Pictures from Tutorial

I had a lot of views on my tutorial when I first posted it on etsy. That was really encouraging for me because I spent a lot of time preparing it and I was hoping people will like it. Then I also heard that my cover picture was kinda of busy and people did not quite know what they were buying?? So I figured I would rework that and see what happens. I tried putting both the bracelet and the mandala on the same picture but the colors did not work well together and in short, I did not like it. I ended up with two different pictures, sort of less busy than the first one which I like less but I think they seem to pass the message across better. Here is what I am talking about:

This is the first picture (the one I originally had that was perceived as busy):

Those are the two I just did:

Would anyone comment which one they like better?

Tutorial

These days I've been busy working on a tutorial about how to make a teardrop bracelet and a mandala. Those are some of my favorite pieces that I've designed. I can't really remember how many of each I must have made - takes a couple of hours max, yet the design is so effective and the color combinations are just amazing!

Recently I came up with the idea to make a tutorial about how to make them. My etsy stats where I have a few of my pieces listed seemed encouraging - people seemed to like them because I could see the clicks coming, yet the buys were not there! I know, everyone says it's slow these days, look at gas prices, the stock market, the housing market, the mortgage market, you name it market, everything is doom and gloom.. I agree with that - as a family, we've cut a lot of discretionary expenses as well. But every once in a while, you need that little something to keep you going. It doesn't have to be expensive, sometimes it's even something handmade that brightens the day. So I figured I'd put my knowledge to pen and paper (or rather to camera and world wide web these days) and let whoever wants to exploit their creative side have some fun with it.

To sweeten the deal, I've even promised to refund the purchase price of the first five people who send me pictures of their completed bracelet or mandala, as my way of saying thank you for their trust in me! We'll see how that goes, now I am expecting the pictures to start coming:)

If you are interested in finding out more about my tutorial, here is the etsy link:

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=13644851

Check it out:)

Mandalas

I first learned about Mandalas when I was reading Jung. For Jung, Mandalas are the expression of the self, the path to the center, to individuation. I found that fascinating. My google search for mandalas produced hardly anything that spiked my interest. But then I found a couple of really cool books on Amazon for coloring mandalas. I ordered them together with a hefty set of Prisma pencils (I believe I got the box with 108 pencils in it which immediately became the source of envy from my five year old who was upset that I would not share them with her!). I colored quite a few mandalas and I really found the whole experience highly therapeutic. Coloring a mandala on a lazy Sunday afternoon and experimenting with all the different color combinations (and believe me, with 108 different color pencils the possibilities are just endless..) was truly enjoyable. I did not like all the mandalas that I colored - when I looked at them the next day, I would go like - gee, what was I thinking yesterday. But while I was coloring the mandalas I was so engrossed in the exercise that this did not seem to matter. And my mind was really enjoying the break from all thoughts and worries. I still produced some mandalas that I liked though. Then, after some negotiating with my husband, we ended up hanging some of them around the house.

After my coloring period was kind of drawing to a close, I experimented with making a mandala from beads. I played a little and after a few tries, I produced a mandala that I was happy enough to hang on my car mirror. The mandala was predominantly purple, to match my car color:) I figured next time I get stuck in traffic, I might as well be looking at my mandala and thinking those deep thoughts instead of getting aggravated by the traffic situation. It does seem to work, plus the sparkle of those Swarovski crystals in the sun is really fascinating!

Since then, I've created a number of mandalas from beads but they all have the colors red and purple predominate in them. There was a reading I stumbled upon once that the colors one chooses to color their mandalas tells something about them, I have to dig this out:)

Here is my latest creation:

You can see all the pictures at my etsy store:

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=13549551

Wire Weekend

Just recently I was reading "The Little Prince" to my 5-year old daughter. This is probably the book I've read the most times in my life (and I'm sure there are more to come since I have a two year old as well:). Anyway, in the book, the little Prince makes a drawing of a snake who has swallowed an elephant. And he cannot really understand why the grown-ups say it's a hat. I just love that story!! My 5-year old did not believe it either so I guess she is growing up:)

Anyway, I got the inspiration from the book to try to make my own drawing of an elephant and then to make it with wire. My first two elephants turned out kind of big, I guess you wouldn't want to wear them and neither would I but then I got better. I made a cute little elephant that I turned into a bracelet. I thought, wow, that's fun, let's try something else! I tried making a cat. Here's how it looked:

I decided to make a bracelet out of it. I don't know if you've heard the superstition but I remember when we were kids, if a black cat crossed our way while we were playing outside, we had to turn around three times, just to make sure nothing bad would come our way:). I thought we are grown ups now, if I had to turn three times, probably the obvious thing that would happen is that I'll feel dizzy.. So instead of trying it out, I decided to add a couple of evil eye beads to my bracelet (as you can imagine I always keep those handy in the house:), to make sure that we'll be safe from evil:) This is all a joke of course, but I liked the final result:

Then I played some more, made another cat and decided to make a necklace with it. No evil eye beads this time, no superstitions, just a fun, attention-grabbing necklace. Here it is:

I listed both pieces on etsy, check them out if you want to see all the pictures:

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=13522169

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=13507339

Pictures

Ok, here are the pictures. I was able to load them now.

Hope you like them:)

Added Links to Etsy

I am starting to like this! I was actually able to add links to my etsy shop in less than an hour. Ok, I had to restart my computer in the meantime but it wasn't because of something that I did. This is really cool. And I was able to change that awful template that I picked yesterday. I looked at it this morning and I was like - gee, what was I thinking yesterday.. I like this one a lot better - it's simple and pleasing to the eye (at least to mine:). And since I am probably the only one reading that blog anyway, I wanted to make sure it doesn't drive me crazy.

Talking about readers, I saw that my blog had 10 hits yestereday - I am hoping it's not all me checking it out 10 times, it's me and 9 OTHER people! I still don't know how most of the things work around here so I am taking everything with a grain of salt:)

Ok, enought about me, this blog was supposed to be about jewelry anyway! Let me share with you my newest piece that I just posted on etsy:



http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=13415565



I wasn't sure whether that pendant is not too heavy for a bracelet but I liked the final product. It sure grabs attention!



For some reason my 'add image' button is not working so if you want to see the pictures, you'll need to follow the link above.

First Day of Blogging

Ok, it's official now - I've just joined the world of blogging. You may call me a blogging virgin, a newbie, whatever comes to mind for someone who had never tried blogging before. But they've made it easy on us - just choose a predesigned template, add a picture and a few things about you and off you go - you are in blogging universe. Technology does wonders those days! The question is what do I or anyone who writes a blog for that matter has to share that someone else would be interested to read.. right?That's the BIG question.

My initial idea is to write about the jewelry that I am making - post pictures, hopefully get feedback and comments and gradually find my niche in outer space. I want to start small and see where that takes me.

Here is a picture of a bracelet that I just posted on etsy today (hopefully I can post it here:)

And here's a preview of another piece I am working on:

Anyone for comments? That would be a big encouragement for me, means someone actually read this!!