Friday Roundup

Well this week I've been working on some necklaces. Don't get me wrong, I love making bracelets and never seem to run out of ideas for them, but I worry about prospective buyers getting bored with a shop full of bracelets. So I've stuck with pearls and made 3 new necklaces.

This Burgundy Bubbles Necklace is simply a variation on the Bubbles Bracelets in my shop and I will be working on different colours in this style over the coming weeks.


For this Silver Pearls Necklace I have used 12mm silver pearls with one 12mm caviar pearl as a focal point, handwrapped on black headpins and attached to antiqued silver chain.



And finally I made this Olive Pearls Necklace with 12mm and a focal 10mm olive green pearl on finer antiqued silver chain.



I find necklaces much harder to photograph than bracelets so I'd love some feedback!

Etsy Front Page!

I was delighted to wake up to increased views and hearts on Tuesday morning as a result of making the Front Page in this gorgeous treasury by RecycleRabbit. My memory wire bracelet is on the left hand side of the second row.



A couple of weeks ago I had signed up to the
Statsy Featurator which will send you an email letting you know when you are featured on the Front Page. Sure enough, I got an email letting me know. I'm going to do a blog post dedicated just to the Statsy site as it's full of really fun and interesting data!

As these things seem to go, after appearing on the FP my latest treasury made it to the Front Page last night too - and even better I was logged on and saw it! Thanks to Clare from ClareBears for getting the screenshot for me.

Carrickfergus Castle

At the weekend my son Jamie went to a birthday party at Carrickfergus Castle. It was no ordinary party though, it was Sword School!



He and the other 11 boys were taught by a 'knight' how to sword fight with foam swords. Of course, a gang of young boys being taught how to fight each other without being able to hurt each other is the perfect party.

And he came home full of useful facts. Like did you know that knights couldn't be left handed as they wouldn't have been able to fight on a spiral staircase as their arm would have hit against the wall? That rules me out as a knight then.



But Carrick Castle is worth a visit even if you don't apply to Sword School- just watch out for small boys playing knights.

Featured Seller!

This weeks featured seller is Natalie from Folksy shop Lissi

What is your name/business name?
Hi my name is Natalie and I am the founder of Lissi, Naturally Dyed Products.


What is your craft?
I create silk fashion accessories and greetings cards by using natural dying techniques to colour cloth and then finish everything off by hand or machine stitch.

How long have you been crafting for?
I have only been making my products since June this year, but the concept and ideas generated from using the techniques to produce my final major project for my degree, and I really enjoyed dying and making items that were all original so found a way to carry on!


What is your most favourite thing about your craft?
I love that you can never dye anything exactly the same twice! Each time it’s a guessing game of how things will turn out.

And the least favourite?
The fact that I still only own one large jam pan and can only do one dye pot at a time!


Where do you sell your work?
I have the most products available in my Folksy shop, but I am also testing the waters with a few products on other sites such as Misi and Joolia.

Anything else you'd like to tell us?
I have recently added more pictures of dye samples, products, and information to my website http://lissionline.jimdo.com



Thanks to Natalie for answering my questions and I hope you'll all check out her lovely shop.

Giveaway Winner!

I'm delighted to say that I have a winner for my bracelet giveaway - Tessa from Colours and Textures! I used the Random Number Generator so make it as fair as possible.

So congrats Tessa, your Silver Pearls Memory Wire Bracelet will be winging it's way to you tomorrow

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!