I'm REALLY trying to figure out my blog header....it's WAY too huge! lol...
I tried re-sizing it in paintbrush and other editing programs but this just seems to cut the resolution or quality of the image so that the letters turn out pixely...if you have any tips regarding this please feel free to drop me a message or comment....
Thanks!!!
Otherwise, please bare with me and my big, huge head...er .... ;P
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Giveaway by a friend!
My dear fellow Canadian friend Jaime of Bella-Bijou Jewellery is having a GIVEAWAY on her blog!!
I bought my first gorgeous piece from her back in 2008!
She's ÜBER talented and a real sweetie too!! :)
Please check out her blog and giveaway here:
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Etsy Front Page!
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Saturday, March 19, 2011
My little birthday boy!
I can't believe he's already 1!!!
Life is truly a gift!
Braedyn's first birthday cake!!
(hey...I never said I was a baker! hehe)
Singing happy birthday to him!
He just loved it!!
(his proud Papere beside him)
Eating his first cake...
Okay so his daddy let him have cake the day before...
but he still loves it! hehe
Cutie patootie!
His sister was happy to eat cake and ice cream too! :o)
My little princess!
Pictures of local beadwork and my beaded necklaces
Here is my new journal cover made by a local lady friend!
Her beadwork is absolutely beautiful!
Don't forget to support your local talent!
I love grabbing my journal when I go to write in it!
It's super gorgeous!
Here are some pictures of what I worked on this week:
Double tier beaded white freshwater pearl necklace with handmade wire wrapped flower pendant.
There is nothing plastic or acrylic about these pieces...
Yummy yellow jade beaded necklace with a few outstanding red embellishes:
Dark pink/fushia mountain jade beaded necklace with a few bright yellow embellishes:
Pretty black beaded necklace with amazonite blue carved leaf pendant.
Bad picture but I'll put up some new ones when I get a minute:
Friday, March 18, 2011
New work: beaded necklaces!!
Allo mes amies!
I'm hailing my French ancestors today! ;P
So I finally got some beading wire in the mail! I've been waiting FOREVER for that stuff! And then I kinda went on a beading frenzy, hehehe! I made a few necklaces that are very, very colourful and a few others that are a bit more toned down but still crazy full of glamour. Or so I think.
I do miss wire wrapping though. My first necklaces were wire wrapped and I love the actual process that goes into it and how relaxing it is. I will definitely be coming back to that whenever my new wire gets in! One thing I have been obviously annoyed with about is the shipping times of ordering supplies. I am learning quite fast that I need to order in bulk and not just 10 feet here or 30 feet there. And that I need to do my own oxidizing. I will be doing some of this on the weekend. I love the antique-ish look of silver metal! It's so warm and inviting!!
I don't really know what I'll be creating this weekend...the past few weeks has been TRÈS stressful but now I can hopefully tone down that stress a bit since I finally have some answers to some serious life issues (that's always nice!). So I may feel like earrings or more necklaces....oh, but can't forget about bracelets...hmmm....oh, this is going to be fun!!
And did I mention that spring has FINALLY arrived up here in the good ol' North??!!!!!! There is still a TONNE of snow out there but the temperatures are finally creeping and staying within single digits!!! I am sooooooo flippin' happy!!!!!! You can tell spring is arriving finally when people are smiling once again...it's very nice to see after months of frowning faces... heheheh
I will be posting pictures later!
And working on my flickr page!
Bonjour, good day friends!
xoxo
Vita
I'm hailing my French ancestors today! ;P
So I finally got some beading wire in the mail! I've been waiting FOREVER for that stuff! And then I kinda went on a beading frenzy, hehehe! I made a few necklaces that are very, very colourful and a few others that are a bit more toned down but still crazy full of glamour. Or so I think.
I do miss wire wrapping though. My first necklaces were wire wrapped and I love the actual process that goes into it and how relaxing it is. I will definitely be coming back to that whenever my new wire gets in! One thing I have been obviously annoyed with about is the shipping times of ordering supplies. I am learning quite fast that I need to order in bulk and not just 10 feet here or 30 feet there. And that I need to do my own oxidizing. I will be doing some of this on the weekend. I love the antique-ish look of silver metal! It's so warm and inviting!!
I don't really know what I'll be creating this weekend...the past few weeks has been TRÈS stressful but now I can hopefully tone down that stress a bit since I finally have some answers to some serious life issues (that's always nice!). So I may feel like earrings or more necklaces....oh, but can't forget about bracelets...hmmm....oh, this is going to be fun!!
And did I mention that spring has FINALLY arrived up here in the good ol' North??!!!!!! There is still a TONNE of snow out there but the temperatures are finally creeping and staying within single digits!!! I am sooooooo flippin' happy!!!!!! You can tell spring is arriving finally when people are smiling once again...it's very nice to see after months of frowning faces... heheheh
I will be posting pictures later!
And working on my flickr page!
Bonjour, good day friends!
xoxo
Vita
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Red Wire Wrapped Necklace & a new night's work
I've been working on this necklace this week...
and I'm still not sure about her.
I think I need some extra bonding time. ;P
Also, here is what I'm working on tonight!
My little helper peaking in! :)
Hope you all have a great weekend!
It's a long one for me! YIPPEEE!
xoxo
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Business talk
So let's talk about business, shall we? Seeing as this is my new business, and all. I have so many questions, so much to learn and I'm learning new things as each day passes.
Things I've learned so far (which can also be looked at as my current business plan):
1) TIME: Having your own business can be absolutely time-consuming from the actual making of your product to creating a variety of websites for those products, to editing pictures, to re-taking and re-editing of pictures, to thinking and typing out descriptions, to doing research, to re-evaluating current content for SEO issues and other related web searching criteria (don't ask...), to actually being relevant and interesting with all those heap-loads of online content that you spew into the webular world. Finding time for any or ALL such aforementioned activities can seem quite daunting at times....trust me...I just went through a few weeks of being in shock! haha! But I'm slowly figuring out ways to weed out the bad content and commit more to the good stuff (or so I'm hoping I've made a good distinction between the two!!).
2) ADVERTISING: Advertising yourself and your business in an effective and interesting way is a HUGE part to getting your business out there...and you really cannot separate the two (yourself & your business). You come as a whole package. People want to see that. They want to see more. And this makes the advertising part of it WAYYYY tougher then making the actual items and setting up shop! It's darn tough! Very, very time-consuming!! I've been doing A LOT of research about different kinds of ways to do this and have found you really just have to take things with a grain of salt, experiment with different things and do what works best for you and whatever suits your needs and your business' needs. I may go into specifically what I've tried on a later post...but I want to give myself more time to experiment. And I personally think that doing zero in this category will NOT be helpful, unless you have a horseshoe up your butt! :P
3) SPAM: People do not like spam. I'm sure it's to post links to your work occasionally or such but I do think there is a fine line...and right now I'm still finding that line. Using all these media outlets can be tricky and I don't doubt that it's all trial and error. Current stage for me: trial and many errors! hahah
4) PRICING: Good ol' pricing. Well...I'm still figuring out pricing...but I kind of expected this. However, I'm feeling left out in a sense that may be one of those rare(?) Etsy shops who opens up with higher than average prices (you usually hear about those who start off pricing too low)...I'm not sure about this all just yet but I initially did prepare ahead of time and used a popular pricing spreadsheet for starting out...after I first listed, I got some friendly & experienced advice (thank you!!! you know who you are!) and kinda threw that out the door and ended up reducing my prices somewhat. And then again after that and then another time just recently actually. I am still obviously figuring this whole pricing thing out but I imagine that this is a totally normal, expected and understandable task when just starting out. I do hope that I'm not being too prideful or stubborn about this and my work! But I imagine I'll figure that out eventually too.
5) LOCALIZE: I am realizing that not everyone is online and on the internet or Etsy. I really need to get myself more out there in my community and amongst my community members and try to get local people interested in my product. I'm slowly increasing this aspect of my business and hoping that this summer, a lot more people will know about my little business! I've given some gifts away to family and friends and also donated to one event and I will definitely keep this up. One thing is for certain, I'll happily be wearing & showing off my necklaces around town, come spring & summer! :)
6) DON'T QUIT: If you really want to make a small business work, you cannot give up. Even if you do it part-time at first, and that's all you can handle for now (or because that pesky day job & financial obligations get in the way), then that's okay. It's an incredible learning process and one that I've felt I've always wanted to experience! If you're forced to make it your day job, don't give up hope. Put yourself out there. That, to some, is the scariest part. But you are worthy. Give yourself a push...a challenge.
So I guess that ends my little pep-talk to myself! hahh! Because honestly, it helped me to set some things straight in my head, say things out loud and maybe actually set some goals for myself and my new, little business. Thanks for being apart of my process and for hearing all about my new learnings and ideas! I'm sure they're not new, but they are definitely new to me! :)
Until next time, with perhaps some pretty pictures!! I think ya'll deserve that after sitting through this long post, ha ha!
xoxo
Vita
Things I've learned so far (which can also be looked at as my current business plan):
1) TIME: Having your own business can be absolutely time-consuming from the actual making of your product to creating a variety of websites for those products, to editing pictures, to re-taking and re-editing of pictures, to thinking and typing out descriptions, to doing research, to re-evaluating current content for SEO issues and other related web searching criteria (don't ask...), to actually being relevant and interesting with all those heap-loads of online content that you spew into the webular world. Finding time for any or ALL such aforementioned activities can seem quite daunting at times....trust me...I just went through a few weeks of being in shock! haha! But I'm slowly figuring out ways to weed out the bad content and commit more to the good stuff (or so I'm hoping I've made a good distinction between the two!!).
2) ADVERTISING: Advertising yourself and your business in an effective and interesting way is a HUGE part to getting your business out there...and you really cannot separate the two (yourself & your business). You come as a whole package. People want to see that. They want to see more. And this makes the advertising part of it WAYYYY tougher then making the actual items and setting up shop! It's darn tough! Very, very time-consuming!! I've been doing A LOT of research about different kinds of ways to do this and have found you really just have to take things with a grain of salt, experiment with different things and do what works best for you and whatever suits your needs and your business' needs. I may go into specifically what I've tried on a later post...but I want to give myself more time to experiment. And I personally think that doing zero in this category will NOT be helpful, unless you have a horseshoe up your butt! :P
3) SPAM: People do not like spam. I'm sure it's to post links to your work occasionally or such but I do think there is a fine line...and right now I'm still finding that line. Using all these media outlets can be tricky and I don't doubt that it's all trial and error. Current stage for me: trial and many errors! hahah
4) PRICING: Good ol' pricing. Well...I'm still figuring out pricing...but I kind of expected this. However, I'm feeling left out in a sense that may be one of those rare(?) Etsy shops who opens up with higher than average prices (you usually hear about those who start off pricing too low)...I'm not sure about this all just yet but I initially did prepare ahead of time and used a popular pricing spreadsheet for starting out...after I first listed, I got some friendly & experienced advice (thank you!!! you know who you are!) and kinda threw that out the door and ended up reducing my prices somewhat. And then again after that and then another time just recently actually. I am still obviously figuring this whole pricing thing out but I imagine that this is a totally normal, expected and understandable task when just starting out. I do hope that I'm not being too prideful or stubborn about this and my work! But I imagine I'll figure that out eventually too.
5) LOCALIZE: I am realizing that not everyone is online and on the internet or Etsy. I really need to get myself more out there in my community and amongst my community members and try to get local people interested in my product. I'm slowly increasing this aspect of my business and hoping that this summer, a lot more people will know about my little business! I've given some gifts away to family and friends and also donated to one event and I will definitely keep this up. One thing is for certain, I'll happily be wearing & showing off my necklaces around town, come spring & summer! :)
6) DON'T QUIT: If you really want to make a small business work, you cannot give up. Even if you do it part-time at first, and that's all you can handle for now (or because that pesky day job & financial obligations get in the way), then that's okay. It's an incredible learning process and one that I've felt I've always wanted to experience! If you're forced to make it your day job, don't give up hope. Put yourself out there. That, to some, is the scariest part. But you are worthy. Give yourself a push...a challenge.
So I guess that ends my little pep-talk to myself! hahh! Because honestly, it helped me to set some things straight in my head, say things out loud and maybe actually set some goals for myself and my new, little business. Thanks for being apart of my process and for hearing all about my new learnings and ideas! I'm sure they're not new, but they are definitely new to me! :)
Until next time, with perhaps some pretty pictures!! I think ya'll deserve that after sitting through this long post, ha ha!
xoxo
Vita
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Still here
Well I'm still here but am feeling a little bit overwhelmed by life at the moment. I may need some time to catch my breathe. In the meantime, may I just say that I am the luckiest mom ever! My 4 year old girl just participated in her first-ever skating event and she did such a FANTASTIC job! And my baby boy turns 1 in a week!! And he's ****this**** close to walking!!!! GAH!
*sniffle sniff*
Where does the time go?!
I hope your lives are filling your hearts up at the moment too.
xo
Vita
*sniffle sniff*
Where does the time go?!
I hope your lives are filling your hearts up at the moment too.
xo
Vita
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Welcome to CrashingBison!
WELCOME to my fresh new blog, CrashingBison!!
This blog is named aptly after my newly opened jewelry store, CrashingBison, in which I make unique, handmade wire wrapped & gemstone beaded jewelry!
If you're not familiar with me or my previous blog, here is a little bit (more) about me:
I am a full-time working mom in the far Canadian North. I have two young, wonderful children, a fantastic, supportive husband and a special love affair with jewelry. Since having kids, I have found that I've become quite the artsy type...this was after 27 or so years of never being or thinking I was the artsy type, AT ALL. By trade, I'm a scientist. The total analytical & methodological thinking type. It must have been the hormones or just the growing up part of being a mom that made me "see the light". It's like I've re-discovered a new self-worth and also found out, after all these years of thinking it was critical, that a career or a regular day job is really not the "Be-All, End-All" in life.
Basically, this creative side took me over when I finally became a mom, 4 and a half years ago with the birth of my baby girl, Brooklyn. Since becoming a mommy (which has proved to be the best job a lady can truly ask for) and finding this new side to me, I've lovingly discovered an addiction to jewelry and to Etsy. Then came the addiction to painting & drawing and now I'm in love with designing and creating jewelry. I sound like I'm taking this lightly. But really, it's been a process over many years and I only see that now. In all honesty, I'm really not sure where this new journey will take me but I'm happy to ride along with what I feel is fun, good and fits right in with my soul. And I hope you decide to come along for the ride with me....
About my work and current pieces:
This blog is named aptly after my newly opened jewelry store, CrashingBison, in which I make unique, handmade wire wrapped & gemstone beaded jewelry!
If you're not familiar with me or my previous blog, here is a little bit (more) about me:
I am a full-time working mom in the far Canadian North. I have two young, wonderful children, a fantastic, supportive husband and a special love affair with jewelry. Since having kids, I have found that I've become quite the artsy type...this was after 27 or so years of never being or thinking I was the artsy type, AT ALL. By trade, I'm a scientist. The total analytical & methodological thinking type. It must have been the hormones or just the growing up part of being a mom that made me "see the light". It's like I've re-discovered a new self-worth and also found out, after all these years of thinking it was critical, that a career or a regular day job is really not the "Be-All, End-All" in life.
Basically, this creative side took me over when I finally became a mom, 4 and a half years ago with the birth of my baby girl, Brooklyn. Since becoming a mommy (which has proved to be the best job a lady can truly ask for) and finding this new side to me, I've lovingly discovered an addiction to jewelry and to Etsy. Then came the addiction to painting & drawing and now I'm in love with designing and creating jewelry. I sound like I'm taking this lightly. But really, it's been a process over many years and I only see that now. In all honesty, I'm really not sure where this new journey will take me but I'm happy to ride along with what I feel is fun, good and fits right in with my soul. And I hope you decide to come along for the ride with me....
Because it's like I've seen a new dawn...
A new day amongst the thick tree-tops.
About my work and current pieces:
I absolutely LOVE color and classic styles with hints of femininity...or whole chunks! My pieces are mostly limited edition or one of a kind (OOAK). And each and every one of them are made with Color, Light & Love!
So stay tuned because I've got more to come!
♥♥♥
Vita
So stay tuned because I've got more to come!
♥♥♥
Vita
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