Chaos!!

Make sure to enter my big May giveaway! Click here.

After a long period of beader's block, I am finally beading again! I was having such a hard time beading, and I am not sure why. I think that the sheer amount of beads I have was overwhelming. So I spent a few days going through my beads. Doing a spring cleaning really. Sorting out the beads that I wanted to destash as well as doing an overall better job of sorting my beads into categories. I went to Wal Mart to buy these really great little Sterilite containers. They are see through and they have an attached lid, and Wal Mart has like 3 different sizes for $1.50 and under. So I bought quite a few of those and sorted my beads into them. I used to just have a huge container where I kept all of my beads that were not seed beads. To put it lightly, I have a ton of beads that fit into this category. So it was just completely overwhelming to look at that container, and I think that was blocking my inspiration. The past few days have been uber productive for me. I have a box full of new pieces ready to photograph. Now I need to figure out a new way to photograph my items. The west Texas wind has been blowing for the last 6 months it seems lol So I have not been able to photograph earrings very well. My fiance built me a lightbox, and I think I am going to take that outside and see if that helps to shield the wind.

We finally have our Vermont vacation planned! I am so excited. We are going on August 4th and coming back on the 18th. I miss my family a lot. So I have started the process of getting my shops ready. There is no way that I will close my shops for those two weeks. So I take all of my inventory. And believe it or not, I actually plan on dramatically increasing my inventory for the trip. Mainly because that will be two weeks of me not listing, and that is just no good for me lol So this "beading burst" I am experiencing is a huge help! I am also in the middle of an enormous batch of cards. To be honest, my beading area and card area both look like absolute disasters! I want to get them organized, but I think the best way to get that done at this point is to continue creating and sorting. Luckily my fiance completely understands! So there is no pressure from the rest of the household to get things put away. I thought I would share a few pics, just to give you all an idea of my chaos lol



So here is my beading space. I apologize for the poor quality of the picture. To put it lightly, it is a disaster lol Keep in mind that the couch is also covered in containers filled with beads.



And here is the card....uhm dining room table lol Under the table there are quite a few containers filled with paper, ribbon and already folded cards.

So as you can see, my two crafting areas are a mess!! We live in a small apartment and my fiance's mother lives with us right now. And to top if off, I have Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. This mess makes me insane. But it is keeping me motivated to keep working! My plan is to get us much made as I can, and then get things sorted and put away. So wish me luck :)

Well as you can all see, I have a lot of work to do lol So I will sign off for now. Make sure to watch my shops for new listings, cause there is a whole lot on the way!! Also don't forget to enter my great May giveaway!

:w

Some of my favorites - May Edition

So I was sitting here debating whether I should be blogging, or shopping. So I figured, why not do both! I shop A LOT on Etsy, and I want to share some of my favorite shops with you. So here goes!

fivesisters

Since I make so much jewelry, I spend a whole lot of time hunting for great beads. I recently came across fivesisters. I oohed and aahed over the inventory, but I have had enough experience to know that I need to check out the product before getting my hopes up. So I searched through the gorgeous selection and settled on one item to take a test drive with.

I decided to order the assortment of 14mm large, puffy Czech rondelles. Check them out in this picture, and I think that you will see why!

So I placed my order and eagerly awaited my goodies! And when they got here, WOW! They were absolutely gorgeous. Since then I have ordered a few other times from fivesisters, and I have never been disappointed. An amazing inventory and great prices make shopping at fivesisters fun, and I know I will be a long time customer of theirs!

Etsy Buy Handmade fivesisters

CountryGirlSpices

To be honest, CountryGirlSpices is not the type of shop I would think to look for online. I am a bit of a spur of the moment spice buyer. But I decided to try out CountryGirlSpices, and now I am hooked! The first thing that caught my eye was her cat nip. I also ordered quite a few other items such as her sea salt, steak seasoning, and cumin. I am totally addicted to her spices now, they really add something special to my recipes. And my cats...lets just say that if I do not keep up with their catnip supply from CountryGirlSpices, I am quite sure they will move up their plans to assassinate me in my sleep lol.

Etsy Buy Handmade CountryGirlSpices

bagsbytracy

To put it simply, I love this shop! A few months ago I had ordered messenger bag from Tracy. As a matter of fact, the bag that she ended up making was the exact one shown in the Messenger Bag listing. And I love it! I use it all of the time. It has very quickly become my mail bag. I pack orders and put them in the bag until I can get to the post office. It is very roomy, and if you have a custom bag made, Tracy has a huge selection of fabrics to choose from that really make the bag yours.

Etsy Buy Handmade bagsbytracy

Well those are a few of my favorite shops. I will be doing this feature once a month. Stay tuned!

Monday

Howdy everyone!!

Well it's Monday. Paul had Friday, Saturday and Sunday off. We got to spend a lot of time together and that was wonderful. He hadn't really had a day off in weeks. We watched Rome, and also started the work on my website. We are going to build a really nice website to sell my jewelry on. It is actually our dream to eventually be able to build websites, promote, etc. as a job. We want to start our own company. But we are going to use my jewelry business as sort of a jumping off point. We found a good hosting company, and will purchase the domain from Go Daddy. Our friend Elmin has been helping with some advice because he has some great dream of creating a website that will make him rich, without him having to do much :p So he has researched good hosting companies and stuff. It has been a lot of years since I built a web page, but I think Paul and I will be able to build a really great site.

I guess I haven't done too much beading in the last two days. I did make these ones yesterday


I have also started a new pair today. What I did accomplish was rephotographing the rest of my drop earrings and chandelier earrings. I am holding a Spring Cleaning Sale on etsy and ebay to sell most of them, so I wanted better pictures of them. Hopefully these sales can clean out a lot of my older inventory. I want a "fresh" start, and to be able to stop looking at the earrings I have had for a few months. I am also trying to participate in all of the groups I joined today. So I think today will be a beading break day. But I will work on promotion and stuff on the internet.

I am really liking this google group that I am part of called etsyBEAD. They seem to be a very active and dedicated group. They have a weekly promotion called EBTW, which means etsyBead Theme of the Week. Basically they discuss and decide on a certain theme. Then the members that want to participate list items within that theme, and offer a special on these items. I decided to try it out this week. This weeks theme is stormy weather.

SO basically, things are looking good. I made about 10 sales last week. While that number isn't huge, it is pretty great for me. Steady too, as I had at least one sale almost every day. I am excited about how things are going. I have always had a hard time sticking with things, but I think I have finally overcome that with this "project". Wish me luck!!!