Everyday earrings

These little 6mm round beads make such a cute everyday drop earring!  A 6mm bead is about 1/4", and in this design it's surrounded by an outline of twisted wire.  Available in gold or silver wire and about 40 different bead colors, find them on my Earrings page here.  First column, down toward the bottom of the page.  Only $11.00 per pair!


 
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Uptown Magic

This is "Uptown Magic", from The Luella Collection. Just finished last week. The center pieces were a pair of vintage clip-on earrings. I've added the swirls of gold wire and the dangling pink Czech fire-polished beads. Suspended on french earwires, these beauties measure over 3" long. One of a kind and sure to get noticed! I'm thinking...holiday parties? On sale in my Ruby Lane shop.

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Another Custom Order

Sometimes customers themselves put together two or even three things that I already make to come up with a whole new design. Helps me think outside my usual "box" as it were! Donna was buying a 3-Bead Point Bracelet with clear AB Swarovski crystals. She wanted earrings to match. Now, Donna likes a bold earring, as you can see. She saw the J-Shape Hoop Earrings that I had, and held up the bracelet so the crystals were inside the earring. "Can you make it like this?" she asked. "Absolutely," I said. "I'm the Burger King of jewelry design--have it YOUR way!"

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Mini Pendant & Earring Sets

I have always offered a variety of earrings in the same beads and/or stones as my pendants. But I haven't really put them together as a specific set. Often I would get requests for matching earrings for certain pendants I had listed on eBay or Etsy, and I would always refer the customer to my regular website to view the Earrings page and pick something they liked. Sometimes they would, but more often they would possibly be overwhelmed by the choices and just not get earrings at all. Or worse, not buy the earrings OR the pendant!

So recently I've started making specific small post earrings to go with my mini-sculpted pendants, and I'm listing them together as a set in my Etsy shop and in my Ruby Lane shop. I've got half a dozen or so made and photographed already, and I plan to keep going until I have all my available stones made into sets in both gold and silver. That should satisfy everyone, right?

Online Venue #2 -- eBay

The place I've been online the second-longest is eBay. I've been a seller there since 1999. Although I have "unloaded" some personal stuff from time-to-time, I mostly sell little mini-sculpted pendants. Some one-of-a-kind, like made with dichroic glass cabochons, and some with semi-precious gemstone cabochons. Sometimes I list matching drop earrings. Yes, it's a limited inventory, but I use eBay as sort of a "loss leader" for my regular website. The mini sculptures and drop earrings are small and quick to make, so I don't have a lot tied up in production costs. I can sell them for lower prices than I can in my store or on my website--after all that's what shoppers on eBay are looking for, right? A bargain. Then when I ship the item, I include a newsletter and a flyer about my full product line on my website. Once in awhile I get a nice order from that, so it's definitely worth it!

Unfortunately, this past year, and especially the last few months, my sales on eBay have been severely declining. In fact, for the last two months--for the first time in almost 10 years--I spent more in eBay fees than I made in sales. Sad. So I've curtailed the number of items I've been listing. I can't bring myself to give it up completely, but it certainly doesn't make sense to spend more than I'm making! Check it out here if you're interested in some super deals!

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Never Enough Time

Wow...it's been a week since I blogged! I can't believe how fast my life seems to fly by sometimes, yet how little I feel like I'm getting done!

When I first started this blog, I was sure I would be able to come up with lots of stuff to write about. Every morning when I'm getting ready for work, there are random thoughts and memories and funny things all flying around in my head. And then by the time I get my son to school and get to work, they're all gone. Maybe I should keep a little pad of paper in the bathroom to jot things down!

I did quite a bit of work today. Nine bracelets and fifteen pairs of earrings. But I didn't get a picture taken, partly because I have to leave work in less than an hour, and partly because they're all "sale" items--inexpensive things made especially to sell at "the-economy-sucks" prices. I may post a few of them on the Special Deals page of my website, but I'm hoping to sell most of them during the craft fair we're having in Cocoa Village this weekend. I'm not selling on the street in the actual fair, but it does draw a nice crowd, so I'm looking forward to lots of bodies in my store!

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What I Made Today, 9/18/08

As usual for this time of year, I'm filling in inventory in my store. Today I made a dozen pairs of this style of earring in sterling silver...all different colors of beads. I'm working on some chandelier earrings, too. Maybe I'll post them later.

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Custom Order Dichroic Earrings

I have a long time customer named Joan who came in to see me the other day. It seems Joan has embarked on a new hobby...creating and firing dichroic glass! She had with her two pieces of fantastic hot pink/purple glass with lots of overlaying dichroics that she wanted me to set into earrings. Here's the result! I was pleased, she was thrilled, and I decided to share them with the world! She is more than a little excited about her new undertaking, and eager to get right to making some more creations. Will she need some of them set? Well, let's just say I have a feeling I'll be seeing lots more of Joan!

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