Wordless Wednesday; "CAN I SEE YOUR JEWELRY?!!"

Resolution

Yes, my resolution is to get back to this :)
I really hate even the idea of resolutions, but , oh well, there you have it.
I think the main reason I had gotten away from it was the lack of a good camera (this is also why I haven't listed anything in a while.)
The other reason being I have been having so much more success in person.

I also hate that I missed taking pictures of some sort of two custom pieces I recently did, partially due to the camera issue and partially due to time!
One was a remake of a new design that I haven't listed yet-I was wearing the first one and someone wanted one like it! The colour combination they chose was like a sunset and I regret not having the photo!
The other was a netted bracelet done all in silver lined beads. Simple and elegant. I will have to duplicate this. I've thought of doing this in the past, and never had. I had a grandmother of the groom who is wearing silver custom order it. It was far lovelier than I even imagined-I love when that happens!

I was encouraged by a friend to try a Jewelery open house, and did so, with great success!
Next year I'm going to do it farther out from Christmas. I'm also planning on doing them throughout the year. I really think there is something to being able to touch and see beadweaving in person.

I hope you all had a blessed Christmas!!

Custom Cuffs

I had a lot of fun making these. There is just something about making pieces that you know people are going to love and that will fit them perfectly.

Now on to my next customer order, a very unique one...based on crop circles...

This too shall pass

I love the dreamy giraffe-both her artwork and the woman.
She adds sunshine to other's days, is kind, funny, witty and real. I love people who are real.
I have been hearting her beautiful art for quite a while now, but when I saw this piece, I knew it belonged with me.
It came in the mail yesterday, and I love it even more in person -I'm not the least bit suprised!
I can't wait to frame it and put it over my work desk :).


Buy your own copy here.
(by the way, she as a $10 print sale on now, hurry and see!)
Visit her blog here.
Follow her on twitter here.

MINE

Over the past year I've fallen more and more in love with Czech pressed glass beads. I have a favourite seller who I'm willing to share my source of because I LOVE sending business her way :).
Bobbi This 'N That (I've blogged about her before) is my go to gal for my Czech bead obesession.
I just got some goodies from her in the mail this week. Some of them are for a couple of custom orders I have, but you know ;).
There are two sets in particular that I saw and went "MINE" over!


I played around with these little beauties a bit last night, but the right thing didn't work out yet.

These very well may be my (current) favorite ever. I say current because I'm fickle any time I see a new set of beads. What can I say???
These beads, as per usual, were so much better in person than in her shop.
I cannot imagine if I were to shop from her in person how many I'd come home with!!
So, I will make these into something for me at some close point in time. After all, what is the point of being able to beadweave if I don't treat myself as well? I can also use the excuse that it is great advertising.
Today though, I am going to work on piece one of said custom order. All wilst sipping on a caffinated beverage and visiting with my quilter friend at a local coffee shop. I love my day off :).

And the bride wore gold

Some already think I'm a little on the crazy side for working with my tiny little beads.
But I took it a step further with this piece.
I've fallen in love with fifteens...
For those of you who do not seed bead, fifteens are the smallest you can beadweave with. 25 of them will fit on an inch, whereas elevens, which I usually work with equals 20 to an inch. It's actually a significant difference, and it took a little getting used to. My husband calls them my mustard seed beads, and even I went a bit cross-eyed when I first tried to use them!
But the result is well worth the effort.
This piece almost appears fluid upon first glance, and almost look like spun gold.

This elegant piece is available here.

Art Fire epic failure

So, I kept hearing about how much better Artfire's SEO was over Etsy's , so I thought I'd give it another go with a free account. If it got my name out there, what could it hurt? Maybe they'd gotten some of the bugs out by now.
Or not.

Fail #1:

Out of curiosity as to how much beadweaving was now on Artfire I did a search...which led to my finding MY old listings from months ago listed under AFAdmin's account!!!

I got a "oops, we're sorry, we had a trainee take down your account and when you started posting again this happened by mistake" email.
uh ok.

Fail #2
Days later, I went to check on my stats, and began scratching my head.
Nope, that piece is not mine ...


When I contacted admin they told me it was simply old stats from a necklace I has listed previously. I told them no, it was a bracelet and not mine.
They sent another generic email stating how much they wanted to help me and could I give them more details-more details than there is a bracelet that is not mine? I can't give more details, the listing won't really come up. It's still there in my stats two weeks later.


Fail 3: SEO
It's horrible.
I have a total of eleven, that's right count 'em eleven hits on my two pieces listed since July 16.
My etsy stats?
They were better than that during the whole SEO fiasco when they had handmade stuck in front of all our listings!
Granted some of that is from me promoting, but the whole point in me NOT promoting artfire was to see if the whole SEO promotings was true or not...turns out to be a resounding NOT.

EDIT
Fail 4: When I listed my first item it did not save my price and had it listed for $0. yea. I know I entered an amount the first time through. Thankfully I had a lovely member of the community message me that it was on the front page for nothing at all.

I'm taking my items down...
Maybe they just need to grow up...
But I really don't think they will ever live up to the hype.

Purple Blush

It is so incredibly hard to photo light purple! Add a dash of light pink and ...well, still not 100% pleased with these photos, but what can you do?

floral cuffs

Well, I DO have a slew of new pieces...
However, they need to be photographed and listed as of yet as I have been busy unpacking and with various other things in my busy life that have gotten in my way these last few weeks (how rude!)

In the mean time, I've decided to spotlight some of my floral cuffs :)
Enjoy:

Red Panda

I am a longtime fan of RedPanda's amazing Chain maille!
Just this week I finally made a purchase of my own, these amazing and funky earrings!

She makes such a variety of styles that exude quality, originality and pizazz!
She is sure to have something that will fit your style.

Of course, I am partial to her colourful pieces, but that goes without saying :)

(Aren't her photo's amazing?)


Right now Red Panda is running a contest in which you can win one of her pieces!!!
Be sure to go and check it out!!!
RedPanda's Bog

Happy Independence Day!!

The fourth of July used to be one of my all time favourites:
It ushered in my favourite time of the year-summer!
I mean, what could be better than spending the whole weekend with my best friend at various picnics and barbecues and watching fireworks in her yard or down on the beach?
When I was a kid I was also REALLY into doing my nails-maybe this is where my obsession with tiny things started. My best friend got me hooked on using a teeny tiny brush and doing various pictures and designs from my vast stash of colours (hmmm...now my vast stash is in tiny beads, but still...;)). So, on the fourth of course it was some variation of the American flag, coupled with a complete outfit in red white and blue.

So, there is something about this cuff that makes me want to yank it out of my shop and wear it today, regardless of what people may think of me. Because, now, I live in Canada.
I have for several years now, but this year I am missing everything.
I am going to have to content myself with wearing the earrings I made with the left over beads (my fellow American co-worker also got a pair ;)).

I hope you all have a very blessed and full holiday!!!

Happy Canada Day!!

To celebrate, here are a variety of Canadian etsians (only a sampling of course!) for your enjoyment.

Summer Bling

Now that summer has finally arrived in Northern Ontario (at least I THINK so...I've heard rumours of SNOW on JULY first, as if April first was not bad enough! I will ward it away with tank tops, shorts and sandals!!!)
here are a few summer favorites from some amazing etsy sellers to treat yourself to!!

some summer favourites!

Earrings :)

I know that I have been painfully abscent from this lately, I am going to make it a higher priority. Pity when work and life get in the way of my bead obsession!

Some earing eye candy today, to tempt you (all for sale in my shop):

Snow Flakes

Well, it may be officially spring, but yesterday I felt as if someone was pulling an April fools trick on me! We got 50 cm of wet, wet snow over night! So much for the sandals!