Orchid Heart Pendant Tutorial & Valentine Sales Ideas

Luscious orchid silk ribbon provides an interesting design and adds lots of texture when creatively knotted.  With Radiant Orchid being Pantone's Color the Year, you'll find this trendy hue popping up every where this year.  This quick and easy project can be whipped up in 15 minutes or less!  Create a few heart themed pieces of jewelry and show them to friends and family for early Valentine Sales - or better yet schedule a Valentine themed trunk show the first week of February. Or go bigger and ask a local boutique to host a Valentine trunk show. 

Supplies:
Heart Pendant (Humblebeads)
2 12mm brass jump rings
5 Czech glass flowers (Dream Girl Beads)
5 1" brass headpins
1 Butterfly button (Natural Touch)
2 30" lengths of sari silk ribbon

Finished length optional - I like 18" or 20" for this design.

 Directions:

1. Attach both jump rings to the pendant.  On a headpin string a flower bead, create a simple loop. Repeat 4 times. String the 5 flower dangles on the top jump ring.

2. Fold the 2 lengths of ribbon in half, thread through the front of the top jump ring, pull the four ends through the loop of the ribbon, pull ribbons tight. 

3. On one side of the ribbon strands, tie 3 knots with the two ribbons. Pull the ribbon to firmly to straighten out the knots.  Leave a 1" gap, then make another knot with the two ribbons.  Tie three knots and repeat the pattern until the desired length.

4. At the end of the ribbon, tie on the butterfly button with two tight knots. Trim the ribbon.

5. Repeat the pattern on the other side of the necklace.  At the end tie a knot with a gap large enough for the button to slide through.  Trim the ribbon.

Play around with this idea, do a whole necklace of knots or do 5 knots between each open loops.  Try two different colors of ribbon.

Valentine Sale Ideas:
This quick and easy project can be whipped up in 15 minutes or less!  Create a few heart themed pieces of jewelry and show them to friends and family for early Valentine Sales - or better yet schedule a Valentine themed trunk show the first week of February. Or go bigger and ask a local boutique to host a Valentine trunk show. 

One thing I did back when I was young was to get a heart-shaped box of chocolates (eat said chocolate, I don't recommend that now - save them for later or share them with everyone you know!) and add in new papers (find them in the candy/cake decorating aisle at your local craft store) and then put a pair of earrings into each one. I could carry the box around with me to classes or when I went to playdates, church, etc.  Guys would ask me for a candy, I would open the the box and say I don't have candies but I can help you get something sweet for your girl.  Yes, it worked.  Or I would just ask the women I knew if they'd like to see the sweet earrings I made for Valentine's Day.  We'd joke about them being calorie free treats.  I always sold lots of earrings a week or two before big day.   Make sure you carry around earring cards, small organza bags, business cards and your card reader/receipts to finish the sale. I would keep these designs simple and at one sale price to make things easier.

If you'd like to step up your jewelry sales for 2014 why not take this 20 Sales in 20 Days Challenge put together by the Flourish & Thrive Academy.  This was designed for holiday sales before Christmas, but they would work great for Valentine's or Mother's Day too.

And hey, while you are at it - stop on over to the Flourish & Thrive Academy and sign up for their current video series for their next edition of the Laying the Foundation Course.