Rock and Roll

It's half past nine and I'm tucked up in bed, but the guilt about my blogging neglect is getting too much for me, so here is catch up on the last 2 weeks.

I have been busy making up jewellery stock for a small show I was doing, and sold 17 of my charm bracelets. It is so interestesting, I made up 17 in silver and 3 in gold and not one of the gold ones went! I am going to photograph them and get them into my etsy shop at some point this week and see how they fare there.

I also sent out a flyer to friends and family for my cards and have had a constant stream of orders over the last couple of weeks, so I've been making them up too and people are loving the earrings I decided to try and have sold 25 pairs in the last week!!! So I'm all out of finding and need to order more jewellery materials tomorrow and keep making.

The other night one of my bestist friends Holly came over and we had a lovley chill out night and she brought her pooch, Barney. He is a young boxer and was sooo good and handsome I couldn't resist taking some photos of him. Then I was struck by inspiration for what I can make Holly for Christmas, I can say here because she hasn't got into bloggin yet, although I am trying to conver her. Here they are:

Sorry!

Sorry I've not posted for sooo long, been really busy making up Christmas goodies and helping my bo out with his work. I have asigned some bloggin time for the weekend so I'll catch up then. Till Saturday!

PIF

I have joined joined PIF which I found on unruly things blog and I am very excited. So here is my listing and pledge.

p i f
pay it forward:I'll be sending something pretty and handmade to numbers 1, 2, and 3 that post their comments, requesting to join this pay it forward exchange. I don’t know what that gift will be yet and you may not receive it tomorrow or next week, but you will receive it within 365 days, that is my promise! the only thing you have to do in return is pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog. it's fun, it's creative, and it's not time sensitive - therefore it's more like a surprise gift!

Earrings

Having a lovely weekend! I made amazing creamy carrot soup yesterday and settled down and got loads of making done. Then some friends came over for tea and I got 7 commissions for jewellery pieces and she bought 2 of my scarfs and a hat! She saw some of my bracelets and asked if I could make her some necklaces and earrings in a similar style, so I did and they are great, and it has inspired me to make more.

Today I have been sorting out some new photos I took this morning, it makes such a difference taking them in natural light and it means I can spend the rest of the day sorting through them.

I am really happy with these earrings, I bought the findings last ear and never really got around to doing anything with them, but these new stones moss agate and aventurine really suit them I think. They are delicate and natural and I think thats why I like them so much!

I was on one of the Etsy forums the other day and someone started talking about Moo, I had never heard of them so checked them out. They print up mini business cards, stickers ect. I have ordered some to use as tags for my jewellery, and business cards. Its a great idea this way I can get a small run made up and can change the design as I please without waste. I am really excited about them comming I'll post a pic when they arrive.

Etsy Day

Had a bust day, making this beautiful crystal and swarovski black pearl charm bracelet, and uploading new goodies to etsy and I don't know if I mentioned before but I got myself an etsy mentor gemmafactrix and she has been giving me lots of tips. She suggested I redid my jewellery photographs in natural light, added some sort of textured background and changed my photo sizes. So I have been busy doing all this today, it doesn't sound much, but has taken me at least 4 hours! But it is well worth it, they look sooooo much better. Check them out at my esty shop
The photo above is using my new technique, and I'm loving recycling that old book! Well I'm off now to make another bracelet, no rest for the wicked hehehehe.

Etsy Storque Box Tutorial

Here are my hand made gift boxes, I love them. As you can see I have even gone so far as to decorate my own paper for them. I used Adobe Illustrator to print my text on an A4 page (I put on my company name, etsy address and blog address), and printed 2 off to use for my box. For the other 3 I used a Christmas catalogue, and they are fabby too! The tutorial is on Etsy and here is the link to it. Etsy Box Tutorial

I am making more jewellery today, bracelets so here's one I made this morning and I'll show you more soon.

Indian Glass Bead Bracelet

I got out an oldish bag of beads I bought last year, I had thought I had used all the 'good' ones in kind of predictable colour combinations. But when I tipped the bag out I found some gems and made up a few new elastic bracelets. The company is EP Beads and they sell a great selction of lampwork and venetian and indian glass beads.

And another amazing Etsy revelation, I found a newbie tutorial and a lovely lady shows you how to make gift boxes from recycled paper, and I am addicted!!! They are so easy to make and look amazing. I have sat tonight and made up 4 and shown them to my bo and he has adapted the design to make rectangular ones. I'll photograph them tomorrow night and upload them and show you how they are done. I have used 2 already as boxes for gifts and I'm experimenting with customising my own paper with my details on them.

I just wanted to show you this beautiful collage I found while surfing the net. It is by and artist called Shari Beaubien. Her work is so .... I can't explain how it makes me feel, but I love it.