Treasury

The Bronwen earrings (bottom left-hand corner) made it into an Etsy treasury.

Yellow

Because it's summer, and because it's such a happy color, here are some pretty yellow finds from Etsy shops.

rosebud earrings by PrettyParis

flower ring by VieModerne

clutch purse by Oktak

watercolor painting by Karen Faulkner

rose hair pins by Made With Clay and Love

I am so in love with this dress by Carol Hannah

Treasury

I made it into another Etsy Treasury! This time, Geillis joins others in a collection of verdigris critters. This Treasury expires on Saturday at 6pm.

New at the shop

I had the hardest time photographing this new pair of Adelaide earrings because the sun would wreak havoc on the glass brios, making them look almost black (or at the least, opaque). But in reality they're about as clear and transparent as you can get. I imagine them either worn by a bride to her spring wedding, or by a wedding guest in a bright yellow dress.

Dreaming of April

I absolutely love this dress by Econica. Gorgeous shade of green, much like newly sprung grass.

New header design

You may already have noticed my new header design! I was craving something really pretty for the blog and stumbled, quite by fortunate accident, on Vanessa Warren of ButterflySparks Designs. I fell instantly in love with this design, which also works for me because it still lets me include a picture for marketing purposes.

Vanessa was great to work with and I can't recommend her enough if you need graphic design projects. Her response and turnaround times were super fast, her rates were very reasonable, and I love the fact that she cites Anthropologie as one of her inspirations. A designer after my own heart. Lastly, she created a matching Etsy shop banner for me - check it out!

Hope you like it!

Discovered by Susan

What a week! Lots of little things combined with several big things and before I knew it, the weekend had arrived and I hadn't posted anything for Twilight Tuesday. What travesty!

The weather this weekend promises to be simply gorgeous - sunny and in the 60s - which is a happy change from the high of 27 degrees we had on Friday (no wonder people are getting sick with all this crazy temperature changes). I'm looking longingly out my window though because Mr Hazel has decreed that I must gather up all paperwork from bead purchases for the year and calculate my total expenses and revenue so he can complete our taxes by the end of the weekend. I know it must be done, but the sunshine outside is luring me to rebel.

Check it out - Susan from Susan's Greetings featured my shop's Susan bracelet on her blog on Friday. I happily return the free publicity.

Butterfly bracelet

I have a newly-listed goody at the shop, the Harlow bracelet. Made of ivory bone butterfly and pale green chrysoprase nuggets - check her out!

Also, one of my favorite artists, Betsy Carr of Foundling, was featured on Etsy. I love her work and try to check out her blog often. Her shop is chock full of jewelry and accessories with a decidedly vintage flavor - I've bought a pair of her red poppy bobby pins in the past and they are absolutely adorable.

Hope you are all staying warm on this chilly winter's day!

One year anniversary!

Today is the one year anniversary of my Etsy store, and I wanted to take the opportunity to send a huge thanks to all my customers and supporters and blog friends for a wonderful and successful first year! 66 total sales, not including custom orders, is 66 more than I was expecting!

Don't forget free shipping on all items at the shop from now until January 8.

Wishing all of you the best for a healthy, happy, and prosperous 2009! Happy New Year!

Free shipping

Tomorrow, New Year's Day, is my one year anniversary on Etsy (or Etsyversary, if you will). To celebrate this momentous occasion, I will be offering free shipping at my shop for one week (January 1 to January 8) on all orders to anywhere in the world. This offer is for USPS First Class mail and includes delivery confirmation.

So take advantage of the promotion and treat yourself to some much-deserved new year bling!

Guess what arrived

My Twilight necklace from 2dy4, in the mail, a few weeks ago. I love! I wore it to my work Christmas party and everyone wanted to know what it meant, and who Edward was. So of course I told them. Ad nauseum. In minute detail.

I made it into a Treasury!

Check it out - the Laura necklace made it into an Etsy Treasury! This is the first Treasury I've ever been in. Inclusion in the treasuries is great because the powers-that-be from Etsy often pick out items from them to be featured on the front page.

This one is a CREST Treasury titled Crumbs on the Forest Floor, and it will expire at 6:31 am on Saturday, December 6, so take a look while you can. And make sure to check out the other cool items in the Treasury by fellow members of the CREST team!

Twilight Tuesday

Today is an Etsy-related Twilight Tuesday. I did all the hard work for you and scoured Etsy for some handcrafted Twilight swag, and found many things - quite a few of which are extremely creative - that my fellow Etsy artists have made. Below are some of my favorites.

For starters, I really wanted a necklace and settled on this one by 2dy4. I had it customized to say "Team Edward." I should be getting it soon!
I also like this tile pendant by Vanity Designs that says "Edward Cullen Prefers Brunettes".

Twilight bookends by Patreska Papers:

A really cool "Alice Cullen" necklace by Laniebeth.

A "La Tua Cantante" pendant from New Moon by Annielou Designs.

This amazing photo charm bracelet by Shadesongs.

I also really like this pendant by Sumner2 that lists all four titles of the books in the saga. According to the description, Stephenie Meyer has this necklace.

Another charm bracelet, this time with text from the book by Lilbellagirl.

Bobby pins by Designs By Appletree.

This one cracked me up! Shirt by Scream Beauty:

And lastly, a new twist on the classic World War 2 poster by Janey Garnet, and, at a guess, quite possibly Mr Hazel's favorite:

Shop announcements

I am super excited to announce that the Alice ring has sold - on Black Friday, no less!

Also, the Lily earrings are back in stock if you fancy having a couple of adorable owls adorning your ears.

I made a bunch of new items for the shop that are waiting to be photographed and listed, so stay tuned!

And lastly, I am off to the bead store tomorrow to look for stones for a custom order. I have some ideas floating in my head, but it will depend on what I can find tomorrow.

Have you started your Christmas shopping yet?

Recent sales

Thank you!

I also had another wedding inquiry from my cousin's friend for six bracelets, but unfortunately the turnaround time did not work out with my schedule. It would have been a fun order to do!

And if you get a chance, hop on over to Paperback Musings for a trio of book memes. Alissa, Karmela, and I are still in the midst of our current reads, so there have not been any book reviews posted as of yet. We swear we're usually not this slow!

Blue page

The Etsy front page was so pretty yesterday with its blue color theme that I took a screen shot.

Of course, this reminds me that I remain bitter over the fact that I've never gotten on the front page yet. It occurs pretty much by random happenstance, and even if you do get on, the chances of catching it on time are rather slim since the front page changes several times an hour. This means I have to be more obsessed than usual in checking Etsy on the off chance that my shop will be there.

An Etsy seller can dream...

On their way to Philly

The big order of the "Leslie" earrings are finished, packed, shipped, and are currently on their way to Philadelphia and to the ears of their new owners. I had a very tight turnaround time on these babies so I am relieved to usher them on their way. Thanks again to Jennifer for supporting my shop, and I hope you have a gorgeous wedding!

I have several projects currently on my plate awaiting attention. If you're one of my customers waiting for a piece of Hazel Designs bling, it should be coming your way soon!

First Blogoversary!

First, my most recent sales!


Second, today is my first blogoversary! Whoo hoo! I was looking at my very first post that I wrote a year ago today and marveling at how far I've come in a year. Most telling in my growth? My photography skills - just compare the awful, awful photos I took during those first few months of blogging and you'll know what I mean.

The goal when I started my blog was, first, to motivate me to keep producing so I would be able to open my Etsy store. The second was to catalog my progress through pictures and descriptions. The third was to promote my work and store. Blogs are a great marketing tool, apparently. And along the way, I wanted to keep a log of the other adventures that came along for the ride.

So to all of my readers, customers, family and friends, thanks as always for your support!

I've been featured!

This morning I received a wonderful surprise - Sydnei of Simply Sentimental sent me an Etsy convo saying she had featured the Camille earrings on her blog!

Check out her wonderful write up here. Also if you get a chance, check out the rest of the blog as it features wonderful items from other Etsy artists.

Thank you so much, Sydnei!

Sold!

These are the latest pieces that have sold. My sales are still pretty far between that I get really excited when I make a sale - and I mean really excited.

So thank you, ladies!

This also means that to-date, $15 will be going toward AmeriCares, plus another $15 in matching funds from Hazel Designs.