Busy Bee

So its been a few days since I last blogged.  Here is why...

Over the weekend me and my son and my partners son were making christmas tree hangings.

 Reece's age 3 (with help from me ofcourse)

 Maz's age 6 (also with help from me)


I'm looking forward to putting them on the tree. we're going to add some letter beads so we can remember whos is whos :)

CHILDREN'S JEWELLERY

I've had some requests for some childrens jewellery.

 This is one of 3 bracelets I made to go with a green party dress for a soon to be 7 year old, with a swarovski crystal angel and quartz crystal charms and pearl charms.

 This one is just so adorable. I was asked to make a couple of bracelets for two 7 month old baby girls, using pink pearls and quartz crytals these little things are just too cute :)


Over the last two weeks (since I opened my Facebook fan page and opened my store on Folksy and Etsy) I have had orders for a total of 31 necklaces/bracelets. I think this is good going?

This is the orders that went to their new owners this morning :)

PROMOTION

I was trying to find ways of getting more traffic to my site and I stumbled across London Jewellery who do free promotions for local jewellery makers. so I wrote to them and today they have added me to there website!  They are a really friendly and helpful bunch.. check them out :)

http://www.london-jewellery.co.uk/

And this is my details on their site. hehe.

PRIZE DRAW

One of my top selling items is this bracelet. So I thought once I get a total of 100 Facebook fans I will do a prize draw and one lucky member will win one of these popular bracelets.

 So please get adding and send out invites and once I receive 100 members I will go ahead with the draw :)

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=117180201677409&set=a.117179968344099.17636.115830338479062#!/pages/Brentford/Angels-and-Diamonds/115830338479062

Lucie xx

No rest for the wicked...

I am absolutely shattered! for the past 9 days I have been getting up at 6am, doing the morning rush of preparing breakfast,dressing my son, myself, a cupper coffee, brush teeth, wash, do hair, make up, put a load of washing on, tidy the house, leave for the school run, rush to work to do my 9.00-5.30 job. leave work, half hour walk to collect my son from childminders, followed by a trip to the supermarket and half hour walk home. check post, cupper coffee, pour glass of milk for Reece (my son), set up iPad for Reece (or cartoons on the TV), make snacks for Reece, shower Reece, read story with Reece, put Reece to bed, clean the house, another cuppa coffee, put dinner on, hang out washing, eat dinner. Start my 5-6 hour shift making jewellery. And then at 2am, have a shower, brush teeth and go to bed for my 4hour sleep!

I'm guessing i'm not the only one who is sleep deprived? having a hobby sure pays its tole lol. but im still loving it.

During my working hours last night I was working on my new range of bracelets and necklaces:

 I was thinking the other day how effective it would be to add signatory beads to each of my items (so one day when im rich and famous, jewellery experts will say, this is an angels and diamonds piece, if you look at each end of the bracelet/necklace you will see the famous signature silver beads which she is so well know for! or a stranger will be wearing the necklace and her friend would say 'oh my god.. ur wearing an Angels and Diamonds necklace... im so jealous!! ofcourse by then the silver plated parts will be solid platinum). LOL we can but dream ey. I think they are a lovely touch :)

 My first 'signature' set. they are also available in black :)

 This is a childs bracelet, this one is made for an 11 year old.  smaller ones I have made more secure with wrapped loops for the charm and the ends. 

 Silver beads and white pearls with a silver foil glass heart.

 Matching to the above brace is this 18inch necklace..it looks really pretty one :)

This is my favourite.. made for me at nursery by my 3 year old son Reece. What a talented little boy he is :) a few more years and i'll have him beading necklaces for me lol. 

SHOCKED!

I decided that I will list some items for sale on Folksy yesterday, I've had an account for a while but havent really listed much.. just some feather earrings but I sold them through other sources (through Ebay and another few through FB recently :)

So before I had even finished adding things to my store an email came through on my blackberry informing me I had sold an Item!! I was only saying earlier that that how great it would feel to sell to someone who Isnt a friend or a friend of a friend. I was right it did feel great.. plus I felt sick, nerves maybe.. I dont know lol.

 An this is the bracelet that sold. 12mm coloured pearls with a single quartz crystal :)

These are the matching necklace and earrings (which havent yet sold) 

WORRIED

Ive had a few pre orders through friends on FB for the 'signature necklace' and also for the childs bracelet.. Ive been waiting for crystals and pearls to be delivered and they havent arrive this week.. here's me thinking they would have arrived by the end of this week and i'd have the whole weekend to work at my leisure. Looks like im gonna need LOTS more coffee next week too. Thats if they ever arrive (fingers crossed).

Did I meantion I've gone through a massive jar of coffee in just over a week? As well as pro plus to get me through my working day and the odd can of redbull.. thank god for caffine :)

Hmmm... speaking of which, I think I will have a dose now.

Happy friday everyone :)

Lucie xx

And so the journey began...

Now that I had my motivation it was time to get creative! As earrings clearly werent my thing I decided bracelets would be a nice project and so I ordered lots more beads and made a bracelet...

followed by another one...

 and another....

 and another..

 and another...

I then created a business page on Facebook..

Angels and Diamonds

Promote your Page too

And the orders started coming in.

AT A PRICE....

Working until 2am is fine but tiredness can make you do silly things.. I was so excited about putting my new bracelets on facebook that I hadnt noticed that I had put an incorrect price on one of my bracelets (the purple flower one).. stupidly I advertised the price the same as the cost of the beads alone. Doh!

So when I got an order for four of these bracelets the following day I felt mixed feelings.. excited that people liked the bracelet, and gutted that I would be making them at loss.
Luckily though they werent the only bracelet that has sold, in the first few days I have had orders for twelve!! :)

Its funny how a few compliments from others can boost your confidence levels and bring out the more creative person..

Watch this space for more designs....

Lucie x

Its a new Dawn....

... its a new day, and I'm feeling good!

I was on my way to work a couple of months ago (I work as an Accounts Manager for a mobile telecommunications store) and I thought to myself.. I need a hobby.. I spend all my time working, raising my  three year old son and running the household that i never do anything solely for myself.  I have often thought how great it would be to make jewellery, but it has always been a passing thought, so at that moment I decided, I will do something about it. i got to work and googled 'how to make jewellery' read a load of websites for the basics and ordered a starter kit on EBay, and some beads, and some more beads.. oh and some more beads (Then of course I got on with my work).

I felt really good about it and even better when the kit arrived. I ordered it to be delivered to my home address, but I was at work the day it arrived and spent most of the day wondering if it had arrived yet! so many thoughts and possibilities were running though my mind as to what I would make first.  When i got home and saw the parcel sat on the floor by the front door I felt excited.  Once I had put my son to bed I sat down and carefully made my first pair of earrings, followed by a memory wire bracelet. in between chasing the kittens across the house for the stolen beads they had sneakily taken when I wasn't looking, I could hear them across the wood flooring,,, silly cats :)

Since that day I have become a bead addict, I need to buy at least one item a week, although its more like one a day (when I say one.. I don't just mean one bead (obviously).. I mean one order from one store, whether it be a strand of pearls or four different strands of pearls :) I just love the parcels being delivered, it feels like Christmas every time.

Lots of bead buying later and I had a range of extremely basic earrings, which didn't sell on eBay or anywhere. this disheartened me a bit and I stopped making jewellery for a few weeks. To be fair though, I didn't feel proud when I presented the jewellery to people, so it was hardly surprising it didn't sell.

So I went about the next few weeks living my life as normal. and then a friend asked me if she could see a range of my jewellery as she would like to buy some nice pieces for Christmas presents..........