Marhaba!

It's been 2 and a half months, but the shop is open for business!  I didn't expect it to take this long.  I packed up and shipped almost all of my inventory plus a lot of supplies and it took less than a week to arrive.  I found a few places that supply butane and ordered new (read: empty) torches.  I've also managed to successfully source silver and gold supplies, so I'm confident that I have everything I need.

However, it took five weeks for me to move out of the hotel and in that time, I've more or less become inundated at work.  Plus, with the internet connection speed out here being subpar, it's been interesting trying to keep up with friends, classwork (yes, I'm crazy- signed up for a 6 month Project Management Certification program AND another elective toward my Masters')  Interestingly, it takes almost twice as long for stuff to get shipped back Stateside as it does to arrive.  Not really sure why that is.

But anyway, I have a workspace set up, my inventory unpacked, and am looking forward to the stress relief that is soldering!  My production line will be somewhat limited, mostly due to time constraints... so right now it'll be limited to ready to ship items and double infinity in a variety of sizes and finishes.

Shipping times will be a LOT longer and my fancy dancy branded packaging will be minimal, but I hope that people won't mind too much.   Thanks for sticking with me through this move!

Please visit our Etsy store for all kinds of Hawaiian beach glass, upcycled accessories and double infinity jewelry!

Aloha a hui hou!

Pretty much everyone knows what "aloha" means so I won't explain that, but "a hui hou" means "until we meet again."  The time has come to close up shop and finish up my final preparations to mobilize.  Part of that means putting the shop in "vacation mode" indefinitely.  Fortunately, the job I will be performing is not particularly hazardous, although I do expect to work very hard... Therefore, I am bringing along as much as possible so I can continue to make jewelry as a creative outlet in whatever spare time I manage to find.  Once I get settled where I'm going, I will make a determination on whether or not to reopen... and which items to offer, based on whatever equipment/tools survive the trip and what supplies I'm able to procure.  Hopefully it won't take too long.  But until then, take care!

Please visit our Etsy store for all kinds of upcycled accessories and double infinity jewelry!

Interesting Blog: 100 Days of Rejection

A major aspect of being a military spouse is having to change jobs whenever your active duty spouse gets Permanent Change of Station (PCS) Orders.  I'll be perfectly blunt - this summer, I had to quit a 6 figure job that I enjoyed in order to keep the family together.  It really sucked because I knew there were no comparable jobs for the highly specialized type of work that I (used to) do in the area we now live and I'm essentially unemployable thanks to my Reserve obligation.  (Even seasonal retail jobs were out of the question with my departure date being prior to Christmas!)  I could have pitched a fit and insisted my husband take a crappy set of orders in Hawaii or stayed behind in Hawaii with the kids until I either mobilized or found something in Virginia Beach (we also own a small house here), but if you've ever prayed for an answer and come away with a response that wasn't the one you were hoping to hear, then you'll understand why it wasn't a difficult for me to accept that it was time to leave that job even though I didn't want to.

They are interviewing candidates for my old job this week, and since it was such a unique job, anyone who knows me professionally could guess it was my job and some folks who were interested in the job gave me a call or email.  Needless to say, I did my best to help anyone who asked without compromising the integrity of the interview process.  (IE I did not contact the hiring panel with any recommendations, but I did let them know who I was speaking with.  I also did not disclose interview questions or discuss other candidates that I knew were applying.)  In the end, I have nothing to do with the experience or qualifications of the candidates anyway, and I would be doing the same type of "homework" if I could even get an interview around here.

The interesting thing is that while everyone asked me what the worst part of the job was, only one person asked me what I liked most about it.  Explaining the worst part of the job was easy- I often got tagged with all the random stuff other people in the office didn't want to deal with.  (You know, the "other duties as assigned" clause.)  It made me feel like the boss didn't think I had enough work to do and that what I did wasn't as important as what everyone else was doing.  Explaining the best part was harder- my job was essentially to figure out unique, common sense, no-cost solutions to cover our capability gaps by trading favors with other organizations.  It's really rewarding to get a crazy request and figure out how to make it work.  (In retrospect, I guess that's why I got all the crap jobs, but hey- whatever.  Just because I like independent problem solving does NOT mean I should have to deal with the pain in the ass work that other people don't want to deal with.)  And that's why I "get" the lady in this video.  It's fun to get those unique requests and make them happen.  I loved my job the most when I was free to actually do my job.

Just as interesting as the Krispy Kreme lady who wouldn't say no to the crazy customer, is the guy making the video.  He decided to film himself doing "100 Days of Rejection Therapy" and blog about it.  Oh.  My.  Goodness.  I have been turned down for at least that many jobs since leaving active duty in 2008.  (I've been offered and accepted 2, and been offered/low balled/turned down maybe about 3-4.)  Most of the time I don't get a response at all, and if I do get something, it's rarely more specific other than, "You are qualified but not the best qualified," or some non-committal BS.  I used to take it personally but not so much anymore.  (I actually just got one of the automated rejection letters this week for a job with duties I had previously held and gotten an award for doing!)  It's not that I'm applying to jobs I'm not qualified to do.  I just don't have any friends who are in a position to help me professionally here because of the specialized nature of my experience and other people do.  Fortunately, I have some savings and I've been able to replace a portion of my income through part time hours via Etsy.

What's interesting about the videos is that while on the first couple of days he's really shy about asking for stuff and getting turned down, now that he's in week 2, he's starting to kind of wheel and deal/bargain a little bit, trying to turn "no" into "yes."  Lately, I've been resentful of having to leave the career field that I enjoyed, but maybe it's time to stop taking the job hunt so seriously/personally and start looking for the hidden opportunities.

Please visit our Etsy store for double infinity jewelry and all kinds of upcycled accessories and jewelry, created in Hawaii!

Counting Blessings

Castaway Cay, Bahamas

Sunset in Port Canaveral

As you may have guessed from the pictures and some of my other posts, we recently returned from a Disney cruise to the Bahamas.  We had no internet for 4 whole days and survived!

Yes, it got a little rough in parts and I got sea sick (as did one of the kids)... but only a little bit, and had a great time overall.  We got to spend some time with my husband's family, the trip went smoothly, and there were plenty of activities for the entire family... which is sometimes a challenge for us since there's a huge age gap between kids.  I am not a huge Disney fan (I find all the music and colors, etc very in my face and overwhelming) but the cruise had a very good range of activities- from the standard Disney "over the top" entertainment to low key & unplugged.  The crew was very hard working and customer service oriented, and I was really impressed with the overall experience.  Before we went on cruise, I didn't really get it.  (I should probably add that I get motion sickness on everything- can't read in the car, can't ride swings for more than a few minutes, can't ride carnival rides that rotate on more than one axis.)

Family Beach on Disney's Castaway Cay

My father in law's first question was, "Would you do this again anytime soon?"  Was it a great vacation?  Absolutely.  One of the things about vacationing when you live in Hawaii is that you have these crazy airfares and a long plane ride anywhere you go, so this was a pretty "easy" trip (short plane rides, gone long enough to relax, not gone long enough to be homesick).  I'm glad we went.  I'm sure we could find other things to do on a repeat cruise to make it a different experience.  But would I do this again anytime soon?  My response was, "I haven't seen the total bill."  :)  I think our cruise was less expensive and more enjoyable than our trip to DisneyWorld (we were living in Hawaii at the time and airfare is so expensive these days), so I'm inclined to say yes, but I kind of feel guilty spending money on extra things like vacations.  (Don't get me wrong- we watch our pennies, our bills are paid, we don't carry debt other than our mortgages, and have a small next egg, but in this economy I feel very lucky about that.)

One of the nice surprises when we got back to civilization was a whole bunch of orders!!  So I am back to work... and starting on a week's worth of laundry.  :)  Just so you guys are aware, I am deploying as a Reservist and leaving in December, so I won't be able to take custom work after December 1st, and will stop taking new orders after December 10th to ensure everything is shipped prior to my departure.  The plan is to reopen once I get where I'm going.  I am not sure whether or not I'll be allowed to set up a full-fledged workshop in my "new" digs, but if I'm allowed to keep working with my torches, I will!

Please visit our Etsy store for double infinity jewelry and all kinds of upcycled accessories and jewelry, created in Hawaii!

Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday Sale!

It's been a really interesting year.  I think everyone knows by now that I'm a Reservist and getting ready to mobilize for a year- leaving at the end of December.  Although I hope to be able to continue running the shop from abroad, I really need to liquidate as much inventory as possible.  Therefore, I've set up a 30% off sale for EVERYTHING in the store, including my double infinity jewelry no coupon code necessary.  You don't have to buy something from me to support my business- a comment, like, or share is also helpful!

This is pretty much the best deal you're going to get, and your last chance to grab some great Simply Leilani pieces in 2012.  (I'm going to have to put the shop in vacation mode after December 10th to ensure all orders are filled prior to my departure.)  Thanks for all your support and hope everyone has a great holiday season!

Please visit our Etsy store for double infinity jewelry and all kinds of upcycled accessories and jewelry, created in Hawaii!

The original hand forged double infinity on Etsy

They say copying is the highest form of flattery.  Well, it's been a good run, but I discovered that someone else is selling a necklace with a double infinity that looks just like my double infinity.  There's really not much I can do about it because it's not like I'm the first person to come up with that symbol and I don't hold a copyright to the design.  Several customers contacted me with a request, I did some research, burned through a lot of wire, and this was the end result.

The one on the left is hers.  The one on the right is mine.  They are roughly the same size (within a quarter of an inch) with the same proportion and same finish.  I looked through her sold items, and the first one was sold on October 29th.  I've been selling these bracelets since March.  You tell me they don't look alike.  Sure, there are minor differences, but she is claiming her design to be exclusive and only available through her and stores that sell her jewelry... which is not exactly true.  But, since she's got thousands of sales compared to my paltry hundred or so, who looks like the copycat?  I think more than anything else, that is what upsets me.

If you do a search for double infinity jewelry on Etsy, there is actually quite a variety.  Some people are casting, others are cut out, some are brushed, some are metal clay, and many are soldering or fusing wire in different sizes/proportions, all of which is pretty cool.  Again, hers on the left, mine are in the center and on the right.  They all come up next to each other (just like these photos) in the Etsy search engine, so you can't tell me she doesn't know I am also selling these.

Speaking of engine searches, 6 months ago, my listings were just about the only option for a double infinity charm under $50.  Now, I'm seeing tons and tons of these things being made commercially at lower price points.  Granted, I've improved my techniques and I'd like to think mine are stronger/better than the other handmade versions and have more character than the commercial ones, but I digress.

There's a lot of money to be made through mimicry, but that doesn't really scratch my artistic itch.    Fortunately, I can afford to make what I feel like making and not try to guess at what people feel like buying.  I spent a lot of time working on resin over the past few months because I had 48 ounces of resin that would've gone bad before I return from deployment.  It's not my favorite media but it sells really well at craft fairs since it's a lower price point.  Precious metals are so expensive that it's really hard to keep enough inventory on hand to stock an entire 10x10 ft booth.

Anyway, it looks like it's time for me to stop being complacent and start making something different.  I do feel like it's time to take the shop in a different direction- more intricate soldering and metalwork, less "assembly" type stuff.

Please visit our Etsy store for double infinity jewelry and all kinds of upcycled accessories and jewelry, created in Hawaii!

Meet & Greet Blog Hop Link Up

Hey folks, I'm participating in a blog hop!  Sometimes those can be a little lame, I know, but so far there are twenty other crafty bloggers from all over the world who have joined up and it's really interesting to see what other folks are doing.  (Or maybe it's just me being nosy.)  Anyway, if you happen to have a crafty blog and want to link up, click on the button.

Please visit our Etsy store for handmade double infinity jewelry  and all kinds of upcycled accessories and jewelry, created in Hawaii!

Disney Cruise Fish Extenders

We decided to take a Disney cruise for a family vacation.  Well, to be honest, my husband's cousin posted that she was going on facebook, inviting the rest of her family to come along.  And of course, my husband, being the Disney nut that he is, took her up on her offer.  Anyway he booked the cruise and stopped there.  Thankfully, one of my childhood friends posted on Facebook that SHE went on a Disney cruise, so I asked her for some pointers.  She gave me a ton of great tips, but also clued me into this thing called a "Fish Extender."

So what the heck is a Fish Extender?  Each cabin door has a fish clip used to deliver messages to each room.  Apparently there are people who can somehow afford to take several Disney cruises in a lifetime and organize little gift exchanges with other folks on their cruise.  They created this concept where you hang something on your fish clip so other people can deliver these little gifts.  Voila, the Fish Extender.  You could use a small tote or a Christmas stocking, but the most popular seems to be this thing that resembles a hanging mail organizer.  As it turns out, there are people who make and sell these things on Etsy... for about 10 times the cost of materials.  And since I already have a good deal of quilting scraps, I decided to make my own.  And since I was already breaking out my sewing machine, etc., I offered to make one for my cousin and her family as well.

These are pretty simple to make... you could make one out of two fat quarters.  I mixed and matched a little more, but here's the general concept to make one Fish Extender, or FE:

Supplies for one FE-
One 1/2 inch wooden dowel, cut to 9"
Two fat quarters
1/4 yd lightweight fusible interfacing
One 4 yd package of single fold bias tape
Thread (I used black for both, to match the bias tape)
Scrap materials for appliques
Approx 1 yd of ribbon (1/2 yd of each color)
2-4 acrylic beads
1 bottle of Tulip fabric paint

For the base, I folded one fat quarter in half, right side out, and ironed in a crease.  (Fold it so that you get the longest possible rectangle.  This gave me a back of approximately 22 inches long- a typical fat quarter is 18" x 22".)  Then, I opened it up and ironed a single layer of lightweight fusible interfacing to one side of the fat quarter and folded it back along the ironed crease.  (So I had a sandwich with the right side of the material facing out and the interfacing on the inside.)   I used a rotary cutter to square my edges and cut it down to an 8 inch wide rectangle.  (Most of the recommendations on the Disney boards is not to exceed 8 inches wide so as not to obstruct the doorway.)

To make the pockets, I cut down another fat quarter into rectangles that measured 12 inches across and 5 inches tall.  (You could make them as short as 8 inches across or up to maybe about 16 inches across, but I wanted 1 inch pleats on my pockets and needed an extra two inches on either side of my applique to make that happen.)  But for now, iron those suckers flat and set them aside.

To make the Mickey Mouse ear appliques, I just cut three circles.  I have a Go! Baby fabric cutter from Accuquilt so I used the medium and small circles, but you can trace jars or whatever else you have handy.  (These circles are 3" in diameter for the head and 2" for the ears.)  You could cut a character out of a print, make hearts, use patches, or anything else you want... I eyeballed the suckers to center them and used a zig zag stitch right over the top to applique them to the pockets.  Then, I sewed the bias tape to the top edge of each pocket.  If you don't already know how to sew bias tape to a raw edge, here's a quick video tutorial I found that shows the process pretty well.  The only difference is that I matched the raw edge of the bias tape to the raw edge of my pocket.

Then, I ironed the whole thing flat, then marked off my 1 inch pleats on the bottom edge of my pockets... (I chose to set them .5 inch from the edge, so the marks were at .5, 1.5, and 2.5 inches from the edge.)  If you start by folding the right sides together at the middle mark (if the pocket is right side up, bring the edges toward the middle) and iron a crease in, it becomes pretty obvious how to match up the other two marks to finish the pleat.  Double check to make sure the finished pocket is 8 inches wide, then iron the living daylights out of the pocket.

At this point, I got lazy.  I hate pinning.  So, I placed the bottom pocket along the edge of my base rectangle with the outside of the pocket facing the BACK side of the base.  Everything should match along the bottom and sides.  I sewed a straight line across the bottom, leaving a 1/2 inch hem.  Then I flipped the whole thing over so the FRONT of the base rectangle was up, made 3 tiny marks along each edge at 4.5 inch intervals starting at the bottom, and sewed the rest of the pocket bottoms to the front.  (You will need to place them upside down, wrong side up- in other words, the bottom raw edge of the pocket facing the TOP of the FE, the outside of the pocket face down so that it lays on/touches the FRONT of your base rectangle.)  OBTW, make sure that bottom pocket is out from under the rest of your FE while sewing the top 3 pockets to the front.  Then I folded all the pockets up along the seams so they were all facing right side out, and ironed them in place.

Now at this point, I noticed I didn't leave enough room at the top to make a pocket for the dowel.  Since I used a 1/2" diameter dowel, I needed to make a 2" pocket to fit around the circumference.  (Yes, technically if you do the math it's 1.55" but I don't sew in precisely straight lines, so I rounded up to 2" to give me some leeway.)  On the red/yellow one, I decide to make loops using bias tape.  I finished the top raw edge of the base rectangle with bias tape first, then ironed the pockets in the correct positions and finished each side of the FE with bias tape, leaving an extra 2.5" tail of bias tape at the top.  Then I folded the tails over and sewed them in place at the top of the base rectangle.  I felt like the FE was drooping in the middle, so on the teal/black one, I took a 3" by 8" leftover from the fat quarter I used to make the pockets, and sewed that to the top.  Then, I ironed all the pockets in place and finished each end with bias tape.  Lastly, I folded the extra black piece at the top, backward, and sewed that in place to make my dowel pocket.

I cut a 9" segment of dowel, drilled two holes (1/2" from either edge), slid it through the loops/dowel pocket, then ran the ribbon through the holes and tied them off.  I made the holes pretty big, so I added some leftover beads to make sure the knots didn't slip through.  You really only need them on the bottom, but I thought it might look better to have one on top of the dowel and one on the bottom of the dowel.

At this point, I decided to take some extra ribbon and hot glued bows to the pockets for the female members of the family... and some Tulip glitter paint to add initials.  A lot of folks use their kids' entire names but I don't like random strangers walking by my door knowing the kids first names... however, if members of the FE exchange prepared kid-specific gifts, then it would help them to know which pocket is for which kid.

Voila.  There you have it.  Once I decided which fabrics I wanted to use, I was able to put these together in about 2-3 hours, from start to finish.  (Including piecing the applique, as well as cutting and drilling the dowel.)  Since I used scraps I already had, all I had to buy was the interfacing, dowel, and paint (roughly $4), but even if you had to buy material, you could still come in under $10, easily.  Much better than paying $45-50+ on Etsy, and hopefully a little more personalized for each character in your family.

Please visit our Etsy store for double infinity jewelry and all kinds of upcycled accessories and jewelry, created in Hawaii!

Crafty Display

I really didn't mean for over two months to pass between posts.  School started, soccer season started, and sales really picked up on Etsy.  But I did manage to get signed up for my first ever craft fair, which went pretty well.  I don't think I would've done so well without tips and pointers from friends and other crafty bloggers, so I figured I'd leave my trail of breadcrumbs for the next set of first time craft fair folks.

Here's the finished product.  Materials for the display ran about $75, which is not too bad considering I was starting almost entirely from scratch.  The two blue display shelves are actually stretched canvas, painted to match my color scheme, and some balsa wood hot glued in place.  (I did place them at intervals specific to my packaging.)

Of all the things I bought, the sign was probably one of the best overall investments.  My items are really small so I needed something that would bring people to the table.  I really wanted to have the sign out front on an easel to draw people in, but it ended up serving its purpose right smack in the center of the table.  People came over to read the sign, take a look at what stuff I could find on the beaches around here (there really isn't much, but I'll get to that some other time), and chat about their time in Hawaii.

The frame came from the thrift store.  It was a collage style frame, marked $5.99 but since there was no glass, the lady was willing to give it to me for $3.  Lettering was cut out of two sheets of vinyl by my Silhouette.  I meant to put the letters on a piece of stretched canvas but ran out of time.  This is the backside of the paper that comes under the mat with the fake pictures and stuff.

The pendant tray is an expanding bamboo utility drawer organizer that I got from Zulilly for $17. I actually got it to organize my items at home, but couldn't think of a better way to display all the resin pendants.  I thought about putting a book or something under it to put it on an incline, but I didn't want to block the sign.  If I had more space, I would have set two trays so that more than one group of people could flip through pendants at once.

Bracelet stands are really expensive and to be perfectly honest, they are not really user friendly.  These bracelets are pricey but very well made and I want people to be able to touch and pick up these bracelets so they can see the workmanship.  Anyway, these bottles are great because they're wider than the average wrist but have flat sides.  (Closest shape comparison I can think of is one of those small glass Heinz ketchup bottles.)  I thought it would be fun to put a small scroll in the bottle with funny nautical quotes, but as you can see, I didn't quite get there this time.

I got a set of these wired photo holders several years ago and actually got rid of the rest of the set because I never used them.  This one was discovered as I unpacked from our most recent move.  I kind of wish I still had the other two, since you can typically fit three 6ft tables under your standard 10x10ft tent.  Oh well.

And last, but not least, the tiered crystal plates.  I actually got these thinking of doing a tea party for my daughter's birthday, but we haven't had a party since her 2nd birthday.  Long story.  So I finally got to use it to display the "high end" items.  I didn't actually sell the most expensive silver smithed ones, but I did sell some of the wire wrapped pieces.  It seems like people are looking for the lower price points at craft fairs, but I did get a lot of compliments.  Maybe the next step is to find a boutique or something to sell those on consignment.

Anyway, there you have it.  I'm not planning on doing any other craft fairs this year, but I do have some ideas for other displays.  If I figure out how to make them work, I'll post them here!  ;)

Tips, pointers, questions, and other ideas welcome!


Please visit our Etsy store for all kinds of upcycled accessories and jewelry, created in Hawaii!

Ice Cream Social Toppings

My daughter's pre-k class had an end-of-summer ice cream party today and I volunteered to bring in toppings.  Pretty self explanatory concept, but in case you wanted the specifics, this is a regular-sized muffin tin and 16 ounce tumblers.   The original plan was to use those red solo cups in the large muffin tins but I decided to use clear cups so the kids could see what was inside.  (I also thought about labeling the cups but not all of them can read.)

The kids totally demolished the spread.  They could serve themselves using spoons and plastic tongs from the dollar store.  (Good for fine motor skill development!)  They were also good really good at counting out who got how many gummi bears.  But it was easy to transport in the car and SUPER easy to clean up.  We didn't do a birthday party for my daughter this year, due to the move, but I'm tempted to have an ice cream party for the neighborhood kids just so I can do this again!

Please visit our Etsy store for all kinds of upcycled accessories and jewelry, created in Hawaii!