Personalized gift wrapping

I always find that the way a gift is wrapped is a big part of the fun in receiving a gift. Who doesn't like receiving a beautifully wrapped box and wondering what's inside? All my jewelry are always nicely placed in a pretty gift box ready to give as gifts. But with Christmas just around the corner I discovered many Internet sites displaying great ways to personalize and upgrade your gift wrapping so I thought I'd share some of these ideas here.

 1. Photos - printing a photograph of the Recipient of the gift and placing it on the gift is a super cute and easy way to personalize your wrapping.  

Photowrapping

 2. Drawing your own wrapping paper. Instead of using a standard wrapping paper you can use a simple white paper and let the children draw some cute pictures on it. Or you can make your own drawings on brown paper with a silver pen. You can use stencils if you need some help.

  

Children drawing wrap

  

Hand-drawn gift wrap



 3. Another cool way to add color to your wrapping is using yarn to create a rainbow-like look.

Yarn rainbow wrap

4. If you are a bit more artistic you can weave a nice pattern around your package. It takes a little work but it looks awesome.

Weave-like gift wrap

5. Bows and flower are always a nice embellishment and if they are hand made, even better. Here are some cute ideas for bows and flower you can make yourself to add to your gifts. They are made of simple materials like magazines or cupcake paper.    





1. Cupcake paper flowers




3. handmade

flower



2. handmade

ribbon





I have found all these wonderful ideas while browsing around Pinterest. Feel free to check out my cool gift wrapping board there for more ideas.



Top 5

I was looking at my statistics for the month of November and noticed an interesting fact. It seems all the top 5 items that were most popular in my store this month, were rings! No earrings, necklaces, bangles, just rings. So thought I'd share with you what my top 5 popular jewelry items were:

5. Bubble ring.

4. Black rose ring

3. Square opal ring

2. Set of 3 hammered gold-filled rings

1. Branch ring

Wonder which items will be most popular next month.

Chaos, and my new year's resolution

I know it might be a little too early for a new years resolution, but I have made one anyway! I decided I need to get a bit more organized. Normally I work well in chaos. I always say that chaos has it's own internal order that others just can't see. But a few weeks ago I was visiting a friend's studio and it was so perfectly organized and so stunning that I got really jealous and thought to myself - "I want my studio to look like that too!"

 Of course that's easier said than done. You can't just take a chaos created in years of work and magically turn it into a well organized work place. So it's a work in progress. I've started with installing a new big table, buying new storage drawers from Ikea and now I am in the middle of going through piles of boxes and trying to organize what's inside them in a way that makes sense. In the process I have discovered a lot of supplies I have forgotten I even had, so I guess that's also a bonus!

Since I am doing this while also working on orders, stocking and preparing for the holiday season and life in general, it will take some time until everything is done. But I figured if I write About it, I will feel more obligated to follow it through. Hopefully it won't be too long until I can post some pictures of my new and improved studio. In the mean time, here are some pictures of some new items I've been working on and that are now available in my store. Enjoy!

Black Friday goes international !

It has been a while since I last wrote in my blog. I had a lot of things on my plate and I just didn't get around to it. But I am back now!

I wanted to share some thoughts about black friday. Black Friday is basically an American thing. A few years ago I didn't even know that it existed. As I live in Israel where most people are jewish, Christmas is not celebrated here and there is no shopping frenzy.

But as the world becomes more and more of a small global village, in recent years several shops here in Israel started having black Friday sales and this trend seems to be catching on. After all everyone loves a good sale and you don't even need a special reason for it right?

So far I have seen these sales mainly in electronics stores which is not very helpful since I don't need any new electronic devices right now (I always want new devices but I really don't need any). But who knows if this trend continues to spread, maybe I will also be able to enjoy great sales without having to travel overseas!

I am also having a black Friday-cyber Monday sale in my Etsy store. Use coupon code "cybermonday" when you purchase something from my store and you will get free shipping. No limit on the number of items you can buy, everything ships for free worldwide. Happy holidays and happy shopping!

Rose inspired jewelry

I am a big fan of flowers when it comes to sources of inspiration. There are just so many beautiful shapes and colors that I can always find new ideas for jewelry just by taking a look at the nature around me.

Lately I've been infatuated with roses. Unlike other more simple flower shapes, roses have a more complex form with many layers of petals.

When working in sterling silver, I choose to convey the depth of the layers by oxidizing some parts of the rose. This way I get some contrast that make the flower shape stand out much more.

Another dilemma when making sterling silver roses is whether or not to add color. Roses are of course colorful while sterling silver is not. Lucky for me I don't have to choose. In some of the jewelry designs I combined gemstones that add some color. In other jewelry designs I left in silver color alone thinking the roses were pretty enough and needed nothing more.

Take a look and decide for yourself which do you like best?

1. Silver rose ring
2. Dangle silver and red Agate earrings
3. Sterling silver rose stud earrings

Variations - same design in different colors

Being a creative person I don't really like repeating myself. I enjoy making new jewelry designs all the time and re-inventing myself. On the other hand, since I became a professional jewelry designer and started selling my designs I understant that I sometimes need to think about things from a buyes' point of view.

One good example for this is offering various color options for the same design. In the past I used to make each jewelry piece in one color only. I picked the gemstones that seemed best for the item and that was it. Then one day it hit me - this was not so smart. If I was a customer looking for a pink ring to fit my outfit and I found a ring I liked but was in the wrong color, what would I do? Most likely I would go on looking somewhere else. So wouldn't it be much smarter to offer the ring in a variety of colors so that anyone who likes it can find a color they like and fits them?

It just seems logical. After all, different people like different colors and why shouldn't they have a choice?

Some artists might see this as a compomise but I think it is just me thinking of my buyers needs. After all if I wanted to make jewelry just for myself I would not be selling them!

What do you think?

Stackable Turquoise flower ring



Set of 3 sterling silver stacking rings - red, pink and purple



Stackable Perinite flower ring



Impulse purchases

A couple of weeks ago we decided it was time to change the sofas in our living room. They were turn and faded and basically looked pretty bad. So I went to an area with many furniture stores of all kinds and started browsing around. End of story is- I did not buy any sofas that day but I did end up buying a gorgeous dinning table!

I find that many times impulse purchases are the best ones I make. Maybe it's because I am not usually a very impulsive buyer. Usually I like to think and look around before I pick something. So when I find something that I love so much that I don't need to look any further, It's got to be great. Or maybe it's just the pleasure of discovering something you were not expecting.

To be honest we were thinking of buying a dinning table sometime in the near future. And when I found this amazing and perfect table, we just decided to do this now rather than later. Nevertheless, I still consider this a rather impulsive purchase as I was not looking to buy a table now but just could not resist it.

I received my dinning table a few days ago and I just love it. So happy I got impulsive and got it. And the sofas? I did find a set I liked eventually but as they were found in a more conventional boring way, they don't get a story of their own, but they do get a picture so that's something too, right?

Will you be celebrating Valentine's day?

Valentine day is coming soon and at the risk of losing a few readers here, I must admit - I love Valentine day. I know some people feel that Valentine day is just a commercialization of love and invented only to sell flowers, candy etc. I myself don't feel like that. I think it's nice that we have a day when we are reminded to take a short break from everyday life and give some appreciation to the person who shaers our life.

Sure we can do this every other day of the year but to be honest, how many really do this?  We are always busy with so many things, running and trying to accomplish everything. If you happen to be one of those few who do express how you feel every day of the year - than you really don't need Valentine's day. Most people, myslef included,  need to mark a date on the calender to make sure they do the things they want to do.

So I will be celbrating valentine this year, as I do every year. Don't know exactly how yet but I will think of something.
For those who also plan to celebrate Valentine day I of course will be offering some heart shaped jewelry in my store and if you don't like hearts, there are many other jewelry items that would make great gifts.

1. Red heart earrings in sterling silver and agate gemstones

2. Thin bangle with 3 hearts in a drop design

3. Sterling silver heart ring

4. Lariat of 2 hearts - sterling silver

Clearance sale to make room for new jewelry designs

A new year is a great time for new beginnings. One of the things I like doing as a new year begins is to refresh my shop. I think it's important to have new jewelry designs all the time so that people will enjoy coming back to visit. Not to mention that it's much more fun for me to create new jewelry and not repeat myself all the time.

So now is the time when I evaluate my jewelry and decide which items to keep and which I want to take out of my line. This is not an easy decision. As the creator I do get attached to all of my jewelry.

So how do I decide what stays and what goes? popularity of an item is one criteria. I have a few items that are my "stars" or best-seller and those obiously will stay in my line. But this does not mean that any item that doesn't sell well is taken out. Many times I have found that taking a better picture of an item or even making a small change to it, can turn it around and it will suddenly begin to sell.

More often I just take out items that are from older collections or items that I got tired of making.

I am a big believer in making small series of each design. After all, that is the purpose of handmade isn't it? Having something you will not see on every person you meet.

So I have created a new section in my store "clearance sale" where I put a few items that I do not intend to re-make after they sell. If you like these jewelry designs, this is your chance to get them and even get a nice discount.