Fashion Hangover...

I discovered some beautiful freshwater pearls at the bead store this past week, and these are the earrings that resulted! I love the pale peach, pinkish color with the silver...so pretty!
I just put them up on Etsy tonight, so click the picture if you want to see the listing! :)

As many of you know, last night was Fashion's Night Out, and we had a special cocktail event at my store on Broadway til 10. Today, most of the designers (myself included!) were definitely feeling the after effects of all the Prosecco we drank last night... But it was so worth it!! I've never gone out for Fashion's Night Out before, so last night was a great first experience. My store is a few blocks North of the craziness of SoHo--it was amazing last night to look down the street and see hoards of people everywhere. I had no idea how big this event really was! So I'm glad that for my first one, I got to participate :) And a big thank you to all my fabulous friends who came to support!! Have a good night everyone! I will be sitting on my couch tonight, drinking lots of water...

12 Lions Ladies Night!

Last night, I was supposed to go straight home to set up for the jewelry party I'm having later tonight. But I ended up getting sidetracked in a major and really fun way by the 1st official 12 Lions Ladies' Night, hosted by the lovely Rose Berger of Yoga Twins Jewelry. You can see a sampling of the delicious things that we ate for dinner--spicy peanut noodles, heirloom tomato salad, fresh figs from someone's backyard, kale salad, and spiced potatoes. I thought I was going to stay less than an hour, which quickly turned into four! It was just so nice to all sit down at a table together, without having to worry about watching our shops at the same time. I was the only asshole who didn't bring a dish to share--but I will bring something extra delicious to make up for it for next time! And there better be a next time, because this was really fun. It's so nice to get an interesting and fun group of women together!! It happens all too rarely in my life--so this was a really special night.

Then I went home around midnight and did a drunken jewelry party set up at my house! But luckily everything at my house really does look great (I double checked it this morning!). So I am excited--and ready, finally!--for my party tonight. Wish me luck!!

I Am A Mess

I sometimes think that I am the messiest person in the world. Or at least the most unorganized. I have always been this way--I remember as a child shoving things under my bed in a lame attempt to make things appear "clean." I mean, I do clean my house--I do laundry, clean the bathroom, do the dishes, and so on. But I am really, really terrible about keeping the things that I own organized. If I need to find my check book? It takes twenty minutes while I dig through piles of crap. All of my jewelry supplies? Well, you see the evidence in the picture on this page! It is bad. The most pathetic part is that it's not like I don't try--I really do try! It's just that over time, the things I own creep back to their "natural" state, which is piles and piles of mess. This is going to be my project for the next few days--organizing all of my stuff, particularly my jewelry supplies. I have my jewelry party coming up on Saturday, and I really want everything at my house to be clean and put away so the only thing that people are stating at is the jewelry! Wow, do I have a lot of work to do.... It will probably be embarrassing, but I will post a before and after of my home studio once it's clean. (And then I just have to keep it that way!!!)

Anyone have some good tips for staying organized?? I could certainly put them to good use!

Good Jewelry Karma!

Some days are more challenging at my store than others, which is something that I'm sure anyone in the retail business can easily relate to. Actually, I think that anyone in any kind of business can probably relate to that. Particularly in any field that involves interacting with the general public on a regular basis! It's so easy for negativity to start to form over time--the day after day grind of long hours, few customers, rude people, slow sales, and so on, can quickly become a dark cloud above your head. Last week, I finally had enough of it. I had started to feel like a depressing broken record--always talking about how slow it was at the store, how worried I was about bad sales numbers, freaking out over how I would be able to pay the rent, etc. I certainly did not solve all these problems over the past week, but I did decide that I am not going to stress out about these things anymore. I am just not going to do it. It is too hard and too unpleasant, in addition to being just plain counterproductive. I instead decided to start really focusing on all the things that I actually can do to help my business. And freaking out is definitely not one of them!

Instead, I've been spending a lot of my recent time at the store working online. I've been reading business articles, talking to other business owners, looking for new ways to promote myself, etc. It feels good, because I actually feel productive, no matter what is happening on any one day at the store. And the truth is--it's early August. A month from now, many more people will be out shopping. But for now, there are other things I can focus on to help me and my business get better. And I can put all of these unhelpful worries aside.

Life is more enjoyable this way, too. I also believe--without sounding too much like The Secret here--that good energy does attract good things. I've been trying to go out of my way to be more generous than usual lately too, as a challenge to myself--when money is short, I tend to want to hang on pretty desperately to what I have. But I heard a quote once about it being better to have an open hand than a clenched fist, and I think that is very true. So that is my personal challenge to myself--a challenge that started after I did a free jewelry repair for a woman down the street last week. I don't usually repair jewelry, much less for free. But she was nice, and she loved this pair of earrings that she'd had for awhile, and I was able to make them as good as new for her with less than twenty minutes' work. It felt good to make her day. So I am going to try to keep all this positivity going! And that is my plan for the month of August :)

Anyone have any good business tips or ideas for me??? What do you do to stay positive?? Thanks everyone and have a good night!

A New Use For Jump Rings!

I apologize for the poor picture quality, but I wanted to post about this necklace today, so what you see here is the best I could come up with from the store! The beautiful and talented Rose Berger (of Yoga Twins jewelry--you can see an example of her work HERE) gave me thousands of bronze jump rings a few weeks ago, and I've been trying to think up something to do with them ever since. Rose makes some beautiful chainmaille pieces in her store, and chainmaille also happens to be an excellent way to use up lots and lots of jump rings! But my style is a little bit "messier"--I really wanted to make something funky, that was also neutral enough for every day.

And this is what I came up with! This necklace took forever to make the first time I did it--I ended up making a second one the next day, and I got my time down to 90 minutes that time. A "quick" project it is not, but I think it's really beautiful, and I also think I will be keeping one for myself! This necklace has been made in mixed metals--bronze as well as copper, but now I am expanding my jump ring horizons. I really want to make a silver version, and maybe even a gold one too. I did end up with a huge, fat blister on one of my fingers from all the opening and closing of jump rings, but it was totally worth it. Just the price you pay for jewelry sometimes!

Jewelry for Your (and my!) Hands

Can you tell that it's been another slow day at my store??? I have been creating a lot of new pieces lately, and I have been especially interested in thinking up some fun new ideas for hand jewelry. This is partially selfish--I really wanted something cool to wear on my hand today that was more interesting than a usual ring or bracelet, so I made myself something! Well, something for my right hand--on my left hand, I'm wearing one of the cool double rings that I made yesterday. Oh, the perks of being a jewelry designer...

This was also a good project because I have had tons of extra chain laying around for months now, just waiting to be put to good use. Some of that chain finally got used up today in the creation of a few of these ring bracelets. I am currently wearing the one above, that's made of turquoise and brass. It's super comfortable and looks really pretty. Not too delicate, not too high maintenance. I am totally keeping it for myself!

Also, I really wish that there was a better name for these things--"ring bracelet" sounds awkward, but I can't figure out a good alternative. I have seen them sold as "slave bracelets" before, but that is literally the most offensive name for a piece of jewelry I have ever heard. I am always going to err on the side of not using the word "slave" to describe any of my jewelry, EVER. I guess I am stuck with "ring bracelet" until something better comes along..... I'm not sure whether I will add these to either my boutique or online store, but for now I at least have two new pieces for myself!