I’m really excited to announce that one of my most popular items, my Full Moon Copper Hammered Earring, is going to be auctioned off in the big Mother’s Day Handmade Auction on Tophatter! The auction itself will take place THIS Saturday, May 5th at 5pm PT (Which is 8pm EST)!! Starting bid for my earrings is just $5!!

So, you’d better head on over to Tophatter now and click the blue square to reserve your place in the auction (and research how Tophatter works if you’ve never done an auction there before, this is my first one!)

There are a lot of other handmade goods being auctioned off this Friday, 40 in all! They’ll be added throughout the day today, you can see what else is in the Mother’s Day Handmade Auction here on Tophatter. Don’t forget to click the blue button to reserve your place in the auction so you’ll be able to bid for my Full Moon Copper Hammered Earrings, the perfect Mother’s Day Gift for your mom, friend, sister, or daughter!!

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Time for a contest - a giveaway contest! I have to admit, it's for selfish reasons. I'd like to hear some opinions, and the best way to do that is to bribe people! So, here's the deal - WIN A $20 GIFT CERTIFICATE TO MY SHOPS! $20 will buy you one or two glass pendants, some hardware jewelry, some earrings, or go toward the purchase of some of my other pieces.

How do you win?
1) Answer the following questions by commenting on the blog (one entry for each question answered!):
 - should I focus my design efforts on fewer styles?
 - should I expand my design efforts?
 - do you like swarovski crystal?
 - what about aluminum?

2) Post a link to my shop(s) on FB. Highlight my name in the update so I know you posted and can give you credit for another entry. Each time you post = another entry!
Hera Jewelry Designs = http://www.herajewelrydesigns.etsy.com
Hera Glass Designs = http://www.heraglassdesigns.etsy.com

3) Follow my blog

4) Tweet my shop! Again, you'll have to let me know!

5) Follow me on Twitter - https://twitter.com/hrbeadesign


6) "Like" my FB page - https://www.facebook.com/HeraJewelryDesigns


6) Tell me, by commenting here, what your favorite item is from my shops.


I'll announce a winner on May 1st, so give me your opinions, comment, post links, like, tweet, follow, etc. and you could be the winner!

So, it's been quite a while.... I've sorta been working on my challenge, but only because I've sorta been working on my jewelry. No need to write any more - I'll show you what I've created (as long as I can remember how to post pictures!)

Multistrand Mixed Metal Kumihimo Necklace with Silver Chain (you can't see the chain in this picture)
https://www.etsy.com/listing/97623875/mixed-metals-silver-copper-and-brass?listing_id=97623875&listing_slug=mixed-metals-silver-copper-and-brass

Speckled Black and Gray Beaded Kumihimo Necklace with Gunmetal Chain (you can't see the chain in this picture)
https://www.etsy.com/listing/97624778/black-and-gray-beaded-kumihimo-and-chain?listing_id=97624778&listing_slug=black-and-gray-beaded-kumihimo-and-chain

Black and Steel Beaded Kumihimo Necklace
https://www.etsy.com/listing/93047220/black-and-steel-beaded-kumihimo-necklace?listing_id=93047220&listing_slug=black-and-steel-beaded-kumihimo-necklace

Metallic Bronze Beaded Kumihimo Necklace with Sterling Toggle Clasp
https://www.etsy.com/listing/93011807/metallic-bronze-beaded-kumihimo-necklace?listing_id=93011807&listing_slug=metallic-bronze-beaded-kumihimo-necklace

Black and Steel Beaded Kumihimo Bracelet with Gunmetal Chain
https://www.etsy.com/listing/97622513/black-and-steel-beaded-kumihimo-bracelet?listing_id=97622513&listing_slug=black-and-steel-beaded-kumihimo-bracelet

Sterling Silver, Yellow Gold and Rose Gold Chain Maille Bracelet
https://www.etsy.com/listing/97727857/sterling-silver-yellow-gold-and-rose?listing_id=97727857&listing_slug=sterling-silver-yellow-gold-and-rose

Metallic Bronze Beaded Kumihimo Bracelet
https://www.etsy.com/listing/93013279/metallic-bronze-beaded-kumihimo-bracelet?listing_id=93013279&listing_slug=metallic-bronze-beaded-kumihimo-bracelet

Success!  I'm making a pair of earrings to go with the chain maille bracelet. After that, I'll forage through my supplies for more ideas. So far, I haven't bought any supplies in 2012!!! Although I've definitely been tempted.... wish me luck and creativity!

Challenge One: Setbacks, Resisting Temptation, and Changes - already!

Between the last time I posted and now, not all that surprisingly, life interfered....

My daughter got sick, I got sick, I went back to work, my new workbench/desk was not ready yet, blah, blah, blah.... While I was not feeling well, I got an email update from Fusion Beads (http://www.fusionbeads.com), one of my favorite sources for supplies - a SALE! I was tired, I was weak, I put about 30 things into my online cart because the more money spent, the greater the percentage off, I was going to try some new techniques and stock some items I'd been thinking about for a while, I was excited, it wouldn't even really be spending money because it was ON SALE!! And then............. I came down from my cloud of excitement and realized not only would it be silly to spend the money, but I would fail at my challenge before I even started! Yeah - I resisted the temptation!!! That was success!!

As for the progress on the challenge - well, there isn't any. No, that's not entirely true. Of the four things I said I needed to do to get started,

1) Start coming up with ideas using the materials on hand 
2) Know what materials I have on hand 
3) Finish any orders in progress, and
4) Learn the ins and outs of this whole blogging thing...

I have sort of finished #'s 2 and 3. Don't my supplies look neat and organized? Actually, that was quite an accomplishment! They're actually labeled!!! And I can find things quickly! Unfortunately, the rest of the room, still needs work, but it's getting there! AND - my new workbench top is ready and can find a home in my space!!! #2? Progress!

As for the orders, I mailed off a glass pendant, I made a stamped washer necklace with the word "Tro" which is Norwegian for "trust" or "faith" (pretty cool! My first order in another language!), and I finally finished making this sterling silver kumihimo necklace which is one of my favorites - a simple, beautiful design. #3? Check!

#4 I'm going to just have to learn as I go.... which brings me back to #1. Well, the grouping of materials for my first challenge is STILL on my workbench, and here's where life comes in to change things up a bit. It's already the middle of January, three days from now I fly to California for a conference. Flights, car trips, etc. are some of the BEST times to get my kumihimo done because I'm trapped and I want to keep busy. So, instead of making something with that first grouping of materials (I'll do that eventually!), I decided to look through my newly organized stash and prepare beads to bring with me on my flights.

Here are some of the beads I'm playing around with and some of the preparation I'm doing - 

So, what do you think of those combos? If you look closely, you'll see that they actually ARE different! Which combo would you like to see?

I'll show you my progress once I get back!

Challenge Day One: Planning and Organizing

So, I've figure out that there are four things I need to do to get started on this self-imposed challenge:
1) Start coming up with ideas using the materials on hand
2) Know what materials I have on hand
3) Finish any orders in progress, and
4) Learn the ins and outs of this whole blogging thing...

The first photo helps with #1 - it shows a grouping of materials that I've had sitting on my workbench for about 3-4 months, just waiting for me to put them together. So far, in the past several months, I've added a few materials and taken away a few materials, and every once in a while, moved the whole group to get it out of the way while I worked on something else, and that's it! Something must have inspired me to put them together in the first place, but at this point, who knows what it was! That grouping will be my first challenge - it won't matter whether I use ALL those materials or not, just as long as I use some of them!

The second photo shows part of #2 - the making a mess to make things neater part so that I know what I actually have as far as materials go.
I will be working from home full-time beginning in mid-January, so for Christmas my hubby is making me another desk/workbench which will be added on to the one he made me before. I will have plenty of space to work on jewelry, make phone calls, take phone calls, work on the computer, etc. It will take a little rearranging and a whole lotta organizing to make it all come together, so I figured I should get organized both for the sake of the workplace and the sake of my creativity. All the things on top of the desk and underneath it (and all of the things on the floor and the shelves that you can't see!) will be neatly organized and theoretically labeled so that I know exactly what I have and where it is.

As for #3, no photos, but I only have two pieces I am working on right now for customers - a sterling silver beaded kumihimo necklace (one of my favorites!) and a glass tile. Both should be done by the end of the weekend, leaving me ready to focus on #1, #2, and #4 ....

That brings up one other thought, though. Even though I haven't really made any progress on the challenge yet, I've already decided on two exceptions to the "no purchasing supplies" rule - if I need to for an order at the request of a customer or if I need to so I can finish a piece and I don't have the materials to make what I need either. I think both of those are valid reasons.

And, as for #4, I hate going into things not really knowing what I'm doing, but that's what's going on here. I'm going to have to learn how this blogging thing works as I go. Hopefully it won't be too long before I figure out how to add links to my online shops, make the page pretty, add buttons or links to other shops I like, etc. Maybe I'll even have some followers before too long!

So, I've decided to start blogging.... I keep reading about how blogging is great for marketing, but I didn't really want to do it just for that reason.

Recently, as I was cleaning out/going through my jewelry-making supplies, I thought that I should do a better job of using what I have on hand to make pieces - I tend to go through fits and starts where I'm really good for a while but then I get excited about something else and I'm really bad for a while. So, while I was thinking that, I also thought I should challenge myself to create a new piece every day.

Whoah!!! Then, I remembered that some of the pieces I make are very labor intensive and that would mean I couldn't do anything else for the whole day...... I quickly changed my idea to a different challenge - I will challenge myself to use only the materials I have on hand to make my new pieces! Now, that's an idea I like! And, to keep myself accountable, I'll post about it in my nonexistent blog! So, now the blog has been born. Still marketing, I guess, but that's not it's aim so I feel better about it.