It's nearly time to submit my proposal for the Build A Line Challenge

First off, I can't believe it's been a week and a half since my last post. My mind has been on other things, my proposal and would you believe it, getting back into online dating.

I'm taking another swing at online dating, but it's nearly as much work as jewelry design! Argh.

I finally had a revelation, of sorts, about why I've been so overwhelmed when it comes to creating jewelry and writing up my proposal. There's a myriad of techniques I could utilize in jewelry design and part of me gets caught up in trying to use them all. Here's where the revelation hit. I know what I do best and what sells. They just happen to be one and the same. So here's the place to focus my energy and creativity on a line. Once I narrowed that down, I realized I already have ideas and pieces for what I'm calling my spring line. As usual for me, I make everything so much more difficult than it needs to be. Shocker. While I can't reveal what my line proposal is yet, I feel such relief just knowing what I'm planning to do.

I'm so excited about this opportunity, offered by Brenda Sue Lansdowne and her creative team. This will be an invaluable learning experience for me and one which I'm very grateful for.

I hope to have good news to share here Monday. I've applied to be a vendor at a local market for unique, handmade items held the first Saturday of the month. I'll know the decision Monday. Fingers crossed!

Here are two of my newest pieces:

  This was made using a vintage mini tea strainer as the pendant with B'sue tea-themed charms added, using blue rosary beads as part of the chain and leftover bits of B'sue chain for the rest.

The butterflies are from www.bsueboutiques.com and I've been racking my brain for a couple months trying to figure out what to do with them. Then I discovered Lumiere paints and here's the finished product. Nothing vintage, just a bit of my own creativity.

I'll keep you posted on becoming a vendor, and the Build a Line Challenge.

How to incorporate my philosophy of jewelry making with building a line of jewelry

For those of you who have been reading my blog, first-thank you, and secondly, you know I've mentioned the Build A Line Challenge sponsored by B'sue Boutiques and the B'sue Creative Group on Facebook. I have a little over a week to write up a proposal for my line, which needs to be unique. If I want, the pieces in my line should be designed in a way that someone working with me could reproduce the pieces and have them look like I made them.

Here's where my struggle begins. I want to be successful, but my heart isn't in assembly line jewelry making. I like to think I put a part of myself into each piece I create. How do I build a line when I receive inspiration from the vintage pieces I collect and build my jewelry around those pieces? I've been thinking of my pieces that sell best and fall into the $20-$50 price range, which for some people can be impulse buys.

The more I think of these pieces, the closer I come to creating a proposal for my line. I'm excited about this opportunity, which will help me grow my business and challenge my thinking. However, I'm fairly new at this form of jewelry making and am just getting by, so the idea of having someone work for me seems like a pipe dream.

At least I have a bit longer to think on this.

Here are two of my newest pieces that I'm very fond of:

The top necklace, which I like to call The Blue and Gold Beauty sold within 24 hours of making it. I just posted the bottom necklace on Etsy today and it has received several favorites already. You can see it here www.etsy.com/listing/216457850/red-trumpet-flower-necklace-featuring-a?

Yesterday I went through all my vintage jewelry. I set aside the signed pieces to sell and selected a few pieces to use in upcoming projects. The ideas are floating around in my mind.

Now that Christmas is behind me, I'll be blogging at least three times a week.