Design on the Fly with Jesse James Beads Fall '23 bead haul

Check out my latest YouTube video to see what I make with my bead haul from this fall. 

Meet the Maker is back and it's better! We are offering online interviews now.

 

Hi Friends! How are you? Sorry that it has been another stretch of time since my last blog post. All that is happening in the world has me pretty unmotivated beyond trying to take care of my family and survive. But I really want to help my maker friends out.  So here I am trying to do maker interviews again. And now we will be offering a vlog interview as well!!!! I am so excited about this because it allows you the artist to shine and share your products. 

To start off our return to this blog series I interviewed my sweet friend Tricia from Pink Poodle Jewelry Studio. So without further ado let's get on with the blog and meet this week's maker!

Tricia has been all over the place with her husband for his work but she grew up in Pa and is back living just outside Williamsport. She has been crafting all her life. But it wasn't until her life long friend Gloria started teaching her how to make jewelry as a way of crafting while still sitting on the couch due to her chronic illness. It was here that she found her passion. She loves anything pink and the more sparkly the best. She also loves her two sweet dogs and those who have crossed the rainbow bridge. Hence the name Pink Poodle Studio. 

Tricia can make all sorts of beautiful jewelry but her most favorite are her statement pieces. They truly are gorgeously made with a mix of materials. To learn more about Tricia and her jewelry make sure you check out our vlog. 

You can find Tricia online at the following locations:

Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/shop/PinkPoodleStudio

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PinkPoodleJewelryStudio

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pink_poodle_jewelry_studio/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQBQl-9CSzA_4wvk2VzP-Ew

Check out some of her favorite bead shops and use her affiliate links below!

Jesse James Beads

BeeBeeCraft

PandaHall

Beadaholique

Dollar Bead Box/bag

If you would like to be interviewed either here on our blog or on youtube, please comment below or message me. There is no cost to you other than your time. I do offer product reviews as well the only cost for these is a sample of your product and your time for the interview. My heart's desire is to try and share small shops so that those around the world can shop from you. We are all in this together... Stay safe and blessings. 

Happy Thanksgiving and upcoming events and sales.

 

Hi Friends, Happy Thanksgiving! I hope that you had a wonderful time, even though it was a different year. We celebrated on Wednesday and didn't have family or friends come to visit so needless to say it was a quiet one. I did get to take all the kids to see the new shop where I am selling my jewelry. If you are in central PA check out Belle Mercantile in Bellefonte, PA.  As for our Charity auction this year we were able to raise $80 to be donated to a charity that helps People in Mexico with disabilities to make art. Thank you to all who joined in with us to be able to give back this year. 

What have you been up to? What did you do for Thanksgiving? 

I hope to return to blogging more here in the new future. I have been inspired by The Beading Gem. She posts on a regular basis about handmade jewelry artists and I am inspired to go back to sharing about handmade artisans that I have come across. If you would like a feature send me an email. These are hard times and there are so many amazing makers out there that I would love to do my part. So stay tuned. 

Here is what I have coming up:

• 11/27-12/18 Shop small Crawl: Bellefonte, Pa sponsored by Downtown Bellefonte #shopsmallcrawl #loveBFT You can head to several locations and pick up a tote and then visit local shops and gather pins to try and win some prizes and support small shops!
• now through 12/2, Our entire ETSY Shop is 20% off with a $15 purchase... Come and check out what's available and get some Christmas gifts we will wrap and ship it for you!

• 11/28-12/2 From a Distance Craft Fair on Instagram sponsored by Maker Made Collective: We will be joining several other small shops on Instagram for a holiday sale, come and check it out follow the hashtags #fromadistancecraftfair #fadsbe 
• 11/30-12/4 Five Days of Giveaways: We have reached over 6k followers on Instagram and we would like to say thank you and bless you for the holidays so we have teamed up with several small shops to bless you with 5 days of giveaways!! Make sure you are following us on Instagram. and follow our hashtag to see all the awesome items and shops #fivedaysofgiveaways each day there will be new prizes to enjoy and win.

• One of our latest projects is Art To Go State College. Where you can find our handpainted leather earrings. It is a vintage vending machine that dispenses pieces of art from local artists. 
• Lastly, you can now find our beaded mask chains at The Nittany Quill in State College, PA 

Hope you can join us for one of these events and that you are well. Take care and stay safe. 

 

Hello Friends! How are you? It has been a long time since I wrote a blog post and I would really love to get back into it. 

It truly has been a tough year for most people. I know many of us are still just getting by. Trying to get used to the new norm of social distancing, wearing masks, and being overly cautious. I have pretty much-been home because I am auto-immune compromised and I find the few times I have gone out my anxiety levels are on high alert. I am sure many of us just want it to end. I keep trying to focus on the positive and on the Lord to maintain my sanity. How are you doing it?

Our charity giving will look different this year. In years past we have done a box of handmade goods that you would purchase and we would give the proceeds to a charity. This year we are doing an auction and you will receive the item directly from the maker. So you still get wonderful handmade products still and the proceeds will still go to a charity but doing it this way makes it all much safer for everyone. 

So how does this charity auction work? Head over to our Instagram @handcraftedartisanpr and follow the hashtag #makersgivingback The auction is happening right on Instagram, on our page. 

We have over 14 handmade shops participating. Come do some Christmas🎄 shopping and help with an awesome cause!!

Cause: El Arca en Queretaro IAP @globalgiving

Helping Mexicans with disabilities create Art!

When: Nov 8-14

We hope to see you there. Thanks for helping us makers give back this holiday season. Take care and stay healthy. 

Meet the Maker: Jenny Montero from Jenny's Craft Shack

Hello, Friends! How are you? I am sorry it has been so long since I have written a blog post. I'd love to get back into it. To share with all of you some amazing makers and other fun things. Life has been really full of stuff with our family and I have taken on being a distributor with Young Living Oils as well. I love oils and have been using them over a year and thought that this paired well with my essential oil jewelry. I am still homeschooling one of our four kids and the other three are in various schools. My 14-year-old daughter has started working at Chic Fil A. Which she loves but it adds another thing to our plates. What is new with you? Did you have a good winter and Easter? 

So today's Meet the Maker is long overdue. Jenny was one of our artisans in our Holiday handmade gift box. I am sorry Jenny I didn't get this out sooner. But I guess better late than never. I was really struggling with feeling overwhelmed and had to take some things off my plate and my blog was one of those things. 

Did you know we still have some of the handmade holiday gift boxes left in our ETSY shop? From the proceeds of these boxes, we were able to give $60 to Guatemalan Women's Cross-Generational Development You can still get one and start early on your Christmas shopping and help this group of artisans give some more to charity. So without further ado let's meet Jenny.

Hello, I'm Jenny! My small business is Jennys Craft Shack. I'm a crochet lover and enjoy making jewelry, resin creations, and crochet creations. I make everything myself in my lil' corner craft area in my home. I made Jenny's Craft Shack because I finally wanted to do something I really loved which was art and creating. You could browse my shack on Etsy, Pinterest, Facebook, and Instagram. Thank You!

You can find Jenny online at the following locations:
Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/shop/jennyscraftshack
Yooying: https://www.yooying.com/jennyscraftshack
Insta-stalker: https://insta-stalker.com/profile/jennyscraftshack/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Jennyscraftshack/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jennyscraftshack/
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/jennyscraftshack/

Upcoming for Mt Nittany Creations and Oils:

April 26-Young Living Supplements Basics Class on Facebook
April 27-Vendor at Central PA Autism Society Walk in Altoona
April 30- last chance to enter our newsletter giveaway. If you sign up for our newsletter by 4/30 you will receive an entry to win a diffuser bracelet and a bottle of essential oils.
May 18- Vendor and presenter at For Moms By Moms Spring Event, State College

If you would like to be interviewed or have one of your products reviewed by me please email me.

Hope this finds you well and that you had a blessed Easter!

Meet the Maker: Kelly-Ann from Kelly-Ann Satra Jewelry

Hi friends! How are you? How is your spring going? We just finished up our homeschooling year and in a month our kids that go to school will be home and the summer will begin. I am looking forward to warmer weather and all the fun summer brings. What are you looking forward to this spring and summer?

It is time for another Meet the Maker! If you would like the opportunity to be interviewed or have your products reviewed please send me an email. This weeks meet the Maker will be a blog take over. Now without further ado lets meet Kelly-Ann.

Hi, I am Kelly-Ann and I am originally from Boston, Massachusetts.
I’ve lived in Georgia for almost 17 years now.
I’ve been crafting for almost 5 years.
I was drawn to jewelry making out of boredom.  One day I decided I needed something to do, in my search I came across a free jewelry making class at Michael’s. Leaving that first class, I knew I was hooked.

The name of my shop name is my actually my full name, Kelly-Ann Satra. I chose to use my name because I’m true to myself, I love and enjoy the simple, little things in life. I felt confident that I could and would create great work. I also knew that whatever I created would be a reflection of who I am.  I wanted my name to stand behind my work.

I started selling on online in 2015 and I recently launched my own website kellyannsatra.com back in October.
The reason I started selling online was after my husband asked me “so what are you going to do with all this? “

All my jewelry pieces are made by myself…I roll solo.
I would have to say my copper earrings are my favorite pieces, I have kept a few pieces for myself. They’re my favorites because they’re not perfect, they’re all different in some way.  Yet they’re beautiful.

I would encourage anyone who wants to enter the handmade business to have passion, courage, and patience.  Passion because you have to love what you do, 24/7. Courage. Because you will have to be bold and let yourself shine. You must be able to sell yourself, your product, believe in yourself and your product. Patience. Because success doesn’t happen overnight.  Everything takes time. Things have a way of falling into place.

Thank you for sharing Kelly-Ann. I wish you all the best with your jewelry business. 

You can find Kelly-Ann and her beautiful jewelry online at the following locations:

www.facebook.com/Kellyannsatrajewelry
https://www.instagram.com/kellyannsatra/
https://www.kellyannsatra.com/
https://twitter.com/kellyannsatra
https://www.pinterest.com/kellyannsatra/

You can find our businesses online through this link tree.
https://linktr.ee/mtnittanycreations

please note that there are affiliate links in our blog. If you click on any of them you can help us and our blog out. Thanks in advance. 

Facebook Giveaway!

Hi Friends! How are you? How was your Christmas and New Years? We had a nice holiday although busy with travel. It was great to see family and friends.

We have reached over 500 followers on our Facebook Page. So in celebration of this and the new year, we have teamed up with 9 other makers to bless our followers with a giveaway.  As a mom, I sometimes forget to take care of myself as I get wrapped up in taking care of my family. But it can be so important to make sure that I am in good health, and cared for in order to keep taking care of them. So this giveaway has some fun stuff along those theme lines. Runs January 8-13. #takingcareofyouinthenewyear 

You can enter at the bottom of this post.

You could win all of the following items:

Infinity Scarf from Sew Crafts A Lot. 

Macrame necklace with a rose quartz stone from Dreamy Dutchy Designs.

A pencil wrap from Crafty Lia Shop. 

Crochet flower hat. Made of sparkle yarn for 5 y.o. and crochet seed bead bracelet with lampwork glass bead. from Irene LTC and Bluette Jewelry.

Hand Painted sign from Rachel Israel Art.

Hand wrapped silver earrings with tiger eye stones from Moore Creation 33.

 Blue Mosaic Turquoise Gemstone Swarovski Crystal and Quartz Charm Antiqued Brass Necklace designed by Melinda Jernigan of MP Designs Jewelry.
Finished length is 30” with the charms measuring 1.5”.

 Gently exfoliating face scrubbies, made of 100% cotton. Easily remove makeup and cleanse skin. Washable and reusable! From The Lost Hook.

Lava Stone Necklace great for use as an essential oil diffuser in gold or silver. From our shop Mt Nittany Creations. 

You must be 18 years or older and live in the US.

The giveaway runs Jan 8-13.

A winner will be chosen on Jan 14 and announced as per Facebook rules.

This promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with Facebook. You understand that you are providing your information to the owner of this Facebook page and not to Facebook.

 Enter Here: a Rafflecopter giveaway

Meet the Maker: Angela from Ash Jewelry Co

Hi friends! How are you? How was your weekend? What did you do? I had the special privilege of spending the weekend with one of my dearest friends in Harrisburg in honor of my birthday. It was a lovely time. We talked, napped, ate, talked some more, did our nails and watched two movies.

It is time for another Meet the Maker. I am sorry life has been crazy with sick kids and field trips that I was not able to get this out on Friday as normal.

Hopefully, this week will be a little less crazy. Today, I have the special privilege of introducing you to Angela from ASH Jewelry Company. Let's let Angela share with you about herself as she takes over my blog for today.

Hi there, Angela here at ASH Jewelry Co. I am from Orem, UT and currently live in Panaca,  NV (pronounced PUH-NAC-UH). I have only been crafting the past 3 years. During this time I have been making jewelry.

I am a stay at home to two boys. I love jewelry and I wanted to be able to make a little income while staying home with them. Making jewelry is a great way for me to relax as well when the kids are asleep. I just love designing new pieces for people every week.

I started an Etsy shop about 2 and a half years ago. I recently have started to sell on Facebook this year. Selling online makes it easy to stay home and raise my kids while earning income at the same time. It is also nice that people can look at items anytime during the day or night and simply message you if they like or want something.

For the future, I would like to expand my business to more than the United States. I would also like to have my own shop and give people the opportunity to have jewelry parties with my designs.

My specialty jewelry is bullet jewelry. My favorite piece is a chain necklace that has a bullet with a Swarovski crystal and feather charm.

One thing I would love to share with others who are considering going into the handmade business is this. Never give up. The only way you are sure to fail is if you never try.

Thank you for sharing yourself, Angela. It is great to get to know you better.

You can find Angela online at the following locations:
Facebook Page:    ASH Jewelry Co
Instagram:    @ashjewelry
Twitter:    @ASHjewelryco

If you would like to be interviewed, have a product reviewed or receive a feature on our Instagram and Facebook pages email me.

Upcoming:
Oct 9-14 #sentmeonmywaygiveaway In celebration of reaching 5 k on Instagram, my birthday and one year of the shop being open we are having a giveaway to celebrate.  @mtnittanycreations

Nov 6-14   Lydia's Guild in Doylestown, PA

Please note that my blog contains affiliate links. If you click on them you could help support my blog. 

Meet the Maker: Keeley from Keeley Kreations

Hi friends! How has your week been? I can't believe it is Friday and we are heading into the weekend. Our kids are finally on the mend from this virus that they got. What is new with all of you?

Today I have the exciting opportunity to introduce you to Keeley from Keeley Kreations. Without further ado, let's meet our maker.

Where are you from? Nashville Tn but moved to Kentucky 32 years ago.

Where do you live now? In Lancaster KY living the lake life because I can't locate to the beach yet. Living the lake life sounds nice.

How long have you been crafting? Since like 5 years old. Between Sunday School and Being a Brownie.I did a lot of crafting in the groups too.

What drew you to make so many fun different crafts? The pride you get knowing you made it. We crafters have a lot of heart. Yes, crafters do have a lot of heart.

When did you start selling online? I think about 2013

And What drew you to sell online? My family. It was a hobby then they said share your hobby so I did. That's great that your family encouraged you to pursue selling online.

What hopes do you have for your business in the future? To one day retire from my day job and open a cute quaint gift shop. This is a fun dream.

What is your most favorite piece that you have made? That is a hard one because I love them all. I can understand that.

What is one thing you would love to share with others who are considering going into the handmade business? Don't let the money side of it outweigh the passion side. This is great advice.

Is there anything else you wish to share? I want to thank you, Amber, personally for this opportunity that others might get to know who Keeley is behind the name Keeley Kreation. A special thank you to all my Instagram family for their friendship and support. After all, crafting is the common thread that binds us. You are welcome. The Instagram family is a great one. I am so thankful for them as well. Great to get to know you a little better thanks for sharing Keeley.

You can find Keeley Kreations online at the following locations:
https://www.instagram.com/keeleykreation/
https://www.facebook.com/keeleykreationonetsy/
https://www.etsy.com/shop/KeeleyKreation/items

Our blog contains affiliate links. If you click and buy you can help support our blog.

Check out this fun Blog Post from the Creative Hive.
Pricing Handmade Items Guide