Giveaway!

It's giveaway time at Chic Made! It's also Bloggy Carnival time! I (me, Nancy) love Bloggy Carnival's. I've hosted 4 or 5 giveaways before at my family blog Worth A Million. But I am excited to this time introduce you to the new Chic Made Blog. I've been making jewelry and selling it on Etsy for about a year now, but I just recently created this blog so YOU all could keep up with the latest and greatest Chic Made going's on's. Jewelry making is a passion of mine, so it's not hard to blog about it often.

This time's giveaway is very exciting! I'm going to let the winner pick her favorite piece(s) from Chic Made! Basically, I'm giving away a $15 "gift certificate" to Chic Made. The winner may choose any piece or two or three worth that much, OR you could order a custom piece! I'm always so excited to make something custom for someone. Jewelry is such a personal thing to me. I like my necklaces exactly 15 1/2 inches long (which is pretty short). I like earrings that dangle, but don't hit my neck when I turn my head (that makes me think I have a bug on my neck or something). I have a small-ish wrist so I like smaller bracelet's than the norm. I'm guessing that at least a few of you out there have preferences like that too. So I'd love to help you create the perfect piece. Or maybe there's a "gap" in your jewelry collection. You know, like you've been looking for the perfect black earrings. Or you need a looong gold chain with a little added bling. Anyway, the point is, I'd like to help. So here's you chance.

Details: To enter this giveaway, go to Chic Made and look around. Then come back here and leave me a comment telling me how you'd spend your $15. If you'd spend your $15 on a custom piece, describe it to me. If you don't leave me a comment like detailed above, you will not be entered in the giveaway! This giveaway is open to anyone with a US mailing address. You don't have to be a blogger, but be sure I have a way to contact you if you aren't (or if your blog is private). I'll close comments and choose a winner from all eligible comments on Saturday, January 31 at 9AM Eastern. If, for any reason, the winner doesn't get back to me within 3 days, I'll choose another winner.

And don't forget to go enter all the other fabulous, generous giveaway's back at the Bloggy Carnival. This is always a busy week for me. So many giveaways! So little time!

THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED! CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR WINNER, ASHLEY.

Valentine's selections

I love Valentine's Day. I always have - even when I didn't have "a Valentine" to call all mine. Now I have at least 4 Valentine's! You see, I really think all the people I love are my Valentine's. My kids get little love-notes and gifts just like my husband.

Speaking of gifts, it just so happens that I have several pieces in the shop right now that seem very appropriate for Valentine's Day to me.

I call this bracelet "Coming Up Roses" (Sorry, SOLD!). The silver beads as well as the larger red beads have the silhouette of roses. You can give your Valentine roses that last all year long...and more!


These are my Kami Dainty Dangle earrings. My friend Kami designed them and I made them for her then copied her design for you! They are "dainty dangle's" because they are less than 2 inches long and are very petite. The pink bead is freshwater pearl.

I call these Splash of Red earrings. They would go with so many different outfits- not just red things. This Pink Glass Bracelet and Earrings Set are made from pretty pink glass and the filmy, white Czech glass. The photo never really picked up the subtle pink, but it's there and it's beautiful. The gold is the perfect accent.

These beautiful, romantic earrings never actually made it into my shop. I gave them to a nice repairman who was installing a child gate in my basement for me. He mentioned his wife so I let him select any piece of jewelry for her. You see, his installing that gate for me is what allows me to make jewelry while the kids play near me. But they were just so romantic that I couldn't stop myself from including them here. I'll have to see if I can find any more of those sweet little heart beads.

There you have it: a few of my most "Valentine's-ee" pieces. But let's not forget that jewelry in general is a romantic gift and any piece would make a great gift! It being red or pink is not actually required! So cruise around the shop and pick something out for your Valentine!

The final product in action

Here's a shot of me with Karen on her wedding day with her donning her ChicMade necklace and earrings. Congrats again, Karen! You were beautiful, the wedding was beautiful, your love is beautiful. Thanks for letting me design your jewelry. It was an honor.

Karen's Wedding Jewelry - Finally Done!

It's finally done, folks. After several versions and changes and running out of supplies and late night trips to the craft store, here is the final product. Karen's wedding necklace. I am really happy with how it turned out. I don't know that the pictures do it justice. It looks so much better on skin than it does on my white backdrop. We are so excited for Karen and can't wait to see her lovely self dressed up and all fancy on her special day. Congrats Karen and Jared!

Yes, I know the earrings don't match each other. I'm giving her two options. She'll get two complete pairs of earrings and can choose whichever she prefers. (But I think my favorites are the ones on the right with the white drop-shaped bead on the bottom.)
And just so you can see it all in context a bit, here is Karen trying on her dress. Ain't she purdy? (Karen, if you don't want me spoiling the surprise of what your dress looks like, let me know and I'll take this right down.)

Last Chance!

Today is the last day to order from Chic Made and guarantee delivery by Christmas! So if you've been putting it off, seize the day!

Karen's Wedding Necklace, Attempt 2

To see my first attempt at a necklace for Karen to wear to her wedding look here.

I finally found white drop-shaped beads in the size I was wanting. And I added silver, multi-faceted beads inbetween the crystal beads to add some sparkle. (I could only finish one side because I ran out of one kind of bead, but I can get more no problem.)

What do we think? Better? Worse? Just right? Karen? Your opinion matters most, after all!

(Once again, sorry for the bad photography. These sure make me appreciate my nice photography studio in the basement.)

Photography

Photographing jewelry is no easy feat. The lighting, getting close enough to see detail, and the artistic setting of it are all key parts. I am certainly no professional photographer. I have no training in photography. But I think I have a decent eye for what looks good (which is what makes a good jewelry designer).

Lighting was the first problem I encountered when I tried to photograph jewelry. Below is one of the first pictures of my jewelry that I took. That picture was taken with a flash and in natural sun light.

To solve that problem, my fabulous, studly husband built a light box for me. He took a cardboard box, cut holes in three sides and completely removed one more side. He put light tissue paper over the holes in the three sides. He put hard white cardstock across the back and bending down onto the front so that there are never any "corners" in my photos. Then he bought me industrial lighting and set it all up for me in the basement. And wa-la, a light box. Here's what the photo's looked like after that:

My next discovery was that while I liked the silky background, it was bringing out too much yellow in the background and I quickly ditched it for a clean white background.

The next problem I discovered was that the camera I originally had just couldn't handle getting as close as I wanted to get. The closest I could get to a tiny earring was still far too far away for the potential buyer to see detail. And I definitely feel that the photography of the jewelry I sell affects it's sale. So my wonderful, supportive, hubby bought me a new camera. Not one of the big, fancy, hard-to-use ones, but a newer, can handle serious zooming one. It has what it calls a Super Macro setting. And that is what I use most of the time when photographing jewelry. The Super Macro setting allows me to go from this:

To this:

Big difference, huh? You can't really tell how great the detail on these earrings is in the first photo. (By the way, these earrings and a matching bracelet are still for sale in my shop at the moment. Check them out here and here.)

Some day I hope to get an even better, fancy, hard-to-use camera. But in the meantime, I think things are working out well. Baby steps, right?