My first try...

My mother and patron-of-my-art commissioned me to create a pair of earrings as a birthday gift for her friend.  I experimented with a couple of designs, but none seemed to capture Kim's essence.  That's the fun part of designing for someone I know:  I know her general style, her face shape, her hair color, the types of accessories she gravitates toward, etc. 

Figuring she'd like something bold, and knowing she likes black, this is what I came up with.  I wire wrapped onyx beads onto sterling silver tear-shaped frames that I created. 

Both my mom and the birthday girl were very pleased with the end result.  This was fun and I'll certainly do it again. My mind is swirling with ideas and variations.

Beyond Excited About My Next Adventure

Can you tell what it is?  I bought an asbestos-free block, flux and silver solder.   I still have a few things to buy, including a pickle pot, pickle solution, copper tongs, a "3rd hand"...

I'm going to hone my soldering technique.  It's been years since I've taken my metal smithing class, but I still have my old notes and text book.   I'm also inspired by this book, Chic Metal by Victoria Tillotson.

Stay tuned!

Amazine.com

So what is Amazine.com?   Simply put, if Pinterest and Blogging got married, Amazine would be their awesome offspring!  

Amazine allows you to create/curate your own online 'magazine.'  It's still in the beta stage so they're working out some kinks, but it's a pretty cool place to play.

You can log in with your Facebook page, your Twitter page, or an email account.  You can also link your Pinterest page.  Like Pinterest, there is a bookmarklet app that you can add to your browser bar to copy 'stories' to your Amazine.

For example, I selected an item from my ArtFire shop, used the bookmarklet app to create a story (yes, it links back to my AF shop).

• To check out Amazine, visit  http://www.amazine.com
• To visit my Amazine page:  http://www.amazine.com/user/1235056

Fun with wire!

Dainty bow rings.... I had a blast making these out of 22 gauge wire (14K gold filled and sterling silver).   I'll be listing these in one of my online shops soon.  Stay tuned....

Even grownups need a toy box

...or seven.

While others in my area were at Mardi Gras parades catching beads, I was at home playing with beads -- and wire.

I hate taking product photos!

So the rebranding is coming along nicely, I think. I have new banners and avatars done for my ArtFire shop, my Etsy shop, my personal website, and of course this blog.

However, yesterday I set up my photo studio, took over 300 photos of various items and experimented with different white balance settings. Every single one of photos has a blue tint. Every. single. one. Sigh...

Clearly I still haven't grasped the concept of white balance. I have no intention of using a photo editing program to tweak 300+ photos, so today, it's back to the drawing board. This time I'm only taking a dozen photos at a time. Stay tuned...

Rebranding Progress Update #1

A little update on my re-design.  I decided to change my colors from raspberry and medium gray to:

blush pink
ivory
mint
pale gray

Normally, I'm not a pastel person, but I've found myself drawn to these shades on various Pinterest boards.  They're soothing, almost ethereal -- in a word, everything I'm not   >:-D   

I've also selected new fonts:   Century, which is a basic serif font for my name and Kunstler Script as an accent font.  

My blog banner is a work-in-progress, but you can see the fonts and color(s) in action there.  I plan to add some photos to my banner once I re-take them.

Coming soon...

Yet another re-design!   I know, I know!  If I spent half as much time working on photos and descriptions as I do on redesigning my banner, etc., I'd be RICH!  Okay, maybe not rich, but....

Nevertheless, I'm fickle.  Or ever-evolving.  Whatever.  Anyway, I'm creating a pretty "home" for my creations...stay tuned. 

LisaRaspino.com is Open for Business!

As I stated in my previous post, I downgraded my 1and1.com web hosting package to a domain-registration package.   (This is not a reflection on 1and1.com.  I'm very happy with them.  However, I really didn't have the time to master their web-building program and, as such, I wasn't taking full advantage of what I was paying for.  If I'm ever in the market for web-hosting again, 1and1.com will be my first stop.)

My site is now hosted by the e-commerce platform called supadupa.me.   It was simple to set up, I like the templates.  I got in on the early bird special so the price was right for me.

Looking pretty good, right?    www.lisaraspino.com

I'll soon have new domain names for my e-shops!

I'm waiting for my package downgrade to occur so I can redirect my two registered domain names.  One will redirect to my Artfire shop, the other will redirect to my new site on supadupa.me (more about Supadupa later).

I've had a website with 1and1.com for a while now, but I never promoted it because I just couldn't get the hang of it.  It was okaaayyyy, but not wow!   That's not 1and1's fault mind you.  It's just that between creating jewelry, photographying it, editing photos, writing descriptions and my ADHD, I just don't have the time to figure out 1and1's website builder.

As a company, though, I like 1and1 a lot.  I've found their prices to be very good and their customer service friendly and helpful on the few occasions I've called them.  If and when I'm ready to engage the help of a professional webdesigner, 1and1 will be the first place I check for webhosting.

OOPS, I did it again!

I have committment issues, it seems.   I've redesigned my logo, banners, and avatars for my blog, my Facebook page and my Etsy and ArtFire pages.  This is the 5th time (at least!) in four years.  Sheesh....

I've been obsessed with the color combination of gray and berry.   (Since I've decided to embrace my natural "silver" haircolor, I find that berry is one of my new colors that look good with my coloring.  So why not incorporate it in other areas of my life?)

The pale gray heart on my banner represents a motif I use in my sterling silver wire jewelry.   I "drew" it (my first vector graphic image!) using a free program called Inkscape.  I then put the banners/avatars together using another free program called GIMP. 

Feel free to chime in.  Is the gray too bland?  Is the pink too "Barbie"?  Or does it look okay? 

Why ArtFire Rocks!

I love ArtFire.  Of all the online venues where I have a presence, ArtFire is my favorite - hands down.  Here's why, in no particular order:

1)  Cost:  There's a fixed monthly rate.  No listing fees, no fees when items sell.  No hidden, unexpected costs.   This makes it very easy to budget. 

2)  Knowledge Base:  The forum, the Help Guides, the Inside Handmade podcasts -- all excellent.  The education I'm receiving about search engine optimization (SEO) and social media (loved the Social Media Bootcamp series) alone is worth the cost.

3)  The "Admin":  The folks who run ArtFire actively participate in the forum discussions.  Getting a straight answer couldn't be easier.

4)  Selling:  People have found my items via Google and purchased them.  While shoppers are welcome to sign up to join the ArtFire community, they are not required to do so in order to purchase. 

5)  Really cool stuff:   Okay, I've been writing from the perspective of a seller, but let's face it:  I'm a shopper too.   ArtFire features some of the most amazing handcrafted items, vintage items, and crafting/art supplies. 

Another Book I'm Enjoying: 30 Minute Earrings by Marthe LeVan

I literally spend hours at my local Barnes & Noble. I especially love to peruse the art & craft books while sipping coffee at the B&N cafe and attempting to narrow my selection to one or two books.


I really liked 30 Minute Earrings by Marthe LeVan. This book features 60 earring projects, each from a different artist -- all created in 30 minutes or less.

Really cool earrings, too: some made from recycled materials (automobile license plates, VHS tapes -- I kid you not!), others made from traditional materials, others made from budget friendly items.

I also like how the top of each project lists exactly what skills are needed to complete the project. If you don't solder, for example, you can skip ahead to the next project.

That said, my first attempt at one of the projects took about 100 minutes (85 for the first earring, 15 for the second) -- talk about a learning curve! Once I figured it out, though I was zipping along.

If you're looking for out-of-the-box ideas, consider this book. It's available at B&N, Amazon, and I'm sure other places.

I received my Certified Handmade designation on ArtFire.com!

I was recently awarded my ArtFire Certified Handmade Artifact. What does this mean?


It means, I've been a PRO member of ArtFire for at least 60 days. (Since October 2010, actually.)

It means I'm in good standing with ArtFire.com, including no outstanding cases concerning non-delivery of product, no outstanding cases concerning mis-representation of products for sale, no outstanding cases concerning other violations of the ArtFire Terms of Use.  (Never had any outstanding cases.)

It means my ArtFire studio is complete and contains an avatar, a banner, complete studio policies, and a bio with photo.

Most of all, it means that 100% of the items in my ArtFire studio are personally handmade by me.

To visit my ArtFire studio, click here.

So I'm Reading This Book.....

It's called How to Start a Home-Based Jewelry Making Business by Maire Loughran.  It's chock full (yeah, there's a term I use a lot - not!) of information about transitioning from hobbyist to business owner.   It's available online at Barnes & Noble and Amazon.   It's also available on Google Books .

It's inspired me to get serious about the business side of my work and I've been researching sole proprietorship versus LLC, taxes, accounting, etc.   Ever read so much info you feel like your head is going to explode?   That's me.

Well, it's about time, right?!

It's been a long time coming, but I've redesigned my blog and my Etsy banner.   I'm in the processing of updating my website.  

I'm liking the new look - nice and cheery, don't you think?   My goal is to post at least once a week - preferably twice.  For those of you that still check in from time to time, thanks for hanging in there.

Check out my new and improved Facebook Fan Page!

http://facebook.com/LisaRaspinoJewelry

Here you'll find photos of my creations, as well as a handy link to my Etsy shop (http://lisaraspino.etsy.com/)

A Brief Hiatus...

Due to an illness in the family, I've made two cross-country trips in three weeks so I've been a bit out of touch, electronically and creatively. Things seems to be going well, though, so I hope to get back to creating and blogging soon.

Thanks for hanging in there!

When One Door Closes, Another Opens...

In my last post, I mentioned that I was a bit sad that the Etsy team I joined (as a founding member) last fall seems to have fallen on the wayside.

There's truth to the saying that when one door closes, another opens. This 'new door', so to speak, is a new team called Handmade Louisiana. Wonderful artisans from the great state of Louisiana, but not exclusively Etsy sellers.

I'll be posting more info about Handmade Louisiana's mission, etc. In the meantime, here's a link to our blog (I'm a contributer).

Mourning a Loss of Sorts

As many of you know, I list my jewelry for sale on Etsy. Last fall, I met a couple of really terrific sellers based in my home state and we decided to form a team, LouisianArtisans or LArtisans, for short (click on the link and check out some really amazing shops from the Bayou State.

The LArtisans Team established an executive committee for Membership, Treasury, Public Relations, Local Liaisons, etc. We were on fire, baby! We have our own online portal with message boards, chat, a blog (I was the blog committee chair). We had our own groups on Flickr, IndiePublic, MySpace, WeLoveEtsy...it was almost a little daunting. But there was a lot of interest.

Our membership comprised over 200 Etsy shops. Etsy chats twice a week. Local group meetings. And then, around Christmas, it all started to fall apart. Not pointing fingers at all. Life is so much more than our art and Etsy business; no one understands that more than I.

But still, I'm sad. I've met a lot of very cool, very inspiring people. We've shared coffee, conversation, marketing tips. We've cheered each others' successes, commiserated with each others' disappointments. I've actually done what I tell my kids NEVER to do: I made a friend online and *gasp* gave out my personal information. But she's a kindred spirit of mine: part friend, part enabler (bead shop sales? road trip?), part encourager. She's a keeper (her shop is here).

So I guess I can say that I received most of what I hoped with this team. I'm just sorry that others may not have the great experience that I did. Perhaps they joined later when the activity was waning. Perhaps we didn't reach out enough to get them - and keep them - actively involved. Who knows.

Perhaps we'll try again some day. I would like to think you haven't heard the last of the LouisianArtisans.