Toggle Clasp Bracelet

Remember me saying that my Great Aunt was a waste not want not kinda person?  Well, I guess the nut didn't fall far from the tree.  That's what I get for growing up around people who grew up during the depression huh?  It wasn't my Great Aunt that I grew up around, I never knew her well.  I'm throwing the blame at my Grandparents.

For a while I had been making my stitch markers using the round piece of a toggle clasp.  Which meant that the bars from the clasps were just sitting there, staring at me.  I couldn't bear to throw them away, knowing that sooner or later I would find a use for them, and I did.

Check out this bracelet:

 

And here it is laid out:

 

 

Isn't that fun?  I call it the Toggle On Bracelet.  

It's up in my shop now, but it's super easy to make.   I took a 7 inch piece of chain, grabbed some jump rings and just started attaching the toggles all around the chain.  Then added the lobster claw clasp pieces to both ends of the chain.  Very simple.

You should hear the pretty jingle it makes!  When I came up with the idea, I didn't think I would like it.  I made it anyway and I'm so glad I did.  It's actually kind of neat and would look really cool with a black turtleneck sweater.

Toggle On Dude!

Cats and Freshwater Pearls

Pay no attention to the cat behind the light box!

 

I had a helper whilst taking pics of some of the pieces that I've been working on over the past couple of days.  

Here's one of the things she helped me with:

 

Freshwater Pearls in every muted color of the rainbow with silver accents.

I'm not completely happy with this piece. I need to go back and alter it just a little.  There's too much string and not enough beads on one of the strands and it's bugging the heck out of me.  Maybe if I hadn't had a cat in the middle of things that wouldn't have happened.  I'd like to think so anyway.  :)

The Business Side of Things

The past week I've been spending tons of time working on my jewelry business instead of playing with my sticks and string.  Unfortunately, I haven't been able to play with jewelry either.

I've been trying to get a lot more serious about photographing all the items, alter them and get them entered into Etsy.  I mean, if it's not up there for someone to buy, it won't get sold will it?  Money is still very, very tight here in my household and it's stupid not to be getting everything up and out there for the public to purchase.

I never realized how much time went into the back end of things though.  Yes, it's fun to make jewelry and it's quick, instant gratification.  What's not fun is the time the rest of it takes.  Photography is so important when selling products online.  Since the customer can't touch the item they're looking at purchasing, they need to see tons of pics.  Etsy has five slots for photos of the items to go in and I intend to use all of them.  So I've been taking like 20 shots of each item, moving them over to my Flickr account, altering the exposure, color and sharpness.  Then I have to narrow it back down to five again.  Folks, that is incredibly time consuming!  Written that way, of course, it doesn't really sound that way at all, but it is.   I'm trying my best not to get lazy.  I need to have someone standing behind me with a whip.

Here's an example of how I'm using the Flickr/Picnic account to adjust my pics.   I took about 114 photos one day and got only a handful that I could ultimately use.  But look at the before and after difference on one of the pairs of earrings that I've got up for sale:

Before:

After:

See the difference it's made?  Well worth the time, I'd say.

Another issue is that my Mom and I have joined up together in this business (which means way more inventory to photograph).  My store front name will be changing soon and I'm going to have to create a new banner/logo for it.  I don't have a clue what we'll go with yet and my brain hurts just thinking about it.  We're also going to start doing some craft shows together starting in the spring and we've lots to do for that as well.

One good note that happened this week with the new jewelry business is that we've found a temporary supplier of beads that is incredible.  I'm so excited about the prices we've managed to get from this source, but it will only last until the inventory dries up.  Even so, paying this much less for the product means so much more profit, if the stuff sells.

I've also been working on the marketing side of things as well.  I totally suck at this, but I'm working on it.  :)

So, that's what I've been doing.  Spending way too much time in front of my computer screen instead of clicking away with the knitting needles.  I'm hoping to get some free time this weekend though, my fingers are starting to get itchy for the wool!

Christmas Jewelry and Yarn Bowls!

I've got some earrings to share with you today.  The local Bead Shop, (I guess in yarny type terms that would be the LBS) had some really cute kits for Christmas earrings.  I made the Christmas trees a few weeks ago and the Snowmen today:

I think the little snowmen are absolutely adorable and I can't wait to wear them.   They were super easy to make as well.  I used sterling lever backs and t-pins.  The type of beads in the kit were way to fancy for just any cheap old findings.  Cute huh?


As far as knitting goes, the shawl is coming along.  I figure a few more movies out to do it. 

Also in the pic, (besides the little boy feet - he insisted on getting in the picture somehow - he's as bad as the cat), is my new yarn bowl!  My best buddy got me this at a Holiday market.  It's so funny, she had no idea what the bowl was until she asked the crafter and she knew I was the only person in the world (her world that is) that would figure out what it was.  Sure enough, I opened my present today and said, "Yay!  A yarn bowl!"  She was very smug about the whole thing of course.  :)  I love her.

Good Day!

Today was a good day.  I sold some of my handmade jewelry, Woohoo!  Thanks Alyson!  I would really like to set up a trunk show soon for some of my friends and would also like to start selling at some craft fairs.  I need to get moving on building more inventory first though.

Anyway, I'm exhausted now because she came to the house to view it and it was an unholy wreck.  Piles upon piles of kid toys and school papers were everywhere, and dish mountain had grown huge.  So I scrambled to make the house presentable and set out my inventory (which I am going to try and photograph tonight to get the rest up on my etsy page) before she came over. 

Speaking of etsy, anybody got any good tips on getting more traffic to my shop?  I've had the shop open for a couple of months now and haven't sold one single thing there.  I must be doing something wrong.  Any ideas? You can see some of my wares and a link to my shop if you scroll down and look on the right hand side of my blog.  Ideas and comments would be much appreciated.  Sales also of course!  :)

Exhausted or not, it was well worth it.  Considering our financial straights right now, a little extra cash goes a long way towards keeping a roof over our heads!

Have a great weekend everybody!

Teacher Gifts

Wanna know how I spent my afternoon?  Making teacher Christmas gifts!

Bracelets are such a great gift for teachers.  My Sister In Law is a teacher and absolutely hates the typical "apple for the teacher" kind of gifts.   I figure that most teachers probably feel the same way, so I'm making all of the kids' teachers these pretty glass bead bracelets.

I'm letting the kids pick out what they think the teacher will like.  I didn't make any of these with specific teachers in mind, I just had lots of fun playing with different color combos. 

I'm going to be making some more for my etsy store.  If anyone is interested in any of these for Christmas gifts, just let me know the colors your prefer and whether you want gold, silver or bronze findings and I'll put some together for you.

 

Silver Soldering

Last weekend I got to do something incredibly fun.  I took a soldering class at a local bead store. 

The class was exhausting,  tt went from 10:30am 'til 5:00pm.  The funny thing is, I don't have much to show for it:

This was all we accomplished in 7ish hours.  Doesn't look like much does it?  Of course, we started with plain sterling silver wire and got all these different effects with just a hammer and a blow torch, so I suppose that's not too bad.  The teacher has been doing this professionally for about 25 years and learned from an exacting German jeweler. 

The rings above will eventually be put together into a necklace or bracelet, but I haven't gotten that far yet.

Now,  I have to go now and finish up a Medusa costume for a Halloween party at my son's school tonight,  You guys have a great weekend!

Asymetrical Necklace

Jewelry mania has really bitten me this week.  This was today's endeavor: 

Click to enlarge!

It's worn asymetricaly.  I had a devil of a time getting a photo of this.  If it was laying down, it didn't show it off well and then when I was wearing it, most of the pics came out all grainy.  But I figure these two pics are enough for you to get the point. 

Click to enlarge!

This was a fun piece to create.  My problem solving "skillz" seem to be a bit lacking though.  It took far longer to put together than it should have. 

The black cord is a silk cord, and the silver is silver plated chain.  Almost all of the materials used in this project were purchased at Hobby Lobby.  The two faceted beads came off of another bracelet that I deconstructed.  The chain connector that connects the pendant and the chains, not sure the official term on that part, is vintage from a necklace that was my grandmother's.

I love this!  Not sure what I'll wear it with, but I love it!

New Bracelet Up in Etsy Shop

New Earth, Sea and Grass Bracelet up in my etsy shop!

The All Things Shea Etsy Store!

I finally started up my Etsy store!

It's only taken me a good two years to get on the stick and get things rolling. Shea's the name, procrastination seems to be my game! Well, maybe not procrastination, more like having needy kids or something. I only have six items in the store so far, many more just waiting to be photographed and inventoried. Do you know how long it took me yesterday to get the six items up in the store? About three hours. How pitiful is that? Three hours. Thanks, kids. My day went like this: start something, stop to deal with kid, add two more words to the item description, stop to deal with kid. etc. etc. etc.

Obviously I won't be contending in the big leagues for a while. But I have made a start! Here's what's up there now:

Polymer Clay Pendants!

For every pendant purchased, a black silk cord will be included so that you or your loved one will be able to wear it right away!

I have more jewelry and some fiber stuff coming. This is just the beginning. :)

New Jewelry!

Blogger and I don't seem to be on good terms today. For some reason, it kept not taking my email and password and I spent about twenty minutes just trying to log in so that I could post. Jeez.

I went out of town this weekend and did a tiny bit of knitting, but not enough to show off. I did, however, make some more jewelry while I was there.

The necklace that I've worn all day:



And two others:





I also made a dragon necklace for the Eldest, but he won't take it off long enough for me to get a good pic of it.

I would like to begin selling some jewelry as a side business, but the only problem is that I keep becoming quite attached to what I've made. The teardrop shaped pendant necklace will probably go in the sell box, but I really like the other two. How do people that sell their wares detach themselves from their products enough to sell them?

I've also not finished my dress. I completed most of it and the lining. Now I just have to get these two to a bar for a nightcap so that they can hookup. Once the kids get to bed and the margaritas do their magic, hopefully things will start to happen and I'll have some progress to show you tomorrow.

Jewelry

Today was a day for making Christmas presents for both my sons' teachers as well as a little something for my best friend.

I packed the kids off to school and then hunkered down with a whole pile of beads and chains and these are the results:

First (and my favorite) is the BFF's necklace:

Glass Beads on antiqued findings - browns/blacks/bronzes

Second and Third: Bracelets for the Eldest's Teachers:



Fourth and Fifth: Bracelets for the Youngest's teachers. These two ladies actually deserve real gold for what they've had to put up with. But since I can't afford it, this will have to do.





Sorry for the blur in the last two. My camera hates me. But that's okay, it's being replaced on Christmas day. (A little Elf told me.)

I made jewelry!

Today is my Sister-In-Law's Birthday!

I made her something special. Wanna See?

This is the first necklace that I have made. Took me half the day to figure out how I wanted it done. It had to be silver, have lots of blues and greens and still be somewhat delicate. I think it came out great. It's approximately 17".

This jewelry making stuff could be addicting!