Hot Off the Bench

Here are my latest creations, all of which have been listed in my Etsy shop. I am trying to break through my normal boundaries when it comes to color. This is one of the hardest things for me when it comes to creating jewelry. I tend to be very "monochrome", even in my own wardrobe. I wear lots of black, brown and neutrals. What's funny is I can remember being this way as a child. I remember my mom taking me shopping for school clothes when I was in elementary school and even way back then I had "issues" with color. If she picked out a blue pair of pants, then I had to have a blue top that matched the pants EXACTLY. There could be no difference in the shade of the color...and of course, it had to be a blue top. It couldn't be pink or red or some other color (well, except for white because white matches with everything!). Weird, huh?

Everything But the Kitchen Sink - multi stone bracelet

Hot Fudge Sundae - Magnesite, fossil bead, ceramic and sterling silver bracelet

After Midnight - multi stone memory wire bracelet

Wednesday Whispers

Handcrafted Jewelry Giveaway

Shelly's Stuff is having a handcrafted jewelry giveaway on Facebook. Click this link for all the details. Entry is easy so don't pass up on the chance to win this great pair of earrings! Deadline for entering is 11:59 pm EST on Sunday, 05/02/10.

Str8 Jab Photo Shoot

This past weekend Dave and I went over to Florida's west coast to visit family. We had a great weekend and did such a wide mix of things (we threw darts at a pub, went to the rodeo, got tattoos...there will be a whole post about that, and did a photo shoot for Str8 Jab). We are so happy with the way the photos turned out and were finally able to post product pics on the website. Thanks to Janis, Bob and Erik for being our models. I also found out Dave has another talent...he's great with the camera. He was so good at setting up the shots! We came up with lots of ideas for the next shoot and I'm very excited about how things are going. The website still needs work, but since we're doing it all ourselves, I am pleased with it. I've found that the Go Daddy templates are not nearly as easy to work with as they would have you believe. I've felt very limited in where I can place items on the site and there just isn't enough flexibility. I'm going to be exploring the option of building the site with Wordpress and then transferring that to Go Daddy. I've heard that Wordpress works more like a blog (which I like) and I've seen some sites that people have built with it. We've talked about having someone build the site for us, but we're just not ready to invest that kind of money until we start seeing a little more cash flow. We're doing a lot of social networking (check us out on Facebook and Twitter) and trying to build up our fan base. I'm hoping to start a Myspace page this weekend. We have learned a lot about screen printing and the apparel business after going through this first run of shirts. We are discussing what direction we want to go in for the next run. We know we want to add additional colors as option for the shirts. We'd also eventually like to do beanies, hats and hoodies. We're hoping to have some of these additional items in production by the end of April. Once we have those, we are going to select a couple of mixed martial arts events to set up a booth at. For now, we are going to stick with some smaller, non mma events where the vendor fees and the competition are also smaller! I would love to hear from y'all...opinions, comments, suggestions, questions, etc! Doesn't matter if you're a fan of MMA or not as I know Bloggerland has many talented and creative people. Please feel free to contact me through this blog (comments are ALWAYS welcome and appreciated), via email at info@str8jab.com, or on our Facebook fan page for Str8 Jab (click here). I look forward to hearing from you!

PS...for those of you waiting for the follow up to the copper etchings I did...I still haven't gotten around to oxidizing and polishing those pieces yet! Thought I was going to have time to do it last week before we went away for the weekend, but that didn't quite work out. Maybe tonight...

Wednesday Whispers

Hot Off the Bench

Hot off the bench and recently listed in my Etsy shop! Silver Leaf Agate & Oxidized Sterling Silver Earrings

Copper Heart Necklace

Bronze Freshwater Pearls and Copper Earrings

Ceramic and Bali Sterling Silver Bracelet

Botswana Agate and Sterling Silver Earrings

Chic Riders

I recently joined the Florida chapter of the Chic Riders. Chic Riders is an all female motorcycle organization that was started by Jessica Maine, one of the first female stunters to make it big in the motorcycle industry. I kind of stumbled upon the whole thing by accident through myspace (click here to check out my page). I was searching for other sportbike riders in South Florida in the hopes that Dave and I would be able to find some people to ride with. We are always looking for others to ride with, regardless of what kind of bike they ride. For whatever reason, its hard to find people who enjoy the same kind of ride we do. While I don't want to stereotype any group, many sportbike riders are younger than us and want to do 120mph everywhere and all the time, and many Harley/cruiser riders want to do 5mph under the speed limit. Dave and I are kind of a mix of both. We really enjoy long rides...like putting time in the seat. We don't just wash our bikes and then show up to bike night and park 'em. When we ride, we usually do about 5-10mph above the speed limit, and are known to occasionally twist the throttle until the speedometer is reaching 130mph, but that's just when the situation is right! In any case, while I was looking for some other riders to possibly hook up with for some group rides, I found Jessica's page. I liked the Chic Riders message and what they were about, and thought this might be a good way to make some of the connections we were looking for. I haven't met any of the other ladies in person yet, but will soon. On Sunday, 11/15 there is a ladies only motorcycle run departing from different parts of the state and meeting up in the middle (Ft. Pierce) for lunch. The run is actually being organized by another group, but many of the Chic Riders will be participating. Dave will have to sit this one out, but I'm hoping to meet some women whose husbands/boyfriends also ride. I'll definitely be posting about the experience!

Wednesday Whispers

eBay Follow Up

As I posted previously, I was going to give eBay a shot since they offer 5 free listings every 30 days. Well, only one of the five items I listed was bid on. Unfortunately, there was no wild bidding war as I had hoped, and the item sold for the opening bid amount. I started the opening bids very low...much less than what the items would have retailed for...in hopes of drawing in some bidders. Needless to say my profit margin was small....very small! I have mixed feelings about the experience. On the one hand, it wasn't a total loss...I sold an item and was able to send the winning bidder my other site information. On the other hand, four of the items didn't sell, and I'm not sure I can get the exposure I am looking for by only listing 5 items every 30 days (and I just don't want to invest the additional money to list more items in the hope of drawing bidders in). eBay has the biggest audience, but the competition is unbelievable. So, I'm on the fence. Maybe with Christmas approaching, I'll have a better shot!!!

Giving e-Bay a Try

I've decided to give e-Bay a try. They are offering 5 free listings (ok, they're not really free, but pretty close!) every 30 days so what's there to lose? I see many people who have been very successful and figured I may as well throw my hat in the ring. I've sold a few items on there before, but have mostly been a buyer. If anything, I'm just hoping for a little more exposure and I know e-Bay has one of the biggest audiences. Unfortunately, they don't allow you to post links to other venues you are selling on, which to me is kind of surprising since even the handcrafted only sites allow you to do that. Do they really think they are going to lose that much business to the other sites? My plan is to include my business card that shows my other links with any items that sell (and hopefully they do). Maybe it will result in another sale, maybe not, but it's worth a try. So, I'll keep my fingers crossed and see how it goes. If you want to check out my listings, you can use the advanced search and look for seller's ID shellysinc.

On the Bench

Here's what is currently on my bench...

The two pair of brass earrings need to be oxidized, then tumble polished. I'm just waiting to have a few more pieces that also need to be oxidized. I prefer to do several pieces at a time. The large, clear faceted glass beads are going to be paired with smaller Swarovski crystal bicones for a goes-with-anything necklace...kind of Wilma Flinstone style! Lastly, the hair on hide cross pendant is waiting to be matched up with some stones. I cut the pendant from hide scraps myself...not the easiest project, but I like how it turned out. I'm think it would go well with some white magnesite rounds beads. The ones in my inventory have a lot of brown veining in them which I think will complement the color of the hide. Notice the silver rings to the right of the cross...still waiting for me to figure out exactly what I'm going to do with them. I have a couple of ideas...maybe tomorrow!