2013 Christmas designs

One of the toughest part about shows is keeping inventory stocked because you never know what will and won't sell from year to year and even show to show.

I had no idea that my Christmas designs, both new and old, would do so well this year.

But it's been keeping me busy this month. That's a good thing.

As many of you know, one of the things that I love about my customers if that they come up with some of the best ideas for new designs.

I hadn't made button dangle earrings in this style with Christmas colors before, but I had a customer at a show who wanted earrings with silver bells to match the coordinating bracelet. So here they are, in both silver and gold.

All of the designs featured in this post are available in the jewelry shop. As always if you have any questions about anything or are interested in a custom order, please don't hesitate to ask.

What have you been working on lately?

Friday Feature: black and silver

This Friday Feature is in honor of a couple of my newest jewelry shop items. Do you remember when I floated the idea of black and silver celestial pieces? A lot of people were on board with that idea so I went with it.

(Blue and purple sets are in stock right now, too. If you've been thinking about picking up any of these pieces, I'd highly recommend doing it before the holidays so you don't end up with a made to order wait.)

I've found some other black and silver fashion pieces that you could rock with these of these celestial items. Enjoy.

Women's Black Screen Print T Shirt Dress - Southwest Metallic Silver Feather Print - Wear Day and Night - For Her by sealmaiden

Ribbon Scarf Black and Silver Crochet Winter Fashion by krochetlady

Black Corset Laced Cocktail Hat by MindYourBonce

Black and Silver Diamond Lace Art Deco Clutch Handbag - Gorgeous Formal / Holiday / New Years / Evening / Wedding Purse - Christmas / Bridesmaid Gift by BonneAmieBoutique

Elegant Elbow Length Fingerless Gloves - Black and Silver - Crocodile Stitch Arm Warmers - Made to Order by ArtistBeeBee

Elegant Silver and Black Peyote Triangle Choker - A Sand Fibers Made-to-Order Creation by SandFibers

Do you ever wear or work with the black and silver combination?

Christmas in July preparation

I know that a lot of people aren't in the mood to think about Christmas.  If you sell on Etsy, you should be thinking about Christmas in July!  It's a great promotional opportunity.  I have a number of Christmas designs left over from last year and will be marking down a number of red and green items.  I'm also releasing a few new items and re-stocking popular items...which means that I need to get them done.  Before July...how is that less than a couple weeks away?

Who else is getting ready for Christmas in July on Etsy?  What new projects and promotions do you have in the works for it?

New article:

Iced Tea Drink Recipes

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.

Bead Trends February 2011

One of my designs is in the February 2011 edition of Bead Trends magazine!  I submitted this back in the summer, got accepted early in the fall, and just got the magazines and other goodies in the mail this past week.

Here are the magazines.  I got two free copies.

I also got a $20 gift certificate to Fire Mountain Gems as well as my returned bracelet.

Here's a close up of the spread.  If any of you get Bead Trends, it's pages 108-109.

I took a close up of the spread for the Etsy item listing, too.

Now that the issue is out, I'm allowed to list the bracelet so it's available on Etsy here.

This is the first version that I've done with this design using metal buttons.  My mom found a whole bunch of these vintage buttons for me at Vogue a while back. I made one other bracelet like this back in the summer, which I almost immediately sold to a family friend. I don't have any more buttons exactly like this, which is too bad, because they're amazing.  I also love the clasp button.  I used one other one like it on this piece.  I might have one or two more left, but that's it.  So I'll have to keep hunting for small metal buttons.

For those of you who are beaders and who are not interested in subscribing to the magazine or buying this issue off the stand, the pattern is available here.  Personally I think that patterns are a lot easier to work through with pictures, which obviously the magazine doesn't really provide.  And if you don't already subscribe, buying the single pattern is a lot cheaper.  Thus ends my little plug for it. :)

Also, for those of you who are beaders, Bead Trends is always accepting submissions for future issues here.  I'd like to get a couple more designs in for the summer issues that they're accepting for now.  I'm really amazed that they took one of my first submissions and hope that they're take others in the future, too.

winter Art Beads piece

For the winter Art Beads piece for the design partner program, we were allowed to choose any components that we wanted from the Art Beads site for a winter piece.  An idea came to mind for a winter piece about 24 hours after I got my e-mail.  I ordered my beads right away.  You can see the components that I used here.

As I mentioned in my post with the components, this piece is part of my new line.  I have to be honest: I am keeping this one.  But I am starting to list other pieces from the line in my shop.  I'll have a post about that and the pattern for the line later this week (or you can go to my shop now if you can't wait to see what's already available).  And as always, if anyone wants one with this particular color scheme, please let me know.  I'm always happy to do custom orders.

All of the beads that I selected for this piece are from the glass beads section of Art Beads.  I used Toho cube beads and Czech dagger beads.  The majority of the beads in the piece are from Art Beads with a few others from my personal collection thrown into the mix.  If you want to know any of the specific colors that I used, please let me know.  I'll be honest again: I DO order a lot of my Toho cubes from Art Beads.  I normally DON'T order my dagger beads from Art Beads.  I order them elsewhere in bulk.  But I watch for sales on Art Beads.  Throwing a few of their patterned daggers into a mix with solid color opaques and AB finishes can add a wonderful hint of detail.

I selected two "special" components for this piece.  Most of my dagger fringed bracelets won't have these, but I thought it would be a neat touch with this mix.  The first component is a button from their Swarovski collection.  As you know, I love all buttons.  The Swarovski buttons are pretty cool.  The second component is a sterling silver charm from their charm collection.  You can find that charm right here.  I normally order silver plated charms because they're considerably cheaper.  However, sometimes I like to splurge on some higher end pieces through the design program.  I'm a sucker for heart jewelry (such a cliche I know).  I don't go overboard with floral themes in my life because that would be pretty corny for obvious reasons, but I thought the rose here would be a subtle touch for this piece.

I love how the color theme came together for this piece.  I didn't make this at the same time as my winter leafy bracelet, but it has a very similar feel.  I still have a lot of the cubes left so I will most likely make something else with a similar color scheme at some point.

Here's a posed shot with the clasp showing so you can see how that comes together.

And here's a shot with it turned the way that you would normally wear it so you can see how the daggers will hang.

I am currently in the middle of writing the pattern for my dagger design with the cube base.  I'm hoping to release it around the same time that I start rolling out the new line on Etsy.

Disclosure - I received my ArtBead's products free of charge through their blogging program. I am honestly reviewing their products and have not been paid for my endorsement as it pertains to the products I received. 

still in the wrong season

I never seem to list things in the appropriate season.  I just listed my spring piece last week, and now I'm listing a summer piece.  I don't think that these colors necessarily have to be limited to summer, though.  This is also another random links piece.  Since I won't have another ocean one up as soon as I thought (not an in stock one anyway), I thought I should list the other newest version that is available.  Here's my Beaded Bracelet - Silver Links - Summer.

I made this piece with my seed bead mix from my Square Stitch Cuff Bracelet - Embellished - Summer piece.  This is not a color combination that I wear a lot, but I have fun working with it and hope that others will find it an appealing edition to their accessory collection.

One of these afternoons that I'm home and make time for pictures before it gets dark, I'm going to take pictures of the newest stash of buttons that I got from my mom over the weekend.

wedding, repeat customer

Jake and I took a short road trip this weekend for one of my good college friend's wedding.  We drove 13 hours (not counting the in town traveling) in 3 days, but it was worth it.  In addition to the wedding, we got to visit with other friends and family along the way, most of whom we don't see very often.

During the trip, I sold half a dozen bracelets to a friend who did a large portion of her Christmas shopping with me last year, too.  Four of the bracelets are pieces that I've made in the last few months, including my newest silver links ocean piece that I hadn't listed on Etsy yet.  I actually hadn't even edited the pictures of it!  Here's a newly edited picture for you.

 

This is the third version of this design that I've sold so I will be making more of these in the future.  I have a few ideas for link bracelets in other color combinations, too.  As always, I'm open to your suggestions, too.

I hope that this week gets off to a good start for everyone!

new product line, treasury feature

Like many of my designs, this new product line is something that I've had in mind for quite a while and finally put it together.  I've been a big fan of the Tiffany heart charm bracelet and heart charm necklace for more than four years (which I don't own; I have the Lia Sophia knock offs).  I thought that it would be neat to make a charm bracelet like this, but with a triangle charm.  As I've mentioned before, I love my tubular triangle earring design but wanted to use one of these triangles in a bracelet design.  This is the result of all of those thoughts.  And I also made a necklace design.  Plus the first versions are both purple because a handful of people have requested more purple items.

Silver Chain Links Bracelet - Tubular Peyote Triangle Charm - Purple

I know that the purple looks almost black here, but it's really wonderful rich royal purple.

Silver Chain Links Necklace - Tubular Peyote Triangle Charm - Light/Dark Purple

The gray shots with the necklace turned out so well that I may try taking some pictures of the bracelet with it, too.

As always, I am open to other suggestions for the next versions of this design.

Finally, Carrie (carriegrab419) included my Peyote Cuff Bracelet - Autumn Explosion in her Autumn Splendor treasury.  Thanks Carrie!

voting for the August EBW Challenge and my newest red piece

Before I get to red, I want to mention that voting started for the August EBW Challenge Gold and Silver today!  Voting is August 9th-15th on the Etsy Beadweavers blog: http://etsy-beadweavers.blogspot.com.  Voting is on the right side of the page.  You can view all of the entries in the most recent blog post.  My entry is number 5: Gold and Silver Wrapped Skinny Peyote Cuff Bracelet.  Thank you so much to everyone who has already voted for it!

For those who are bead weavers, you can purchase the pattern for this cuff here.

And now the other topic for this post: red. :) I know that I've written this before here, but I still believe that red is one of the most underrated colors.  I remade my Red Striped Beadwoven Peyote Triangle Pendant design this week.  Because it took me so long to finish the coordinating cuff after the pendant, I never did photograph both pieces together.  I figured that now would be a good a time as any to do that.  I shot some new pictures of the cuff as well.  The originals weren't bad, but these are better.

Because the ribbons were such a big hit at the Arts Festival, I'm photographing all of my pendants with ribbons now.

Here's one of my shots of the two pieces together.  You can see the other shot in the triangle listing.

In an effort to show more modeling poses, I took a few pictures of myself wearing the pendant.  This was the best one.  I don't know if I'm going to use something like this for all of my listings now, but I think that's worth continuing to experiment with the idea.

Also, at everyone's urging, I experimented with some different arm/hand model poses for the cuff.  Let me know what you think.

I still love how the coordinating cuff turned out.  It was a lot of work coming up with this design, but it was well worth it!