Sunday, December 20, 2009

Now Hiring: Personal Assistant

No snow for me. Not that upset, since winter is an over rated season IMO. Not really necessary, other than to piss you off, mess up your car, and cause lots of knee and elbow injuries. The whole thing is really a marketing tool for the dairy, wheat, and salt industries. Tell me that the threat of a snowflake on your local news channel doesn't create a run on bread and milk, and then the roads get covered in salt or brine, starting 2 days before? Exactly, think about it. The weather did force me to stay indoors and work on some necklaces. Oh, and it forced hot cocoa down my throat. Those extra marshmallows were pure evil.

If you read the blog, you know guy does the photography of my pieces. I create, and he does the rest. This time of year his primary job gets a bit hectic, so there has not been the time to get the photos set up, taken, edited, and posted. There are at least 10-12 pieces, many with earrings, that are on deck and ready to go. So, that means learning how to photograph my pieces. Sounds easy, doesn't it? But there are lightboxes, and shutter speeds, angles, tripods, and editing software thingies to deal with. I, to put in mildy, do NOT have the patience of a saint. Is that the sound of guy chuckling ?? He doesn't even know what I'm blogging about, its that bad. The game plan so far will be to have creative days, and posting days, and bonbon days. The main reason guy was doing the photography is, well, he's good at it, but also to keep me from getting bogged down in things other than creating. So, setting aside time for each task will probably be the best and most sanity-keeping way to get it all done. It can be difficult to keep to a schedule when you are working from home, so does anyone have a system to get it all done and not go crazy? Maybe a big dry erase board, or paper planner with my days marked out. There also has to be time set aside for housekeeping, and time for just me. I don't ask for much, do I?

Thursday, December 10, 2009

Family Eyes

Brrr, its starting to feel like December, even here in the south. Now, anything below 75 degrees and the whining begins, but it will be in the 20's soon. So how am I coping? I headed straight for the local bead store, of course!

I stocked up on some things that were needed to finish a few projects that have been lying around, so that was a necessary purchase. But! They had a 50% table! And pretty new sparkly things! In orange! And pink! Orange has been my latest obsession, so a strand of orange beads on sale was a no-brainer. Pink I just love, but can't seem to work it into a design I like that isn't too twee. This pink would go perfectly with some unfinished rough quartz we picked up on our last trip, which is white with a hint of pink. The rough texture of the unfinished white quartz and the smooth shiny tiny pink quartz beads will go excellent together, IMO. Plus, now I know that they are having a huge Boxing Day Sale. Important info to have.

The holidays are coming up, so of course most of my projects have been for gifts. It is really stressful to make something to give to family! You worry about every single detail, things that no mortal eyes would even notice. But family eyes, family eyes would notice, or so you believe. Honestly, they probably would overlook any flaws and love it just because I made it for them, but still. Anyone else feel more pressure when making gifts for family, or is it just me?

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Holiday Baubles

The Thanksgiving holiday is over, house is back to just us, and my lungs have firehosed the soccer hooligans. Back to work time it is. Make sure you check the sidebar listing, as there are quite a few new pieces to post, new gorgeous gewgaws to work with, and of course you'll want to be updated since it is the season of giving! What better gift than something handmade, that is as unique as the person you are giving it to. Can you tell I used to work for a social expressions company? No? Good.

On an exciting note (at least for me), my new business cards arrived this past Friday. They are so awesome and it makes me feel 'legit'. It feels much more professional to have this beautiful card to hand out when someone tells me they like what I'm wearing, instead of writing it on a napkin or trying to find a non-awkward way of promoting my website. Some have already been handed out to friends, visiting family, and the woman at the bead shop we stumbled upon during our latest adventure. Yes, I said adventure. I am going to let the Guy talk about that in his next post. It should be quite a read.

Are you wondering what I've been working on? Since the holiday season often includes lots of events and parties, what better way to get more mileage out of that LBD than some fun jewelry sets? And guys? We girls would *LOVE* it if you bust out a cutely decorated jewelry box as we're getting ready for a night out. Colorful chokers, earrings, semi-precious stones and bright copper to really get noticed amongst all the tinsel. I really seem to be drawn to working with copper, it seems to showcase the gems just that little bit more than silver or gold, and people definitely seem to notice it more. It is just warmer.

In other words, come check out all the fun and pretty stuff that will be posted soon. We are very excited here about the next few weeks, and hope you will love the new stuff, too.