Creating Cohesion From Chaos

Copper Butterfly available in my Etsy

I’ve been working on creating cohesion in my shop for some time now. It’s a process, no doubt about it. I knew I could use a little help not just in defining what I wanted that to mean but in keeping that cohesion once I found it. We all ooh and ah over the next greatest everything, and while I don’t necessarily chase each and every butterfly that flits by, I do meander along in complete awe on occasion.

Last Winter/Spring I joined in on B’Sues Build a Line Master Class. It was three months of Master Minding, research, defining and creating. I found that thing that I do no matter what I make, I found the well spring of my inspiration and was able to finally put my thumb on what I needed to bring cohesion.

The last couple of weeks everything I’ve sold on Amazon, I created during my Build a Line participation. I resisted some of the ideas Brenda had presented to us and Amazon insisted on them. Once I implemented them I started making sales first day. I respect Brenda’s knowledge, she’s very laid back in her methodology, she’s quirky and bubbly, but don’t let that fool you. She knows what it takes.

Brooch available in my Etsy

I made a brooch during that time, cute little thing. Brooches are making a comeback, so far so good, I like being ahead of the trend. Then the other day Brenda says “the key to selling brooches is to have matching earrings”  ……what? Runs into studio, tinkers……. tadaaa!  Earrings to make a nice set with the brooch!  

Brooch w/Matching Earrings

Brenda is offering the class again this coming year, if you’re looking for that little something and would enjoy a Master Mind group I can recommend this one.  Build A Line Master Class

While we’re at it. I’ve mentioned before I was a Business Management major in college, and I’ve looked at the different coaching programs around the web, then I realized they were all telling me to do what I already knew. I know I also told you about Marie Forleo at the time but this feels like a good time to remind you she has great marketing and business advice.  You can find her here and on You Tube.

One last business resource courtesy of Brenda’s business board on Pinterest. Debbie of Work Your Art has an email checklist she sends out - her site says weekly but I only seem to get them every other week. It’s ok valuable stuff anyway, I like the blog and the to do lists they’re great reminders to keep working.

Now I’m off to take MORE photos, yup I’m getting more of those pieces I had planned for Amazon puled together and am also trying to get a more cohesive look for the shop on Etsy, there’s that word again!

Thanks for stoppin by!

We’ll see you next time!

Change it up Blog Hop

Wow! I was beginning to think I wasn’t ever going to get this finished! I couldn’t seem to get started, I kept getting interrupted or frustrated so it took days to make and then just as it was all finally starting to fall into place, my camera died. Right after taking a couple of the most gorgeous clear pictures it has taken in a very long time. Well, since it went for a swim in my coffee anyway.

The bright side is I discovered that little slot on the side of my laptop that looked like it might be the right size for a memory card, is in fact the right size for a memory card! It seems not all the photos saved but I did get the photos that had saved uploaded! Yay! 

Just in case you aren’t aware, here’s how this hop works. Brenda Sue of B’Sues Boutique has given us a choice of four items to play with.  These cuties:

Change it Up Choices

Our job is to look at them from a different perspective. cut them up or use them in a different manner than you normally would. Keeping the months challenge theme in the B’Sue’s FB group in mind. Septembers challenge btw is Vintage.

I chose the cuff in the bottom right corner.  I don’t normally do cuffs, in fact the only cuff I’ve ever made was for the Build a Line Challenge in the beginning of the year.

My Cuff from Build a Line

 

First challenge, what the heck am I going to make with it? I’m actually ok with making a cuff with it because, I don’t usually make them so for me that is different but I can't just form it, that isn’t really out the box. I thought to myself, Oh I have a piece of Prehnite that would make a great focal, I’ll use that!

Prehnite Pendant

So I cut the filigree in half intending to create a focal with the Prehnite.

Challenge number two…….. the Prehnite is curved both front and back. The cuff would also be curved….. in the opposite direction. No matter how I worked it in my head there was too much air between the stone and the metal. So there I sat, with a cut up piece of filigree, a stone that won’t work and a piece of brass I had intended as a back plate. What to do what to do?

Not going on the cuff, but Hey! This is a cute idea!

I’ll emboss it! But it needs to be annealed first and now the color is nowhere near as clear and bright as the filigree …….. ha fire for you too!

I’m now quite happy with my decision! Yay me!  I just need to attach everything. Rivets! I drill four holes and I just have four nail head rivets left.

oops dropped one, three left. Where on Earth did that rivet go? It was JUST in my hand! sigh Two rivets left. That isn’t going to work. I still had some balled copper rivets I made for my Dia Los Muertos necklace maybe I can make them work. Grabbed them up, flattened the heads and Tadaaa!! Worked great!

Until I realized I missed on the hole placement and the whole thing was too far over. I cut the rivets off except the one that wouldn’t come off the filigree. That one I had to redrill, through the rivet.

Flatten more rivets and finally we’re done! Woohoo! That’s when I remembered I bought a new packet of rivets from B’Sue when I bought the filigree for the hop…… face palm! I had a brand new pack just sitting there waiting for me all along.

This is my finished piece. I’ve never had one fight me so hard as this one has. Apparently the change it up for me wasn’t so much about the cuff as it was with having to continually come up with plan b, c, d, e, f lol 

I may play with it some more, add another rivet on either side and maybe a little embellishment but for now I’m happy with it. Both my son and my daughter like it and my hubs gave me the  "You made this?" seal of approval. And hey! I kinda like it too!

Please join me in thanking our Wonderful Hostess Brenda Sue and visiting the rest of the Hop participants.

List for Blog Hop September 25, 2015

Brenda Sue Lansdowne

Jewelry Making Outside the Box

Mary Deis

The Rose Sword

Jann Tague

Clever Designs

Lori Beekman

B.Accessorized

Renee Hong

Fine and Dandy Jewelry

Cynthia Wainscott

Exotic Peru Jewelry

Dana Hickey

Magpie Approved

You Are Here!!

Mary Beth Quigley-Spiker

Q Settings

Karen Eaton

KJewelry Creations

Shari Gardner

SLG Jewelry Designs

Alison Huie

Ally's Baubles

Pamela Anger

Novegatti Designs

Carole Carlson

Beadsophisticate

Cindy Peterson

Howling Dog Jewelry

Marcia Tuzzolino

Aurora Designs

Charlotte Smothers

Sea Horse Ranch Life

Gillian Cunningham Wright

Bead Therapy Girl

Catherine Shattuck

Victorian Rose Boutique

Clare Wells Nemeth

Papercrafting Magic

Erin Whitacre

Shattered Time

Lynda O'Mara

Lomara Creative

Ginger Hammond
Lynn Leigh Designs

Ingrid Anderson

Lilis Gems Artisan Jewelry

Deb Beechy

Beetique

Harry Wood

Oscar Crow

Delyssa Maxwell

Past Time Fancies

Paula Gaskill

Lovely Layla Bugs

Irene Hoffman

Heart's Dezire by Irene

Alexandra Sefton

Imaginary Jewelry and Altered Art

Leslie Carver

Adorn Divine Designs

Thanks so much for stoppin by!
We'll see ya next time!

15 Things I Learned From Being Rude

This summer’s project is improving search tags and descriptions in my shop on Etsy. Descriptions I do ok with, but with mobile screens being so much smaller than a desktop or even a laptop, being succinct takes on new importance. When going into the details of something I love, I can get a little wordy. Search tags on the other hand…… I need to be a little wordier with, and the words seem to fail me, go figure.

As I said last week, I follow Marie Forleo, her blog and her You Tube channel, mainly for her focus on business. Now I was a business major in college - but that was some time ago and  I like a refresher every now and again to remind me of what I already know. Sometimes what I know needs a tweak to apply it to an online store, that’s why I like Marie. She reminds me what I know and her fun demeanor allows me to see things in a completely  different light.

I noticed recently several of her videos have made mention of tips for writing copy. Hey! I’m working on tweaking that! One of the tips mentioned was "be rude”. Take out all the fluff and be as abrupt as possible. Look at what’s left and keep what works. Put the fluff back where needed. Talk about a fun exercise! Oh my!  I noticed when you’re being abrupt to the point of rude, you get all kinds of search terms, how about that!? Duh, they’re flowers….. did I have flower as a search term? No, no I did not, why not?  My first go at being rude and I was having a blast! I can’t say it helped that particular description as it was already pretty to the point but it did provide key words and an aha! when I realized I hadn’t been using my photos as well as I could have been as a marketing tool within the shop. I mean the listing was for a pair of earrings I had made as part of a collection. Sure I had linked to a shop search that would bring the other pieces up but I hadn’t included the collection photo, slaps forehead!! That’s when I realized I had several pieces with matching earrings I hadn’t done this for either, so…..

The Original Box

MagPie 1#  Penelope

The "New" Box

Out came the brand new plastic tub! Everyone is always going on about how you need a light box. I really like natural light but in the last couple of weeks we’ve had about two feet of rain, yes feet, Twenty Four inches of rain. The skies have been DARK, and the air has been, well, wet! Very wet! 

Paige's Pottery

Some time ago Brenda of B'Sue's Boutique asked if any of us had tried using a plastic tub as a light box alternative. I went ahead and picked one up figuring if it didn’t work I could always use it to store extra pillows or something. I bought a big tub because if it did work, the kiddo might like to use it for her pottery too. When I realized I hadn’t been using my photos to the best advantage I decided to give that tub a try and I started with her pottery! 

The kiddo had made herself a light box awhile back, Magpie number one LOVES it, she has claimed the box as her own. Unfortunately for the box, this meant she was sitting on top of it, after she had knocked it over, and fell through the paper “wall” The box is now sitting next to her real kitty cube where she can play in it to her hearts content. The tissue kiddo was using as backdrop got stuck to the wall…… and it’s been there for months lol So I grabbed it to use as a white backdrop.

What I learned:

1: when shooting reflective surfaces, wear black

2: my camera underexposes nearly every photo

3: iPhotos new incarnation as Photos doesn’t do a very good job of removing fishing line when earrings are hung from it.

4: nor does it auto brighten white anymore, only grey

5: I need a greyscale card

6: no or very soft shadows in the afternoons light at this window (east facing)

7: I don’t mind a white background if there is texture

8: I’m still unsure of crumpled tissue paper as a texture

9: plastic tubs are mobile and give a clean flat surface to shoot on/ inside or out

10: my camera may get dizzy after a fall but it is an amazingly tough gadget

11: I NEED a new tripod

12: I think we could use watermarks for the kiddos pottery and my jewelry photos.

So that’s what being rude has taught me. Who’d a thunk it? 

Thanks for stoppin by!

We'll see ya next time!

Inspiration is Everywhere Or I Write a Guest Blog Post

I see things a little differently than some people, I see design in everything. I see patterns, and colors, texture and movement. I see the potential to make something pretty, something mine. Like this wonderful photo of a Pariseienne door I found on Etsy. I love the carvings, the floral center, the diamond frame, and the little rosettes. That softly faded green of a natural aged patina. Just gorgeous. 

It immediately brought to mind this wonderful connector over on B'Sues website, with just a little touch of Swelligant or Gilder's Paste that patina could be given life on a really pretty piece of jewelry.  It would make for a truly gorgeous set.

It was the same when I saw the Dolce & Gabanna earrings I write about on B'Sues blog http://bsueboutiques.typepad.com/bsue_boutiques_jewelry_su/2015/04/finding-your-style-in-everyday-inspiration.html. The shapes immediately brought me to several of her brass filigrees. I knew how easily they would make up similar earrings.

As I created my inspiration earrings I could see how wonderfully the style would translate in an asymmetrical design.

I loved Coral's earrings from the Build a Line Challenge, she created a beautiful asymmetrical design. Then I remembered this filigree pair from Mia Montgomery she mixes up both size and shapes but the design still balances beautifully.

If you'd like to see the earrings I made hop on over to Brenda's blog to take a peek and see the $800 earrings that inspired them.

Thanks for stopping by!
We'll see you next time!
Dana