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 :)

Reasons to Celebrate

Well, friends, it's been a busy few months in the Bead Up world. Lots of custom orders, lots of creating a cohesive Fall Line, and lots of sales :) Here's a little re-cap of things to celebrate: Wedding jewelry I made custom pieces for some friends' weddings this summer. I blogged about making Roni's custom bracelet back in May, and had a hard time waiting for her August wedding to arrive so we could see pictures of the combination! Her pictures not only turned out beautifully, but I must say, I am super please with the combination (thanks for taking the time to take these great shots, Roni!).

(Photo by Lisa Leigh)

Back in July I also blogged about making a pearly bracelet for a high school classmate's August wedding. At this point I have yet to see any of the professional pictures I hope Sarah took of her bracelet and dress combination, but I did manage to find a few thanks to Facebook stalking ;) Finally, my child-hood friend Chrissy asked me to make her several pieces of jewelry for an Indian wedding extravaganza she was in last month. After going back and forth on the design in my mind (and blogging about it here), I am happy with how the pieces turned out (and that Chrissy was happy, too!). Custom Necklace I have been amazed with how powerful homemade advertising has gone in my little Bead Up journey. For example, I have made a point to only wear jewelry I have made as a means of showing off my products in person. This method has worked at work, in stores, at parties, and especially at church. A few months back a friend named Sue asked me if I could make her a custom necklace for a blazer for which she just couldn't find a matching necklace. Sue said that she especially liked a Red and Black Glass necklace she had noticed me wearing, but wanted it to match the hues of a very colorful blazer, particularly the pink and navy of her coordinating belt. I took mental note of the colors and was really disappointed with what Michael's had to offer, but bought a few matching tones and went with what I had. Thankfully, Sue was really pleased with the end result. Here is the necklace and her blazer, in addition to a picture of Sue and me (with respective husbands in between) in her new necklace and me in the original inspiration piece (purely coincidental!). Pi Necklace So I made this "Pi Love" necklace a month or so ago in hopes of gaining Bead Up exposure among my Sorority Sisters. Though I sent out about 200+ messages on Facebook promoting the items to my gals, I only sold 4/6 of the necklaces to ADPi's. A gal in Spain bought the 5th necklace to give to her boyfriend who, according to her, was a math student and loved Pi (I of course suggested I take off the crystal bead and replaced it with a silver bead, instead!). The last necklace I had available sold last week to a gal in Texas. After she got the necklace in the mail, she wrote: "I got the necklace today and it's soo beautiful. Just like my friend. I can't wait to give it to her. She has done so much for me in the past it's insane. Our relationship irrational and never-ending just like the digits of pi." What a great interpretation of the necklace that I had made for a totally unrelated reason - thanks, Priya! Reasons to celebrate! Bead Up has experienced several milestones in the past, but last week's was a most highly anticipated one: my 100th Etsy sale! (Don't get me wrong, I have sold more items than that since I do alot of sales off-line, if you will...). A special thank you to my dear friend Cheryl for buying the 100th item - make sure you check out her FABULOUS Cupcake Blog while you are at it! I also noticed on my map widget the other day that I had people on 5 continents visit my blog within a 24-hour time frame! Sweet! Cupcakes, Cocktails, and Creations And speaking of Cupcakes and sweets... a friend of mine from church has offered to throw me a JEWELRY PARTY! The vibe I am getting is that it's kind of like a bridal shower, but without the giving of gifts. Almost like a Tupperware party ;) My gal Marla has offered her home and her food so long as I bring the goods for an October 24th afternoon get together, entitled "Cupcakes, Cocktails, and Creations." This will (hopefully) be a great way for me to both gain exposure, sell some items, and hopefully get rid of some older items and make way for newer ones! I have never had a jewelry show before, and deciding what new items to post to Etsy and what to save for the party has been a bit of a dilemma. I anticipate having at least 50 products at the event, in addition to samples of things I can custom create and order forms for such creations. I have asked my sorority sister, Mary Ellen, to design a postcard for the event, and have asked my 100th customer Cheryl to help provide the cupcakes (she's LA's up-and-coming cupcake critic!). I'll keep you updated as to the progress of the event - let me know if you would like an invitation in the mail :) Fall Line And last but not least, I have been working hard at creating a cohesive and thematic Fall Line for this new season. I made 10 necklaces on Saturday afternoon alone, and have lots more materials within the color and material scheme to make more! As mentioned, I am torn between posting them all at the same time to Etsy, or saving some of them for my Jewelry Party. Since I am not good at keeping things to myself, I just had to post a few - more to come, of course! Here are a few that are new on Etsy. What do you think?

Forever Linked Necklace - $26

Ring Around the Copper Rosie - $14

In Bloom - $15

Happy Fall, Y'all!