For more information on any of these lovely items, simply click on the photo to be taken to the relevant Etsy shop.
Treasury tool supported by the dog house
Another week, another Etsy shop feature! This week I bring you Jacqui from ForEva Designs, a shop full of unique handmade modern jewellery.
1. Tell us a bit about yourself and where the inspiration came from to start your Etsy shop.
Hi everyone, my name is Jacqui. I currently live near the beach in Hilton Head Island with my fiancee and our two cats. I am the mother of one, a wonderfully artistic daughter, Eva. I, myself have always dabbled in art, even attended a fine arts school for my drawing and painting skills, it was not until I had my daughter that I started experimenting with making jewelry and found my true artistic outlet. For years I made jewelry to give as gifts to family members and friends.With a little push and the full support from my fiancee, family and friends, my business ForEva Designs was born.
2. Do you have a favourite piece? Tell us about the thought process involved in creating it and why it is your favourite.
I do not exactly have a favorite piece, I have a favorite design, the sun I designed when I took Metal Smithing classes in college. I have since perfected the design and incorporate it in many of my pieces both in copper and silver. Though I do enjoy creating other designs as well, the sun remains my favorite.
3. What is it that makes your shop unique?
My shop is unique because everything is designed and created by my own hand using the best materials available. Many of my pieces are one of a kind, a person can be confident in knowing that when they purchase one of my original jewelry designs, they will not run into someone wearing one just like it.
4. What’s next in the pipeline?
As my shop is still fairly new, I am still working on implementing my full marketing plan to get the word out there about my jewelry as well as continuing to come up with new designs and jewelry pieces. Once my shop is established, I will look into opening another shop on Etsy that features a different style of jewelry than what can currently be found in my shop.
5. Tell us something about you or your shop that you haven’t previously shared!
My shop ForEva Designs, is actually named after both my daughter and Mother. They have always been big supporters and creative sounding boards for me, that when I was brainstorming on what my business should be called, it just seemed natural to name it after them.
6. And finally, let us know where we can find you.
Etsy Shop: www.etsy.com/shop/ForEvaDesigns
Facebook: www.facebook.com/ForEvaDesigns
Twitter: www.twitter.com/ForEvaDesigns
Wanelo: www.wanelo.com/jacquih
Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/forevadesigns/
Jacqui is currently running a 10% OFF promotion and is kindly sharing it with The Candy Tree readers. Just enter Promo Code: FOREVA at checkout. There is always Free Shipping on all US orders.
Thanks for sharing with us Jacqui, you have some truly unique designs and I know you will find lots of success!
This week’s top tip might sound a little silly and last minute…that’s because it is!
I was given a jade bangle a few years ago and it was a struggle to get on. So much so that when I tried to take it off and couldn’t, I decided I was happy just to wear it all the time.
However, last night I made a bracelet for myself using the beads I had made at my lampworking classes. The first thing I realised after trying on my new bracelet was that every time I moved, it would rattle off the jade bangle which not only made an annoying jangling sound, but could also damage the beads after a while. So I figured it was maybe time to have another go at taking off the jade bangle….!
My first attempt involved putting my wrist under cold water, applying lots of handwash and trying to twist and push the bangle off. This resulted in a lot of pain and left me with some deep indents on my hand.
I gave up after a while and sat with a cup of tea while my hand slowly returned to the right colour and stopped shaking!
That’s when it occurred to me – Vaseline!
So I applied Vaseline liberally to my wrist and hand and after some pushing and twisting, managed to get the bangle over the widest part of my wrist. I had a few seconds of panic when I thought it was going to get stuck half on/half off my hand but with a bit more force I was able to get it off!
That was over 12 hours ago and my hand still has a couple of red marks and is very sore to touch where the bangle met the most resistance (damn my wide Western hands!!)
So to sum up…
Need to remove a jade bangle that’s on the small side?
1. Run your hand/wrist under the cold tap before patting dry and applying a lot of Vaseline.
2. Sit somewhere soft like on the bed or a carpeted floor in case the bangle flies off.
3. I held my hand facing down the way and used my other hand to push down and twist with a fair amount of force. Please note that this WAS painful but it was also my second attempt. Maybe if you use Vaseline first it won’t hurt so much!
PLEASE follow this last step with caution!! I don’t want to be held responsible for any injuries!! If you’ve had your bangle on for many years then it could be that your wrist and/or hand have increased in size in that time. In which case you may have no other option but to break it off, or continuing to put up with it!
I recently went to another lampworking class with the lovely Helen and was so excited when my new bea
ds arrived! We went over a lot of new techniques such as feathering, creating different shapes using a mould, and creating flat pendants. We even made some adorable head pins with small flat glass beads on the end.
This week I am going to be working on making some new jewellery with my beads but I think I’ll use the bulk of them to make a bracelet for myself. However, I do think that the pendants and head pins will make some wonderful earrings and necklaces – so keep your eyes peeled! 
I’m saving up for my first house at the moment and should be looking to buy at some point next year. It couldn’t happen any sooner for me though – the first thing I plan on doing is setting up my own lampworking studio!
What else is on this week? I think I’ll be finishing my basket weave scarf and moving on to another stripy one. It seems a bit mad to be knitting when Spring is finally in full swing, but it’s always cold and wintery somewhere in the world!
P.S. I don’t have a top tip lined up for tomorrow’s post, but if you have one you would like to share feel free to get in touch!
Simply click on an image to be taken to the relevant Etsy shop for full details.
Treasury tool supported by the dog house
This week we get to know Leanne from Print Me Prettiful who creates premade and personalised prints and stationery. Leanne’s shop has only been open for a couple of weeks but is already full of beautifully presented and professional looking designs!
1. Tell us a bit about yourself and where the inspiration came from to start your Etsy shop.
My main business is actually as a lifestyle & wedding photographer. It was through branding and photo editing that I realised how much I loved design in general. I dabbled with the idea of helping other people brand their businesses but with a huge passion for interior design, I kind of found my comfy zone in wall art. From there I spread into other areas of design such as stationery, blog design & things like reward charts etc.
2. Do you have a favourite piece? Tell us about the thought process involved in creating it and why it is your favourite.
I don’t really have a favourite piece. I guess each new print I design forms with the one before and is ready for the one after and it’s the collection on a whole that I love the most. I think personalised wall art is the perfect way to display your family story.
3. What is it that makes your shop unique?
I think the flow in colour helps to make my shop stand out. Each item blends with the next but as single items they each stand out for their own reason too. There’s something playful yet sophisticated with my prints and they really work for everybody. One of my customers has ordered a print that was originally designed for a child’s bedroom. She instead wanted the details of her wedding name and date and it worked beautifully. So my items can be for you or your child or even your pet hehe.
4. What’s next in the pipeline?
I’m working on quite a large collection of blogger templates for the online store. Next for my wall art will be promoting my products offline. I’m hoping to take some of my work to some local independent high street stores and start selling this way too.
5. Tell us something about you or your shop that you haven’t previously shared!
One of my first listed items on Etsy was a family print that included many phrases and details about my own family. I made the print for myself and loved it. It wasn’t until some weeks later I realised I’d made a slight error. I’d spelt my surname wrong *eeek!* So now I am EXTRA careful personalising items that everything is spelled correctly.
6. And finally, let us know where we can find you.
Etsy Shop: www.printmeprettiful.etsy.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/LeannePmP
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/printmeprettiful
Thanks for sharing your shop with us Leanne. I’ve enjoyed all of the features I’ve done in the series, however it’s nice to be able to feature someone a bit closer to home! I wish you lots of success and many sales!
It was just over a week ago that I resolved to start taking this blogging malarkey more seriously and I’ve really enjoyed posting regularly.
Last week I shared a top tip on how to weave in ends whilst knitting stripes. This 
was something I had only just learned and was glad I could share it with everyone. However, this week I’m already stumped for a tip! I’m sure that more will come to me as I try different projects but I wonder if I could start looking further afield for my tips.
I think this would be a great way to get other crafters involved…they could submit their top tip and in return I could link to their shop or website – win win!
So if you have a crafty top tip why not get in touch using the contact page and I will post it whenever I run out of my own tips (which will probably be quite a regular occurrence)! As a thank you I will obviously credit you for coming up with the tip and link to your own website.
Congratulations go to Valentina who was entry #14. Your entry was picked at random using Rafflecopter and you will soon be the proud owner of a new and one of a kind pair of handmade Green Glass Earrings from The Candy Tree!
This is something I’ve been working on for a while and can’t wait to see if it takes off! I’ve finally decided it’s time to unleash a new type of product and this week I’ll be focusing on promoting it…
Ever been getting ready for a night out and wished you had a new pair of earrings to finish off your outfit? Or maybe you just find it difficult to find a pair of unique earrings amongst all the mass-produced jewellery which seems to be flooding the market? In that case I could be about to offer you a wonderful solution – an earring subscription courtesy of The Candy Tree!
An earring subscription from The Candy Tree offers you a new pair of surprise earrings every month which you can keep for yourself or gift to a friend or family member for a special occasion. All of my earrings are beautifully presented with an earring card and organza pouch for safe keeping.
I make all of my earrings by hand using good quality glass beads, freshwater pearls and sterling silver findings, and many of my designs are one of a kind or made in limited edition batches.
My earrings subscription is available for 3, 6 or 12 months and would also make an original gift for someone special.
Full details of my earring subscription offer can be found here in my Etsy shop.
To launch my new subscription offer I am also giving away a pair of my earrings for free! One lucky reader will receive this pair of Green Glass Earrings which are made using green glass cube beads on sterling silver chain and sterling silver earwires.
Good luck!
EmmaDickieDesign 