Merry Marketplace Holiday Craft Show - Success!

Well, it's been a while since my last post but I have been busy! I was invited at the end of the summer to participate in a popular holiday craft show here in Portland, Oregon and have been feverishly getting ready for it every since.

Much much much preparation went into getting ready for this show - my first official holiday bazaar - and it was all worth it. Not only did I learn a ton in the preparation/creation phase but the positive feedback on my work and sales at the actual show was soooo wonderful and a great experience.
Thanks to Laurie (http://www.magpieethel.etsy.com) for allowing me to participate!! Looking forward to next year already...

Needing to boost my inventory and design offerings for this show really pushed my creative limits and I have many new designs to show for it. I'm hoping to get some more posted to my site sooooon so check in regularly!!!! #

My first custom order

A dear friend of mine who lives in Texas commissioned me to design a necklace for her. She is a very sophisticated girl...and she likes things simple and striking and light as a feather. She was very good at describing what she had in mind...along with the reference of a piece that I had designed for her in the past...and a current necklace in my shop. Here is how the piece turned out...

I took the design a step or two forward and will be posting this (see below) in my shop soon.

I'm loving the lusciousness of the faceted amethyst and the soft lavender quartz teardrops...

With my friend's permission, I will be selling a version of her necklace along with this purple beauty, so check my store if you like it and want one for your very own!

Someone out there loves me

I've been featured in another treasury on etsy! Thank you to Meital of toolisjewelry for including one of my button rings with her selection of some of the cool button art of etsy.
Hurry and click here to see it before it expires!

What is a treasury, you ask? Well, artists of etsy (a site where artisans from all over the world can sell their hand-crafted wonderfulness) and buyers, too, have the ability to pull together 12 works of art from the amazing pool of work that exists on etsy and create a treasury of their favorites (or items that fall into a category or theme that interests them) that everyone can see. From this gathering of 12 photos, the viewer can then click away to browse those artists' shops. Pretty cool!

I Made the Semi-finals!

Well, I made it to the semi-finals in the Bead Star design competition! I posted about this creative exercise endeavor in May - click here for the back story. Over 1500 entries were judged and two of my pieces were selected; My resin necklace in the plastics category and my pearl necklace in the pearl category. There were only 20 pieces selected for each category so I feel pretty good about making it this far. I didn't make the final cut that made it into the February issue of Bead Star but was instructed to hang on to both necklaces in case they are featured in another of Interweave Press's venues like Stringing Magazine. Pretty exciting for a first timer, huh!? I'm just enjoying the ride and having fun :)

I'm in an Etsy Treasury!!!

My first feature in a treasury!!!

Can you tell by my liberal use of exclamation marks that I'm kind of excited?!

I would like to thank Petit Oiseau, a very talented jewelry artist who is generating quite a bit of good karma by creating a treasury of as yet undiscovered etsy artists, including a fellow jewelry artist - me!

I finally listed on etsy!!

So, I've been listing items since last friday and I am just so excited with the whole process of seeing my work available online. C'mon in and take a look! http://radiate.etsy.com

You can also get to my etsy page from my website, which I've updated: http://radiateartistry.com

I love you beth!

So, my best customer and supporter, Beth, needed some gifts for her brother's girlfriend and for her newly graduated babysitter and guess who she commissioned??? :) here are some pics of what I handed over (parting with the gold, amazonite and pearl earrings was a little tough...)

getting really close!!!!

despite many distractions and having to work my jewelry endeavors in after the kids go to bed, I am getting veeeerrry close to opening my etsy shop!!! I have finished my logo/biz cards and jewelry cards and I've started the arduous process of setting up the shop and it's policies and putting together the final photographs for each piece. I am so excited to have my work out there for all to see and a little nervous, too. I'm crossing my fingers that all goes well and I have at least one page of items for sale by the end of the week!

found a new way to get those creative juices flowing...

I spontaneously decided to create some new work for a jewelry design competition and boy did it get me to stretch myself creatively. The funny thing was that the overall theme of each category was it had to be SIMPLE (no beadweaving or fancy wirework) actually made coming up with designs harder for me rather than easier! Also a challenge was using only beads that could be purchased by the average beadworker (as in no bead show stuff that I haven't tracked as to who I bought from and no one of a kind pieces). I also worked with materials I wouldn't usually have dominate a design, like swarovski crystals, resin beads, and glass...I entered my work in four categories and now it's up to the judges to see if I make the finals. Here they are in the following order: Category: Pearls, Category: Crystals, Category: Glass, Category: Resin/Plastic.

Took some time out to design a logo...

Well, I got back to my graphic design roots recently for a friend...I had some fun designing a logo/business card/letterhead for her new naturopathic clinic, Blue Lily Naturopathic . She was a dream client and if you live in Portland, OR, well, check her out! Not only is she a well-qualified naturopathic doctor, she gives great massages :) aaaaahhhhh...

I loved the font I used for hers so much that I used an iteration of it in the new design of my own logo for the new shop that I'm working on...more on that soon soon soon!

feverishly designing

I have been going down so many design tangents lately I don't know when it's going to end. The ideas just keep coming. I love creating jewelry but my focus lately has been coming up with designs that are unlike any that I've seen before. Then the question is...what do I post to sell? I know I just need to jump in and post some creations on my shop site and get the ball rolling. But settling on a fairly cohesive design style AND the challenges of photographing jewelry continue to hold me up...