Belly Up: Some Navel Ring Selections!

So something awesome happened! I got my navel pierced!

Finally. It's only been a year since I decided on doing this.

And thus begins my spiral down into bar bell (banana bell? belly bell?) mania, where I spend hours shopping online, oogling and aww-ing and gushing over dangly and bejeweled treasures that I want to cram through the recesses of my umbilical scar. (You're welcome for that description, fyi.)

I in fact purchased this little gem, a Baphomet-charmed bar bell that screams with so much significance to me (this is one of my favourite pages going in depth behind the symbolism of the goat in general, for those of you looking for reading material), who I find often making appearances in my life, down to the moments yesterday before the needle plunged through my flesh: as I laid on the bed in the tattoo shop up north in New Hampshire that I refer to as my preferred location, looking at my fiancée's face in nervous excitement, I spotted a framed picture of the 19th century Eliphas Lévi drawing of Baphomet. So when I returned home to start hawkeye-ing my future collection of bar bells, could I really pass up the opportunity to buy the LAST one of these Baphomet charms? (Also it totalled at $11, with shipping.)

Though satisfied as I am, I still can't stop dragging myself through pages and pages of these things, and I've compiled a list of my favourites (so far) from Etsy alone. A few of these are on my watch list, but worry not: some of these listings are multi-quantity! (And holy hell, I am loving the gawdy jeweled cross further down this list.)

Note: these are not for being pierced with! Most places will pierce with their own titanium or surgical steel rings for the four month healing process. Read the descriptions before buying (6th row features a sterling silver ring); I did my best keeping the quality of these choices as high as possible but I do not know if these are internally or externally threaded rings. (Internally threaded are preferred, as they won't try to tear/shred you when putting them in. I would contact the shop owners before hand.)

Expect more of these posts in the future, as I claw through the internet to build up by belly ring collection!

o8; These are a few of my favourite things.

I really love sandstone. I mean, really love it, both orange and blue versions of it. If I could, I'd just cover myself in it all the time on sunny days so I could walk outside and look like a burnt-orange discotheque lurker or a dark galaxy on legs, just constantly glimmering all day. I was so thrilled to discover that my sandstone bracelet is still in my possession. I have a sandstone ring I used to wear with it, but I've lost a good fifteen pounds since buying it (at sixteen), and I guess some of that weight came out of my hands, because it's too big. I also had a blue sandstone necklace, but it's in Arizona with most of my things. Not sure if I'll be getting that back.

And with that latter thought I had yesterday, I went onto Etsy to see if there was anything interesting involving sandstone jewelery. To my surprise, I found some really great pieces. I have my eye on a certain ring that I may go for this week or next week. (All depends on what this week's check looks like.)

Earrings:

Price: $0.20 - pleasurearts

Price: $5.00 - rodgeranddelilaplace

Price: $18.00 (free shipping in the US) - MandyMadeIt

Price: $20.00 - LoveMyLuxe

Bracelets:

Price: $11.00 (free shipping in the US) - SundustStudio

Price: $14.95 - xpressionsbysw

Rings:

Price: $30.00 - ecesema

I am so floored by this ring. If I had the money, I'd buy it so fast, the seller wouldn't know what hit them. It looks like a cluster of stars smushed into one gorgeous piece of stone. I may even save up for this thing. I just can't get over how beautiful it is.

Price: $10.00 - PaupersBounty
This is the ring I want to get this week or next. The listing says 'one available' but when I messaged the shop owner, she said that she had multiple, so she'll relist this item whenever it's bought. Another great thing about this listing: you can order any size between sizes 5 and 10. I have super thin fingers, and a size six is too big for me, so this is a great perk.

Pendants:

Price: $13.00 (free shipping in N. America) - alienlabel

Price: $35.00 - emking

Isn't this amazing? The shop owner makes these same pendants with other stones, as well. I adore this one specifically because it looks like a tree in autumn, and the sandstone and copper tones go so well together.

Price: $12.00 ($1 shipping in the US) - TwistedandStitched

Necklaces:

Price: £12.00 (GBP; approx. $19.69) - clairemumford

Price: $25.00 - gottaspoilemgems

Price: $9.48 - 1AStones

(Dammit, I forgot an image to add when I uploaded all of these pictures, and Blogger won't let me add it after uploading a ton, so you get a link instead: Clearance Polished Brown Natural Sandstone Bead Necklace; $8.45 - emelgoza123)

Can you see why I love this stone so much? ♥


EDIT: I'm so thrilled, the dress I bought from Disarming Darling arrived today. How did she manage that? She shipped it on Friday, I think, and we're on opposite edges of the whole country!

Unfortunately, I think I measured incorrectly, because I thought I'd be just tall enough for the dress, but it drags significantly. No problem though, I'll just hem the bottom. (And now I know how long a 52" dress really is, for future reference!) I may need to hem up the straps as well, as my bra pokes out of the 'armholes', but again, no big issue. Otherwise it's absolutely amazing. My arrowhead ear cuff arrived as well (no shocker, and it was shipped from CT) and I definitely plan to wear them together. I'm considering wearing it to work today, actually, but I'm not sure yet. I'm just concerned about losing it.

o5; Ear cuffs, and the things that go in them.

Pictures didn't happen yesterday. I have the whole day free today and it's just me, so I'll probably hike out to the woods and do it myself. Going to wait until it's about 1pm before I do, as that'll be the warmest part of the day. (A whole 40 degrees! My god, I remember when I lived in Arizona and 40 degrees was the coldest part of the night. Ugh.)

Speaking of the southwest: I had done some heavy research into Native American-style ear cuffs yesterday. (My last post inspired me.) This morning I caved and bought this one, for five bucks. I'm also bidding on this gorgeous guy and I'm really hoping no one else will butt in, because I hate bid-wars, and I just really adore this. I don't have any of my Native American jewlery anymore, as I left all of it in Arizona in a storage unit that my mother's barely able to make payments on. Since she's living in California at the moment, she's not there to dig my things out for me. I'm hoping she'll get back to it soon; I had some amazing things in there. Hell, I'd even go myself and pick my things out, but being in Massachusetts makes that a little difficult.

Anyway! Searching for that specific of a jewelery piece on Ebay and Etsy only lasted so long, and I eventually started searching for any style that came up. Some of these ear cuffs are just really beautiful. I'm not sure what it is about ear cuffs that interest me. I usually prefer if they're chained to an earring, but some are made so beautifully that one can't help but admire. I found some great pieces on Ebay and Etsy that should definitely be shared.

Now that I have my morning Earl Grey all made up, lets get the show on the road:

On Ebay;


Current bid: $10.61 - eecoin
This is just perfect. It really is. However, it's a bid, and doesn't end for two days, so I'm skipping out. I'm already bidding on another cuff, anyway.


Buy it now: $36.95 (free shipping) - TarasTreasureHouse505
I'd buy this for myself, but I can't really justify spending that much, even if there's free shipping involved. Maybe if no one picks it up in a couple of weeks or something. Because damn, this is pretty.


Buy it now: $22.50 - Mr48Now
Again, I'd buy this too, but can't afford it. I'm so in love with this. Maybe I'll get it, or maybe someone else will find it a good, loving home. ♥


Buy it now: $9.00 (free shipping) - JujuBeadsJewelery
Something very simple and very affordable, and I imagine it would look very awesome in use, with its simplicity.


Buy it now: $14.95 - JMD.70


Buy it now: $14.87 - JMD.70


Buy it now: $9.99 - Aradani-com


Etsy;


Price: $18.00 - BethNOUVEAU


Price: $32.00 - Georgeaccessories


Price: $11.00 - Jynzsbox


Price: $22.00 - Ladydeluna
Isn't this gorgeous? I had no idea this was a type of turquoise, either.


Price: $18.00 - prettylittlepiecess


Price: $20.00 - suazospecialties


Price: $30.00 - RingRingRing
I adore just about everything in this person's Etsy shop. They have a nymph cuff that I have my eye on and really want to spring for in a week or two. ♥

o4; Thrift stores, and Free People.

So I tried to make this post yesterday, and essentially did, except something wrong went on with some html and the whole thing died on me. Managed to copy the coding into Notepad so I have all the links I need, it's just a matter of digging through the messy wall of coding to extract what I need. I have a feeling that remaking this post will take me a little bit of time...lets hope I don't give up. (But considering the fact that my very possessive cat has parked herself down in my lap and looks like she intends to hang out for a while, I won't be leaving the computer any time soon...)

Last night I was going to mention that I went thrift shopping on Tuesday and bought some great stuff. However, I don't have pictures yet and was hoping to do that today. Not sure if that's going to happen, but I suppose we'll see. It all depends if we can work it in today. (Kathryn's working hard on studying for a final exam tomorrow, see.) We'll see what happens.

In the meantime, I found this really cool store by accident online called Free People. Their prices are pretty steep for some things, but their jewelry prices aren't too horrible, and they do have a sale section. ♥ Some of their stuff is simply amazing. (It's both a blessing and a curse to find a shop with prices out of my range, because I can window shop without running the risk of spending my money, but I then also find stuff I absolutely love and face the painful knowledge of never having enough money. It's a love-hate relationship.)

Definitely worth checking out. Maybe it's a site worth hitting up when it's bonus or tax-return time, at least.

Some examples (photos are linked back to their respective pages):


$48; Perfect with a maxi dress, am I right?


$98


$88


$148; Oh my lord, I need a shirt like this in my life.


$108; Scrap that last bit, I need a shirt like this in my life!


$128; Makes me think of ABBA. ♥


$428; This bag is perfection.


$98


$138


$38


$28


$28


$28; For that price, I'm giving some serious thought to buying this in a couple of weeks or so.


$28


$38


$128; HELLO, RING OF MY DREAMS. WHY SO EXPENSIVE?


$28; Giving this some consideration as well. (Though I may just hit up ebay and see what else I can find in this style.)


$28


And that's not even considering the sale section, either. ♥