New Market

This Saturday I will be hosting a market stall at the newest market to hit the Brisbane scene - the Fashion Markets. To be held at the Lifestyle Centre, Chandler, these markets will be about everything fashion and will include Fashion Parades.

The market will not only showcase up and coming designers in fashion and accessories but will also have pre-loved stalls as well as stalls for fashion swaps!

Totally undercover, the market will also have cafes, including a champagne bar, and will kick of its launch on the 3rd of October with a champagne BBQ.

Check out their website for more details and if you're in the Brisbane area then I'd love to see you down there!

S link Bracelet

Having used S links to make a chain for several of my wirework necklaces now, it occurred to me that the S links would make a pretty chain in their own right. So, a nice simple, dainty bracelet was born.

Monday Features

I am only featuring one designer this week, but that is because she has two totally different stores, both of which I am including in my feature. My feature this week is Angelika of Mabellecherie and Vandiva

A translator by profession, Angelika learned to knit, crochet, and sew at an early age and has always enjoyed doing all sorts of crafts. She states that she cannot imagine not expressing her artistic side by making handcrafted beautiful things.

Angelika has a passion for designing and creating jewelry, and being active in the jewelry industry has meant that Angelika is always fascinated with the latest fashion trends. This interest developed recently into an uncontrollable urge to handcraft clutch purses, because she thinks that they are a fabulous fashion accessory. This urge was the start of Mabellecherie.

Mabellecherie offers an great range of handcrafted clutch and coin purses, handbags, shoulder bags, and laptop messenger bags made with modern and bold fabrics and leathers. Headbands and coasters have also been added to the range recently. With such a fantastic range available you are sure to find something that appeals to you.

Vandiva offers high end designer gemstone jewelry at affordable prices. Not afraid to mix their gemstones Vandiva is able to offer a really beautiful and colourful selection of pieces ranging from simple dainty anklets to fantastic chunky necklaces. Have a look - you won't be disappointed!

Making the Most of Mistakes!

If you have been following my posts you will know that I had some dramas in making my latest Laboradite Teardrop necklace. Certain teardrops could not be used in the necklace because they were not all the same size as each other.

Well, all was not lost - two tear drops matched each other - so they have now become a pair of earrings - and a single tear drop has been made a pendant!

Friday Favourites

Graffiti Girl Pendant
by
EmotionalOasis

Finally Got it Right - Laboradite Teardrop Necklace

You may remember I posted a week or so ago about a piece I was making that just was not coming together - well, I finally managed to finish it!

Having already made a Laboradite tear drop necklace, one that sold rather quickly, with a set of even sized drops, I wanted to expand the idea to make a similar necklace, but this time with a wired laboradite cab focal. Well, the focal came together without too much problem. I decided to go with a prong setting and just had to finish the top so that it could be linked into a necklace rather than be a pendant hanging on a chain. Some silver beads were used to add some embellishment.

Ironically, since I had done these before, where I ran into problems was creating the extra teardrops with laboradite briolettes. I just couldn't get a uniform shape and size. In the end I completely discarded the first ones and started again from scratch. Fortunately the second lot worked!

I then completed the rest of the chain using S links.

So finally - my Laboradite Teardrop Necklace - watch out for it to be listed in my store.

JETSALE Weekend Deals 25 - 27 September 2009

Snuggle up this weekend with some great offers from the JET team on Etsy. Whether you're looking for something special for a birthday, would like to accessorize your outfit for the upcoming Halloween fun, or are already looking forward to the Christmas season - you'll find plenty of jewellery and accessories to choose from in the JET team SALE.

JET team comprises of a large number of artisans who handcraft and present for sale their own creations directly to you. There are many styles of jewellery to choose from, and if, on an odd chance, you don't find exactly what you're looking for, you can always request a custom item. Supplies, clutches, bags, hair accessories, scarves, pins and many other items are also included in this promotion.

Shop local with us! Whether you're in US, Canada, UK, Australia, Asia, Brazil, or Europe - you'll find a shop close to you as our members are located all over the world!

To take advantage of JET team SALE, visit the Jet team Shop to find a list of participating sellers and note the Shop Announcement on the sellers home page. Each shop has it's own special discounts during this weekend, but each request you either to contact them for a custom/reserved listing mentioning 'WEEKEND DEALS', or, alternatively put 'WEEKEND DEALS' in notes to the seller at the checkout in order to take advantage of the discounts.

I will be offering a 15% discount off the marked price across my whole store - please see my shop announcement for details!

Market Displays and Gusty Winds don't mix!

So, I was minding my own business, or more exactly, was minding my market stall, sweltering in the hot weather, being thankful for the shade provided by my canopy and enjoying a gentle breeze - and then it started!

The gentle breeze became a gusty wind. Suddenly my canopy was starting to travel, my signs were smashing to the ground, my earring stand (which I had thought was quite solid) wouldn't stay up, and some of my jewellery busts were blowing to the ground - along with my necklaces, as fast as I could pick them up!

So now I have some ear wires well and truly bent out of shape and some sign stands that are only fit for the bin. The only good thing - my weighted table clothes were well and truly tested and they passed with flying colours!

Monday Features

My first feature this week is one of my Brisbane beading buddies - Sandee of Ssandeelee.

Sandee was very much a wireworker when I first met her, but this has been changing over the last few months as she has delved head first into the world of seedies. I am proud to own my very own piece of Sandee's seed work in the form of a cute seeded handbag charm.

Sandee's work is now a great mixture of both wirework and seed bead work and she comes up with some fabulous designs. She states that inspiration comes from all around, but her main inspiration is vintage style - with a twist!! Sandee loves sparkle and most of her pieces use swarovski crystals - She partners them with vintage metals - her favourite being brass.

Having been teaching beading for over a year now at a local bead shop Sandee has written a number of tutorials to accompany her classes, many of which, having been successfully tried and tested, are now available for on-line purchase.

My second feature this week is a fellow Duster and the creator of my customised bunting - Karen of MooBeeTees.

Karen, a mum of two, felt the need to get back in touch with her creative roots. She has always loved sewing, both embroidery and machine work, and loves to create for her children. Karen also believes in having fun with craft and using her imagination to make little people smile.

MooBeeTees is a place where you can find, not too suprisingly, tees, among other things - all of the designs come from the imagination of Karen and her children. All of Karen's tees have been road tested by small people with imaginative ways of playing - and by their long suffering mums!

As well as the tees and bunting, Karen also has a great range of pony/hair ties so go check them out!

SRAJD

Some of you may have noticed the above logo in the sidebar of my blog. This logo shows that I am a member of SRAJD or "Self Representing Artists Jewelry Designers".

An SRAJD member sells the jewelry that they designed and created. When you purchase from an SRAJD member, you are buying directly from and supporting the artist.

If you design, create, and sell your own jewelry, you are eligible for SRAJD status.

It is the mission of the SRAJD organization to raise awareness of the benefits of buying directly from the artist.

Aside from raising customer awareness, we also work as a community to help, nurture, instruct, and encourage one another.

There are currently 2627 members on the roster.

For more information please visit the SRAJD site.

Retail Therapy

I needed some cheering up today after getting news yesterday that really upset me. So, I did some on-line retail therapy.

Not only did I treat myself to two TV Series DVDs that were on my wish list - the Australian Series Rush, and the first series of the old UK hit The Professionals - but I also gave into temptation and treated myself to Flower, the Hippy Mouse from the House of Mouse! I think all the mice in this shop are wonderful but Flower has remained my firm favourite - and now I'll have my own Flower!

Friday Favourites

Aceo Art Card
by
DCHStudio

Are you ready to Party?

Sunday 20 September promises to be a day packed with revelry and delight as Racecourse Road, Hamilton is transformed into Brisbane Festival’s one and only Street Party - and I, along with several other of the Bris-Stylettes will be there!

There will be free live music across four stages, countless food, art and craft market stalls, and music and dance workshops.

There will be 17 Bris-Style stalls at the street party including a co-operative stall representing a great cross selection of the Bris Stylettes.

So, if you live anywhere near the Brisbane area then come on down and party with us!

My Idea of Shopping! Part 2

As well as buying silver I love buying gemstones! I recently took part in a group buy to buy some gemstones, and since between us it was such a big order we got a substantial discount. This enabled me to buy some gemstones that I maybe wouldn't normally be able to afford. Well, they finally arrived this week and I have been drooling over them ever since!

Boulder Matrix Opal, Citrine, Double Iolite, Swiss Blue Topaz, London Blue Topaz

Kyanite (No way does this picture do these stones justice)

Green Onyx

Emerald Nuggets

Now all I need to do is come up with some designs that will do these beauties proud!

New Look Market Stall

Last weekend I had my first opportunity to try out the new embellishments for my market stall - a banner and some customised bunting - the bunting customised for me by the lovely Karen of MooBooTees. I kept with the main colour of red since that is the main colour I use on my business cards and on my online store banners. So what do you think?

Monday Features

My first feature this week is Julia of Vinyl Wall Design. Born from the idea of two Italian architects, Vinyl Interior Design is a young company based in Sydney, specialized in manufacturing and producing vinyl wall stickers, a great alternative to wall paper and stencils.

The creators behind the designs state that the idea of vinyl wall stickers came from the necessity of decorating blank, empty walls without too much trouble or effort: vinyl decals are easy to apply and to remove, they won’t leave any marks on removal. The collection of wall stickers in Vinyl Wall Design's collection covers designs suitable for any age, taste and setting.

In looking through the range available I don't think the problem will be in finding a design that's suitable, but rather in choosing which design to have!

My second feature this week is Kerri of Kerri's Hangups. Having been sewing since she was 9 years old, Kerri really enjoys using all the skills her mum taught her to make practical and stylish items for the home, such as her hanging hand towels.

Following the 'stylish but practical' theme, Kerri also has a range of canvas army bags which she's 'upstyled' using fabric appliques, beads and embroidery.

Kerri has also now added a range of fabric canvases to her shop - as well as adding some style to your walls, some of them have a dual purpose - they can be used as noticeboards.

Production of a Different Kind - 1

As well as being a Jewellery Designer, I am also a dog breeder. I have never done this in any huge way, usually just one litter every year or two, but I have been doing it now for several years and my current dogs are generations 6 and 7 working forward from the first dog I bred from.

Well, I am now working on generation 8. Jasmine, my youngest (and my generation 7 dog) has actually already had one litter but I didn't keep one that time. Well, now I'm hoping she's going to have another - and if she has a female I'll be keeping it. So, over the next few weeks I'll do regular updates on progress.

I took Jasmine to the stud dog yesterday, a nice drive into the country with the other dogs along to keep Jasmine company. Well, the studs were very interested and kept trying to mount but we just weren't getting anywhere. After testing Jasmine with the ovulation kit we decided that it was just slightly too early. So back for another try tomorrow!

Friday Favourites

Celtic Butterfly Dish
by
GeminiGlassWorks

Just Not Working!

Have you ever had something you are working on where no matter what you do everything just seems to go wrong with it? Well, I'm working on one of those now and its getting so frustrating!

I'm working on a sterling and laboradite necklace that I actually started a while ago and was determined to finish this week but do you think I can get it to work. First the wrapping wire keeps snapping (and I'm not exactly a novice at wrapping), then I can't get the tear drop shapes right or uniform , now the core wire of one of the shapes has snapped. I'm beginning to think this piece is never going to be finished!

Maybe its time to walk away again and hope that it all comes together another day!

Ipswich - Version 3 - Massachusetts, USA

This is the third and final in my short series of Artisans based in Ipswich. The Ipswich featured this week, is Ipswich in the USA. This Ipswich was founded in 1634 and so is the second oldest of the three Ipswichs featured.

The Etsy seller I have chosen to represent Ipswich, USA is SweetPeaSlings.

The creator of SweetPeaSlings has been sewing since she was a young girl. She loves to create anything & everything. She loves to sew but also enjoys knitting, beading, quilting and painting & refinishing furniture. SweetPeaSlings, as the name suggests, specialises in linen slings for carrying baby, all of which come with instructions. The slings are made in a variety of materials so go check them out.

Heartomatic

I've been a fan of Heartomatic for a while now - its a great feature that enables you to see really easily not only how many shop hearts and views you have on your Etsy shop but also how many views and hearts you have by item - a great at way of seeing which of your items are the most popular - sometimes with surprising results!

However, I noticed that there is a new feature on Heartomatic now which makes it even better. You can now reset your views each time you visit - and there is a new column, which provided you have reset your views, can enable you to see exactly how many new views each of your items has received since your last visit to Heartomatic. An easy way to see, for example, whether it is just the items on your front page that are getting all the views. As with the item hearts, its another great way to see which of your products are attracting attention!

If you're an Etsy seller and have never checked out Heartomatic before then go and do so - you'll wonder how you ever managed without it!

Monday Features

My first feature this week is Marilyn of Grandma Marilyns and Grandma Marilyns Too. Marilyn describes herself as a 58 year old bead artist/designer with a loving husband, 2 grown-up kids, 5 grandchildren and multiple animals.

Marilyn has loved crafts for as long as she can remember and her current obsession is beading, jewelry making, and designing. She loves to create beauties with beadweaving and also loves to design her own beadwork patterns.

Grandma Marilyns features jewelry and beaded items created by herself or her daughter, and Grandma Marilyns Too features some of Marilyn's beadwork patterns so can you can have a go at making your own beaded jewelry.

I have to say, my particular favourite is Marilyn's Stained Glass Cuff pictured below.

My second feature this week is Sophie of StratDesigns. "Strat" is a nickname that Sophie has had since childhood, given to her by her oldest friend.

Sophie has worked with gems and jewellery all her adult life. She started her career in an antique jewellery shop in Edinburgh, Scotland and studied for her qualification as a gemologist. Sophie designs and makes jewellery from a variety of materials but primarily from resin, silver and glass beads.

Strat Designs are all about colour, fun and style. Sophie believes that sometimes the simplest of outfits can be transformed with the right piece of jewellery, something eye-catching, colourful and quirky can literally brighten a woman's day – especially if it gets them lots of comments!

Visit StratDesigns and you feel like you are in a lolly shop with all the bright colours on offer - and the names of the pieces on offer are guaranteed to get your mouth watering!

Re-arranging the Store

One of the new features on Etsy is that you can now arrange the items in your store any way you want. Previously all the items were shown in order listed. Now initially I wondered what the point was and couldn't understand why everyone was so excited about the idea. After all, we can have sections in our store and when people click on these then they will see everything of the same style (or whatever) together anyway.

However, I decided to have a play and decided that since I had the sections to link types of jewellery, I would use the re-arranging function to group colours together. So for the moment that is what I have done.

Trouble is, having done that it occurred to me that previous customers and visitors may make visits to my store to see what is new, and whereas the newer items were also listed first in the shop now they won't be.

So what do you think - Please - I would love comments on this:

1. Do you like my store arranged by colour?
2. Do you check stores to see what are the most recent listings - and if so, will the re-arrange function hinder that?

Jewellery with Sound and Texture!

My new Harmony Necklace, made in sterling silver, incorporates both sound and texture.

The sound made by the necklace is thanks to a beautiful Bali Harmony Ball that forms the main feature of the necklace. I bought three harmony balls in a Bali group buy a while ago and have just been waiting for the perfect piece on which to use one of them. As I was making the chain of this necklace I realised that my largest harmony ball would fit right in with the chain design.

For the chain itself I wanted to create some texture. I had made wire wrapped beads before using silver toned wire and decided it was time to make some in sterling. These beads are wrapped three times, each time the core just wrapped then itself becoming the "wrap" for the next core - so, as you can imagine, a very time consuming process to make a relatively small bead.

I decided to team the wire wrapped bead links with links incorporating the 'herringbone' weave. This is a weave that works around a central bead. I decided to use some bluestone beads with their silver glitter.

Finally, to add a totally different texture, I used some Swarovski crystal pearls in silver, thus bringing a lovely satin smooth texture to the chain.

I went for a longer length on the necklace, although, as each of the links are joined with jump rings, this can easily be adjusted.

So there it is, my Harmony Necklace, a necklace that can be worn just as easily with jeans as with your best 'night on the town' outfit.

Friday Favourites

Cavalier King Charles Spaniel - Dog Art Print
by
K9ArtGallery

The Book Depository

I've just received a new wire work book today that I ordered from the Book Depository and it occurred to me that this would be a great resource to share with you.

The Book Depository is, as the name suggests, an online website for books, based in the UK. The two great things about this site is not only their prices, although of course this does depend on exchange rates, but also the fact that they have FREE worldwide shipping.

The Book Depository has a full range of books and a great selection of craft books. The first time I ordered from them I got several novels, the craft book was my second order and having now used the site twice I am very happy to recommend it!

Ipswich - Version 2 - Suffolk, UK

This is the second in my short series of Artisans based in Ipswich. The Ipswich featured this week, is Ipswich in the UK. Arguably this is the Ipswich I should have started with as it is undoubtedly the original Ipswich.

The Etsy seller I have chosen to represent Ipswich Uk is VintageNiki.

Niki, who sells a range of mixed media art, describes her main influence as being vintage and primitive style because she loves the worn look of yesteryear. There's a range of really appealing art, prints and ACEOs in Nikki's store so pop on over and have a look.

September Giveaway!

Its the first of September and so time to launch my brand new Giveaway that will run for the month of September.

But first - I would like to announce that the winner of my August giveaway is AYDA. Congratulations to Aida - an email has been sent to you with details. Thank you to everyone who took part - better luck next time!

Now for September - this month I will be giving away a Pair of Swirly Design Interchangeable Earrings with 8 Different Drops. These are currently sold with four drops out of a choice of six so I will be adding 2 extra drops especially for this giveaway.

There are four ways in which you can enter this giveaway:

1. Visit my shop and let me know which chainmaille weave is your favourite.
2. Become a follower of my blog (of course if you already are just let me know)
3. Post about this giveaway on your blog and let me know the link
4. Become a fan of Shazzabeth Creations on Facebook (link on right of blog)
   

Of course, you can do all four things and increase your chances of winning!

The giveaway will run until the 30th September (Brisbane time) and the winner will be announced on the 1st October along with details of my new giveaway!