One of my loves is office supplies. I’m almost as happy looking through an office supply store as I am a book store. Part of the manifests in my planner love. However since I left regular office work I’ve been looking for the perfect planner for me. Finally, after a decade or so it dawned on me my needs change so I need a planner that can adapt as I change. (more…)
Why yes that is a Mrs. Brady of the Brady Bunch hair cut, thank you for noticing. Also here I am wearing commemorative jewelry from my trip to Washington DC that Bicentennial Year. I was so proud of it. I also remember that was a maxi dress. Yes a floor length dress. Oh and the book was a World Book Encyclopedia turned to Mt. Everest. Why? I don’t know. (more…)
A bearded Iris is my favorite flower. It has been for as long as I can remember. I think this is why. I loved it when the irises next to our driveway in Greeneville, Tennessee in were in full bloom. It was a riot of color and scents just my height. One of my fondest memories of living in town (besides having playmate just across the street) was the bloom of the irises followed by the big old lilac bush at the corner of the house. All are gone now.
When Greeneville started hosting the Iris Festival back in 1994 it was the right choice in my mind. (more…)
I’ve been talking about it for YEARS but I finally did it. I have an online store! I overcame procrastination got the ability to take credit cards and made an online store. Like so many things I procrastinate about, it was easier than I thought it would be. Really, the hardest part was… (more…)
I have to admit I’m a newer Dr. Who fan. It was the Ninth Doctor that brought me into the fold. I’d tried before in various times of my life because I had friends who enjoyed it. It was him that brought me into the fold. However I have to say when I think of MY doctor it’s the Tenth Doctor. I’ve watched on and off with the Eleventh but he reminds me too much of Aaron’s friends and honestly that’s too young for MY doctor.
This was why I was inspired to make a bracelet when I spotted a square bead on sale that made me think of the Tardis. I wanted a bracelet that was inspired by the more recent Doctors. I set out looking for time themed charms and charms themed by things that made me think of the Timelord that traveled in a Police Box. So here’s what I found, what I did with it and my Dr. Who inspired bracelet.
First was turning the inspiration bead into a Tardis. Sure it’s not exact but it is more inspired than exact (and thus copyright interfering) copy.
The bead was a large hole one and I had to make it work into a charm for the bracelet idea. So first I had to fill in the shaft. I used a silver tone column bead and a bugle bead to fill up the space. Then to copy the light on top of the Tardis I used blue thunder polished rondelle crystal topped with a white seed bead. To make a foundation I used an octagonal silver toned spacer bead and a silver seed bead.
Of course if inspired by a Time Lord you have to have a chronometer charm. Since he traveled in space I rooted through my bead stash for things that would invoke that and make charms from them. Here’s what I came up with.
From there I went looking for things that reminded me of that universe. I came up on one that invoked another favorite character of mine – Capt. Jack Harkness who very well maybe The Face of Boe.
Then I saw I had wings and blue eyes – well angels and eyes- that must be the Weeping Angels? RIGHT? So that was another charm.
Then I found the blue agates with druzy cracks in them. That made me think of The Crack In the Universe story. So of course I got those and made charms of them.
Then I thought really I can’t have a Dr. Who inspired bracelet without a sonic screwdriver inspired charm. So I had to puzzle out how to make one and incorporate what was becoming the unifying theme – Tardis blue. I settled on this afters some stewing and set off to find the elements to make it in my stash and at stores.
It is a small (4mm) bicone thunder polished Tardis blue crystal as the first element on the headpin. Then I used a beadcap that made me thinking of the opening of the prongs when the screwdriver is in use. I needed to bridge the small hole of the cap to the larger hole of the handle I used a silver toned heishe bead. Then came the shaft which is a column bead that again had a hole that was too big so I filled it with a Tardis blue bugle bead. Then another heishe and topped it all with a small sliver seed bead. Not too bad I thought. You can see the assembly and the final product there in the image.
Then I found two more charms that invoked a story arc and a character. First was a wolf howling which made me think of the Bad Wolf arc about his companion Rose. Oh and the final one is a historic figure as well as a character in Dr. Who’s universe Madame de Pompadour. I found them later and here they are.
Now I had enough to assemble the bracelet. There will only be 9 as that is all the Tardis beads they had. One of the finished products is of course MINE! So if you like it and want one of the others – contact me marylouiseeklund @ gmail.com and we’ll work something out. Oh put Timey Wimey Bracelet in the title!
Sorry about yesterday but blizzard and house stuff caught me and wouldn’t let me go. I looked up and it was 10PM so no post. **hangs head in shame** I am so sorry.
However what I was doing for myself led to this post! As you know I make bead jewelry and sell it. Didn’t so much last year with tumor, surgery and all. But that didn’t stop me from making it. Any way, I’ve robbed my stash a bit to make outfits for work. I mean how cool is it to have matching jewelry? Professional and cool then someone says “Phh that’s lovely.” and I can say- “why thank-you I made it.” Then I feel all warm and fuzzy inside.
I have explained that I like organization. I like having meals planned for at least a week at a time. I like knowing my work schedule at least a month at a time. I like being able to find stuff easily. I like knowing what I have and where it is… I like organization.
Well chronic health issues, having a slob of a teenage boy (don’t all of them come with that feature?) and generally no energy over the last few years. Things haven’t been as organized as I like. Seems when I didn’t work outside the home there was always tomorrow… the Scarlett O’Hare approach to organization.
I found myself scrambling in the morning for jewelry to go with what I was wearing. I’d find the right necklace but dang couldn’t find earrings or vice versa. Which is really sad for a woman who has literally 100s of each if you count her craft stock. I’d gotten so many necklaces that my jewelry armoire made them a tangled mess. Over the last month or so I’ve been pondering how to address the two problems. I came up with the same method I store my stock – zip lock bags.
One thing I have a lot of are various sizes of zip lock bags. I use them to store beads, chain, finding, finished product, etc. So I decided that I’d bag the necklace in a necklace bag, earrings (sometimes two pair because I have double pierced ears) in an earring bag then put those with the bracelet if there is one in a set bag. I could then just grab the set match a ring and watch off to work I go.
Great but I discovered that – well I’d been raiding my stock stash rather inconsistently. Some I’d not worn. Those went right back to stock. Some I didn’t get earrings with which for me that’s a must. I don’t always wear bracelets but I do always wear earrings. Then there were pieces that needed little repairs that had gotten shoved to the back of here or there.
Which brings me to my new project – aside from this blog, genealogy, doing bead inventory, scanning old pictures, my novel, losing weight, increasing exercise, my reading list, crochet, and solving all the world problems to create harmony among all the creatures of the planet – completing the pieces that aren’t a set and repairing those that need repair. I mean really I might be a sow’s ear and never be a silk purse dang it I can be the best put together sow’s ear you’ve ever seen. Heck you might not want a silk purse woman after seeing that!
I intend to do some before/after crafty posts on this project. Stay tuned to see what I’m doing for myself! It’ll make mornings easier, my jewelry armoire more organized, my look more put together, and be good advertising for my merchandise. It’s a win, win! So stay tuned – until next time!
Yesterday was our first craft fair of the season. It was a good one to get back in the groove of what to bring, how to display, and the endurance of booth sitting. It wasn’t an expensive booth, it was just a few blocks from our houses, and it didn’t run all day. All good things for the first one of the season. We were close enough to send back stuff we decided not to use, call for stuff we needed. Another good thing is with the very affordable booth fee we didn’t have to sell bunches to pay for the booth. Tho’ honestly I’d love to just break even and support my beading habit by selling my work.
Oh who is ‘we’? No I didn’t slip into the royal pronoun there are two wonderful ladies with which I often share a booth. One is Paula who also does beading but in a style different from mine. The other is Mi who makes the cutest aprons you’ve ever seen! Not gonna post their pictures without their ok. But photos of their stuff SURE!
First off I use my leftover beads to make treasure chest necklaces. When I have just one of a bead left I toss into a zip lock bag when it gets full I’ll make unique necklaces with color themes. Thus the $5 Treasure chest was born. So fairs these sell like hot cakes other fairs like this one no one even touches them. Go figure.
Here’s the Treasure Chest at the sale along with Paula’s great selling barrettes. I also made some $2 bracelets and $3 necklaces for little girls. They are there in front of the treasure box. I’m trying to think of how to display them. They are new this year. I don’t want to take up too much table room but I do want to have them marked. Maybe a two sided basket?
For me at this particular fair the big seller was earrings. Last sale of the season last year I purchased this turntable earring tree. Since I’ve used it my sales have increased (well in 2 out of 2 fairs can’t say it’s a trend until it’s 3). Which is excellent as I have 100s of pairs to sell.
My beading hobby is how I pass the winter and enjoy TV. I have bad habit of falling asleep if I sit still. So I bead while we watch evening TV. It gives me something to do that’s not a repetitive motion like my crochet was. In the end of the evening my hands don’t ache and swell as they did with hours of crochet. Originally I started making jewelry that would match my clothes but soon that was done. I continued playing with colors and making pretty sparkly things that satisfied my magpie eye. Eventually it grew from a shoe box to a file box to several boxes of my jewelry. That led to craft fairs hoping to sell enough to support me buying more and doing fairs. I don’t think I could give up beading now I enjoy it too much.
Here’s some of Paula’s work. She does such beautiful organic work with leaves, flowers, and bird designs. Me I’m all over the board with my magpie “OHHH it’s sparkles! Ooh it’s colorful!” approach. I love her work!
I am sorry and ashamed to say I didn’t get any photos of Mi’s lovely aprons without her in the photo! So next fair I’ll be sure to get shots of her aprons for you. Let me tell you her Elvis apron is to DIE FOR! Oh and there’s a hand towel to go with it!
I’ll end with a few shots of my work on display at this fair.
Now I wish I’d gotten some more shots of the booth. Like I said back to developing those long unused craft vendor muscles. Not only is it preparing, packing, unloading, displaying, packing again quickly, loading, unloading, reorganizing, and packing again for the next one – it’s also remembering what shot I want to make sure I get at the booth. Each booth is unique (like our jewelry we never repeat a design) give size shape and what we have to work with. I’ll do better next time and have this down to a science by November.
As always I love to hear from you. I get a thrill when I have comments, stars, and likes! Follows leave me breathless with glee after I do a little jig and think just like Sally Field “You like me! You really really like me!” So don’t be shy in contacting me.
Until next time.
The Three Gems are Jean, Paula, and me! We each love to bead. We loved it so much that we went overboard doing it. Jean initiated the idea the three of us go together and try to sell some at local craft fairs. She came up with our name and registered us for several fairs. Paula jumped in with making displays. Jean even had business cards made for us!
After doing craft fairs for six months we learned a few things along the way. Also we rode an emotional roller coaster from bad sale days to great sale days. So here’s a quick list of lessons learned in our first craft fair season.
1. Crafters talk among themselves. Yes they talk about fairs, booth fees, and sales. We learned what fairs had good reps and what ones didn’t. We were assured that our slow sales days were generally slow sale days.
2. There are a lot of beading addicts out there in the same boat and had the same idea. As a result there are many jewelry booths at craft fairs. We now ask how many there are. Are they limiting the number of booths with the same craft?
3. Location, Location, Location – where the booth is located in relation to crowd flow. At one very successful sale we were on the turn to the bathrooms – good sales, good traffic flow. Another we were in a room off a room with a winding path to enter/exit. Sales that day for me were horrid just made half my share of the booth fee.
4. Jewelry displays better on black. Go look in a jewelry store window it’s all displayed on black. Eventually we went to black and sales improved.
5. People want a deal. The $5 treasure chest or $2 hair barrettes were good sellers. At a poor sales shows they were the savers of the fair being the ONLY sales. At good sales shows they were a draw for customers.
6. Price well. See above as to why. I had to start keeping good track of my material cost in the jewelry. I’m not looking to gouge people but I hope that my beading habit can be self-sustaining. I don’t charge for my time, it’s a hobby I do for enjoyment. So as a result I’m not asking more than $20 for any one piece. I won’t price it below materials cost.
7. There will be a lot of lookers. Part of this is the economy today, that I know. But then again think of how you shop, you look, you handle many things considering them then you buy. At a craft fair, many people do the same thing. They shop. Often they look over every booth before making their first purchase.
8. People don’t buy from displays. Displays attract people but rarely will they buy what’s on display, they buy what’s on the table. It’s almost like they are afraid to disturb the display. So we have to adapt our table to have attractive displays and flat surfaces easily accessible for shoppers.
9. Bring my tools. I can’t bring my beads but I can bring my tools to customize jewelry. I can’t make it longer but I can shorten things, remove a bead to shorten earrings, and such. The ability to do so made many sales customizing necklaces for homecoming dances.
10. Know the crowd. Some fairs are more for deal shoppers. They are there for the produce or apples or see the cars and the craft fair is an after thought. Other fairs people come to SHOP they are there to get Christmas gifts. Display wares accordingly.
That’s the top three lessons I learned in our first season doing craft fairs. I think next year we’ll be wiser and do some better. I know we need to hang in there for the long haul (years) as the beading/jewelry making fad dies down.
Again thanks for reading! As always you can click on the photos to head over to my flickr account to see larger copies of the images and more photos of the Three Gems or my beading. I’d love to hear from you so be sure to comment here or catch me at Google+, @marylouiseklund, or my e-mails marylouiseeklund at either yahoo or gmail. During the holiday week (Christmas through New Year’s Day) I’m not sure I’ll be able to post regularly but it’s my New Year’s resolution to be here regularly. So feel free to hold me to it!
It all started off innocently enough. I took up beading as a hobby. It was exciting. I could make earrings to go with those necklaces I have or I could make necklaces to go with earrings. Then I could make sets to go with shirts, outfits, ohhh the possibilities!
Also it gave me something to do while watching TV. Crochet was out according to my physical therapist. Well he did say I could do it occasionally but that I needed to find a hobby that required a variation of hand movement. So beading it was.
Only it became apparent that my creations had filled my needs and were now backing up into a large plastic container. Yet I was addicted. I still beaded. I needed a hobby to do while watching TV. I can’t just watch TV. Really I go to sleep. I need SOMETHING to do.
So I started giving my new crafts as gifts. I mean already I’d stocked everyone with a crocheted scarf and a set of crocheted dishcloths. Now I was bejeweling my friends, family, and acquaintances. Heck, I’d taken them off my neck and give them to strangers just to cheer them up. Still I was beading faster than I was giving and they backed up even more. The only answer was to sell them.
Okay I needed to sell it. I wasn’t sure where. I investigated several things and thought something on-line was the answer. Well if I was going to sell them on-line the first step was getting decent pictures of them. Which started a long time of attempts that didn’t satisfy.
I couldn’t get lighting I liked. I couldn’t get a background I liked. I couldn’t get the detail I wanted. **sigh** Still I continued beading. I was making more jewelry and by this time all my friends were now overwhelmed with necklaces and longing for the days of scarves and dishcloths.
I considered possibly selling the jewelry at the Harbor Market downtown on the weekends. Yet really did I have enough for a whole booth? Would I sell enough to make something after the booth and tent fee? I wasn’t sure. I shared my concerns with another beading friend to find she had the same issues, still beading, had given it to everyone and their cat’s cousin, needed an outlet for it. She also knew a friend who was in the same boat as us. She had the idea that the three of us could split the costs so it wouldn’t be too much for any one person. The three of us could fill a booth. So Jean got the ball rolling by booking us in a local craft fair and a Harbor Market.
The Three Gems was born.
So my two friends and I started the craft fair season. We didn’t know we were on a large learning curve, emotional roller coaster, and adventure. My next post will share some of the things we learned along the way.
That was how my beading hobby became my craft fair hobby. I by no means turn a profit, at least not yet. My hope for this isn’t to make money but to break even. Support my beading addiction so it’s not a burden on my family. So they don’t send me to Changes to get me off pressed glass and semi-precious stones strung on tiger tail wire.
Yes I’m still beading just like I still want to hear from you. You can comment here or any of the other places I lurk on the net. Just look for my name and you’ll find me on Google+, Twitter, Flickr and Yahoo. You can e-mail me any time at either of my accounts marylouiseeklund at either gmail or yahoo. If you just like this but don’t have anything to say hit one of the share buttons and then rate me. I love feed back! Let me know what you’d like to see me write about I’ll see what I can do.
As always I hope life treats you well until next time
Mary Louise Eklund 