My First Jewelry Home Show...

I recently hosted my first jewelry home show. Still new to the idea of inviting customers into my home, I sent out a small number of invitations to my regular customers and neighbors who have purchased from me in the past. 

I scheduled it for Saturday December 1st from 1-4 pm. I thought that having a home show the first weekend of December was perfect timing; close enough to Christmas so that people are ready to start buying gifts, but not so close that they have other holiday events lined up.

This is the invitation I sent...

Maybe a little fancier than necessary, but as some of you know I am a packaging geek! I am a strong advocate for beautiful packaging, right down to cards and invitations! Plus, it sets a tone for both the event and my jewelry.
I included a 10% off discount and also wrote "feel free to bring a friend".
Most people did, which was great as I now have some wonderful new customers!

This is the first view attendees had upon entering.

 We live in a unique five floor townhouse, where each room is on a different level, so I decided that the living room would be the most inviting room to display my jewelry. We rearranged our furniture a bit and ended up with a really nice "retail" space. My husband even found a "fireplace" on Netflix to play on our TV! It helped add some nice atmosphere to the room. The guests loved it!

My tables always have touches of nature-it is my signature style!

 It is always a good idea to serve refreshments at a home show. 

It is the little touches that make an event memorable and fun!

My amazing husband prepared all of the food. He spent the night before cooking and baking! 

He also purchased some gourmet cheese and crackers from Whole Foods.

Here, he is putting the macaroons that he baked onto a platter. Mmmm.

Glassware and coffee cups for organic brewed iced tea and fresh roasted, ground and brewed coffee (Brenton's specialty). We used glassware as opposed to plastic cups because we felt it added more sophistication to the event. Again, it is the little touches that make all the difference.

He also made two types of dips for the bruschetta;  roasted red pepper and artichoke with olive. Tasty!

His chocolate dipped macaroons-these went fast! 

While I expected a home show to be a bit more relaxed, giving me time to talk with my customers, that really wasn't the case! Within half an hour, I was ringing up sales non-stop. I did my best to talk with customers as I was writing up their sales slips and packaging their purchases. I do know that everyone was having fun! My husband commented "those ladies were having a ball trying on your jewelry and complementing one another". I love that there was a "girls day out" vibe going on! It really was a fun afternoon and I feel honored to have been in such wonderful company!

It was a very successful first home show. I got to interact with my customers in a comfortable environment, had a lot of fun and had a great day sales-wise. I have already made plans to make it an annual event!

12 Days Of Christmas...

My packages for the 12 days of Christmas bead/pendant/component swap, hosted by 

Lorelei Eurto, have been received by all eleven recipients! Here is a preview of what I sent them...

I hope everyone likes what I created for them! 

Find out on December 29th, day 5, when my packages will be opened.

Art Bead Scene Ornament Blog Hop!

Today is the reveal day for participants of the Art Bead Scene Ornament Blog Hop.

The concept was to create an ornament using handmade components or art beads. 

I created the three green and gold links with polymer clay, added in some crystal for a bit of 

holiday sparkle and finished the ornament with a hook that I made from 20 gauge brass wire.

I recently started working with polymer clay. I took a class a few months ago at Art Bliss with Christine Damm and was instantly hooked! I thought this blog hop would be the perfect opportunity to work on some of the skills I learned in her class. I definitely see more polymer clay in my future! Thank you to Christine and Heather Powers of Humblebeads, also the host of this ornament blog hop, for inspiring me!

Please visit the other participants to see what they created...

Art Bead Scene
Humblebeads
Treasures Found
Song Beads
Viki O'Dell
Sue Beads
Modern Nature Studio
Diane Hawkey
Suburban Girl Studio
Jen Judd Rocks
Ellie's Bijoux
Island Girl's Insights
Life By The Seat Of My Pants
Too Aquarius
Shelley Graham Turner
Artfully Ornamental
Charis Designs Jewelry
Harrison Hollow Designs
Silver Nik Nats
Bead Soup Mix
Toodles and Binks
Bead Recipes
Play Sculpt Live
BeeTree by M.E.
Billi RS Rothe
A Half-Baked Notion
Kimis Jewelry and Gifts 

Northern Virginia Bead Society Bead Show.

A few weeks ago, I attended the Northern Virginia Bead Society bead show. My main focus of attending this show was to take a polymer clay bead shapes workshop with Katrina Marsh Sarlin. Before my class started, I decided to do a little bead shopping...

Colorful lampwork glass beads made on the island of Java. 

Silk cord and fine silver plated copper leaves.

The Bead Goes On

Kazuri beads from Off the Beading Path.

 Gorgeous lampwork beads created by Kathryn Lagassey.

More gorgeous lampwork...Jennifer Fahnestock. 

Once it was time for my workshop, I headed over to the classroom area. I was greeted by the lovely instructor, Katrina, and handed a bag of supplies. She explained that they were included with the workshop fee-woot!

I thought this class would add to the knowledge I learned in Chritine Damm's class, Color Your World, at Art Bliss. I have been wanting to work with polymer clay for a few years now and these classes were the perfect introduction!

Vicki Holiday and I work on perfecting our bead shapes. 

The ultra sweet and talented Cindy Wimmer, who also signed up for them workshop,  took this photo of us!

These are the beads I created. I still need to paint them.

I found out about the bead show and workshop through the Art Bliss newsletter. If you aren't already signed up for the newsletter, head on over to the art Bliss website. If I hadn't, I would have never known about this bead show and a girl can never have too many beads!

A Colorful Walk Through The Woods

Sunday, Brenton and I headed to the George Washington National Forest in Strasburg, Virginia to hike the Signal Knob Trail. It was a beautiful autumn day. We started our hike later in the afternoon as that is the best time of day for lighting (at least for a photographer anyways). The trail was extremely rocky, making it a slower hike, but that only gave us more opportunities to witness the natural beauty of the forest. Here is a collaboration of our photos...

What a wonderful way to spend a weekend afternoon!

Quiet Waters Arts and Music Festival 2012

Last weekend my husband and I headed to Annapolis, Maryland for the Arts and Music Festival at Quiet Waters Park. I was one of 65 artists exhibiting. We stayed at the Taylor House Bed and Breakfast less than a mile away from the park. It is a gorgeous home set on beautiful land, owned by an energetically friendly woman named Sophia. If you are spending time in Annapolis, this is a lovely place to stay. You will feel like you are at home!

This was my second year participating in the festival. I spent several weeks preparing for it. As some of you know, I had set a goal of creating 80 new pieces of jewelry, at a rate of 20 per week. I actually surpassed this goal!

Here a few of the pieces I created...

Ceramic bead by Elaine Ray. Ceramic leaf by Shaterra Clay Studio.

Lampwork beads by Sue Beads

Ceramic starfish pendant by Firefly Design Studio.

Once I completed the jewelry, I then worked on earring cards. 

I created the cards with recycled kraft cardstock and stamped them with various tree and autumn stamps. 

It is the same cardstock that I use to create my price tags. Creates nice continuity.

This really helped the earrings stand out on the tables and they make a really nice presentation for each pair! 

I had been getting requests for jewelry for little girls, so I decided to make some pretty hair pins with resin flowers. Turns out that my customers liked them more for themselves! The cards that the pins are on were made from cardstock and scrapbook paper. They were actually quite fun to create!

 A beautiful sunny weekend at Quiet Waters Park...

 All ready for day one!

 My amazing husband helps me at every show! He loads, unloads, carries all of the heavy items and even helps me set up the booth. We each take a table and set it up. He did the table on the left and I set up the one to the right.  

I have proudly given him the titles of "Tech Support" and "Creative Director".

One of the fun aspects of having a booth is the artistic expression that goes into it's design!

I purchased these beautiful wood bowls at The Old Luckettes Store in Lucketts, Virginia. 

What a great find and perfect addition to my booth!

I really enjoy creating a unique space for my customers to browse in.

I had a steady stream of people in my booth for most of Saturday. 

While we were quite busy, it gave me the opportunity to meet some really wonderful people! Each of them commented on how much they liked my booth and the displays. Several asked to purchase them! It is such an honor to hear those compliments and very rewarding to create a space that people enjoy being in!

 Getting ready for day two!

Some of the other artists at the festival...

 My neighbor at the festival, Claudine Intner.

 Aimo Hill, a watercolor and oil painter from Annapolis.

 Mary Daugherty creates handbags from recycled leather garments.

 Once again, we had a gorgeous view from our booth!

We were very fortunate, not only to have beautiful weather but also have a successful weekend of sales. I sold 65 pieces of jewelry! As most of you who exhibit at arts festivals and craft shows know, you really can't predict how it will go. You can only hope for the best!

The Winner of My Creative Process Giveaway...

Some of the essential tools that I keep close by are inspiring references such as books and magazines. I also always have a note book to jot down ideas and a sketch book with colored pencils to help bring those ideas to life! So to share a little of my creative process, I am giving away a large sketch book, a set of Crayola colored pencils, a notebook that will be personalized with your initial along with the Fall issue of Jewelry Stringing magazine (one of my favorite resources for inspiration).

The winner of my Creative Process giveaway is:

Backstory Beads!

Congratulations!!!

Please contact me with your mailing address so I can get your creative goodies in the mail!

This was my first time using the True Random Number Generator. Normally I go old school with writing names on folded paper and randomly selecting from a box but as I am preparing for an arts festival next weekend, time is of the essence! I have learned that this method is just as much fun and a lot faster!