Gold initial necklace, personalised pendant, 14k gold filled

I started listing new items after a long brake. This is the first of many more personalized jewelry to come.

Gold initial necklace. A small gold disc personalised by stamping your desired initials on it. The disc is made of 14k gold filled and hangs on a delicate 14k goldfilled chain.

You can order this pendant is silver as well if you prefer.

So how do you feel about personalized jewelry? What would you like to see in my store? I'm working on the collection so now is your chance to influence how this line will look.

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.

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!

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



The little things that help us succeed

As we near the end of 2010 I've been thinking a lot about my business. What I accomplished this year and what I want to do next year to make it even better.

While doing this summary I started thinking about how some small things that you hardly even consider, can actually contribute and help one's success. Like the post office for me.

A few years back I was living in a city in the center of Israel and selling my jewelry in my own brick and mortar store. My online activity was very limited then. I had a website and a small etsy store but I wasn't really active since my b&m store was taking most of my time.

Then we decided to take a life changing step and moved to a small village in the north of Israel. I closed my store as it was too far away from my new home for me to be able to keep it. At this point I decided to focus on my online activity and started really working on my Etsy store and other online venues.

Now here's the funny part - when I was living in the city, every visit to the post office was a nightmare. They had long lines and I had to wait forever everytime I was there. No way I would have been able to go through this on a daily basis. If I had tried to focus on online selling at that time, It is very likely I would have given up or that my service would not be as good. The post office in my village is small but with great and fast service. It only takes me a few minutes. Beacause of this small thing, I am able to go to the post office every day and ship all my orders so that no package ever waits if it's ready to ship. So for me - this small thing, a small and efficient post office, is one of the factors that helped my busiess grow.

1. Small sterling silver leaf earrings

2. Lariat necklace with textured silver oval and a red Agate briolette

3. Hammred tear drops with pink and purple stones

Short vacation before the holiday rush begins

Last year was my first christmas as a full time internet seller so I was really not prepared for it. Of course it was wonderful to get so many orders but it was also very exhausting. So this year, just before the holiday rush begins, I went on a short vacation to Barcelona!

What a wonderfull city! So vibrant, colorful and happy. Not to mention how inspiring Barcelona is! Everywhere you look there's something beautiful and artistic. I am sure all this inspiration will develop into new design ideas for my future works.

So now I am back, rested, full of energy and ready for the upcoming holidays. I have started to prepare my store for christmas shopping, listing some new items and also making use of Etsy's new coupon feature to offer special deals for black friday, cyber monday etc. From today and untill cyber monday (29 november) I will be giving a 15% discount on all jewelry in my store. Just enter the coupon code BLACKTOCYBER to receive your discount.

1. Sterling silver branch and leaves ring

2. Sterling silver and aqua marine teardrop pendant 

3. Sterling silver dangling bouquet earrings

The jewelry I wear

You might think that being a jewelry designer and being sorrounded by jewelry all around means I wear some new jewelry every day. The fact is that I don't. Some people are loyal to one pendant or ring which they wear every day, others like to put on something different everyday. I am somewhere in between - I do stick with a few designs that I like wearing again and again for days, but my loyalty to these designs is only for a couple of weeks, not for life.

My daily jewelry "wardrobe" is basically just earrings, which I can't live without. I rarely wear other jewelry items for everyday, only for special ocassions.

Though I like all the jewelry I make (or else I wouldn't make them) I do find some of them are more me than others. So I admit - I have favorites! Every time I make new items I tend to get infatuated with a couple of the designs and make a copy for my personal use. I usually have about 2-3 favorite earrings that I wear for a while untill I am drawn to something else.

So here are my currently favorite earrings:

1. White pearls in sterling silver bubbles earrings
2. Rose Quartz flower earrings in sterling silver
3. Flower drop earrings in sterling silver and golden stones

My jewelry recipe book

As my business grows I find it necessary to get more organized. While in the past I could just remember how I created each design and remake it as needed, now that I have about 200 different items for sale - it's almost impossible to remember everything.

So I bought a nice big notebook and started writing down my jewelry "recipes". I made a sketch of each design with a list of materials, measurements and any other detail needed to make the design.

It felt a little strange and technical at first but I got over this feeling after realizing how much easier it has made my life. Now when I get an order I just go to my lists and all the information I need is right there, I can get to work on the design without wasting any time on recalling how I made it in the first place. I guess sometimes small things can make a big difference.

I have been working on many new receipes, preparing for the holiday season. Here are a few new design I just "cooked":

1. Red flower earrings in sterling silver and Agate gemstones

2. Floral vine earrings in sterling silver and a green stone

3. Flower drop earrings in sterling silver and golden stones

Green - my new favorite color?

My favorite color was always purple. But recently I find that more and more I am tending towards green. I found myself picking green items when shopping for clothes, bags, makeup and other things. So you can imagine what happened in my last visit to my gemstone supplier - many different shades of green beads and stones came back home with me!

I don't know if it's just a seasonal thing or a permanent change in favorites, but I thought my new favorite color of the moment deserves a blog post, don't you?

Maybe it's this HOT summer that makes me looks for cool and fresh looking colors. Green always looks refreshing and cool.

So here are a few of the green items I have created recently. Hope you like them as much as I do.

Chic green stackable thin bangle

Cute matte texture green earrings

Triangular green flower earrings

Floral teardrop earrings with a green stone