Hanging my head and hoping for the best......

by MaryAnn Carroll

For those of you that know me, you know that I am a resource teacher and do my jewelry and bead making part time. Four and a half years ago I stopped selling beads online after a tragic event sent my life into a tail spin. I won't launch into that story here because I couldn't possibly cover it in a paragraph or two. Once things started to slow down from that a year later, I just didn't have it in me to list anything anymore.

There was a time that I did very well selling beads and so so selling jewelry. I opened an Indiemade shop, but get virtually no business from it. It wasn't the site, it was me. I just didn't want to promote, take pictures, list, write descriptions, etc. to sell. The time has come for me to stop avoiding what I remember being a lot of work and get back into the bead business. I've probably written about this exact same topic before, but this time I am feeling the push to do so.

My goal is to retire at the end of the 2018 school year. I will be 58.  I am in my 31st year right now. I have been lucky to have a job that I like for the most part. It's a little scary to think about not having the same income. I have all of these thoughts running through my head.....

What is something happens to my children or grandchildren and I cannot help? Are they going to be okay? What if this? What if that?

I need to STOP!!! and remember the advice that I always offer others. Most things in life are out of our control and it is rarely the things that we try to control that end up being something that we are faced with.

So, with my retirement goal in mind, I need to get ahead financially. I thought Handmade at Amazon was going to be the boost that I needed to start selling again. I do want to do this full time when I retire from teaching.

So, I signed up and was accepted. Well, it turns out since I sold a half dozen things on Amazon in 10 years, I have a seller account. It would not let me set up shop. I spent way too many hours on the phone and on the internet trying to take care of this glitch.....

.....only to find out from my friend Staci Lousie Smith, who, if you know her, you know that she knows the ins and outs of online anything, that they aren't taking beads and components at this time. Why the heck did they accept me?

They launched yesterday and sure enough I didn't see beads and components. I did see the number 43,000 or something close to that next to jewelry and I was like..... NO WAY!  I cannot compete with that. Hopefully, I will be over all of my frustrations by the time Amazon decides to include components.

So today, I am hanging my head when I say that I am going to give in and start my Etsy store back up. I left Etsy as soon as they included manufactured items, and in all honesty, when I searched for ceramic beads just the other day I was a little appalled at what I was up against, but I am going to give it a shot again.

So, Etsy, here I come..... for a while anyhow. I will wait to see what happens on Amazon and maybe I will make the switch. But for now, I am motivated to start selling again.

assorted porcelain beads

wood-fired stoneware beads

porcelain beads with shino glaze

porcelan beads pistachio shino glaze

I also checked out examples of what you will see when I get started back up!

I hope that ceramic beads are still in style......

A BANGLE GIVEAWAY

by MaryAnn Carroll

Hello All,

I have a quick post for you today due to time constraints going on in my life right now. Hopefully, most of you have social media sites and can share this post because that is what I am going to ask you to do to be entered to win two custom made (fit for you) copper bangles like the ones pictured. Please share on your social media sites and let us know where it is that you shared. You can enter up to two times..... meaning share in two different places.

If you don't have social media..... please come up with some way that you could be entered.... perhaps you could share on email with a friend, share with someone in your household, share with the mailman, etc.

Get your creative juices flowing. I will announce a winner in one week..... that'd be next Friday!

Please leave your comments on this blog post...  Those will be the only ones counted.

Have a great weekend!!! MaryAnn

The Love of Art Jewelry...... Featuring Karen McGovern

MaryAnn Carroll

I'm not sure when I was first asked to create discs for fellow artist Karen McGovern. Quite some time ago, she wrote to me and asked if I would make some discs similar to others I have sold, but with the holes in the center. If you recall in a recent post, I was having issues with punching center holes. I had drilled the first order, but had some problems with that method. I did solve that problem and opted for the Neiko hole punch. So far..... so good. Thank-you to everyone who helped me make that decision.

Back to Karen..... She is definitely a one-of-a-kind talent. She took the discs (similar to those pictured here) and created some incredible art jewelry.

.....starting with this very cool cuff.....

She has a recent blog post with the unique pendant pictured below.....

complimented with.... the beauty of rings......

Her imagination is unstoppable.....

Karen recently taught a cold connecting class in Traverse City, MI. These beauties are the results from that class.

And... lastly.....as they say...... 

"A picture is worth a thousand words!"

Before finishing up, I would like to share a few words that I took from Karen's Etsy shop regarding her other passion:

"Every day is Earth Day at Beadkeepers. The art and jewelry you see here is inspired by nature and created to raise funds for wildlife conservation through the Rare Species Conservatory Foundation.  Life is too short for boring jewelry!"

Check out Karen online:

http://beadkeepers.etsy.com

http://www.beadkeepers.com

http://www.beadkeepers.blogspot.com

http://www.rarespecies.org

As always, thank-you for supporting those who create handmade with handmade,

MaryAnn

calling ALL jewelry folks who create handmade with handmade....

by MaryAnn Carroll

and..... at the end of this post, please check for the two winners of our doubles giveaway.

Are you interested in increasing sales?

Do you create your own components?

Do you create jewelry using your own components?

Do you do a little or a lot of both?

Do you create using mostly handmade created with handmade?

If you can answer YES to any of the "do you" questions, then you might be interested in joining us for the day with a group shop sale titled "Creating Handmade with Handmade."  If there is enough interest, you will be able to add your SHOP link to our blog via a post.   That day, those of us involved will hold our own sales unique to us.  What I mean by that is that if you choose to take 10% off in your shops or 50% off in your shops, that is entirely up to you.  You won't have to be at  your computer to monitor anything, but you will have to set up the sale to take place on the day that is decided.  Also, I ask that you use a coupon code if your shop is through Etsy.  If your shop is located somewhere else online, I ask that you use the easiest method available to offer the sale to customers.  Also, the more each of us chooses to blog about, add to facebook, twitter, etc. prior to the sale, the better it will be for everyone involved.

If you think you might be interested, simply leave a comment on this post stating that you are interested and more information will follow. 

Here is some of what LMAJ members are creating.....



Mamacita Beadworks



Under A Copper Sky

Summers Studio Etc

Maire Dodd

M A Carroll

Patty Lakinsmith

Staci Louise

Van Beads

Easy links to our shops are at the left of the blog thanks to Inlinkz! 

What a great discovery that was :o)

And the winners for these great earrings are:

Alice from the Bliss Guild

Please contact Maire through her Etsy shop by clicking HERE.

And for these great earrings, the winner is Beadroe.

Please contact Jean through her Etsy shop by clicking HERE.

Join us next Sunday for a giveaway that you don't want to miss!!!

~Thanks for reading~

MaryAnn

Beads-of-Clay Cyber SALE

by MaryAnn Carroll

Check it out!!!  Today is your day to add to your ceramic bead collection....

or....if you don't have one yet, today is a great day to try beads-of-clay in your projects.....

Why don't you head on over by clicking HERE 

for easy links to all of the shops that are offering special sales...

Here's a preview of what you will find.  

This treasury was put together by Marsha Neal of Marsha Neal Studio.

For the actual treasury, click HERE.

As always....

~thank-you for creating handmade with handmade~

MaryAnn

Double the Fun.... Double the Giveaway.....

by MaryAnn Carroll

Double the winners....  This time you have TWO chances to win..... Yes, TWO!!!

We have these lovely earrings created by our own Mary Jane Dodd.

This is what Maire says about these copper beauties....

small simple om earrings - measuring 1" or 25mm

I love them!!!

 And.... I just LOVE these, too!  Look at all of the handmade with handmade!!!

Jean, whose Etsy shop is jeanawells, created these and donated them to Love My Art Jewelry

for our bi-weekly giveaway.  Thanks Jean!

Ohhhhh....and there is the question....  hmmmmmm.....

The question:

What handmade materials are your favorite when it comes to buying components for jewelry or creating your own?  Why?  If you do not create jewelry, what are your favorite styles of handmade jewelry?  (example: combination of silver with lampwork)

Here's how this will work:

Everyone has up to three chances to enter.

For those of you who have other social network sites:

1. One chance to win by leaving an answer to the question.

2.  Post it your blog, facebook, twitter, etc. and come back letting us know (each time) that you did.  Please leave the link to that post.  Please pick no more than two addtional social networks to post on.

For those of you who don't have a social network site:

1.  One chance to win by leaving an answer to the question.

2.  Visit our website http://lovemyartjewelry.com and sign our guestbook letting us know that you are doing so because of this double earrings giveaway and come back to our blog and tell us that you did that.

3.  If you have not already, join one of our members blogs (they can be found at our website by clicking on the members name) and come back to let us know that you did.  If you follow all of our members blogs, then leave a comment on one of any member's most recent blog post related to their post and come back and tell us about it.

I hope I'm not writing too much and making it confusing.  Ultimately, whether you are a social networker or you are not, you have up to 3 chance to enter to be one of two winners for the earrings pictured.

~Thanks so much for reading~

MaryAnn

A Beginner Teaching a Beginner Tutorial....

by MaryAnn Carroll

So, I'm new to this enameling art and I've got to say I am really enjoying it.  What I think I like the most is that I can create pendant style pieces to coordinate with my ceramic beads.  I've decided to keep this a "semi" silent tutorial ;o)  ...one without words.....  one where I hope the pictures say all of the words.... 

If they don't, however, please feel free to leave a comment asking me anything that you have a question on.  I will be happy to answer asap.

The earrings....
They are reversible if you know how to switch around the ear wire.  If you like the side with a more solid color look like this....

or....  the backside like I prefer....

just simply reverse the ear wire and you have an entirely new set!

The style below is made in the same way, but I've kept this set closer to the actual enamel colors before I decided to use my artistic license with the torch ;o)

Let's get started....

I guess I will add a few words here for safety reasons:

Please keep in mind that the set up that I have include fire bricks which are the same bricks used to build my husband's wood-fire kiln.

Repeat until you get the desired colors.

Some smaller steps were left out.  Please feel free to ask if there is anything that you want to know. You can leave a comment and I will respond or contact me at artisanbeadsplus@gmail.com

Please check out the following sites for more about enameling:

http://paintingwithfireartwear.com

http://paintingwithfire.etsy.com

Here is are a couple of great tutorials by Barbara Lewis:

http://www.youtube.com/user/babsadoodle123

http://www.youtube.com/user/babsadoodle123#p/a/u/2/L9Zr-6D9FnY

 

~thanks for reading~

MaryAnn