Live, Love, Laugh

Well, as you may have guessed from my lack of posting, and short posts when I have posts, I’ve been taking a wee bit of a break from jewelry in the last week.  I think the initial sound and fury of setting up my shop, and then all the hard work I put in on my Patriotic Delights line, kinda wore me out.  It was time for a bit of a break.  A time to curl up with my dearest hubby on the couch and watch TV.  A time to lose myself in reading a good book.  A time to rest.

I did get a few things done in the last week.  I finally applied for my state business license, had my jewelry reviewed by the Farmers Market Board so I can be placed on the waiting list for a booth, and I started two woven pieces.  One for myself as a reward for working so hard, and then a piece to learn a new style   It’s been about 4 days since I touched either of them though

I’m feeling rested, rejuvenated, and ready to get back into the swing of things now though   I have a set of necklaces that I’ve started designing featuring pendants from PiecesofMePendants that I’m looking forward to working on again!  I’ll be putting those up in the next couple of weeks as well as doing an artist interview with the artist behind the shop

After I’m done with that though, I think I’m going to focus on my woven work for awhile.  I’m hoping to do some craft fair type things, but until I start selling more pieces I really need to stop buying beads!  I have plenty to keep my busy with what I have right here and I need to use those supplies for awhile and stop thinking, “oh, but if I went and bought this then I could…”

My other fun bit to share is my package I got in the mail this weekend!  Remember the interview I did with leathermadenice?  Well, she decided to graciously send me the bracelet that was my favorite!  I was so stunned by her offer!  It came this weekend and it’s soooo cute!  She also sent me a little pendant she made, but my silly camera is refusing to take a clear picture of it.  So I’ll just leave you with a picture of the wonderful bracelet.  I love it!

Creative Overload…

Do you ever get to that point where you have so many things you want to try that you can barely decide where to turn next?  That’s exactly where I am at right now.  I have so many beads that I have projects in my head for, so many new designs I want to try, that I can hardly decide what I want to work on!  And sometimes finishing a project is torture because I’m so excited about trying the next one…even when I like what I’m working on!

After the rush of this last week, trying to get my Patriotic Delights line put together, I’ve decided I need to slow down slightly.  At least for a week or so!  So I’m going to work on a few things just for me.  After all, how will people I meet in person ever learn about my jewelry if I don’t wear it?

On another note – I’m falling in love with bead weaving.  It’s something I’ve been doing for awhile, as my bracelets attest too, but I’ve been having a lot of fun learning new techniques and branching out lately.  I think that’s where part of my creative overload is coming from, there are so many new bead weaving techniques I want to try!

A day of fun and shopping!

Today’s been a productive day jewelry-wise.  I haven’t done much creating (although I’m all set up to start a project when I’m done writing this), but I did gather information and do some shopping!

The boring information and shopping is that Wal-Mart has padded mailer bags for way cheaper than anything I’d found here in my little small town!  That’s going to help as I review my shipping costs so I can make them as accurate and low as possible for my etsy customers.  I also found a little make-up pouch thing that has 3 pouches that will fit easily in my backpack so I can take my weaving projects with me on the go!

Now to the fun stuff

I make a variety of styles of jewelry…as you can see from visiting my shop at etsy.com…but the last day or two has been very focused on my woven projects.  I have one commission that I’m almost done with for my friend Stephanie’s Mom:

It’s kinda hard to see the pattern on this one because it doesn’t really photograph well.  It’s a basic diagonal pattern using a really dark grey for two rows and light green for one row…and so on and so on.  This is officially my most created bracelet!  I have one for sale up on etsy, made one just for Stephanie so that it was the perfect size, and now I’m making one for her mother!  I’ve repeated patterns before, but never this many times in the same color!  I’m still starting out in my jewelry business, so before now I’ve usually made them for myself and friends, which meant very little repeating.  It’s been a challenge to teach myself to remake the same item again and again.  I’m sure it’s good for me though.

I have another woven bracelet that I started while waiting for Stephanie to get back to me on what exact size her mother needed.  The idea was one of those that came to me while I was falling asleep one night.  It’s amazing how active my mind is during that time!  Fortunately I remembered it easily the next day and was able to sketch it.  Then I went out and found these beads:

I’m not much of a pink person myself, but these caught my eye and I thought they’d be perfect for the design I’d sketched!  What do you think?

I’m having a lot of fun with that one, but I’m putting it aside to start working on my newest commission which is a green and blue woven bracelet based off of this design.

I bought the beads for the newly commissioned bracelet today, some findings (ready made things like clasps), and for several other projects, I had a lot of fun!  Can you tell?