126.

Ever since I moved into my apartment, my creative workflow has been off. I've fiddled with it here and there, and small changes have made small improvements, but it hasn't felt really good to me in over a year. I've been missing the juice, the joy of it - the thing that used to make me come home from work full of colorful thoughts and get right to making things. I still have plenty of ideas, but they don't seem to gel right. It often takes me three or four times longer to get a design right than it once did.

A huge part of my enjoyment in my design work comes from pure tactile contact with my bead collection. Being able to move them around and see them together and fidget with them makes things happen in my head. I've often joked about making a giant ballpit for them and playing in it like a sandbox. A couple of weeks ago, I was frustrated beyond the limit with my inability to find a good workflow, and the ballpit of beads joke suddenly seemed like the greatest breakthrough I could imagine. 

So I cut a huge cardboard carton apart into wide strips, taped them to the edges of my kitchen table, and dumped out 11 boxes and two drawers full of vintage Lucite beads. It made a crashing enormous noise, and it felt wonderful, but it still wasn't quite what I needed. After staring at it for two days, I knew what had to happen. I needed the beads to be free range. I loved that idea, but it also made me incredibly nervous. I manage inventory in order to be able to repeat designs by knowing exactly how many of which beads I have, and having all of them together in bags or on strands where I can find them easily. The work still wasn't right, though, and it had to be done. With some smiling encouragement from the good man who holds my hand, I bit my lip and closed my eyes and changed everything about the way I work and run my business. I dumped all the beads out of all the bags, and I threw the bags out. 

The result is pure joy. It's a sandbox full of color and texture and shape and I can't stop touching it and it's unlocked dozens of ideas and put a huge giddy smile on my face. Every time I walk past it, I reach in and give the beads a stir and see something new. I pull out little handfuls of color, and make them sing. I've made more new things in the last 10 days than I have in two months. It feels fantastic. 

My candy revolution means that I'm only going to be making one of a kind designs for a while. It's difficult to find specific beads to pull multiple pieces together for inventory. But I find I'm excited about that idea - offering unique pieces of jewelry to my clients and my stockists sounds like fun.

I'll be in my playground; keep your eyes open for new work at urban legend!

'tis the candy season.

It's sale time! urban legend is participating in Etsy's community-run annual sales event, Christmas in July. Most items in the shop are discounted 25% for the duration of the sale, from July 11-21.* Sale prices are listed, so there's no need to use a coupon code. Happy shopping, and please don't eat the jewelry!

*new designs and necklace of the month club are not discounted.

shop NOTES.

Things are getting more than usually busy for me now that the end of the school year is approaching, so I'll be closing custom orders again for a while. I'll continue to accept custom work through April 30; please contact me if you have something you'd like to request. After April 30, I won't be able to take new custom requests for several months (for either Leaves of Glass or urban legend). Thank you for your patience, and I apologize in advance for any inconvenience.

It's summer sale time at urban legend!

Necklaces are 10% off and earrings & bracelets are 20% off

through Sunday, July 17.

i want candy.

My urbanlegend shop is turning 2 years old this month. That's 2 years of making big, fun, candy-looking, please-don't-eat-the jewelry, and I've enjoyed every minute so far. I've also placed no less than 10 orders for beads in the last two weeks, so you can look forward to yet more fun new stuff - and I can look forward to trying to figure out where I'm going to put everything.

To celebrate this sugary bounty, I'll be having a sale from Friday, March 11 (that's tomorrow!) through Wednesday, March 16. Use the code IWANTCANDY in the coupon box of the Etsy checkout to take 20% off your order. Thanks for being a friend to urbanlegend, and I hope to see you in the candy store.

Etsy urbanlegend

give it forward.

I'm a proud member of Cosa Verde. This beautiful website is a gathering place for artists and crafters who use recycled or repurposed materials, or who use green business practices. Last year, they started a charming tradition called Give It Forward for the holiday season. I joined Cosa Verde several months ago, so I'm very pleased to participate in this event this season. They explain it better than I could, so I'm posting their press release below. My joie de vivre necklace, pictured above, will be listed for Give It Forward on Friday, December 3. If the spirit moves you, please participate and nominate a recipient, either for my necklace, or for any of the other beautiful donations that will be showcased today through December 10.

Bringing a sustainable side to holiday shopping, cosa verde is celebrating the season with a special kind of holiday giveaway: visitors to the website are invited to enter to win handmade gifts not for themselves, but for someone in their lives who deserves a special surprise.

This is the second year of cosa verde’s Give it Forward giveaway. Last year over thirty artists participated, ultimately sending their handmade work out to recipients in all sorts of situations—good and bad. People who had just lost a job or a home, and people who had always been there for the entrants; newlyweds and chemo patients—the stories collected in the contest entries were truly heartwarming as people celebrated their loved ones. Several of our artists were so moved by last year’s contest that they jumped at the opportunity to participate again.

This year we are calling Give it Forward the “Ten Days of Nice.” For the first ten days of December, one to two handmade gifts will be posted to our blog, with comments open for contest entry. Gifts include handmade jewelry, clothing, homegoods and accessories, and range in value from $20 to $55. Visitors to the blog are invited to comment on why their loved one deserves a special gift this year; winners will be chosen at random from eligible entries. Entries will be accepted for seven days after each post goes up, with the final entries accepted December 17. Follow cosa verde on Twitter (@cosaverde) or Facebook for updates when new gifts are posted.

cosa verde is an online showcase where independent artisans and craftspeople from around the world promote their environmentally-friendly wares and connect directly with environmentally-conscious consumers.

early bird

I'm making a conscious effort to get a little ahead of myself so that my weekends aren't so jam-packed with to-do list things. So I spent some time this weekend pulling beads together for holiday designs. Most of them won't be in the shop for a while yet, but it felt cozy to be enjoying crisp, cool weather and gathering up sparkling silvers and whites for winter wear.

Here's a preview of what will be in the shop tomorrow, though - I played all weekend in the beadyard, so there will be several new earring designs and two new necklaces this week.

(Keep an eye on Leaves of Glass, too - there are several new pieces that will list there tomorrow as well.)

summer sale times at urban legend! (and a slight amendment to the shop update)

The time for summer sale at urban legend has arrived! From Wednesday, July 28-Monday, August 2 I'll be having a 20% off sale in my urban legend Etsy shop. (Everything is on sale, with the exception of the Heavy Fuel designs - see my previous post for more information about that.)

Sale prices will be listed, so there's no need to wait for a revised invoice. However, because sales involve So. Much. Editing. of listings, I've decided to wait until Wednesday morning to post my new shop update items for this week. That saves me listing them tomorrow and then having to edit them right away on Wednesday morning. I'm a little selfish that way. But here's a little peek at what I'll have for you on Wednesday. New items and sale prices will appear early Wednesday morning ~ have fun, and thanks for supporting urban legend!

tease.

Lately I've been trying to do shop updates on Etsy all at once on Tuesday mornings, rather than listing one or two new things a day. It's been working out pretty well - I like having all the photo editing and description-writing done at once, and it means I don't have to worry about anything except relisting for the rest of the week. Which leaves me more time to actually make new things. (Imagine that!)

I thought it would be fun to start doing preview peeks of things that will be appearing in each week's shop updates - either by photographing a handful of beads that I've used in new items, or by showing little slivers of things in teaser photographs. I'm opting for Option B this week. Below are sneak peeks of 5 new things that I'll be listing tomorrow, both in urban legend and Leaves of Glass. Enjoy!

introducing a design change at urban legend

pop rocks necklace

In order to offer some lower price points, I've started using gunmetal components in several of my designs at urban legend. I'm really excited about this, as it allows me to offer lots of new durable, high-quality bracelet and necklace designs at about half the price I've had to charge in the past. For my customers with sensitive ears - don't worry! All of my earrings hooks are still sterling silver. I know several of you rely on me to provide high-quality irritation-free hooks, and that won't change. But you'll start to see several necklaces and bracelets made with gunmetal wire and chain in my shop. If you prefer sterling silver in any design, please contact me - most designs can be reproduced in sterling for an additional price. This change only affects my jewelry in the urban legend shop; my designs at Leaves of Glass will continue to be made and listed with sterling silver. Here's a sampling of what's already available in the new gunmetal line at urban legend; look for lots of new pieces to start listing in the next two weeks. I encourage your input on this change; please feel free to contact me with any comments, questions or concerns!

baggage necklace

orchid thief necklace

nomad bracelet

oops.

I'm late with Friday's sneak peeks; I'm sorry! I was working my way through a gigantic to-do list and didn't get to any of the fun stuff. Here they are, slightly delayed. The new listings will start appearing in urban legend early next week.

The last of my summer line is discounted 20-50%, and will be on sale through the end of the weekend. (And then, like that, it's gone...)

peep show

I'm very pleased to bring you, for your sneak peeking pleasure, the first look at my new fall line for urban legend. I'll be posting sneak peeks all this week, and these designs will start listing in my shop early next week.

first annual killer pop rocks sale!

Welcome, welcome, step right up to the First Annual urban legend Killer Pop Rocks sale! A huge section of my shop is marked down 25% - earrings, bracelets and necklaces. Sale prices are listed, so there's no need to wait for an adjusted invoice. Have fun, but don't mix pop rocks and pepsi, and please, please - don't eat the jewelry.

Etsy Buy Handmade urbanlegend

1 more day...

Fingers crossed that I'll actually be ready to push all those listing buttons tomorrow morning. It's been a long week, and I'm still not done, but I'm determined to make it. Thanks so much for all the lovely support and enthusiasm; here's one last sneak peek before my grand opening tomorrow morning.

2 more days...

4 more days...

5 more days...

6 more days...

urban legend countdown: one week!

I know I'm a one-note song these days. I promise I'll have other things to say in a very short while, but at the moment I'm 100% preoccupied with getting ready for my new shop launch next Monday. So on that (one)note, here's another sneak peek at what I'm making. I'll be posting a new sneak peek every day this week leading up to the launch on Monday the 23rd. It's almost here!

more urban legend sneak peeks

I'm still tweaking the photographs, and two days of black skies and pouring rain over the weekend aren't helping. I'm not sure if these are the final versions or not, but I like them enough to use them for sneak peeks. Plainly, I'm in love with gigantic plastic earrings!