Monday, December 5, 2011

Tis' the Season!

Tis' the season to be rockin' some GOLD! I haven't worked with my gold beads in awhile, so I took a tiny 8-hour break from doing my customs this past weekend to do a gold {{Beaded Roped}}!
This {{Beaded Rope Collection}} necklace features three long beaded-strands, with super meticulously placed beads, and then braided and twisted together into a long "beaded rope".

The first strand comprises of medium-sized pearls, crystals, stones, and gold stone chips. The next two strands are slightly smaller, as they are strung with glass seed beads, smaller crystals, and smaller pearls....

Next, I braid and twist the three strands together into a long, tightly woven beaded rope.

Then, I weave a coordinating bronze-gold chain throughout the necklace to tighten everything up and bring all the beads together! This necklace design is a huge favorite of mine, as it's honestly nothing like anything you'd find in the stores. I really wanted to create a "rope"- looking necklace that was super versatile. I wanted to knot it, wear it doubled, wear it in a long rope, etc. And here is what I came up with! :-)

Super super super versatile! And perfect for the Holidays season! Eight hours of hand-beaded work that is going straight to Etsy! :-) Check it out!

http://www.etsy.com/listing/87943253/statement-necklace-gold-yellow-silver

Sunday, December 4, 2011

Best. Winter. Color. Combo. EVER!

I'm drooling over the finished product of my most recent creation. Seriously drooling. I haven't done many custom orders with blues or whites lately, so I decided to do take a quick (um, if you count 8 hours as "quick", I guess?) break from custom orders for a day and make a {{Fringe Collection}} necklace exclusively for sale on Etsy!


And OK....I must admit....I got on a little {{Fringe Collection}} kick right after I made the pink/gold/chocolate Fringe necklace for my wonderful mama friend!! I had all of my supplies and tools out to make my Fringe necklaces, so I went to town and made another!


I am a very "seasonal" person...meaning, I tend to let myself get wrapped up in the festivities and colors that each new season brings. In other words, I love pretty pastels in the Spring, bright pinks and bright colors in the Summer, bold burgundies and golds in the Fall, and icy whites and blues in the Winter. Change is good! And it keeps life interesting!


So, I decided to go for an icy-wintery theme with this {{Fringe Collection}} necklace! I LOOOOOVE the look of the bright blues, bright whites, and shiny silver colors together. It just sings "winter" to me!


My Fringe necklaces usually take at LEAST 7-8 hours to complete, since I wrap each and every fringy "dangle" by hand. This particular necklace features various shades of navy blue, sky blue, and an opalescent blue to give it a tiny colorful twist. It also features bright bright whites and super shiny silvers and light grays. Together, this color combo is goooorgeous!


And of course, I accented this necklace with coordinating flowers, in shades of blue-gray and white. This necklace also has tons of crystals....over 1/3 of this necklace is made of them!


It's begging to go to a good home, as this beauty is going straight to Etsy!


Need a boost of pretty colors to kick those winter "blues"???! Get your very own today at my Etsy store:
http://www.etsy.com/shop/JewelryByJessicaT?section_id=10427884

Saturday, December 3, 2011

A {Fringe Collection} Necklace for a Fabulous Mama!

I'm so pumped that I get to do all sorts of different custom orders this month!! For awhile, I had been doing the {{Classic Collection}} - Option #3 over and over again (which is AWESOME! It's definitely one of my fav designs!), but this month I get to have an awesome variety! A {[Twisted Collection}}, a {{Beaded Rope Collection}}, a {[Classic Collection #1}}, and now a {{Fringe Collection}}! I love love love the variety, as I made my 10 original designs different from one another for a reason... ;-) 

My {[Fringe Collection}} necklaces happen to be super DUPER different from all my other ones, as I get to use an entirely different set of tools and supplies :-)

This {{Fringe Collection}} necklace is a custom order for a fabulous mama friend again! I'm SOOOO excited to see her in this necklace!
It features all sorts of warm tones, including a chocolaty brown, yellow gold, and dusty rose.

It is highlighted by hundreds and hundreds of dangling "fringe" accents....all of which were handmade and assembled by me with my trusty tools. :-)

It's very time consuming to create a {{Fringe Collection}} necklace, but it's SO worth it. I guarantee you will never find something like this in the stores! At least not as meticulously detailed and sturdy as mine are, anyways! I always have my 4-year old shake each necklace after I complete them, because if anything is loose, it's NOT good enough and NOT done yet!

Add a few feminine light pink and bronzy brown flowers to match!

This necklace also features hundreds of shiny glass pearls and sparkly crystals. And since my pictures usually don't do my creations any justice, I can assure you this necklace REALLY catches the light!

I honestly can't WAIT for my mama friend to wear this necklace. She has been looking MIGHTY fabulous lately, and this necklace will totally unleash her inner girly girl. :-)
I also add a 2-inch extender chain on all of my necklaces...complete with a coordinating beaded "fringe" dangle at the end

Hours upon hours of hard work that ultimately result in a pretty darn cool creation!

Get your very own {{Fringe Collection}} custom necklace here!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/JewelryByJessicaT?section_id=10427884

Friday, December 2, 2011

I Love Referral Customers!

More variety!!! I'm so satisfied with each of my 10 original {{jewelry by jessica theresa}} designs. Each one is uniquely different from one another, as I worked hard to make sure my designs will appeal to a large variety of personal tastes. It really makes me happy when my custom orders include a nice sampling from each collection! It keeps things super interesting and fresh for me, especially when I receive new color combination requests! :-) 


So, along those lines, time to switch it up again! It's back to the {{Custom Collection}} - Option #1! 


This design is actually one of my personal favorites (heck, in reality I love ALL of my designs, but this one especially!) .Why? Because it combines a few different "techniques" I have developed when creating each necklace. My "Classic Option #1" design features a little "intricate" beading (a la the {Intricate Collection}) along the sides of the necklace, then a "classic" cascade of beaded strands (a la the {Classic Collection}, specifically Option #3) along the bottom of the necklace. I love that I get to use all my fun tools for the same necklace! 


This necklace happens to be somewhat of a replica of the one I have used in my {jewelry by jessica theresa} "branding" pictures, as it features a little variety to showcase what I can do.

Like I said, this version of my {{Classic Collection}} is SUPER fun for me to create, due to the intricate woven sides of the necklace. Something about working extremely "intricately" with all the twisting and braiding makes me giddy. I love the super detailed stuff. It's all in the details!!

This custom necklace is for a referral customer! Another fabulous customer of mine gave one of my {{jewelry by jessica theresa}} necklaces as a gift, and a few days later she became a customer herself! Word of mouth is the absolute BEST way to promote and advertise, because it means my customers are happy and want to spread the love! This. Makes. Me. Giddy!!!

Just an FYI, I love love LOVE referral customers so much, that the referrer and the referree BOTH get 20% of their next order. It's a little appreciation gift for spreading the {jewelry by jessica theresa} love! :-)

Now down to the details! This necklace features intricately woven sides, and 8 cascading strands at the base. Per Penny's request, I made it in various shades of greens, grays, and black. I included LOTS of crystals and pearls to really make it shiny and catch the light!

Hope she enjoys it! ♥

Want your very own {{Custom Collection}} - Option #1??? Click here:

http://www.etsy.com/listing/84767637/custom-statement-necklace-classic

Thursday, December 1, 2011

Singing the Greens...

Next up is a {{Classic Collection}} - Option #2 necklace, made with my second most popular color combination....green, gray, and black! And I have to admit, I'm not a diehard lover of the color green....but after making necklaces with this color, I am now a huge fan! The different shades of greens, grays, and black are super striking together.


This {{Classic Collection}} necklace is for an amazing mama who is celebrating her stellar, hard-earned, post-children body with some new {[jewelry by jessica theresa}} bling!


She requested a custom {{Classic Collection}} necklace in the awesome winter color combination of green, gray, and black.


And, like I've mentioned before, since I never use a single color in my necklaces (ie...just plain "green"). this necklace features an array of greens, including lime green, hunter green, emerald green, and forest green. When you combine all those shades together, it really gives the "green" color an extra oomph of dimension!


This necklace also features various shades of gray, including dark graphite gray, a shiny silvery gray, and a matte gray. And of course, we have the color black interspersed throughout this necklace to bring all the colors together.


Lately, I've been trying to make my {{Classic Collection}} - Option #2 a little more versatile. So instead of just having the necklace hang "straight", you can twist one side 180 degrees to give it a super fun asymmetric draping look!


Or you can get even more creative and flip both sides in opposite directions to cascade the strands a little different, to give it a fresh new look!


Any time I twist one of my classic necklaces, I like to secure it with flowers to give it a fun, feminine, and multidimensional look. :-)


Fabulous choice for a fabulous mama! I hope she loves it!

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Pink and Gray are Popular Today!

My next custom order is for a wonderful customer who is living the good life smack downtown Chicago! ;-) I'm ultimately a "city girl" at heart, as I lived and loved living in downtown Milwaukee for several years while I went to nursing school and my husband went to dental school at Marquette University. We lived on the top floor of a fabulous apartment building and fell asleep looking at the Milwaukee skyline every night. I loved it. 


Anyways, so this lovely lady gets to sport her custom {{jewelry by jessica theresa}} necklace downtown Chicago! I sent an extra little stack of business cards with the necklace, per her request, just in case any of her downtown and/or uptown buddies happen to like what they see... ;-)


I'm pretty sure the most requested necklace of the season this year is my pink and gray {{Classic Collection}} necklace as seen here! This is the fourth custom necklace I've made like this, and my desire to keep it continues to get stronger and stronger because each one gets better and better! :-)

My customer loved loved the look of the pink and gray {{Classic Collection}} necklace. There is a reason why I have made these colors my {jewelry by jessica theresa} "theme", so it makes me giddy to see this color combo become a popular request. This exact design and coloring will forever be near and dear to my heart! ♥

It features 9 cascading strands of light pink, pink, graphite gray, and a deep charcoal gray! It's accented with tons of pink and gray pearls, and lots of pink crystals to add tons of sparkle as soon as it hits the light! ♥

And let's not forget the ultimate addition....the signature flower from my friend Apollonia Dils!

This necklace would look nice and bright with the pink flower, or you can tone it down with the gray flower.

Or if she is wanting to make a SUPER statement, she can wear this necklace with both flowers! Hope she enjoys it!!! ♥ ♥ Thanks Sarah!

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Back to the {{Twisted Collection}}!

Now it's time to go back to the {{Twisted Collection}}! I love mixing it up when I do a batch of custom orders. It's always a personal goal of mine to tweak the design here and there to make it even BETTER than the last. The only way to improve is to recognize when something isn't working and then try something new, right?


This necklace is a custom order for another fabulous new customer. She loved the {[Twisted}} look, but didn't want to go QUITE as large as my {[Intricate Collection}} necklaces. So this is what we came up with!


She requested all sorts of purples. And I really think the final result sort of rocks! I wish I could keep it for myself! ;-)


The purples mixed with some silver accents look fantastic together. And since this necklace also has tons of sparkles, it really gives it that wintery-sparkly-icy look. It's PERFECT for winter.


It features various shades of purple, including deep plum, violet, a violet-blue, brilliant purple, lavender, and an almost fuchsia-purple to give it some amazing depth. And LOTS of sparkly crystals! Sheesh I wish my camera was better! I'm looking at this picture and just shaking my head...it doesn't at ALL do it justice. 


I think this {[Twisted Collection}} necklace turned out awesome! Hope she loves it!