Bead on a Wire Blog

I have been busy creating in the past couple of months as I gear up for the annual Tea For All Reasons Open House. Sadly, this is the last TFAR Open House since my parents are moving away from this area sometime next spring. I know that my mother’s loyal customers are deeply disappointed to hear that news as much as I am.

Anyhow, I’ve been busy. Here are a few of the new items that have already sold in my Etsy shop:

The Agate and Jasper Necklace

… and matching earrings

Vintage Rhinestone Shoe Clips

Vintage Thai Princess Ring

Recycled Hand in Time 2 Necklace

There are other items sold, too. More than I remembered!

It’s been a pretty good fall for sales so far, considering the many months that I let things languish at the end of my pregnancy and soon after my daughter was born in late March.

I am a regular vendor at my mother’s annual fall open house now. It’s kind of nice to have regular customers who come back excited to see what new shiny things I have to offer.

I had low expectations for sales this time given the economy. However, I did have a number I was hoping to reach and I mainly wanted to unload some inventory. Both goals were accomplished!

The most exciting sale was for a necklace and earrings I made just a couple of days before the open house. The necklace was not like anything I had made previously, but I got great feedback on it and it did sell. I have terrible flash pictures from my display table that I need to download and will put on the blog soon.

[Added 11/17]: Here are the photos of the Blue China necklace and matching earrings that sold at the open house. Please forgive the quality of the photos.

I’m now considering an online open house - sending out an Evite to my mailing list for folks to shop my Etsy shop for Christmas gifts. I can’t do an actual open house in my home this year, which is a bummer, so maybe that can be a way to remind them that I still have pretty things available for their gift ideas.

I’m finally getting back into the crafting swing of things after the vacation. I made two gifts this weekend - one is a bracelet for my friend’s daughter who is graduating from high school this week; the other is a similar bracelet (different colored pearls) with matching earrings for a friend whose birthday is coming up.

The supplies I ordered for the new bridal set arrived this morning so I’ll begin a “draft” of that necklace for the bride to approve tonight and also a couple pairs of earrings for her to choose from. I’m excited about the possibility for this set. It’s simple but different from what I’ve done previously.

I have an unofficial commission for a long necklace for a friend from church. I’ve back-burnered this project while I collected interesting beads and thought out a design for her. She said there is no rush and I haven’t been paid yet, but I know that she’s good for it and even if she changes her mind the beads collected are cool and totally usable for other projects. I’m thinking about making this one more in a rosary style than simple stringing, but it will involve a lot more work to make. Fun, though.

OK, I need to go get my son, who is supposed to be napping, but is playing in his crib instead.

I’ve been fighting a pretty bad cold and cough for the past week. Made for a merry hacking Christmas, but I am on the mend at last. As a result, I haven’t had much energy to do much of anything, including making jewelry or blogging.

I did make a lovely necklace and earrings set for my Dad to give to my Mom for Christmas. She loved it, which is always a nice thing.

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas.

I’ve finally listed the necklace that I made a couple of months ago. I’m still working on redoing my early photography. Now that I’ve found a method and look that I like I’m trying to get most of the items in my shop redone.

Anyway, I like that the necklace is versatile. You can wear it as is or you can wear it with your favorite pendants. Since I have a few pendants that I like to wear and not a good chain or way to show them this necklace is a good way to show them off. The last pictuire shows the necklace with a pendant (also available in my shop - click on that picture to see the listing).