Yay! Elements

My new website is up and running! I have been so busy I haven't been doing enough to get the word out, but it's coming along nicely. It's a cool combination for me...photographing my pieces has always been and continues to be fun; obviously I can't enough of designing my own jewelry; and I am sort of getting into the website design aspect too. Now, granted, I have started with a pretty basic web design, but I just really wanted to do it myself.I hope you can check it out sometime. The idea behind my new store is the four traditional earth elements, earth, water, air, and fire. I've been thinking about the change for some time, as baby number four came along and slowed everything down. It feels good to be at a place where I can be a little more creative again.

Air is the line for timeless, classic designs. Anyone at any age can find something to love here. These pieces are also versatile and often neutral (see Tiny Baubles, above left).

Earth is the line that I wear most. It's comfortable, casual, and uses lots of natural components (see Gotta Be Me, left).






Fire is the place to go when you want to give a unique gift. These pieces are often bold, and always created with high quality components (see Carly, left)





Water is more trendy. It is the place to look for pieces that fit current and/or seasonal colors. Right now the line has some nice asymmetrical pieces and bib-style necklaces. The bracelets and earrings have lots of movement (see Slick, left).



And I'm still squeezing in a little time for projects, like making laundry room shelves (why did I have no place for table cloths and cloth napkins?) and a quilt/blanket ladder for the theater room. I finally got a piece of real furniture for the master bedroom...the first piece actually bought for that room (except for a bed with no headboard) since we moved in 10 years ago. It's the Java Basque buffet from Crate and Barrel. I found it in the floor model clearance section of the store a couple of weeks ago and just couldn't stop thinking about it. Perfect size and shape to go under our wall-mounted tv and I fell in love with the gorgeous mango wood and dark stain.
I just have to repair a scratch on the top (right now being covered with a framed photo of beautiful kids). So now I'm hot for some custom bedside tables. I just have to decide if I can do a project like that with only a chop saw...now remembering a table saw out in the garage! I think a whole new world just opened up!

bored in the laundry room...

Okay, I had to do something in the laundry room, since I now spend LOADS and LOADS of time in there and only had plain blue walls. I didn't want to add the traditional quotable art, like "one load at a time," or cliches about doing your own laundry, so here's what I came up with. Found a cute print on etsy that I framed--not a super obvious reference to laundry, but you get it.


Then I found a set of 3 plain wooden clothespins that I sanded and painted and drilled hanging holes into the back. Then I remembered some leftover cable I used for a gallery wall from Ikea, and here's what I've now got on the wall above my washer and dryer. Much better!

I've registered a domain

After much research, I registered a domain for my new website/shop through godaddy.com. I decided to do it independently, and not attach the registration to the hosting. I've just read too many stories about people wanting to cancel their hosting service and losing their domain. Happy with their service so far, though I haven't done anything with the domain yet!

I've decided to have fatcow.com do the hosting of the site. I have lots of build-able options at a reasonable price and so far (at the very beginning of the process) I am pleased with this choice as well. I hope to launch the new web store at the beginning of November. Excited!

Casual jewelry I've been working on

all girl no play







contradiction







branching out







noble roble

Here is the dotted fabric. Thanks, princess, for demonstrating the cushion of the foam! My husband convinced me to only reupholster the seats of all 4 chairs. The mission style backs are really nice, so I'm fine with having less work to do!

reupholstered chairs

Once I pulled up all the staples, worn out padding, and torn fabric, I cut out a section of 2 inch foam to fit the wooden seat. Then I cut out fabric the same shape, allowing about 3 inches extra all around. My biggest take-away from these steps is to use a knife (maybe even electric) to cut the foam. There is really no way to get an even cut with scissors, and that will affect the final result. I was also careful to line up the stripes/plaid. Then I stapled like a mad woman, pulling tight as I went. (I like knowing that I am an expert at removing them if I make a mistake!) I think the corners take extra skill, and mine turned out just adequate. You can see some puckering in the photos.

done!

It's taken me forever to get these chairs done! Part of it is that my 17 month likes to sit on my projects. Very scary since I'm working with a screwdriver and pliers, and tons of tiny staples. My 5 year old is legitimately helpful, though. We developed a system on the last chair, finished today, where I pried up all of the staples with the screwdriver and he pulled them all out with the pliers. He said he might like to be a staple puller when he gets older. I told him that would be fun, but he would be good at many, many things, and he might want to choose something different when it's time. He's SO sweet!

Photos tomorrow...I've been taking photos of jewelry today, but no chairs. I'm disappointed in myself, but I just can't take pictures of all of the different steps. Before and after is the best I can do!