Check out my fellow eSMArts team members

Check out this luscious collection of jewelry from my talented fellow jewelry designers in our eSMArts Team!

Etsy eSMArts Team Treasury

Getting Ready for My First Show!!

Ok, I've been reading all the posts about booth and table displays with great interest and I saw these in a catalog today and they seem like a good idea for some decorative accents on my table. I can't decide if I should use the white ones, the colored ones or a mixture. They are very inexpensive.

I also realized that I would be able to change the votive cup for the holidays. The same catalog had some cups shaped like jingle bells in red and white that would be cute. So, I'm taking a vote and I will post a poll on my blog. Everyone needs to vote for white, colored or combination. By the way, the colored ones change colors automatically. The description says they fade in and out of 7 different color combination of red, green and blue. I like the votive cup they show in the picture but I'm not sure if I can buy them also or not. WalMart will have some cheap. JoAnn's will also, and probably many in holiday themes and on sale! My first show isn't until November but I want to be prepared! Ok, don't forget to vote!

Too Much Computer Time

I've been spending so much time on my computer trying to learn the business of running a business I haven't been paying much attention to my business! I have been accepted to the EtsyDallas show Jingle Bash which will be my first show. I will have to get busy making lots and lots of jewelry to take with me. Plus figure out how to take credit cards, get packaging supplies.... on and on. I hope I make enough money in the show just to pay for getting there! Whew! But I have some great ideas for new pieces and I have also been working on getting better pictures of my jewelry. I have a new display thanks to my daughter. As soon as I finish painting it I'll dress it up and show it off!

I will be blogging more regularly now and I'll give everyone sneak peaks of my new creations. I have some great new cabs to wrap and a couple of new wrapping techniques so stay tuned!

My daughter and grandsons were here for Labor Day weekend. We had lovely weather and my daughter and I did some shopping. We checked out a really great shop in Dallas called The Rock Barrel. They have great stuff. A really good place for tools also. If you are like me I prefer to see the tools and hold them in my hand before making a decision. This place was great and the people running it are very helpful. The do have online ordering if you are not in the Dallas area.

Well, back to the workbench to create some more spectacular jewelry items!

Twitter

Ok, I signed up for Twitter. Not sure exactly what I am supposed to do but I've done it. Lets see now how it works. I'm not sure how to search for people if I don't have an email address. But I did send invitations to people in my address book. So far so good. If anyone wants to invite me to follow them please do so. I'm so connected now with LinkReferral, LinkedIn, Twitter, Blogs, Etsy, etc I can't imagine how I could ever feel alone again. LOL.

New Pendant

I haven't listed this yet in Etsy as I have just a touch more to do with taking better photographs. As a matter of fact, my hubby has been working on a light box for me and I'm trying to figure out the best background for my pictures. Once I'm done with that I'll be posting more to Etsy as well as redoing the existing photos.

The light box is very simple. It is a cardboard box about 18" square. He cut out a square on each side leaving about 1.5" border. The bottom is solid and the top has a square hole about 6" square cut for the camera to look through. This allows me to take pictures from the top looking down on the jewelry. Then I took white tissue paper and covered the cutouts on 2 opposite sides leaving the other 2 opposite sides open. If I want to take a picture straight on I can set up the camera outside the box by one of the open sides. I can use this outside as well as indoors. When using it outside I place one of the covered sides facing the sun. Inside I have 2 lamps with 60 watt bulbs that I place about 4" from the paper. Both ways work well. I also have lined the top with aluminum foil and will probably do the other parts as well to reflect more light. I have taken some pictures to show you what I'm talking about.

The last two pictures are using the light box. The one with the PCM pendant is at night with the 2 lights outside the tissue paper and the bracelet is outside with the sun shining in through the tissue paper. Believe it or not the backgrounds in the two pictures are the same. See what a difference light makes?

I have put together all the advice I've read from the eSMArts Team as well as other groups about photographing jewelry, my hubby made me a light box. Now its just up to taking new pictures. Keep checking my Etsy store for new pictures.

Up and Running Again!

WooHoo! My hubby worked his magic again today and got my blog set up to use my domain name. So now you can go to Michele Cook Designs and you get my blog. You have to create a CNAME with your domain registrar (what ever that is) and then go into the settings for your blog, click on publishing and choose custom domain. It takes a bit for all the servers to update and for it to work right, but I think it should work fine for mine now. He also created an email for me at michelecookdesigns.com and set it to forward to my regular email so now I also have michele@michelecookdesigns as an email. I can use that on my business cards and will have some continuity.

I've also been working on the pricing for my new jewelry and will get it listed on Etsy tomorrow, I hope. Whew! Its been a busy day but I'm glad to be back on track. I even ordered some wire from Lois at ABeadedAffair. She has this great copper wire in square and half round. You should check out her Etsy store here and see her great stuff. She has the most beautiful wire wrap jewelry, chainmaile, beads, etc. Her blog is great and she has a wonderful triple strand of pearls with blue sapphire beads shown there. They are also in her Etsy shop. Check her out, you won't be sorry!

Once I get that wire from her I will be a wrapping fool! I have a beautiful Black Onyx cab that I want to wrap. I saw one that Lois did in her store that she did in copper wire and it is beautiful. I'm going to try that. I may try wrapping it sideways this time and see how it comes out.

New Blog Address

If you try to get to my blog you may find you get redirected to Google. Never fear, my blog is still there. I have decided to change my blog address to michelecookdesigns.com instead of the blogspot address. I used Blogger's redirection feature but I have to wait until the DNS servers update. It may take a day or so. Since there is always a delay in the updates I decided to do this at this time while traffic is a bit slow. I'm being optimistic that my jewelry sales are going to take off and I'll get lots of traffic on my blog as well as Etsy store. The old blogspot address will redirect you to the blog but if anyone has my blog bookmarked you can update it to michelecookdesigns.com. One day I may have a regular website but for now I would like everything to be as consistent as possible. My email address will stay michele@michelecook.com for now. One thing at a time.

I also want to work on a video for my blog. I'll let you know when I have that done. I know you can use One True Media which is connected with You Tube.

So stay tuned and if you get Google, keep trying. My blog will be back up in no time.

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.

I've been tagged!!! Twice!

Wow, this has been fun looking at everyone who have been tagged and visiting the blogs or sites. Then there is that slow scroll down to see if you are a victim... :) Well, its my turn now. I've been tagged twice by Wezz and Jill.

Here are the rules:

1) Link to the person who tagged you
2) Post the rules on your blog (this is what you are now reading)
3) Write 6 random things about yourself (see below)
4) Tag 6 people at the end of your post and link to them
5) Let each person know they have been tagged and leave a comment on their blog.
6) Let the tagger know when your entry is up.

Six Random Things about Me…..

1) I am very small. I am 4'7" tall and wear a size 4 shoe. Actually, I wear a size 5 cause I can't find 4s.

2) My mom spelled my name with one L (Michele). This has always been an issue as I can't get anything already personalized.

3) I named my daughter after my sister who died as an infant. My mom named my sister. Katheryn. Now my daughter can't get anything already personalized.

4) My daughter goes by Katie.

5) I have 4 grandchildren, 3 boys and 1 girl.

6) My husband is English and we met on the internet 10 years ago.

Now I’m tagging….

Dee of Reflections in Glass

Kaytee of Simplexities

Robin of Canyon Fire Creations

Tonya of Soscentsible

Kim of Creative Eye Studio

Julie of Angelamps

You have been tagged!!!!

Michele

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.

Check out my new creations!

My daughter sent me some beads the other day to make a necklace for her. She included some other beads that she saw and thought I would like. Since I have been working with copper wire lately I was working with the other beads she sent me. They are flat lentil shaped beads about the size of a nickle as well as some small oval flat beads. I had been looking at some wire wrapped beads the other day and the next thing I knew this idea popped into my head.

After some experimentation I came up with 2 pair of earrings and a necklace and earrings set.

I even had to make a clasp for the necklace as I don't have any findings in copper.

As I have said in previous posts, I have never thought of myself as "creative" just talented. I can't draw but I have always been able to work from a pattern and make clothes, quilts, knitted products etc. But when it comes to working with wire or metal clay these ideas pop into my head. I try to sketch a quick picture of what I am thinking of and I also cut out pictures from magazines to remind me. The pictures are usually better as I come back to my sketch book and sometimes can't figure out what I was trying to draw! :)