Finally Back

Alright, I have finally returned to the internet! This has been a super busy few days along with the final trip north for the summer. We wanted to make sure that we could make it up to see the partner's family one last time before we started classes. I really hope that we get into the law school up there; I love his family and I know he misses them, as well as the fact that I need to spread my wings a little and leave my hometown finally.

Other than that, my crafting streak seems to be at an end. I got really inspired about a week ago and ended up making 6 items, enough to last me a week of listing items on Etsy. So now that I have finally exhausted that supply, I need to sit down and make some more. Hopefully I will have a chance to do that tonight, in between practicing for the LSAT, working on my honors thesis and taking care of the sick partner. Poor kid has been laid up for two days and this is a kid that never misses a day of work. But I should be able to get dinner going and craft at the same time. Or wait til he falls asleep for the night. All of this kinda makes me glad that I don't want kids. :)

Selling an item

Does anyone else do that thing where as soon as someone buys an item you have to go look at it and make sure that it is completely perfect? Using that one bead which seemed so perfect at the time now looks off to you? That handmade clasp now seems cheap? You start to think that the person couldn't have possibly meant to buy this and you have to make sure that everything is perfect before you can even think about sending it out?

Well, that is what I always go through before I send out a purchase. I have to talk myself down and make sure that I realize that yes, this person likes this. They saw my pictures and wanted to buy this. I still need to gain a lot more confidence in my work.

At least I know that this obsession over details will help me when it comes to shipping. I always take great pains to make sure that the piece is securely wrapped and packaged before I send it off into the great unknown. I know what the post office has to sort through every day. And I know that that means that while my package is precious to me, it's just another one to them.

So while I do stress over purchases, I love them. There is nothing like the feeling of logging onto Etsy and seeing "You have 1 item to leave feedback for. Leave feedback now". Love it

Getting inspired at the weirdest times.

So on Saturday night, I all of a sudden got really inspired and just HAD to make some jewelry. While this was what I had been waiting for, I was surprised by just how many pieces that I made! I try to at least make one piece a night so that I can put up one a day and stay near the top of my categories. I honestly think that trying to stay at the top of jewelry is a battle that would only serve to drive me insane, so I try to stay at the top of my search listings. It also helps that my stuff tends to be pretty unique (I like weird things) so it isn't as hard as you'd think.

So I was absolutely thrilled when I finally stopped creating and saw that I had made 6 pieces! I really wasn't paying attention to how many that I had made, only that each one was "complete". As odd as it sounds, there is a time for me when a piece feels done. If I stop before then, it will bother me until I go back and finish it.

But now I am really happy, because not only am I set for this week but I also found something to do with a few of the beads that had me stumped. Check out these links:

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?ref=vl_other_1&listing_id=28773383

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?ref=vl_other_2&listing_id=28708006

Halloween just around the corner

With Halloween just around the corner, I tried to find a design for a bracelet that I would wear. I'm not normally a person that wears a lot of holiday themed jewelry and so something more subtle is what I tried to create.

The bracelet that I came up with started when I made a tiny little beaded pumpkin our of seed beads and gold plated wire. I even added a little green at the top since the parnter didn't think that it looked enough like a pumpkin yet. I think that he was right, although I can't tell him that. :)

Then I decided that I didn't want to try and weave a special chain for this because I wanted it to be very light and very simple. So I had some gold plated jump rings that I wove into a simple wire. But then that looked far too simple so I added two spacers of seed beads strung on the gold plated wire. I decided to use green and orange beads so it would almost repeat the pumpkin.

All in all, I'm really happy with how it came out. It's really light when you are wearing with it and it has my signature spacers embedded within chain. This bracelet is definetly going to be a hard one to sell, although I do hope it finds a happy home!

New Listing

So I finally got creative again after a mini-slump. And I'm back to blogging after slacking. But I decided to sit down and do another Byzantine piece a few nights ago. As most crafters, I was watching TV while I was creating and didn't realize that I'd missed a step in my bracelet until I looked down and saw that the rings were overlapping each other like scales rather than making the signature byzantine link.

After being upset for about 5 seconds, I held the bracelet out to the partner and asked him what he thought about it. He was really impressed by the "new" weave and said that it looked like a great piece. That sealed it. i decided to continue the weave and see how it ended up.

The final piece ended up being a really sturdy weave that has barely and give to it since the links overlap a lot. But this means that it is also a very strongn bracelet. I also attached what is quickly becoming my signature; a wire wrapped bead. I like the look of a little dangle from the end of the bracelet as it gives it a little bit more "sparkle" or shine.




I called it the mermaid's tail because it looks like scales to me and the size of the rings also made it look very delicate and feminine. I always get attached to my pieces but this one really made my day better.

Reattaching the Etsy umbilical cord...

So I am finally back online from the weekend and it is now time for me to try and get back into the swing of things. I hate getting interrupted because it takes me forever to get my creativity going again, but I do love going up to visit the other side of the family.

It's weird because they are all such crafty people that you would think it would be easy to gain creative juices from being up there, but since we only see them occasionally, visiting usually takes priority. It's nice to talk about crafting though. Mom does a lot of woodworking actually and is getting her own shop up on Etsy. (TheOakGrove). She doesn't have any inventory yet, but that's because she has two kids to take care of and needs to find some "me" time. Grandma does a lot of glasswork, mostly mosiacs, but also loves jewelry. She took me to the Gem and Jewelry show up there and it was one of the best experiences I have ever had. It was so much fun to wander around and see all the gems and all the designs. It was also nice to be respected as a fellow artisan and see the live community.

Hopefully I will be able to get back into the swing of things easily and will have new things up soon!

Weekend Trips

So this weekend I am heading up to see the future in laws with the partner. We try to go up as often as we can since he never gets to see his family. I hope that it will be a lot easier once we are (hopefully) up there for law school. I really like his family a lot and I feel so happy to have been accepted by them.

Unfortunately that means that I am going to have to cut the Etsy umbilical cord for a little bit. I'm so used to spending a lot of my time on the forums that it is hard to remember that there is a large world out there. So this should be an interesting but also a much needed restful weekend.