Since it’s the beginning of a brand new year, I thought we should think about the past for a moment. After all, if we’re going to set new year’s resolutions (yeah, yeah, I know it’s corny, but I do it!), shouldn’t we think back and reflect on what has actually worked for us in the past?

As far as my art and jewelry career goes, the best advice I ever got was to enter contests and calls for entries, especially those that cost me nothing but time. Why the heck not? Not winning doesn’t really hurt that much, and winning is really really cool.

So what’s the best piece of advice you ever got? It doesn’t have to be about jewelry making or beading, but it can be. If you’d like to share your moment, you can either leave me a comment below, or email me your advice, along with your link and an image of your work that you’d like to share. Send it to cyndi @ b5Media.com (remove the spaces) and please use the subject heading J&B advice.

Post from: Jewelry and Beading

Guest author: James L Fraser, Jr

Finding the person you want to settle down with for the rest of your life is one of the most important things you will ever have to do. People find all sorts of ways to ask “Will You Marry Me” and it doesn’t always include diamond engagement rings. You can come up with some really creative and original ideas when it comes to proposing and save yourself a handsome sum on the cost of diamond jewelry. Here are some of the unique ways people have popped the question.

1) This one is pretty interesting. Most of us wouldn’t think a funeral as much of a place to ask someone to marry them, but that is exactly how one man decided to propose to his girlfriend. This story was entered into a contest that was looking to find the world’s most romantic marriage proposals. Apparently, the man was standing in front of his brother’s casket and in order to share this special moment with him, he decided to ask her then for her hand in marriage.

2) Another odd marriage proposal was made by a man who said he would marry his girlfriend, but only on the condition that she first go through the Army Reserves. According to him, joining the army would improve her self-esteem.

3) This one is just hilarious. A guy decided that he would write his girlfriend a note asking her to marry him. Sound kind of lame? Not even a pair of diamond earrings or anything? But just guess where he put the note… There probably couldn’t be any less of a romantic place to put it, but, to each their own. When the girlfriend went to change her daughter’s diaper, sure enough, there it was. (Hopefully the diaper wasn’t too dirty.)

4) What about thinking someone wants to marry you and then finding out they want to break up. Well that is exactly what happened to one woman. The Onion put out an article in February of 2003, when they heard Amanda Gentry’s story. Her boyfriend Wilson Crandall had been acting vey strangely and erratic with her. He was in law school and studying for the bar exam. He told her that once school was over he had something important to talk to her about; something that concerned their future. Having been together for many years, she thought that the time was finally coming to move forward in their relationship. Well, you just imagine the surprise she got when the “talk” finally did occur and he told her that the relationship was over.

Image: Wikimedia Commons

Post from: Jewelry and Beading

Back a couple of years ago, Tammy Powley wrote about a bad experience she had in sharing information with a “friend”. We can probably all relate to the feeling that someone else has used you…it stinks.

My personal feelings on sharing and copycats have always been mixed. On the one hand, I do write about making jewelry for a living, so when I’ve put a tutorial out there, I expect to answer questions about it, including sources, and I obviously want people to feel free to follow my instructions and make a piece for themselves. On the other hand, I don’t really want to see copies of my work knocked off and sold by the hundreds at flea markets And when it comes to my personal work, I don’t necessarily feel that I owe it to anyone to tell them everything about the how and the what. But in general, my bottom line has always been, “Copy if you must…I’m moving on!”

Recently though, the lovely Jeri England wrote a comment about the topic, and she had a completely different slant on the topic that she gave me permission to share with you all. Jeri wrote:

I helped my husband grow & run a business for several years back in the early 1980’s. In 1991 he sold out to his partner of two years. I think you could say that they agreed to disagree. He hesitated in taking a partner in the first place but our company was growing so fast he needed a money partner. It served a purpose and they stayed together until his partner bought him out in.

The business was heavily based on sales and I had zero experience. In order for my involvement to benefit the business I needed training. The two most important things my husband taught me have stayed with me and served me well all these years. The lessons are so specific and yet so nonspecific that anyone can apply them as I have across many areas of my career & personal life. I would like to share them with readers.

One lesson was that I should not choose the jobs to bid on based on size and/or the competitor bid list. I was afraid I would get us into a job larger than we would be equipped to run. He told me that my job was sales and his job was making sure that jobs were done and run well. He told me to let him worry about the “how”. Until we had a contract there wasn’t a “how” to worry about.

So, I simply stopped worrying. We reviewed the bid list for the upcoming week on the Friday before. I focused all my energy in getting contracts. I did my job and he did his. We quadrupled the sales of the first year in our second year of business. The third year we doubled sales of the second year. The last year I worked with him, I outsold the other two salespeople and I had sold a little over 1/2 million during the first 5 months of the year. That was incredible when one realizes that the company consisted of my husband, one helper for him, and myself. We added employees the end of the secondyear. He hired 2 experienced salesmen.

The second lesson came very quickly after I started working with him. I kept worrying about what our competitors were doing. I worried about what jobs they were bidding and what contracts they were being awarded. I worried that our price might be out of line.

He told me not to spend time focusing on our competitors. For every minute I tried to check them out, see what they were doing, maybe even mimic them somewhat, was time lost in our sales momentum.

He reminded me that if we just kept moving forward they would play “keeping up with the Jones”. If we were getting contracts that were profitable, it did not matter what they were doing. He told me that it was human nature to try to outdo your competitor and that they would begin to get distracted by us. As long as they watched us and we took care of ourselves, they would be in the dust, so to speak, and we would be the forerunners and trendsetters. We would lead and they would follow.

Guess what? It played out that way. Time spent copying others sucks your creativity away. I will always be grateful for the things my husband shared with me. So, two very important lessons: don’t impose barriers. When real ones come up just ask yourself “What do I need to do to remove this barrier and make this happen? As you determine the answers just proceed to move forward.

That takes you straight to the next step. Don’t look back to see who is watching and/or what they are trying to do. Stay focused forward. As you become more of a contender in the market place, your competitors often spend precious time trying to watch, second guess your next move, and perhaps try to copy you. It will be your gain and their loss.

I say – keep your eyes forward. Build the marketplace, don’t wait to see what everyone else does and then react. If you do you will always be toward the rear of the pack.

I wish everyone a successful endeavor-no matter what it is.

I know that was a long story but I have found that it works. With those two simple yet powerful lessons I developed confidence. Confidence in what you do is a terrific tool in a sales environment. I owe my husband a lot. We have been together since 1978. He continues to share his knowledge freely. I hope those two lessons will speak to the needs of someone out there.

Post from: Jewelry and Beading

Those of us who are true collectors of beads and baubles are never at a loss when we travel to a new place. We just instinctively know that we must take something home with us to help us remember…and if it already has a hole through it, so much the better! These places we travel to may be exotic ports of call or our very own local hardware store. True collectors find treasures wherever we go. And we are certainly not above drilling a hole ourselves if necessary!

So let’s get started on this beautiful Make Art Monday! Dig out your latest treasures, your broken vintage jewelry, your Grandma’s special beads on the stretched-out cord, your charms and stones and buttons and baubles…Let’s make something!

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Post from: Jewelry and Beading

I just wanted to let you in on a little non-secret: I keep on track much better and work much more efficiently when I’ve got a plan. I very rarely just start throwing beads around and “see what happens”. Sometimes, but rarely. I almost never just sit down and start writing with no idea where I’m going. Sometimes it doesn’t turn out exactly like I expected, but I’ve almost always got a plan.

So, for 2008, I wanted to let you in on another non-secret: I’m going to be following a loosely devised plan for my posts on Jewelry and Beading. If you’ve been reading regularly since I took over writing this blog from Tammy in November (thank you, Tammy!), you’ve probably come to expect Make Art Mondays and Technique Tuesdays. Well, I actually had a plan for the rest of the week too, but I’ve revised it a bit and given each day a name for 2008. It’s really just a way to keep me on track though, and to make sure that I cover all the bases that I want to. If it starts to feel like a prison, or stops working for some reason, I won’t hesitate to scrap it.

For now, so you can plan your reading, here’s what you can expect:

Make Art Monday
New work, either my own or someone else’s

Technique Tuesday
Tutorials, tips, and techniques

What’s Up Wednesday
Book review, online tools, calls for entries, selling opportunities, suppliers, and products

Art Attack Thursday
Wonderful websites and work by other artists, artist profiles

My Day Friday
Bead and jewelry blogging round-up, artist dates, personal stuff

Post from: Jewelry and Beading

This isn’t necessarily good-bye to the blogosphere because I still have my About.com Jewelry Making site as well as Fat and 40, but unfortunately, I have to say good-bye to blogging over here at b5media’s Jewelry and Beading blog.

This was my very first blog, started over 2 years ago when I was blogging with About Weblogs, which eventually merged with b5media, so this was not an easy decision to make at all. I’ve been stressing over it for a good long time.

However, I have so many other exciting opportunities as far as my writing and teaching career right now, that I really need to focus on those and I know that would mean I could not provide the right amount of time required to keep this blog up to the standards I think it deserves and my readers deserve. Therefore, I have decided to resign as its blog editor. I know that B5 will very soon have a super talented bead blogger over here, so I feel confident I’ve left my baby in good hands.

I hope you will continue to keep in touch via my About.com site, and I want to thank all the great bloggers at B5media for the chance to work and get to know them all over the past few years. I will miss all of you.

~ Tammy

Post from: Jewelry and Beading

Grab your beads, wire, metal, and more and get ready for inspiration to hit – zing! – this November at the Jewelry and Beading Blog.

About this time of year is when we seriously start getting into some jewelry making. The holidays are near, but we still have some time to experiment and be creative before those presents are due or those special customer orders are rolling in. If you are looking for inspiration or even if you’re not you’ll find it here this month….starting with….

My More is Better Necklace! This is a great way to use a mixture of supplies and make one of a kind jewelry pieces for those special people in your life. This is a super long necklace combining bits of chain, wire, and beads, beads, beads. So, while technique-wise it’s not super hard, it does take some time just because (a) it’s long and (b) each bead pattern is different. This is more of a method than an exact science, so get started now and make a few before the holidays get any closer.

Post from: Jewelry and Beading

Halloween is one of my all time favorite holidays, so I think it’s worth dedicating my blog posts here for the month of October. As someone who as a child used to dress up all the time – whether I was a cowgirl or show-girl – Halloween was extra special because everyone was dressing up and pretending to be someone else for a change, not just me. Plus, since I live in Florida, it’s the time of the year when it finally gets a tad on the cooler side, as in not 90 degrees.

I’ve got a lot of great Halloween projects to present during the month, some from me and some from other jewelry designers around the web. Enjoy!

Post from: Jewelry and Beading

Schmoozing as defined by Dictonary.com is the ability “to converse casually, especially in order to gain an advantage or make a social connection.” When it comes to blogging, schmoozing is your ticket to making new friends, getting yourself noticed and building a reputation. Some bloggers are gifted with the ability to effectively schmooze and others not so much. My new friend Danielle and I would like to recognize those bloggers who exhibit strong schmoozing skills. In order to do so we’ve created the new Power of Schmooze award!

Since I was included in Jean Yate’s Schmooze Awards the other day, time for me to do the honors to five other bloggers. Per the Schmooze rules, those who receive must turn around and give to five other bloggers.

1) First up, I have to look to Cyndi Lavin who has been in the blogosphere for some time and had one of the first blogs I started reading regularly. She’s got a number of them, but her main ones right now I believe are Bead Arts and Layers Upon Layers, a mixed media blog. In both these blogs Cyndi really “teaches” her art and provides content that is very useful to those in the arts and crafts world. I always learn something new when I stop by any of her blogs.

2) While not necessarily as prolific as some bloggers, Keri Smith at the Wish Jar Journal is another recipient. I always get a dab or two of inspiration over there.

3) Jennifer at Naughty Secretary’s Club also gets one from me because her blog is a blast and she has so much going on. Sometimes I think I’m trying to do too many things at the same time, and then I go over there and see her finished craft projects, read about her new book, see a video of her on DIY. Heck, I feel lazy then!

4) Peggy Li is another inspirational jewelry designer. I love the fact that she often talks about the business end of her work and gives tips for those who want to be successful selling their jewelry. I’m not big on selling my jewelry these days, but I still enjoy reading about it and am impressed with anyone who can make a go of it.

5) Finally, I have to choose Katie Hacker’s blog because she is also someone to watch when it comes to developing a successful crafting career. Other than the fact that she’s written a ja-zillion books, she’s also on the TV show Beads, Baubles, and Jewels. It’s fun to read about her travels and work in the industry.

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