It's an Etsy world

I am addicted to Etsy. It's just such a fun place to go and click around. So many talented artists in one spot, what's not to love. I'm going to offer more one-of-a-kind and limited edition beads there, so check back at my shop often. www.humblebeads.etsy.com

Cherry Blossom Dream Beads
Cherry Blossom Disk Beads, set of 5
Cherry Blossom Lentil Beads

Jewelry Shows

I have been busy filling orders and working on jewelry for a show I did this past weekend. I'm glad I took the chance. We sold a lot of jewelry and enjoyed the market day. Some days I miss doing shows. Jess and I started selling jewelry at shows the first year we were married. We would pay for our living expenses selling jewelry. I remember our first "booth" was a piece of foam core board with fabric wrapped around it set up on an easel. Wow, that seems so long ago. I love meeting artists and seeing what talent is locally grown. I really miss the art shows in the small tourist towns in West Michigan.

I forgot how much I love to make jewelry, sometimes I get so busy making beads. I have 2 lines of jewelry that I would like to start producing and selling again. I need more hours in day!

The photo above is part of our booth display from this past weekend. That's Jesse's jewelry on the books. He was so excited to sell his pieces.

So now the big question, do I sign up again for next month? It's always a gamble. A gamble that it doesn't rain, a gamble that the right crowd will be there. A gamble that we won't all sweat to death in June, although the chances of that are pretty high here in Texas. Hard choice. I guess the question is, do I feel lucky?

esdesigns

I am in love with this ring:

It was created by Beth at esdesigns. Her work is understated and beautiful.

I bought a ring in Costa Maya that is a huge chunk of hammered silver. It would go perfect with this one. In fact, this ring reminds me of our day in Costa Maya. My mom and I walked along the shore, with our feet in the ocean and then we sat at a table with an umbrella. The chairs were right at the shoreline, our feet were kissed by waves while we sipped on drinks with paper umbrellas. It was a little slice of heaven.

My birthday is August 11th. Hmm, I do have family members that read my blog, not that I'm giving out hints or anything like that. (p.s. I may imagined the paper umbrellas.)

Humblebeads on Etsy

Humblebeads now has jewelry for sale on Etsy.

www.humblebeads.etsy.com

test photos

Here are some test photos of Jess' collage pendants. Let me just say, I am so in love with these, I can't even begin to tell you! Click on the images to see them up close. They are little bits of poetry and philosophy with images and text from art history books. Both of these have my beads incorporated into the designs. We are working on an Etsy shop for him and hope to have it up and running this week.

Bead Show Success

The show last week was great. I sold a nice amount of beads, kits, kits and more kits. Sundry bracelet kits sold out. I had one-of-a-kind beads in bright new color combinations. Well, bright for me anyway. I'm going to do more bead shows in the Southwest Texas area. It was fun and gave me the show bug, so I'm also going to try my hand at a market day again.

I may regret it, but you never know. It's an all handmade show, but it leans toward the country crafts, stuff-on-a-stick kind of sale. I've done the show off and on since we've moved to Texas and it's always a gamble. Some days I sold tons, other times I smiled and twirled my thumbs. I'm up for gamble.

I've been designing more jewelry. I love copper and brass findings and have a new collection of jewelry that I recently created. I'll try to take more photos soon. OHHH and wait until you see what Jess has been making. All I can say it that I'm married to a genius.

Bead Dream Entries

Okay, their loss is your gain. Here are my rejected Bead Dream entries. Yes, I did pout. Can't wait to see the winners this summer.

I've been making beads like a machine over here. I am the bead-inator.

More on that later.

Hey, don't worry if you try for something and get a no, it's not the end of the world. Just try again, try something else or move on to bigger and better things.