I hope you are having a lovely Spring, and have had a wonderful Easter and Passover! I've been enjoying the jonquils outside my window next to my sculpting table, as well as watching the beauty of the trees starting to bud with leaves. Each day brings something new to enjoy outside at this time of the year!

I was not able to make a Bird of the Month collection for sale this month, however, I do have a new "scrap clay" necklace for you! It is on auction on eBay for the next week. A portion of the final sale price will be donated to the Oasis Sanctuary Foundation.

For those of you interested in placing a Custom Order Request, the entry form is on my website here: http://www.parrotjewelry.com/orderform.html I draw a limited number of custom orders on the first day of each month. (You can read the full details about the current system of placing custom orders on my website.)

Also, some of you have been asking about the "VIP Custom Order" option, as I had planned to have it set up this month. Due to some health issues that came up this month, I wasn't able to work on it, so this addition will be postponed until next month.

In honor of Mother's Day just around the corner, I'm having a sale of 5% off through May 31st, on all eBay Store items! There are still several unique pieces available for immediate purchase in my eBay store, including this Congo African Grey face charm necklace. To see all items that are available, visit my eBay Store.

I have also listed a whimsical blue African Grey necklace & earring set in my Flights of Fancy style, from my own personal jewelry collection, on eBay. The bird holds a charm with the word "Believe", and is beaded up with some gorgeous glass beads in periwinkle blue, silver, grey and black. The set is on auction for the next week, with a low starting bid!

Kilian and Kaleena (pictured) and I wish you a Valentine's Day that is absolutely overflowing with love!

To celebrate Valentine's Day, from now until the end of the month, all of the items in my eBay store are on sale! Below are some of the birds currently available - the birds shown here happened to be sold, with non-paying bidders, so are now back for sale! If you missed them earlier, here is your chance to snap them up at a discount.

Female Eclectus Necklace

Red Lory Earrings

Scarlet Macaws seemed appropriate when I was deciding on a red bird for February! There are 5 different Scarlets on on auction for the next week: Bracelet Charm, Charm Pendant on cord necklace, Full Bodied Pendant on cord necklace, Glass Beaded Necklace/Earring Set, and a piece that will be finished into your choice of either a Pin OR a Magnet, with optional display frame as shown below.

This unique multi-colored parrot was made from scrap bits of clay, with a lovely glossy finish. So striking and eye-catching! This necklace is on auction for the following week.

OTHER ITEMS NEW ON EBAY THIS WEEK!   This charming cockatiel face pendant was sculpted from black clay, with a silver metallic finish. It has a black agate bead eye, and is also on auction for the following week.

This has certainly been an eventful and rather challenging few weeks! If you are one of the many people who wanted to place custom order earlier this month, or want to in the future, please take time to thoroughly read through the following.

I have been booked up solid with custom orders from my last opening about 2 years ago, so the opening on February 1st was a long awaited event for many of you. At noon, I placed the order form up on my website, and the plan was that I would leave the order form up only until I received the number of orders that I could fill within ONE MONTH. I would then "turn off"/remove the order form, until the next month, and continue on in this way. The strain and constant demand of custom orders has taken a toll on me over the years, and I refuse to book myself years in advance any more. I have had to consider no longer doing any custom orders. However, I hoped that working in a monthly system as described would be more manageable and comfortable. The plan sounded great.....in theory.

Well, we "live and learn", don't we? Things did not quite go as planned. Within only 6 minutes I had received the maximum amount of orders that I could fill within one month, and I quickly removed the order form. However, it turned out that many people were still in the midst of completing the order form during those moments, and despite the form being "turned off", these orders were still successfully processed by the form, and came through within the following 3-4 minutes. What was only supposed to be one month's worth of orders, quickly turned into about three month's worth, with each of these people expecting to have their order filled in February. What followed were several hours of sorting through the pages and pages of orders that came through, as well as the countless emails from others who were sorely disappointed that their order did not make it in time.

Needless to say, changes are required if I am to continue to take custom orders in the future. I have given this great thought and have come up with what I believe will be a much better plan, detailed in a separate post above. Some of you may not like the new plan, however please realize that it was either THIS, or no more custom orders *at all*. Please understand that the demand is far more than you may realize. It is simply beyond what I, as one person, can actually fill, considering I personally hand sculpt each custom created one-of-a-kind piece of art, which takes time due to the amount of detail and customization that I put into my pieces.

In addition to the penguins this month, there are a few Umbrella Cockatoos on auction including a bracelet charm, a charm choker necklace, and a glass beaded necklace/earring set. Please note that these items are on auction for the next THREE DAYS (not a week, like usual) ending on Monday evening! Go to my eBay Store to see the entire list of new items available!

I also have two Sulphur Crested Cockatoo bird face pendant charms (one on cord, one without) listed on auction on eBay for the next 3 days. I tried something a bit different with these cockatoos, using black agate beads for the eyes, and was happy with the very life-like look! Take a look at the listings and see what you think.

WORKS IN PROGRESS   Want to see some of my recent projects?   I recently posted some "work in progress" photos of a custom ordered owl pin in an album on my Facebook page. There are quite a few other photos of recent work there as well, so stop by and browse!