Pigeon Necklace

This necklace is a brand new addition to the Sleepy Moon collection, but there is something special about it. It is hand cut brass and it is the first shape that I have ever cut out of metal. First I practiced by cutting a straight line, a wavy line and a zig-zag line, but I immediately wanted more! :) So yeah I cut out a pigeon. And amazingly enough it turned out great.

Sitting on his roost a pigeon sees all,
Glistening from the evening sun,
He watches us come and go.

This pigeon necklace is available in my Etsy shop. You may also request the necklace in sterling silver. Just drop me an etsy convo.

Classy, Clean and Quirky

...are three words that I use when designing every Sleepy Moon piece.

Classy: Stylish, admirable, smart and elegant.


Clean: Gracefully spare, trim, streamlined, clean literary style.


Quirky: An unexpected twist or turn.

Inspiration

There is nothing like a great photo or piece of art to spark the ol' imagination.

Photo by: SlightClutter on Etsy.

A Fresh Taste Of Nature

New collection is
NOW AVAILABLE!

Introducing a whole new collection of goodies to choose from in my Etsy shop!

I have been playing around with some new techniques with metal like cutting, texturing, hammering and so on. It is a departure from my usual gemstones and wire wrapped pieces. I think it will be an exciting change of direction for the Sleepy Moon line.

The new pieces are best described as simple and polished, with elements of nature, both urban and wild. Many of the new pieces feature abstract leaves and geometric shapes paired with colourful gemstones.

And to celebrate this new collection I am having a buy one get one 30% off sale on anything in my shop. The sale will be on from August 28th to August 30th. Please enter the sale code "metal" in the message to seller section during check out. Go all the way through the purchase process but, DON'T PAY. I will send you a revised invoice with the proper sale price.

Where can you find this new collection?
:: My Etsy shop under the search term "new"
:: OhKuol on Granville at Broadway in Vancouver

In the near future I will be incorporating these new techniques and frankly the love I have discovered for metal into several new designs including a warm and earthy fall collection… So stay tuned for updates on the process of that!

Clear As Day

These earrings are clear as day,

Dangling from the ear they sparkle with light from the sun,

And are full of coherent mystery.

Wordless Wednesday - Vieux Nice

Photo By: JPmiss

Topaz Rain

I love how sky blue topaz looks like a frozen drop of rain with the sun shining through it making it sparkle and shine...

Or like a cool refreshing drink of water and ice on a hot summer day...

Whatever it reminds you of it is a very mesmerizing and tantalizing stone.

Everyday, Dates, Dancing , Work... What?

This necklace is pretty simple and easy to wear, but it has amazing sparkle and shine too!
So I ask you this...

What kind of outfit would you wear this necklace with?

I could see my self wearing this with just about everything because it is a great colour. I also think that it would transition well from a chic day outfit with jeans to a cute evening out fit. The necklace is a very sparkly eye catcher!

Studio Close Ups

Some photos that I took of my work bench. I think they are cool so I thought I would share...

Vancouver Indie Crafters Treasury's

Hey everyone! I recently started a thread in our emails called "Lets all make treasury's and get on the front page!!" If you are here you probably already read it though. :)

I just wanted to put all of the info that is talked about in that thread in one place. Especially since several different emails have been started. So here it goes...

We are all getting together to create treasury's that feature our team members in hopes of promoting each other and maybe even getting some front page action!

Each week we will have a theme for the treasury's we will be making. For example this weeks theme is pink and grey. Inorder to be featured in these treasury's you need to tag some of your items with "vanindiecrafters". There is no need to tag every single thing in your store, just as many as you like.

To make a Vancouver Indie treasury go to treasury east. You can either search vanindiecrafters in the etsy search bar or for now while there are not a whole lot of people who are tagging their items. You can find a list of our team members on the team profile page.

After you are done your treasury tag your treasury with descriptive words and don't forget to include the tag vanindiecrafters. So your treasury will show up in this list when people click on the tag.

If you have any suggestions or ideas for treasury themes or anything else please mention it in the comments or in the Vancouver Indie Crafters emails.

Enthusiasm, Where is It?

Enthusiasm...

On a good day enthusiasm is there and I am ready to take on the world, but sometimes I wake up on the wrong side of the bed.. or maybe I just stayed up to late making jewellery the night before and I have to do somethings to find it. What really gets me going and makes me totally enthusiastic about my work is reading the feedback that I get from customers and admirers.

"These stones are gorgeous, and the earrings are the perfect size and very well made. " -Customer

"Gorgeous! Simple yet beautiful design with quality materials! Quick delivery, great seller." -Customer

"I am very impressed with Sleepy Moon Design. They sent a message letting me know they shipped, and I received them in a couple of days. The workmanship is so wonderful with a fresh simple design, exactly my liking! Wonderful!" -Customer

"My wife wears this every week, it's one of her new favorites! " -Customer

Just reading those few sentances reminds me how much i love to be able to provide beautiful pieces people all over the world will cherish for years to come and hopefully make them feel like a super star while wearing them! Maybe even some of my enthusiasm will carry on to them through the design and art of the piece.

Check out this topic on Scoutie Girls We Scout Wednesday.

All Things Pink

I just listed this new set of earrings and a matching necklace on Etsy.

They remind me of cranberry cosmopolitans, mmm!

Summer and juicy grapefruits,

A fresh face with a tiny bit of pink lip gloss

and everything that summer brings...
The fun,
The heat,
The joy
and the treats!

(Popsicles maybe)

www.sleepymoondesign.com

Vancouver Treasury

Check out this stylish treasury I made featuring all Vancouver/Vancouver area etsy sellers!!

Expanding... NEW Website!

Being a Canadian and shopping on Etsy can sometimes be frustrating!! You are browse through many things that you love, add them to your cart, go to pay and then realize that it is going to be 5-10 dollars more in CAN dollars than it said the total would be. While sometimes you love the item so much you don't care and you pay the extra money, but I bet it deters a lot of people.

So I have been contemplating opening my own little website for my lovely Canadian customers and the other day I found a great way to do that!! Ever heard of bigcartel.com? It's a place where you can have your own webpage to sell things. Kinda like Etsy, but you can sell in whatever currency you choose! So I chose to sell in CAD dollars. I only have a couple listings up their so far, but if any one has any requests on items that they would like to see in my bigcartel shop just let me know! I will transfer them over there from my Etsy shop.

Summer From East to West

Canada on flickr from the eastish to the west coast...

Quebec
Photo by: Whiny Dancer

Ontario
Photo by: ViaMoi

Manitoba
Photo by: victoria.anne

Saskatchewan
Photo by: SummachPhoto

Alberta
Photo by: peggyhr

British Columbia
Photo by: Christopher M.

The rest of Canada is coming up next!!

Fly Away Dragonfly

My latest Etsy treasury... a dragonfly treasury. Dragonfly's remind me of mystical fairy tales so that is what I tried to emulate. How did I do?

As The Sun Sets

While vacationing in my home town Saskatoon SK I didn't end up taking to many pictures due to the short amount of time I had to visit my family. Busy Busy Busy! But one of those few pictures I did take was the one above. It is a typical Saskatchewan prairie sunset. Makes me miss home...but then I remember the mountains, warm winters, ocean and everything else that Vancouver has to offer! :) Of course I will always consider Saskatoon one of my two homes.

Anyways I wanted to create a piece of jewellery that represented the beauty of the prairie sky. Just like this photo does. (Oh by the way the photo was taken from a basement window!) Cool hey! The Necklace shown below is what I came up with. It features blue and black speckled Peruvian opal, orange garnet, rose quartz and tiny black hematite rounds all wire wrapped and strung from sterling silver chain.
This necklace is now available in my Etsy Shop!

Tangled

Photo By: CatParty

Every woman or spouse of that woman has come across a very tangled necklace mess! Sometimes the necklace easily slips out of the knot with a bit of luck, but sometimes the outcome is not as lucky and those beautiful treasures get lost in the bottom of the jewellery box. What a shame right?

Well...the other day I was researching ways to untangle chain and I came across several short and simple posts that I thought I should share.

How to Untangle Jewelry
How to Untangle a Necklace
Untangling Necklaces

Some of the best pointers from all of these articles I think are the parts about using a straight pin. It small and super handy for getting into the tiny knots. Fingers are just way to big! Also always remember when untangling a necklace take it slow the last thing you want to do is pull it and make the knot tighter!

Home Decor

I have been temped to totally redecorate my living room lately! Here are some things I think would look great in my home!

By: Red Hot Pottery
I keep seeing this around etsy... and I think it is so cute!

By: Nou Wall
I love the calming forest vibe this wall decal gives!

By: Laura Lights
This lamp looks like it would give the perfect amount of light for reading next to! I love the pattern too.

By: Bacon Square Farm
This table is absolutely gorgeous! I live the flower and the leaves in the middle. I think this table would totally complete a room!

By: Bestillshop
There is nothing like a bright pop of colour in a room and a good way to ad that is with throw cushions.

By: Water Bears
A room is never complete without some art! Aren't those little characters cute?

Sometimes You Gotta Quit

Photo by: Noah Love Joy

Scoutie Girl asks us to talk about quitting on We Scout Wednesday. I am a bit late since it is Thursday now, but I love doing these!

The best thing I ever "quit" was my life in my home town! Yes I dropped everything and moved to Vancouver. I left a bad relationship and my home town in the dust to start over and be a mom to my little boy in a great beautiful city full of opportunities!

There have been many things that I have quit or thought about quitting over the years, but I don't regret it one bit. It has all been a journey to help me find my true passion. If I did not quit this and that over the years I might not be where I am today. This new found freedom I got from "quitting" lead me to discover jewellery making and a whole new perspective on life! And I can say that from the time I started making jewellery to now I have never once thought about quitting it!!

Quitting is like learning the hard way. Everyone makes mistake and you learn from them. If you feel you are going in the wrong direction sometimes the best thing to do is stop and think. Maybe you are going in the wrong direction.

Learn from your experiences and don't be afraid to quit because of what someone might say. Just do what you love and make sure you love what you do!

New Retailor in London Ontario

Curiosities Gift Shoppe is a little shop full of great treasures located in London, Ontario (Canada). Sleepy Moon jewellery is now one of those great treasures that you can find there.

It is located on 174 1/2 Wortley Rd so if you are in London you should definitely check this shop out!

Also here is a little sneak peek of what Sleepy Moon jewellery you can find there.