holiday inventory stocking in the works

You can check out my current Christmas online inventory right here. I'll be adding more over the coming month.

What are you working on for the upcoming holidays?

Friday Feature: dagger jewelry

In honor of one of my newest pieces, I decided to search for dagger jewelry on Etsy this week for the first time in ages. Enjoy.

Beaded Cuff Bracelet - Dagger Fringed - Green Red Purple by randomcreative

Agni Fire & Gold Earrings by AMermaidHeart

Rainbow colorful soutache earrings, turquoise, red, orange, yellow, leaf, dagger beads, swarovski crystals for summer by agtesa

Daggers bracelet, Czech glass daggers, Tangerine bracelet, orange dagger braelet, brass finish by CHARMATIONS

Geometrical Green Spike Earring Fiber Jewelry Long Earrings by LavenderField

Bad Girl dagger necklace with colorful separators by FlirtyBJewelryDesign

October Bead Trends feature

I am proud to announce that I have an item featured in the October issue of Bead Trends magazine!

I am really excited that they chose to use my item as one of their featured pictures in the table of contents.

They did an awesome job with the photos for the feature. Sometimes the photos are really artsy and don't show off the entire item, which can be troublesome if people actually want to follow the directions and make it themselves. But they did a perfect job this time showing off the whole earrings in an artistic manner.

I didn't take a picture of it this time, but Bead Trends features come with a $20 gift certificate to Fire Mountain Gems. Awesome, right?

I made these earrings back in the early spring as a companion piece to my Tropical Destination wrap bracelet/necklace.

I don't like to make a lot of overly matching pieces, but it's fun to make another piece with a bead combination that already works well.

These earrings are now listed in my Etsy shop. They're the first pair of tubular square earrings that I've done. There may be more in the future. As always, you can require a custom pair at any time, too.

Does anyone else have a magazine feature this fall?

Where I Linked Up Today:

different earrings

I didn't list anything new in my shop last week while I was out of town so today I'm sharing a other couple items that I made this summer.  They aren't intended for specific people, but I haven't decided if I want to list them or not.

I bought the focal beads for both sets of earrings with the intention of making earrings out of them.  Bead shopping is one of the few areas of shopping in which I have little self control so I have to make the majority of my purchases with specific projects in mind.  When I saw both the dominos and the triangles, I immediately thought earring pairs.

Do you remember the domino beads from one of my bead excursions back in June?  The triangle beads that I used in the next pair are buried in those bead bags somewhere, too.  I was originally thinking of creating a simpler design with single bead loops, but of course I have trouble creating almost any beadwork that is very simple anymore so I had to try the double loops.  I still think that the single loops would look good, too.  Any preferences?

I do think that these earrings fit with the random, fun nature of my shop so I'm more tempted to list these than the next pair.  I have more domino beads, too, so I can easily make additional pairs.

I'm sure that many of you already know that I love triangles.  I'm not really sure why I do, but I know that's why I was drawn to these beads.  I do not work with a lot of pink, not for any particular reason.  I love this design.  It's so simple and elegant.  The main reason I'm hesitant to list these earrings is that I'm not planning to make a lot more like them.  One of my goals for 2011 has been to narrow the focus of my shop.  The earrings that I currently have listed are:

1) beadwoven
2) involve buttons
or
3) shell earrings that coordinate with my shell bracelet line

But maybe it's good to have a couple other things in there, too.  Again, any thoughts would be appreciated.  I've also thought about saving the pink earrings for Breast Cancer Awareness in October and using them as my freebie item then.

Friday feature: random

Welcome to the May edition of my random feature!  Enjoy!

I'm also starting a Friday Feature Link Party.  All of the information is at the bottom of this post.  I know that at least a few people reading this also do regularly Friday features.  Add your links!  If it does well, I will make it a regular addition to my weekly feature posts.

I had to return to the mix tape theme here.
Wedding or Anniversary Card, Mixtape Love, black and pink single by elSage

This is such a creative idea!

Tape Measure Watch in Green by undoneclothing

Of course I had to include some beadweaving.  And these earrings are perfect for this time of year.

Spring Mood Lime Green Bead Woven Hoop Earrings by CallOfEarth

This stamp has been calling me ever since I found it a few weeks ago.  I'm sure that someone of you already saw me post this on Facebook and Twitter.  I could make the most awesome thank you cards for my Etsy shop with this!

Button Rubber Stamp by norajane
The one that I linked here sold out, but check out this other awesome button stamp that is still available.

I can't resist cloud/rain themed items.

Tiny Cloud Earrings by mxmjewelry

This cuff is too adorable.  Buttons + ocean + stripes + cuff = how can I not love this?

Button and Blue Seaside Cuff Hand Embroidery by Waterrose

I love this use of triangles.  She has a bunch of other triangle designs in her shop, too.

Triangular Bezelled Bracelet - Spring by catseyecrafts

why I love my customers

Happy Easter!  I've been working on a custom order this week.  The woman loved my Beaded Bracelet - Double Linked - Chocolate and Cream and wanted coordinating earrings and pendant to go with it.  She had a pretty clear idea what she wanted.  Together we finalized the details.  The bracelet was made to order so she got a brand new version of it in a custom length.

The customer also wanted me to take a picture of the whole set together.

I love my customers because I never would have conceptualized the earrings and pendant on my own.  I have made lots of shell earrings, but I wouldn't have thought to use two shell beads and to use the beads that I used in the bracelet.  And I've never made a shell pendant before.  I love the final result, though!

The design for this bracelet is something that came about with a little idea that I had to rework several times to create this final result.  It drove me up the wall the first and the second time that I made it.  This third time went so much more smoothly.  Third time's the charm, right?  I felt like I finally got into the rhythm of this pattern and didn't have to spend much time going back and adding or redoing anything.

So...I might make a couple more sets of these in other colors.  I love having the earrings and pendant that coordinate now.  I love the idea of doing a set in turquoise.  I haven't thought much past that yet.  Any thoughts, let me know.

the other black shell earrings and more buttons in the works

I listed black shell earrings last night that coordinate with this black shell bead bracelet.

These earrings are available here, and you can check out all of the black/white shell bracelets and coordinating earrings here.  I love these sets.  The larger shell bracelet has done really well.  Hopefully these will continue to sell.  Pale blue, turquoise, and sea green are all coming up on Etsy over the next couple months.

I'm also continuing to work on my button charm bracelets.  I finished blue over the weekend and started purple.

I made my first purple button charm bracelet a couple years ago.  I'm really looking forward to working with this color palette again.

One of my goals after I finish this school year is to start gifting more jewelry.  I'm making extras of all of my new button charm bracelets.  If you have a favorite color or color combination, don't be shy about letting me know what it is.  One of these new pieces just might show up your mailbox for your next birthday or at Christmas.

Also, I put up another crafty-related hub this past week that I didn't post here yet.  If you haven't checked this out already, here's the link:  Tips for Taking Stunning Jewelry and Other Small Product Item Photos.

newest shell bead earrings and button bracelets in the works

I promised quite a while back that I would make earrings to coordinate with my black shell bead bracelets.  I finally listed one of the pairs of earrings this week.

These earrings are available here.  I'll list the smaller version of these earrings soon.  The vote for the coordinating earrings was black so that's what I decided to make.  But if you prefer white, just let me know.  I still have some white shells.

I have sea green and pale blue bracelet and earring sets ready to photograph, too.

I sold five button charm bracelets on Etsy last month.  I've started restocking my stash.  I know that my shop is still plenty full, but my button bracelet supply has diminished.  It's been one of my few designs that has sold consistently on Etsy so I'm not going to stop making them any time soon.  I have blue in the works right now.

All of my new button charm bracelets will have beads like this recently sold button charm bracelet has.  They have been popular and are something that sets my button charm bracelets apart from others that are available on Etsy.  The turquoise/red combination will be back as well as green and purple.

random sale

My mom was buying a last minute gift for someone this week and wanted my advice on jewelry for this person (whose name I won't say right now in case she's reading this).  I didn't even have this pair of earrings listed on Etsy, but I knew that they would be a good fit for this person.  I made them in November and by the time I was ready to list, it was snowing and didn't feel right to list a fall item.  But here they are.

She liked the photos and confirmed that it would be a good fit.  Hopefully the recipient thinks so, too!  This is actually the third pair of fall/autumn leaf earrings I've made, and they've ALL sold before I could list them.  I will definitely make more of them over the summer so I'm ready to go on Etsy in August/September.  I made the original version with some dark greens as a custom order to match my fall gold bracelet.

getting ready for Valentine's Day

I listed two more items in my shell series this week, which would work perfectly for Valentine's Day.  Of course they work perfectly for lots of other occasions, too.

The bracelet is available here, and the earrings are available here.  I blogged about my shell designs pretty recently so I won't go into that again too much right now.  The small black/white shell design is up next and then I'll be working with blues and greens (as well as some black earrings).

Also on the subject of Valentine's Day, Christina (AnnasAdornments) included my Beaded Bracelet - Heart Fringed Raspberry in her Valentine hearts in jewelry, soap, slippers, and buttons treasury.  Thank you Christina!

Christina also included my brand new pink shell earrings in her Pretty pinks treasury!

back in stock continued

Over the weekend I updated the listings for a couple more pieces that I made new versions of during my time off over the holidays.

Since I started making earrings last year, a few of my designs have really done well so I've made multiple versions of them now.  These light green triangles are one of them.  They're available here.

I sold the original version of this design over the summer.  I'm not sure why it took me so long to make a second version.  It's so simple and classic.  And wasn't I just recently writing about how awesome red is?  This version includes a button clasp from Etsy's own Lisa Peters (lisapetersart).  This bracelet is available here.

jewelry Christmas presents

Happy New Year's Eve!  I hope that 2010 is wrapping up well for everyone.  As I waited to post the cork board coasters until I'd already given them out, I also waited to post pictures of the jewelry Christmas presents that I gave this year so I wouldn't ruin the surprise for anyone.

These earrings were for my mother-in-law.  I made her a tubular triangle pendant like this one (but without a chain) for her birthday in the fall so she has a little set now.  These earrings are available here.

These earrings were for my little sister-in-law.  I made her a bracelet like this one for her birthday in the summer so she also has a set now.  Until I sat down to write this post, I'd completely forgotten to add these earrings to my "add to Etsy" list even though I'd taken pictures of them.  So they're not up yet, but they will be at some point.  (Or you can request a pair now if you can't wait.)

I made this necklace for my brother's girlfriend.  My brother gave her this bracelet for her birthday in the summer and the coordinating earrings when she got back to the states this fall (she spent last year in Scotland getting her master's). I was undecided about what to make her for Christmas until I saw her at Thanksgiving.  She looked through all of my jewelry while she was here and was interested in the button jewelry more than anything else.  So I went ahead and completed the set.

I made a custom button necklace a while back but hadn't made one in the charm bracelet style before.  This next picture is more so that you can get a little glimpse at me (as opposed to the necklace) because I don't post a lot of pictures of myself.

And one more of the necklace by itself.