New Pictures

The top photo is a bracelet I created for the July Secret Garden Challenge of the Etsy Beadweaver's Team. I was running out of beads for the base of the bracelet and had difficulty finding a new supply. So I put it aside for a while. Then I realized I didn't have a gold filled three strand clasp. After that the Muse abandoned me. I knew I wanted a lacy edge but only had delica beads and I usually use smaller charlottes or size 15 seed beads. After a time I settled on using the delica beads, but wanted smaller 24 kt gold plate tiny seeds; I went into shock at their price! Got the best price available (almost $20 for a little tube of beads) and proceeded to finish it, not realizing I made a pattern with the transparent pink and blue beads! Guess the Muse had her own plan!

The other two bracelets are my traditional right angle weave bracelets done in Swarovski white pearls which I always pair with silver. One has Swarovski crystal ab bicones with the pearls.

These bracelets need the black background, and I will be making a better prop to pose them on. Still working on the lighting, too. There are some light sapphire bracelets and a peach bracelet and earrings that are at the photo editing stage. Light sapphire is one of the "colors" for December birthdays, so they will be added to my shop soon.

I've got a Black Friday Etsy special on some of my items going on at least thru Monday. Other specials will follow.

Coupons, Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Free shipping SALES

Etsy is rolling out new features including coupon codes. In gratitude for my life I have created a 10% off coupon for my blog readers. It is "thanks10". Valid through Thanksgiving Day on sales in the U.S. The discount is on everything listed in my shop. http://www.krdesigns11.etsy.com/

I've been distracted with trying to come up with inexpensive items for my art spree and the etsy black friday/cyper monday/ free shipping/ coupon mania. I didn't think artists put their work "on sale" but "for sale". I truly try to reasonably price my work appropriately without a cushion for crazy sales or to take advantage of the buying public. The money from sales goes toward buying more supplies so I can create more items. It's not part of big corporate profits or values that go up and down mysteriously like the stock market. The debt that I incur to finance my business, is my personal debt. My work is very labor intensive. I do my best to create something that will be useful for a long time.

I've been reading an interesting book called Cheap, The High Cost of Discount Culture by Ellen Ruppel Shell. I'm only on page 75, so I'm not writing a book review. The "C" has a slash through it to make it look like a cent sign. It was available at my local Borders. It has a large section of Notes. I'll randomly quote one comment citing source for something in the initial Notes to Readers. "with cheap stuff we may have forgotten we own: Acccording to the Self-Storage Association, a Virginia-based trade group with more than six thousand members, one in ten United States households rented self-storage units in 2007, up from one in seventeen in 1995. Nearly sixty thousand storage facilities in the U.S. satisfy that demand, annually generating $20.1 billion in revenue." That's $20 BILLION a year!

I really hope you save your money to buy something you really will cherish and love to own. I really don't want to and won't make something that you will put in a self-storage unit and forget that you own.

I'm working in white and light colors which need photo retakes. More pictures soon, I promise.

Lapis Blue

The change from daylight savings time in the fall always makes me a little blue which inspired me to list this cuff bracelet and earrings in my etsy shop and to share them here. I will be adding more blue items in my shop.

I love lapis blue, cobalt blue, sapphire blue, any shade of blue. I think it is the favorite color of most people. These items are bead woven in right angle weave, with the earrings in circular right angle weave. It was quite a trick to get the beads on both sides of the base; I bent and broke more than a few needles. I just needed to make the base a little larger and then fill in with tiny seed beads to hide the spaces between the beads. The cuff has size 15 charlotte lacy edging on it, my favorite part to do. I wish I made it smaller -- it fits a 7.5 inch wrist, not mine! Somewhere there is a woman who is the perfect fit for this cuff bracelet. Are you that person?

Where Women Create

I want to introduce my readers to Debbie Egizio who is a mixed media artist and was a classmate in a collage class at my local community college more than a decade ago. She is younger than I am and has explored many different avenues, some of which I am envious. She worked in a local shop which was filled with silk flowers and designs, and at this time of year would have the most wonderfully decorated Christmas trees...a most magical place. A lot of it really wasn't my style, and I couldn't afford to purchase much, but I would go there and get lost in my day dreams. I miss that store.

Before I knew what blogging was, her newsletter told of having a page of her work in Artful Blogging, so I went to the bookstore to see it. Her latest newsletter tells of being featured in Where Women Create. http://www.stampington.com/wherewomencreate/ in the current, Nov/Dec/Jan 2011 issue. This magazine I purchased. There are 8 pages to her article; lots of photos. Looking is a way to spark your creativity, no matter what your craft interests are. You may wish to explore the where women create blog. They support handmade!

There are sneak peek previews to the article on Debbie's sites. To better acquaint you with Debbie, you can visit her website http://www.thebeatofmyart.com/ and, of course, her blog http://www.debbieegizio.blogspot.com/ She is currently teaching at North Central College in Naperville, Illinois. If you're in the Chicago area, you may be able to see her in person at one of her shows.

Beading Contest

I entered my Purple Orchid Woven Free Form Choker in a beading contest for using Swarovski pearls sponsored by Bello Modo.

I order a lot of my items from them because they have the best shipping time and it's free. They have Sunday specials when you sign up for their newsletter (usually once a week plus Sunday). Their prices are competitive. I order small quantities when I run out of something needed to finish an item. They introduce items, crafty things, too, and are always getting something new. Check them out at http://www.bellomodo.com/

The contest is at http://wildfireapp.com/website/6/contests/71235/voteable_entries/10000911

Please vote. You may want to enter their next contest!