Thank you, thank you!

Thank you to everyone who made the HELLOSUNSHINE sale a success! You saved over $75 with the discount and got lots of beautiful jewellery. Here is a peak at a pair of earrings that sold during the sale and had not even been posted to the shop... These are the Nyssa earrings and feature rose quartz, andalusite, and citrine:

Sale ending soon

There are only a few days left in the month, which means the 15% off sale will be coming to a close. Don't miss out if you have had your eye on something in the shop because these sales don't happen often... The Sadie necklace and Yara earrings are among the items sold so far - will your favourite be next? Use the code HELLOSUNSHINE to snap up a gift for yourself or a friend!

Il y a longtemps que je t'aime

Bonjour, mes amis! Thank you for being so patient while I took some time off from making jewellery to recharge my batteries. I am happy to report that the time away has only made me miss my pliers and beads so I have begun to make earrings again! In fact, my break included some supplies shopping because I came across a travelling bead show that just happened to be in town the very weekend I was in Hawaii! This meant I had the opportunity to add some quartzes, pyrites, and sapphires to my stock! The new finds are already being incorporated into my latest designs including these upcoming Gilda earrings:


To kick off my return to the jewellery world, I am having a sale on all the pieces in my shop at aileen.etsy.com! There is no minimum purchase or quantity... Just enter the code HELLOSUNSHINE during checkout to receive 15% off the items! This sale is until the end of March so shop away!

Lilyana and Julia

Did you know Aria Industries does custom work? A few months ago, a client contacted me about creating earrings for a gift. She loved the simplicity of the Lilyana earrings, but thought the crystal quartz briolettes were too large. We discussed options and she ended up picking smaller versions of the same stone. Here are the original Lilyana and custom Julia earrings:

Winner! Winner!

The winner of the 2010 $50 gift card draw is Nendie Pinto-Duschinsky! She won with her purchase of the Sonya earrings in November 2010 and will be able to use her gift card for anything online at aileen.etsy.com. She can also give the gift card to someone else to use!

Want to know how to win the 2011 $50 gift card draw? Each purchase from the shop is equal to one entry and the draw will be done in early January 2012. Although that is still a year away, it's never too early to get your name in!

Warm wishes for the holidays!

Christmas is almost here, which means there are still a few days left to enter to $50 gift card draw. How does it work? Each purchase from the online store at aileen.etsy.com is equal to one entry and all customers in 2010 will have a chance to win the gift card! The winner will be drawn early in the new year so don't miss out!

In the meantime, I would like to wish everyone a safe, warm, and happy holidays this winter! Here is a sneak peek at the Elysia earrings, which will be added to the store in January:

Craft fair debrief

The Steveston Christmas Craft Fair was just a few days ago and my favourite sales were to my high school friend Ashley. She bought my Riley earrings at a previous craft fair and after not driving for a long time, braved traffic and an unfamiliar vehicle just to see my jewellery again! After checking out the selection, Ashley got the Delphine earrings for her mom and the Doreen earrings for herself.

I also held a gift card draw since I love to do small promotions at craft fairs, whether they are draws or bonuses with purchase. The winner of a $25 gift card is Claire Adamson!

In related news, although I no longer have the crowd favourite Riley earrings in stock, they are available by special order. I make an exception for these earrings (silver plated) and the identical Rowena earrings (antique brass plated) because they are simply too beautiful to not share:

Craft fair count down

Today, I started preparations for my third Steveston Christmas Craft Fair and will have to shut down my studio for about a week. This means no more jewellery making until after November 27th!

What kinds of activities take place during preparation? First of all, I inventorize all my pieces and make a detailed list showing the materials and price. This list comes in handy at the end of the fair when I need to figure out which items I sold versus the ones I didn't. Then, I figure out which pieces were made since my last craft show because they require display materials and labels. Next, I prepare the display cards and tie the tags to the new bracelets and necklaces.

When the pieces are done, I review the promotion I plan to run for that craft fair. I will be doing another gift card draw this time around, which means I will need to create signage and entry forms. I also need to make sure I have enough business cards to hand out - this is especially important because some people don't need jewellery when they are at the fair, but want to look at my Etsy shop later.

The remainder of the preparation activities is for supplies and day-of things. This includes having enough bags for the sales and for the first time ever, I will have jewellery boxes as well! I also like to cut and curl ribbon ahead of time because this saves a lot of time on the big day! Then, there are other activities like washing and ironing my tablecloth (there is nothing less professional than a dirty or wrinkled tablecloth), making sure I have extra pens on hand, and cleaning my mirrors.

On the evening before the craft fair, I empty my Etsy shop and put up a note saying all unsold items will be restocked after the craft fair. This is extremely important because most of my pieces are one-of-a-kind and I would have a major headache if something sold at the craft fair and online!

A bloom for all seasons

This is just a quickie post to show off a brand new lariat, which will debut at the Steveston Christmas Craft Fair on Saturday, November 27th. The little teardrop shaped pieces are fine silver, which is 99.9% pure silver as opposed to sterling's 92.5%. They were made in a recent PMC class and are imprinted with a cherry blossom design. My friend Elisse came up with the name Sakura and I think it's a perfect fit!

Another way to work with silver

The Steveston Christmas Craft Fair is coming up quickly (Saturday, November 27th) and I will have to start preparing for it soon. For now, my mind is elsewhere because I worked with precious metal clay (PMC) for the first time yesterday and fell in love with it. Although it doesn't require any experience, my knowledge of pottery and silversmithing came in handy! Here are some of the pieces I made: