Sunshine and SEO

So it feels like it's been forever since I posted last.  Sorry for slacking my dear readers.  It's just that the weather here in Vermont has been so nice and sunny and I've kinda thrown myself into this whole SEO project...I know, I'm terrible.  Naturally you've all been wondering where the heck I've been and why I haven't updated (at least that's how the story goes in my head, so hush).

Since my last post, I've been doing a lot, and I do mean A LOT of work on search engine optimization (SEO).  That's the thing where you work on titles, tags, keywords, item descriptions and so on, making them more relevant and easier for search engines like Google to find and rank. 

Honestly, if they offered a class locally on this sort of stuff, I'd totally sign up, because it seems like there are about a billion million things to consider.  And if I had the money, I'd probably pay someone else to do it for me, because even after you think everything is just right, you're supposed to go back and tweak things every now and then to see if small changes make any difference.

You know, I say that, but the truth is I wouldn't want someone else to do it for me.  I feel this awesome sense of accomplishment after I've tweaked an item top to bottom and I see it show up better in searches and it gets more views.  I like knowing that I'm the one putting in the work, and that my hard work actually makes an impact.  It really is a great feeling seeing things improve and knowing that I did that.

This SEO stuff has taken up a ton of my time lately, but fear not, I haven't completely abandoned my right brain activities.  I've made a few fun new pieces for my summer line like these bracelets:

Natural Agate and Smoky Quartz Chainmaille Bracelet

Rainbow Fluorite Gemstone and Chainmaille Bracelet

Both these items will be available in my shop  starting June 1st.  Which is fast approaching.  I have so many more pieces I wanted to have ready for the "launch" of my summer 2012 line.  Guess that means I have a bunch more work to do :)

In other news, I've also been working on some promotional/branding material.  First up, the earrings cards.  Ones that I designed and printed and folded and punched.  The only way I could have been more involved in the process is if I made the paper myself and hand printed each card.  Which I would never do, because i totally don't have the patience for that. Here's a picture of the finished cards:

Homemade Earrings Cards

Oh, the earrings are a new design as well.  I think I really like the leaf and the font I used here--pretty sure that's officially my logo.

I also took advantage of a promotion through Etsy to get some free "mini moo" business cards from Moo.com.  They're smaller than regular business cards, thus the name, but they're just the right size for a simple picture on one side and the basic info on the other.  Check out the ones I got:

Mini Moo Business Cards

Sorry for the slightly out of focus photo--but you get the idea, right?  And I mean, how cute are these things?  They got here wicked fast too, I wasn't expecting them until June 4th, but the arrived first thing this morning (May 26th).  Pretty great.  And hey, if this inspires you to go out and get some Mini Moo cards of your own, or anything from Moo.com--please, pretty please click here 10% off first purchase

I earn points for referring people and you get 10% off your purchase.  Everybody wins!  :)

I think that's all for now.  Oh, it looks like I won't be doing the local farmer's market this year--they're all full up, and apparently have been since like, February.  I had no idea people signed up so early, so while I'm a bit bummed that I don't get to participate, I figure oh well--I'll know better for next year.  I think I'm going to do Art in the Park though.  At least I'm going to try...it's a juried event, so I'm at least going to submit an application.  We'll see how it goes.  It'd be so very cool to be accepted.  It's one of the premier craft shows in Vermont and people come from all over to shop and browse and meet local artists.  Even if all I did was make some great new contacts and pass out a whole bunch of business cards, I'd feel like I was a success.

I think that's all for now.  It's super hot here today, and the sun is shining.  I think I'll spend some time outside enjoying the beautiful weather.  Hope everyone has a happy and safe Memorial Day weekend!!

As always, thanks for reading :)

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Jewelry Design Star

I decided to participate in ArtBeads.com's "Jewelry Design Star" this month.

I would love to get some support on my "Emerald Dream" cuff :)

http://promoshq.wildfireapp.com/website/6/contests/224307/voteable_entries/51301107#

Make sure to participate in this yourself, if you haven't already during the next one ^.^

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Book Review: The Art of Bead Embroidery

“The Art of Bead Embroidery” is written by the publisher of Bead&Button magazine, Janet Kay Skeen and is published in 2007.

In this wonderful beading book that puts its focus on bead embroidery is the author taking her help from two of the greatest bead embroidery artist ever, Sherry Serafini and Heidi Kummli.

The book begins with a one page background story of each one of the two artists.
It is really structured out well when we get to see the different basic stitches Heidi and Sherry are using to create their wonderful pieces. Both of them are either using the same stitches, or completely different ones, so you get to expand your knowledge a lot in here.

The book, “The Art of Bead Embroidery” is not only suited for an experienced beader, but also for beginners.
In the first section of the book Heidi and Sherry are explaining what kind of thread, tools, glue, needles, backing and foundation each one of them prefer to use and why.
On top of that, each one of the two bead embroidery artists displays six different (twelve in total)  step by step projects that the reader can learn from.

In the end of the book there are a few pages with a photo gallery that show some of the beautiful creations Heidi and Sherry have done over the years.

“The Art of Bead Embroidery” is definitely a book that anyone that have any interest in working with bead embroidery needs to have in their crafting book collection. 

I wasn’t disappointed when I bought my copy, and I’m sure you won’t be either!

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The first diamonds in the world from 'Promession'

Two fabulous Canary diamonds, made from both processes by 'Promessa.SA' in Sweden. Promession is the 'freeze-drying' process of laying the deceased to rest, after the process, this can further be enhanced by growing and dedicating a tree or simply scattering the promains. We [Phoenix] extracted carbon from both processes and made 2 unique diamonds from each. A/ 1.00carat brilliant cut canary and B/ a 1/2 carat canary from the cremated remains. The 1.00 carat is likely to be the standard and a real sparkler.  This is yet another 'First' for the group. No1, was the 'Jessica Diamond' (from an ubilical cord) 2nd was the 'London Riots' diamond and 3rd  - these two made from 'Promession'. No doublt you will read more about both 'Promessa' and Phoenix Memorial Diamonds (one of only 4 in the world offering the service).

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Button Frenzy!

I've always found buttons really fun to look at, ever since my grandma took me with her to the fabric store when she was gonna buy fabric to make curtains. I remember how I used to look at all the shiny, beautiful and interesting looking buttons in the tubes the store sold them in.

These are some of the buttons I received from my aunt.

A while ago my aunt told me she was going to take a look in a new opened second hand store that just opened near their neighborhood. As I just got an interest for incorporating and using buttons here and there in my beadwork, I asked her if she could keep an eye out for some interesting buttons, if they would have any. A couple of days later I called her and she told me that she found a couple and was gonna send them down when my mom would come over here for a visit.

Now... Somehow my grandmother had heard that I was looking for buttons and had also sent with her "a couple" too.
A couple? She sent a huge bag loaded with buttons, not only that she had bought, but the ones she had collected from her mother and her mother in law.
When I opened the bag, I could not believe my eyes and I did not know where to start. So out of instinct, I began to dig in the bag and look what kind of shinies were in there.

I collected a few memorable out of the bag and cleaned them with a napkin and took some photos of them, and also of some of the ones my aunt gave me.

These are some of the many buttons I received from my grandma.

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BTW - 23rd of May 2012

First to say; I had a great and really nice week here, together with mom and my bf. We went to a Monastery for monks not that far from here (Tongerlo). The place was HUGE and so beautiful, and you could just see all the elements from the medieval age (the monastery is from about 1500 century). The special thing was that they have a museum about Leonardo DaVinci, and also the best preserved replica of "The Last Supper", in real size, which was a wonderful sight for the eye and very interesting. They also had gorgeous replicas of a bishop hat and robe - I can't remember what the actual words for these things are in English, but I'm sure it's not "hat" and "robe", heh. They had rows and rows of beads and gemstones embroidered to the fabric. I wish I could show picture but you weren't allowed to take any :(

Anyway.
This Wednesday I have a bead embroidery project laying on my table. What a surprise, huh? (lol) I'm currently working on a larger piece this time. A necklace. And so far I've had in mind of mainly using black in different finishes on the beads. I might add some coral red at some point, but until I've "drawn" out the exact design I want, I won't add anything else.
The cabochons I chose to work with so far in this piece are mainly black onyx. The red one... I'm not really sure of what it is. I got it in a gemstone cabochon mix that I bought some months ago. If anyone might have a clue, I would love to hear what you think it might be :)

Besides the bead embroidery laying on my bead table, I've also been sorting some beads that I received from my younger sister as a late Christmas present, which my mom was kind enough to bring with her. I really love the pink round beads in this photo, they are so gorgeous, and the sparkly ones too of course, nom nom.
The hardest part to sort (still sorting, not done) is the seed beads that was in the box I got from my sis. They had been really rough with my mom's traveling bag on the air port, so all the beads had ended up in a big soup. Luckily all the beads were still in the box, heh.

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Thoughtful Thursday

So this week marked the end of my first 30 days on Etsy.  I think for my first month I did fairly well--I had 3 sales in total.  I'm told that's pretty good.  Honestly, I'm excited I even had one, so I think things are going great.

Purple Crystal Anklet--new in my Etsy Shop

I'm working hard on my summer line that I'm going to make available in my shop starting June 1st.  At least that's the plan.  I can't wait to see what people think.  I've really had a lot of fun pushing myself outside my normal design/comfort zone to create these pieces.  When I first started making jewelry, I was kind of obsessed with wire and metal work, but shied away from it because I really had no idea what I was doing.  Even after I bought and read some books on the subject, both concepts stayed firmly in the "I want to try that...someday" category.  Because of this, it's been pretty interesting watching these new pieces take shape.

I'm using a lot of hammered metals, a whole lot of copper, some freshwater pearls and the occasional gemstone.  I think the designs still have a similar feel to them as other pieces that I have available in my shop, but they're a step up from what I've been working on.  I finally got brave enough to break into the sterling silver and 14K golf filled wire I bought way back when.  I was so afraid to use it, I mean it's sort of expensive and I was scared that I would mess it up and waste it.  But it turns out a solid design plan and PRACTICE really make life easier and I haven't wasted any pricy materials yet (knocks on wood).

Wire Wrapped Gold and Pearl Ring--Now available in my Shop

This week I was featured in my first ever Treasury over on Etsy.  For those of you who don't know what a Treasury is, it's basically a user curated display of other people's work.  An Etsy user goes on and picks up to 16 pieces to feature, then publishes their choice in a section of the site dedicated to Treasuries.  Being featured is a great way to gain exposure and draw in potential customers.  I was really excited to get the little note telling me someone had chosen me for the Treasury.

Being featured actually inspired me to create my own.  I haven't spent much time on Etsy exploring other shops, at least not just to browse.  Most of the time I've spent on there has been working on my shop, or promoting my shop, or interacting in the Teams and such.  Well last night, I spent some time poking around.  I put together a Treasury of other jewelry artists, mostly people who's look and materials were different from mine.  I'm actually pretty pleased with it.  It's not something I think I'll do a lot of, because it kinda takes some time, but it's definitely something I'll do again.

One last thing--I've been using Facebook and Twitter a lot, I mean they say that social networking is a great way to promote your work, but I didn't really think I would garner a sale FROM either place.  I kind of thought both places were a great way to build a relationship with customers and to do a little advertising, but last week I got a custom order from someone I'm friends with on Facebook.  She saw a ring I made, asked if I could make one for her in silver, and said she'd pay whatever I was asking because it was so beautiful.  How awesome is that?

I feel like things are on the right track, and I really can't wait to see where they go from here.  Hope everyone is having a great week!  Thanks for reading :)

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BTW - 9th of May 2012

This Wednesday I've been playing around with circular brick stitch and came up with a pattern that looks kinda flower like. My idea was to use some of the 8mm Swarovski pearls that I've been having laying and collecting dust for ages, and make some flat-back earrings of them. After completing one of the pair and taking notes I actually decided that attaching the back side of the piece with some E6000 would be best. To be honest E6000 glue is the best glue I've ever laid my hands on.

I also decide to take a picture of my work surface. I actually cleaned it up a lot before I got sick, but lol, I'm not sure anyone can tell since the mess is almost there again, haha. The area isn't 100% complete according to myself, I want to add a shelf with two or three planes above the desk on the wall. But we'll see when that is gonna happen.

I'm also gonna add in this post that I might be absent for at least 10 days, as my mom, whom I haven't seen now for almost three years is coming over today. Her plane should be landing in Brussels in about two hours. So I'm most likely gonna be busy spending time with her :D

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First Sale!!

I'm super excited to announce that I got my first sale in my Etsy shop yesterday.  I sold this bracelet:

Kinda bummed that the matching earrings didn't go at the same time, but I'm so excited about my first sale that I don't mind.

I learned a lot from my first sale, like that I need to remember that Etsy AND PayPal assess transaction fees and that I need to account for those in my pricing.  I some how missed that PayPal would be snagging 2.5% plus $0.30 for each transaction.  My pricing formula was pretty basic, and it most definitely didn't take the transaction fees into account.  I was going to try and figure out how to adjust my prices so that I would net the prices I had already figured out.  Does that make sense? 

For example, I had an item listed at $25.  That number is what I want to walk away from the sale with, so my challenge is trying to figure out at what price I should list the item so fees are covered and I put $25 in my pocket.  That seems like an awful lot of math though.  It's been suggested that I just adjust my prices upwards by 10% across the board, which would easily cover the transaction fees. 

I'll probably hold off on making adjustments until after I attend the Etsy lab Etsy Success: The Basics of Pricing with Danielle and Michelle on May 10, 2012 from 3:00pm to 3:30pm.  I'll see what I can learn there and then sit down and re-work things.

In the mean time, I'm going to get back to designing and creating pieces.  I feel like I've been spending a huge chunk of my time promoting my shop and fooling around on social networking sites and what not.  And while it seems to be paying off, I mean I actually got a SALE (!!!), I would much rather be making pretty new pieces for my summer line. 

That's all for now.  Hope everyone's having a great week!

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Necklace: Emerald Twirl

For those who remember the "Polymer Clay Cabs 6 (emerald)" I made in February, they probably  recognize the pattern on this focal bead I made. 

I still have some of the cane I made for them left and I wanted  to try making a polymer clay bead with the bicone shape, and I decided to overlap a completely black circle of clay with the cane and then roll it. Actually, to achieve this bicone result, instead of rolling the clay in your hands to a circle you used a flat, hard surface against your working surface with the same movement, and as you go the surface on the clay turns into a spiral and depending on how long you work the clay like this, the more extreme the spiral gets.

So, I had completely no idea what to make of this rather big bead, until I noticed the couple of bails I had in my stash since a while. So I turned it into something simple but just attaching it to the bail, then to a chain and then the chain to a lobster clasp, and viola! 

"Less is more" as they say...

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Bracelet: Dalia 2

I decided to make a different version of the bracelet Dalia that I did last year since I really liked the design of it. The original is in black, red and gold. So this time I decided to step out of my comfort zone of working with dark colors and went completely bright.
Those crystal/silver lined twisted bugle beads have been whispering to me of lately that I need to do something with them. I just didn't know what until now.
So I went with the "baby-princess" theme on this one and decided to incorporate those gorgeous light pink alabaster seed beads by Miyuki that I bought 100g of from GJBeads the beginning of this year. As for the center in the flowers in the rows between the bugles I decided to add crystal/lined gold seed beads by Matsuno since it gave some more contrast to the piece. The rest of the white seed beads are also by Matsuno in a white color with AB finish. All of the seed beads I used, besides the bugles, are 11/0's.

I actually like how it turned out a lot, not that I think I could wear these colors myself, since... It doesn't fit with my style, lol :P

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New Projects

So the other day, I promised I'd post some pictures of the projects I have in the works.  I really meant to post sooner, but the camera I prefer to use to take pictures of my jewelry some how made its way to Washington D.C. with my parents.  Not one to be deterred however, I dug out my old, clunky digital camera and snapped a few photos.  Actually I took a lot of pictures, but I really only ended up with a handful worth saving, and none that I feel like are good enough to use in my shop.

I usually only use this camera for taking pictures of landscapes and oceans and nature-y like stuff.  It has a fairly low pixel count and I've yet to take an up close picture that didn't come out all blurry.  Don't get me wrong, it's a good solid camera, but, if I'm remembering right, it's about 8 years old.  Practically ancient by technology standards.  But I have a hard time letting it go.  It's been pretty faithful all these years, captured some great memories.  And it has a lithium ion rechargeable battery, which I'm pretty sure has saved me a fortune in battery costs over the years.  It has lots of great setting and it works wonderfully outdoors, just not so much when it comes to taking pictures of fine detail.

So dear readers, a promise is a promise, and I said I'd share some pictures by week's end.  Well here it is Friday night, so I suppose I best post a few pictures.  Please forgive the quality.

These are a pair of earrings I made for the woman who won one of my gradient pendants in the contest I ran over on Facebook.  I sent her a coupon for my Etsy shop along with her prize, and she wrote to tell me she was very much interested in a coordinating pair of earrings.  These are one of the options I've come up with.

And these are another pair of earrings kind of along the same lines that could be paired with the black gradient pendant 

Now, neither of these earrings are outside of my design comfort zone.  Despite my photo taking difficulties, these earrings were relatively easy to make and came together quickly.  They aren't the exciting new projects I've been talking about.  The pendant to the left and below are however examples of my latest adventures in designing.

It consists of some hammered copper wire bits, with a fresh water pearl attached to the wrap wires, and it all hangs from a length of brown satin cord.

I really like this pendant.  It reminds me a little of coral and the beach and by default, summer time.  I like th earthy look of the copper contrasted by the pale delicacy of the pearl.  I've got a few similar pendants in the works, one in sterling silver and the other in a combination of sterling silver and 12K gold.  I think I'll be hanging both of those on black satin cord.  I'll be making earrings to match, and as soon as i can, I'll be picking up some soldering supplies to I can make some rings.  And all of these things should be available in my shop by mid-June.

Of course, if I don't make a sale in my shop before then, I might skip listing them and take them to the craft fair instead.  I don't know, it's something I'll have to think about.

I'm working on a few other projects too, one involving some wire work, another mostly bead weaving.  I get on these bead weaving kicks and get super enthralled with one specific weave.  Last month it was right angle weave, and led to the creation of my gradient pendants.  This month, it seems to be the herringbone stitch.  It's been a lot of fun learning and exploring.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!  Until next time, thanks for reading :)

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Earrings: Astrid

I spent part of my afternoon (after doing some shores around the house) to again, play with this really cute beaded bead, which is made with using peanut beads (or farfalle) and some Miyuki fringe beads.
The pattern for the beaded bead (popcorn bead) is created by "The Beading Butterfly" and can be accessed for free here.

 After making a matching pair I tried one of them out together with some other beads on a head-pin, to see if I could get some simple earring design out of it.
I thought they looked just lovely together with some acrylic/plastic oval beads that I've been having in my stash since a while. At first, when I made the wrapped-loop I first attached the head-pin directly to the ear-hook but I didn't like how it looked like, so I decided to play around with some chain and experimented how it looked like with different amounts of chain links and found out that three looked the best.

I actually liked the somewhat classic/retro look of the earrings so I decided to make another pair with the remaining acrylic/plastic beads I had. Well, I had five but I have no idea at the moment what to do with the last - that will teach me to buy uneven amounts when they are sold per piece, lol.

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Hair Clip: Freya

Starting off this post with saying that I haven't been able to either blog or make anything jewelry related at all of the facts that I've been having a rather serious disease. 
My hands and feet have been completely swollen up like balloons and I've had a very annoying rash pretty much all over. I went to the doctor last week on Friday and he took a sample of my blood and also gave me some medicine against the rash and the swelling, which didn't help a bit.
On Monday (darn weekend) I got the result, and it turned out to be a rather serious infection in my blood stream. 
I got some really strong antibiotics and they're helping. 
Again I'm able to sit at the computer and to play around with beads, which I've missed loads! :)

So, enough about that, heh.

I managed to finally finish up this bead embroidery hair clip that I was working on for the April's Challenge at "Operation Tackle That Bead Stash!". I didn't manage to finish it on time though, before the deadline, but it was something different then what I've done so far, so I'm happy anyway.
The cabochons are handmade with polymer clay (by me as always). Then we have some mother-of-pearl buttons and a crystal flower from Swarovski.
The seed beads I used were in sizes 11/0 and 15/0, from Matsuno, Miyuki and Preciosa, and some 1.5mm Miyuki cube beads.

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Coatings on Glass Beads

Our new complete range of coatings is shown on fire-polished beads but can also be made on MC beads (bicones) and pressed beads. Pls ask for details.

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The London Riots : A diamond rises from the ashes

A Glasgow artist - Teresa Margolles - asked us if it was possible to make a Blue diamond from the detritus of the 'London Riots' (using carbon extracted from various bits of wood, sweepings and other debris).
After extensive processing, we are proud to show the actual diamond featured in the exhibition.
The diamond is a 0.79 carat Brilliant cut Blue/White which is very clean, sparkly and without visible inclusions.
This diamond joins are 'world firsts' [The Jessica Diamond, The Promessa Diamonds]

TERESA MARGOLLES

Exhibition & Offsite Projects

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Next Steps in Social Networking

Just a really quick post, I promise. 

I've finally taken the next step in my social networking to promote my jewelry and Etsy shop.  I have officially just joined Twitter.  I now tweet.  I keep hearing great stories about how Twitter has brought a lot of attention to other Etsians so I went ahead and signed up.  I avoided it for a long time, cuz it seemed kind of like an exercise in narcissism.  But now I'm on board.  I've been doing the Facebook thing for awhile, I figured it couldn't hurt to branch out.  If you'd care to follow me, please do.  I'll return the favor, naturally.  To find me, I suppose you can just follow this link or type www.twitter.com/jewelry_gal25 into your address bar.

Oh oh and before I forget!  If you haven't already gone over and "Liked" my Facebook page, you should.  I just posted a special Mother's Day coupon for my Etsy shop, available to all my fans on Facebook

That's all for now.  Hope everyone had a great first day of May!!

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