Rose of Sharon Jewelry

Pink Jade is such a luscious bead. The ladies of Rose of Sharon Jewelry love pink so you’ll see it used frequently on our different lines. This wonderful new 3-piece set from Betty is our newest original artisan design. Named Contessa for its elegant look, the necklace, bracelet and earrings are true statement pieces – and not for the timid!

Making Contessa

Betty started with a lovely pink enamel flower from China. Since she loves Swarovski crystals, she added them along with a glass bead to create the one-of-a-kind centerpiece.

The pink Jade beads came next (a wonderfully juicy choice).

 

 

She added shiny black faceted glass beads to make the “grown-up girl” pink even more luxurious looking.

The final choice was the Swarovski rhinestone spacers. Gold-filled findings continue the rich look of all three pieces.

 

 

 

Bold and Bright

You can really see the sparkling Swarovski spacers in this elegant bracelet. Both bracelet and necklace have gold-filled toggle clasps.

Finishing Touch

The matching earrings complete the set but would be a great choice to wear alone with a more casual outfit.

Are you a pink lover? Or does pink just make you think of silly little girls?

P.S. I’m starting my physical therapy for my ankles soon but I’m feeling stronger and will be blogging daily starting with this post!

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Thanks for stopping by again. Don’t forget to check out the newest releases in the Rose of Sharon Jewelry store.

Having broken one ankle and spraining the other, I spend most of my time with elevated legs. Not the most comfortable position. Still to hard to use crutches except for a few instances. The wheelchair isn't too negotiable on carpet and through doors so I'm left to crawling or walking around on my knees. The latter looking like a poor imitation of a Munchkin.

Even sitting in an ordinary chair with dangling legs hurts after 10 minutes so here I am being waited on. Should be a good situation but makes me grumpy. At least, I don't have to clean house. Ha!

Have spent a lot of hours catching up on emails. That's a chore as they seem to stream in as fast as I delete them. So I'm going through and unsubscribing to what I can. I see now how life just needs to be less cluttered.

The good part of being "off-track" is I've devoted a lot more time to creating. That includes more time to really read those bookmarked design articles, learn traditional Japanese Kumihimo braiding (more on that in upcoming posts) and assemble 30 new jewelry projects in little bags. All I have to do is grab a bag and bead away.

I'm off to post a new necklace on Rose of Sharon Jewelry and I'll be back later to introduce it to you.

The quirky timeline/networking site Plurk has captured my eye this week. Looks like a lot of fun to gather and communicate. Need someone to join me in the fun. Won't you come out to play at Rose of Sharon Jewelry's Plurk account.

Thanks to some wonderful new Facebook Fans, Rose of Sharon Jewelry now has a vanity Facebook address. Don't forget to bookmark http://www.facebook.com/rosjewelry and stop by often to see what's happening and to share your comments. You can also become Sharon's Facebook friend at http://www.facebook.com/roseofsharonjewelry. You may have some duplicate posts here but there is also a lot of fresh content and lots of jewelry talk.

The Rose of Sharon Jewelry Birthday Club Newsletter is on its way. Club members are recognized for having another birthday but instead of moaning about it - we celebrate it with free earrings.

The current Rose of Sharon Jewelry Birthday Club Newsletter can be read here.

If you would like to join the fun, you'll find a pretty pink sign up box in the right column.

Am looking forward to having you join in!

If you are a reader of my business series and have questions, leave them in the comments here (see link on left) and I'll respond to you next week when I return from vacation.

Is Etsy "peddling" false hopes for women? That's the question posed by Sara Mosle at DoubleX.com in her June 10th essay - Etsy.com Peddles a False Feminist Fantasy. I love a good controversy and this a real thought-provoker for the handmade community. So is this essay merely a smear job of Etsy or are there some valuable lessons to be learned?

As a new Etsy seller and online marketer of handmade jewelry, I'm one of millions of women around the world seeking financial security based on our hand-made efforts. I'm also a card-carrying feminist dedicated to supporting women.

Amelia McDonell-Parry of The Frisky.com also weighs in on the "female ghetto" aspect of craft-related careers in her discussion of this essay.

There are plenty  of jobs that are "feminine ghettos" where the majority of workers are women and the wages and benefits aren't equal to similar work in male dominated industries. Ever since our mothers started entering the work-force in large numbers, women have struggled for parity. Combine that with our significant domestic burdens and you’re looking at women who searching for creative economic solutions.

The ability to operate a home-based business between diaper-changes, Girl Scout meetings and bedtime stories has a tremendous appeal. You can set your own hours (finally have a few minutes after midnight - great get that new scarf posted in the store before you crash); work part-time (even though you may have a full-time "out of the home" job) to help support your family; or you always wanted to make dozens of handmade coasters (just like the ones you made for Mom in art class).

For the readers following my Starting a Handmade Business series, you know that I'm not a fan of the overly optimistic message "you too can be a craft millionaire" often found in the handmade community - including on Etsy. I believe that "pie-in-the-sky" (I'm running out of clichés here. Ha!) outlooks aren't as supportive as they appear on the surface.

I personally think that a portion of this controversy arises from the way society values creative endeavors and how we rank their worthiness. The word “crafter” isn’t nearly as socially worthy as “artist”. 

I'd love to have you read the two articles linked above (they'll open in a new browser tab/window) then return here to comment, share, rant or weep as you see fit. This blog is a great community to really discuss how we can work together to ensure that Etsy, ArtFire and the growing number of reseller-oriented sites aren't the only ones making money from our talents. Many handmade artists/crafters/designers (choose your favorite name) - but sadly not all - will be able to reach the financial goals. But as these articles warn, the road will certainly be longer and more winding than we were lead to believe.

Please forward and share this post to your friends within the handmade community. You'll find all the social networking links below to help you get the message out.

And don't forget installment #3 of my business series will continue the conversation on Are you an Entrepreneur? Have you taken some time to mull over the questions? Are you afraid to? Share your thoughts and we'll collectively hold your hand.

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Don't you just love sales and promotions? For June - Rose of Sharon Jewelry's artisan line at our web store is offering a free pair of Swarovski crystal earrings and free standard shipping with all handmade jewelry purchases. The earrings are valued at $25+ and free shipping saves you another $5. Who couldn't use an extra $30? Today's question is: What would you do with the $30 savings? You'll find the comment link in the left column.

I'd take the $30 and buy a new pair of summer sandals.

Color plays an important role in our daily lives and for handmade jewelry artists it is our foundation. If you've been making jewelry (or buying handmade jewelry), you are probably automatically drawn to certain colors and color combinations. Today I want to challenge you to explore colors outside of your comfort range.

As I look at my blooming garden, I can see literally thousands of ways Mother Nature paints with color. So grab your camera (or even your camera phone) and walk your neighborhood looking for color samples.

Print out your color inspiration pics and then sort out the ones you are immediately drawn to. These are probably colors within your normal comfort zone. Take these and set them aside for another day. Your challenge now is to work with the remaining picture's color schemes.

This week, sort through your beads (or take a trip to a local bead store) to find the colors in one or two of your challenge pictures. Seed beads come in thousands of colors so you could find exactly the right hue for under $2 a tube.

Working with color requires some thoughtful effort. I discovered a wonderful color resource for all artists at the papercrafting blog at Shimelle.com. June: A Month of Colour can help you explore color and your relationship with color. Learning about how you relate to colors can help you expand your color selections in new ways when creating or buying handmade jewelry.

Didn't know you have a color relationship? Everyone does  - but we don't usually think of it in those terms. Colors can make you feel happy, calm, sad or excited. I prefer clothing in gemstone colors. Why? Because they make me feel vibrant and alive.

Join the conversation on color! You can leave a comment by clicking the comment link in the left column. Tell us about your favorite color combination and how it makes you feel.