Back in the swing of things...

I can't believe it's been since November since I last updated my blog. My temp job has ended and I'm finally getting my creative mojo back! I still need to get out to the studio and make more lampwork beads and I have ideas but it's been so cold out there! So lately I've decided to focus on my hand stamped metal jewelry and have added a few new Blythe necklaces to the shop.

My most popular design to date is the Blythe personalized name necklaces. So I thought I would add more designs to the shop. I now offer a similar necklace without personalization, just a simple stamped image on a slightly smaller blank, you can choose from any of my design stamps. The above picture shows the newest designs available and I also have a bunny, cat, and shamrock I recently picked up.

I also have a new line called Mood Swings for Blythe. Each necklace has 3 different charms each stamped in "text talk" conveying a particular mood. The themes currently available are Everyday, Sweet and Naughty. Just flip the charm to pick the message your girl would like to convey that day. Pretty fun! I have tons of ideas for these necklaces and would love to hear yours as well.

In the near future I will be adding more metal stamped necklaces in human size too so stay tuned!

Just had to share....

 

For all my doll friends and miniature lovers... isn't this camera the cutest? It's a 1/6 scale replica of a real life DSLR camera. Perfect size for Blythe! I actually have been wishing for a real life sized working model for myself but that's another story on my very long wish list that keeps growing and growing.... does it ever end? Anyhow, let's not get off topic.... You can find this fun little find at the Photojojo website. They have the coolest photography gadgets and their newsletter is filled with tips and tricks and is a lot of fun to read, I highly recommend it!

Another Celebration! A Giveaway at Pigwidget Chronicles

Beka at Pigwidget Chronicles is celebrating her 100th blog post and 2nd blog'iversary. She is giving away a Blythe Pirate costume along with some other goodies. She's thought of everything, from the clever costume and props for your doll to a cute scrabble tile pendant with an X on the back, a treasure for you! I love all of the details, she hasn't left anything out. So head on over to her blog to see all the goodies and enter the giveaway ends on Sunday June 13th.

Congratulations Beka!

With all of these celebrations and milestones lately, it's got me thinking, I'm coming up on my 100th blog post as well (this is post #96). Shall I do a giveaway as well? What would you like win?

Let's Celebrate With Honeythorpe Studios

Purple roses, originally uploaded by honeythorpe.

My friend Melissa of Honeythorpe Studio is celebrating her 100th Etsy sale this week with a giveaway. Head on over to her blog to enter. She makes really cute, quality doll clothes for Blythe and tiny BJD's, you don't want to miss out!

Congratulations Melissa!!!

Honeythorpe Studio

My friend Melissa of Honeythorpe Studio makes the cutest dresses for Blythe and BJD dolls. BJD stands for ball jointed dolls and I find I'm falling in love with them too. For me, it's the tiny ones that call to me and especially Melissa's little cutie Aoife. She has so much personality!  God help me! Aoife is a Pukifee made by Fairyland and she's about 6 inches tall, that's half the size of Blythe dolls.

Having recently sewn my first Blythe dress, I have much appreciation for Melissa's sewing skills. Her dresses are beautiful and carefully made, I just love her fabric choices! Right now her best selling dresses are for the tiny BJD's, and I can't imagine sewing something so small. I have two dresses she's made in Blythe size and I love them. The above picture shows Jesse and Pepper modeling them. 

Melissa lives in New Zealand, and we keep in touch regularly. We actually met through Etsy. I had a PIF (Pay It Forward)  necklace in the shop and Melissa was the one who snapped it up.  I think that PIF worked its wonders for the both of us, we have become great friends!

Be sure to check out her Etsy shop and blog, and to follow Aoife's adventures don't miss her on Flickr!

A gift for the girls

Blythe inspires so many people, I love it! We all know the dolls have inspired me in opening my Etsy shop and creating little lampwork necklaces for them but they have recently inspired my friend Amy, a fellow lampworker and knitter to create a truly wonderful gift. She made 4 beautiful hand knit helmets for my dolls and they came as a surprise one day in the mail. I was so surprised and delighted!

I have admired Amy's lampwork beads since before I started learning to make them five or six years ago. I remember having my eye on one of her bead sets on eBay and while I was in my studio struggling with learning to make my own beads, my husband bid on the auction and won them for me! I still have them, they are hanging in my studio. Amy makes really fun beads and uses bright fun colors.  Recently she has been making incredible lampwork glass moons electroformed in copper, her talent is amazing! Below you will see some of my favorites from her flickr. She sells her beads on eBay and through her Etsy shop, please stop by and take a look. You won't be disappointed!

Our 1st ButtonArcade Dress!

Our 1st ButtonArcade Dress!, originally uploaded by EmbellishYourself.

Not only does Button Arcade make fine quality, custom buttons to promote your business, Klye is also a very creative seamstress of Blythe doll fashion. Her dresses are extremely popular and don't last but minutes in her shop. If you are quick with nimble fingers, or just downright lucky you too could own one of these adorable dresses.

You see, we have been stalking her flickr and Artfire shop in hopes of snagging one of these beauties for a while. Always a day late or a dollar short, I was losing hope. Then a few months back I noticed she takes commissions and so I immediately got on the list. The list is long but well worth the wait!

I had just finished redesigning my shop logo and business cards to better capture the feel of what I sell so I asked Kyle if she could make a dress to match. The dress turned out wonderfully, I couldn't be happier!

The girls of course had a little fight over it, Thank God Kyle sent a little rubber chicken in the pocket of the dress, it helped Jesse calm down a little once she realized the dress wasn't for her. Little does she know that there is a surprise coming for her soon from frenchpants shhh! don't tell her!

The cool little comic above was created by me on my iphone with an app call Strip Designer. I LOVE this app and highly recommend it. 

Introducing Jesse

Jesse, originally uploaded by EmbellishYourself.

Jesse arrived today, I'm so excited. She's beautiful and will soon be modeling for the shop. I have a few new designs I've been holding off on releasing in anticipation of her arrival. Please check back this week to see them!

Punkaholic People! Check her out!

I am so excited! They released pictures of the new Blythe doll Punkaholic People. She is already inspiring new ideas for new necklaces designs, I absolutely can't wait. Her release date is August 28th so it's going to be a long month for me!

Meanwhile I am still putting the finishing touches on my other doll. I sand matted her face, gave her freckles, blush, a Licca body and changed 2 sets of her eye chips. I just received a new wild orange mohair wig for her that I ordered from Sleeping Elf. After I ordered the wig, it dawned on me that two of my favorite girls as a kid were Orphan Annie and Pippi Longstocking, I guess they have been the inspiration for my girl. It's funny how I didn't consciously realize that until the very end. I will post pictures of her in a few days once I put the finishing touches on her.

New Necklaces in the Shop!

My creation, originally uploaded by EmbellishYourself.

I have been busy creating new items for my Etsy shop. A lot of these were suggestions made from the wonderful participants of my last giveaway. I have had a lot of fun creating these designs and have more on the way.

Coming soon, Halloween themed necklaces for you and your girl!

A New Girl!

I am excited to share that I will soon have a new model on board! I pre-ordered Blythe Punkaholic People and she will be here in August! I have been wanting another Blythe doll and couldn't really make a decision so I was dragging my feet. I am glad I did because as soon as I saw the sketch for her, there was no question, I HAD to have her. She is just my style too.

I mentioned her to my husband and he said he would make sure I could get her. He is so supportive, he has even been helping me with creative ideas for new necklaces. I am one lucky chick! So definitely keep an eye out in August for some fun new necklace designs.

Until then, I will be listing some new designs from the ideas generated from the participants of my giveaway. I really enjoyed reading everyone's comments and it has inspired my creativity. I am always open for ideas, if you have more, please share them with me.

Blog Giveaway!!

Ok everyone, I need more exposure for my shop and I thought I would do a giveaway! The winner will receive anything in my shop up to a $30.00 value. That could be a blossom necklace, or a matching necklace set for you and your girl, or choose a combination of Blythe pull charms or necklaces. All you have to do to enter is....

Follow my blog here on blogger

Fan my Facebook business page

Friend me on Facebook

Follow my blog through Facebook (click the blog tab, then click the follow button)

Follow me on Twitter

Add a link on your blog to mine

Add a picture of your girl wearing a necklace or pull charm you have received from me to my new Flickr Group

Include an item of mine in a treasury on Etsy.

Add a comment to this post telling me what items in my shop you like or what you would like to see.

You will receive an entry for each thing you do, if you already do one those things, I will still include it as an entry.

The drawing will be on July 1st!
Everyone that participates will receive 20% off of their next purchase.

Please leave a comment listing your entries and your blog addresses if you choose to add a link (I will reciprocate with a link on my blog and follow you back!)

Thank you and good luck!!

Girls on Film Treasury

Girls on Film Treasury, originally uploaded by EmbellishYourself.

Here is my latest treasury on Etsy. Titled "Girls on Film" it's all photographs of Blythe. Part of the fun of having a Blythe doll is taking really fun, creative pictures of her. Flickr is a great place to go to see all the clever pictures people take. It's fun to look at them and comment on them and make new friends. Here are links to just a sampling of some of the fun groups on Flickr to see more....

Blythe Blythe Blythe
Blythe-almost human
Blythe Rocks!!!

New Items!

New Items!, originally uploaded by EmbellishYourself.

I hope you all had a wonderful Memorial Day Holiday! I have been busy this past week and want to share the new Blythe accessories I have added to my Etsy shop. Take a moment and stop by if you like! www.embellishyourself.etsy.com

Not only have I been adding to my shop but I finally got the courage to do some dolly surgery this weekend. She is getting 2 new sets of eye chips , a sand matte and some freckles! I can't wait, I will post some pictures of her when I am done. It has taken me forever to get the courage to do it, I have had the supplies for months. I have been so afraid of messing her up, come to find out, it was so much easier than I thought! Now I'm ready to tackle the hard stuff, like opening her up and rerooting her hair I am also saving up for an Obitsu body so she will be posable and better able to model for me, how fun!! I feel like a mad scientist! Dr. Frankenstein better watch out he has some competition!

Recent Outings and Belated Happy Mother's Day!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Mother's Day! I recently bought this tutorial from one of my favorite lampworkers Cynthia Tilker. She is an incredible artist and I absolutely love her beads and talent! I have been trying my hand at making some of her Keeper beads and let me tell you, it's a lot harder than it looks. My mom loves celestial things so I put a spin of my own on the technique and created a smiling sun for my mom for Mother's Day.

We spent the day in Solvang, California with my parents. It is the half-way point for both of us and we met there for lunch and some shopping. It was a beautiful day and we had a really nice time. I even brought my Blythe doll Shawna with me since I knew it would be a great place to get some pictures of her. No one batted at eyelash when I brought her out, I was afraid they might! I have more pictures over at Flickr!

Earlier this week, my family and I went to the drive-in to see Wolverine and Taken, both excellent movies! I didn't want to go at first because I am more of a chick flick kinda gal but I am glad I did. I really did have a good time. Can you believe there are still some drive-ins in existence? I love going there, it's inexpensive and really casual, no worries about bothering people or them bothering you. Plus you can wear your PJ's!! Once again, I could not resist a photo opportunity and brought Shawna with me, isn't this the cutest picture?