It's A Beautiful Day Today

Life is FULL of surprises each and every day. You just got to know where to look for them I guess. Sometimes we can just wake up and know that this day is going to be "Awesome." I walked out my front door this morning to a bright and sunny day. Leaves were falling off the tree and an old familiar breeze was in the air. It was the breeze of an autumn day. The days I remember as a child. It just opened my mind to memories of the past. Good memories!

 It's been such a long time since I've had a good memory that this one came as a surprise and it was wonderful. Instant smile on my face as I remember playing in the leaves as a kid. Laughing, kicking leaves all over the place. I couldn't stop now. I had to kick leaves! I'm 50 years old and I'm outside kicking leaves. Did I care? No way!! There's nothing wrong with that inner child coming out of you in the midst of the storms we face as an adult. I think sometimes it's a gift from God. A distraction of everyday life and the struggles we face.

Whatever it was, it restored my soul just a little bit. It picked up a piece of this broken heart and placed it where it should be. Little by little, I'm healing. Little by little, I'm gaining strength. As long as I move forward, I will continue to heal. Moving backwards is not an option anymore. It's gone, history, See ya, and goodbye!

So to celebrate falling leaves everywhere, let me share some of my handmade leaves and what I created with the leaves in mind. The leaves I used in the bracelet below were Czech beads. I want to make another one using mine but this is the idea at least.

Now don't those make you smile?
You can find those on my etsy store if you click here. https://www.etsy.com/listing/150458289/lampwork-bead-flower-blossoms-bracelet?ref=shop_home_active

Well hello! It's been such a long time....

I love to blog, really I do. I just can't seem to remember to do it often. I've been looking at my past posts and wondered what happened? I guess the simplest term would be, "Life." There really isn't any other excuse.
I am back on track and ready to rumble.
My first post of the year (haha it's November) would be to talk about handmade items. I've been having a lot of similar conversations with fellow beadmakers and jewelry designers. We are artists that are sick and tired of mass-produced items. It's frustrating when this is your only job right now and when bills can't be paid, it's also depressing. But a lot of that frustration can be changed. It's all in perspective. They say that success is 99% attitude and I'm starting to believe that.
I figured that we can never get rid of mass produced items so now we just have to learn ways to get around it. Here's some ideas....
1. Add artisian made to your listings. A lot of times customers will  put artisian in the search box.

2. Make your listing stand out. Use words that you would use in order to look for something.

3. Check out what other artists that have beads and jewelry on the same site. See how they word their products. Sometimes they put things in there that you would have never thought of.

4. Be creative in your description. I know that Etsy says you should tell a story about the item you made but sometimes that's hard to do. Let your piece speak to your heart and share that.

5. Keywords are important. List shape, colors, sizes, and everything else you can think of while looking at your work. Alot of people are looking for a certain color or shape so get those in there so they can find you!!

Here's some goodies for the night. Now tell "me" how would you describe it? Look at the shapes, the contrasting seed beads, the copper beads to tie it all together.....It's easy one you get the hang of it