Winter Weddings!

There is nothing cold about winter weddings when their brides ask for Bead Up jewelry! 
First up, my high-school classmate, Liz, a veterinarian living in Georgia. Liz has a heart for all things animals and was planning a winter wedding. She first ordered a Birds Nest necklace for herself to wear for her engagement photo session!

Liz reported that the necklace received so many compliments from her friends that she decided to custom order them for all the gals included in her wedding (including a lime green egg)! 

Not only that, but she also commissioned Bead Up to create her wedding jewelry! The instructions were simple: a necklace and bracelet set for herself and necklaces for her bridesmaids in gold, champagne, and taupe colors to match her champagne-colored dress. Working together, we agreed on pearls and crystals on gold wire for both the bride and her maids. After ordering the supplies, we finally had these (I especially love the filigree clasps!):

(click on the photo for a better close up)

And not only that, but Liz's mom wanted some jewelry for herself, too! She commissioned me to make a broach, which I admittedly had never done before, but since I am always up for a good challenge, I tried it out and made this set (a sewn combination of Swarovski crystals under taupe-colored pearls with matching earrings on brass findings):

Put it all together and you have one lovely bride and M-ot-B

(with her broach worn on her collarbone)!

Liz was kind enough to share some of the professional shots from the big day:

Thanks again for being such a great customer, Liz!

Second winter wedding belonged to my sorority sister, Alwynn. This crazy lady and I have many stories from our college days which, well, let's just say that they are confidential ;) Alwynn was planning a January wedding in blues and silver and wanted some bridesmaids jewelry to match. She literally said: "Christyn, just go for it. I trust your judgment." Sweet! Her invitation was beautiful and a great source of inspiration:

Hoping to incorporate the swirls, navy and light blue, creamy white and silver, I used Swarovski, gemstones, and pearls to come up with these:

 (top bracelet is a little something something I threw in for the bride herself!)

Each bracelet and earring set were unique, and of course finished with a little heart clasp. Photos from Alwynn's big day to follow!

Congrats again, Liz and Alwynn :)

Valentine's Day Custom Heart Jewelry

This has been, by far, my most amazing Custom jewelry story to date. A few months ago I made what I called an "& LOVE" brass necklace. I loved them so much that I kept one for myself (a rarity, I usually like to share my jewelry as much as possible!) and put the other on Etsy. It quickly sold to a guy named Rob, who said he was buying it for his girlfriend because "she absolutely loves anything and everything, so I searched for 'ampersand jewelry' and this item came up. It's really a beautiful piece and I know my girlfriend will love it!" A few weeks later Rob wrote back saying: "My girlfriend absolutely loved her & Love necklace for her birthday. It was her favorite of the five thoughtful presents I got her so that says a lot :) On a separate note, I was wondering if you happen to take requests. I was wondering if you would be able to make some earrings using the same ampersand charm or something similar. Your work is so good that it left me wanting more!" Thankfully I had a few ampersand charms left, and was able to send him these matching earrings in time for Christmas.Rob wrote that his girlfriend "LOVED the earrings. They look absolutely amazing on her. She's been wearing them a lot during the holidays for big get togethers with her family!" He even included this sweet picture of himself and Hannah wearing the new earrings :) But wait, it gets better! Rob is quite the romantic. Right after the New Year he wrote the following: "Well, I'm already looking ahead to Valentine's Day, and I have another request. Here goes... When we're in public and want to tell each other we love one another without being all mushy and saying it all the time, we put our index fingers at the top of our heads and wiggle them. It's our cute little thing. Well, once, she drew a heart in the frost of my car window and added little antennas to it, matching our little "I love you" motion. Now, that's sort of our mark that we draw on letters, fogged mirrors, etc., so I was hoping to have a piece of jewelry that had our "love logo" on it... My thoughts were that I would love a necklace with this on it. Because you are the creative genius though, I would leave it up to you to decide what piece of jewelry would be best and what style would be best. The only thing I require is that our love logo is the focal part of the piece." Rob included the above picture of the heart with antenna ears that his girlfriend drew on a fogged up car window. Isn't that super cute? I told Rob he better start giving tips - he sure knows the way to a woman's heart! I was totally thrilled about the project, and immediately started thinking of ways to incorporate the "logo" in a necklace design. I went to Michael's and, to my amazement, the actually had what I was looking for! After a few more e-mails back and forth to Rob telling him what I planned to do, I got to work with some 26 gauge wire and and a solitary heart charm.My method was to wrap the heart from the bottom and sides up: And then make an antenna by poking some wire up, then up and down a few times in order to make a thick antenna, then I wire wrapped it like I wrapped the rest, and then continued down the rest of the heart clock-wise:Of course it took half a dozen tries and two episodes of 24 to finally get the thing to look similar to what I was going for: first I made them too long, then I tried to reuse some wire and failed miserably, then I tried to make the piece abstract on the right side and ended up with a half-@$$ed looking thing. Finally, I had this in my hands: The trickiest part was getting it on a chain as a necklace. I tried putting a jump ring in between the two antennas to hang from a chain, though the whole necklace just wobbled over to one side and looked thoughtless. Then I tried to look the chain in and out of the hole in the heart - the whole thing turned upside down when trying to wear it. Finally, I did a loop thing in the middle of the heart and got this! Though I was fairly happy with what I had created, I still needed to get the customer's thumb(s) up. I e-mailed Rob telling him that this is very preliminarily and that I can try other methods. He wrote the following: "I must admit that I had no idea how this was going to look when you told me your plan because I don't know much about jewelry. Let me simply say that I absolutely LOVE what you've done so far! It is so amazing. There's definitely no need to scrap the plans because it is exactly what I am looking for. I could keep going on and on about it." Whew! Mikey likes it! Rob also said that last time he gave his girlfriend a gift from Bead Up she immediately knew what it was based on the packaging, and therefore asked if I could wrap it differently this time. I sent him this little number: Rob wrote: "At the moment, she knows I am going to visit her in March for Spring Break but she has absolutely no idea that I'm going to fly out Valentine's Day weekend and surprise her :) Of course, I will be bringing this gift with me, so it just makes it that much more awesome that you're able to do this for her! I just know she's going to love it." I can't wait to hear how it went - I will of course post an update with Rob's story of Hannah's reaction as soon as I hear back from him!

Custom Christmas Gifts

You won't find me complaining about being very, very busy this time of year - I LOVE Christmas and all that it entails, especially all the custom jewelry orders friends have entrusted to me! Here are 6 pieces I finished this weekend: One of the greatest aspects of making and selling jewelry has been all the AMAZING people I had met along the way. Back in April when I "officially" launched my website, one of my sorority sisters took notice and asked if she could host a Bead Up giveaway (my first!). One of the contestants, Nilsa, not only entered to win but also bought a necklace from my shop and lived to blog about it. I always e-mail my customers after each order to thank them for their business and to let them know when I will put the item(s) in the mail. Nilsa wrote back and asked a few questions, and then I wrote her back and asked a few more, and we've been writing back and forth for 7 months now! She's become one of my dearest "bloggin' friends" and customers and I can't wait to actually meet her one day! That said, Nilsa asked that I make one of her gal pals a necklace/earring set for Christmas. In her own words, her friend: "Loves red and orange, and tends towards natural colors (browns, ambers, forest, and olives. She's more conservative on the outside than on the inside, and tends to wear plain clothes but always complains that she's so boring and wishes she could figure out a way to sass it up a bit (that's where your jewelry comes in!) She's tall and athletic and not particularly girly (though she is feminine)." I showed Nilsa a few earth-toned pearls I had in mind and she loved where the necklace was already going and said, "I love your creativity, so I am going to let you play around!" Sounds like a plan to me! After another trip to the Jewelry District, I got to work this weekend. I had recently seen a (grandma-aged) friend of mine wear a super cute long, wrappable pearl necklace of yellows and oranges that she acquired from Alaska. Using this piece as inspiration, I bought orange, green, and brown naturally round fresh-water pearls, in addition to some white coin disc pearls and some super small white pearl beads. I added a few orange and smokey quartz colored crystals, in addition to come deep red semi-precious gemstones to the mix and strung the beads along a yard-long piece of silver wire to create this piece: I finished it off with a re-adjustable chain and clasp so the length can be further varied, and explained to Nilsa that the necklace is the kind where the wearer gets to play and reinterpret the piece - it can be wrapped around the neck 1-4 times (or could even be worn as a chunky bracelet!) and can go with silver or gold accessories, like these matching earrings I made, too.Nilsa loved the piece, and provided great feedback that makes projects like these super fun and rewarding! Thanks again, friend!! Last Friday a co-worker of mine asked if I had any jewelry in stock that she could buy at the last minute for Christmas gifts. I of course did, but also offered to make her a custom piece if time allowed. Ny not only wanted to buy a brass-ringed necklace (as seen on the right - both are sold out!) and a wish-bone necklace for herself, but wanted something in the same color for her friends. "They are rock-and-roll chicks who love necklaces that look like big chains." I told her that, if materials at the store allowed, I can make her 3 long brass-colored, chain-like necklaces that would fall to the waist and be different from each other. She insisted that she trusted my creativity and that I could make whatever I felt was appropriate - sweet! Thankfully, Michael's had what I needed, in addition to a few pieces I had never with before. Here is what I came up with:I even included a little brass bird charm on each of the necklaces to give it a truly Bead Up edge! Additionally, Ny hoped to customize the wishbone necklace for herself, so I added a little red rose charm and bird so she can match her friends! Ny was pleased with the results, especially the addition of the little birdies! Lastly, I helped my friend Alison make a Christmas gift for herself! She bought several copper pieces from me in the past (they go really well with her skin tone and earth-colored wardrobe) and wanted a necklace to match. She expressed that she really liked lockets of any size and the color Fusion Beads calls "Montana Blue." I found a large, 2-sided antiqued copper locket on Etsy and a long matching chain in the Jewelry District. After adding some orange, green, and brown pearls, in addition to a white pearl coin and a little smokey grey stone, we have this:I purposely used this wider-shaped chain for two reasons: 1.) Alison wanted to be able to wear it long or short, depending on her outfit. Since the chain is large enough to be a spring ring for a clasp, all she has to do it put the clasp along the chain where she would like it to fall and is left with the rest of the chain dangling down her back :) 2.) I have found that when making longer necklaces, thinner chain tends to twist and loop around itself, causing not only mess, but also getting in the way of showing the charm's front! Alison loved the piece and couldn't wait to show off her "custom homemade necklace" it off to friends back in North Carolina! Thanks to all these lovely ladies who have made my weekend of jewelry making that much more exciting!

Custom Cowgirl Bracelet

I got a lot of custom orders during my jewelry party. Though this was totally thrilling, I will admit it was a bit overwhelming as the main thing I wanted to do after the months of preparation going into the party was to take a break from creating for a week or two! No rest for the weary! When my co-worker Melissa saw a Chinese-themed charm bracelet I had on display at the jewelry party, she immediately said "I want one like this!" I at first figured she wanted me to create a bracelet from scratch for her, though after meeting with her for breakfast one morning to discuss the bracelet (my first "consultation" of sorts!), Melissa explained that she had a sterling silver charm bracelet that she wanted to spice up. She presented me with 7 necklaces and bracelets from her "hippie days," all adorned with silver beads, turquoise, teek-wood, and coral. She had envisioned that I could take the beads from the necklaces and put them on the existing sterling bracelet. She found this picture as her inspiration: "The funky-chunkier, the better!" Melissa instructed. I'll see what I can do! I ordered some sterling ball-headed pins and a rustic looking sterling silver toggle clasp and went to work. I tore apart the necklaces and bracelets and took an inventory of what I had to work with: Here is the "before" picture of the sterling silver bracelet Melissa provided - with two headpins worth of beads for starters...And here is the after! Melissa LOVED the bracelet when I gave it to her at our company Christmas party - and went on to show and explain to EVERYONE at our table the story behind the piece! I will admit, this is not something I would think up to do on my own, but with the help of all the materials Melissa provided and the inspiration piece's picture, I think we hit the nail on the head! Check back on Wednesday for stories of how I commissioned others to make custom-pieces for me this week!

Catch Up - Custom Jewelry and Fun Packaging

Though I haven't been actively making new jewelry designs for Etsy since the party, I have been quite busy with some custom orders from the event itself. It was so fun to have people come up to me saying, "I love this, but would like it in another color/size/shape/etc." So far I have made 6 custom pieces, ranging from earrings to match necklaces customers bought at the party to specialty sterling silver and Swarovski pieces. I am also working on a massive Sterling Silver, coral, and turquoise charm bracelet for a co-worker that will incorporate some charms from her "hippie days" and peace beads she has acquired over the years. It will definitely be a test of skill for me since this type of piece is not really in my background! At the party the best friend of Marla, the hostess, came up to me and said that she was looking for a glasses strap. I told her I have made them before with the little plastic loops at the end that hold the glasses. She said that all her co-workers have necklaces with a loop at the middle that comes down to their chest. I sketched an example and she said, "You make it and I will buy it!" We agreed on "black and silver funky beads" and a silver loop. Here's what I came up with... what do you think? Meanwhile, one of my best bud's from high school called me a few months ago asking if I could help her make some earring for her wedding day ensemble to go with her grandma's yellow pearl necklace (which her grandma wore on her own wedding day!). Abbey had already made her bridesmaids earrings out of matching yellow pearls and crystal discs between each pearl and wanted to incorporate the look. Abbey sent me tons of pearls, which gave me the chance to make several types of earrings from which she could choose. At the risk of "copying" Abbey's own design, I made a pair just like the earrings Abbey had made for her bridesmaids but added a pearl to either end to make them a bit longer. I figured Abbey wouldn't want to wear this specific design because she could have just made them herself - turns out they were exactly what she had hoped for! Abbey was kind enough to have her photographer take pictures of her jewelry on her special day! Abbey and Brad were married on October 31st, the same day both her mother and grandmother were married on, all 27 years apart! What an awesome way to continue a very unique tradition! (You can read the Toledo Blade's article about it here). Lastly, a dear friend from seminary recently found out she is having a baby boy. My hubs was back in Berkeley last week and met with the couple, so of course, since I couldn't be there, I sent a little something special as a congratulations gift: a brass "grow" tag necklace with a heart charm and yellow rose, reminding them to "Grow in Love." What I think was better than the necklace was the packaging that I came up with, thanks to some scrap paper and my Cricut machine!

I just love pink, brown, green, and white ;)