Friday Round Up

It's been a while but I'm hoping to restart my Friday Round Up

It's the last day of November and when I took a look at my stats, was surprised to find that although my number of orders is down from last November (53 last year, 40 this year) my actual revenue is bigger this year - so I"m happy!

I've listed a couple of new items this week.

Black Pearl and Rhinestone Necklace Earrings Jewelry Set


18th Birthday Charm Bracelet


and back to my early days with some new memory wire bracelets - Olive Green and Lime Pearl Memory Wire Bracelet

Weekly Round Up

This week I've been working on some new memory wire bracelets. I love making these as they are quick and easy and don't involve any wire wrapping!

Deep Teal, Blue and Aqua Pearl Cluster Bracelet


Magenta, Lavender and Pink Pearl Cluster Bracelet


Chocolate Brown, Burnt Orange and Ivory Pearl Memory Wire Bracelet

Catchup

I've been especially poor at blogging this past couple of weeks. It seems that when things start to get busy at home blogging falls by the wayside, so note to self - must try harder!

I've decided to have another week long sale, in an effort to clear out old stock and generally offer customers a bargain. I've 2 different sales sections, a $5 Dollar Sale section for memory wire bracelets and a Half Price Section for Pearl Cluster Bracelets.

Chocolate Brown and Pink Pearl Cluster Bracelet now $13(~£8.35)


Lavender Pink Freshwater Pearl Bracelet which is now $16 (~£10.27)


Moss Agate Chips Memory Wire Bracelet which is now only $5($3.21)


So if you are doing some early Christmas shopping or just want to treat yourself, please have a look :)

Friday Round Up

This week I've been busy with custom orders. We go on holiday to Cornwall next Friday so I won't be taking on any more custom work after the weekend - hubbie would kill me if I took beads with me on my hols!!

This week I went back to my roots and made this Honey and Amber Memory Wire bracelet


I also added this Silver Shimmer Memory Wire Bracelet


And finally, I've got a new Chocolate Brown and Turquoise Bubbles bracelet

Friday Round Up

Today is a very big day in our house. My daughter Alex leaves primary school. This week we went to her new school for her induction evening and last night we were at her Leavers Night at the Primary. I felt a little bit sad last night that she really is growing up and starting a whole new era, when she will turn from a little girl into a young woman via the inevitable nightmare teenage years. But I have no choice, she is ready and raring to go - it's me that needs to let go :)

This week I made the deciscion to reopen my Folksy shop. I haven't really added any new stock since Christmas but I've decided that I will give it another go. I like the fact I can refer people to a shop that sells in pounds but there are still a few things about the site that need work on. It remains extremely slow for one and I have still no idea how they decide where an item is in search - I have to hunt through several pages of listings before finding any of my items, even newly listed ones. I've decided to list only a few of the same items as in my Etsy shop, such as a few Bubbles bracelets, but will mainly do a different line of jewellery.

I've listed a few necklaces on Folksy including this Teal and Turquoise Cluster



I've also listed this perfect summer Chunky Boho Necklace



I haven't completely forgotten about Etsy and have been listing some new memory wire bracelets like this Peachy Pink Shimmer Memory Wire Bracelet

Memory Wire Bracelet Sale

I'm running a sale on my beaded memory wire bracelets at that minute. If you buy one, you get the second half price. You can see which bracelets are included in the sale here. I will refund the difference via Paypal after the purchase :)

Weekly RoundUp

Thanks to all who entered my twitter competition. It was won by one of my twitter followers @mrsstacey1972. She's left it up to me to decide which bracelet to send so I've sent her a surprise!

This week has been a bit up and down. There's been lots of threads on the Etsy forums recently about low views and sales and I've got to admit that mine have been down a bit. However all that changed a couple of days ago with 4 custom requests and a great sale to a repeat customer! I think that's one of the things I still struggle with selling online - the highs and lows of selling.

This week I've added some new stock.

I've ordered some gemstone chips to make memory wire bracelets, like this Labradorite one.


This Coral Swarovski Pearl Cluster Bracelet is made from vibrant coral pearls, perfect for spring and summer.


And I've been working on some bridal memory wire bracelets, like this Swarovski Crystal, Champagne and Ivory Pearl one.

Haiti Fundraiser

A couple of weeks ago the lovely Mel from Kookie Designs contacted me to see if I would be interested in donating an item for a Charity Auction that she is organising to raise funds for Haiti. I was really happy to donate this Memory Wire Bracelet -


Mel has had some amazing beads, jewellery and cuddlies donated and they have been divided into 16 lots.

Please do check it out as all funds raised will be going to the Oxfam Haiti relief effort.

Round Up

Apologies for my lack for blogging again this past week. I have been mega busy with the day job and preparing for craft fairs. My last fair is tomorrow night and I'll be glad to get it over with. Part of the reason is that my other 2 fairs have been pretty successful and I've more or less sold out of all my girls jewellery. That means instead of making new things for my shops, I've been making for the fairs instead.

I was delighted this week to find out that I'm a featured seller on Folksy I've noticed a big increase in views and have had a couple of sales on there - so thank you! I've added a couple of new things to my shop including this Lavender and Pink Memory Wire bracelet


On Etsy I was amazed to find myself in another Gift Guide. This one is the Gifts under $50 and features my Silver Pearls Memory Wire bracelet


And finally, a new Bubbles bracelet. This one is like Holly Berries in a lovely vibrant red.

Weekly Roundup

A few months ago I did a big custom order for bridesmaids necklaces, bracelets and earrings. And yesterday Jill, the beautiful bride, sent me some pics of her with some of her bridesmaids wearing the pieces at the wedding.

I was so touched that she sent me the pics and was delighted that the jewellery looked so good!

This week I decided that rather than letting my Folksy shop die, I would restock for the Christmas period. So I've added a few new items this week, but I've got to admit I'm bemused by how items are listed. I've searched for my pearl bracelets I've just listed and they turn up pages and pages down the search option.

Anyway, I've listed this Apple Green Pearl Bracelet



and this Lavender Pearl Bracelet



This week I've also decided to have a sale on Etsy of some of my older items. I've added memory wire bracelets, necklaces and a couple of pearl bracelets, so check it out! Here's a couple of the items on sale -


Sea Spray Swarovski Crystal and Pearl Bracelet


Olive and Navy Memory Wire Bracelet

Friday Roundup

This is a bit of a weekly roundup and a monthly one too. I've had another good month on Etsy with 33 sales. One of those was actually for 8 items which means I've had over 40 for the second month in a row!

I've been working on some new memory wire bracelets this week, made with pearls.

This one, the Burgandy and Silver Pearls wrap is a mix of smooth and roughened pearls that I think work well together.


I've got to admit that this Purple Pearls wrap is actually my favourite as I'm in love with purple at the minute!


And finally, I made this Golden Brown wrap in shades of gold, chocolate brown, bronze and ivory.


So roll on October and we'll see what the start of the Christmas selling season brings - hopefully lots of sales to us all :)

Giveaway!

I decided a while ago that when I reached 200 followers on my blog that I would do a giveaway as a celebration! So I've decided to do a giveaway of one of my newest memory wire bracelets, a Silver Pearls Wraparound.



All you have to do to enter is to take a look at my AMIdesigns shop and tell me which item you like best. The giveaway ends on Sunday at 12.00 when I'll pick the winner using the Random Number Generator.

Good luck!

Memory Wire Bracelets

I decided that for today's post I would do a short tutorial on my favorite type of bracelet - memory wire bracelets.

Memory wire is a very strong, very hard wire which always returns to its original circular shape when pulled out of shape or stretched repeatedly. It comes in a variety of sizes - from ring sized to choker sized - and in a variety of finishes.

The bracelets diameters range from 4.5cm (1.75") which would fit a childs wrist, through 5cm (2"), 5.5cm (2.2") to 7cm (2.75). I initially used 5cm diameter but found them too snug a fit even on my tiny wrists. Now I use 5.5cm memory wire. The beauty of memory wire is that there is no clasp and the bracelets will expand to fit most sizes of wrists whilst staying in a circular shape.

One important thing to invest in before working with memory wire is memory wire cutters, like the ones pictured below. These are cutters designed for memory wire and I found to my cost that if you use ordinary wire cutters, they will get damaged.


To make the bracelet -
1. Decide on how many coils your bracelet will consist of and cut the wire using your memory wire cutters.
2.Turn a loop at one end of the wire with round nose pliers - bring the loop right over to ensure as close a fit to the rest of the wire as possible. After I have made the loop, I squeeze it with flat nose pliers to ensure the loop is tightly closed. This avoids beads moving about on the bracelet.
3. Thread your chosen beads onto the wire.
4. Finish by making a loop with your round nose pliers and squeezing it tightly shut with your flat nose pliers.
It is possible to use endcaps to finish off the loops but I have read these are prone to falling off, so admit I have not used them.

With these bracelets I like to use seed and bugle beads -


silver plated spacer tubes -


or to use the spacer tubes with a focal pattern at the front of the bracelet -


I'm always working with memory wire and would love some suggestions for new colours to work with!

Friday Roundup

It's Friday so time for me to show off some of the things I've been working on all week. I got a request from a neighbour to make up an Ivory Bubbles Bracelet and matching necklace, so that keep me busy for a couple of days.

I also managed to get some new bracelets listed on Etsy, although the camera is still tempermental and I'm putting off buying a new one until after my trip to Barcelona next week.

I made this Blue, Green and Silver Bubbles Bracelet with some of the new glass pearls I got last week. I decided to do this one on beading wire with a clasp, instead of elastic like the Irish Sky one last week.


I finally made another wraparound bracelet, this one is called Spring Green Memory Wire Bracelet Green seems to be one of the on trend colours at the minute and I'v had these green bugle beads for a while, so it was nice to use them.


Any feedback would be great!