great Etsy day, treasury feature

Do you remember how I finished my custom cuff last week?  The woman who bought it is actually the bride.  She got the cuff today and loved it so much that she decided to order the jewelry for all of her bridesmaids and flower girls (6 girls/women total) from me!  I came back from work to find the order completed.  Two of the bracelets are made to order which works out perfectly because I can custom fit them for the flower girls.

That's the surprise coordinated piece that I created for the bride.  Now that she's seen it, you can all see it, too. :) I'll post more details about that order as I finish the made to order items and get everything ready.  I am even more pysched about her color scheme than I was before.

Also, thanks to Edi's post a while back about Alchemy, I've been bidding on items here and there over the last month.  I won two of my bids from this past week and committed to them today!  I think I've worked out most of the details for both of them now.  I'm waiting for their payments to go through before I do anything else.  Those of you who are bead weavers, if you haven't already seen my posts about pearls in the EBW forums and have any experience with them in relation to bead weaving (particularly RAW), please let me know.  I can complete the bead weaving without any problem.  I just want some advice about my materials before I get started because this is a little bit of a new territory for me.  Thanks!  I'll post more details on those projects, too, as they continue to develop.

Finally, my fellow EBW member Jane-Michael (JaneMichel) included my Beadwoven Bracelet - Button Embellished - Rainbow in her Rainbows treasury.

What an amazing start to the week!  I hope that everyone's week has started off well, too. :)

new listing, new treasury

I listed my Peyote Cuff Bracelet - Fringed - Blue Peacock this afternoon.  I still have a handful of older items to list, but I've been so excited about this piece that I didn't want to wait any longer to list it.  So here it is.

I had SO much fun with the dagger beads.  I have done a couple smaller fringed pieces with dagger beads before but never one that's covered like this.  I have a few blue ones left over from this project and a handful of black and white ones, but that's it.  I've thought about doing a smaller black and white one for a while, but now that I've done my full blown blue one, I'd really like to do a full blown neutral one.  There are a few supply sellers on Etsy that have daggers (namely beadsandbabble).  The best supplier that I've found so far for bulk quantities is BEADINPATH.  They have a nice variety, like this gorgeous red set (I know that's not a neutral but they're still awesome).  I haven't bought anything...yet.  We'll see how long I hold out.  I'm still working through all of my planned leafy projects, which will keep me preoccupied for a while longer.

On a different subject, I curated a new treasury last night.  Normally I theme treasuries around specific colors and I include as many team members from EBW and/or EtsyBloggers as possible.  I went for something completely different this time.  Let me know what you think.

Fall Plaid

DIY bead sorter

I made my own bead sorter this past week.  I use bead soup mixes for a number of my projects where it's best to mix a bunch of colors together and pull from the pile as I work.  But for some of my projects, like the custom striped cuff that I just made, it's easier to keep the beads sorted.  I haven't had anything for the latter kind of projects until now so I've just dumped the beads in together.  Not any more!

I got the cutting board for $5 at Wal-Mart.  The handle makes it very easy to carry around when it's not full of beads.  I got the cups from Bed Bath 'n Beyond for $0.30 each.  I glued them to the cutting board with super glue.  I'm sure that other all-purpose craft glues would work pretty well, too.  So far the board has been great.  The beads don't bounce around in the cups the way they do against a plastic or glass bowl surface.  The cutting board provides a nice slightly textured surface to catch them if they do come out of the cups.  Hopefully this will mean less beads between the sofa cushions!  I'm sure that any of you who also bead in the living room run into this issue haha, especially if you work with a lot of seed beads.

back to work, custom order

Before I post about anything else, I want to make sure I mention that my web site is finally up and running with the domain name.  Go check out randomcreative28.com.  It doesn't show up in Google searches yet so make sure to visit and get the numbers up so it will show up. :) Hopefully it will prove to be worthwhile.

As I'm sure that you can tell by my lack of posting this week, I've been spending most of my time at work or getting caught up with things around the condo.  I haven't been doing much with creating new pieces, taking pictures, or doing any other work with Etsy.

That's my classroom for anyone who's interested.  I don't post public pictures of most things work related for obvious reasons, but I thought that some of you would enjoy seeing where I do spend a lot of time from August-May.

Back on the creative end, the biggest thing that I did accomplish this week is that I finally finished and shipped my current custom order.

I created a surprise coordinated piece as well.  I may post pictures of it at some point after the recipient has her package.  I don't want to spoil anything.  You can view the original cuff here.  It's amazing how even changing only one or two colors in a design can significantly alter the entire look of the piece.  As you already know, I'm not interested in creating lots of made to order listings at this point when I have lots of already completed unlisted pieces.  So I'm not planning to re-list this item right now.  But I'm always happy to create custom orders based on any existing designs.

I've been working on a brand new design the last couple weeks.  I haven't seen anything like it before so hopefully it will be a neat little niche for me. I'm giving the first one in the series to someone as a gift in a couple weeks, but I will hopefully have one to sell within a month.  For those who love purple and have expressed interest in more purple items in the past, one of these new pieces will definitely be purple.  I have a other purple pieces in the works right now, too. :)

August EtsyBloggers feature

The August EtsyBloggers featured seller is Patch!  She has three shops: a jewelry shop, a vintage shop, and a supply shop.  She also has a blog about herself and a wedding guide blog.  Like many of my EtsyBloggers, I've gotten to know her mainly through the forum threads this past year.  I was going to feature some of her jewelry, but then I came across her origami flowers in her supply shop as I was putting together the links for my post.  These are beautiful!

Green and Pink Theme - Colorful Origami Folding Flowers - 10 pcs

Aqua and Green Theme - Colorful Origami Folding Flowers - 10 pcs

Origami Folding Flowers by Thai Lotto Tickets - 4 pcs

vintage buttons, Angel, leaf earrings

As promised, here are the vintage buttons that I got in Chicago earlier this week at Vogue.

I got all of the large white buttons because I'm planning to make a fall tree at some point.  They'll be great for part of the base layer of buttons.  Do you remember my Christmas button tree?  It will be similar to that.  I'd like to make another version of my Button Charm Bracelet - Two-Hole Button Explosion with some of the colorful smaller buttons.  I know it doesn't look like there are too many, but there are a lot of different colors buried in there.

I took a random picture of Angel today so of course I'm going to share it here.  When we got our new sofa last fall, I moved some of the pillows into the bedroom that didn't coordinate with it and made a little set up for Angel.  Lately she prefers her kitty bed, but she still hangs out in this area, too, sometimes.

I listed my newest leafy earrings tonight: Beadwoven Dangle Earrings - Sterling Silver - Indian Summer Leaves.

I created these to coordinate with my Indian Summer leafy design after I created the custom Indian Summer necklace in July.

I'll go ahead and share my other new leaf earring design tonight, too.  I created this as a custom order this summer to coordinate with my fall gold design.  I beaded two pairs of the earrings at the time so I'd have another one to list here but then ended up selling it in person, too!  I will most likely make another one at some point and list it on Etsy.  If you'd like to request one sooner, let me know. :)

new listing, new goodies

I sold and re-listed my Beaded Bracelet - Purple Shell design today.  It will be made to order (until I make another one at some point) and will still be 15% off for the rest of month.

I love this design!  I'm glad that it continues to do well.  I'm also still planning to make one in green.  For now, though, you can get coordinating Sterling Silver Dangle Earrings - Purple Shell, which I just listed tonight.

I know that the bracelet and earring shades of purple don't look perfectly matched, but they are very close in color in person.

I had several in person sales while I was in Chicago, too, as well as another Etsy sale.  I have really had a fabulous summer for sales, and I'm so excited that Etsy is finally picking up.  Hopefully this will continue!  While I was in Chicago, I got some new goodies, too.  I got lots of vintage buttons in bulk for $2.00 at Vogue Fabrics.  I will take a picture of them at some point.  I did not make it to Caravan in the city because Jake's test ended earlier than we originally thought so I made a short trip to Briolette instead.  Instead of splurging on lots of new Czech pressed glass (like leaves), I got a few glass pieces and some filler seed beads, which is just fine.  As I'm sure you can imagine, I'm far from out of Czech glass. :)

The first day of work went pretty well today.  It's nice to have one day of work and then a weekend to ease back into the regular routine.  Have a great weekend everyone!

new listing, new web site

I listed a new button charm bracelet last night: Button Charm Bracelet - Maroon and White.

 I created this design in honor of my grandpa who has been a professor at Texas A&M for 25+ years.  The Texas A&M colors are maroon and white.  This listing already has 2 hearts!  I got both of them within half an hour of listing it.

I'm in the process of creating my own web site.  I bought a domain name through SoopSee (because it's about as cheap as anything else I've seen), and I'm waiting for them to activate it so I can use it with the site (it can take up to 72 hours).  Otherwise I have most of it set up.  I'll let you know how it all goes and if the site results in anything.  A lot of people seem to have success with having their own domain and a web site separate from Etsy.  I'm not crazy about SoopSee so far.  I know that it's still pretty new, and I'm willing to give it some time, mostly because I'm not sure where else to turn at this point.  I'm honestly not very impressed with most of the online options for web pages anymore.  There used to be a lot of free options that provided neat pages for those not interested in pursuing something professionally.  I created web sites through such sites 10 years ago that looked better than most of the free templates that I've seen recently.  Now everything costs a lot of money.  I'm just frustrated by the whole process.  It seems like it should be easier to do this than it is.

I've also thought about putting the domain name with this blog instead and customizing it with more tabs and whatnot so that I could provide more access to Etsy and my other web presence (Facebook, Twitter, etc.).  I don't love Blogger either, but at least it is free. Then I would just be paying to host my domain name and not also run a web site.

Any thoughts on this whole process would be appreciated!

new listing

I listed my Beadwoven Earrings - Pink Leaves tonight.

I have leafy designs in Indian Summer and fall themes as well that I'll be listing at some point.  I will probably make another pair in purple eventually, but I don't have any other specific ideas for leafy designs right now.  As always, I'm open to suggestions. 

Otherwise I've just been working on my custom order today and continuing to take and edit photos.  You can see sneak peaks of a handful of new items that I haven't listed yet on Flickr.  Please let me know if you'd like to reserve anything.

random feature

I started my custom order today.  Otherwise I haven't been working on much Etsy related.  I'll resume taking pictures and whatnot tomorrow.  I'll also list some new items this week so stay tuned.  For now, a random feature.  Enjoy!

(Don't forget that you still have a few more hours to take advantage of my FREE SHIPPING special on Etsy for the EtsyBloggers Anniversary Sale!)

Desert Sand Daggers by GingerBeadDesigns

Standing Tall Fused Dichroic Glass Pendant - LB46 by GloriaLynnGlass

Marigold Ziangle earrings by daxdesigns

Stone Button Set 2 by LockandSpoon

SWEET LAVENDER WAVE PROGRESSION CUFF Block beaded bracelet by crownrosegems

ROAD TO SANTE FE...Free US Shipping by blueseraphim

Three 3D Triangle Peyote Pendant by MadeByKatarina

back in stock, custom order, storm pictures

I updated the listing for my Peyote Cuff Bracelet - Fringed - Turquoise and Red tonight.  It's now back in stock!

I still haven't gotten tired of the turquoise/red color combination.  I really love the turquoise button, too.

I got a request for a custom cuff tonight.  We've been working out the final details for the colors.  This was my preliminary palette.

I may add a pastel aqua shade, but I think that all of current selections will stay.  I'll post more details on this as it develops.

We've had thunderstorms almost every night this past week.  I got a few got pictures of the one last night.  Our town has a photo contest every year.  People can submit their own photos from around town.  The picture that won last time is okay, but I think that I could submit something better.  Unfortunately this first storm picture here that I took earlier this summer was not actually in town, but the second and third ones (in town, from our porch, from yesterday) aren't bad.

treasury features

I'll check in again tonight with some other things that have been going on, but there were enough treasuries that I figured they could go in their own post. :) Enjoy!

Edi (memoriesforlifesb) included my Peyote Cuff Bracelet - Summer Stripes in her EtsyBloggers Anniversary SALE!!! treasury.

Patch (patchfirstshop) included my Peyote Cuff Bracelet - Champagne Party in her WEEKEND SALE: EtsyBloggers Anniversary (Jewelry) treasury.

Lakshmi (doodlekreations) included my Peyote Cuff Bracelet - Fringed - Spring Garden in her Spring - Enjoy it to the fullest treasury, in honor of spring on the other side of the world.

Busy Friday!

Lots going on!  The biggest thing this weekend is that the EtsyBloggers are having a team wide sale for our 3rd anniversary as a team.  You can view all of the sales here.  Approximately 50 shops are participating.  I'm offering FREE SHIPPING in my entire Etsy shop, include sale and custom items, today through Sunday.  I will do a few single day free shipping offers before the holidays, but this will be the longest free shipping sale for randomcreative for 2010.  So take advantage of it while you can!

I published my second beading PDF pattern yesterday.  This one is for my Button Embellished Beadwoven Bracelet design.  Check it out here.

You can view all of the button embellished beadwoven bracelets that are currently available for sale here.

As promised, I have a couple new leafy developments.  I reworked my Indian Summer design and updated the listing yesterday.

I want to mention that I normally use Aleene's Jewelry and Metal Glue for the knots on my leafy designs.  I don't normally glue my knots, but because this design is fairly weighty, I like to give it a little extra security.  The glue itself works pretty well, but the bottle is a bad design.  I always end up getting glue everywhere, and it's about as strong as super glue so it doesn't create a good situation.  Jake always keeps super glue around for his models so I tried Loctite super glue for this bracelet instead, which was much better.  Their bottle designs are amazing.  If any of you who bead weave need a glue for your weightier designers, I highly recommend it.

I'm working on a couple purple/pink leafy designs next.  Here's a sneak peak at the first one.

I haven't mentioned any non fiction books that I've been reading in quite a while.  I recently checked out Camera Creative: Professional Photography Techniques for Innovative Images by Chris Gatcum from the library.  For those of you who use a light box and/or enjoy experimenting with photo editing/lens/etc., this is a great resource.  I have gotten some excellent advice from it about my light box, as well as confirmation that some of the things that I'm already doing are good.

Finally, I found out that my pieces are featured in two new treasuries yesterday.  jessypatterson included my new Tortoiseshell Cat Button Charm Bracelet in her Steeped Tea treasury.

Fellow EtsyBlogger DevineDesignsJewelry included my Beaded Bracelet - Double Linked - Chocolate and Cream in her Etsy Bloggers 3rd Anniversary treasury.

Have a great weekend everyone!

leafy feature number 14

Jake and I are making one more short trip back to Chicago this summer for the first part of the second round of boards.  While I'm there, I'm planning to make a trip to Caravan.  In order to justify going, I have to continue to use up my current Czech glass stash this week, which includes making lots of new leafy bracelets.  I have made a dent in my stash from last summer, but there are still quite a few left.  So expect some new leafy creations this week. :) On that note, here's the 14th installment of my leafy feature.  Enjoy!


Free Shipping - Olive Twig Bracelet in Brass by sweetfindings4you

Vintage Modernist Leaf Brooch Brushed Silver and Gold by CarriersCozyCottage

Flower for the Desert Princess - Beaded Pendant with Goldstone and Tiny Pearls by enchantedbeads

leaf and flower button charm necklace with oxidized brass by edithandlulu

Leaves Cell Phone Charm - Green Leaf Glass and Metal Charms by funkydreamsartstudio

Nature's Beauty - Antiqued Brass Leaves and Orange Swarovski Crystal Earrings by BeadedTail

Sunflower Button Charm Bracelet by SmallButtonBigHeart