Walkin' Down Bead Street

I haven't had a lot of jewelry orders for a while (a nice break really), then suddenly the past couple of days I got seven orders to finish up and get out today. In helping one customer see what I was imagining on a customer order she wanted, I looked through some older pictures of bracelets I've made. I used to be involved with an online boutique group (they made the amazing clothing, I made the jewelry to match), so I used to do a lot more custom orders than I do now. At this point, when I'm sick of a style I pull it off my website or jack the price up high enough that if someone buys it at least I feel like it's worth it. I haven't added anything new to my website for a while and have been sticking with the standards that I know sell. I should really keep up with some of the matching I used to do for different commercial clothing lines, but haven't for a long time.

As I was perusing the bracelet pictures, I saw a lot of my favorites and thought I would share them.


Nice colors, and the big flower with the little one inside made it unique. This one still has a home on my website.


This one is one of my all time favorites. Not overly difficult or fancy, but I love the colors and different bead styles. I would have this up if I could, but alas, I bought some of the beads locally and I can't find them anymore. Maybe I need to find a good substitute.


I've done a few binky clips as well, but have never put them on the website, just on eBay. Here's a fun style.


Another of my all time favorites, maybe even my very favorite favorite. Made for a Halloween or Fall themed group launch. Very pumpkiny, eh?


I got a lot of sales out of this one (it sold in other colors as well). Listed as a fairy bracelet, the little treasure box dangled at the clasp with extra "fairy dust" included. Clever.


This was very cool but very annoying (time consuming) to make. I called it the Let Freedom Ring bracelet because of the bells. Maybe I should try one of these on etsy for a ridiculous price and see if it sells.


When people say things about me being so talented, I tell them that all I do is string beads on wire, which doesn't take talent. My sister on the other hand? Talented with a capital T. Look at these cute cute cows and lambs! Never in a million years could I do that. I tried a little bit on really simple things, made some really ugly beads (the Easter bunnies looked outright evil), then gave her all the beads and paints I bought for it. You can see the results. She rocks.

Playing Around

While I was adding the list of blogs I like to read earlier (there are many more, but these are some I thought others might be interested in), I realized yet again how boring looking my blog is. I'm feeling kind of odd (sort of migrainish or something) though I'm okay just sitting here mostly still, so I decided to do a little jazzing. Nothing too amazing yet, but I had fun making the heading. Can you tell the thingies hanging off the "Still Swinging" are swings? I am so clever. It definitely needs more 'fun stuff,' but we all know that will take more playing.

This month has been supremely busy so far. I feel like every December I spend so much time getting everyone else's Christmas ready that I can't hardly get ours ready. For "fun" I just counted - I've mailed out 30 orders that involved 61 bracelets. Adding the last week of November, it makes it 37 orders and 78 bracelets. I've got 3 orders (12 bracelets) that need to get made and out the door, and 7 other orders (12 bracelets) still waiting for payment or sizing info. This should all be slowing up soon, since people start getting worried about things being mailed in time, as they should.