I know, it's been a long time since I've been on here. I started grad school last May and, to be honest, my jewelry line sort of fell by the wayside. I'm getting closer to graduation though, and am hoping to have the line (and, of course, this blog) back up and running at full speed by late spring, early summer.
Until then, have a great winter!
1:46 PM
11:16 AM
If you've never bought anything from Moo.com in the past, use this 'referral' code: HF5HFK and get a 20% discount off any 1 MOO product (the 20% off item is the cheapest item in your basket). The code expires on 29th May 2009.
9:43 AM
I've got some brand new items on my Etsy store this week, several of which represent experimenting with new materials and/or techniques.
First, I've had several people ask if I would ever be expanding into hair accessories. I've been experimenting a lot with the idea and am happy to show the first, of what I hope will be many hair accessories in the future: The Blossom Hair Pin. I currently have it posted in Bluebell with a silver-plated clip, but this pin is available in any of the Blossom colors found in my store, and can also be made with a gold-plated clip instead of silver. The Blossom Hair Pin is a fun and girly accessory that looks great matched with my other Blossom pieces or or it's own.
Also new is the Bella Necklace. This necklace combines feminine curves with a sophisticated color palate. The main necklace motifs are composed of smoky clear glass tube beads surrounded by intense metallic brown seed beads and soft, chocolate brown teardrop beads. The necklace is finished off with handmade sterling silver hook and eye clasp.
The Bella Necklace also has matching earrings available as well. These earrings showcase the same smoky glass and chocolate brown accents, and include softly curved sterling silver ear wires. Both the ear wires in this piece and the clasp in the matching necklace were handmade by me and represent my moving towards incorporating more sterling silver findings in my work.
Finally, I've added another pair of Spring-themed piece to the store: Buttercup Earrings. These earrings, with a mix of lemon yellow blossoms, white freshwater pearls, and green iridescent leaves, were made to compliment the Buttercup Lariat necklace already in the store. They're delightfully fresh and would look lovely with any Spring or Summer outfit.
6:31 PM
The Etsy trunk show I'm involved in starts in a half hour (7:00pm)! Come visit us, talk to us about our Etsy stores, and take advantage of great "tonight only" deals.
http://www.etsy.com/virtual_labs.php
10:09 AM
My Etsy Street Team, T.Dot and Friends, is having a Trunk Show in the Etsy Virtual Labs tonight (Monday, May 11th) at 7:00pm EST.
This is an opportunity to meet with the artists involved in the team, including me, as well as take advantage of special discounts available just for Trunk show attendees.
You'll have to be a registered member of Etsy to attend, but joining is very easy and very free as well.
Here's the direct link to the Virtual Labs:
http://www.etsy.com/virtual_
Can't wait to see you there!
12:50 PM
3:55 PM
Moo.com: for quite awhile I've been a fan of this business card/sticker/postcard creation site. Last year I tried out making stickers (all featuring my cat Spike... yes, I'm a complete dork for making stickers of my cat, but we knew that already) and was delighted at the results.
I had been meaning to get business cards for my Etsy store, and decided to go with my gut and try out Moo's Mini Moo cards. They're a bit more expensive than other business cards, but they've got a heaping pile of benefits anyone in a creative industry can appreciate.
First, the card designing is all done via their website. So fussing with creating the actual card layout yourself in, say, Photoshop, is unnecessary. You crop your photos to the business card (or sticker, or postcard) size directly on the website, and then design the back of the card using templates. Yup, they're two-sided cards: one side has your pictures, the other has your traditional business card text.
And your photos... you can upload them to the site OR you can link directly to your Etsy, Flickr, or Facebook account to use the photos you've already uploaded in the past to those accounts. It's freakishly easy.
The other thing that's great about Moo.com's products, and this might be my favorite part, is the fact that each business card can have a completely different graphic on the front. If you order 50 business cards, the cards can utilize 50 different graphics. Feel like only using 10 different images? Then you get 10 of each. How's that for helping you to promote a variety of your items?!
So how did my cards turn out? See for yourself:
Here is the front and back of the cards. I directly linked my Etsy account to Moo.com to use the photos I was already utilizing from my store. In designing the text side of my card I was happy to discover that Moo.com has a mini Etsy banner that you can use on your cards.
Here you can see some of the different images I used for my cards. The Mini Moo cards come in batches of 100. I used 30 different photos, giving me about 3 of each card.
I also ordered a case for my cards. They're only $4.99 USD each and come in 4 different colors. I've got mine hanging from my purse so that I've got business cards in an instant. As you can see, I pimped mine out a bit with a sticker.
...SPEAKING of stickers, I ordered another set of stickers as well. I'm planning to add them to my packaging when I mail out jewelry purchases. I know it's a silly thing, but I love that Moo.com gives you a couple of color options for the cover of your sticker book. It's a little detail, but it's the little details that make Moo.com special.
Here are the stickers themselves. They're small (around the size of a postage stamp), so make sure you pick out simpler images for your stickers as tiny details will get lost when the image is shrunk down to sticker size.
My first batch of Mini Moo cards and stickers weren't perfect, but that was my fault, not Moo.com's. I learned quite a bit about which of my photos make the most impact on the skinny little Mini Moo cards and which maybe just don't work quite right. Regardless of this, I'm overall deleriously happy with my purchase and I can't recommend the site enough. It's definitely worth the extra cost.
Thinking of getting your OWN Mini Moo cards? Use the following discount codes:
15% off your first order
2RB2CK
20% off 1 package of MiniCards
YRY7H6
2:56 PM
Here's a contest you may be interested in: Handmadeology is sponsoring a "best item photo" contest for the next two weeks. You can enter by posting your best item photo in the blog. The photo with the most votes at the end of the two weeks wins $60 worth of advertising on the site.
Here's the contest link.
Check it out and, while you're there, consider voting for my photo: my Sienna Bamboo Blossom necklace.
9:09 AM
For any of you who are Toronto-area beaders, this may be of interest to you.
The Toronto Bead Society is having their Spring sale on Saturday, May 2nd. The sale is located at the Metro Toronto YMCA at 20 Grosvenor Street and will be taking place from 10:00am-5:00pm. There is a $5 entry fee, but you can click here for a $2-off coupon, bringing it down to just $3.
I've never been to this sale before, but with 50 different vendors it might just be worth a try.
Click here for more info.
6:42 PM
I'm adding a feature to this blog to talk about some of my favorite Etsy sellers. First up is Felt The Love.
I was recently looking for a case for my iPod Touch. The cases in stores bored me completely, so I decided to see what Etsy had to offer. There's lots of great cases to be found on Etsy, but my favorites were sold in the Felt The Love store.
Felt The Love currently has iPod, iPhone, and Blackberry cases composed of felt with exciting and fun details like buttons, contrasting thread, feathers, and felt cut-outs. They also sell adorible felt rings as well. The items are fun, creative, and VERY reasonably priced.
I intended to order a specific case, but unfortunately it was sold before I was able to purchase it. As it turns out, this wasn't a problem. I contacted the shop and they were happy to make me a copy of the case I had wanted. This shop was quick to get back to me with answers to my questions, perfectly willing to do a custom order, and sent out my case quickly.
Plus, my case came stuffed with Sweet Tarts, which was a fantastic bonus for a sugar fiend like myself.
Felt The Love is a great option for people looking for an iPod case with a bit of personality... and candy... I can't say enough about the candy.
*Here's the case I picked up. Isn't it fun?
10:04 AM
I've just posted three new items in my store.
Salma Earrings: Chandelier earrings composed entirely of pink freshwater pearls.
Bluebird Lariat Necklace: Blue glass bugle beads with freshwater pearl and sliver-colored bird silhouette accents.
Lorelai Earrings: Daffodil blossoms made of white lucite and yellow glass beads accented with topaz-colored Swarovski crystals.
9:33 AM
My Plumeria earrings have just been featured in an Etsy Treasury themed around the color crimson and Spring.
Click here to see my earrings and the other items featured with them. The treasury is only up until Friday, April 17th at 5:38am, so check it out while you still can.
9:28 AM
It's not related to Etsy or jewelry, but I liked this article so much I thought I'd share it here anyway. It's about easy paint makeovers for your home. There's some really obvious suggestions at first, but also some unexpected ones as well. The best part is the article ALSO explains all the technique and materials needed to do each paint makeover, including how to prime different types of surfaces to take paint properly.
I love customizing and tweaking things to make them my own, so this article was one that completely clicked for me.
Click here to check it out and enjoy.
6:14 PM
I've got more of the new Primavera line up on my Etsy shop.
First, Natasha Earrings; a colorful concoction of lemon and butter yellow, pink, and lilac.
Next, June earrings; they're like dangling a bouquet of freshly picked flowers from your ears.
Finally Blythe Earrings; shimmering blossoms in cool colors.
Enjoy!
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