Down the Rabbit Hole Bead Embroidered Cuff

Summer Time Bead Embroidered Cuff with glass focal bead and silver charms

A Walk in the Garden Bead Embroidered Cuff 

Don't forget that I'm having a birthday sale that is only good until tomorrow. Use coupon code  BIRTHDAY2017 to gt 15% off your entire order in my Etsy Shop.

It's my birthday month, so that sale time. I want to celebrate with all of you, my wonderful fans.

​Use coupon code BIRTHDAY2017 and get 15% off your entire order in my Etsy Shop. Off everything, including patterns and clearance items. 

This is a perfect opportunity to pick up a mother's day gift or a teacher appreciation gift. Or maybe you know someone that has a spring birthday, get them something as unique as them. 

So that's BIRTHDAY2017 for 15% off your entire order. Hurry, this coupon is only good until April 29th. 
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I'm in love with big beautiful earrings. I can't wear them right now because LO will rip them out of my ears. Just mine, everyone else she leaves alone. Mom's hair and jewelry is much more fun to pull, but I digress. Big beaded earrings are my thing. I love beaded hoops and fringe earrings (which are so hot right now). All of these pretties can be found in ​my Etsy Shop. 

I have made a number of bead embroidered pendants over the years. Here are a few of my favorites. You can find some of them in my Etsy Store.

So I know I said that this year was the year of rejection and that I was only going to apply to high end shows, but that was a little lie. I decided that I would ease into the arts and crafts fair scene with a simple small local show. 

This past Saturday was my first craft fair in almost two years. It was here in Madison at Warner Park. The weather was beautiful (but I was stuck inside) and I thought it would be a great show to ease back into things.

Unfortunately it wasn't.

The customer flow just wasn't there and the ones that were there were just not buying. I think the lovely weather really had a big part of it. Why would you spend a chunk of your day walking around inside when you could be out in the sunny warm spring weather? I know I wouldn't want to, I really wanted to be outside with my LO playing with bubbles or taking a walk. But oh well. 

​I did get to use a new display that my husband made. It was pretty nice to have some extra space on my small table to show off things. I didn't have time to stain the base and the top, but I still think it looked pretty nice. 

I had a friend from work come help me set up and she was in charge of setting up this display. I think she also did a very nice job.

I did make a pretty big decision at this show. I don't think I'm going be bringing any jewelry to shows anymore. I think I will keep them up on Etsy, but I don't think I'll be bringing them to shows anymore. I just feel like the market is so saturated that you can't really make any money with jewelry, even with beaded jewelry. It's just not a great market. It's not unique enough. I always thought my beadwork was unique enough, but it's not. Maybe there was a time that it was, but it's not any more. I'm going to focus on my mixed media pieces. I have not really seen anything like them at any of the shows I've done, so I think I might have a niche market.

I have another show I'm going to apply to in July. I have the application all ready to go, I just have to send it in. So if i get into this show, I'm going to test out my theory on weather or not my mixed media beadwork is a good fit for shows. Which also means I have to get back in the studio and get some new pieces made. And I need to get some photos of my jewelry up on Etsy.