Where I'm headed...

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that I'm having a little creative block.  I thought that once I got back to designing a few things that it would let up, but so far it hasn't (or perhaps it's this nasty cold that's holding me back... I'm not sure!).  At any rate, I've been working on things, and enjoying it, but there's just something missing.  And I think I know what it is.

Clay.

I miss working with clay.  I feel like I've been so focused on making ornaments with polymer clay, that I've been stuck not doing as much as I want with it in other areas.  SO, this year, I'm going to do MORE.  I'm going to try some new techniques, and really try to expand myself.  I hope you all will stick with me on my journey - I think it's going to be fun!

In the meantime, I made this bracelet yesterday, and it's available in my Etsy shop.

Those are vintage lucite barrels that I picked up at a local bead shop, with a big pewter toggle clasp - pretty, huh?

Before and After

So one of the things that I really wanted to work on this year was streamlining my business.  I'm taking another class this spring semester, and may be headed to graduate school in the fall, so being organized is really a necessity.  As you can see from the photographs, this was NOT happening.

The first thing I did was replace that white drawer set with something on wheels.  This is right next to some built in cabinets, and with those drawers there, we were not able to get into that cabinet whenever we wanted, without dragging those drawers out, which was a pain.

Then, I had to go through all of the old drawers, and figure out what to keep or toss, and then organize.  They had kind of become a catch-all for various other craft projects that needed a home too.

In this first drawer, I have most of my shipping and packaging supplies in the front basket, and some miscellaneous craft supplies in the back basket.

In the next drawer, I have stringing materials, and wire - fiber products and ribbon in the front, and beading wire and regular wire and tools in the back basket.

In the bottom drawer, I have all of my completed products.  I have five storage boxes for all of my jewelry, and I have everything separated out by seasonal, earrings/rings, bracelets, and necklaces.

I also cleaned off the desktop, as you can tell.  I sorted beads, findings, etc, and tossed some trash.  I was able to move all of my tools in to that built in drawer on the desk, and was able to get rid of the green drawer unit that I had in the "before" pictures.  All of the stuff that is sitting out on top of the desk is stuff that either needs to be photographed, listed, or remade completely.

I'm using that mug to hold my paintbrushes that I use for my clay stuff - that's not all of them, certainly.  Part of the reason I have them there, instead of with my clay stuff is because they often just fall to the bottom of my clay supply bin.  I'll dig out the rest here shortly.  That mug was given to me when I graduated college (the University of Arizona - hence the big A), but the handle has a big crack in it, so it's not suitable for holding drinks anymore.  The little bowls in the corner there are good for holding beads while I'm working.

So, there you go!  It took me about a week, but I got it done, and I'm really happy with it.  Maybe someday we'll live somewhere where I'll have a little more space, and I can organize my beads better, but for now, I'm happy with this work space.

Creative block

Hey, everyone!  As you can see by my post title, I've had a good reason for being quiet around here... I have had a serious creative block.  I think I was a little burned out... I think I mentioned that my son had to have surgery at the end of November, and between that, finishing my class (with an A, thankyouverymuch!), the boy's 6th birthday, Christmas prep, and all of those ornament orders, I was just toast.  But I'm slowly getting back into the swing of things, and I'm hoping to try out some new stuff this spring.  In the meantime, I'll share a couple of bracelets that I hope to have listed soon.  Well... the agate and amethyst bracelet will have to be re-strung - the clasp won't stay shut, and I'm waiting on some new ones that I ordered.  I was pretty bummed, since the clasp was super cute, but these things happen sometimes!

I really love this second one, lol!  I almost kept it for myself.

Glitter and Feathers

Evidently, my son has inherited my love of glitter.  I don't know where he's gotten the feather love from, though!  This was a homework assignment - this was his turkey feather!  The class put all of them together on a turkey.  I haven't yet seen it, but I hope I will soon!!

I finished up all of my custom orders for the year, and this was my favorite by far:

This was for a friend, and she wanted it to represent the fact that they are expecting a new baby - we decided to add an EGG!!!!  Isn't that darling?

I have to say, using the molds for the penguin bodies this year helped SO much with my turnaround time!  Being in school, and then my son's surgery 1 week and a half ago really made it hard to manage my time, but I think I've got the hang of it now.  :-)

Cyber Monday!

So today is Cyber Monday...  You probably already knew that, though, unless you live under a rock.  So I'm having a sale today - originally, it was for my Facebook Fans, but I'm opening it up to everyone!  You can enter FBCyber at checkout, and get 30% off your purchase of any ready-to-ship item!!  Like these:

Matte Onyx Earrings

Russian Amazonite Earrings

Faux Granite Bird Ornaments

Dragonfly Seed Bead and Jump Ring Bracelet

Ruby Quartz cluster earrings

Triple Strand Coral Bracelet

Turquoise Seed Bead and Jump Ring Bracelet

So head over today and do some shopping!  There are a lot of good deals to be had today!

Black Friday

If you want to shop in your pajamas, and avoid the crowds, I have a coupon code that's good through Monday.

THANKS20

This will get you 20% off your entire purchase!

I've had to stop taking orders for custom snowman and penguin ornaments a little earlier than I had planned. My son is having surgery on Thursday this week to address his sleep apnea issues, and I have a lot to do ahead of that to make sure I can give him my full attention while he's recovering.  I still have a few left to finish up, but should have those shipped out Monday or Tuesday.  In the meantime, here is an order that I sent out last week!

New Ornaments!

I've just been plugging away at ornament orders this week and last - these two went out yesterday!  Now I just have 3 left... I guess I'll be pretty busy this weekend and next week.  Fortunately, things have slowed down at school a little bit, so I'll have a little more time to get caught up.

Seeing how busy I've been with just one class has made me thing about my plans for 2013.  I'm going to hopefully be attending an accelerated graduate program next school year, so I will be VERY busy.  I'm letting you all know NOW, so you can start planning your ornament orders, if you want one for 2013.  I'll only be accepting a limited number of orders, and it will likely take a lot longer for me to get them shipped out, so with that in mind, I'll take orders for 2013 beginning in January, and ending mid-November.  I'll keep reminding everyone, but please know that it's not because I don't want to make them!  With my son in school full-time now, it's time for Mommy to head back out into the work force, and this is the first step!