Spring Fling!

Well, its almost time for the Spring Fling show this weekend. Its on Saturday at the Will Rogers Auditorium. Should be great! I'm really looking forward and all my stock will be priced to sell.... Gotta move the merchandise. I'll be concentrating in Metal Clay designs mostly from now on. I'll still be doing some wire wrap as I like doing that but I really want to improve my Metal Clay designs. Wish me luck!

New Items Listed in Etsy

I've been busy listing items the past couple of days and I wanted to share some of them with you. I have been working a lot with copper as well as some of the vintage beads I got from England this fall. The beads in the two pictures are vintage plastic beads. The earrings are copper wire coiled into shape and then hammer finished. Then I use Liver of Sulfur for the patina.

The orange ones look beautiful with the copper rings. The rings are soldered and hammer finished and patina applied with Liver of Sulfur.





These are a pair of bracelets and matching earrings made from vintage plastic beads. The solid light blue beads almost look like cat's eye beads and the striped ones have a striking dot in the center almost like an eye. The bracelets are about 7" and are on stretch cord for easy wearing. The ear wires are sterling silver.


I'll be posting more items as I get them finished, photographed and listed. Stay tuned!

Funky Finds Spring Fling!

I've just signed up for a new craft show. Its sponsored by Funky Finds and will be in Ft. Worth at the Will Rogers Memorial Center on April 25th. I'm really excited about this show as it will be well advertised and should draw a big crowd. Of course I will be expecting my local friends and family to come and see me! I will have a booth to myself this time and will have lots of beautiful things to see. Also you will see some other familiar faces from the Jingle Bash show as I expect several EtsyDallas members to attend this show. Check out the Funky Finds site and see who else will be there, and mark your calendars! See you there!

First Monday Sales

I've begun something new. Etsy Texas Crafters (http://etsytx.ning.com/events) sponsors a Monday event every week. The event for the First Monday of the month is a special sale. It only lasts from 12:01 Monday am to 12:00 Monday night so be sure to check it out. Everyone signed up has sales on their site. I am offering 25% off everything in my shop plus if you spend $50 or more (after discount) I am offering free shipping. This is a standing sale for every First Monday of the month so be sure to check back. I'm getting busy in the design studio and will be posting new items daily from now on. Since this is Cyber Monday I thought it was a good idea to start this month. Hurry up and do your Christmas shopping on Etsy. You can't go wrong. There will be something for everyone on your list. Don't forget to treat yourself also! You can do that at Michele Cook Designs.

Review of two artists

My Etsy site received some new reviews on LinkReferral and I wanted to share two of the artists with you.

The first artist is KuteKlipboardsbyAmy who happens to live near me in Flower Mound. Amy is also a member of EtsyDallas Team as well as EtsyTexasCrafters. As her shop name implies she makes and sells decorated clipboards. But wait, these are no ordinary clipboards. Here is a sample of my favorites from her shop. Not only does she do the clipboard but she also decorates binder clips to be used as gift card holders, photo holders and could also be used as place card holders at a dinner party. Contact her for your special requirements.


The second artist I found is someone I reviewed on LinkReferral and she returned the favor. RioRita is from Haifa, Israel and does some of the most beautiful silver and gold work I have seen. I can't really pick a favorite piece as every one I look at becomes my favorite. Please check out her shop and her alternate sites she has listed in her Etsy announcement.

Grand Opening-Michele Cook Designs

Ok, everyone has to check it out! I bit the bullet and opened a new Etsy store with the name Michele Cook Designs. The link is http://michelecookdesigns.etsy.com. I've got some new stuff listed and lots of pics in the camera waiting for treatment so they can be listed. I'm getting geared up for the Christmas season and a show in Dallas at Hermann Hall on November 22nd. I have added a place on the left margin to list shows I am attending so everyone will know when I will be where. I've been working hard on my display tables and will have pictures to post in a week or so.

I am also signed up with the Indie Collective which is a collection of independent artists. I'll be listed there as a seller also so check it out at Indie Collective.

I am also signed up with ProPay to accept credit cards so if anyone wants to buy something but not use PayPal I can process your credit card with ProPay.

I did actually close the michele38 Etsy store because it was getting confusing so if you have that address bookmarked or had given it out please give out my new store. If you go to Etsy.com just type michelecookdesigns in the search for user names. Be sure to type it as all one word, no spaces. I feel as though I am really officially a full time jewelry seller. Help me spread the word!

I've been busy!

I have been a busy girl the past few days. I have learned how to do Bubble Share, you can see it above the post, signed up for LinkReferral, got advice on my blog from there, and signed up for Blogflux where I can get stats on how many people visit my site, where they are, what my ranking on Google is and lots of other stuff that I can't quite figure out yet!

I'm also designing a line for Christmas. I'm thinking of doing a show in Dallas called Jingle Bash. I'm a member of the Etsy Dallas team and they are doing it.
Isn't that the cutest picture? I love it.It is an indoor show and I will have lots of people to help me with the set up. I'm really looking forward to it and am working like a mad woman to get enough stock made up. Wish me luck and for those of you who are in this area, come by and see me!

Its been a while I know.....

Ok, sorry I've been gone so long. I really didn't mean to but this past couple of weeks have been pretty hard. Anyway, I'm back on track. I've been working on the pictures of the new jewelry I have been making. I have been having trouble with lighting and have been working on several options. I finally have some decent pictures so I'll be listing them this week on Etsy. I've also been doing some research on local shows and what I would need to have to get started but I really think it will have to wait until spring. There are 2 or 3 good shows I could do locally this fall but I need a tent, tables, banner, stock...... And I don't have those things yet. I think I'm going to concentrate on just making as much stock as I can and get ready for the new season next spring. There are several shows in the Dallas/Ft Worth area so hopefully I can get a good start then. When ever I am getting ready to design new pieces I try to look at as much jewelry as possible in the Yahoo Groups both Wire Wrap and Metal Clay and magazines. When ever I do I can go back to my stock and see more possible ideas. Here are a few of the things I have been working on this week. I already showed you my copper and green disk earrings. I also have a necklace with a hand formed S clasp. It turned out really nice. I had the idea of making a zig zag of sorts with the copper wire over the round beads. I really enjoyed making this set. Another set I made recently is a beading set with these lovely blue and white swirl glass beads. I grouped them with some lovely blue seed beads in a larger size and some irridecent purple, blue small seed beads. I made coordinating earrings also. That's it for the preview. If you want to see more you will have to go to my Etsy store at Michele Cook Designs.

IT'S HOT!!!!

Ok, I know that North Texas isn't the hottest place on earth, but its darn close! Here in the DFW (Dallas/Ft Worth) area we have been above 100° (106° predicted today) for about 2 weeks. Now, this isn't that unusual for here this time of year. The part that is new and unusual is how I cope with it. Even though I was born in the north (Indiana) I moved with my family to the south (Louisiana) when I was 16. Now at 48 I have lived in the south much longer than I lived in the north but I still think of myself as a Yankee! I've been told I sound like a combination of both and since my husband is English and we have been married for 10 years my accent is even more muddled. Anyway, back to my point. I've been here for a long time but its in the past few years I have noticed that the heat of summer is harder to take. So, for the past week or so I have been feeling very tired, sluggish and having trouble sleeping. Although we have central air we are watching the electric bill so we are keeping the thermostat between 78° and 80°. Even the pool is HOT! Its like bathwater! I'm really feeling the heat so to speak this past week. That is my excuse for not blogging every day or two as I intended.

I have been working on some new jewelry and hope to get some pictures uploaded and items added to my Etsy shop. I've been struggling with the lighting, sunlight too much or not enough and flash not right either, so before I post more pictures I want to work on it. I plan to get that done today. Again, its back to the heat thing. Its supposed to be below 100° the middle of the week so we are putting off mowing the yard until then. Hopefully I can get my craft work caught up.

This probably sounds like a bunch of whining but it makes me feel better to whine online for a bit! LOL....

Stay tuned for the next blog which will be what I have found out about local craft venues.

Other things besides jewelry making...

So far I haven't talked really about any of my other hobbies or what's going on in my life. I love doing all sorts of crafts like sewing, quilting, crocheting, knitting as well as the jewelry with metalsmithing, wire wrap and metal clay.

I started knitting about 4 years ago. I had tried as a child when I was crocheting but I could never get the hang of it. For some reason when I tried about 4 years ago it just worked! I made a couple of scarves and then went right into a sweater! It actually came out ok, its quite comfortable even if it is a bit boxy. I also tried socks and that is when I fell in love! I have made many, many pairs of socks, a lot of them were with bulkier yards and we use them for house sox in the winter. All our floors downstairs are hardwood, and you sure can slide in those sox! :) Anyway, the real reason I like making socks is because I'm quite small and I have size 5 (really size 4) feet and most socks are too big for me. I love making them to fit! With all the lovely self patterning yarn now you can really make them special. My newest thing is making 2 at once by using a long cable needle. I got a book on it and its great. You don't have to continuously measure and count rows on the 2nd sock to make them exactly even but you also avoid the dreaded "orphan" sock.

The biggest problem for me with crafts is that I don't like to have a deadline to complete a project. For example, last year I had a Calendar-A-Day for Knitting. I saw a sleeveless sweater that I knew my daughter would love. It is very simple, only stockinette stitch for the front and back, no sleeves. I started it last summer and wanted to give it to her for her birthday this past March. Well,,,, I just finished it this past week.... almost a year and 4 months after her birthday! Of course, I hadn't told her I was making it until her birthday, but still. A friend of mine once asked me to make a baby quilt for her pregnant friend. The baby was 6 months old before she got it! I even have a quilt on my lap frame that I am hand quilting for the past 6 years. Oh well..... I think most crafters are like that. Everyone seems to have an over abundance of WIP or Works In Progress.

So, if you want me to make something other than jewelry for you, be prepared to wait,,,, for a while.

See you tomorrow when I will be talking about work,,, or the lack of it.