A Black Cat for luck?

Yes, i'm back with the Etsy favourites. This week I have picked a semi-topical theme - Black Cats, which are of course related to Halloween which is all over Etsy at the moment. The other reason for choosing Black Cats was for some ideas for my Mum's Christmas present as she has a mental little black cat. So here they are, my favourite Etsy shops for the week:

glass4mankind

Gorgeous handmade stained glass items in as many different shapes as you can think of. Most of the items in the shop are pendants and all have a lovely whimsy look to them - perfect for creating personalised Jewellery for loved ones. The featured pendant is Spooky, a cute black cat. The body is black glass and the wire is copper tinned wire that then makes the legs, ears, whiskers and face. The items are so cute in this shop and very unique as well as being very reasonably priced.

A. N. Original Jewelry

One of my favourite materials for Jewellery is silver and this lovely shop is full of handcrafted silver items. All items are hand pierced, sawed or filed and are so delicate. The little cat featured is only half an inch across and so pretty. The shop also features oxidised silver items and earrings to go with the pendants. This shop also has a regularly updated blog: http://www.anoriginaljewelry.blogspot.com/

Dwayne Bulla

"One man's junk is another man's treasure" is the slogan for this shop and it is truly amazing what gorgeous items Dwayne produces from 'rubbish'. This black cat is created from horseshoes, discarded bits of tools and nails! Other items in the shop are things like a saw blade flower and a drill bit dragonfly. This shop is the place to shop for something entirely unique and different to decorate your home or garden with.

Riricreations

This shop features handmade items such as cards, lunchbox notes, personalised gifts and blessing blocks. I have to admit to not knowing what a blessing block was when I discovered the lovely BOO blessing blocks in the photograph. They appear to be decorative blocks that are given to celebrate a blessed event, eg: birth of a child, wedding, anniversary or even halloween. I think they are lovely. The set featured are 2 and half inch square, handmade and hand decorated with lots of halloween inspired ghosts, spiders, cats etc and can be customised pretty much any way you like.

Susan Faye

You will notice my favourites often feature art and jewellery. These are two of my favourite things and the artwork in this shop is brilliant. I really like the bright, whimsical style of Susan's portraits. The featured artwork is an original ACEO, obviously with a Halloween theme, hand painted in watercolour. However I think my favourite things in this shop are the 'Custom cat lady' portraits - if you know anyone who loves cats (and I know several!) this is the perfect gift, an original portrait featuring the cat lover and their cat(s) all at a very reasonable price. Susan has a blog featuring her cat ladies at: http://www.365catladies.blogspot.com/

I hope you enjoyed these (slightly spooky) favourites as much as I enjoyed finding them and happy shopping!!

Book Review

Recently I had someone comment on this post: Pan Chang Knot and they asked if i learned how to tie the knot from a book. Yes, I did. I am self-taught with my Jewellery making and have learnt it all from books and magazines. I am a self confessed book addict so thought I could do some reviews of some of the Jewellery and craft making books I own. So, the first one:

Chinese Knots for Beaded Jewellery by Suzen Millodot

• Paperback
• Published by Search press (2003)
• 80 pages
• £7.49 off Amazon

This book was the first one I bought as a guide for tying knots and it is probably my most used one! It features instructions on how to tie 14 different knots and then 16 projects, mainly necklaces with a couple of bracelets. The instructions to tie the knots and the project using that particular knot all come together so you don't have to keep flicking backwards and forwards from the knot instructions to the project instructions.

Each knot shows step by step instructions on how it is tied, either with very clear diagrams or photographically or both. The written instructons are also very clear.

As well as the instrcutions provided for the projects there are also a number of other Jewellery items photographed for each type of knot that provides inspiration for attempting your own knotted jewellery projects.

At the beginning there is a comprehensive section on different cords, beads, findings, equipment and calculating cord lengths. All of this information helps when you have the confidence to develop your own pieces.

It is a really good book, particularly for beginners and one I would definitely recommend.

Back on Tuesday

You may have noticed i've not been here much since being back off holiday. I have decided to extend my holiday a little and will be back on Tuesday. Tuesday is the day our visitors go home and I finding it hard work to devote time to them and Northern Dawn.

I am working tomorrow at my 'day job' and am off to the Bead Fair on Sunday. I am so looking forward to it. I am going to allow myself a very small spending budget but I'm sure I will be quite inspired by what I find there. Even if I can't spend a lot of money, I can still collect information and ideas!

So I will be back Tuesday and you can look forward to more holiday photos, artwork & Jewellery over the coming weeks.

Etsy Favourites - Get Knotted!

No I haven't suddenly lost all my manners. Today's theme is based around one of my favourite things - knots. Today specifically Macrame. This fantastic craft is based around 4 or 5 main knots than can be combined in as many fantastic combinations as you can think of. Here are 5 sellers that show how creatively it can be used.

Melanie Miljan

Melanie makes Jewellery & Accessories, including this fab Belt tied with hemp and featuring green Aventurine nuggets and a Bamboo buckle. She uses natural materials and her shop mostly features Jewellery, made with either Fine Silver or Sterling Silver. Melanie also has a blog at http://macramewithmelaniemiljan.blogspot.com/

Intrinsic Imagination

This shop is full of amazing items that are works of a very creative imagination. The Barefoot Sandals caught my eye mainly because I'd never heard of them before! They are made with hemp and glass beads and can be worn in bare feet at the beach or a summer party or to brighten up plain flip flops or sandals. I think they're lovely. The shop also features handmade jewellery, hair falls and some very funky feather eyelashes.

My Imperfections

This is only a new shop but already has some really nice items in it. The knotted cord necklace pictured is made with silver rattail, shells and rings. This shop features big, bold Jewellery that are real dramatic, statement pieces combining so many different elements into pieces that just shout gorgeous at you!

Freedom Market

Freedom Market features lots of lovely Hemp and Beaded Macrame Jewellery. The Necklace featured contains Hemp with fire agate, antique brass, wood and hand carved bone beads. Hemp creates a lovely natural look especially when combined with natural material beads and the items listed in this shop are very wearable.

Katie's Basement

Handmade & Custom Jewellery from a modern day hippy. This is what Katie says about her shop. Being a bit of a modern day hippy myself I fell in love with it. It's a fairly new store, only opening at the end of May this year but already features many items that are all beautifully photographed. The bracelet featured is a Jasper Hemp bracelet, tied with hemp with a Jasper centrepiece and smaller wooden beads. Katie also has a blog: http://katiesbasementblog.blogspot.com/

Two new listings

I have listed two new items today, both Chain Maille Jewellery, one in each Northern Dawn Shop.

• A purple and pink Chain Maille Bracelet on Etsy
• A pair of Purple Chain Maille earrings on Folksy
  

Mobius Link Bracelet

This Bracelet has 25 Mobius balls linked together with bright aluminium jump rings. The mobius balls are made up with one each of a purple, violet & pink anodised aluminium jump ring. It is 19cm long and is fastened with a silver plated Lobster Clasp.

I think it is really pretty. It is also comfortable to wear, moves nicely as you move your hands and arms and catches the light as well!

FOR SALE: £12.00

Japanes 4-1 Earrings

These Earrings are made using a delicate, fiddly weave called a Japanese 4-1. The purple anodised aluminium jump rings are approx 7mm in size and are linked together with 3mm silver plated jump rings. They dangle to a fantastic 7cm.

These Earrings make a real statement with both their length and colour.

FOR SALE: $21.00 (approx. £13.00)

New Photos & Descriptions

I didn't get any new makes done today but did have a very productive day working on what may be a big project for next year.

I did take some new photographs of my Jewellery in my Etsy shop, though. All the new photographs were taken outside with a nice natural backdrop of stone from the garden and I found a post that my earrings hung nicely off of and the wood created a lovely coloured and texture background. I also amended some of my descriptions on the pieces I listed when I first opened the shop. I had planned on listing two new items this evening but ran out of time. They will go on tomorrow and the shop will be all updated and shiny for any new visitors the new items may generate. A huge thanks to Sparklerama for providing this fantastic forum post on item descriptions.

Tomorrow I am also going to make some labels for my new Jewellery Boxes and wrap one up as I would to post to a customer, then add the photograph of this to my listings so people know what to expect. I got this tip from this very interesting Storque article: Packaging and Shipping.

Folksy Fairies on Friday

My first Folksy favourites list, based on the magic of fairies at the bottom of the garden...

Heartfelt

There are lot of Tooth Fairy cushions listed on Folksy, but I just loved these because they are so different. They contain a little pocket for placing the tooth in and it is here that the Tooth Fairy leaves her payment. They are made with felt & fabric and the Tooth Fairy Monsters are made to order. Heartfelt is owned by a busy Mum of two who makes personalised felt creations such as padded names as well as Tooth Fairy Monsters.

Soaps by Laura

This Handmade Sugar Plum Fairy Soap is just one of many very sweet, pretty handmade soaps in Laura's shop. Her soaps have been certified and comply with EU regulations and are not tested on animals. Soaps are made fresh to order and Laura also sells bath salts, gift sets and bath bombs.

Cherryloco

Cherryloco is Lauren's shop. She sells handmade jewellery created in her home and she describes her pieces as unique, colourful & somewhat naive, laced with a quirky sense of fun. This pretty fairy pendant is hand pierced entirly from Sterling Silver.

Golcar House

This fairy image is a Limited Edition Hand Printed Screenprint. It's called 'Eat my dust'. Golcar House is an independant design studio that produces silk screen prints, printed textiles, eco friendly bags and hand made accessories, all handmade. Many of the designs in this shop are Limited Edition or originals so the perfect place to visit for something truly different.

Mirabilis

I thought the fairy on this charm bracelet was so cute. This bracelet is very girly and would make a perfect gift for a real 'girly girl'! The Mirabilis shop is run by Vicki who handmakes the Jewellery on offer, which includes earrings and bag charms amongst other items.

So, whether you believe in Fairies or not, i'm sure you'll agree there's some magical items for sale in these shops. Happy Shopping!

Etsy Favourites - Tartan/Plaid

I stayed on a bit of a Scottish theme this week for my Favourites, but mainly I was inspired by the tartan textile beads purchased from Jilly Beads on Tuesday.

Salt Of The Earth:

This is a Fairy Door. It is placed in your home and is the way that the fairy folk pass to this world from theirs! Apparently, the door only opens from their side. How cute is this! I just thought it was gorgeous. There are many different themed ones in this seller's lovely shop. This one stands 7" tall and they are made from Salt Dough.

Elylow

These lovely, highly practical and very pretty backpacks are made from reused and upcycled material. All are handmade and designed by the shop owner. Pretty, practical and ethical, what more could you ask for?

Marjji

I fell in love with this cat's gorgeous expression. He is 8" tall and made from upcycled, prewashed wool. He is weighted so will sit up nicely. He is handmade from an original pattern of the sellers, inspired by cats her Grandmother used to make. I like shops that include a story about where their creations come from. He would make the perfect gift for a cat lover - I am likely to be shopping here for my own Grandnother!

Thistle Cottage Studio

Do you want a cool, handmade hat? Then visit this shop. It contains a multitide of hats in different styles and colours. This hat is part of the seller's new Scotland collection. If you have a love of hats, Scotland or both, definitely check out this seller.

Leaping Lizards

This is another shop I will probably be shopping at. This seller has porduced some gorgeous, handmade, ceramic pendants. This particular one measures 1.25" in diameter and comes strung simply on a ribbon. This shop contains pendants in a variety of shapes and designs and also some cool slogans and phrases. If you individual Jewellery, this is definitely one to check out.

I hope you have enjoyed this weeks favourites and I have inspired you to check out at least one of these shops. There will be more next Thursday. See you tomorrow.

Etsy Favourites - Scotland

Today I followed the Shop Local link on Etsy's Buy page and searched for Scotland. The Shop Local feature lists the latest 100 shops to update at that particular location. So here are my 5 favourite Scottish shops:

Ali Bali Jewellery

Handmade and designed Silver Jewellery, made in Edinburgh. Most items are made from eco friendly recycled silver. This shops contains all types of Jewellery including Wedding Jewellery and this seller takes customer orders. One of my favourite items is her silver crocheted cuffs. You can visit her blog at Ali Bali Jewellery Blog.

Starry Blue Sky

Fantastic Photographic Prints, again from an Edinburgh seller. The shop features gorgeous images with a dreamy quality that makes them look more like a painting than photographs. She has some fantastic collage prints. I just love the dreamy affects and fantastic colours. They create a lovely, modern look that would complement any home. You can also visit the Starry Blue Sky Blog.

The Dog House

This shop features hand printed bags, t-shirts and bandanas with the seller's own greyhounds as the subject. I love dogs and the products in this shop are just perfect for any dog lover, particularly the Greyhound owner. I am seriously tempted by a canvas bag. As an extra bonus 5% from the sales goes to a Greyhound rescue charity, Gracehounds. The Dog House also has a blog: Max & Molly Designs.

Numpty

This shop features modern, funky cufflinks, earrings and hair barettes. The subjects are things such as aliens, lego and minis. Very cool and different. Perfect for anybody that loves something modern and different.

Fuzzy Dragons

Fantastic fantasy and animal art prints and ACEOs. Her preferred medium is coloured pencil which is a medium I also use so am always interested in coloured pencil artists work. The art is lovely and bright and features some lovely subjects such as dragons, horse and flowers. You can also visit the Fuzzy Dragons Blog.

I hope you will take time to visit at least a couple of these shops as they really do feature some superb stuff.

Sooner or later I will work out how to add photos to go with these favourites as photographs are so much more descriptive than my lame descriptions! - ETA: I did it, just saved them off Etsy and added them here, I will of course, notify the sellers and if anyone isn't happy, i'll remove them.

Nature's backdrop

A couple of days ago I had an inspired moment and went outside to take some photographs of my Jewellery.

Rat Earrings hanging in our Sycamore Tree
Aqua Berry Charm Bracelet on a lichen on the dry stone wall:


One of the most important aspects of selling Jewellery is the photographs. The photographs are all you have to convince buyers it's your Jewellery they want.

One of the things I have problems with is finding a nice backdrop to photograph my Jewellery against. I don't have a lot of room in my house to set up an area specifically for photography and I need to photograph my pieces on a windowsill to get the benefit of natural light. I have, until recently, been simply photographing my creations on a plain, white piece of board.

On a gorgeous day the beads just look glorious, really vivid and shining, when photographed outside and the background colours of muted blues and greens are a fantastic complement and are bright, but not overpowering. I am really pleased with some of the results of my outside photography so will spend a little time re-photographing the items and amending the listings of my etsy shop.

Recycled Jewellery Boxes

After finding an advert in the current Make Jewellery Magazine, I have been looking at the website of the Tiny Box Company, which sell gift packaging and Jewellery Boxes. They use recycled materials as well, which is a bonus, not only from my own point of view but as an additional selling point. The range is huge, so I am going to have a good look through the site and order myself a few boxes, but it looks very promising.

Sharing Hearts

One of the sections on Etsy is somewhere you can 'heart' favourite shops. I checked mine today for the first time for a couple of weeks and was delighted to find that three people heart me. So I thought I would say thank you publicly to those three people:

JJM Jewelry - This shop sells jewellery supplies, clasps, beads, findings as well as handmade jewellery. They also have a sale on at the moment. I will definitely have to have a good look through this shop as some of the beads look brilliant.

Blue Girl Jewelry - Hand crafted and wire wrapped Jewellery at a very reasonable price.

Sassa Lynne - This Etsy seller is another British seller and sells hand dyed yarns and threads as well as hand dyed scarves and other fiber art supplies. The items in this shop are truly unique, being created from random dye pots, so would be a perfect investment for someone making individual textile based art & crafts.

I have had a look on some of the other shops on Etsy, but will pick 5 tomorrow to add to my favourites and then 5 next week and so on...

Necklace design revision

I have just made a small change to the fuschia bead necklace from my last post. I just tried it on to see what it looked like and decided it was too long (I guess I should have done this when I made it!) so have knocked 10cm off the length. I also took a photo of me wearing it, which was fun. I had to crop it to cut out the double chin!! I have amended the folksy listing and added the additional photo to the listing as well.


This has certainly taught me to try any creations I make just to make sure they sit right when worn and not just assume what's a good length for one necklace is a good length for another.

New Jewellery Pieces

I have made a new necklace today and a pair of earrings:

Necklace:

It is a 3 strand necklace, made with wire. It has a trigger clasp and is about 60cm long. The beads are pink and fushcia glass chips and some gorgeous Indian glass beads as the centre pieces. The connectors are from a local craft shop and I just fell in love with them and they matched perfectly with the Indian beads I had in my stash, they made a perfect combination for a daring necklace with a bit of girliness about it!

FOR SALE: - £20.00

And a pair of Ratty earrings:

I have pet rats of my own and show them in my spare time. Next year I am going to start breeding them, so when I found these Chinese Zodiac Rat beads on the Jilly Beads website, I had to have them. It took me a while to decide what to do with them but as they are quite small they seemed perfect for earrings. They are simply hung on beading wire and the pink and white glass chips complement them perfectly, hanging off of an antique silver curb chain.

FOR SALE:- £13.00

Both of these items will be going on Folksy, when I have set up my account.

Etsy Shop

I finally got an account set up on Etsy today. I found two other sites to sell handmade crafts, which I will also set up accounts with, Misi and Folksy. The two later ones are both UK based sites, which perhaps would be better than Etsy, which is American and has everything priced in dollars, but I thought I'd stick with Etsy as it is the bigger, better known site and has a wider, international audience. I will eventually try them all out and see which one I get on best with.

You may have also noticed that the name of the blog has changed. I had to think of a username and also a shop name for my Etsy account and spent most of yesterday afternoon inspriring myself using an online thesaurus. In the end I went for Northern Dawn. I think it sounds a bit mystical and wanted to have a sort of 'natural' sounding name. I have changed the name of the blog to fit in with this and will also eventually set up a personal website to showcase the Handmade Jewellery and other crafts, which will all go under the Northern Dawn name.

Anyway, my shop on Etsy is: Northern Dawn Jewellery.

Jewellery

I was ever so excited last week by the arrival of two parcles, one from Handy Hippo and one from Jilly Beads full of loads of yummy beads and findings. I got started as soon as they arrived and made two necklaces, both adapted from designs in Make Jewellery Magazine and a pair of earrings.

I have since decided that I ordered too many large 'feature' beads and not nearly enough jump rings or headpins so have been ordering yet more beads and other bits. I can spend hours looking at beads and still not make up my mind what I want, but I have more parcels arriving in the next couple of days so I am looking forward to getting making.

I have also ordered these two books off of Amazon, Chinese Knots for Beaded Jewellery, and Ornamental Knots for Beaded Jewellery, both by Suzen Millodot. I love knots so have also ordered a load of cord and can't wait to get started with the knotted jewellery.

Anyway, here are some photos of the jewellery I have made so far:

Wedding Invites

Yes, i'm back again, after 6 months of not adding anything to the blog!! So what's been going on? well, loads actually......

I got my results for my Open University course, Discovering Science, so have also got myself a Certificate in Natural Sciences. I've finished Understanding Cancers, should get results in June I think. I'm more than halfway through my other course Introducing Health Sciences and am doing pretty well with it so far.

I'm getting married in June so am in the middle of organising all that. We moved house back in January.

I have recently changed the title of the blog and will use it to showcase my craft work. I have plans to begin selling some cards this year, so will use the blog to keep everyone informed of what's happening. I haven't been making a lot of cards as I don't have a lot of space here to spread my stuff about but I have a lot of plans for my art and card making. I have also subscribed to a new jewellery magazine that's very good, so there will be jewellery soon as well.

I just looked back at my resolutions for the beginning of 2008 and have to admit to failing dismally with all of them, so 2009 has the same ones! The dog grooming one failed to the point they have recently been to a professional groomer and look absoloutely beautiful. I am getting a bit better at getting up on the mornings though, and just love the feeling of looking back at the day and feeling i've achieved something.

Anyway, the current crafty project is my wedding invites. They are cards with a pocket to hold the evening invite, menu and RSVP card. The photograph is just the one I made to make sure it all worked correctly, so its not printed. Today I have cut out the card I need so I can get started putting them together at the weekend. Here is the sample:

Invite all tied up

Showing the pockets containing the inserts

And showing the individual inserts.

Creativity

I have a desire at the moment to make stuff. There is even a small desire to draw, which I haven't had in ages!

However, the current thing taking my fancy is jewellery. In fact, i've fancied jewellery making since I started peering at the beads in the craft shop. I've bought a couple of books, but they are aimed more at metalwork, which would be great to do but seems to involve massive amounts of tools! I bought a couple of bead work magazines which the projects involve little more than a couple of pairs of pliers and some wire cutters so I think I can stretch to that. They also have space at the craft shop on a jewellery making class. It's on Thursdays so I have to decide whether to do card-making and jewellery making, or just the jewellery making. Think I will do both for a while.

I also really want to be card making and scrap booking, so when the in-laws go home I'm planning on spending some of my free time, at least once a week, on making cards and having a play at the scrap booking. I think I may try and sell a couple of cards on ebay and see how that goes.

It's quite strange, it's like there is a goal - I feel as if i'm looking forward to something but i'm not sure what - like something's about to happen. I can see time in my days to be making cards and jewellery and I can see designs, especially for the cards, forming in my head all the time! It's great and of course I will show anything i['m up to on here.