My Bead Soup Revealed...Kinda

Here is a little teaser of the Bead Soup I sent to Jami Shipp from Celebrating Life, my BSBP Partner.  She should get it by Friday and she has sent mine too!!  I am so excited and nervous to see it and see what I can do with it.

More coming soon...

7 Simple Steps to Cheap and Easy International Shipping

Are you selling internationally?  No?  Well, let  me help you make that leap by showing you how cheap and easy it can be.  I have sold internationally for the past few years and, so far, it has been a very good thing.

Actually my first sale on Etsy (from someone I didn't know)was to a lady in Great Britain who bought a pair of my wire wrapped ruby earrings. 

Ruby and gold wire wrapped earrings

 I have sent jewelry to Canada, England and, just the other day, Germany where my cobolt earrings will soon be worn at an engagement party (which is going to be held on the sea coast of Albania)! 

Cobolt Blue and gold earrings

It gives me a special little thrill knowing that something I made will be travelling farther than I ever have and will be worn by someone in a different country.

So...let me demystify the international shipment a bit.  Now remember, I live in the US so this is just my experience from my perspective.  I have found that most people think shipping internationally is way too expensive.  Some of this is due to Paypal because you can only ship the more expensive ways through Paypal (ie: Global Express, Express Mail International).  If you go to USPS.com you will find good information and a MUCH cheaper way to send packages.

Here are 7 simple steps to shipping internationally:

1.  Go to USPS.com and rest your mouse over Ship a Package so the drop down menu displays.  Choose Compare Services

2.  Make sure you choose the International tab

3.  Scroll down and choose First Class Mail International by clicking calculate prices.

4.  Select the Destination and the shape of your shipment (mine are always packages which includes a box or a thick envelope.

 5.  Whoa...look at these prices!!

 6.  Don't worry, I told you this would be much cheaper right?  Click the First Class Mail International Options to see what I was talking about.

7.  Next, click on the Customs Forms and Extra Services button at the bottom right.  You can actually fill out and print the customs form online now.  You still have to go to the post office to pay and ship (unless you use a service like Stamps.com, I think you can actually pay and print shipping from there).

So that's it...not so scary is it?  Now get out there and try it, you might make additional sales by opening up your options to international shipping.

Good Luck!!

Custom Made Jewelry

I am about to ship another custom design I just finished.  I have been blessed to be able to work with some fabulous people who really know what they want in a piece of jewelry.  I love when someone contacts me and asks...can you make me a (enter type of jewelry) that is (enter color) with (enter bead types)? 


Custom made pearl and crystal bridal jewelry set

Sometimes they will describe it in words, other times they will send pictures of design elements they like.  Of course, it is up to me to interpret what they want into my own design (copying someone else's designs is a big no-no!).

Handmade Bridal Jewelry

For this set I made a few samples and sent pictures to the bride.  She picked the one she liked best.  Then I sent her a sample piece (about 3 inches of the bracelet so she could see if the colors worked with her dresses).  I am so glad I did that too because the purple crystals in the sample were not the right color.  I had added two additional crystals in other shades in the package that I sent to the bride and one of them worked perfectly.

Lately I have made several pieces worn by brides which makes it even more special.  It would be so great to be able meet each person and sit down for a cup of coffee and lots of beads in front of us to work on a design.  Somehow we seem to make it work through emails and Etsy convos though.