Handmade 365

At the beginning of October, I read about a project started by The Tales of Ted and Agnes blog.

To put it simply, the idea is to wear a handmade item everyday for a year and take a photo of it. It can be a scarf knit by your grandmother, a dress made by your extra crafty friend or a little piece of shine you created for yourself.

I figured that since I spend all day every day making handmade stuff....this project has got to be a piece of cake, right?! Right?

Well...taking a photo of myself wearing a pair of my handmade jewels has been a little bit less consistant than I hoped for, but they say that it takes 3 months to build a habit so hopefully I will be able to get this down soon. I have really enjoyed wearing a new item everyday though that I made. It has made me wear a variety of items, not just my old standbys (even though I create mounds of jewelry, I still wear the same five things over and over and over again).

I've been at it for about a week now and have seven days of photos to share with you. I thought each week I would do a recap on the blog, but be sure to check out my instagram or facebook page if you want to see the photos each day.

/Day 1\

Rose gold Swarovski crystals with 14K rose gold filled earwires. Super sparkly and don't you just love the rose gold trend right now? Not available yet in my etsy store, but by the end of the week they will be all photographed and in stock.

/Day 2\

Vintage czech glass jewels with vintage gold plated hammered drops. These are deceptively light and I have them available in a few colors and wear them so often. These are one of my new favorites in my current rotation. Available in my etsy store here.

/Day 3\

One of the first pair of earrings I ever made for myself and my absolute favorite. These have light blue Peruvian opals which have been wire-wrapped in 14K gold and hang from thin, light earwires. These are the only ones available and they are all mine!

/Day 4\

I made these just last week while playing around with some splashes of color. These are vintage brass dangles which have been hand painted with coral on top and fuchsia on the bottom. The ear wires are antiqued brass, so it has the mixed metal and color block trend going on. Available in my etsy store here.

/Day 5\

Sometimes it is best to keep these simple. This is one of those necklaces. Simple, sweet and perfect for everyday wear. A bright sparrow and 14K gold. Available in my etsy store here.

/Day 6\

  

I liked this necklace so much that I wore it two days in a row, messing up my goal of wearing a different item for each day of this project. That is how much I like it. The lotus flower is stamped into the sterling silver and the contrast with the oxidized metal and bright sterling really highlights the design. The chain and pendant are both sterling silver. Available in my etsy store here. 

/Day 7\

 I am really loving gold lately. I never really liked gold jewelry growing up and never thought that I would wear gold. Now....it is what I wear 90% of the time. I love the warmth of the color, I love how it looks on my skin and it really goes well with colors. These earrings have vintage lucite beads in a coral hue with the same gold plated hammered pendants that I wore a few days earlier. I am a creature of habit, what can I say? Available in my etsy store here.

So that about wraps up my first week into the project. I am really loving this idea and am going to try my hardest to stick to it. I think that it will help me grow as a jeweler as well as I get to create fun new pieces more often.

Have a great night everyone!

PS....I am having a 20% off everything sale in my etsy store, so all the pieces above aren't priced any higher than $20.80. Woohoo!

~ With Love, Ashlee ~ 

Some Things You Might Not Know About Me

1) I hiccup. A lot. An unnatural amount really.
Usually my hiccups are singular and they are so loud and sudden that they end up startling the puppy, the husband and myself.

2) My desert hierarchy is as follows:
Pie < Ice Cream < Cupcakes < Cake < Cookies.
Cookies always win.

3) My first job was at Target and I have never worn red and khaki together since then.
Never ever.

4) If I ever get a tattoo, it will be a quote from my favorite book 'East of Eden' by John Steinbeck.

5) I prefer to sleep at a diagonal angle across the bed much to my husband's dismay.

6) I took five years of French along with one year of Italian in college and all I got from it was how to spot anything with fromage (cheese) on the menu and how to ask for the 'water closet' (bathroom).

7) When I was 17, I pierced my belly button like four hours before an eight hour flight from Hawaii to San Fran to Denver.
Terrible idea.

8) The foods I love and eat the most are avocados, raspberries, oatmeal, watermelon and kale.
(My husband thinks that this point should just be avocados, avocados, avocados, avocados and avocados).

9) I am terribly skittish around and afraid of balloons and rubber bands.

10) All of my first pets were named after foods.
Oatmeal the cat, Oreo the cat & Smore the beagle.

Dress: Forever 21 / Shoes: Target

Infinity Bracelet: My Sweet Nomsa / Coral Earrings: My Sweet Nomsa

~ With Love, Ashlee ~

Home Again...

After spending the past two months on an island, we are back in the city and I have FINALLY unpacked and hung all my clothes back up.

And I have to say....I am missing my island.

Yep, it's mine now.

I got married there, I lived there for a few months so I think I can claim it as my own. 

I really can't believe how quickly eight weeks passed by. Seems like just yesterday I was trying to figure out how many tank tops one needs for island living and how much of a tan I could achieve. I was going for Snooki, but left looking more slightly 'sun-kissed.' 

In my last week on the island, I hit up a thrift store and scored this little Banana Republic number for $5.00.

What I love most about this dress is that the bottom of it actually has a built in slip, so the jersey fabric doesn't cling and I don't have to worry about showing off too much of my goodies.  

(Sidenote: In the above photo, I had to edit out a massive boner on my parent's-in-law pup Bruno. He was  a bit excited for his first photo shoot).

Dress: Banana Republic 

Shoes: Blowfish Shoes

Silver Locket Necklace: My Sweet Nomsa

Sterling Silver Infinity Bracelet: My Sweet Nomsa

Here are some close ups of the jewelry that I am wearing in the above photos 

(click on the photo to be taken directly to the item).

It's good to be back home, but I know that I am not the only one missing island living...

 

Be prepared for a lot of island living recaps over the next week or so because I have a whole smorgosbord of photos to share. 

Crabbing adventures, family visits, beach time, farmer's markets and fort exploring. 

Have you guys been enjoying your summer so far?

~ With Love, Ashlee ~

My First Tropical Storm...

So far Andrea isn't quite as exciting as I had hoped it would be. 

It's raining a lot and my puppy is refusing to go to the bathroom due to his immense dislike of water. He's just sitting downstairs right now with his puppy legs crossed, staring out the window, waiting for the rain to let up.

Today I spent the majority of my time indoors besides leaving to have a bicycle race with myself to get to the post office before my t-shirt became soaked with rain. 

I won. 

I also had the pleasure of working on and packaging up a custom order for a lovely bride and her lucky bridesmaids. 

 

During my lunch break, I spent an hour knitting while watching a rerun of America's Funniest Home Videos. 

Does anyone else love that show as much as I do? 

 

I started working on a wool hat for John (I know that June doesn't seem like an optimal time to knit a wool cap, but I do what I want). 

I found this pattern and had the yarn on hand to recreate it, and hats are my favorite thing to knit, so there ya go! 

Wool hat being knit in June.

That's how this knitta rolls. 

Lastly, today I started a massive storewide sale in my etsy store, My Sweet Nomsa. Everything is marked down 15%!

Sale ends June 17th at Midnight!

Hope everyone is having a great day and staying dry if you are on the East Coast.

~ With Love, Ashlee ~

First Ever Giveaway!!

Alright y'all....I'm a little bit nervous here. I am about to do my first ever giveaway on this blog and I don't want to come out of it looking silly, so I need all of you to participate. So if you could all do me that favor, I would appreciate it. 

So.....Mother's Day is coming up. And if you are like me and love your mom, you want to get her something special, to show her how awesome she is. Well...what do mom's love? Jewelry. Specifically my jewelry. Case in point....

**My mom wearing one of the necklaces I made her**

What's that?? My mom is a super model and looks just like Sandra Bullock? 

I know, right?!?!

Anywho... to celebrate the mom's out there, I am giving you a chance to win a $25.00 gift certificate to my etsy store, My Cellar Door!!! Isn't that exciting?

Now, with this $25.00 credit, you can pick out a piece of jewelry for your mom for Mother's Day, you can give her the gift certificate as the present and let her choose her own gift, or you can keep it all for yourself (don't worry...we won't tell. You deserve it)!

So I bet now you're thinking....'Geez, Ash. You've got me all hyped up for some awesome jewelry, how the heck can I win this amazing giveaway??'

Thanks for asking dear reader. It's going to be super easy, and I am providing you with five, yes FIVE, ways to win. 

*Mandatory*

1) Follow my blog via Google Friend Connect. Click that little blue 'Join this site' button on the right hand side of my blog.

*Extra Entries*

2) Follow my business's facebook page - www.facebook.com/mysweetnomsa

3) Facebook about this giveaway to all your friends (use the handy facebook button right below the green ribbon signature, to make it super quick and easy). 

4) Follow my twitter account - www.twitter.com/mysweetnomsa

5) Tweet about this giveaway to your twitter followers (use the handy twitter button right below the green ribbon signature, to make it super quick and easy).

For each entry in the giveaway that you do, leave a comment below letting me know what you did. So, if you do all five possible ways to enter, leave five comments below. If you do three entries, leave me three comments, one for each entry. 

The giveaway will end April 23rd at noon and the winner will be announced in that evening's blog post. 

So what are you waiting for....go make your mom happy and win some jewelry!!

Oh, How Pinteresting...

This week seems to have gotten away from me. I feel a few days behind on all my work stuff, housecleaning and personal things, including this lovely little blog. 

(You don't even want to know about the massive pile of laundry that I have had sitting on my floor for the past three days. I'm going to give it one more day to figure out how to fold itself, then I suppose I will give in and do it myself).

For the past two Wednesday's, I have shared some of my favorite items discovered on/pinned to Pinterest from that week. Since I didn't do it yesterday, and I still want to show you guys some cool things I found, I am going to go ahead and double-back and do it today. So, let's all just pretend that I did this yesterday and kept with my usual schedule.

 

/one\

 

via

Royal Blue Velvet Loafers. Loving the tassel. 

/two\

via

 Haunting quote from my favorite author. 

/three\

 

via

Digging the neon yellow and gray.

/four\

 via

This are H-A-N-D-M-A-D-E by a couple on etsy. Seriously....how talented. 

/five\

  

via

From the always wise and fabulous Oscar Wilde. The above quote is actually on a piece of metal that is part of a cuff bracelet. 

 /six\

via

Hello................

 /seven\

via

I really want to try this out. I need to remember to buy make-up sponges the next time I'm at Target.

/eight\

via

A little 'Mumford & Sons' jewelry for ya. 

So there you have it! My favorite pins of the week. 

Want to follow me on pinterest? 

You can find me here - www.pinterest.com/mysweetnomsa

Leave your pinterest username in the comments below, so I can follow you and your discoveries!

New Items In Stock!

As many of you know, I have been having a 20% sale for the past few days. The sale officially ends at Midnight tonight (EST), so if you want to get take advantage of these never-before-so-low prices, you better act quickly! The sale is going on in both of my etsy stores - www.mycellardoor.etsy.com & www.nomsa.etsy.com.

I added a bunch of new items to both of my stores. I have oodles of new designs that I still need to add, so check back often in the next few days for a lot of new items! If you want any more information about any of the items below, just click on the photo to get all the details!