Fall Designs

I just finished this for my sis today - part of her fall collection.

I haven't oxidized the earrings yet - that's tomorrow!

I like the way the blue-ish grays and purples mix nicely with the blackened silver. Reminds of Fall as I look at it - cooler nights, autumn smells of apple cider and cinnamon - oh, that's nice!

The sleek chain with the baroque shaped pearls mixes things up and gives it a bit of an edgy look!

I hope she likes it!

Until Next Time,
Peace, Love and Pearls Baby!
Cheers,
~Shel~

New Trends

I just came across this article in the Open Forum that I'd like to pass on:

Trends: New Luxury

It's loaded with info on how the trend on luxury goods and services is shifting and how smaller businesses are taking new and innovative steps in capturing a broader clientele.

I found certain portions greatly beneficial to the "Pearl Buyer Representative" area of my business where I assist clients with shopping for and purchasing luxury pearl jewelry and accessories.

Click on over and check it out and see how you might be able to apply some of the suggestions to your business and possibly create new ways in which to assist your clients!

Until Next Time,

Peace, Love and Pearls Baby!!

Cheers,
~Shel~

Get Your Silver Jewelry Featured in Lark Books!

Make great silver jewelry? Have it featured in a Lark Book!

Call for Entries: 500 Silver Jewelry Designs

http://tiny.cc/hqn2j

Go check out the rules and regs and download an entry form now!

Good luck to all of you who design gorgeous silver jewelry.

(Wish my pics were up to par - 'cause I'd enter a couple things myself!)

Until Next time,

Peace, Love and Silver Baby!!

Cheers,

~Shel~

Creating,...

I've been really into creating this past week! Sadly, though, I'm only wanting to create what I want and not what I'm supposed to be creating - funny how that works, isn't it?! LOL!!

Anyway - I got a new daping/doming block this past week and have been loving life while "tap, tap, tapping" metal into shapes and creating fun things.

This has spawned a new line of jewelry I will be coming out with by the end of September - if not sooner. It's a personal/sentimental, spiritual line of jewelry with symbols, words and stones of meaning. Very simple yet fun and cool!

I'm really enjoying creating this type of jewelry because there's such a 'shift' in the world right now (and it's been happening for awhile now) and we all seem to feel the need to 'be connected' to something/someone, to share our hopes and dreams, goals, feelings, emotions and many other things and "put them out there" for the Universe/God to take and shape from dream into something solid.

I'll keep you posted and give you a sneak peak here over the weekend,....

I'm also getting ready to post some *FREE* jewelry making tutorials over at jewelrylessons.com - so for those of you wanting to do some creating of your own, go check things out. There's tons of tutorials on this site from many talented jewelry artists and so many of the tuts are *FREE*!

Right now I've got an article that was posted over at jewelrylessons.com about teaching jewelry classes with something 'more' - go check it out under the articles section.

Hope your day is filled w/love, health and happiness!!

Until next time,

Peace, Love and have fun creating beautiful things!

Cheers,

~Shel~

To Adorn,......

"Adornment is never anything except a reflection of the heart." ~CoCo Chanel~

Yes, the iconic CoCo Chanel and her pearls!

If you were to adorn yourself today to reflect your heart, what would YOU wear?

Until Next Time,
Peace, Love and Happy Adornment!
Cheers,
~Shel~

Our Top Picks for Who, What and Where!

We've been asked lately to give some tips on how to teach good jewelry classes, and then several of our clients have asked where and who to take classes from and what classes I would recommend - so today's blog is a list of the above. Now, I can't list all the classes I'd recommend because that's an almost endless list, but here's a good selection for starters!

First, here's an article we wrote for Rena Klingenberg's Home Jewelry Business Success website:

"Teach Jewelry Classes with Something Extra"

Rena's site, and her blog, are great tools for those in the hand-crafted jewelry business and our article gives those jewelry artists interested in teaching classes some great pointers to keep your students coming back for more and how to get them to refer you to others as well!

Now, for who, where and what - here's my top picks for some great classes from some great instructors - both online and in person!

For wire wrapping and bead stringing:

MiShel Designs (of course!) We give private jewelry lessons in our Glendale, AZ studio and we also teach at some bead shows, so just call 602-625-7299 for more information.

For just about any type of jewelry making, our friends over at Creative U in Carefree, AZ have a great line up. Call Creative U at 480-575-8500 for all their classes and info. They're a fun, very knowledgable bunch of gals!! Oh, and did I mention that they're lots of FUN!!

For Precious Metal Clay (PMC) our friend Kathy Hunter over at the Loft Art Studios in Scottsdale has you covered!! Kathy's classes are very informative and lots of fun and she'll definitely get your creative juices flowing. Plus, she's got lots of other instructors (and guest instructors too, who stop by her studio to teach) so check things out by visiting The Loft Studios and Gallery website for all her classes and info.

For super cool wire and metal jewelry Connie Fox has some of the best classes around. She's located in sunny San Diego and her website, Jatayu, has all the information on her classes. Plus, she has several free online tutorials and fabulous beads and supplies for sale, too!

Now - there's several instructors who are super great, but unfortunately I haven't gotten to take classes from them in person yet (notice I said, YET! - I only 'know them' via their books, DVD's or online tutorials), and they are:

One of the best books on the market (my opinion - hey, it's my blog!!) for beginning wire work is All Wired Up by Mark Lareau. Basically, it's the backbone for all you need to get started bending wire with very easy to follow instructions and illustrations!

Beaducation - Lisa Niven Kelly and the rest of her fabulous instructors such as Kris Silva, Lisa Claxton and more! Anything wire - chainmaille, stamping, bending, soldering, cold connections, weaving, etc. They have lots of free online tutorials as well as all the tools and supplies to get you started creating wonderful jewelry!

Then, there's Eni Oken's website for all, and I mean ALL, the jewelry making you could ask for! Go to Jewelry Lessons by Eni Oken and Friends to learn all sorts of wonderful things! This is a comprehensive website - filled to the brim with everything to help you create beautiful jewelry!

Sharilyn Miller - Fabulous jewelry instructor! Sharilyn's book Bead On A Wire (she has others, too!) is fantastic for learning basic and a bit more advanced wire techniques and she has several DVD tutorials available on her website too, from wire wrapped rings, tribal jewelry, rubber stamped jewelry and more. Go check it out!

Okay - I've got tons more info for you up my sleeves, but it's summer and my sleeves are short right now - so if you'd like more - just send me a message and I'll share whatever info I can with you!

Until next time,
Peace, Love and Happy Learning!!
Cheers,
~Shel~

And The Winners Are,...

Our give-a-way of Three (3) FREE pair of earrings for answering our jewelry question in our last post are:

Lisa C. of Flaggstaff, Arizona

Jackie R. of Casa Grande, Arizona

and

Marsha H. of Casa Grande, Arizona

All three won a pair of our 2009 "On The Vine" hand crafted sterling silver hoop earrings wire wrapped with small, freshwater cultured pearls in 'Tahitian Blues'.

Congratulations and stay tuned for out next give-a-way!

Until next time,
Peace, Love and FREE jewelry baby!!
Cheers,
~Shel~

Fall Jewelry

Okay - so I've read all sorts of articles, blogs, trend forecasts, etc. on what's hot and what's not this Fall 2009 season - but I'd really like to hear from all of you - our MiShel Designs Fans and customers (and anyone else out there who likes to wear pretty jewelry!).

So, give us some feedback...do you like big earrings, layered necklaces, lots of bracelets (before you have to cover your arms for winter) or do you like it all?

And, what colors (don't worry about trends now, folks!) truly get you in the fall mood or keep you thinking of cool fall nights, crisp colored leaves blowing in the wind and the smell of apple cider and cinnamon?

We're going to take everything you post and come up with some 'cool' designs for you this fall!

And, the first three (3) people to respond and post something will get a FREE - yep, I said FREE - pair of our latest "On the Vine" hoop earrings in some great Tahitian/Peacock colors!

So, start typing and get yourself decked out for FALL!

Until next time,
Peace, Love and "Fall"ing Pearls!!
Cheers,

~Shel~

Confused between Summer and Fall !

Okay - I've been up here in the mountains at my sis's cabin (the neighbor's actually - house sitting their house and doggies) in Nutrioso, Arizona for several weeks and have been loving the pine and aspen trees, cool breezes, 4th of July parade and fireworks, cookouts, late night 'barn games' the kids play and even the occasional spotting of the bear, wolf and mountain lion; it's the perfect back drop for fall (fall inspired designs, that is!). However, my brain seems to be thinking (feeling) that I'm "missing out on summer"! Is that strange - or what?!!

My subconscious is somehow longing for 'summer'. True summer. You know,...pool parties, picnics in the park, the smell of coppertone, fresh seafood, sunsets that don't come until after 8:00p.m., red ripe tomatoes from Illinois (the best!!), the sound of the waves crashing on the beach, warm sunlit days ('m getting those), baseball (I'm really not into baseball - unless the Diamond Backs are playing!) and all that summer stuff.

Even though I've barely used up half my spring/summer bead stash from the Tucson Gem and Mineral show this past February, my brain keeps going to those lovely faceted transluscent gemstones in light blues, pinks, misty greens, pale yellows and bright oranges! Maybe it's because I'm used to 115F degree temps in the summer, or going to the beach instead of the mountains, but, none-the-less, as a designer - it's time to get the "Fall Line" up and out!!

Fall is what I need to concetrate on becuase that's what designers's do in the spring and summer - they design for fall and winter,...and by the fall/winter (or before) they start designing for the spring and summer...I feel like a baby who has it's days and nights mixed up! LOL!!

But, even though I'm a bit 'confused' right now - I'm loving every minute of the cool summer breezes in the mountains, the clouds, the occasional rain and thunder, the friends and family I am getting to spend time with, and the cute, old-fashioned, little towns that are up here - it reminds me of home (you know, my home town of "Mayberry" as I refer to it!). And, I always loved my hometown best in the summer. Maybe that's why I'm thinking of summer gemstones and colors instead of fall ones.

Although,...fall was beautiful there too - with it's golden yellows, burnt oranges and soft reds with flecks of olive greens and light browns....ooh....I can see fall now!!

Maybe I just needed to visualize! And write,......

Okay - Until next time,

Peace, love and fall colored pearls!!

Cheers,

~Shell~

Please visit our MiShel Designs website.

And, you can find us on Etsy now, too!

Our Facebook page is here and we're on myspace too!

Happy Independence Day - USA !!!

Wishing everone in the USA a very happy and safe Independence Day!

I'm celebrating the 4th and a sending big THANK YOU to all those who made it possible - for with out you, we wouldn't be living the free lives we're living now.

Words are just not enough,.....

Until next time,

Peace, Love and Freedom!!