Nadine's Wedding

This was my first wedding jewelry order for 2013, but I was also pretty swamped with selling lots of beaded and chain ID badge lanyards, for the first few months of the year. And doing my business taxes also took up a lot of time... Lesson learned... Don't leave all the bookkeeping until a month before taxes are to be filed, but keep up with everything all through the year!!  LOL

Ok, so the following is Nadine's wedding. Nadine contacted me from New Zealand, a first for me as far as international bridal jewelry orders go. And I was thrilled to help her out! After some discussion, we decided on Comet Argent Swarovski crystals (clear on one side and silver on the other side) and Mystic Black and Dark Lapis Blue Swarovski pearls.  I also added an extension chain with pearl and crystal dangle for each bracelet.  Nadine asked me to make 4 sets for her bridesmaids.

I am hoping to hear back from her soon to hear how her wedding went, and to find out how her bridesmaids liked their jewelry and also to get some wedding pictures to post on here!  :)

Shanna's Wedding

So I created the wedding jewelry for a beautiful Montana girl named Shayla, last year, and you can see that post here...
Shayla's Wedding Jewelry

Well Shayla's mom, Kris Schmitz, contacted me this year and said that her other daughter, Shanna, is now getting married, and asked if I would create the wedding jewelry for her bridal party. I gladly accepted!!

The most difficult part of this order was determining the right colors, as Shanna wanted a mint green pearl, and two shades of orange, like a coral, or lighter orange. I was a little worried at first, not knowing if I would be able to find the right shades of orange and mint green that she wanted. So I looked through my stash of pearls and I did have some of these pearls and then ordered more in different sizes. We ended up using all of the colors of pearls shown below, except for the really bright orange, shown in the upper corner in both pics below.



And then, she wanted some pearl studs for her earrings. And for pearl stud earrings, the best kind of pearl to use is a half drilled pearl with a sterling silver post that has a small peg sticking out of the base, for the half drilled pearl to nicely fit in, along with some strong jewelry glue. Well, fortunately, after doing some searching online, I actually found a shop in the US that had these half drilled mint green pearls, and I didn't have to purchase a minimum of 1000 pearls!! I must admit I lucked out on that scenario.

So here are some designs I put together for the bridesmaids and for the mothers of the bride and groom... First up is the 3-strand pearl bracelet, that Shanna chose for her mom, the groom's mom, and Shayla, her matron of honor, to wear.

Shanna wanted a similar 3-strand bracelet for herself, but with Swarovski white pearls and mint green pearls combined. Wow, it turned out so pretty that I may just make one for myself!! Lol

Post pearl studs with mint glass half-drilled pearls, for all members of the bridal party, including the bride... Soooo cute!!

And here is the necklace that Shanna chose: a 4-strand pearl necklace made with all white Swarovski pearls, in 4mm, 6mm, and 8mm pearls... I love it!! So elegant!!

 The back side of the bride's necklace. I used sterling silver 4-to-1 connectors and then an extender chain for adjusting or for a dangle in the back.

And then here are pictures of the bridesmaids' necklace, a 3-strand pearl necklace with the same colors of glass pearls used in the bracelets shown above...

For the flower girls, Shayla wanted a similar bracelet, but with just two strands and smaller sizes of pearls. So here is a pic of the one of the two flower girl bracelets...

And here are the finished jewelry sets in their chocolate brown gift boxes, ready to be shipped out to Shanna! :-)

Memorial Day Etsy Finds

It's been awhile since I have posted a blog so I thought I would do something a little different and post a Memorial Day Etsy Treasury, to include those Etsy sellers that have some pretty remarkable items on sale in rememberance of this special day coming up...

'Memorial Day Etsy Finds' by AWRdesigns

A variety of Etsy finds with a Memorial Day theme... Enjoy! And Happy Memorial Day everyone!! :-)

Patriotic 4th of July M... SewMuchtoSell $12	Camo, "My Daddy Se... angelabrice $7.99	Vintage Memorial Day Po... PetitePaperie $2.95	Folding the Flag a Memo... waterandcolor $20
Memorial Day or 4th of ... RoxterDesigns $18	MEMORIAL DAY Star Spang... PunkalunkPrin... $14.95	Home of the Brave Patri... PrettyPenguin... $17.99	Patriotic Bracelet Memo... LucidDreamsJe... $23
Memorial Day Sugar Cook... pfconfections $16	Memorial Day, July 4th,... ShayEliseBout... $9.25	Stained Glass Patriotic... GlassPizazz $40	American Girl Bow Flip ... DarlingLittle... $21.95
Stars and Stripes Patri... MontysWreaths $67	Ruffle Bloomer TuTu Ski... HottieTottieG... $55	Rustic Reclaimed Wood A... SoPurdyCreati... $35	Patriotic Necklace, Red... LucidDreamsJe... $24

Treasury tool by StylishHome.

Tracey Hotze Wedding Day Pictures

First and foremost, I must thank Tracey Hotze, a bridal customer who found me through my Etsy online jewelry shop!! I feel blessed and honored to have been asked to design and create her bridal party jewelry for one of the biggest bridal parties I have ever worked!!  We were in constant contact from Day 1 when she first emailed me after finding a bridal jewelry set I had listed in my Etsy shop. She sent me pictures of dresses and specifics of what she was looking for in her wedding jewelry as far as colors, designs, etc. She had 8 bridesmaids, 3 usherettes, 2 bridal assistants, 1 jr. bridesmaids, 1 flower girl, 3 program girls, mothers of the bride and groom, and for herself!!  Huge wedding party!!!  LOL  But I was thrilled to take on this big bridal order for Tracey!!

Before showing pics of the wedding day, I want to list previous links to the other blog posts that I wrote about during the entire process of creating her custom bridal jewelry.  To read more details and see more pictures of my work in progress, please see the following links:

To see the initial posts, from the design process on to the final products, please see the following posts:

Bridal Order for Tracey - Part 4 (more pictures and details of the jewelry for the jr. bridesmaid, flower girl, programs girls, and the mother of the bride V-shape double-strand pearl, cross weave stitched necklace)

Bridal Order for Tracey - Part 3 (designs of jr. bridesmaid, flower girl, program girls, and mother of the bride sets)

Bridal Order for Tracey - Part 2 (design of bride's set)

Bridal Order for Tracey - Part 1 (intro and design of bridesmaids and usherettes sets)

And here are the pictures that Tracey just recently sent to me.  Photographs courtesy of Overbeck Photography, www.OverbeckPhotography.com

 

Looks like Tracey had a beautiful wedding and I feel honored and blessed to have been able to create the handmade jewelry that her entire bridal party wore to help make her special day that much more special!!!  :)

Thanks again, Tracy, for choosing me to design and create your jewelry!!  I hope you and your friends and family will be able to wear them again and they they will last a lifetime!!  :)