Another Treasury: Whimsical Summer

I really love this treasury collection, "Whimsical Summer," made by Shawn St. Jean (who has a lovely Etsy shop of original photos.) You can see my Meadow Necklace in Crimson there in the bottom row. Thanks for featuring me, Shawn!

Jewelry By Jessica Featured on Evergreen Moms

Evergreen Moms features artisans from the Pacific Northwest, and today, they've featured me! Editor Heather likes the "floral motifs and airy vibe" of my work. Nice : ) Pop over and take a look, and grab the special Evergreen Moms 10% discount code while you're there!

Blooms Necklace in French Blue & Poppy Featured in Etsy Treasury!

Another Etsy treasury feature - my Blooms Necklace in French Blue & Poppy was included. Thanks to jewelryvixen for featuring me!

New Minimalist Bead Necklaces - Only At My Etsy Shop...

I'm a little bit addicted to making these "Minimalist Bead" necklaces and earrings. They are very fun to wear, and very fun to make. Since I find most of my beads for this series at vintage and thrift stores, each one is either one of a kind, or very limited edition. So get 'em while you can. They're only available at my Etsy shop.

A Wee Little Jewelry By Jessica Ad in Bust Magazine

So I have an ad in the April/May issue of Bust Magazine - back of the magazine, page 100, lower lefthand corner. My first print ad ever! {Featured necklace: Laurel in Brown + Leaf Green.} There will also be a banner ad running on Bust's Web site starting Tuesday, featuring Loops in Red + Red and Daisies in Brown + Leaf Green. It will be pretty interesting to find out if Bust readers are into my stuff. We shall see!

I'm in good company in the back of the mag there - some folks I've always liked, including Glitterlimes, Fluffy Co.com, Small Things Designs, Supermaggie, and Blend Creations are keeping me company. The issue also features cool interviews with David Sedaris, Ira Glass and Errol Morris (by calling these guys out instead of, say, Elijah Wood, Ween and The Kills, I'm pretty sure I'm setting off geek alarms yet again, but I'm cool with that...) so go grab a copy. (If you're one of the supercool types who already subscribes, hope you're enjoying your issue!)

P.S. A very big thank you to my friends Tanya, Scott and especially Chris who helped me put both the print and web ads together. It's much harder than it looks! Thanks you guys!

Jewelry By Jessica: Some New Designs!

I read a really great article in Etsy's The Storque called "Give Props: How to Style Your Photos" written by the extremely talented Susy Jack. Basically it talked about creating more of an environment for your work in photographs, using props and backgrounds.

For a long time, I've been using mostly plain white backgrounds for feature photographs of my jewelry, thinking that I wanted the colors to be the star of the show. But - even if it's not obvious in the designs - my work is very much influenced by Art Nouveau and Arts & Crafts Movement patterns and lines. So I thought - why not use some of those patterns as backdrops? Somehow it seems to work - I'm really enjoying the fresh look it gives my pieces. Haven't tried props yet....baby steps : )

So two of the pieces piectured above are new for Spring: Scallop Pattern in Lilac and Chinese Lattice Pattern in Red (only at Etsy for right now) and the other two just look new, thanks to their spiffy new backdrops: Laurel in Brown and Leaf Green and Loops in Red. Enjoy the color/pattern feast!

New Website Look!

Well, it was long overdue - I finally gave my website a makeover. (I always did love makeovers...) Out with the pink, in with the William Morris-esque subtle grey background for the sidebar, a new logo, and, if your computer allows it, a new font for the site. It's so nice to have a fresh look for the new year. Yay! (Big thanks to Toby, the web guy who makes all the magic happen.) Soon enough there will be some new designs to add to the newness. Stay tuned...

Jewelry By Jessica at Circle Circle Dot Dot

Wendy at Circle Circle Dot Dot has generously featured one of my pieces on the front page of her incredibly cute online store. There's my Roses and Thorns necklace front and center, and on the right, an awesome Jen Corace drawing brilliantly comissioned by Wendy. Make sure to take a look around over there - lots of great handmade goodness to be found.

Jewelry By Jessica Featured on Modish!

Modish is an incredibly cool blog that features work by lots of amazing independent designers. Jena Coray, the writer and editor, has created some new features on the site for 2008, aiming to showcase the workspaces of designers (Handmade Spaces), musings from readers on why buying handmade can be so satisfying (Handmade Faces), and DIY projects and business tips (Handmade Traces). That's where I come in: my shrink plastic flower pin project is the first feature on Handmade Traces! Thanks to Jena for including me. And if you're not already a Modish fan, definitely get over there and see all the great stuff Jena is cooking up.

My First Ever Tutorial: Go Make a Shrink Plastic Flower Pin!

I have made a tutorial - written instructions and a video - on how to make the shrink plastic flower pin pictured above. It was a heck of a lot more work than I anticipated (I now know how to use iMovie... sorta) and the video is pretty darn amateurish, but I think it does the trick.

I got inspired to do the whole tutorial thing after watching a video of a fascinating talk: "The Global Microbrand: using the web to stay small whilst selling all over the world," given at the Etsy Labs in Brooklyn by Antonio Gould (did the "whilst" in his title give away that he's a Brit?). Among other things, he said that if you make a video tutorial on your specific area of expertise, you will likely be the very first person in the entire world to do so. Well, when you put it that way, how could I not do it? So please do go watch my unique contribution to the wide world of shrink plastic jewelry making - it's right here! And if you decide to make a pin of your own, please send me a picture, or post it to the Flickr Group I started. I would so love to see it!