New York, New York

Greetings from the Big Apple!!  We've been having such an amazing time shopping for gemstones and metalsmithing supplies.  Boy, do I have A LOT to show you, lol!  This is actually just from Day1:

We scored these gorgeous strands of rondelles from Dikra.  From left to right, they're Labradorite, Amethyst, Hessonite Garnet, Aquamarine & Peridot.

These briolette strands came from both Dikra and another one of our favorite stores, Suma Beads Gems & Pearls.  They're Iolite, Garnet, Green Onyx & Amethyst (from left to right).  They're even more stunning in person, and I can hardly wait to use them!

We also got some cool new tools at Metalliferous, but they're not quite as exciting to look at...so I'll spare you there, lol.

I heart NYC!!  There's just so much to do and see!  Speaking of which, I better get going.  However, I'll be back soon to share Day 2's many purchases with you!

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Onward and Upward

I have to say that being a new business (co)owner has been a fun journey!  We started off just making jewelry as a pastime, so it's really cool seeing our little hobby transform into a serious business.  We're always brainstorming new ways to become more professional and successful.  As business partners, mom and I make the perfect pair because we each contribute different skills and knowledge.  She has great business-sense and accounting expertise (thank God, lol), while I am focused on the branding and marketing side of things.  For example, mom developed an amazing numbering system for tracking our inventory, whereas I've been thinking about how to improve the way we present our pieces.  This is my latest project:

Ta-da!  Hooray for hang tags, lol.  Seriously, though, I think they're almost as important as business cards, when it comes to branding.  We can't always count on having our own showcase in boutiques, so at least this way, we can still distinguish our pieces and familiarize customers with our name.  Plus, it's a step up in professionalism.  Oh yeah, in addition to the hang tags, I also plan on creating similar display cards for our earrings. :)

On another subject, check out what we just listed on Etsy!

This Honey Quartz & Tourmaline Cluster Sterling Silver Necklace is part of a necklace and earrings set that mom recently designed.  We're going to add the matching earrings on Etsy tomorrow, so be on the lookout for that!  It's almost time to start shopping for the holidays, and I think this set would make an awesome gift!  I know I wouldn't complain if I received it, lol.

I think that's about it for now.  However, I should have a ton of stuff to share with you soon because...we're just a few days away from a shopping trip to NYC!!  I can't wait to hit up Metalliferous, Dikra and the bead shops in the Fashion District to load up on supplies!  Big Apple, here we come, haha. :)


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Labor Day Weekend

¡Hola, haha!  I hope you're enjoying this long weekend as much as we are!  We actually began ours a day early on Friday, and I must say, it kicked off with a bang.  First thing that morning, I logged onto Etsy, and...I'm happy to announce that we finally made our 2nd purely Etsy-driven sale!!!  Since that's a rather difficult feat to accomplish, we're especially excited!  I also can't believe that I just shared the piece a week ago in my Bullseye blog post, and it's already sold:

One Sterling Silver Arrow Necklace with Gemstones coming right up, haha!  The really cool part is that the buyer purchased it for her daughter because she's in the Pi Beta Phi sorority, whose symbol is an arrow.  For the gemstones, she requested either one of Pi Beta Phi's colors, which are wine and light blue.  However, we decided to do her one better and include both!  I think her daughter will love the genuine ruby and light blue quartz accents. :)

By the way, if you had your eye on our arrow necklace, don't worry because we've already re-listed it on Etsy!  We're hoping it will be a hot item, and I come prepared, lol.  As a matter of fact, I've already purchased a brand new sheet of sterling silver, just for that purpose.  I got a great deal on it, too!

Ohh la la, haha...can't wait to get my hands on that!

Aside from the sterling silver sheet, we also picked up a few other fun things this weekend.  The monthly flea market is in town right now, so we went there Friday, visited LMR Creations (our favorite booth) and found a strand of saltwater pearls and a sterling silver Figaro chain:

Then, on Saturday, we hit up the Bead & Mercantile Show that I mentioned in my previous blog post: Over the Hump.  It wasn't quite the goldmine we were hoping it would be, but we still scored 2 strands of freshwater pearls and a strand of faceted pink coral beads:

I can't decide which I like more between the saltwater and freshwater pearls, but I'm glad we have both to work with now!

When we got home, after the bead show, we got more great news!  A check came in the mail, and it turns out we sold 5 items in August at one of our local shops, Edenside Gallery!!  It's amazing to me that so many cool things have already happened this weekend, and there are still 2 more days to go (got to love holiday weekends).  Who knows, I might be back with more good stuff to report before it's all over. :)

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Over the Hump

The week is only halfway over, and it's already been a great one for us!  First off, I would just like to thank fellow blogger and Etsy member, One Brown Crafter, for featuring us on her blog over the past weekend!!  In case you missed seeing it, click the screenshot preview below to check it out.

Pretty cool, huh?  I think it was such a kind gesture and an honor. :)

Of course, we have a brand new piece for sale in our Etsy shop, which we just added on Tuesday. Introducing the X necklace:

Mom created this Yellow & Smoky Quartz 14k gold filled necklace, as a compliment to the Yellow & Smoky Quartz 14k gold filled earrings that you might remember seeing in my What a week! blog post.  You also might remember, from my Time Flies blog post, that we used our psychic skills (lol) to predict the comeback of the Y necklace.  Now, we've put our own spin on that classic design!  After creating the center connector, mom decided to hang two dangles from it, instead of one.   Then, we realized her design really formed an X, rather than a Y...and thus the X necklace was born, haha!

Moving on to other good stuff, I woke up to a nice surprise this morning, when I checked Facebook.  We have 2 new custom orders!!  They're for a friend who previously commissioned us to make these earrings for his girlfriend (so sweet):

Aren't they beautiful?  Now, we get to design a necklace and an anklet using the same color combo!  If you want to see the finished products, check back soon, as I plan to share them on another blog post in the very near future.

Lastly, can't forget the upcoming holiday weekend!  We're got a lot planned, but I'm especially looking forward to checking out the Bead & Mercantile Show that is coming into town.  Who knows what kind of goodies we'll find!  I'm going to post pics from our haul afterward, so don't forget to pop in and take a peak.  :)


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Bullseye

Hey hey!  Today's post will be short and sweet.  I just had to share this week's celebrity-inspired addition to Etsy:

This is my Sterling Silver & Gemstones Arrow Necklace.  Every pendant is handmade, and I wanted to make each necklace customizable by allowing customers to choose the color of the gemstones! 

Most of the time, I prefer coming up with my own completely original designs.  However, every once in a while, a piece worn by a celebrity catches my eye, and the ability to create my own version is one of the really cool things about being a metalsmith!  Sometimes I find the object of my inspiration in a movie or red carpet photo.  In this case, I came up with my design, after seeing the gold, gem-encrusted arrow necklace worn by Dianna Agron on the September cover of Cosmopolitan magazine.

Well, I hate to post and run, lol, but that's all I have for today.  Thanks for reading!

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What a week!

Yoohoo, I'm back!  Did you miss me, haha?  I know I was MIA last week, but it's for good reason...actually several good reasons. :)

To begin with, we hit a big milestone on Facebook.  We finally got our 100th fan! Congrats to Melissa Hager!!  Of course, we wanted to show our appreciation, so we decided to design something special for her as a way to say thank you.  This is what we came up with:

Melissa told us her favorite color was green, so we used a faceted Lime Chalcedony teardrop for the main stone in the pendant.  Then, mom wire-wrapped it in sterling silver, and I added the Amethyst and Blue Quartz stones with our unique sterling silver coil design.  We're planning to put Melissa's gift in the mail soon, and I hope she enjoys wearing it as much as we enjoyed creating it!

Our next goal is to reach 200 Facebook fans, and when we do, we'll give away another pendant!  If you want to be the winner, go to our page - A List Designs on Facebook, watch as our number of fans goes up, become one yourself, and you just might be lucky #200!

In other news, this past Saturday we had an amazing visit to Les Filles Boutique, which is one of the shops carrying our designs in Louisville, KY.  We went there to check our inventory and found out we sold 8 more pieces!!  We've been fortunate to have consistent monthly sales there, but we've never had so many in one month before!  It was such a nice surprise since August is usually a slow month, and we were just hoping we at least sold 1 thing.  Needless to say, our expectations were exceeded by far! I'm still doing mental cartwheels over it today, lol.

Now that I think about it, Saturday was actually a super productive day!  After our successful trip to Les Filles Boutique, we got busy making a light box, which was long overdue.  When we first started photographing our pieces, we quickly learned that natural light produces much better shots.  However, taking pictures outdoors isn't always possible because conditions have to be just right...not cold, no rain, no breeze and slightly overcast to prevent shadows. This is where a light box comes in handy because it will allow us to take high quality photos indoors.  The best part is that it was relatively inexpensive and easy to make.  Here is the finished product:

I'm really excited because this means no more worrying about the weather, and we're no longer restricted to only shooting during daylight hours.  Now we can take pictures whenever we want!  I can't wait to test it out!

Last but not least on our list of Saturday's accomplishments, we finally got around to listing something new for the week on Etsy:

Mom created these gorgeous Yellow & Smoky Quartz Hessonite Garnet 14k gold filled earrings.  I absolutely love their dual-chain design and autumn-themed colors!

I think that just about covers all of the highlights from last week.  Here's hoping this week is equally as awesome!

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TGIF!!

Let me just say it again...TGIF!  It's my favorite day of the week, but that's not the only reason I'm in a good mood.  I'm also happy because we just found out that our Sterling Silver Swiss Cheese Bracelet was featured in a treasury on Etsy!!  Check it out for yourself: Sunkissed Autumn by pohlian on Etsy.  It's such a compliment to actually have our work acknowledged and showcased amongst really beautiful designs from other artists!

There are so many talented artists on Etsy, and I love browsing through their work because it always motivates me to get creative.  I also get inspired a lot just by random things I see throughout the day.  Of course, sometimes, I get the dreaded artist's block, haha.  That's when it's time to pull out our stash of gemstones for a brainstorming session and see what I can come up with.  As a matter of fact, just yesterday I was considering a couple of strands for possible future projects.  Feast your eyes on these:

The first strand has faceted Labradorite coins, which have the most amazing flashes of blue and green in them!  The second one is a strand of oval-shaped, ring-cut Smoky Quartz stones, and they are actually AAA quality (yumyum, lol)!  I'm really looking forward to using both strands in some of our upcoming designs. :)

One last thing before I go...can't forget to show you what we added on Etsy this week!

These London Blue Topaz 14k gold-filled earrings are part of mom's Harp Collection.  You might recall a couple other pairs from the collection that I mentioned in previous blog posts: Busy Little Bee & Taking It to the Next Level.  Currently, both the London Blue Topaz and genuine Ruby pairs are available in our shop - A List Designs on Etsy, so swing by before they're gone!

Have a great weekend!!

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