2 years on Etsy = GIVEAWAY!!

Today marks Bead Up's 2-year anniversary of selling on Etsy! Though is may sound cliche, it is REALLY hard to believe that I have been selling jewelry for 2 years now. I can only imagine the crazy huge amounts of free-time I had before embarking in this very full-time hobby! 


The journey hasn't always been metal roses and birds nests, however. Though I technically opened my shop for business on August 19, 2008, I initially only put up a measly 2 items for sale: a glasses lanyard and these green earrings, made of pearls I bought in China. And though I posted them for sale in August, it took me over 2 months to make my first sale (of said green earrings)! I was SO thrilled that the earrings finally sold that I still have the little "thank you" note the buyer sent with her payment (before the days of Paypal)! And come to think of it, my mom is the only one who has ever "bought" the glasses lanyard. Figures!


Now, 2 years and 200 sales later, I am thrilled to say that I consider my work on Etsy both fulfilling and successful, if you will. Though my sales aren't in the thousands, my ratings are a unanimous 100% satisfaction, which is one of the few things I take great pride in :) Add that to the hundreds (literally, hundreds) of sales I have made in person and off of Etsy, plus that one order of 200 custom necklaces from earlier this summer, and you have an average of about an item sold a day. I like those odds. 


So with that, my faithful Bead Up readers, I can only thank you for all the support you have provided me -- whether it is through actual sales or your comments here on this blog. There are few things in life that make me feel like I am using my talents wisely, and with your help, this happens to be one of them :)


And what is a proper "thank you" without a GIVEAWAY? Bead Up is offering her most valuable - and most popular - giveaway yet: A Wire-Wrapped Birds Nest Necklace! Choose from the classic:

Or the twist:

Or the yet-to-be-released, twist on a classic!

To enter: just leave a comment on this blog post listing your favorite item in Bead Up's shop - the Fall Line is growing in numbers and I would love to hear what you do (or don't!) like! 
For additional entries: "like" Bead Up on Facebook, "favorite" Bead Up on Etsy, or follow this blog (please leave an additional comment for each extra entry you make)!
Oh, and don't forget to include your e-mail address too so I can tell you when you have won! Giveaway will end on August 26th :)

Here's to another 2x200 years of Etsy-ing!

DIY::Salvaged Finds Turned To Jewelry Displays::PART 1

I have always been a Goodwill Stores kind of a gal. Even when I find something there that I don't need but see the $.49 price tag attached, I always seem to be able to justify the purchase. This was no exception when trying to think up new and useful ways to display my jewelry for my upcoming party.


I have spent some of my recent free time getting to know my new neighborhood, which includes the local stores and dives. While rummaging around a Salvation Army store in town, I shopped this little guy: 

I immediately knew what I could do with it, and $.98 later it was mine! So after adding some black paper to it's back to give it less of a meshy look, I looked around my craft room to get some ideas of how to spruce the thing up. I knew just the remedy: paper flowers and brads! 

So a few floral arrangements later... 

And after adding some earrings, too...

We have this:

So, for less than $1 or so, I have a perfectly lovely earring holder. The paper holder also came with a magnet, which I think I will use to label the price for the earrings during the jewelry party. What do you think? 

Next on my list was to find a means to hang some longer necklaces I recently made for the jewelry party.  I remembered that I had some old cork boards we were saving to put up next to our dart board in the basement. Who needs darts when you have lots of jewelry to display? So I pulled them, and some old gift wrap, out of storage...

Turns out the cork boards (which we originally found in a free pile of stuff back in Berkeley) have warped pretty harshly over time, so they needed to be covered STAT!... 

After cutting the paper and taping it's edges down...

I added some torn paper around the border to give it some color, as well as a random flower I found laying the craft room. And VOILA! 

In fact, I used the rest of the torn pink paper to create it's counterpart:

I especially love the floral details: 

Though am not a huge fan of the only interesting push pins I could find in town - where can I get some cute silver matte pins without spending a fortune? 

Up next - how I turned a $.48 find into a necklace and earrings holder, plus a new use for an old lamp! 

Poke, string, knot, glue = DIY Fabric Beads! PART 2

Last week I blogged about how I painted and made some of my very own fabric beads (and was thrilled with the response the post got, too!). But painting and glueing was only the half of it! Once I started making the beads, I was unstoppable and kept finding new and different ways to use fabric already on hand and unconventional items from the craft store!


After painting my own beads, I started looking through my fabric vault (aka big ole' tupperware storage bin) to see what else I could come up with. Though I had purchased some super rad polka-dot Amy Butler fabric back in LA in order to make a pillow, I figured I could sacrifice a little bit for the cause. After cutting the fabric down to 1x3" strips, I needed a new venue on which to plaster the fabric (in other words - a cheap form of a bead)! After searching up and down the aisles of Michael's, I think I found the perfect (and cheap!) solution: Styrofoam Balls!


So with my styfoam balls in hand and fabric Mod Podge ready to go, I just now needed a way to make the hole and hold the bead while putting on the fabric. Of course - chopsticks!

I first glued a strip around the bead long ways:

Then finished with two more strips that went diagonally along the holes on either side. And Voila! A bead!

After pairing them with some more fabric-wrapped ugly disco ball beads and some brown wooden beads, I topped the necklace off with some pink ribbon and had this:

Amy Butler Fabric and Wooden Beaded necklace with Pink Ribbon, $20 

But what's a necklace without a matching bracelet, no?

Amy Butler "Love" Polka Dot Fabric Bracelet, $10

I might just keep this one. 

And of course I didn't stop there (and in fact, I hope to make many more of these items... I love 'em)! I was also determined to make something with this random piece of scarf-like fabric I bought for $.50 in LA awhile back:

After cutting a piece of fabric that measured about 3"x1", I got my styrofoam balls back out and went at it: 

And knotted and wrapped the fabric around the balls:

And came up with this thing-a-ma-bobber:

I will admit, the turnout of this necklace is now exactly what I had hoped for. It's quite stiff and down's hang all that nicely at the bust. My fabric was too wide and not long enough - I would have liked to make more knots and added more beads but ran out of length, plus I don't like how much fabric hangs from the sides. It's for all these reasons why this item isn't on Etsy yet - I am not 100% behind it. I do, however, plan to show it as an example at my jewelry party in a few weeks and see what kind of feedback I get on it and go from there. Though I love Etsy, using the internet to sell certain kinds of jewelry takes away the touch and feel dimension that is often so crucial to a good purchase!


Then I figured - if I could use fabric, why not use ribbon, too? After looking through my ribbon stash, I found this rad yarn-like stuff and paired it with some wooden-disc beads that I salvaged from an Anthropologie necklace I bought on sale years ago:

(Needless to say, I totally ruined my manicure with all my glue-use!)

Which resulted in these (the one on the right is actually made of fabric I painted blue):

And then this:

Again, I didn't put this item on Etsy yet because I am not totally settled with it. Maybe I am waiting for a perfect component piece to come my way. Maybe I am waiting for a better idea for their final use. Maybe I am just too stubborn to list them yet! This will be another item that will debut at the jewelry party in hopes of some constructive criticism. Ah, and artist's work is never done. 


Next up - how I used random stuff found at Goodwill to create one-of-a-kind jewelry displays for the party! Keep posted :)

Paint, Stamp, Cut, Glue, Wrap = DIY Fabric Beads! PART 1

I love beads. And I love fashion. Which means I love fabric. I also love painting. And I really love Mod Podge. I am not sure why it took me so long to put it all together. I present to you - FABRIC BEADS!

In attempt to make the most unique, and most Bead Up-worthy beads out there, I figured I would start with painting/stamping my own fabric. I started with very plain, white cotton fabric and used one of my scrapbook stamps with Chinese characters on it and stamped away (I was going for the newspaper print look):

Then I painted half of the white fabric with some very bright lime green fabric paint and stamped away there, too (and let me tell ya, that stamp with all it's individual grooves was a *&^%$ to clean!):

And while I had the fabric and all, I needed somewhere to glue it all on! Though I could technically wrap the fabric around a form (like a straw, for example) and glue the heck out of it,  I knew such a method wouldn't produce a big and bold look I was going for. After searching all around Michael's, I finally spotted some big ole' wooden round beads in the wooden doll section. I also found exactly what I hoped would exist but wasn't sure it did: Fabric Mod Podge!

Next, I cut the green fabric in small pieces and glued the back of each strip:

And slowly but surely I came up with this:

Since I only had 4 of the big wooden beads, I needed another form of sorts to wrap the bead around. Rather than running back to the store, I remembered this semi-ugly set of beads from a torn-up plastic necklace I bought at the Studio Sale at Warner Brothers last year (which I have used in a piece before):

And after wrapping and gluing the fabric around the plastic and the wooden beads, I had these:

Which lead to this:

Chinese fabric, Cinnabar, Coral, and Agate Necklace, $25

And this:

Chinese Fabric, Cinnabar, and Agate Necklace, $30

And this: 

Chinese Cinnabar and Fabric Hanzi Bracelet, $16

And I totally didn't stop there. In fact, I made all kind of additional fabric necklaces and beads... but you'll just have to wait until the next post to see 'em (or you can check out my Etsy shop and take a peek in the meantime)!

From Kids Earrings to Sophisticated Necklaces to Wedding Jewelry...

Knowing that I start work in a little over a month (I AM LOVING THIS SUMMER-off STUFF!), I have been spending whatever minute I am not busy at church or with the house on, you guessed it, making jewelry :) Ah, this is the life. Where to being?


A few weeks ago a girl from my church was wearing some super cute earrings. I told her that I liked them... her mom told me that she loves wearing glamorous earrings...  but not the price tag. I told them I could teach her how to make them herself for free. Next think you knew, I had two 11-year old gals (the first brought a friend) and her mom at my kitchen table ready to learn! Making dangle earrings really is quite easy (and after this whole teaching lesson I am going to make a tutorial and start selling DIY earrings kits for kids - not sure why I didn't think of that before!), and these kids (and adult) got it with little instruction! Here is what they created in less than 2 hours!:

Needless to say, I was quite proud :)

Next on the list was several sets of bridal jewelry. Someone contacted me on Etsy awhile back and asked if I could make several sets of my pearl ball necklaces with matching earrings, though change up the color a bit to include white pearl ball rather than a salmon one. Consider it done!

After I sent Laura her earrings and necklaces (I threw in a set for the bride, too!), she wrote:
"I just got them- they are beautiful!!!!!!  I love how everything turned out- thank you so much!!  Thank you for including an extra for myself :) I put it on immediately haha (figure it has to go away till the wedding, but couldn't help myself)- they are so beautiful!!! Thank you so much for working with me on this- was a pleasure!! :) would def recommend to anyone who asks. Thanks again!!!!!!"


I also got a last-minute phone call from a few friends at church stating the need for a mother-of-the-bride necklace for a wedding a few days away! The gals brought the dress that the MOtB planned to wear and we collaborated to make a necklace/earring set of pearls and crystals - my favorite! Best of all, I spotted the MOtB at church the next weekend wearing the pearl and crystal earrings with white jeans and a blue shirt - it was an unexpected match made in heaven! I have since duplicated and posted the earrings on Etsy - thanks for the inspiration, ladies!

Last but most certainly NOT least, one of my most favorite customers turned dear friend (whom we met via this blog, actually!) commissioned me to make a necklace with a rather unique source of inspiration - the colors and art she plans to use for her baby's nursery! Nilsa plans to wear the necklace at her maternity photo shoot in a few weeks, and asked that we focus on turquoise, lime, and orange based on these pieces of art she is loving from Etsy (check out Nilsa's blog for the link to each piece!):

Focusing on the vibrant orange, turquoise, and lime color scheme Nilsa requested, I started by sending her a picture of some beads I had on hand that might work:

From there we agreed on these beads:

Now for the actual layout. I had some lofty ideas for this project, but after a few failed attempts, I knew I could easily do something like this as seen on Michael's.com:

Nilsa and I agreed on making the necklace 3-strands and measuring right above the bust... so I went to work and sent her these pictures along the way to make sure we were on the same page:

After getting her OK, I finished the wire strands off and put it all together on the toggle clasp!

This project was a great way to use some of the more upscale beads I have been collecting but too afraid to use up :) The turquoise, jade, and crystal beads make for one mighty fine statement necklace, if you ask me, and it's not made of plastic! Can't wait to see your maternity shots, Nilsa! Congrats on your pregnancy and thanks for allowing me to be a part of the celebration!

Oh, and I almost forgot. Bead Up has some VERY exciting news! Not only am I now an official business in the State of Missouri (it only took me 2 hours total to get it done - amen for the Midwest!), but I have set a date for the Second Annual Cupcakes, Cocktails, and Creations party! I have been working with local artists and bakers to get some other vendors in on the party, which will be held in my house (again, hooray for Midwest suburban super sizes!). Buckle up, Kansas City, and start saving your spare change!

So save the date for August 28th from 2-5! I couldn't be more excited!