It's a giveaway to celebrate the release of STOLEN MAGIC by Stephanie Burgis!

To celebrate the release of Stolen Magic by the wonderfully talented Stephanie Burgis, she is holding a giveaway of one witch's heart ring, which I designed for the book! To enter, go to her post with pictures of the ring and an outline of the rules, here.

And I highly recommend this series. These were some of the most fun, heartwarming books I've read in a long time.

Enter to win a copy of Stolen Magic, by Stephanie Burgis

I got to read an advance copy of Stolen Magic. Here's my review of it:

The only bad thing I can say about this book is that it's the end of the series, and I didn't want to say goodbye to these characters. While Burgis leaves plenty of story threads that could be picked up again in future books, this book has a satisfying end that resolves the main conflict in Kat's life, specifically, who her mother was and what kind of scandalous magicks did she practice?

The story opens with Kat and family arriving for Angeline's wedding, and her betrothed's family hasn't exactly welcomed her into the fold. She's too poor, both in terms of money and social connections, and her future mother-in-law is not about to hand over the keys to the castle. Meanwhile, one of the other wedding guests is a woman who knows Kat's father very well, which is odd, because Kat's never heard a single thing about her. Yet a little bit of spying soon reveals that this woman practices magick, and not the proper, Guardian kind.

And Kat would love to ponder this further, only someone keeps trying to take Angeline's life, really, that's quite distracting for our heroine. Who, though, is at fault? The reluctant soon to be in-laws? The mysterious witch wedding guest? The jealous cousin who'd once hoped to wed Angeline's fiancee? Only Kat knows enough about magick and mayhem to get to the bottom of this.

In case it isn't obvious, I loved this book. Now there's a giveaway on Goodreads for a copy of the book. Really, you want to enter it. You want to win it. I'd enter myself, but that's selfish since I already have preordered my copy and copies for my mother and friend.

New Post up on Black Gate

I just posted on the Black Gate website about my book tie-in jewelry. Head on over there to see pictures of the different "drafts" I did of pieces, including an alternate front cover of the Magick Book pendant that Stephanie Burgis passed on.

An excerpt from the post:

I’ve produced three designs, a pendant that I released at the same time that Kat, Incorrigible hit bookstores, a pair of earrings that debuted at the launch party for the second book, A Tangle of Magicks (this will be released as Renegade Magic in the US next year), and a charm bracelet that just went on the market about an hour before I sat down to write this post. One might ask, how big is the market for book tie-in jewelry like this? I have no idea. Ask me in a year or two. What I can talk about, though, is how we started this venture.

Head on over to www.blackgate.com to read the rest!

Today's blogpost is on Artfire

In it I list all my excuses for not having listed new items in my shop. I know, there are a lot of lame ones...

Reprint of my Jewelry Affaire article.

I posted a reprint of my article for the Fall, 2010 Issue of Jewelry Affaire on my Artfire Studio Blog. If you like the article, click on the link in the right hand column of this blog to subscribe to the magazine!

Sale on!

Head over to my Artfire store in the next 24 hours to find everything 15% off! This is a one off sale, to get things rolling in that store venue. Come on over and browse!

And in other publication news...

my jewelry will again be featured in Jewelry Affaire. I blogged more details here, on my Artfire Blog.

Putting things in order

I've been working hard on my jewelry shops these last few weeks. My goal is to get over 100 items into my Etsy store, and my Artfire store won't be far behind. But it means some long hours and some late nights. I'm 12 items away. Wish me luck!

I've angered some minor deity

Today's blogpost is actually over on my Artfire blog. The link is here. In it I talk about weird, almost paranormal experiences at my silversmithing class this week.

I'm going to make more of an effort to tie my blogs together with crosslinks. I've been pretty bad about that lately!

Fitting it all in

So, today I signed up for a 30 day trial membership on Artfire, and thus am stretching myself even thinner. I'm someone who believes in living each day to the fullest, but at the same time not running around like a maniac. Many people reading this know exactly what I mean; it's a hard balance to strike. I want to do what I do well, but at the same time, my top priorities in life are my religion and my family. My creative endeavors come third - a very close third, but third all the same.

Artfire has a 45 day regime as you start up your account with them, and I think I shall try to do it. Try is the key word. If it's too much and I can't do it and look after my children, I shall allow myself to fail miserably :-). Besides. I still have this short story to finish and another that I'm ready to start writing next. One thing about packing my schedule full, I rarely feel dull and out of ideas - I'm always bursting with the one that I've been trying to get down for the past few weeks.

I know most of my readers (yes, both of you) are very successful in your creative ventures. How do you fit it all in? I try to set low daily goals. One new item in my shop or revise the listings of two items. Write a scene. Day after day, those little dribs and drabs of effort really add up.

May Giveaway for the Jewelry Shop

As I do every month, I'm giving away a piece of jewelry from my Etsy shop. This month it will be a crystal flower bracelet. You can choose your colors for the flowers. Samples of all the different colors available can be seen here.

To enter the giveaway, follow the instructions in the Notes on my Facebook Fan Page. The giveaway is open for entries until midnight next Monday, at which point I'll use the random number generator on random.org to select the winner. Okay, I might not do that at midnight. I might be asleep, but I'll do it sometime on Tuesday.

Links Page

Okay, I'm slowly getting this blog all updated. I even moved all the links onto their own page. I'm woefully short on links to other writers' pages, though. I'm working on it. Actually, right now I'm hard at work making the charm bracelet for Stephanie Burgis's Kat Stephenson books. Between that, motherhood, maintaining my Etsy shop, and what little writing I get done, I'm stretched rather thin. But I count myself lucky to have so many things I want to do. Boredom is never a problem.

Over the next few weeks I want to shift more time away from Etsy shop maintenance (readjusting pictures and all that) to writing and blogging. You'll know how well I do by how many postings appear. Watch this space!

Friends

Every time I hope to turn a corner with my business and drop the level of work down to a more sustainable level, something goes wrong and I find myself snowed under. Often it's my product photography giving me fits, as I'm not much of a photographer. I learn at a pace just fast enough that everything in my shop looks awful and amateurish at all times.

This week, a big thank you to my lovely friend, Polly, who sells the most adorable hats and stuffed animals in www.etsy.com/shop/marceletbobine. I first met Polly at an Etsy picnic, and soon after bought one of her hats for a nephew. When I returned to get a stuffed panda for my son, Polly tried to get it in the mail the very next day, but failing this, biked all the way to my flat! Granted, I don't live too far, but how is that for service? It was also wonderful to have her by for a visit.

Many of the top Etsy jewelry sellers have their pieces pictured on models, when possible - obviously not for things like earrings. Tiaras, I've noticed, sell noticeably better when modeled. Now, various people have been very sweet to me and said I should model my own pieces as I've got long hair that can, theoretically be styled. The problem with this is 1) I do not know how to style my hair very well, 2) I am not at all comfortable in front of the camera, and 3) my hard-working husband does not have time to learn to be a photographer right now. He's busy running the household in the evenings and on weekends, and I know quite well what an enormous, all consuming job that is.

Then it occurred to me that Polly models her own hats, and I sent her a message asking if she'd be willing to model my tiaras. Lovely woman that she is, she said yes and yesterday came over to do just that. I set my camera to take multiple pictures and we just sat and talked while she modeled my pieces. She even brought along her wedding dress, that she still fits into and is gorgeous.

I've been blessed with some great friends in my life, and can't believe how the list continues to grow. Images of Polly will be appearing in my shop every few days over the next week or so. Now to return to work on my project for another friend, Stephanie Burgis. Other crises derailed my schedule last week, and top of my priorities is getting her charms in to the casters' so that we can get the masters made.

Coming up for air

Been ages since I've just sat down and blogged. As I've said before, I've been working overtime on my Etsy shop. Ever since starting it back up, after the birth of my second son, I've been hard at work restocking it and getting involved with the Etsy community. Slowly my work seems to be paying off. I'm getting more views and a few sales.

The most exciting item, from my perspective, is this:

The Magick Book pendant from Stephanie Burgis's A Most Improper Magick/Kat, Incorrigible. You can buy the pendant on its own, or, if you act fast, with a signed copy of A Most Improper Magick.


So, yes, that's what's been happening in jewelry world for me. As far as writing, goes, I'm working on a short story right now, an feeling like those ten years I've been trying and failing to write short stories are starting to pay off. I kinda sorta know what I'm doing and hope to produce another publishable piece. The novel project I had I've shelved for the moment to see if I can do some more, sellable, short stories.

Ten years ago, I graduated from Clarion West and the plan was to start selling short stories to the major markets and thus get a little attention, maybe have an agent ask if I had a novel. Five years later, my writers group in New Mexico convinced me to turn back to novels, since my short stories were really awful. My novels weren't fantastic either, but they got me on a first name basis with some agents and editors. Then I sold a novel to a small press, and discovered it wasn't worth it to publish with a company I didn't trust or respect.

And somewhere along the way, my subconscious figured out how to do short stories. Sort of. I hope. Now I find myself back where I was ten years ago, wondering if I can build up my reputation by selling short stories. We shall see.

Last day for entries to the giveaway

Over 45 people have entered the drawing for the Magick Book Pendant + Signed Copy of A Most Improper Magick by Stephanie Burgis, and this contest will close tonight, at midnight GMT. So there's still time to enter!

Then tomorrow, at 8pm, GMT, I will list 3 pendants with signed copies of A Most Improper Magick in my Etsy store. Those will sell on a first come, first served basis. After that, anyone who'd like a pendant, or a pendant with a copy of the book, will be able to place an order through my Etsy store, or my Folksy store - the price will be the same in both places. If you know you want a pendant and would like me to reserve one for you in the next casting, which will happen later this week, please contact me via email (emilymtippetts at gmail dot com), through Etsy or Folksy, or through the event I'm posting on my company's Facebook Fan Page right now.

And thanks, everyone, who's entered so far! 

Kat, Incorrigible Jewelry Giveaway!

Hi everyone! Today is the day that Stephanie Burgis is giving away one of the pendants I designed. It's the Magick Book from Kat, Incorrigible. Head on over to her blog, http://stephanieburgis.livejournal.com/233924.html, to enter. And then, late next week, it will be for sale in my Etsy shop.  

Magick Jewelry for Ages Ten to Fifteen

Here it is! The press release for the Kat pendant.



Emily Mah Jewelry Designs, a London based jewelry company, and author, Stephanie Burgis, have teamed up to offer jewelry based on Burgis's Kat Stephenson books. The first piece, a pendant of a Magick book featured in the novel, will debut the second week of April in Emily Mah Jewelry's Etsy store, http://www.emilymah.etsy.com/, for £14.95. Fans of Burgis's books will have the opportunity to win one of these pendants on April 5, 2011, the same day that Burgis's book, Kat, Incorrigible, is released in the United States. Burgis will hold the giveaway on her site, www.stephanieburgis.com. Fans will have another opportunity to win a pendant in a giveaway held by Emily Mah Jewelry Designs the second week of April. All who wish to enter may do so via the company's Facebook page, www.facebook.com/emilymahjewelry.


Kat, Incorrigible is the first of a three book series that Burgis has written for Atheneum Books in America and Templar Books in the UK. It has already been released in the UK under the title, A Most Improper Magick, and has been selected by the Reading Agency for its 2011 Summer Reading Challenge, run through 95% of public libraries in the UK. The series heroine, Kat Stephenson, is a twelve year old girl who lives in Regency England and has a deep, dark family secret. Her mother was a scandalous witch who made little effort to hide her magical abilities. Mama died when Kat was still a baby and all that remains of her legacy are some personal items, including two magic books and a golden compact mirror that shows an extraordinary and supernatural affinity for Kat. With it comes a magical calling unlike anything Kat has ever dreamed of.

Emily Mah Jewelry Designs has purchased the rights to create several pieces of jewelry based on the Kat Stephenson series, and each design will first be reviewed and approved by Burgis before it is offered to the public.

Kat, Incorrigible is Burgis's first published novel and she has published over two dozen short stories in the fantasy and science fiction genres. Emily Mah Jewelry Designs is run by American expatriate, Emily Mah, a jeweller who specializes in a broad array of metalworking techniques and also a published science fiction and fantasy author. To find out more about Burgis's work and Emily Mah's jewelry designs, please visit http://www.stephanieburgis.com/ and http://www.emilymah.etsy.com/.

I'm starting to get why fashion companies do collections

So, I obviously haven't been blogging much lately. This week my parents are in town and I decided to work overtime to get ahead on my Etsy shop and bank a bunch of jewelry that I can list daily for a week or two. Which means I've been staring at my Etsy shop a lot, and thinking about what I mean to do with this thing.
You see, I started making jewelry purely as a hobby. It was a way to let off steam, burn some creative energy, and I really enjoy it. The Etsy shop started as a way to make a little money back, maybe make this a self sustaining hobby.

Then I started taking courses at London Jewellery School. It started with one, then another, then I finally took a deep breath and decided that since I loved it so much, I should just keep going. I stopped trying to pay for classes out of my jewelry income and instead dipped into my savings. I stopped trying to plan to earn the tuition cost back in the next few months or year, but rather decided to take the long view. Eventually I will earn it back, as it appears this isn't just a passing hobby. This is a part time job.

Learning new jewelry making techniques feels to me like I'm a kid in a candy store, constantly discovering new kinds of candy. I've experimented with all sorts of things and gone in so many different directions, and listed it all in my Etsy store. Then a new stress started. I could see that my store is so eclectic that I was hurting my chances of establishing a brand, but I didn't want to limit myself. I was having too much fun being eclectic.

This week, I sat down and rearranged both my store and my mind. I realized that even though I'm eclectic, my jewelry does fall into categories. I've got all my sparklies, or crystal and glass bead pieces, my minimalist chainmaille or wire roses and rosettes, my Jewelry Affaire featured lucite flower bead pieces, and my newest style, the sterling and fine silver. Then I've also been doing some wedding jewelry. That's still a lot of different looks, but at least I can actually pull together categories. Once I rearranged my shop into these sections, I had links to five differnt consistent looking sub-shops.

Now, many people on Etsy would literally open five shops. But if I did that, there is no way I could maintain my Folksy Shop, my Artfire Shop, and my Wedding Bliss Lane Shop. Odds are high that I won't keep all of these shops long term, but for now I want to get a feel for the different venues and see which other ones, besides Etsy, are a good fit for me.

While on one hand I do understand that it helps to have a strong theme and evoke a certain, focused response when people browse to my shop, on the other hand, I really felt that there is a place in this world for jewelry stores with several different lines by different artists, so why not a store with all the different sides of me in it? And then I had an a-ha moment that many established jewelers and artists and designers will mock me for taking so long to get to. Now I understand one of the main reasons why so many artists and designers work in series. You get the chance to be one way for a while, and provide consistency for your customer and all that, but then you get to change it up regularly.

Given that, I've figured out a new game plan for my store. I'm still going to do whatever I feel like, crafting wise, but I'll list and relist items daily in one category at a time. I.e. I'll do all glass bead and crystal for a while, then switch over to silver for a while, etc. This way whenever someone goes to my store, they won't be hit with a mishmash of randomness, but will rather see a cohesive theme and look. They'll be able to more easily decide whether they want to come back and if they stay and browse, they'll have an idea of what they're browsing for.

So, yes, all you visual artists out there can laugh at me now. I learn slowly :-) My next project, set up the release of the Magick Book pendant in April, when Kat, Incorrigible comes out. I'm having the master made right now and my goal is to get a pendant to Stephanie Burgis in time for a giveaway on April 5! So yes, there will also be a book jewelry section of the shop too. I have a short attention span when it comes to handcrafting. That's why I turned to jewelry in the first place, each project is small and I can finish it in a day.

New media, and why I'm so terrible at it

Red Rosette Pendant a photo by EmilyMah on Flickr.

As I mosy around the internet, trying to coordinate all the different media outlets for my business, I occasionally try something that I later abandon. Today I tried SoopSee, but won't stay with it. It's an aggregator that takes your Etsy shop, Twitter stream, and blog and puts them all on one site, but it doesn't do it better than this Blogger site.

Every time I try something, though, I leave little husks of half finished sites in my wake. I'm sure some of them are quite humorous.

Rich Plum Enamel on Fine Silver Earrings

Fine Silver Purple Enamel a photo by EmilyMah on Flickr.

Just posted this in my Etsy Store and my Folksy Store.