New website at last – after the Gate 13 shopping cart was decommissioned without warning back in March on my old site. Love the new look! Although we’re up and running I’ll still be uploading little treasures from the old site for a few more days. Haven’t yet decided how to celebrate the near-end of the hard work, but a glass of something sparkling tonight may inspire me. Would love your thoughts …

Have just listed several new earrings focussing on Swarovski crystal cube beads, and created a new category Style Squared in which to display them. Some designs feature USA-made TierraCast plated pewter bow beads so the cubes look like wrapped gift packages. Other designs have the cubes framed with Swarovski plated squaredelles for added emphasis. What they have in common is a visual impact well beyond their size.

Colours to look for include fuchsia, purple velvet, crystal AB, Siam red, Caribbean blue opal, padparadscha, silk, crystal copper, emerald, cyclamen opal, white opal, jonquil, amethyst, vintage rose, garnet, palace green opal, chrysolite opal and violet.

All have, of course, the gorgeous sparkle and colour clarity that Swarovski is renowned for, and all have either 14K gold-filled or sterling silver ear fittings.

I’ve found some unique hand-carved gemstone flowers and leaves, in muted winter hues, and made them into lovely necklaces in the Pendants – Mixed Media range using a Bohemian-inspired stringing of supple faux-suede lace, French ribbons in satin, taffeta and velvet, and fine brass cable chain.

These are a vintage romantic style without being too delicate-looking or fussy. Wear them to work, out to dinner, or with jeans to go shopping – they’ll make you feel good and attract compliments, and who doesn’t need that!

The colours covered are brick-red, cream, chocolate, khaki, olive, deep dusty rose, taupe, orange-red, peach, coffee, pale dusty pink and slate blue-grey. Both gold and silver choices are available, and all necklaces feature decorative USA-made pewter links.

Each necklace is approximately 54cm long (21.5 inches in the old scale), but I’m happy to lengthen them on request.

More single-colour Swarovski crystal earrings in the Swarovski Classics – Solo range! I’ve now added drops in gorgeous dark ‘purple velvet’; ‘smoky quartz’, a clear coffee-brown; ‘crystal copper’, a rich coppery-brown with metallic highlights; ‘Caribbean blue opal’, an amazing translucent blue named after the sea colour around the Caribbean islands; ‘fire opal’, an ombré-effect colour of golden yellow shading through orange and red; and ‘sun’, a rich yellow-orange. As always, the earrings are available in either 14k gold-filled or sterling silver components. Eventually I’ll cover all the crystal colours that Swarovski produces in this earring range – I love the idea that Swarovski has a range of matching crystal shades that will complement any colour you’re wearing in a top, dress, necklace, scarf etc. Do you always wear something pink? I’ve got at least 12 Swarovski pinks to work through. Addicted to purples? Swarovksi has at least eight for me to use. And there are all the greens, and the browns, and the blues, and the neutrals, and the metallics … and every single one of them is amazing in colour and sparkle.

You could have a wardrobe of Solo earrings and feel well-dressed even if you wore nothing else!

I’ve just added some lovely vintage-looking filigree cuffs to the Bracelets – Rhinestone category. Floral filigree components in antiqued-silver pewter are inset with Swarovski crystals in rose, light amethyst, peridot, jonquil, topaz or aquamarine, and matched with the same colour in Czech fire-polished crystals and with small Czech silver seed beads. The bracelets have a silver-plated toggle clasp (so easy to use one-handed!) with a floral ring and a leaf bar, which complements the theme of the filigree components. The stringing material behind the filigree components is concealed with Czech silver seed beads so the bracelet looks nice from the back also. These are sturdy bracelets, and would suit being worn over a long-sleeved top as well as on a bare arm. Simple matching earrings are available for some of the cuffs, and there are links in the bracelet’s description to take you to the earrings.

I recently discovered some cute wood pendants made by a USA artist and just had to have them! Although they’d be perfect just hung on chain or leather cord, I’ve made their simplicity less hippie-like by stringing them with freshwater pearls, Swarovski crystals and pewter rondelles. Linda Stanek, who makes the pendants out of maple wood, is married to a cabinet-maker and lives in a lovely valley just out of Madison in Wisconsin. To see what I’ve done with them, please go to Pendants with Pearl Stringing. I’ve only chosen two pendant images at this stage, ones I found inspirational just looking at them, but I’ll listen out for more ZephyrWoods designs to sing to me.

Whether the little girls in your life are your daughters, granddaughters, nieces, god-daughters or just the much-loved children of your best friend or neighbour, don’t you sometimes wish you could get them a special piece of jewellery that they’ll treasure for ever?

I’ve created a new category For Children which has gorgeous petite-sized earrings and necklaces made with Swarovski crystals and either sterling silver or 14K gold-filled components. I started this range after making some custom pieces for flower girls for a wedding, and they seemed like such a great idea for any other gift-giving occasion.

The basic components (earwires, chains) are all normal adult items, albeit the smallest I could get, so the finished pieces can still be worn by the lucky recipients even when they’re all grown up!

A few people have asked for my Christmas angel earrings to be available all year, saying that angels aren’t just for Christmas. I guess angels have been an inspiration throughout history and across many lands and are still making an impact today as symbols of sharing peace and goodwill and of divine protection.

I’ve created a new earring category called Angels Rule! which currently contains my existing Christmas angel items. Made with Swarovski crystal, Czech crystal and Czech pressed glass, these are earrings you’ll keep forever. All are on sterling silver or 14K gold-filled earwires and in a rainbow of colours. For smaller styles made especially for little girls, look for ones marked “Petite”.

Am working on some new styles for this category, and possibly some pendants too, and will let you know when they’re added.

With Valentine’s Day coming up in a couple of weeks, you may be looking out for a special gift for your special someone, or even for your special someone to give YOU.

I won’t try and predict what you or your beloved might want, but I’ll help with the gift-wrap. For all orders between now and 14 February I’ll include a free gift pouch for each item purchased. I’ll try and match the pouch to the colour and style of the purchased item, but do let me know if you have a preference for a particular colour pouch.

Have just added a new range of cluster pendants, bracelets and earrings with shallow sea pools as its inspiration. Called Rockpool I for pieces with silver components, and Rockpool II for pieces with gold components, all items use turquoise-coloured magnesite gemstone, Czech glass beads in rock and sand colours and crystal clear, and USA-made pewter charms with a sea theme. Also included are frosted clear natural quartz beads to evoke beach glass finds, and white freshwater pearls. If you enter Rockpool into the Search field, the results will pick up all the new pieces in this range regardless of their category.

Now for something to help with the Christmas shopping panic attacks! For all orders between now and 24 December I’ll include a free gift pouch for each item purchased. I’ll try and match the pouch to the colour and style of the purchased item, but do let me know if you have a preference for a particular colour pouch.

More hearts have been added, by request, to the Simply Swarovski range, and all are available with either sterling silver or 14K gold-filled chains and bails. Look for sparkling 14×14.4mm hearts in cyclamen opal (a milky pinkish-purple with lemon glimpses), fern green, Siam AB, topaz AB, dark indigo (the original denim colour, or the sky at dusk – depending on how romantic you feel!), clear crystal AB, sapphire AB, amethyst AB and rose AB. The standard chain length for them all is 40cm (16ins) as that seems to be the most popular, but please email me if you want a longer chain. The Swarovski Classic – Solo earrings category has simple bicone drops to match the hearts, again with sterling silver or 14K gold-filled components, if you’re thinking of putting a set together for a Christmas present.

New styles in the Eclectica earrings category comprise short and long drops made with polished gemstone leaves, gemstone rondelles, Swarovski pearls, snakeskin-patterned acrylics, Czech fire-polished crystals, freshwater pearls with crystal, and a sweet but sophisticated lampworked glass animal print that I couldn’t resist! Colours in the new styles include peach, powder almond, honey, gold, deep green, olive, silver-grey, light amethyst, black, and orange-red.

Isn’t the sunshine wonderful! A balmy breeze from the northwest and we’re expecting a top of 22 degrees today. We really are into Spring in spite of the occasional wind and rain that we’ll still get. Don’t believe people who say that Spring doesn’t start until 1 September. If a season is 3 months’ long, and the Spring Equinox is 23 September, then surely 6 weeks back from that is the beginning of August. Anyway, it gets me geared up to thinking now about flowers and new growth and bright colours and sweet pastels and butterflies and … In the meantime, if you’re getting yourself organised for Fathers’ Day already, check out the great range of men’s jewellery in the For Men section. The gemstone bracelets and necklets are the kind of quality that is ageless and will get noticed – no Bali markets cheap string pieces here! And please remember that I can always make pieces shorter or longer on request.

The new Duet Petite style has been added to the Swarovski Classics earring category. It’s a smaller-scale version of the Duet style in the Swarovski Drama category – crystal rondelle pairs on swinging pins – and it’s a great length for whether you’re height-challenged like me or just prefer a less dramatic earring for daywear.

I know I seem to be doing just earrings at the moment, but it’s hard to be inspired with other pieces when everyone is wearing high-necked tops, scarves and long sleeves. Not to worry, we’ve passed the winter solstice and we’re on the run down to Spring. Now, if we could just get a few fine days, then I might actually believe in the possibility of bare wrists and bare necks with eyecatching adornments!

There are a few more earrings to come before I switch gears. Think gemstone leaves with Swarovski crystal pearls, freshwater pearls in unusual shapes, snakeskin-print acrylic with Czech fire-polished glass …. Just waiting on some sunshine so we can get the best photos.

Am about to rearrange the Pendants category so that those of you who only want very simple styles (eg on leather or chain) can easily find them without having to scroll through all the styles available.

Swarovski crystals are so gorgeous that you don’t have to wear lots of them in order to make an impact. I’ve created a new category of earrings – Swarovski Drama – where I’ll showcase styles that aren’t OTT but will still add an outstanding element to your outfit. The first series in the new category is Duet: large sparkling rondelles on long swinging pins attached to demi-marquise earwires. The size and sculptural shape of the earwire balances the length and clean lines of the crystal drop. Simple but eyecatching!

The gold-filled earrings are not as long as the sterling silver ones as I was unable to get gold-filled headpins in the right length and gauge. I tried gold-plated headpins, but the effect was just not right.

If you have more colour ideas for this style, then I’d love to hear them.

Coming soon will be a shorter version of the Duet series, as a Petite Duet range in the Swarovski Classics earring category.

If you aren’t familiar with Czech glass beads, then you’ve been missing out on some beautiful and legendary alternatives to Swarovski crystal and to other glass beads. Glass beads and other glass items have been made in the European region of Bohemia (now part of the Czech republic) since the 11th Century, and their range and quality are world-famous. See my Glossary for more details or check out the fuller story in the special page on Czech Glass Beads.

My new Czech Drama earring range shows the versatility of Czech fire-polished faceted glass beads as a beautiful and budget-friendly alternative to Swarovski crystal elements. The softer sparkle of fire-polished glass is a particularly appealing choice for cooler weather. The earwires or earstuds are, as usual, either sterling silver or 14K gold-filled. However, to help meet the lower-cost goal of the range, other metal components may be gold-plate or silver-plate over base metal (such as brass).

The earrings aren’t as heavy as they look, either. Near-weightless drama – isn’t that what most of us want?