triangles and newest custom order completed

I listed my newest skinny embellished cuff this week.

The cuff is available here.  I don't even remember when I first decided that I should make a triangle embellished cuff.  I ordered the first three sets of triangles well over two years ago.  This past fall I finally got motivated to find one more set to round out the color combination and to make sure that I had coordinating cubes.  These pictures really don't do the color balance justice.  The green and purple blend beautifully with the blue.  I'm pleased with the overall look, especially the chunky triangle side fringe.  I would love to make another one of these if I can ever put together another great set of triangle beads and cubes.  Triangles can be hard to find.

I also completed a new custom order this week.  I am almost as excited about the story behind this order as I am with the finished jewelry.  Shannon (beadsandbabble) has a friend (acquaintance? not really sure about the connection) contact her about a jewelry order, using some of Shannon's beads.  Shannon is super busy right now getting ready for her son's wedding and filling tons of orders for her shop.  So she referred her friend to me and sent me a note as well about the order.  The request seemed pretty straight forward.  We worked out all of the details.  She ordered the beads, which I shared here previously, and had Shannon send them directly to me.  As soon as we got back from Milwaukee last weekend, I got to work.

I'm not sure why the bracelet picture is a little more vivid.  The seed beads are from the same hank as the necklace beads.  This was definitely a little different endeavor for me.  It was a pretty straight forward project, but like with just about any new crafting technique, there is a little learning curve.  Honestly the hardest part about these pieces for me was mastering the square knots.  I got my directions from this tutorial and kept them in front of me the entire time I was working on both pieces.  Otherwise the stringing and clasps weren't too difficult.  FYI, if anyone is planning to make pieces like these: it's really important to glue every square knot.  You can wait until the end to glue all of them, but I found it easiest to keep everything tight by gluing as I went.  I use Loctite Super Glue, which is some of the best glue you'll ever find.

Both pieces have extender chains so the length can be adjusted on either as needed.  Both pieces can also be worn straight or twisted.  These pieces are gifts for a good friend of the buyer.  Hopefully she'll be as pleased with them as we are.

I also have to give Shannon another huge thank you for the referral!  I never would have gotten to do this without her.  As always, her beads were wonderful to work with for both pieces.  I am not in a hurry to make anything like this in the near future, but it's tempting to just so I can order another Czech seed bead hank.

I'm waiting for my massive load of leaf beads for my next custom order now.  While I'm waiting, I'll be working on my Art Beads piece and the plan for my next EBW challenge piece.

I keep forgetting to post my newest crafty hub here: Shipping and Packing Resources for Online Jewelry Sellers.  If you've missed any past hub links, all of my crafty hubs are linked on the right side of my blog now.

contrast

My newest listing is neutral, but all of the treasuries that I've been in the last few days are brightly colored.  So you get a little bit of everything in this post.

I know that I'd said in my turquoise/red post earlier this week that I didn't have any more button charm bracelets in the works.  That is true.  However, I still had one more finished button charm bracelet to list: Button Charm Bracelet - Two-Hole Explosion - The Neutral Version.

I absolutely adore these little two-hole buttons.  The color version of this design is still available here.  These particular buttons (both the neutral and colored shades) were all vintage finds in a button bin so there won't be any more bracelets exactly like them.  But I'm sure that the two-hole design will continue to live on in other variations.

Also, I didn't use any beads for this button charm bracelet, but I doubled the number of buttons so there are two buttons on every link, which I think creates a neat look, too.

I was very fortunate to be included in several more treasuries since Monday.  Megan (megansbeadeddesigns) included my Beaded Bracelet - The Leafy Series - Vibrant Fall Autumn in her Got Orange Juice? treasury.

Megan also included my Beaded Bracelet - Simple Birthday Cake in her Sunny Days and Bright Ideas treasury.

Eileen (CookalasHouseOfCards) included my Beaded Cuff Bracelet - Dagger Fringed - Pink Garden in her OVER THE RAINBOW treasury.  I am not normally a huge fan of pastels, but I absolutely love this pastel rainbow color palette that she put together.

back in stock continues

Happy Groundhog Day!  And happy snow day to those of you in the midwest or northeast who have today off work.  I'm not posting any snow pictures because I think a lot of us have already seen plenty of snow this winter.  But I am still unrolling new versions of older designs that I made over Christmas break.  I'm getting to the end of my stack.

Here's the new Button Charm Bracelet - Tortoiseshell Cat.

And here's the newest Beaded Bracelet - Skinny Square Stitch - Raspberry.  On the whole, the skinny square stitch bracelets have not done especially well.  I'm not planning on making a lot more of these this year.  The raspberry one continues to sell, though, so I'll keep making it as long as it keeps selling.

These skinny bracelets are also hard to photograph at flattering angles.  At least the color balance on this latest set is pretty good.  If anyone has any idea for better angles/poses, let me know.

It's a Girl Thing

Janet (HoneyFromTheBee) included by Button Charm Bracelet - Tortoiseshell Cat in her It's a Girl Thing treasury.  This is one of the weekly EtsyBlogger team treasuries.  I absolutely love the color combination that she put together in this collection.  Thanks Janet!

third version of Natural Sparkle

I actually finished this piece several ago.  But I've been burning out on taking jewelry photographs lately, so I didn't get the listing revised until this weekend.  Here are the first two versions.

I sold this one at the Iowa Arts Festival.

As you may remember, I just made the second version this fall for Art Beads.  I sold it to a friend right after I'd updated the Etsy listing.

And now the third version is up and running.  As you can see, the first two are pretty similar.  I took a little different take with the third one with my remaining drilled sea glass.

The base is very similar to the base that I used in the other two, and the seed bead mix is exactly the same as the second one.

I'm using beads from Shannon (beadsandbabble), sea glass from Kristina (akkricket), and another Lisa Peters ceramic button (LisaPetersArt).

If you haven't already clicked on the pictures, you can check out the listing here.

A quick reminder: This blog is now at http://www.randomcreativeart.com.  Please update your bookmarks/reading lists/etc. accordingly.  Thanks!

three items to check out

I've already made a lot of progress this weekend with my jewelry pictures and inventory.  I got behind a couple weeks before the Arts Festival with editing pictures and getting descriptions ready for new items, and I'm still playing catch up.  There's still a lot of work to do, but I feel good about everything that I've accomplished.  I also made a lot of progress editing non-jewelry pictures from this school year.  I have posted everything that I want to from October through May on Facebook now and have ordered a bunch of new prints to put up at home and work.

I listed my neutral square stitch embellished cuff today.

I am really pleased with how this picture turned out.  I think that it's one of the best that I've taken in a long time.

I used a few random components left over from one of my Art Bead's blogging stashes in this cuff.  There are several Swarovskis as well as a handful of Czech glass beads, including Czech glass hearts.  As it goes with all of my embellished cuffs, I had fun pulling components from a variety of sources.  Some of the beads in here I picked out when I was making my wedding jewelry almost 4 years ago!

I lowered the cost of all of my embellished square stitch cuffs in my Etsy shop today.  From here on out, they will all be $40.00.

I made a new version of my tri-color with red border triangle pendant that I sold last summer and updated the listing with new pictures today.

Because the ribbons were such a big hit at the Arts Festival, I will include ribbons with all of my pendants from now on, both on Etsy and at craft fairs.  If you would like a different length and/or color than the one pictured in the listing, just let me know!  I current have red, white, and black and am happy to get more colors as people request them.

I sold the coordinating bracelet for this pendant at the Arts Festival and made a new one this past week as well as a matching pair of earrings.  I will list both of them sometime in the next month.

While I was taking pictures of some other new items today, I took pictures of my older turning to fall bangle whose renewal is coming up soon.

I have a handful of other older items that also desperately need new pictures.  As their renewals come up on Etsy, I'm planning to update their listings with new pictures.  I have a lot of respect for people who edit huge numbers of listings at once.  I don't have the motivation to do that!  Instead, I do my best to continue make changes a little bit at a time.

custom order

I got one custom order while I was at the Arts Festival.  A lady who visited my booth on Saturday came back on Sunday with a button necklace.  She used to have a matching bracelet and wanted a new one (in the style of my button charm bracelets, she didn't like the style of her old one) and a pair of matching earrings.  This is what I came up with for her.

I had never done a button charm bracelet in neutral shades before.

This is the second pair of button dangle earrings that I've made now.  I have two more laying out on my button tray, waiting to be glued right now.

The bracelet and earrings will be on their way tomorrow!

I had a raffle at the Arts Festival.  I drew my winners last night and contacted them today.  There are 3 winners who each get their choice of a pair of peyote triangle earrings or a peyote triangle pendant.  I heard back from one tonight who would like a pair of green striped peyote triangle earrings.  I was planning on restocking these in my Etsy shop at some point anyway so I'll be making a couple pairs this week.

treasury feature, remake, wedding

As predicted, we've been really busy the last few days with all of the wedding events for one of Jake's best friend. It's been so much fun. :) Now I'm playing catch up with everything else.

My fellow EBW member Paula (PFordCustomJewelry) included my multicolored diagonal stripe peyote cuff in her Peyote cuffs! treasury in Treasury East. Thanks Paula!
You can view this treasury live by CLICKING HERE.

I edited and updated the listing for the leafy series - modern today for my newest version of it. I'm actually still in the process of tweaking the original version for the customer, but there is a new version for others now.


I took almost 175 pictures during throughout the weekend of the rehearsal, rehearsal dinner, wedding, reception, and the other events surrounding everything. I still haven't gone through all of the pictures from my sister-in-law's confirmation weekend a couple weeks ago so I obviously haven't gotten to all of these yet either. I edited a couple of my favorites, though.

leafy modern

I won digivickie's word art's giveaway for 500 business cards from Overnight Prints! I put my order in on Thursday. I can't wait to see them in person.

I listed my newest leafy design today. It's the leafy series - modern, as part of my new neutrals kick.



I used four lamp worked beads from Jen (blueseraphim). They're part of a whole set I got in beautiful shades of caramel. I still have some other rounds as well as a bunch of mini ruffled discs.

I'm pretty sure that I'll be remaking my purple/pink and turquoise leafy designs next. I'm not sure which one I want to make first.

I finally finished my red striped peyote cuff today! I first posted sneak peak pictures of the base back in early December. My original embellishment technique didn't work, though. It was too tight, and I kept breaking the base beads. I ended up taking the whole thing apart. I had a hard time coming back to it, but I'm so glad that I did. The new embellishment technique worked really well. Once I started the embellishment, I finished it in a few days. Hopefully I'll get some pictures of it tomorrow.

I'm going to delve into my green delicas collection next. :) I'd like to make another flower cuff like this one, and I'm going to finally bead up one of my Sand Fibers's patterns.