trading for Christmas presents

Right before we moved to Milwaukee, Yvonne (yjja123) asked me if I'd be interested in trading with her.  Believe it or not, she's already thinking about her Christmas shopping!  I definitely did want to, but I also wanted to wait until we moved, so we just completed our trade this past week.

We have traded twice in the past.  Both times, I kept the pendants that I got.

Somewhere I have a picture of myself wearing the first pendant.  But it isn't saved on this computer or posted anywhere on Facebook, so it will stay in my archived picture CDs.  Anyway, this time I decided that I would give my pendants away.  I asked female family members if they had any favorites in her shop before I make my selections.  This is what I ended up getting.

The recipients of these lovely pieces may be reading this, but hopefully they will have forgotten all about it by the time Christmas comes around.  I wouldn't have picked either of these myself, but they are still really gorgeous.  Yvonne does wonderful work.  She's also great to work with for these trades.  I would trade with her again any time.

If anyone is curious, this what she got from me in the most recent trade.

I had never put these pieces side by side before I packed them up.  I couldn't believe how well the colors coordinate!

I don't trade a lot on Etsy, but I do enjoy it sometimes when someone has something that I really like or would give as a gift.  If you're ever interested, feel free to contact me.

Etsy goodies

I received a couple of Etsy packages this week.

The first was from Kristie (artisanclay). I got the smoke fired ceramic donut that I won on her blog giveaway. I will get a picture of it sometime, but it looks a lot like this medium gray and black donut. I also got this set of turquoise shank buttons. I think that I can do something amazing with one of them and a set of blue dotted barrel beads like that ones that I used in this bracelet. Kristie has shank buttons in other colors available in her shop. She just posted a ton of cabochons on her flickrstream, too, that you need to check out.

The second was from Yvonne (yjja123). I got the beautiful fused glass pendant that I traded for. The colors are even more amazing in person than they are in the pictures.

Thanks ladies!

leaf feature number 3

I will be listing at least one new item this weekend. I also had a sale this week on Etsy, and I completed another trade with Stationarycreations. The second trade was for a set of thank you notes, as I had previously mentioned might be a possibility. Thanks again, Deb! I have not gotten a lot of beading done this week, but I did photograph new pieces. All in all, still a good week for sure.

After you check out my newest favorite leafy creations, you should also check out BeadedTail's Friday Features for today, which also featured some lovely leafy items. Enjoy!

Maple Leaf Pendant Free Shipping US by marriageofmetal

Autumnal Garden Beadwoven Bracelet Garden by littlestonedesign (fellow EBW member!)

Fall Leaves Set of 10 Notecards by jitterbugstationary

Autumn Leaves set of 10 polymer clay beads by summeresque

Autumn Leaves by coryrenee

Vintage Enamel Leaf Pin by Suzeeez

Autumn Embers by SmileyMoo

leaf pendant by theRedCanary

Another Fallen Leaf by Rebecca Salcedo by smellyrhino

new banner/layout, trade, rainbows

Thank you so much to Talina of ripperarts who designed my new banner and avatar for me! She had designed my previous banner and avatar as well. I liked them so much that I decided to ask her to make these newer ones that reflect my current work, and she was so kind to do so. I changed my layout on this blog to match the colors and have gotten a couple compliments on it already. I created a new Entrecard to match as well. Anyone who approves one of my ads tonight or later will see the new card.

I completed a trade with Stationarycreations this week. She sent me a dozen of her Holy Night Christmas cards in exchange for one of my bracelets. I got the cards today, and they are beautiful. I am already looking forward to sending them this year (not that I need much to get me excited about sending Christmas cards!). She is interested in another one of my bracelets as well. She may make me a set of thank you cards to match my business cards for it.

I have been working on a couple different rainbow designs this week, one new and one remake. Here is the bowl of seed beads that I put together for my rainbow work.

remake, completed trade

I uploaded pictures of the new version of this bracelet this week. I sold the original off Etsy last month and decided it was worth making another one.


I completed a trade with knitterye this week. She makes wonderful jewelry. I traded her my coffee 'n cream bangle for her Pale Starry necklace. Thanks again Rorye!

I have a lot of newly finished pieces that I need to photograph. I may brave the heat this afternoon and take picture of at least a few of them. :)

trade completed, first leafy bracelet for sale, sneak peak

I completed my trade with Jo from Dogmaw Glass this past week. She sent me this beautiful glass sculpture in exchange for two of my bracelets. She wanted to be completely surprised with her bracelets. This is what I sent her.


If you like Jo's sculpture, I highly recommend following her blog and watching for future offers to trade. She just posted her third sculpture for trade this week. :) I am always open to trading with others as well. Please let me know if you're ever interested.

I finally created my first leafy bracelet to sell and listed it today. First, here is a picture of my own green leafy bracelet, after all of its reworking.

And here is the one that is now listed.
I am so happy with the result. I hope that others are, too! I put together an autumn version as well. I actually made two autumn leafy bracelets - one for myself and one to sell. I'd like to make a more blue/turquoise themed leafy bracelet next. After that, I'm not sure, but I know that there will be more because I don't think that will quite kick my leaf beads obsession. As always, I'm open to suggestions.

Here's a sneak peak at the autumn leafy bracelet that will be for sale, as well as a couple other newly finished pieces that I haven't listed yet.

wedding jewelry, custom order

At long last, here are the pictures of the jewelry that I made for my cousin's wedding to coordinate with my bridesmaid dress. I got a lot of compliments on them, especially the triangle.




Angel helped me take those pictures. :)

I have to show off one picture from the wedding here.

And here's the custom ordered that I completed and delivered last weekend.

I had never made a blue button charm bracelet without any navy/dark shades before, and I love how it turned out!

I just set up a trade with a fellow Etsy seller this week. I will be making something new for it. I'm not sure what yet! (She wants to be surprised.) I most likely won't start on it until after this weekend because we have some more family events. She won't have a chance to mail her part of the trade until next week so it works out well. Today was the last student day of school which means much more free time in the very near future. :)

trade

I received my button cuff from KreatedbyKelly today! She received her button bracelet in the mail earlier this week and left me wonderful feedback about it. Here's the cuff that I got. (This is one of the pictures from the listing. My wrist is smaller than that haha.)


I sewed an extra clasp button on it because it was a little big on me and now it fits perfectly. I love it! I also really like this cuff from her shop:


Kelly very generously included a small Ziplock in my package that is packed full of beautiful yellow, green, blue, and purple buttons! What a wonderful surprise! I know that they will be a great addition to my collection for the making of some beautiful button charm bracelets. I would also like to try using some bigger buttons as bracelet clasps, too. I have a number of bigger buttons from Kelly, as well as from my button order from kellwood and my vintage collection from my mom's stash (which includes buttons from one of my grandmas and one of my great-grandmas). I have seen some beautiful bracelets with button clasps like this one, but have not attempted it yet myself. I will be sure to post the results when I do. :)

Scarfmonsters decided to do a promo of a few other Etsy stores in her blog. I'm one of the shops featured! Go check out her Etsy shop and her blog. :)

I just posted this item in my shop today:

When I showed it to my mom over Thanksgiving break, she had the idea that you could also wear it twisted up.

Sarah finally bought her custom button necklace today. She decided to pay by check so I will send it out as soon as I get the check in the mail. My mom's thank you present button charm bracelet is going out in the mail tomorrow.

I am also sending out one of my button bracelets for a trade that I just did with KreatedbyKelly today. I actually found her shop through Scarfmonster's blog promo, and we decided to trade one of her button cuffs for one of my button bracelets. I can't wait to see the cuff in person! :)

As promised, here is the picture of me wearing my new pendant:

I have everything ready to send to the boutique and will mail it tomorrow after work. I am really proud of how many pieces I finished this past week - 9 different pieces, several of which I made two of so I can list one on Etsy and send one off to the boutique. I will be listing the over the next week or so. I'm going to post pictures of my three favorites (which was hard because I love them all):



This is my husband's favorite. He helped me pick out the colors. I'm calling it Defying Gravity peyote cuff as a tribute to Wicked (same colors):

I finally got the boutique consignment agreement in the mail at the very end of this week. I have business cards and jewelry tags now, and I put together a flier about myself. I'm just finishing up the pieces I'm going to send. I'm sending five - a button bracelet, a button charm bracelet, a right angle bangle, another right angle weave piece, and a peyote cuff. My goal is to have everything ready to send before Thanksgiving so I can get it in the mail before we head out of town for the holiday.

I finished Sarah's button necklace. She's waiting until her next pay check to purchase it. In the mean time, if anyone else is interested in a necklace, I'm happy to take more custom requests. I will most likely relist the item as such after she does purchase it.

I received my pendant from yjja123 this week. It is gorgeous! I strung it on a silver chain. I took a picture of myself wearing it a few days ago. I'm going to do a big picture upload later this weekend and will post it after that.

I'm featuring my button charm bracelets in this post:




And I'm posting two pictures of my newest button charm bracelet posting - a Christmas one:

buttons and other randomness

No word yet about the boutique unfortunately. I am working on a custom order for a friend, though. I've done button bracelets thus far, and she wants a button necklace. Exciting! We finally settled on the button and jump ring/toggle colors tonight. I'm going to start on it tomorrow. I also traded with someone on Etsy this week. I'm getting this pendant from yjja123 exchange for this bangle. We mailed our items yesterday so they are still in transit. I can't wait to see the pendant in person. I'm still debating whether I want to simply string it on a silver chain or if I want to make a beaded chain for it. Any thoughts? Please check out her shop. She has lots of other beautiful pendants as well as necklaces and other fun things. Also, to other Etsy sellers: I am always interested in discussing trades like this one. Please don't hesitate to contact me if you're interested. :)

Going back to the subject of buttons, I haven't posted any pictures of my button bracelets yet. I've made both button bracelets and button charm bracelets. I'll post pictures of the button bracelets and save the charm bracelets for another post. I'll also have to post a picture of the necklace when it's finished.

I made this one for myself. I've since shortened it a little bit:
There isn't one in this color scheme in my shop but if you'd like one with it, let me know!


I'm a sucker for the black and pink color combination. I also made a peyote cuff with this color scheme.


My school district's colors are purple and turquoise. I got inspired haha. Again, if you want one like this for yourself, let me know.

I made one very similar to this for my friend Linsday who originally introduced me to Etsy this past summer as a small way to say thank you. I liked it so much that I went ahead and made another one for my shop.

And finally: