Aventurine Earrings

New Stitch Markers

Dreaming Tree

[Inspired by the Dave Matthews Band]
[This item is SOLD. But we always accept request orders for sold items.]
www.thankewe.etsy.com

Firedancer

[Inspired by the Dave Matthews Band]
[This item is FOR SALE at www.thankewe.etsy.com]

One Sweet World

[Inspired by the Dave Matthews Band]
[This item is SOLD. But we always accept request orders for sold items.]
www.thankewe.etsy.com

New Earrings

Flower Earrings

Made these too.

Lampwork Beaded Earrings!

Bought some Lampwork glass beads yesterday so I could make some earrings. Here they are. I call the pink ones "Princess" earrings, and the others are "Moon" earrings.

Yarn on the Rack

I dyed 10 more skeins of sock yarn yesterday. But, with the rainy weather I can't put them outside, so here they are drying on the rack inside. It takes so much longer when they have to dry indoors. Hopefully they will be ready to start winding tonight and I can list them in our shop.

www.thankewe.etsy.com

Business Cards

I designed my business cards today! Here they are:

Group Posts

I decided to start posting individual pairs of earrings in all the Yahoo Groups I joined. Today I posted an ad for my Sky Lanterns. I think I'll send more ads for other pairs of earrings also.

Advertising

Still trying to get the word out there about my shop. I have joined a bunch of webrings, but as of yet am not getting many visitors. I joined two Shopping Rings today so maybe that will change once I am activated. I have joined many yahoo Groups that allowed advertising for anything on sale. I looked at a few Etsy shops today. I was surprised to see that individuals who sell jewelry making supplies are doing so well. One shop sold something like 6000 items since March of this year. I looked at that shop and have to admit they had great prices on some really wonderful beads! But I have decided to try to hold off on buying alot more supplies until after I start reaching more customers.
I also posted a message on my other Etsy shop, Thank Ewe hand dyed yarn, in order to peak their interest. I did receive an order from that, but am hoping more will follow. I didn't want to send out a large e-mail because I thought that was too soliciting. I definately don't want to annoy our yarn customer base. But, I may make some more sets of stitch markers so that I can join some knitting rings. Thank Ewe gets lots of customers because of my Mom's blog, Knitwit Central, so maybe I can pull some of them in to look at the stitch markers.
Overall, it is going very slowly. Mom warned me it would. It went really slowly for her also. But, one thing about yarn that isn't quite the same as with selling jewelry - there's an actual hobby involved (where as if you buy earrings, you just wear them). Alot more people discuss knitting projects that discuss what kind of earrings they wear.
I have listed the Sterling Silver Cherry Blossom Earrings on ebay. They are item# 230163821085. Thought that might be a way for people to see my products but only 11 people have looked at them in the last 2 days. I think that when the auction is drawing to a close I may attract more people. We'll see.
Keep thinking.... and blogging.....

Lantern Earrings Series {Only $6/ pair}

Simplicity

While looking through other jewelery makers' blogs, I realized something.... my designs are very simple. I seem to be attracted to jewelry that isn't real ornate or complex. The earrings I make reflect this FOR SURE! My taste in jewelry design is very similar to my taste in interior design. I like clean lines. Not a big fan of traditional, antique-ey things. Don't get me wrong, I think they can be beautiful, I just don't care for them myself. I like earrings that never look TOO dressy for a casual outfit, but always look pretty with anything I wear.

Fluorite Earrings

I made two pairs of earrings today. One called "Icicles", which consist of three different shaped crackle-glass round beads, and these Fluorite earrings. I really like them and made myself a similar pair. I wanted to list a few pairs of earrings that were pretty neutral and that you could wear with anything. I photographed these outside... I put them on a leaf so they would stand out more.

Cherry Blossoms

I made these today. Had to go out and buy more head pins, but I love them. Think I'll make myself a pair. They are listed for sale at http://www.emsgems.etsy.com.

Hooray!

Well, I am finally happy with the earwire/pin connection!! I looped the end of the pin and wrapped it! Yesterday when I was searching for tutorials about how to make earrings, there was some mention of wrapping but each time it was said to be much harder than just simply making a loop. Well, I found the loop to be the hardest part, and the wrapping was so much easier (and actually made a better loop this way). It was somehwat difficult to wrap a brass pin as the metal didn't have alot of give to it, but wrapping a Sterling Silver pin was a piece of cake. And... just like magic... my earrings look AMAZING! (sorry for the lack of modesty). I was quite distressed over how to make an earring end connection look good, but now I know how. here's a pic!!

Learning Process

Still trying to get better in the art of jewelry making. Many steps still frustrate me. Trying to make earrings with colors OTHER THAN blue or green is a challenge for me since I am always drawn to those colors. I am learning how to "loop" the ends of the pins, and that is tough. I prefer using crimp beads, but I am new to that also. I guess it just takes alot of practice. I am trying... practiced looping and crimping on more than 20 wires. The problem I see with looping is that each wire will be different, where I am more likely to make uniform crimps. But, the crimp beads are difficult to work with. Hmmmmmm... Better get some sleep and try some more tomorrow.

Em's gEMs - Up & Running!!!

Yay! Got the kinks worked out and my Etsy shop is working again. Currently, I have 8 pairs of Sterling Silver Earrings for sale. Here's a sample.

www.emsgems.etsy.com

Sold!

Yay! Sold my first set of stitch markers today at my Thank Ewe shop! Here they are.
Take a look at www.thankewe.etsy.com!

Stitch Markers

Made a few more sets of stitch markers. This is one of the sets.

www.thankewe.etsy.com

Blue Morning Glory

I planted Morning Glory seeds af several different varieties in the same spot, and now we have huge blue flowers mixed in with glowing dark purple ones. At some point, we will have some magenta colored ones as well. I have put several photos of them on my flickr and people are quite surprised to see the blue ones.

Pansies

While I wait for the issues with Em's gEMs to be resolved, I spend my free time photographing the lovely flowers in our yard. These pansies were planted in a pot and have lasted a very long time. They have inspired me when dyeing yarn (Pansy, Fancy Pansy).

Stitch Markers!!!

While I am working out the problems with Em's gEMs, I have started making stitch markers and listing them on my other Etsy shop: http://www.thankewe.etsy.com/.

They come in sets of four, and fit up to size 7 needles... Perfect for use when knitting socks! {Especially lovely when used with our yarn!! :-)} They are very reasonably priced at just $4.00 per set. This set is my favorite!

Problems

Em's gEMs is experiencing some technical difficulties. All items have been temporarilty deactivated until the issue is resolved. Shouldn't be much more than a few days.

My First Sale!!!!!

Sold my first pair of earrings just a few minutes ago! These are called Blue Lanterns. They are lovely. My very first customer was also purchasing her very first item on Etsy. Very neat!

Pretty 'n Pink

These are the some I made today, and both the earwires and pins are Sterling Silver. I sort of hope no one buys them, so I can keep them. Uh oh.... the truth comes out. This isn't a business venture so much as a HUUUUUUUGE present for myself.

All about Cubes

These are some earrings I made today. They are made of large Fluorite beads (center), blue cube Swarovski crystals, and small green glass beads. The earwires are Sterling Silver. I love these... probably because I am a sucker for the cubes!

Em's gEMs Blog!

I started my own Etsy shop, Em's gEMs, and wanted to also have a blog to post photos of my handmade earrings and to meet other jewelry makers. I am still a newbie, and need some words of wisdom, constructive criticism, and technique improving advice. Plus, I just LOVE looking at jewelry... so the more I get to do of that, the better.
My new Etsy shop features hand made earrings. Mostly, the earrings are Sterling Silver, and I prefer to use natural stones, semi-precious gems, Swarovski crystals, and glass beads. I have always loved nature's little treasures, and I wanted to see if others did too.
There is a very specific reason why I started to sell earrings. A few weeks ago, my Mom and I went out on a shopping "spree". We were in a retail store and there was a lovely pair of Sterling Silver earrings with red Swarovski crystal beads. I loved them immediately. Then I looked at the price and as my jaw hit the floor, I thought to myself, how in the world can these be $35.00!!!??? They were not gold, they were not diamonds, they weren't even more affordable natural gemstones like amethyst or blue topaz! There were just 2 (that's right, only 2) crystal beads, and two small spacers. They were not much longer than an inch. Now, I would NEVER have bought them, but my Mom had money burning a hole in her pocket and after lots of discounts and savings, they were much more reasonable and I got them.
Some of the first pairs of earrings I made were so similar, you could hardly see where there would be a $30.00 difference (I charge $7.00 for mine).