Tribal Designs in the Shop

As I mentioned recently, I'm really loving the tribal trend that's popular lately! And I've been looking for ways to add this trend to my shop. I went on a creative streak and added 4 new tribal products to my shop. And even had to make some of these for myself!

Tribal Necklace (choose your chain length)

Tribal Dangle Earrings

 Tribal Post Earrings

Tribal Design Magnets

 And as some of you noticed, I wore my new necklace to the wedding last weekend :)

Are you liking the tribal trend?

Triple Arrow Necklace

It's amazing when and where inspiration will strike. I love seeing things made from other materials and figuring out how I can make them from wood. I did just that recently while visiting the Bubby and Bean Blog. Melissa was wearing a beautiful necklace and I just knew it would look awesome made from wood.

 

During the design process, I ended up making 3 different designs in the triple arrow style. I started with a simple design, which I'm calling Plain. Then made one with lines to separate each arrow, which I'm calling Basic. And a third design with more detail, which I'm calling Tribal. I love how each one is the same basic design, but have such a different look.

I also love how Melissa gets out and models. (Isn't she cute!) But the rain has been keeping me inside and I wasn't able to get out and get any photos. So I tried using a house plant by a window. You're allowed to laugh at my attempt at modeling...lol! I just wanted to show how long the necklace hangs, so I guess I got that accomplished even if I look goofy in the process.

I got this new design listed in my shop last week and have a few other new designs I hope to list sometime soon. Things have been a little hectic, so I haven't gotten as many new items listed as I would like. Anyone want to volunteer to come take photos, edit photos and list new product for me :)

♥Spread Some Love♥

Valentine's Day is just around the corner! Jesse and I don't celebrate much, but I'm still having tons of fun making cute and humorous items for my shop :)

I started out with a couple fun/pun cards:

For my Deer

Mustache Valentine

I also listed these cute Post Heart Earrings

and I'll be listing these soon as well

I couldn't help but make a pair of each of these earrings for myself :)

 Do you celebrate Valentine's Day? Are you getting your shop ready for the holiday?

The Magical 100

I've had an unwritten goal for quite some time to get 100 items listed in my shop. I've been in the 80s and 90s for a few months now and finally reached the "magical 100"!

The theory behind the "magical 100" is that the more items you have in your store, the more you're getting your product seen and the more exposure you'll have. Then, if everything goes as planned, more listings will equal more sales :)

Since I've started thinking of more and more ways to to use the wood I have on hand, I've come up with TONS of new ideas for listings! You've seen my new jewelry (with lots more to come!) and my wine charms.

Next on the list will be magnets, key chains and hair pins! I also have cuff links and buttons in the works!

Thanks to everyone who has made suggestions for new items! I have several of them in the works and plan to do a post dedicated to your awesome ideas!

Have you hit the "magical 100"? Or do you have a different goal for your shop listings?

 Did you see an increase in sales when you hit your "magical number"?

Earrings Are Listed!

I want to thank all my readers who gave gave input on my questions and concerns about listing my new line of jewelry. I was going to wait and list the earrings and pendants at the same time, but I'm waiting on new cords and chains to arrive, so I figured I might as well start listing my earrings :)

Engraved Hearts

Butterflies

So far I have 4 pair listed and I plan on adding about 1-2 new pairs per day. So far I have a set of Butterflies, Feathers, Round Hearts and Flowers. I started with my personal favorites :)

Flowers

Feathers

I've also been working on making some more magnets, key chains, wine charms and other small items I've been making with all this leftover wood I have accumulating! I like to be resourceful and use every bit I can, so I'm using my creativity to come up with new ideas to add to the shop!

Let me know what you think of the new earrings!

 And let me know if you have any ideas for new items I can make with small pieces of wood...I'm always looking for more ideas :)

Playing with Fabrics

About a month ago I was the lucky winner at Duni's blog! She was so kind to offer a 20euro gift certificate to her Fabric Shoppe! As most of my readers know, I'm no seamstress. But even for someone who works mainly with wood, glass and paper, these fabrics were such a delight! I had such a hard time deciding which fabrics to choose!

Duni wrapped my fabrics up like a pretty package complete with a sweet note and even a surprise...the pretty pink pencil :) What was inside was even better! Fabrics in pink, teal and aqua...some of my favorite colors!

I waited a while to blog about my winnings because I wanted the chance to make some fun projects with the fabrics first. The first thing that came to mind was jewelry! I made a matching necklace and earring set out of the pretty pink fabric. I cut a small piece of fabric and glued it too some wood with Mod Podge. I then cut the circles with my laser. Next I tried a couple different techniques to finish the pieces. I first tried a gel medium, but wasn't happy with the results since I wanted just the top and sides coated...turned into a bit of a mess! So I went with another coat of Mod Podge. Sealed them well and gave them a nice finish. The back side still has a wood finish.

I went to a bridal shower over the weekend and needed a card to go with my gift. I remembered this really cool technique that Nancy had shown on her blog with fabric and paper. Of course Nancy's tags turned out way better than mine, but I still had fun making this tag :) I decided to hand stitch this one since it would be quicker to do it by hand than relearn how to use my sewing machine! But if I ever make more...I'll use the machine! It was a couple flaws, but it's still "sew cute"!

(I'll show you the cool gifts I made for the shower tomorrow!)

 Thanks so much Duni for the lovely fabrics! I'm having fun with them and can't wait to find more projects to use them for!!!

More Jewelry Questions

First I want to say Thank You to everyone who gave great input and feedback about my earring photos I posted a couple weeks ago. I still haven't gotten any of my jewelry listed as I'm still stumped on a few things.

*I'm debating whether to sell things in earring/necklace sets or separately.

*And I'm rethinking the chains I've been using for my pendants.

Here are two current pendants I have in stock. One has a colored cord and the other has a suede-like brown cord. They're very basic (and kind of cheap) cords. They allow me to keep my prices affordable, but I also don't want to sell cheap crap!

When I wear one of my own butterfly pendants, I usually put it on a silver chain like this. I really like how the butterfly looks on here and am thinking about selling all of my pendants this way. This would raise the cost, but probably not too much.

I'd love your thoughts on this. Do you think the colored and brown cords look okay, or would I be better off to list them with the nicer silver cords? I know I could offer both, but I'd rather have a consistent look.

I don't want to take a bunch of photos with the cheaper cords and change my mind and have to redo them all!

Thanks again for your help :)