treasury List

Hi All,

I just joined a new team on ETSY called STATTEAM, they have some amazing sellers and I've created my first treasury list of members on the team. So here it is -

http://www.etsy.com/treasury/MjA1NzQwNTN8MjcyMzU4OTkwMA/statteam-tresury-blitz-brighten-up-your?index=0

Hope you like it! If you do please leave a comment and tell others about these great sellers and #STATTEAM on twitter.

Resort style jewellery

Hey all,

I've created a new board on my pinterest site for resort style jewellery that I like and would love to wear myself. (If only I had lots of money and could buy all the lovely jewellery pieces I find on ETSY!)

http://pinterest.com/regaliajewelery/resort-style-jewellery/

Have a look at my board and follow me if you are on pinterest.

I love creating boards, when I was at college we were always having to create "mood" boards to show our inspirations and design development, pinterest is great for doing this and is WAY easier and less messy then making a board with glue and torn out pages from magazines etc!!!

I love wearing natural boho style jewellery that is relaxed and has a beach/surf style. This is one one of my pieces that is made from gorgeous jasper gemstones and is my interpretation of resort style jewelery.

                                                             My resort style jewellery

The picture below is also made from jasper. This was the first piece of jewellery that I sold on Etsy (I really wanted to keep it for myself!) I think it has a resort style too.

GIVEAWAY!

joined a few teams on ETSY and one of the teams - BritishSellers, is doing a giveaway. To check it out and see all the 18 lovely items that you could possibly win go to the following blog site - http://britishsellersonetsy.blogspot.co.uk/

Memory wire bracelets.

So I started making some very glitzy bling memory wire bracelets. One of my sisters saw a bracelet I had made and brought it. Since then my mum and my younger sister saw the bracelet my sister had brought and they put in their order to get their own made. Each bracelet I've made has surpassed the other in bling and now my other sister who brought the original bracelet wanted another couple of bracelets made that were even more dazzling! I thought I would share my creations with you:

I made this black pearl and crystal bracelet for my mum.

I made this ivory pearl, crystal and rhinestone bracelet for my younger sister.

I made these two bracelets for my sister who brought the original bracelet.

The following pieces are memory wire bracelets I have made and are now available to buy on Etsy

Click here to look at my shop and these bracelets.

If you like any of these items but would like your own bespoke piece made convo me through my etsy shop on the following link. -

contact me.

Titles, tags and traffic...

A couple of weeks ago I was spurred on to put real effort into making my etsy shop work for me and start creating some real bussiness. So with that in mind I started to make some goals, firstly I need to get my shop known, and one of the ways I could do that was with my blog. (At first I only started this blog for my own benefit as a way of keeping a record of the pieces of jewellery I have made and I could refer to the blog as a list of my creations. Now I see the bigger picture and the potential of blogging...providing I can master it!) So where was I? Ah yes I was spurred on... One goal was to blog everyday, which I started to do, the first week. Ashamedly I confess it has waned, no excuses but I've also been trying really hard to add stock to my shop, create social media sites for my shop and increase traffic to my shop, and do all of this just in the hours that my little one is sleeping! (What did I say about not making excuses!) Anyway all of this is leaving my brain feeling rather frazzled! And all I keep thinking about is tags,tags,tags!!!! Tags are the bane of my life. Whats a tag you ask? Well until I opened my shop I had no idea what it was or what people were talking about when they said "you need to create traffic." Traffic? 'traffic is on the roads,' I thought, and normally I try to avoid it! Well if you have a website or online shop you will already know that tags are the keywords that you attach to your items so when people do online searches they can find your item. Traffic is what you want to create to your shop i.e. lots of people browsing your shop online from lots of different sources. (Even now as I talk about these things my mind goes fuzzy and I feel like lying down!) So at the moment I am working on increasing followers on my twiiter site: https://twitter.com/similar_to/RegaliaJeweller Creating boards and followers on my pinterest site: http://pinterest.com/regaliajewelery/ Creating followers on my etsy shop and increasing my items for sale. So far I have 12 items on my shop (my goal is 50!) I've been managing to add 1 or 2 a day. I know what your thinking "It could take a while," but there is alot involved in listing an item. Let me save that for another post! Anyway next goal (after fulfilling all the above) is to create a facebook account for my shop. I didn't want to create it until I had a good amount of stock in my shop for people to look at. What do you think should I wait to create it or not? Anyway I think I would feel more motivated and less overwhelmed if I had at least a few followers to my blog, then at least I would feel like someone is interested. (yes I want your pity! lol!) Okay anyway I need to get back to listing more items. If you want to make me smile I'd love to check my blog next time and see a new follower or 2... or even a comment! Heres hoping. x

Get my button

I created a few boards on Pinterest of items that I really like. They are a collection of jewellery pieces that I think are inspiring and would love to wear. Check them out on this link and grab my pinterest button!



http://pinterest.com/regaliajewelery/

I'm going social....

I now have a tweeter site and a pinterest site! check them out -

http://pinterest.com/regaliajewelery/boho-beauty/

https://twitter.com/RegaliaJeweller

new items on my shop

Hi, so slowly but surely I'm adding pieces to my shop. 9 pieces on there now only another 41 to add to meet my goal! So I thought I would shre the new pieces I've added with you. hope you like them, let me know what you think....

Mainly I have earrings in my shop so I need to get working todiversify my stock with some more necklaces and bracelets etc...

Also on a photography note I'm happier with these pictures but still feel there is room to improve.

Enjoy!

dreary weather + photography = failure

My special number that I am working to as a goal in everything at the moment is 50. I'm trying to get 50 followers on my blog and 50 likes to my ETSY shop as well as be added to 50 circles on Etsy. I also not want but NEED to get 50 items onto my ETSY shop. To do this however I need to take pictures of all the pieces of jewellery I have made, but I can't take decent pictures of my jewellery when the weather is grey and dark and bleak and generally horrible ALL the time. What can I do? (That is a rhetorical question, if you can tell me how to take good pictures of items when you have no good natural light I would love to know!)

So at the moment I am continuing to make lots but not put it on my shop....I neeeeed help!!!

One more thing to tick off my list

I told you recently that I'm working hard making all the jewellery for my first party, well today I put together the invite for the host to send out. This is what I came up with....

What do you think, would you come to my party?

Something other then jewellery

If I had all the time in the world I most likely would have 101 hobbies, not only do I love making jewellery but I also love all things textiles, art ect... pretty much anything creative, that also includes cooking and baking. Sometimes when I have been none stop making jewellery and my callused fingers and strained eyes need a brake I like to indulge in a good book or baking. Which leads me on to telling you about my latest little project that I started a few months ago, a reading group with my friends.

We all love reading and I'm always recommending books (I like to think I'm quite good at choosing books people like) so I thought it would be a nice social things to get together and chat about the book we have been reading. (sometimes 30% chat about book, 20% eat and drink and 50% chat about everything and anything else!) So as I was arranging it I hosted our first group, and because it was our first group I wanted to make it that little bit special. I must admit I had been checking out other people blogs and ideas for book clubs etc and I  got carried away wanting to copy all these amazing ideas I had seen other people do (and add a few of my own ideas) so our first book group became a bit of a party!

So I spent the week focused on my book group party all based around the obvious theme of books and reading.(and not jewellery) I made everyone their own book marks, I made table confetti, cake toppers, a Rosette, and cupcakes with book decorations on top made out of icing.

Looking now at the pictures I've taken I realise now that I should have moved the baby bouncer out of the frame. This makes me think generally when I take pictures I need to take a little bit more time to consider my composition, lighting etc... I love photography (another hobby) and really I should be ashamed of this picture because I know I could have made it better and if I had taken a little bit more time and patience I wouldn't be kicking myself now. I promise I can take better pictures have a look at my flickr site

We had a really great first book group and everyone enjoyed our first book "The Help"  Have you read this book? Did you enjoy it? Got any book you would recommend for us to read in our group?

So I know I deviated from all things beads and bling, but as all you crafters will agree sometimes you need to take a step away from what you enjoy and then come back to it with a fresh approach and clear head.

Lets get to 50....GIVEAWAY!

Okay so I've set a goal, I want to get 50 followers on my blog and 50 likes on my ETSY shop. So to do this I come up with an idea...a giveaway!!! These lovely teal drop earrings on silver plated ear hooks. Just follow my blog and leave a comment or Add me to your Circle on ETSY and favourite me. Once I reach 50 I will randomly generate the winner and let you know.

Hope to hear from you guys soon!

 

Decoupage papers

I'm still thinking about my jewellery display stands that I need to make  and have been looking for some paper to decoupage the stands with. I found these lovely backgrounds from MemoriesPictures that I thought would be perfect to use. Now all I need to do is buy the paper and the card and start making them. (Adding that to my never ending job list!)

I also found some really cute bird charms while I was perusing etsy aren't they lovely! I need these in my life!

These brass little bird charms are from wesweetlife. They have loads of different charms to choose from that are all really cute.

Also, these little charms with the birds in their cages are adorable! They are from CarissasSilverLining

Hope you like these charms and the shops you can get them from, let me know what you think.....

Beaded flower and kanzashi tutorial

Recently I was asked to make some more beaded hair pieces for two little girls to match their dresses, so I thought I would share with you the piece that I made for them.

One piece is like the red poppy I already blog a picture of. And the other hair piece is to go with a bright summer dress.

I really enjoy making flowers out of beads, it is time consuming and a little fiddly but the end results are always great.

Hope you like them, I'm always trying to think of other flowers that I could bead. (I made a really delicate vintage style rose beaded hair clip, but very bad of me I didn't take any pictures!) What other flowers do you think would be nice to bead? Have you made any yourself, I'd love to see some piccies if you have.

Something else I love doing and really appreciate is Kanzashi flowers. This blog called bitty bits & pieces shows you how to make some lovely kanzashi flowers, I followed the tutorial and found it really simple. I made some flowers and put them on headbands for my little one.

Also on etsy they have some lovely shops that make amazing kanzashi hair pieces. I put together this treasury list of some of my favourite. Have a look and let me know what you think....

Hope you like!

Making my own jewellery display stands

So I told you about doing a jewellery party well I now realise that I will need quite a few jewellery stands to display my work, however I have brought a few already to use in the shops that I sell my piece in and I have to tell you jewellery stands aren't that cheap. So I had an ingenious idea to make my own stands. I also thought it would be really nice as I can decoupage them and make them look really nice and unique to me.

I found this great link and thought I would share it in case anyone also would like to have a go at making their own stands.

                                                 How to make your own display stands.

As I was looking for stands I found some really nice ones on etsy, check these out....

This is a lovely little shop called wildabouttags they sell loads of beautiful labels and tags the the graphics are great. I liked these earrings display tents because they have a retro funky style.

I like this piece from DrommeLund because I made one before and I really liked it, makes a great ornamental piece as-well-as a jewellery stand

And how cute are these stands from NancysTeaShop really vintage beautiful pieces that are unique and functional.

Well when I have finished making my stands I will blog you the end results. Let me know what you think of these shops and if you have any ideas on what to do to make jewellery displays.

Jewellery Party

So I've decided that a jewellery party would be a good idea to self promote and es also make some money (providing people like my jewellery and want to buy it! ...small detail) so a friend has offered to host a party for me. This now means there is no going back and I must work like a trojan to plough out enough items to have a good enough stock to show off and offer a wide enough choice.

Honestly I'm not sure what people do for jewellery parties (so if you have any ideas I'm all ears!!!) I was thinking of putting pictures of the pieces I've made onto a USB and if they have a TV I can plug it into then I could have a little slide show off pieces I have designed for commissions past and present etc in the background and then display all my pieces I brought with me on a table in front.

I thought I should separate my pieces into costume jewellery and gemstone/semiprecious jewellery, what do you think?

I also thought I could make jewellery party invites to give to the host to give out and on the invites I could say "if you have any broken jewellery that you made like to be fixed please bring it along for me to mend." I thought that would be a nice idea, as everyone has a special piece of jewellery that has got broken at some time and they want fixing.

Also I thought I should advertise the fact that I design and craft bespoke piece and if anyone wants to sit down with me to discuss producing a handcrafted one off piece then I could also offer that. (And make an order form???)

So these were some of my ideas, do you think I'm on the right track? Comment and let me know. Perhaps you do jewellery parties and you could give me some ideas or maybe you have been to one and have an idea of what works....

Great to here from you. By the way I've added a couple of new items to my etsy shop so be sure to check them out.

Where was I....

Where was I? Ah yes I was saying that I never have enough time for everything let alone starting my own business. At the beginning of my maternity leave my return to work date seemed so far away, but now as it looms ever closer I realise that if I was serious about making some money (Not just pocket money) that instead of daydreaming about how good it would be to work for myself and make jewellery alday long, I should have put some workable goals in place and tried to establish my etsy shop a little more.

I'm not a complete failure at self promotions and producing business. Word of mouth has probably been the best, and I've managed to produce allot of commissions, which I love doing. I also sell my jewellery at a hairdressers, beauticians, library and bead shop, and soon I'm going to be doing my first jewellery party.

What I find difficult is the computer side of things and trying to create traffic to my etsy shop. Sooooo, here I am making it my goal to get this blog working just maybe someone will take pity on me and follow my site.... (please....)

In the mean time I need to start thinking of ways to make my etsy shop better and produce business. If you have any ideas how I can do this please comment and let me know I would be very greatful!

It been a while....

So it's been a while since I've posted anything as I've been busy making commissions and keeping my stocks up in the shops I sell at. (There never seems to be enough time to do everything, and when my maternity leave is up I'll have even less time.)

I go back to work in a couple of months, but what I would really love to be able to do is make a business out of my hobby and work from home. I know that is allot of peoples ideal, and you see other blogs and sites where people have made it happen and it looks possible, but.... really I don't know where to start! (Ideas...) I've decided to make it my goal to get blogging more and put more items onto my etsy shop. I've also thought maybe I should start a Folksy shop (among other things)... the list goes on and I should just try one thing at a time, I know! (Even now as I write this my little one has woken up and the spare 5 minutes I had has disappeared.) I'll continue this later...

On etsy you are able to put together a collection of items from peoples shops, for any purpose. Here is my collection of beautiful items I admire from other shops on the theme ...Going native

Tridal Treasury List

Tresury list

On etsy you are able to put together a collection of items from peoples shops, for any purpose. Here is my collection of beautiful items I admire from other shops on the theme ... Butterfly

Butterfly Treasury List

Know your Gemstones....

                                                                   Garnet 

Garnet is steeped in history; it can be dated as far back as 3500BC, as it was discovered in a necklace uncovered in Egypt on the neck of a mummified body. Its name is derived from the Latin word “granatus” as it is similar in shape to the seed of a pomegranate. Incidentally, in Greek mythology this fruit is also regarded as a gift of love, and is said to symbolise eternity.

Garnet species are found in many colors including red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, brown, black, pink and colorless. The rarest of these is the blue garnet, discovered in the late 1990s in Bekily, Madagascar

When studying the myths and legends surrounding Garnet, whether it be stories relating to the Aztecs, Romans, Egyptians, Native Americans or British Royalty, there is one theme common in all civilisations, across all periods of recorded time: Garnet is the ultimate gift of love. Today the gem continues to be a symbol of love, passion, eternity and warmth.

glitteringstones

 

Howlite memory wire Bracelet

I got my jewellery maker order from the DPD man the other day and have got carried away making Bracelets. I love these Howlite gemstones and the gorgeous patterns that naturally occur on each stone. Was very tempted to keep this bracelet for myself as I think it will make a beautiful piece for the summer months. (If we ever get a summer!)

A beautiful present

Last month was my parent-in-laws anniversary and my father-in-law asked me to make a necklace he could give my mother-in-law as a present. He wanted an orange and silver chain necklace approx 50cm long made with seabed Jasper.

This is what I made for him.

I love working with real gemstones, the quality is so much better and makes stunning pieces.

Another Hair Clip

I go through little fazes where I am making lots of items using the same technique. At the minute I'm really enjoying making different hair clips using seed beads and wire.

Here is another hair clip I recently made.

I love this design! I think a pair of them put into pigtails would look soooo cute! (Can't wait for my little girl to grow some hair.)

Check out this item and my others at regaliajewellery



Beaded Poppy Hairclip

A friend asked me to make a beaded hair clip for her daughter to go with a dress after she saw another beaded flower hair clip I had made for another friend. The dress had these lovely bright red and black flowers on so I thought a beaded poppy would look really nice with it. This is a picture of the end product. I am really happy with it and think it has a real cottage chic style to it.

I'm now selling it as a made to order item in my etsy shop.

regaliajewellery

Gemstone flower design necklace

So I've become addicted to Jewellery Maker shopping channel... It's all just soooo pretty! I brought these beads from JM and they are gorgeous!

This is a stunning necklace made with brown Chinese Jade Plain Rounds 10mm. blue Afghanistan Lapis Lazuli rounds 4mm and Jasper plain roundels 14x10mm hung from a silver colour chain. The gemstones have been beaded to create a beautiful feature flower design pendant. These gorgeous gemstones are intense in colour and have lovely inflections within them. The length of the beaded chain is 61cm or 24" and the feature drop flower design is 5cm x 6cm. .

The necklace is still for sale on my ETSY site, click here to take a look at it and my other pieces.