be posting more vintage items, jewelry mostly and kitchen items. I will also be listing some supplies and craft books. Stop on by and take a look.
Martha's Vintage

Metal Clay Academy

New site for everything you need to know about Metal Clay. Great for resources, training, suppliers. The site has a great metal clay gallery and lists of businesses that work with metal clay. If you work with metal clay you can list your shop for free in the directory. I love that instructors can list their classes there, also for free. You know me, I love free!
Visit the Metal Clay Academy soon.

Do you Scoutle?

I just joined Scoutle! A new networking blog traffic site you can use to promote your blog, or website. It was superfast and easy to join. It automatically hooked me up on blogspot when I chose which icon I wanted. See my little icon at the top right of my page? A big thanks to TimothyAdamDesigns.etsy.com for hooking us up to Scoutle.

Please Be Courteous and Don't Jump To Conclusions

Yes, the title is harsh but true in all types of business. I have seen many Etsy shop owners who cancel an online sale because they didn't receive the product in a few days. The buyer was in another country! Anyone who has been doing any amount of online business knows it takes a couple weeks (or more) to receive something from an international address. The seller jumps to conclusions and thinks the buyer is a loser and posts about it in forums!

Another example is what happened to me and this is why I'm a little upset. I was recently down and out with surgery hassles and really didn't want to broadcast it. I was dropped from an Etsy team for non-participation and because they didn't see me around the forums. So fine, I took all the team stuff down and feel like maybe someone should have e-mailed me first to ask if something was wrong. No, I am not going to explain to them or beg to be back on the team because I don't want to be on it anymore.

Why do they jump to conclusions and assume I don't WANT to participate? What if I had a tragic death in the family? Do they really expect you to be on the forums while you are at a wake, funeral, in mourning, etc?

This is the reason I am asking everyone to please be courteous in all of your business transactions because it's not nice to jump to conclusions.

New Business Card and Banner for Amor De Plata

In case you haven't noticed, I have a new banner for Amor De Plata. My bright new banner was created by Etsy shop Stypecreative.etsy.com. I was so pleased with my banner that I asked Stypecreative to make some business cards and round stickers (shown above) for me. The back of my business cards is the silver. I'm very pleased with all of the graphics stypecreative did for me.

Mexican Sun Drawing Inspired Pendant

Here is one of my latest creations. A pendant inspired by ancient mexican sun drawings. My sketch was used to hand carve a mold and make this metal clay beauty of a pendant. All handcrafted and made by me! The pendant is oxidized with a bronze background and shiny sun.

I'm Healthy and Back in Business!

It seems like I've been "out" of contact with others and my Etsy shop, blog, silkfair etc. forever. Without getting into the ugly details, I had health issues that have been resolved. I feel good now, I'm healthy, and I'm ready to get back to business.

Thanks to all who have commented, convo'd or e-mailed me with happy thoughts and prayers.

Do You Have A Scratchback TopSpot Widget?

What is a Scratchback TopSpot Widget? It's a FREE widget to post on your blog or website to accept online tips and post a small image ad in return. You name the price on your tips and earn money from every interaction.

I have put one up here on my blog. I humbly ask for your "tips" so you can promote your site for $5.00 a spot! Grab your top spot now.

Celebrate Earth Day with Amor De Plata Jewelry

Go green with Amor De Plata's jewelry. Yes, Amor De Plata's jewelry is green! Made with 100% recycled pure silver. Do your part and save the earth, buy your jewelry from Amor De Plata.

How To Build Your First Webpage - FREE Course

Struggling to build a website? I have been agonizing over building my website and not wanting to spend money. I discovered a FREE online course going on now at ivillage.com, in the ilearn section. Signing up is simple and FREE! That seems to be my favorite word lately.

So, I signed up, and they e-mail you when lessons are available. You can download the whole PDF file and scroll through at your leisure later if you want. Once a lesson is posted, it remains on the site 24/7 until the end date of the course.

I have no excuse now, I will let you all know how it goes with my page. Good luck with yours!

http://ivillage.com

Your Own Worldwide Retail Shop Online - Silkfair

Do you dream of owning your own retail shop online? Well you can have your own free worldwide storefront at htttp://silkfair.com

There is no fee for listing your items and no limit on the amount of items you sell. Silkfair is a selling site that allows you to sell your products to all countries and buy from all countries. The site keeps 3% of your final selling price.

I really love that Silkfair is promoting the site online and off. They have reviews from PCMagazine, ECommerce Guide, CNBC, Forbes, Wahm, MarthaStewart.com and WomansDay.com to name a few.

See you there!

http://silkfair.amordeplata.com

New Promotional Craft Website

I've discovered a new craft promotional website called icraft. Actually, the founder contacted me and asked me to join.

If you sign up before the end of March 2008 you get ONE YEAR FREE listings. This includes your webpage and no fees for purchases made from your page. You can list as many craft items you wish all free! You can also post a link to your blog on your page.

The site address is http://icraft.ca
My page is http://icraft.ca/amordeplata

Check it out! P.S. I get nothing for promoting this site, I just want to pass along the info. Great to sell/promote your items as many places as possible.

My Latest Project - Double Silver Hearts

This fine silver double heart pendant was a special request from a friend. It was quite a challenge. Sometimes the simplest things are the hardest to accomplish in this medium. I rolled out a snake of Art Clay Silver and shaped it into a heart. A little slip paste was added to attach the ends. I let dry and sanded, no problem. Attaching the first heart through the second one was the challenge. I ended up supporting the first heart in a clear box lid with a slit and a hole punched out. I created the second heart on top of the lid, added slip paste to attach ends and let dry. After sanding smooth, I torch fired while moving piece with a crochet hook. This is the first time I did two pieces at once and I was afraid they would fuse together, but they turned out well.

One day I may do a tutorial. Our Yahoo metal clay group in my favs does a great job doing all kinds of tutorials on working with metal clay.

March For Babies

Aloha,

I'm the Team Captain for March of Dimes, March for Babies for the Sheriff Div. in Oahu. If you would like to help me raise money to find causes for Prematurity and Birth Defects and develop new treatments such as development of life saving Surfactant Therapy to treat Respitory Distress Syndrome please go to website:
http://www.marchforbabies.org/sheriffdivision

Thank you for your donations!
Martha Sanchez

Plug In!

A "plug" is a small banner advertisement that can be displayed on a plugboard. You can put together a plug on your own if you have computer skills.

A special thanks to BittyMoose.etsy.com for introducing the plugboard to Etsy. BittyMoose will make an animated plug (88 x 31) for you for $5.

I've put a plugboard on this blog, so feel free to plug in. Visit our fellow advertisers by clicking on their banners.

Promote your Business!!

A friend gave me info on website to promote your Etsy shop or business. Seems like a great way to earn money. Check it out!

http://amordeplata.qassia.com/

Treasuries Rock

I recently joined the flickr group Treasuries Rock. It's a group of Etsy shop owners who grab Etsy treasuries and list our group members in the treasury. It's a great way for us to band together and promote our shops. I was able to grab a treasury on my second day.

Check us out at:

http://flickr.com/groups/treasuriesrock/

Broken Torch

Well, things are definitely not going well to start the new year. My torch has gone kaput-died. Ordered a big supply of silver to start on new projects. Waiting for the shipment of my new torch. Waiting, waiting and more waiting. Will list new projects upon resuming my torch firing.