$46.00 plus shipping (sold within 3 hours of being listed!)
Uploaded April 28, 2008
Monday, April 28, 2008
Friday, April 25, 2008
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
wedding party (custom)
This has been what my life has been revolving around for the last few weeks. It all started with an Etsy convo from a June bride. We talked back and forth nailing down the details of a bracelet and earring design for 6 bridesmaids. And this is what we came up with:
I used a combination of pressed czech glass beads, vintage lucite flower beads, freshwater pearls, quartz crystal and recycled glass beads for the bracelets and earrings. The bride's colors for her wedding are peach and sage-y green so I selected the beads based on this color palette.
For the earrings I custom made the sterling silver posts. This was nearly a lesson in futility as trying to figure out how to have the dangles and the post set flower work together was tough. Don't tell the bride (HI SALLY) but I had to re-do the earrings, oh, about 3 times. The second time I had finished all 6 pairs I felt pretty good about the results. Then I started to re-think the post design again one evening last week. I couldn't get the thought out of my mind that there must be a better way. And there was. So Monday morning (of this week) I took them all apart made some modifications on the ear posts and reconstructed all 6 pairs. And once the final one was completed I felt 100% satisfied. Funny how something as little as a sterling silver ear post can cause so much time drain and concern in my life!
The ear post design was not the only challenge for this custom order. My lack of math skills came into play as well. Twice. When figuring the amount of beads needed for both the bracelets and the earrings, I counted and recounted and was still off on my numbers. I, of course, did not realize my mistakes until I was working away. First realization came while making the bracelets. See those little pinky-peach fire polished flower beads? I was about 25 short. Next math deficiency came while creating the earrings the first time. I found out I was about 6 short on the lucite flowers. Luckily I was able to rely on two suppliers to rescue me and my lacking math skills. Let me extend a HUGE thanks to Shipwreck Beads in Lacey WA and triple HUGE thanks to MountainShadowDesigns in Boulder CO. Without you both, I would have been in BIG trouble and wouldn't have made my deadline.
Each bracelet and earring set is packaged in a white gift box with a sage green wrap with white grosgrain ribbon. Each box has a hand-stamped gift card tucked under the ribbon. This sage green wrap and white ribbon packaging differs from my normal packaging. I wanted the color palette to be a cohesive match with the jewelry design. This is, of course, for a wedding!! Everything needs to be perfect. I am not usually ultra anal about most things in my life, but there are times when it comes thru and this is, indeed, one of the times!
The sets are shipping out today. While wrapping everything up I felt just a tad bit sentimental. I thought back about my own wedding day and how truly wonderful it was. Granted it was simple and inexpensive but we had such a blast. We laughed more than cried during the ceremony. Our reception was was held in Paul's dad's backyard on a beautiful spring day. It was truly a fantastic beginning to our married life. Paul and I celebrated our 15 year anniversary at the beginning of this month. I am looking forward to the next 15 years.
I hope for the same for Sally.
I used a combination of pressed czech glass beads, vintage lucite flower beads, freshwater pearls, quartz crystal and recycled glass beads for the bracelets and earrings. The bride's colors for her wedding are peach and sage-y green so I selected the beads based on this color palette.
For the earrings I custom made the sterling silver posts. This was nearly a lesson in futility as trying to figure out how to have the dangles and the post set flower work together was tough. Don't tell the bride (HI SALLY) but I had to re-do the earrings, oh, about 3 times. The second time I had finished all 6 pairs I felt pretty good about the results. Then I started to re-think the post design again one evening last week. I couldn't get the thought out of my mind that there must be a better way. And there was. So Monday morning (of this week) I took them all apart made some modifications on the ear posts and reconstructed all 6 pairs. And once the final one was completed I felt 100% satisfied. Funny how something as little as a sterling silver ear post can cause so much time drain and concern in my life!
The ear post design was not the only challenge for this custom order. My lack of math skills came into play as well. Twice. When figuring the amount of beads needed for both the bracelets and the earrings, I counted and recounted and was still off on my numbers. I, of course, did not realize my mistakes until I was working away. First realization came while making the bracelets. See those little pinky-peach fire polished flower beads? I was about 25 short. Next math deficiency came while creating the earrings the first time. I found out I was about 6 short on the lucite flowers. Luckily I was able to rely on two suppliers to rescue me and my lacking math skills. Let me extend a HUGE thanks to Shipwreck Beads in Lacey WA and triple HUGE thanks to MountainShadowDesigns in Boulder CO. Without you both, I would have been in BIG trouble and wouldn't have made my deadline.
Each bracelet and earring set is packaged in a white gift box with a sage green wrap with white grosgrain ribbon. Each box has a hand-stamped gift card tucked under the ribbon. This sage green wrap and white ribbon packaging differs from my normal packaging. I wanted the color palette to be a cohesive match with the jewelry design. This is, of course, for a wedding!! Everything needs to be perfect. I am not usually ultra anal about most things in my life, but there are times when it comes thru and this is, indeed, one of the times!
The sets are shipping out today. While wrapping everything up I felt just a tad bit sentimental. I thought back about my own wedding day and how truly wonderful it was. Granted it was simple and inexpensive but we had such a blast. We laughed more than cried during the ceremony. Our reception was was held in Paul's dad's backyard on a beautiful spring day. It was truly a fantastic beginning to our married life. Paul and I celebrated our 15 year anniversary at the beginning of this month. I am looking forward to the next 15 years.
I hope for the same for Sally.
Thursday, April 17, 2008
car 30
Up Then Down - the New Yorker
I actually started to panic toward the end of this video... and I was sitting comfortably in my roomy house.
Once again, I found this video on Noah Kalina's blog. I am afraid at one point he will think I have become a crazed fan. He might just be right. Either way, thanks Noah.
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Monday, April 07, 2008
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)