Upcoming Craft Shows and New Jewelry Items!

This past week I have spent some time photographing items, editing the photos and getting them added into my etsy store. The above collage is just a few of the new items I now have in stock and I have about another dozen or so new items to list (and they are extra sparkly!)

Speaking of my etsy store (seamless plug right there), I am having a 15% off EVERYTHING sale just because it's spring and I want to :)

Head on over to my etsy store (another totally smooth plug), browse the new jewels and score a great deal!

Also, if you are ever curious as to how any of my jewelry lays, want a better idea of the size, wondering how it looks on a person....just ask! I am happy to model and show off my jewelry more for you to give you a better idea of how awesome it will look on you! Here are a few of my own designs that I wore recently and if you can't tell...I am all to happy to ham it up for the camera.

sidenote: for some reason when I upload this photo collage, blogger automatically edits my photo making me look airbrushed and without some of my moles. I swear in real life I have wrinkles. And am more mole-y.

The items being worn are 1, 2, 3, 4 (clockwise from top right)

**UPCOMING CRAFT SHOWS!**

APRIL 12TH - I will be at the 'Art on the Chattahoochee' craft show this Saturday (April 12th) from 10am to 6pm. It is in Norcross, GA and the weather is supposed to be perfect, so come on out! You can find more details about it HERE!

APRIL 26TH - I will be at Madison Fest in Madison, GA. The event is just one-day and will be in Town Park from 10-4pm. There are also going to be a lot of plant vendors, so it is the perfect event to get some handcrafted goodies and also your new plants for your garden.

MAY 3RD & 4TH - I will be back at the Indie South Fair in Athens, GA. This is one of my favorite events of the year and I am so happy to be doing it again! Some of the most amazing vendors and wares are at this show, so be sure to check it out!

As always, reach out anytime with questions or say hi if you see me at a show! I love meeting my customers in person and without your support, I couldn't make jewelry in yoga pants all day. Thank you!

With Love, Ashlee

New Stores, New Shows and Balancing Dogs

Hey Everyone! I hope you aren't all curled up in the fetal position right now with a bottle of Claritin and a box of tissues. Still being a newbie to Southern living, I always forget just how pollen-y it is here in Georgia in the spring. It's beautiful during this time of year but definitely makes me feel like I have stuffed cotton balls up my nose, all the way to my brain. 

My little white Prius is currently lime green and I am religiously taking my allergy pill each morning with breakfast. But the flowers are so gosh darn pretty, I can forgive the congestion. 

For two weekends in a row, we took part in some craft shows and got to meet a whole lot of fun, interesting people (if you are one of them - HI!). 

The first show we did was in Conyers, Georgia and it was their 'Cherry Blossom Festival.' It was humongous (like 40,000 attendees and over 300 vendors) and windy!! Being the awesome photographer that I am, I managed to take zero photos of the event, but just know that it was B-I-G. The second day of the show was so windy that even with 25 weights on each of our tent legs and us physically holding down our tent, it would still pick up in strong gusts of wind. We had a few neighbors whose tent lifted and shifted into others tents, so Sunday ended up being quite eventful with helping people with their tents, holding down tents, trying to block our wares from sideways rain and wind-proofing our wares to the best of our ability. 

The next weekend we took part in the Stone Mountain Bluegrass Festival. This was a really fun event. It was right in the heart of Stone Mountain Village and had little areas/stages all over the festival for musicians to play. We had a rainy Saturday, but Sunday was clear skies and lovely! 

Also, I managed to bring my camera this time and take some photos (hooray for me!)

  * And yeah...don't you worry....I heard plenty of jokes about that 3-hour parking sign *

Look at that guy in the aqua blue shirt and overalls....

John Eric managed to find this guy and his pup in one of the tents and all day that puppy stayed on his owners shoulders as the fella walked around with his banjo.

It was a really neat event and we are looking forward to being a part of it next year. 

Besides craft shows, I have been working on getting inventory into a few new stores. Early last week, Crafted Westside opened up on the west side of Atlanta and it is so gorgeous inside. The owners have done such a fabulous job getting it set up and the vendors there are seriously top-notch.

 Still working on getting my display just right, but I am loving what I have so far. Just need to figure out a solution to those other necklaces and earrings that are just hanging out on the shelf right now. 

Also, this last week I re-stocked Inman Dry Goods in the Inman Park neighborhood of Atlanta. I love their idea of using an old shutter for part of my display!

If you stop in Inman Dry Goods, I do have jewelry elsewhere in the store, so be sure to ask or browse around. 

This week I also sent out a large wholesale order which I always enjoy doing :)

Athens, Georgia friends - be on the look out for these jewelry items plus a bunch more at Urban Sanctuary Spa.

Lastly, with the cloudy weather (perfect for photographing) I have been able to take a bunch of photos of new items that before were only at the craft shows and will be adding them to my etsy store throughout the week. Here's a sneak peek of some earrings to come...

Be on the look out for another blog post later this week with details on this weekend's craft show (Gwinett County - I'm coming for ya!) plus photos of all the new items on etsy. 

Have a great night everyone!

~ With Love, Ashlee ~

Life & Business Updates!

Oh my goodness, I am not sure what has happened, but 2014 is shaping up to be the busiest year yet for me. Instead of getting to wear yoga pants all day and living by my own schedule ... I actually am putting on pants with a zipper about 5 days out of the week and running all over the state with meetings and obligations that require my awesome jewelry briefcase.

Between business meetings all about town, getting more involved in the community and being more mindful of my time, I'm hustling all over the place and working harder than ever.

These last two weeks I have been finalizing the details on getting into two new retail stores. Last week I had the privilege of putting my items into the new Inman Dry Goods Store in the Inman Park neighborhood of Atlanta. It is an amazing boutique operated by the owners of SQ/FT in Downtown Decatur and has some of the cutest things in it! Think Anthropologie and Urban Outfitters.

Next week I am going to be dropping off items for the brand new Crafted Westside boutique in Atlanta's West End neighborhood and I am going to be one of the first artists in the store when it opens its doors April 1st! The owners contacted me a little over a month ago and it has been such a cool process to see how they are putting this store together. From finding the perfect building, to getting the displays, to renovating the space, it's all being done and I can't wait to see the final product. Their vision is spot-on and I am so excited to be able to sell/work starting next month!

In etsy news, with the rainy weather here in Georgia, I have had some great opportunities to photograph new jewelry. The cloudy weather creates some perfect photographing light in the corner of my living room, so on rainy days, I am typically hanging out in the corner photographing, rephotographing, and re-rephotographing items. I am trying to expand my delicate bracelet line, so I added these new trio bracelets which are available in either sterling silver or 14K gold filled.

Last week I also restocked my jewelry in Republic Salon & Agora Vintage (both in Athens, GA) as well as Homegrown & Wild Oats Billy Goats (both in Decatur, GA). All places have full displays and are ready to be shopped! 

Lastly, this weekend is the start of craft show season here and I have been making jewelry like a mad woman. My display holds more jewelry than ever before and I want people to have a lot of selection, so I have submerged myself into the wonderful world of playing with gemstones, jewels and vintage lockets. I am going to have A LOT of one-of-a-kind items and brand new items at these upcoming shows, so if you are in the area, head on over and get yourself some pretty cool jewelry.

March 22nd & 23rd: 10am-5pm both days, Booth 256
Conyers Cherry Blossom Festival (in Conyers, GA at the Georgia International Horse Park)

March 29th & 30th: 10am -6pm (Sat) & 11am-6pm (Sun)
Stone Mountain Blue Grassroots Art & Music Festival (at Stone Mountain)

May 3rd & 4th: 10am-6pm both days
Indie South Fair (in Athens, GA at 660 N. Chase St)


There are going to be a few more shows in April and May but I am still waiting to hear back on final confirmation from those. But you should be able to find me in the Georgia cities of Norcross and Madison and the Atlanta neighborhood of Kirkwood this spring. 

PHEW!!!!

Stay up to date with me on facebook and get overloaded with photos of my puppy on instagram.

~ With Love, Ashlee ~

Cyber Monday Etsy Sale!

Happy Holidays!

I don't know about all of you but I am finally starting to wake up from the butter induced coma I put myself into these last few days. I actually ate a vegetable tonight that wasn't soaking in some sort of sauce and my body is overjoyed.

With the over-eating Thanksgiving bender comes some great deals on holiday shopping and my etsy store is no exception! Right now I am having a 20% off sale to celebrate Cyber Monday and the fact that there are only 24 days until Christmas (and 22 days until my birthday!)

Spread some joy this year by giving handmade jewelry that is made with love from a really nice, cool lady in Atlanta, Georgia. I am always happy to customize lengths, gemstones and add-on initials to my items to truly make the gift one-of-a-kind. I have a lot of new jewelry gift sets in stock as well as plenty of turquoise jewelry, perfect for those December babies like me!

Also, Georgia friends ... I will be at two different craft shows/holiday markets this December, so stop by in person to say hello! Find me at the Indie South Fair in Athens, GA this Saturday and Sunday (December 7 & 8th) and the Athens Artist Market the following weekend (December 14th & 15th) also in Athens, GA. If you stop by in person and mention that you are signed up for my newsletter, I will give you a 20% discount on whatever you purchase at those shows.

If you aren't able to stop by the shows, but still want to see my stuff in person, I sell at these awesome places...

Arbor Salon (1155 Mitchell Bridge Rd, Athens, GA 30606)

Agora (260 W Clayton St, Athens, GA 30601)

Agora Vintage (233 E. Broad St., Athens, Georgia)

Canavan (125 West Jefferson Street, Madison, Georgia

Frayed Knot (6 W State St, Savannah, GA 31401)

HomeGrown (412 Church St, Decatur, GA 30030)

Republic Salon (312 E Broad St, Athens, GA 30601)

Wild Oats and Billy Goats (112 E Ponce De Leon Ave, Decatur, GA 30030)

I hope you enjoy your December and your holiday season. The 20% off sale in my etsy store ends on December 9th!!

Also, check out my facebook page to get the first look at new designs, enter giveaways and to keep in touch!

Click the banner below to be taken to my facebook page!

 ~ With Love, Ashlee ~ 

Kirkwood Spring Fling!

My husband and I have been trying to eat healthy the past few months (vegan, no processed foods, no sugar) and we have been doing pretty good. 

I still indulge in a chocolate bar every now and again, and get raw sugar in my coffee, but other than that, I am off of sweets.

Don't try to take away my chocolove. It's like heaven gave birth to an angel in your mouth.

My husband asked me to make cookies to bring to his internship and I decided to go all-out and make oatmeal pecan chocolate chip cookies. 

Real butter, real sugar, real flour, real processed. 

I may or may not have eaten six of these giant cookies tonight and now I may or may not feel like $#!%. My heart is racing and pumping hard thanks to the sugar and butter overload and my head feels like it may explode. 

But I will probably eat another one tomorrow. Just one though. 

Maybe two. 

In other news, this past weekend was the Kirkwood Spring Fling and I had a great time at the festival! The weather stayed pleasant most of the day (only a touch of rain) and I loved getting to meet people in my neighborhood. 

This was the first craft show that I have ever done in the Atlanta area and it did not disappoint. The vendors were great, the music was awesome and I was situated right at a corner between the beer and the toilets (festival hot spots).

Thank you so much to everyone who came out and supported the artists/businesses in our community. Your kind words and business are greatly appreciated!

~ With Love, Ashlee ~

What Makes Me Uncomfortable...

This weekend I was supposed to participate in the highly anticipated Indie South Fair in Athens, GA. Lots of rain, strong wind and chilly weather ended up making this a no-go for me. 

I sat with my husband in the parking lot of the craft show, after driving 1.5 hours in the rain, debating on whether or not we should set up. After about 40 minutes of talking, walking around to look at other vendor's set-ups and checking out how wet people's wares was getting, we decided to head back to Atlanta. 

It was a painful decision to make because so much preparation went into it, but in the end it was the right decision. We just couldn't risk ruining all of my inventory with the sideways rain and sudden wind gusts.

I drowned my 'too windy and rainy to set up at the craft show' blues with a glass of wine, a Chocolove bar and some pizza on Saturday and woke up yesterday with some sort of weird sodium hang-over. After not eating processed foods for a few weeks, a pizza really threw my body out of whack but gosh darn it, it was so delicious.

I am looking forward to another show this weekend and I now have a looooot of awesome new items to stock in retail places as well as on etsy. I am going to be taking photos all week of all the new items that I made and will be adding them in my etsy store throughout the week!

Here's to looking at silver linings!

With the weekend, I got a bit lazy on my blogging everyday in May challenge hosted by 'Story of My Life.' So here are of the things that I missed....

Friday - Things that make you uncomfortable

1/ Applying makeup to my face and lips. 

I totally got the eyes down and think that I do a fabulous job on them, but if I feel the need to apply concealer, foundation or lipstick, I come out looking like this....

source

 2/ Having to walk through a crowded restaurant where the tables are super close together. 

I always, always seem to hit people's heads/shoulders with my hips and butt when I am trying to navigate a crowded restaurant. 

I need whiskers on my hips because I always knock them into people/things. 

3/ Any kind of circus act.  

Just thinking about Cirque de Soleil makes me nauseous.  

Trapezee acts, knife throwing, contorchonists, motorcycles jumping through flaming hoops. 

I hate all of it.

I am certain that everyone is going to die that is in the circus and I am have to sit there and witness their death. 

source 

 4/ Going to bed without socks on. I needs them on my feet to go to sleep and it just feels weird if I don't have any on. 

5/ Talking to strangers about my business. It seems like a small business owner should be able to talk to anyone/everyone about what they do, but I still get a little embarrassed and uncomfortable when I talk to someone in person about what I do. 

Email/blog/etsy - I am just fine, craft show - ahhhhhhh!

That's all I got for now. Any of these make you uncomfortable?

 

~ With Love, Ashlee ~   

PS... I finally figured out what was wrong with my email subscription link and bloglovin' feed. So if you tried to sign up in the past to get my posts delivered via email, you need to do it again because it didn't work the first time around. You will find the email subscription link on the right side of my blog, underneath my photo. 

 Also, my Bloglovin' is up and running, so follow me on there since Google Reader is saying good-bye!