New Pieces!

Hi. This week is CRAZY (two kids with different preschool schedules, making tons of jewelry everyday, some social engagements for us and/or the kids, etc.)! I JUST finished a couple of new pieces and I would like to share them with you! This pendant, which I love, is made from a half dollar (heart) and a dime (flower).



This one is made from a half dollar (heart) and a daisy (dime). I'll put two jump rings in it and connect it to link chain, so it'll be like my three- and five-piece necklaces, but one piece (well, two pieces in one).



I'll take this opportunity to unveil the Garlic Pendant, created for this weekend's upcoming Garlic Festival in Saugerties. I made it from a half dollar which, as always, can be seen on the back of the piece.



That's all for now.

:) Jessie

Monday's thoughts

Hi, friends. It was a beautiful weekend at Lyndhurst! The weather was perfect and the turnout was very nice.

Here are some word dime pendants. This picture doesn't show all of them, but you get the idea. The ones we do are: BELIEVE, CREATE, DARE, DREAM, HEAL, HOPE, IMAGINE, LOVE, REMEMBER and TRUST.



Now, I'd like to show you some GORGEOUS tourmaline beads I got last December while we were living in NYC for the Grand Central Holiday Fair. I got them in the jewelry district. Apparently, the man I bought them from had been sitting on them for 10 years and he brought them out because I asked specifically for very special tourmaline beads. These beads are in the shape of the actual crystals, unaltered, but drilled the long way and cut and slightly faceted at top and bottom. They are all different and I think they are spectacular. I am planning to do some one-of-a-kind pieces with them, incorporating my design pieces, in time for the Grand Central show this year. If you would like to commission something with these, please let me know.




I want to thank all of our customers. We have dedicated ourselves to the artisan lifestyle, and we are so grateful to be able to thrive on it.

Show Schedule

Hello. Tomorrow we’ll set up at Lyndhurst, but today I am not looking at jewelry, so I’ll post our show schedule. Before that, here are a couple of pictures of our house, which we bought on April 30th. It took us a long time to sell our previous house, and we are very happy with this one.



We might like to have a studio sale at home some time. Until then, here’s our show schedule for the rest of 2008:

Lyndhurst, September 19-21 in Tarrytown, NY

Garlic Festival, September 27-28 in Saugerties, NY

Rhinebeck, October 4-5 in Rhinebeck, NY

Wilton Historical Society, November 15-16 in Wilton, CT

Grand Central Holiday Gift Fair, November 15-December 29 in NYC

We are hoping for good weather this weekend!

:) Jessie

High Winds in Columbus on Sunday!

Hi. :) I had wanted to post this earlier (last night), but our hotel had no power or internet connection due to high winds!


Hello to Eileen from the wind shelter and hello also to the couple who helped us with our tent! A HUGE thank you goes to Michelle, of Stella Shows, for her help in getting us to our taxi. In spite of the tornado-like ending, I loved this show. Stella Shows people are wonderful! They are good Samaritans and they treat people right. We had good experiences with the Country Living folks, too. It was a great show for us.

We had a particularly nice time yesterday with three women: (left to right) Tara, Tina (mom) and Nicole. Here they are, wearing their pendants that they bought from me.


Something funny had happened the day before with Nicole. She was trying on the Circle Quarter Pendant and, when I handed her the mirror, I told her that she had a really nicely shaped head. There were about 15 people in front of the booth at that moment, and, thinking on her feet, she said something along the lines of “I have been waiting such a long time for someone to notice!” Everyone laughed (I probably laughed the loudest). Thanks for the fun conversations (not to mention the tip about the chocolate covered frozen cheesecake), girls!

Speaking of funny things, someone said something today that I cannot believe I hadn’t either thought of or heard before (we have been doing this business for 10 years). A woman was deciding between the Indian Nickel Pendant and the Buffalo Nickel Pendant (two sides of the same coin). She asked her guy what he thought, and he suggested, with a chuckle, that she “flip a coin.” I LOVE THAT!

I have three jewelry pictures for you today. The first is what we call the Mother and Child Necklace. It’s a Heart Dollar and a Heart Dime, together on one chain.



Here’s the display of silver dollar pendants: Circle, Circle Dot, Sunflower, Push-out, Daisy, Lady and Heart.



Here’s a rare and fun thing, the puzzle necklace. I cut the five pieces out of two half dollars. Each piece has an interesting coin image on at least one side. All five pieces make the square pictured. If you take out the tiny square, you can make a different square from the remaining four pieces, as well as lots of other shapes (like a Tangrams game).



This coming weekend (Friday, Saturday and Sunday), we’ll be at Lyndhurst in Tarrytown, NY. If you’ve read the blog, please let me know. I’m pretty excited about it. :)

Pictures from Columbus!

Hi! You can find pictures of my jewelry at http://www.madefromcoins.com and you can e-mail me anytime at jessie@madefromcoins.com - I hope you enjoy this post. It's chock full of pictures. Only about 40% of my jewelry line is on my website. We keep meaning to photograph the new stuff, and we'll get to it eventually (hopefully this Fall). Until then, I decided to start today with some photos here. I ask you to forgive the picture quality, as I took these photos at the show today, with my phone's camera!

I love the Country Living Fair! People come from all over America to shop here. I have been making these fun, loaded charm necklaces and bracelets lately. This necklace has a silver dollar, as well as a whole bunch of half dollars, quarters and dimes, all hearts.


This bracelet has 3 half dollars, 6 quarters and 10 dimes, lots of different designs.


At the Country Living Fair this weekend, THREE women had me make them gourmet custom charm bracelets while they walked around. Here's a picture of one of them:


The woman who commissioned this one really loves it. She came to the show with her two daughters all the way from New Mexico. I so enjoy interacting with the people who wear and love my jewelry.

In addition to the loaded charm bracelets, the bracelets made from Indian Pennies and/or Buffalo and Indian (the reverse sides of the same coin) nickels are very popular this year. Lately, my mom drills the holes in the pennies and nickels, my husband domes and polishes them, and I put them together. They are generously sized and are loved by both men and women .


Just yesterday, I added these bracelets to the line. I crocheted them from special yarns and used Mercury Dime buttons. The blue and green one is handpainted, handspun merino. The white one is pure angora, handspun from hand-raised bunnies! It is softer than you can imagine. The brown one is exotic, luxurious bison down, combed and collected from American buffalos. In addition to the Mercury Dime button, it has a buffalo nickel (pictured, and the dime is on the other side of the wrist). A photographer from Country Living magazine came around today and took a picture of these for the Country Living website. I love these.

Here's a piece I added this year. It's a 1958 Ben Franklin half dollar on the back. I call it the Clover Rose.


We added these this year, too. They are the Heart Heart Pendants (interesting name, huh? Hee hee).


Here's a shot of the necklace I wore today. It has a Lady Dollar Pendant in the center, on black cord with six Mercury Dime beads (only two are pictured). It also has a clasp made from a half dollar (also not pictured). It's about 24" long.

Here are three small group pictures I took of our display today.




I hope you've enjoyed seeing these photos!

Country Living Fair

Hello, friends. I am writing this in the Holiday Inn Express in (or, more likely, near) Columbus, Ohio. Come see us this Friday, Saturday or Sunday (and bring a raincoat and umbrella) at the Country Living Fair at Ohio Village.

I am working on some new pieces (and we are going to get around to photographing all the new stuff soon, I promise), even in the hotel. I'll post some pictures soon after I get home.

Goodnight (it's after 10:30 PM and I have been up since 5:30 AM...hmph). :)

The Blog is Born!

Hello, and welcome to my new Made From Coins blog! Once I get the word out to my customers, I am hoping to use this to show you new pieces as I create them and talk about our show schedule.

I have met so many nice people at crafts shows and you've likely met my family, so maybe I'll stick in a few pictures of them, too, from time to time. :)


You've probably met my mom, Nancy. We are very grateful to her for all her help!


Thank you so much for your support of my work, and I look forward to communicating with all of you!