26 June 2009

Local vs. international

Preparations for next week's Salmon Festival Craft Fair are well under way. All of the earring display cards have been cut, scored, pierced, and labeled - they only need to be folded before earrings are inserted and displayed properly. All of the bracelets and necklaces have also been tagged, which means I am almost ready for July 1st! Here is an in-progress picture of the earring display cards, two of the free-gift-with-purchase items for the first ten customers, bracelet and necklace tags, and bagged earnuts, along with three pairs of earrings that will make their debut at the craft fair (L-R: Carissa, Charla, Jill):


I also wanted to mention how wonderful Google Analytics is at tracking website traffic. I added it to the shop in February and it tracked visits from as far away as Tehran, Iran! As for this very blog, there have been visits from 39 countries and here is a map of the visitors' locations:

24 June 2009

Warm hearts, warm bellies

My workplace held a fundraiser for the local food bank last week and I donated these smoky quartz and iolite earrings to be sold:


The Orleya proved so popular that I had to make second pair, which was fantastic because it meant the food bank got even more than expected!

18 June 2009

Bridesmaid colours

Here are some of the beads I picked up last weekend:



I was really happy with my finds so it's no wonder I used the rose quartz and vesuvianite to make the Carissa earrings last night... The pink topaz and smoky quartz were also recent purchases (from the Whole Bead Show in May).

14 June 2009

New supplies and Arleigh mock-up

I spent a good portion of the weekend shopping in the Seattle area and naturally, one of my stops was at a bead store. Located just minutes from the I-5, Alexander's Bead Bazaar has a large selection of beads including some of the nicest high end semiprecious stones available. I was only in the store for half an hour, but I left with strands of amethyst, smoky quartz, prehnite, rose quartz, white topaz, amazonite, and vesuvianite. Pretty mint green prehnite is new to my inventory and I can't wait to make some cluster earrings with them!

A recent customer in California liked the Arleigh bracelet but found that at 7.25", it was not long enough. Several convos later, we had agreed on a sale whereupon I modified it to her desired length. Below is a mock-up I created to show her the lengthening options:

09 June 2009

Mary Mary quite unordinary

Seven new items have been posted to the shop at aileen.etsy.com including the previously mentioned Esme and Shandra. One of the new pieces is the Mary, although its work-in-progress name was initially Eliza and then Sybilla. It has unusual amethyst octagons plus clusters of pretty pink topazes and mauve pearls:

04 June 2009

Blushing bridal jewellery

Here is a look at the custom Lila earrings I have been working on since yesterday. Leverbacks have been chosen over regular shepherds hooks for security.