Ready For Spring

Most of the winter I have been crocheting for my shop, Morning Sky Creations, using deep, dark and neutral colors.  Enough!  We've been having a long winter here in the Northeastern US and I'm tired of it.

Last week I was in the store yarn shopping and these colors caught my eye. I couldn't decide which I liked best so I ended up with all three.

This was the end result and I love it.  So happy to see some bright, fresh colors in my shop.

Packaging

Since I have been selling my jewelry I have been using the same packaging. I wrap the item in white tissue paper and then place it in an organza drawstring bag.  This has been working fine until I introduced a line of leather key rings into my shop. 

Most of my jewelry is for women. There are 1 or 2 items that could be for men. When one of those pieces sells  I  wrap it in tissue and tie it with a neutral color cord if I am in doubt if the purchase is for a male or female.

I needed to come up with easy, economical packaging for my key chains. What could I use that looked masculine enough if the purchase was for a man, but not too masculine in case the purchase was for a woman?

Here is what I came up with and for now it seems to be working out.

I do have cord in different colors, so if I'm sure that the purchase is for a woman I may tie up the package in pink or purple cord instead of the natural.

Leather Key Chains

I've added something new to my jewelry shop.  While I love making my jewelry, I was looking for something that was a little less time consuming to make that I could offer at a lower price point.

I had some leather left over from some leather bracelets I had been making so I made a few basic key chains like the one shown below. It is made from a nice sturdy vegetable dyed leather with a nickel plated clasp.

Soon after I came across a silver plated swivel clasp and split ring when I was out shopping for supplies. That resulted in this key chain with clip. It is perfect for clipping to a belt loop or purse.

                                       

Next to be added was a key ring attached to a leather wristlet strap. This is great when you are running errands and don't want to lose your keys in the bottom of your purse. Just slip this over your hand and your keys are easily accessible.

The latest key chain added was the double ring. I work in retail and I notice a lot of people searching for reward card key tags among their keys. With my double key ring you can keep all your tags on one ring and your keys on the other. Or, you can keep house or office keys on on side and car keys on the other.

Clicking on any of the photos will take you to that item in my shop.

Happy New Year

I hope everyone is having a great New Year so far. It has been quite a while since I posted so I thought that the New Year would be a good time to get back to it. Hopefully it will be a trend that will continue on a semi-regular basis.

I have been trying to build up both my Etsy shops the past few months.My crochet shop, Morning Sky Creations, is very depleted right now. I'm trying to do a little bit of crocheting every day to gradually get if filled back up.

My jewelry shop, Morning Sky Jewelry, is doing a little better. Over the summer I made myself a crochet beaded wrap bracelet. I not only love wearing it, but I love making them. Once I started I couldn't start. The first ones I made using mainly seed beads and some stone chips. Then I made a few using Czech fire polished stones and those are the ones that I really love. 

Wrap Bracelet with Multi Color Seed Beads

Wrap Bracelet with Teal & Orange Firepolished Crystals

This is one of my favorites. I had ordered some Oxblood Red crystals for an idea I had. The supplier ended up sending me a freebie of some Czech fire polished copper luster beads. I ended up abandoning my original idea and combining the two. I love this bracelet. It was very hard for me to list it instead of keeping it for myself. I will have to look into ordering more beads to make another.

Wrap Bracelet with Oxblood and Copper Czech Firepolished Beads

One of the best things about these items is their versatility  They can be worn not only as bracelets, but also as wrap around anklets, or single or double strand necklaces. 

A New Crochet Technique

I had tried crocheting with wire some time ago, but I didn't like the results. When my local craft store started carrying silver plated Artistic Wire I thought I would give it another try. This time I was much happier with the results. 

These bracelets are made by first string on the beads then crocheting chains. When I have the number of chains that I need I braid them together to form a fun, contemporary bracelet.

The bracelets in the first 2 photos are made with non tarnish silver plated wire and the bottom one is made from black coated wire.

Reusable Market Tote Bags

I have a new addition to my crochet shop, Morning Sky Creations. I have been making reusable crocheted market bags. These bags are not only great for shopping, but also for the beach as well as an all around tote bag.

Sea Foam Green Bag with Flower Applique

Camouflage Bag

I'm really enjoying making these bags and I'm amazed myself at how much I can fit in one. Because they are crocheted they have a lot of give to them. Please leave a comment if you have any ideas for colors and/or color combinations that you would like to see.

Bead Crochet Bangle Bracelets

I came across these great beads in 2 different sizes and I knew that I had to make a chunky bead crochet bangle from the. In lower light these beads appear purple with a rainbow finish, but when held up to the light they appear a translucent red, almost like pomegranate seeds.

Purple Spiral Bead Crochet Bangle Bracelet

I found the beads for this bangle when I was online shopping for supplies for a custom bracelet. I loved all the colors and how they blended together so seamlessly. The bead mix is called Summer Sunset and I think that the name describes these colors perfectly.

Summer Sunset Bead Crochet Bangle Bracelet

Grandmother's Bracelet For A Friend

Last week was a friend's birthday. Her third grandchild was due any day and she was so excited. I thought, what could be a better gift than a grandmother's bracelet. I made a shiny aluminum chainmaille bracelet of byzantine segments. The segments are divided by Swarovski crystals, each one representing the birthstone of a grandchild.

I just gave her this special gift and she loved it. It made me so happy to see how thrilled she was to receive it. As an added bonus, it is also a mother's bracelet. Her birthday and the birthdays of her 2 daughters are in the same months as her grandchildren. So this is a double duty bracelet.

Shiny Aluminum Chainmaille Jewelery

A few weeks ago I posted about the amazing aluminum rings that I bought. Well, this is what has finally become of them.

Thick Byzantine Bracelet

Shaggy Loops Bracelet

Beez to Butterflies Bracelet

All three bracelets are for sale in my Zibbet shop as well as a wide selection of copper chainmaille and bead crochet. Stop by and have a look.

November Featured Etsy Blogger

This month's featured Etsy Blogger is Cindy of Devine Designs Jewelry. Her beautiful handcrafted jewelry is made from wire that has been twisted, shaped and coiled into some truly unique pieces. Cindy uses different metal, beads and stones so that no matter what your taste you will be sure to find something to fit your style.

I am in love with the bracelet shown below. The beads she used are very unique in that they are made of glass, but look like real stone. I also love the silver and the chunkiness in general of this bangle. Click here to learn more (and possibly purchase) this great bracelet.






How great would these sterling and lapis earrings look with a pair of jeans on the weekend? Take a closer look, I bet you'll fall in love with them.

A Recipe For A Bracelet

I have a confession to make. I really don't like cooking. Don't get me wrong, I cook dinner for my family almost every night of the week and eating is one of my favorite pastimes. I also have quite the collection of recipes - most of which I have never attempted. The kind of recipes that I like to follow are for jewelry. Here are my ingredients:


The recipe I follow depends on the pattern that I am making. And here is my finished product:



Much more fulfilling for me that recipes involving food.

New Item

Here is something new that I have added to my Artfire shop. This little pouch is perfect for carrying all your reward cards, credit cards or business cards.

Sale! Sale! Sale!

I will be offering 15% of your entire purchase in both my shops from Black Friday through Cyber Monday. The sale will start at 12:01 AM EST on 11/27 and end at 11:59 PM EST on 11/30.
I will refund the 15% through PayPal.

Here is just some of what you will find at Morning Sky Jewelry.





Morning Sky Creations offers crocheted items for the home such as washcloths, scrubbies and makeup removal pads.




Mention that you found out about this sale on my blog in the notes to seller upon checkout and I will also ship your order for free!

September Featured Etsy Blogger

The featured Etsy Blogger for the month of September is Designs By Vanessa. Vanessa has a great shop with a wide array of beautiful items.

Her main focus is birds such as these Song Sparrow Earrings




and Bird Iron On Applique.




Bu,t you will also find other themes such as these adorable Cupcake Cards.



Why not pay Vanessa a visit. She may have just what you are looking for.

Great Summer shop

As part of an Etys Bloggers team assignment I went off in search of a shop with hot summer items. I came across Ezylife and her shop is what summer is all about. It is light, bright and airy. Her dresses are beautiful and come in a wide array of styles and colors. There is something there for every woman. An added bonus is that her prices are very reasonable.





Ezylife is a new seller, but she as perfect feedback and glowing reviews.

Featured Etsy Blogger for July

The Etsy Bloggers team has chosen miesmama as the featured blogger for the month of July. Take a look at this colorful shop for a variety of handmade felted finds. You will come across such things as:

Headbands

Keychains

Garlands

and much, much more.

A New Selling Venue

I just started listing my items on a new handmade website that I found called Zibbet. I know that there are a lot of them out there, but I really liked the look of this one and the ease of listing. It is new so it doesn't have a lot of features yet, but they are sure to follow. You are allowed to sell handmade, vintage and supplies.

Click here to check out what my Zibbet shop looks like.

If you decide that you would like to become a seller on Zibbet I would really appreciate if you would click on the banner below and sign up from there. Zibbet offers a great referral program for its users.

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One of my favorite features in the shop performance stats. They show you how many visits you had to your shop during the month, how many times your item was shown on Zibbet, either on the home page, search page, someone's favorites or somewhere else around Zibbet. Some of my items have been displayed around Zibbet over 200 times.

While I don't have any sales yet I am being patient since this is a very new site and I have just started listing.

Wonderful Wednesday

These eggs, made by Ukrainian Eggs, are truly remarkable. Some of you may be familiar with Pysanky, but these eggs are made with a twist. The colors are from hundreds of tiny seed beads.





Here is the arttist's explanation of Pysanky and Her Pysanky:

"Pysanky are made to be given to family members and friends. To give a pysanka is to give a symbolic gift of life. Each of the designs and colors on the pysanka has symbolic meaning--the colors and designs are typically chosen to match the character of the person to whom the pysanka is to be given.

About My Pysanky:

I use beads instead of the typical beeswax designs because I prefer the focus to be primarily on the egg's colors. The beads are very small and each egg can take anywhere from one week to several months. I started making these eggs as gifts for family members and began my "store" as requests came in for specific colors for specific people.”

This one is made from an Ostrich egg. I can't even begin to imagine the time and the amount of beads that went into this work of art.

Nice Things Come In Small Packages

I added these tiny earrings to my Artistry Arts shop last week. Earrings are my must wear piece of jewelry. I don't know about you, but there are times when I want an earring that I even feel in my ear. I want a small, very light earrings on days when I don't feel good, it's very hot, my allergies are bothering me, etc. It might seem strange, but that is how I feel.



Do you have days that you want a small earring? These look large in the photo, but they are less then an inch long.

New Handmade Selling Venue

I came across a new online site for selling handmade called Artistry Arts. They allow only the selling of handmade items and supplies used to sell handmade items.

I was fortunate enough to be among the first to sign up and therefore qualified for a 6 month free membership. This allowed me to start listing and set up my my store without having to pay a penny.

For those who still wish to sell it is only $5 per month to start selling and that price is guaranteed to never go up. You can list as many things as you want and choose how many days you want to list for - 30, 45, 90 or 120. You can also have your listing automatically renew 1 or 2 times.

I think that my favorite feature is the payment options that you can choose from. You can require your buyer to pay instantly before the item is removed from your shop or you can choose to invoice them for their purchase.

The front page also features different items on a rotating basis so that every time you refresh you will see new items that are chosen randomly. What a thrill it is to see some of my items on the front page at any given moment.

Some other features are:

· Paypal Cart Checkout

· Ability to Leave and Receive Feedback

· Sell Similar Option

· Favorites

· Create and Send Invoices

· And more.

This site was only started about 1 month ago by Sharon and John, also known as Mom and Pop. They are constantly upgrading the site and are very good about responding to user recommendations.

Check it out. What have you got to lose?