Is it that time of year already?

I was hoping to launch my new bridesmaid jewellery range this month, but have decided to delay it till the spring. This is because it's that time of year again, you know the one were us crafters are franatically making gorgeous items for christmas.  Whether it's fabulous jewellery, amazing cards or yummy smelling candles, everyone in the crafting world, is getting their shops ready for festive season.

I've already started making my sparkling goodies, mainly bracelets, earrings and necklaces, there will be lots of colour, bling and sparkle. If your looking for jewellery to wear for any upcoming xmas parties or events, or you want to buy a special christmas gift, stop by my online shop. I will be adding  lots new pieces in the weeks leading up to xmas.

Here's a bracelet, with matching earrings, that I made last night, as you can see I've made it in my favorite colour, purple. It will be on sale very soon in my online shop, at www.michelleshandcraftedjewellery.com

Bye for now.

Pearls are a girls best friend.




One of my favorite types of jewellery to make is bridal jewellery. I thought about expanding my range of jewellery to include bridal jewellery in late 2011. I love the beauty of pearls, whether they are freshwater, glass pearls, e.t.c. I remember giving my mother a gift of pearls a few years back. They were ivory faux pearls and they just glowed in the box, I wanted to keep them for myself. Pearls do feature alot in my jewellery, as do crystals, which go so well  together. Crystals and rhinestones add a bit of bling to jewellery, nothing like a bit of sparkle to make you feel special and get you noticed. 

At the moment I'm creating a number of bridesmaid jewellery sets, consisting of earrings and matching necklaces. I have used traditional colours such as white and ivory, but nowadays brides are more adventurous with their bridal colours, there will be lots of, purple (my favorite colour), gold, pink, mint, silver, grey... e.t.c.  It's been soo much fun creating my collections, I can't wait to show them off.

Here's a sneak peek of one of the set of bridesmaid necklaces that I have made, as I said before, pearls and crystals love each other.

Both my online shops stock a selection of bridal jewellery.
www.michelleshandcraftedjewellery.com
www.etsy.com/shop/Michelleshandcrafted

My new bridesmaid jewellery collections will be launched in October.

Jewellery Packaging

One of the post important aspects of running your own jewellery business is presentation. When a customer orders a piece of jewellery, it should be presented in a way that makes them feel special and your packaging should reflect this. I have chosen purple/lilac and black as my packaging colours. I carefully wrap my jewellery in lilac tissue paper, the package is then tied with a purple silk ribbon, with Michelle's Handcrafted Jewellery printed on it and then it's all placed in a purple organza gift bag.



Wedding jewellery is sent in a black box, which I will have decorated with silver embellishments. I love butterflies so you will come across a butterfly at some point, when you received your jewellery from me.



The earrings are placed on earring cards and I always include a business card, which is a gentle reminder, to my customers, letting them know where they got that particular item from. Last, but not least, each customer will receive a handwritten note from me, thanking them for their custom.

Making the jewellery is lots of fun, packaging it all up, makes me feel like I'm wrapping presents for Christmas and I enjoy wrapping presents, I enjoy my work from start to finish, what more could I ask for.

CRAFTfest

I'm taking part in the Craftfest on Saturday 9th-16th June 2012, come take a look and see what I have for sale in my shop. I have 5 pages of fabulous jewellery and accessessories, all at affordable prices.  I do have many more items available to see at www.michelleshandcraftedjewellery.com

You don't have to wait till Saturday to visit my stall, you can check out my items now at  http://creative-connections.ning.com/photo/albums/michelle-s-handcrafted-jewellery-craftfest-stall. Here you will be able to browse and if you wish to make a purchase before anyone else does, once it's gone, it's gone!

My name is Michelle and I'm a bead addict.

Do you love shopping? I do, but I don't mean the usual clothes,handbag and shoes shopping, I mean shopping for jewellery making supplies , shopping for new beads, findings, everything and anything that goes into making jewellery. I love, love, love making jewellery, before I have finished one project, I'm onto the next one, buying supplies, then my eyes start wondering and I see some gorgeous beads that I feel have to buy them, even though I have not decided how I'm going to use them.

I tried to ban myself from buying any more stock, but I failed miserably, I have several deliveries, making their way to me this week. I mentioned this on Twitter the other day, asking whether I was the only one who wanted to just make jewellery all day and not have to take picture, edit them, upload, post, promote and do all the other important tasks that go into marketing your jewellery business and I had loads of replies from my fellow beaders, all saying the same thing and echoing how I felt.

Don't get me wrong I love what I do, but I could quite easily lock myself in a room and bead away for hours on end, but in order to feed my addiction I have to get out there and market and promote my jewellery and business. I know I should not buy anymore supplies for a while, but there is no harm in looking, is there?

I want to try that!

Since I began making jewellery, I have always wanted to try making other crafty things. The list is endless, there is cardmaking, papercrafts, sewing, crochet, e.t.c. they is soo many things I want to try.
I first became aware of all the different types of crafts when I joined Twitter, this was in October 2011. Those that I followed and who followed me, were talented  in their own unique way.

A few weeks ago I wanted to try my hand at papercrafts, in particular making paper flowers. I came across a video on You Tube, I sat there with my tissue paper and scissors and watched several vids, before I came a cross a tutorial I liked. That creation is sitting in a vase in my living room, my twins and bf were surprised that I had made it, I was surprised myself.

I think  if you see something and you want to try and make it. go for it. You may be great at it, or lousy at it, give it a go.  Since making the paper flower arrangement, I have bought myself a glue gun, you can use a glue gun for a multitude of craft projects, I just need to decide on what, mmmm......, where's that craft mag I bought yesterday?

New website, New bracelet

 I finally got round to listing a new item in my Etsy shop yesterday. I have not been able to do so for a few weeks. I have a shop on Etsy and one on Folksy, which since the changes, I have hardly used. After the changes they made to it, I stopped going on there, navigating the new site was a nightmare, if I dreaded it, how must the poor potential customers feel! My Etsy shop is great, I've been on there 4 months, so my items were up for renewal, which I have been relisting. But I felt it was time to open up my own website. I choose Create websites, mainly because alot of the other crafters I come across seem to all use them. I completed last week  and it was a great experience, never built a website before, struggled in the beginning, it was taking up alot of my time, but towards the end was much easier. If your thinking about creating your own website, go for it. If you want to have a look at my new site, it is http://www.michelleshandcraftedjewellery.com/