happy thanksgiving

Hope everyone is having a wonderful Thanksgiving. This year Im avoiding the chaos of holiday shopping. For now, I am inspired to make gifts for everyone. If I dont make the gifts, then at least I would like to buy hand made. Im hoping to find some gifts at my next show that Im attending, The Designers Downtown Market. It is a great alternative to holiday shopping at the malls...plus Ill be there selling jewelry, which is always a nice present to give.

The market will be held in the parking lot of Ornamentea and surrounding area at 509 N. West st, Downtown Raleigh from 9am to 3pm

listen closely

Its all about the earrings this holiday season, at least in my world. I love making earrings. Even more, I love wearing them. I have been making a lot of new styles, and have modified some of my old favorites. Im seeing a trend in my newer designs towards smokey gray and platinum colors mixed with the yellow brass and black oxidized chains. I am always a fan of the long dangles, but now I seem to be simplifying the stones and adding more chain. And, if you havent noticed already I love to mix the chains.

new designs

Since I am frantically working on making enough jewelry to take to shows and sell for the holiday season, and since I have a problem making the same thing twice, a lot of new designs are coming out. Here are a few new earring designs. All are long and lean and would be an amazing complement to a holiday frock.

Rock, Paper, Scissors

Its time for another show! Im busy making jewelry and only have one week left. Rock, Paper, Scissors is new to the Troika Music Festival this year, and I am super excited to be a part of it. It happens next weekend Saturday, November 7th, 2009 from 12:00 to 4:00 p.m. in the Trotter Building.

The market will be filled with some really great vendors and three amazing local NC bands will be playing-Three Days in Vegas, Tin Star and Mt. Moriah. The whole festival takes place over three days (Friday, November 6th-Sunday, November 8th) and the music line up is a good one!

success!

originally uploaded by (mint).

I participated in The Rock and Shop Vintage Market last weekend. It was lots of fun and a huge success! The jewelry looked great on the new displays and with the business cards and packaging it really came together.

originally uploaded by(mint)

Since I was busy behind the booth, I didn't get time to go check out the other vendors or take pictures of my own booth--as a vendor, huge mistake not taking pictures! Luckily, other vendors have posted pictures of the show and even posted pictures of my booth. I follow the blog Mint, and was quite surprised to see my booth in the blog posting! Thanks Hello Tenfold and Bigwig&Silver for taking such great photos. They both have an amazing collection of photography, custom stationary, note cards and post cards.

Thanks for the pictures!

ta-da!

Its finally coming together...

Im going into the selling season with a whole new look! The new look is compliments of many, but the designers working on putting it together were Adrienne and Islam.

Adrienne took the photographs that were used for the business cards and had wonderful design input. You can see some of her photos on her blog Adrienneats.

Islam was the guy who made it all happen, made the whole look come to life. I now have amazing business cards, packaging, and marketing materials. Soooo sophisticated.

Thanks to everyone who helped!

tres excited

I love participating in The Rock & Shop Markets and I Just found out I was accepted into The Rock & Shop Vintage Market! This one is going to be super exciting, new location, all vintage and up-cycled items and live bands Lonnie Walker and Mount Weather.

"It is a one-of-a-kind shopping experience; vintage furniture, fashion, art & music flea market featuring independent local and national designers plus live music by local performers--all at the Triangle's hottest new all-inclusive venue, The Cotton Room at Golden Belt.

Because its the Vintage Market, all of the jewelry that I will be bringing to the show has elements of upcycled chain, vintage beads and parts of other jewelry that I have deconstructed--half the fun of making this jewelry was finding the chain and vintage beads. Cant wait to see what you think. So, make sure you mark your calendars for Oct. 17th to come check out the new Rock & Shop Vintage Market!

***This is one of the necklaces with vintage brass, faceted glass and pearl beads.

Organikx

I just came across some fantastic sterling silver jewelry on Etsy. Organikx is the name of the shop, and the pieces are made by Bridget Fauser. She has a very eclectic shop of hand forged silver, high polished silver, a mix of sterling and gold, and my absolute favorites are the large intricate natural stones she uses with the metal. Her stone choices are amazing!!!

I am a huge sucker for interesting large natural stones showcased in silver that has been a little distressed and oxidized. Seeing her work makes me want to get back into the studio behind a torch working with sterling silver again.

a day with out Jack

All day without mon petit pois (my little pea). Since Nana is in town, I no longer exist in my sons eyes. So, I have decided to take advantage of the help and buckle down.

I cant even begin to describe how much I got done! Those of you who know what its like to stay at home with a little one, 18 months to be exact, know that there isn't a lot of productivity taking place during the day. Well, today was filled with what felt like luxuries-- Making jewelry, taking pictures of new pieces, blogging, applying to craft shows, and more craft shows, reading all the great info on Etsy...it was fabulous.

This is one of many necklaces I was able to make. Its part of my collection where I incorperate upcycled items. The yellow brass rope chain is from a necklace that I cut apart and the beads are antique Japanese glass.

I will call it...mon petit pois.

a little upcycled update

Here's one of the pieces I made with the upcycled chain I got from last weekend. When I started out to make this necklace it wasnt my intention to make a piece of such contrast. But, somehow it evolved into that and it works. The chain is an upcycled heavy brass cable chain which compliments the thin, delicate oxidized brass chain. The smooth high polished round white quartz and metal grey beads set off the faceted smokey grey glass and milky white quartz. I think Ill try this style with some other types of chain and beads. Its a great length and goes with just about anything.

new treasures

I set out this past weekend to find old costume jewelry and brass chain to use in my new 'up-cycled' designs. I hit up the local Raleigh flea market, garage sales and The Salvation Army. Hopefully its enough to keep me busy for a while.

a little PSL and a new line

Today it happened. Internally it just felt right. So, I got it.

Im of course talking about my first Pumpkin Spice Latte and the feeling of Fall aproaching. Living in the South its very hard to judge because there are no signs, no cool crisp Autumn breeze. In fact I think it was in the upper 80's today. But, up North its happening and I know it-I can feel it! Years of growing up with Fall starting in September and Winter starting as early as October. I remember as a kid having to wear my winter coat and long johns under my costume because it was snowing for Halloween, it has conditioned me. My northern upbringing has tought me well to love the cold weather. I am a fanatic when it comes to this season. I pretty much wait all year for it and then get even more excited when it starts to snow--but, that is an entirely seperate post for another time.

In the spirit of Fall, I have created a fall line of jewelry. The look is big and bold with a lot of long layered chains this season. The colors are earth tones and bright oranges and yellows. Just in time for fall foliage! Im still into the yellow brass look so, there is alot of that too along with some oxidized copper and brass. Looking forward to the change in season and the change in wardrobe. I cant wait to pair it with a chunky sweater and boots. Did I mention I love Fall?

Metalliferous motivation

Nothing is more motivating and inspiring than shopping for supplies! Also, nothing is as therapeutic as buying something--its a cure all. I just placed an order with Metalliferous and I cant wait for the goodies to come so I can start designing and making jewelry!


Hands down the most amazing place for jewelry supplies. Metalliferous used to be a favorite hang out of mine when I was working in NYC. Actually, it was quite dangerous financially . It wasn't unusual for me to walk just right around the corner from my office (thats how close it was) and spend an entire lunch hour looking at beads, fun findings or whatever crazy new tool they had. I of course couldn't leave empty handed. Not as satisfying to buy from them on line, but still just as fun when you get the new product. The store is a help yourself kind of place so, the whole excitement of going to the shop is to search, scrounge and get covered in metal dirt (definitely not the cleanest place in the world) looking for just the right item.

Cant wait for a NYC trip so I can go visit my favorite store and spend several hours searching for my next inspiration!

on display...

Finally went to check out the IndieNC window today. There are a few of my necklaces displayed there and the whole display looks fantastic! I'm really excited that I could be a part of it. What a great idea using an empty store front to showcase local artists.

Michelle Smith is the driving force behind IndieNC. I first met Michelle when I participated in the shopping event she produces called The Rock and Shop market.

For those of you living in Raleigh the window is located at 230 Fayetteville Street in Raleigh (between the Mahler Gallery and Port City Java). Check it out--and keep a look out for more displays from other local NC artists!