AWR Designs: Flower Girl Jewelry Sets

AWR Designs: Flower Girl Jewelry Sets: So, this year, I have been getting lots of sales for flower girl sets, and have therefore, created more and more listings based on cus...

Flower Girl Jewelry Sets

So, this year, I have been getting lots of sales for flower girl sets, and have therefore, created more and more listings based on customer requests for certain colors of crystals and pearls. I now have over 25 flower girl listings in my AWRDesigns Etsy shop!  My AWRDesigns Etsy shop

Most of my flower girl sets come with a necklace and bracelet in the length you choose (I provide a size chart for various age ranges in each description), and each bracelet and necklace come with an extension chain with pearl dangle attached at the end. I use high quality silver (or gold) plated heart shaped lobster clasps and very secure crimps and wire guardians (which help protect the wire from being rubbed against the clasps). I use high quality professional beading wire - 49 count (which is the highest count available, and also gives a great flexible, yet durable drape to it). Most of my flower girl jewelry sets also come with a pair of pearl post stud earrings (using 925 sterling silver or 14k gold filled posts and backs), but I can change them to pearl dangles, or even clip-on earrings. I also have some jewelry sets with just the necklace and bracelet (no earrings).  Click here to see all of my flower girl jewelry sets!

I have these jewelry sets in many pearl and crystal colors and color combinations. There's a set for just the plain clear crystals with white or ivory pearls, sets made with just white or ivory pearls, and then there are sets with pearls and crystals in various colors, such as blue crystals, red crystals, fuchsia crystals, purple crystals, brown crystals, etc. I can also make sets with silver or gold clasps and chains. 

And don't worry, if I don't have the colors you are looking for, I'm sure I can easily make a set in the custom colors that you need! Please just ask me. You can contact me through my blog here or by leaving a comment or you can easily contact me about a certain item in my Etsy shop by clicking on the "Contact seller" when you are on the page for the listing you are interested in. I welcome custom orders of all kinds! :-)

My Growing Handmade Business

So it's been an interesting year so far. Since I have not posted much this year, I am going to TRY to write a quick summary of the last year of my jewelry business... 

So, as most of you know, I started my Etsy shop, AWRDesigns, back in May 2011. I started out selling jewelry that I made with Swarovski crystals and pearls, as I love the Swarovski brand and their quality jewelry pieces. So I had a few sales for some of my pearl and crystal barrettes, but it wasn't until 2012 when I began receiving lots of sales, especially several large custom orders for wedding/bridal jewelry. And I was consistently busy, mainly because I had months to work on these big orders, and I was also working full time as an engineer. I thought I was busy then! Lol.

Well, my sales continued throughout the year and I eventually added more items, like bead stitched bracelets and necklaces, along with some Alabama and Auburn jewelry. I also added some beaded bookmarks and some owl necklaces, and some of all of these items sold.

I began getting requests from coworkers at my full time job, for beaded and chain lanyards, so I began adding several different types and colors of beaded lanyards and silver chain lanyards to my AWRDesigns shop. I was getting pretty good sales for a part time business, and it was working well. But I also realized that I needed to do something to my shop in order to market to the right customers. I really enjoyed designing and creating bridal jewelry... making jewelry for big bridal parties - for the brides, bridesmaids, flower girls, mothers of the bride and groom, etc. and I still do. I enjoy working closely with brides to help them pick out customized jewelry in their wedding colors for their bridal party members.

But my lanyards were going to a completely different target customer, so in November 2013, I opened up my 2nd Etsy shop, TheLanyardNecklace, and moved all of my beaded and chain lanyards, and my sports team lanyards, over to my new shop. This turned out to be a very wise business decision. I am now focusing on two completely different target customers using my 2 shops, and I have been consistent with getting sales in both shops ever since this second shop opening. There have been consecutive months throughout the summer where I would get 3-5 sales every day (both shops combined). It's almost been too much for me to handle.

I was laid off from my full time job in April this year, and even though my Etsy shop sales were better than ever, I knew that I was still not bringing in the amount of profit that I could live off of, not even comfortably, not with the high insurance premiums for those who are self employed, along with all of the other bills and debts I have. So I finally got another full time engineering job in June 2014. I love this new job, but I also love my jewelry businesses. I don't have much of a social life! Lol. But for now, that's ok, as I am very happy with my life. I do have a goal to get out of this small 1-bedroom apartment, as my beads and jewelry supplies and packaging supplies are all over the apartment! Lol! So I think that in a year or so, I will be out of debt, can look at purchasing a house, and then we'll see what happens. :-)

So check out my two Etsy shops to see what all I have listed now! :-)

http://www.AWRdesigns.Etsy.com

http://www.TheLanyardNecklace.Etsy.com

Shanna's Wedding Jewelry Part II - The Final Wedding Day Pictures

Shanna and Alex Tubbs

This post has been a long time coming!  But no more excuses.  It's here now.  I have several pictures I want to share of the handmade wedding jewelry I made for one of my most favorite bridal customers, Kris Schmitz. She's actually the mother of the bride, but this was the second time she contacted me, to make her second daughter's wedding jewelry.  Originally she contacted me in 2012 to make the wedding jewelry for her other daughter, Shayla, for her wedding.  See that post here...
http://awrdesigns.blogspot.com/2012/08/bridal-order-for-shayla.html

And so this past year, in 2013, Shayla's sister, Shanna, was getting married and again her mother, Kris, contacted me to make Shanna's wedding jewelry, to which I gladly accepted!  Her bridal jewelry included sets for 7 bridesmaids, 1 matron of honor, 2 flower girls, mother of the bride, mother of the groom, and of course the beautiful wedding bridal jewelry for the bride herself, Shanna.
Here is the beautiful bride, Shanna... :)

Shanna Schmitz Tubbs

Check out the first post I wrote on this subject, with pictures of the pearls and jewelry sets I made before shipping them off to be worn by the bride and her bridal party for her big day!
http://awrdesigns.blogspot.com/2013/06/shannas-wedding.html

So this post contains the actual wedding pictures from Shanna's wedding, that she posted on her Facebook page, and told me that I am allowed to use them, but just to reference her wedding photographer.  I am only using just a few of the many beautiful photos that were taken on her beautiful wedding day at Flathead Lake in Lakeside, Montana.  So, without further delay, I present to you the following wedding pictures from Shanna's wedding day, courtesy of Treehouse Photography (http://treehousephotography.org)

First up, we have Shanna's jewelry... Shanna wore a multi-strand white pearl necklace, made with 4 strands of different sizes of white Swarovski crystals pearls, and the closure was a sterling silver lobster clasp with an extension chain and pearl dangle connected, to allow for extra length.

Shanna also wore mint green pearls on sterling silver post earrings and her bracelet was a multi-strand (3-strand) pearl bracelet, made with mint green glass pearls and white Swarovski pearls in various sizes.  Closure for bracelet was also a sterling silver lobster clasp with extension chain and pearl dangle.




Adorable Shanna and Alex!

Shanna and Alex

 

Shanna’s bridesmaids all wore multi-strand pearl necklaces with mint green pearls and 2 shades of coral/orange pearls, with a sterling silver lobster clasp and an extension chain with pearl dangle, along with mint green pearl post sterling silver earrings.  Her MOH (matron of honor), who is also her sister – Shayla, also wore a multi-strand pearl bracelet, with the 3 shades of pearls as in the necklace, but with various sizes.  Below is a picture of Shanna and her sister, Shayla - don't they look absolutely gorgeous?!!  :)  Also a picture of Shayla putting Shanna's earrings on.

Shayla putting on Shanna's post earrings

Shanna and Shayla

Shanna and her girls

Alex with the bridesmaids

Below is a picture of Shanna with her sister and their parents - I love this picture!  And then there is a beautiful picture of Shanna and her mother, Kris.  Kris also wore a multi-strand mint green and orange pearl bracelet and pearl dangle earrings.

Shanna with her family

Shanna and her mother

 

Below... Shanna with her 2 flower girls, each wearing a multi-strand pearl bracelet - just like the bridesmaids, but with 2 strands instead of 3 strands.





Shanna with her flower girls



Shanna's mom and dad holding hands - how sweet! :)

Mom and Dad.. Awww!

The happy couple sailing off... :)

101 Free Wedding Printables Courtesy of Everything Etsy

Just wanted to share a blog post I recently discovered from a wonderful website I love to read, www.EveythingEtsy.com.

For those of you who are planning a wedding, or know of someone who is getting married, please share. We can always use some help with cutting the costs of wedding expenses!

101-wedding-printables-free

Valerie's Wedding Jewelry

This is a custom bridal order I designed for Valerie from Massachusetts.  She wanted me to make jewelry sets for her 4 bridesmaids, 1 maid of honor, and 1 flower girl.  She wanted the Swarovski crystals to be a dark blue and then some ivory and/or dark blue pearls.  So I tried out a few different designs, using different colors and sizes of pearls, and we ended up going with Swarovski cream pearls, Swarovski Petrol blue pearls, and Montana blue crystals.

Here are some of my initial designs...

 

After some back-and-forth correspondence, Valerie was able to decide on the perfect designs for her bridal party members!  So for the bridesmaids, we decided on Swarovski cream pearls (2 sizes) and Montana blue crystals.

And for the flower girl, we decided on Swarovski cream pearls, Petrol blue pearls, and Montana blue crystals.  I just love this look!!



For the flower girl earrings, we decided on sterling silver posts with pearl and crystal dangles.  I offered 2 options, shown below, and Valerie decided on the one on the left, with 2 pearls and 1 crystal.  Just beautiful!  :)

For the maid of honor, Valerie wanted something a little different and unique, and decided on a double-strand pearl and crystal necklace and bracelet and fancier earrings, so I used teardrop pearls in the earrings. 

The double-strand pearl necklace and bracelet is made with Swarovski cream pearls and light Colorado topaz crystals.  I used 2-to-1 hole sterling silver connectors, which then attached to the heart-shaped lobster clasp, with chain extender and pearl/crystal dangle, which you can see in the pictures showing the back of the necklace.



And then, I had to take some pictures of all of the jewelry sets in their gift boxes...  :)

Thanks for reading...  Hopefully I'll get some wedding pictures from Valerie from the big day!!

Please leave me a comment and let me know what you think!  :)