A Photo a Day…

… keeps the brain-blocks at bay.

I know what you’re thinking, it’s most likely along the lines of “what?!?”.
Let me explain. It all started with a book a I got from the library called Photojojo, which as i came to find out was born from a website, and was chock full of fancy and wonderful ideas, tips and inspiration!

Buy the Photojojo! The Book at the Photojojo Store!

Anyway… now that you’re done staring at the cute picture embeded directly from their very fun online store (which contains some of the most delightful gift ideas for all your camera-loving friends). I’ll tell about what I’ve been inspired to do, for the month of February.

While thumbing my way through the pages of the Photojojo book I was struck with an idea, a wonderful, awful idea.
I’m going to take pictures everyday, and post one every day on my blog for all the world to see. There are a variety of reasons for my doing this, and they include:

improving my photo skillz
practicing consistency in online activity
discipline (time well spent)
inspiration!
creativity, and trying new things/techniques
justification for time spent playing with my camera 
a greater appreciation for those who take great photos
an even greater appreciation for my old point-and-click camera

…and that last one leads into my introduction of my chosen weapon of mass creation… or perhaps destruction, depending…

my Canon Powershot A550

February… here I come!

Bead Spinner Review

I got a Bead Spinner for my Birthday. It’s one of those things I’ve always wanted, but could never justify to myself spending the money on.

Essentially it’s a devise that holds a large amount of small beads and spins so that you can thread beads in record time.

It’s a really great tool for jewelry makers who love that multi-strand look, but acknowledge that doing that by hand takes and eternity, and when you make jewelry for the purposes of selling it, your time is a precious factor into the overall sale price of the item. 
 
The Spinner set I got was a battery powered one (as opposed to the manual variety, which is cheaper to buy and run, but perhaps less effective). The kit included the spinner, three bead pots that set onto the spindle and spin. Each container comes with a lid which allows you to store and/or transport up to three different collections of beads. And then finally the kit comes with two hooked needles and a spool of beading thread. The Needles are long with a hook at the end to facilitate easier bead threading.
    
Getting set up is very easy and the needle is really easy to thread seeing as though it is made up of two separate pieces of wire that are soldered at each tip creating a large “eye” that essentially can be as long as the needle itself, but then stays together while you use it. Once you’re needle is threaded you’re ready to start spinning, this is where it actually got a bit tricky. Turns out bead spinning takes some skill, and some serious finesse. But if you stick at it and keep trying you’ll eventually figure out the perfect angle to hold your needle so as to not collect and then loose all your beads in one foul swoop. 
All in all I think it’s a clever little device. It took some getting used to, but it has certainly opened me up to more options, and even sparked some ideas. In short, it was a great birthday present. Thanks mom :)

Ringing True

I’ve been working to create a new line of pieces.

I’ve been making few rings. I’ve always loved rings, although I don’t tend to wear them due my working with my hands so much and also having a nickel allergy.

I especially love large cocktail rings. They’re such fun!
 
I’ve never liked the idea of walking around with a house payment on your hand, and I have a personal vendetta against diamonds. However these fun, inexpensive rings are such fun to wear!

Check out some of the new rings coming to my store, and please let me know your thoughts, feedback, ideas and questions! I do so enjoy hearing back!

Time to Treasure

I’ve just received a collection of messages the last few days informing me of treasuries that I am in. I wanted to share some of them with you as some of the collections are quite wonderful!

Fresh Greens by speckleddog on Etsy
Simply Winter Green by ecozydesign on Etsy

A Few of my favorite Things by DonnaHup on Etsy

Happy New Year

Welcome to 2011!

It’s a new beginning, a fresh start, a clean slate!

Every year I relish the new year as an opportunity to set some goals start some new and improved habits and set out with an “attitude of gratitude”.
2010 was a good year, ReLoved Designs became an official LLC, and my sales continued to climb. I reached my sales goal in August, and continued to love what I was doing. This year I have some new goals, and some big ideas for taking ReLoved even higher. I got a nice big 500GB external hard drive for Christmas, and so there’s no excuse now for not taking billions of pictures, and creating online information for my store. Here goes:

~Make 300 sales by years end
~Catalog all inventory (old and new)
~Close consignment accounts
~Blog at least once a week – tutorials monthly
~Read more
~Time online spent wisely

There will most likely be more added to the list, but this is the working list for now. I find that by posting them I am held accountable to my word, and there is a greater need to adhere to the tasks I set out to accomplish. I feel happy with my list, it isn’t impossible, but it does require my time and attention.

What are some of your New Years Resolutions?