Blaze of Glory

This necklace would be perfect over the holiday season! I combined Swarovski crystals in copper and a few in pink, with some freshwater pearls all hand wired onto a double link sterling silver chain, and finshed with a very pretty, handcrafted, Bali silver toggle clasp. Because it is so blingy, and full of fire, I just could not resist naming it
"Blaze of Glory"!

A few newer Hot Rocks designs for your viewing pleasure!
This bold bracelet was made using a variety of sterling silver bead shapes, charms and square Swarovski crystals strung onto chain. I added my own hand coiled bead and finished it with a huge Thai silver toggle clasp. his bracelet has a lot of movement and is a ton of fun!
Named "Love Peace and Happiness", for sale in my Etsy shop.

This one is so sweet, I called it "Sugar Mountain"! I combined a very pretty Venetian glass heart, with art glass beads and Swarovski crystals.For sale now in my Etsy shop.

This necklace combines silver, copper, green opal stones and a fantastic Swarovski crystal. This one is called "Penny Lane" On Etsy now.

Great Sales and an award from the Queen!

This weekends, art and craft show and sale was another success, I met some fabulous artists at the venue, and had a great time meeting new clients and selling my jewels! I am glad the seasons shows are all over for now, as I am exhausted, and my housework has been neglected over the past couple of weeks. I thank all my readers for your wonderful words of support and from my last post, it is so nice to have such wonderful friends in the bloggy world! I also received the One Lovely Blog Award from the Queen Speaks. The Queen, has a very entertaining blog, packed with humor, which often sends me laughing. Her posts on family and home life with her teenagers always crack me up! The Queen blogs on crafting, current topics, and life in general. She has a real mixed bag of topics on her blog, and is always a good read.
Here are the rules:
Accept the award, post it on your blog together with the name of the person who has granted the award, and his or her blog link. Pass the award to 15 other blogs that you’ve newly discovered. Remember to contact the bloggers to let them know they have been chosen for this award.

S0, here are the blogs that I have discovered within the last several months, unfortunately there are not 15 that I can say are newly discovered, as I have many older faves that I regularly visit, and there is only so much time in a day! However, here are my 5 newest faves. These are blogs that I now regularly visit and I enjoy them all immensely! In no particular order:

Wii Mommies
(Yes I have a Wii fit that I work out to regularly to, I especially enjoy Golds Gym Cardio Workout) These ladies have fitness and nutrition tips, and real life stories on their struggles with weight loss.

WillOaks Studio
A wonderful jewelry designer, who is also an amazing photographer. Lots of lovely eye candy on this blog!

Duck and Wheel with String
Lins blog is packed full of humor...if you need a good laugh...or even sometimes a good cry, you will always get a great read on her blog! She is one powerful, emotional and talented writer. She also has a very soft side to her as well, as seen in her posts on her backyard froggy pond.

Sweet Bead Studio
Cindy is another talented jewelry designer, and busy mom of four boys, blogging on her jewelry designs and family life. Her beautiful blog is always a joy to visit!

Accent the Party- Party Blog
If you need decor ideas, and party favors for any type of party, celebration or wedding, this is a must to check out. Loads of great info and great pictures on this blog!

Success!

The art show (Beyond Art Marketplace) that I was involved in this past weekend was a super success! I sold a lot of my jewelry, including all 4 of the necklaces that I featured in a recent post, the bracelet featured in the magazine, as well as several other key pieces and far exceeded my sales goal! The show was well organized and promoted and the room was filled were some amazing artists. There were a lot of serious shoppers and the show was well received by the crowd. My feet are sore, and I am quite exhausted after 2 and a half days of selling, however it was well worth the work. The trouble is that I have a second big show coming up this weekend, and I am quite low on stock as I did not anticipate selling quite as much as I did at this show....so guess what I am doing this week? So I will be away from the computer a bit more in the next few days and I apologize in advance to my Entrecard readers, as I may not have as much time to devote to dropping cards this week, but I will do my best! As for now it is back to work!

Jewelry display

Whenever I am preparing for the first art/craft sale of the season, I always like to do a trial run of my display. It makes the process of setting up at the show much quicker when you know what your plan is, and you can see what exactly you need and do not need for props. I like to have different levels on my table to keep things interesting, so one of my mannequin heads is displayed on a shelf that is actually a few inches higher than the table it sits on. Then I have another table that is a bit taller than my long table. Recently, I purchased some new wooden display fixtures, and some little mannequin bust forms for my jewelry, as I wanted to take my booths' image up a level this season, to a more professional appearance. So this week I did my mock set up...sans jewelry of course, with the exception of a few earrings, to try out on my new earring stands. I still have the girls, Betty and Lucy as I call them, as they are attention getters, and add a bit of pizzaz to the whole look! The wooden necklace displays are from an online fixture store, and are great for layering up necklaces. I also bought the tiered bracelet display from there as well. The wooden tray was a bargain from Value Village, that I think I am going to paint a dark brown like the rest of the fixtures. The little mannequin bust forms are from a discount fashion outlet, and my new "earring displays" are actually supposed to be wall mounted racks for displaying art,and are from Ikea! Oh yes, and the tablecloths have been ironed, they look bad in these pics! This display is set up in my living room, and my fireplace in the background is a bit distracting...but hope you can get the idea!

Magazine feature!

On Friday I was featured along with 3 other artists, in the Calgary Heralds' Swerve magazine, regarding the upcoming artisan sale that will be held this weekend. You can see my bracelet that was pictured, in the scan of the article below!

Here is what the article said:

Beyond the Crocheted Tea Cosy

Here are two words you're not ready to hear: Christmas shopping. Take heart, a new artisan marketplace will make it easy on you.

Jacquie Moore, Calgary Herald

Published: Friday, October 30, 2009

If there's one thing Patti Pelkie knows, it's that you and yours don't need another Popsicle-stick reindeer. God bless you, Patti Pelkie. Pelkie is an art lover and former small-business owner who has long been frustrated by what she calls the "hit-and-miss" nature of arts-and-crafts fairs. "I've found you often get Tupperware for sale next to Popsicle-stick crafts or you have the opposite--a stuffy art show." Pelkie decided to find some middle ground by hand-picking 30 local jewelry makers, painters, photographers and fibre and wood artists to sell their wares at the first annual Beyond: An Artisan and Artist Marketplace. The event takes place at the Blackfoot Inn's Crystal Ballroom where parking is free (God bless you, Patti Pelkie); 10 percent of proceeds from ticket sales goes to the In-Definite Arts Society to benefit artists with developmental disabilities. Here's a sampling of what to expect:

1. Can't: Bead it Jewelry designer Susan Stevens makes bracelets, necklaces and earrings inspired by the natural world she sees outside her Bragg Creek home. Her one-of-a-kind pieces combine sterling silver or 14-karat gold with gemstones, Swarovski crystal and lampwork beads hand-hewn by Canadian glass artisans. Prices range from $15 for a pair of earrings to $200 for a necklace.

2. Love Me, Love My Dog Portrait: ACAD class of "about a million years ago" graduate Barb Kowalik is a professional "computer geek" with a long list of commissions for her expressive pet portraits (you're too late to order a Christmas gift; book now for next year). Kowalik also weaves beaded jewelry, as well as paints canvas floor cloths and totems

3. Rattle and Hum: Not every unwanted tree in Calgary goes into the wood-chipper. Local arborists with an artistic bent call cabinetmaker Steven Pulvermacher when they have to cut down poplar, birch, elm and other trees. Pulvermacher turns the wood (literally) into unique bowls, vases and baby rattles. Prices range from $20 for a rattle to $1,000 for bowls and vases.

4. Start Your Engines: Despite the frequent requests she gets for frames oxidized in particular ways for her pieces, University of Alberta industrial-design grad Julie Witten-Land reminds her fans that she "can't control how things rust." Indeed, all the photographer can do is leave a sheet of metal in her backyard and see what happens. The one-of-a-kind frames are part of what makes her Jalopy Collection--detailed shots of classic cars found in B.C. and Alberta--so intriguing. $85, or $75 each if you buy three.

- - -

The first 25 readers to send an e-mail to swervecontests@theherald.canwest.com will receive two tickets to the event. Please put "Beyond" in the subject line and include a daytime phone number.

Beyond: An Artisan and Artist Marketplace runs Friday, Nov. 6 to Sunday, Nov. 8 at the Blackfoot Inn, 5940 Blackfoot Tr. S.E.

www.beyondmarketplace.com.

© Calgary Herald 2009

New necklaces

New Fall/Winter necklaces!

Beyond Artisan Marketplace

If you live in the Calgary area, and would like to go to the Beyond Artisan Marketplace next weekend, I have two VIP tickets ( worth $7.00 a piece) up for grabs for admission! This great show which features several talented local artists and artisans selling their work, takes place Nov 6-8, in Calgary at the Blackfoot Inn. If you are interested in winning these tickets, leave me a comment and I will put all names in a draw, to be drawn tomorrow night at 8:00pm MST.

Swine flu: H1N1

Today Canada rolls out its mass vaccination for the H1N1 virus, or what is more commonly known as the swine flu. The big controversy is whether or not to get vaccinated. From the recent polls, it seems as though our country is evenly split on those who will get the shot, and those who won't. It's a tough decision. Is the vaccination safe? Is this flu thing overblown? What are my chances of getting this? What about the deaths that have occurred...especially those in young people? Apparently Canada is in its second wave of the H1N1 flu, and we have been told the virus will continue to spread rapidly until most of the population gets the shot. I have an 11 year old at home, who is my main concern....what to do? After hearing about the death from swine flu of a healthy young girl in Ontario yesterday, as a parent I am very concerned!
What are your opinions? I would like to hear from Canadians, as well as those from other countries...what has your country been experiencing?

Something for all you jewelry designers out there.....

Yesterday I discovered this amazing jewelry pricing calculator on Laura Brackens' website. Laura is known for her fabulous one of a kind jewelry designs, as well as being the founder of SRAJD. Laura has designed a simple to use Excel spread sheet for jewelry designers, where you input a few numbers and within minutes you have a pricing scenario based on several different situations! Material costs, time spent designing your piece, skill level used to make the item and uniqueness of the design are all factors used in this calculator to come up with a price. The calculator will tell you the following:

1) If you have to sell it for less than this, consider cannibalizing instead

2) The lowest you should ever sell it for (but that means bills are due now!)

3) For advertising, incentive or personal discounts

4) A lower-end price where you would still make a profit and stay in business

5) The average price that is most fair to you and to your customer

6) What you may be able to price it at if you have a strong following

7) The price a store may charge for it once you sell it to them

The Jewelry Pricing Calculator is only $10.00, and Laura guarantees that if you are not happy with it, you can get a full refund! Well I am really happy with mine, I have had alot of fun pricing out some of my new pieces for upcoming shows. You will receive it in an email so it arrives quickly. This is $10.00 well spent, and I highly recommend this wonderful tool if you design and sell jewelry.
Please go here to get info on buying the Jewelry Pricing Calculator from Laura Bracken.