So hey!

Lookee here, I'm back!

I'm still not making jewelry as much as I was, but I'm trying to figure out how to make it fit in my life.  I've decided that I really need to separate dance and jewelry as much as possible.  So I did Dallas Dance again this year, but I decided that it was my last time to do it.  So naturally it was a good year.  LOL.  Never fails.

For now I will focus on events that are not specifically linked to a dance event.  My next booth will be at the SSQQ Dance Studio
Dancers Craft Fair on October 1 from 9am-2pm.  Should be fun!  It's the clientele that I want, in a nice environment.  I am really looking forward to it.  I have some work to do, but I am actually getting inspired and thinking of things to put together!


For now, I leave you with pictures from my most recent booth at Dallas Dance.

Is it really June already?

I can't believe how the time has flown this year.  It's been so busy this year, with moving into a new house, new responsibilities at work, and new dance commitments.  It really has made me really think about how far I want to take my jewelry business.

Since March, I've not committed to very many events.  Mostly, I've taken a hard look at what is really worth my time and effort and as a result, I've actually declined more events than I have accepted.  I mean, I still enjoy what making jewelry and I still  want to get my name out there, but lately I've been getting my name out there more with dance than with my jewelry.  It would appear that people would rather not buy jewelry, but they can't give up the dance.  Which really, I totally understand. 

And it's funny.  At events, where I do both, it always seem like I can only do well in one or the other, not both.  It's hard to split your time, energy and resources with 2 businesses in the same weekend.  And yes I do consider the dance side of things with me is  becoming a business, a brand.  Thank goodness I don't depend on the dance to make a living, but since I represent myself as an instructor and pro, every time I am out on the dance floor, there is a business aspect to it as well.

I think my jewelry business is going to be taking a back seat, at least for awhile.  I still have 2 events a year that I am committed to and have traditionally done well with my booth.  and I'll still consider new events if I feel that it will be worth my while.  and of course, I still welcome custom orders, because those are my favorites anyways.  :-)  But for now, I think my focus has been drawn elsewhere and it looks like will continue to be drawn elsewhere for awhile.

I always wondered if this would happen.  Two very creative passions co-existing.  I always kind of figured it would go one way or another, and I hoped that they wouldn't both go stagnant.  So one gives way while the other is excelling right now.  

Novice Invitational success!

After a less than stellar ending to last year, it felt good to have a successful booth at Novice Invitational this year.  It's always a pretty good event for me - I think that by March, people have paid off their holiday bills and are looking forward to buying something new for the spring.  In addition to what sold over the weekend, I also had a couple of people wanting custom orders or wondering if a specific set was still available. 

My booth!  Sorry for the bad lighting!  I did a smaller set up than normal since my usual partner was not there.  Kept it very manageable for me.

My favorite pair of earrings that I made for the weekend - was snatched up on the last day!  Swarovski twisted cylinders, with swarovski accent beads, sterling silver chain and earring posts.

This one got a lot of interest and I am So very tempted to keep it for myself - or at least convince myself I need to make another one.  Dusty purple crystals and freshwater pearls with silver bead caps on sterling silver chain.

My favorite set of the weekend - I tried something different with the colors.  I usually tend to stick to a more monochromatic color scheme but blues and greens are supposed to be on trend for the spring and summer.  My favorite kind of necklace to make because I can use pretty much any kind of beads that suit my fancy: pearls, crystals, semi precious stones, acrylic, silver, etc etc.  This was snatched up pretty early in the weekend!

I'm hoping to get more pictures taken and loaded later this week.  Until then!

Finally!

Slowly but surely getting all organized in our new home - complete with new jewelry space!

So it's already got stuff all over it since this picture was taken.  Plus my awesome hubby built me a bunch of shelves in the closet to store all kinds of supplies and displays.

Which means I finally made some things.  YAY!  Well a couple of things but that's a good start, right?

Both of these were custom orders.
First a chain maille mens bracelet in aluminum and copper.  Or as one of my friends calls it - a "MAN-celet".  Heh.

This one is a memory wire bracelet in shades of purple and black.  I used crystal, glass, pewter, hematite - really whatever caught my fancy but fit in the color scheme.  My favorite beads are the goldstone-like ones - up close they look like little galaxies!  Hope she likes it!

As always, click on the picture for a bigger image.

Hopefully now that I've gotten started again, I can keep up the momentum.  My next vendor booth will be at Novice Invitational 2011  and I hope it goes well!

ABCs of the "Michelle" behind Michelle Summer Designs

We've just moved into a new place, complete with a new jewelry area!  YAY!  It will be some time before I get everything organized again to start making new pieces for 2011, but in the meantime, I stole this from Living Life as a Newlywed, my awesome soon-to-be-a-mom niece!

A is for Age: 36
B is for Beer of choice: I have only found one beer that I like: Leinenkugal's Honey Wheat
C is for Career: Clinical Research Administrator
D is for favorite Drink: A Puerto Rican mojito with Don Q rum
E is for Essential item you use everyday: my cell phone
F is for Favorite song at the moment: don't know if it's my favorite, but it's been stuck in my head: Please Don't Go
G is for favorite Game: Scrabble
H is for Hometown: Houston, Texas
I is for Instruments you play: does an ipod count?  :-P
J is for favorite Juice: Cranberry juice
K is for Kids: Two pugglies, Louie and Gigi
L is for Last kiss: This morning after the hubs dropped me off at the bus stop
M is for marriage: 11/20/2004
N is for full Name: Michelle Summer Wann Haynes
O is for Overnight hospital stays: None for me
P is for phobias: Spiders and falling.
Q is for quote: "Yeah, well, I've got a dream too. But it's about singing and dancing and making people happy. That's the kind of dream that gets better the more people you share it with." -Kermit the Frog
R is for biggest Regret: not starting dance classes sooner in life
S is for sports: Love going to live football games
T is for Time you wake up: UGH.  work is 5:30-5:45am.  otherwise, whenever!
U is for color of Underwear: pink
V is for Vegetable you love: snow pea leaves, sugar snap peas, chinese bitter melon, and other strange asian veggies
W is for Worst Habit:not putting things back where i got them from.  I'm working on it, i swear!
X is for X-rays you’ve had: dental, left knee, right shoulder
Y is for Yummy food you make: I make a good chili.
Z is for zodiac sign:Gemini!

Merry Christmas Glitter Graphics - Glitterlive.com

More Holiday Bling!

I love all the sparkly holiday jewelry, especially earrings!

First, some swarovski Christmas trees!

How about some angels in quarts, swarovski crystals and cubic zirconia?

Santa Claus is coming to town! (in czech crystals!)

Little Party Dazzlers in green and gold czech and swarovski crystals:

And finally Frosty the snowman!  Glass pearls with swarovski crystals.

I've been busy making some holiday jewelry - gotta have sparkle!


First up, some fun holiday themed wine glass charms with swarovksi crystals and pewter charms:

This set I had made for a trunk show last weekend - it was the first set that was reserved! I ended up remaking it to donate for a holiday fundraiser.  I used freshwater pearls, swarovski and chinarovski crystals, seed beads (as spacer beads), rhinetone squaredelles and pewter accent beads.  Earrings are on sterling silver posts.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
I like the red set so much that I ended up making a blue set for myself! 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
I really liked how these came out.  I was thinking that this design would also look good with fuschia crystals.
 

Delinquent and a new bracelet

Yikes!  I just realized that it's been over a month since I last posted!  As some of you know, outside of being a jewelry designer and maker, I do have a day job and another job!  I am also a competitive West Coast Swing dancer and instructor and this last month has been CRAZEE busy with that.  It started at the end of September with the hubby and I preparing a workshop for the grand opening party of the new studio where we've been teaching: the all new SSQQ Dance Studio.  We taught a workshop that night and then DJ'ed and danced all night in the West Coast swing party room.  Later that week, the hubs and I danced in an exhibition at the Rotary House International at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, where I work my day job.  The following weekend, I taught a workshop with another instructor and performed another exhibition at SSQQ.  Next weekend, a wedding in Dallas.  The weekend after that, the hubby was committed to DJ a private party, again in Dallas.  Then this past weekend, we went to support the Austin City Dance Club's WCS party in, where else?  Austin.  And this coming weekend, will be the Texas Classic Open Championships, again in Dallas, where Trent and I will be competing and teaching a workshop and I will also have my jewelry booth! 

All this and we are still teaching our regular Monday night dance class.

Dude, I'm exhausted just thinking about it and I'm going through it right now!

Needless to say, aside from a few custom pieces, I haven't been able to complete a whole lot of jewelry lately.  But there is one piece that I really liked that I wanted to post.

This is a custom bracelet order from my friend, Gloria, who the design is named after!  This is my famous "Gloria" bracelet - a charm style bracelet, on sterling silver chain that can be made in any color combination.  I love to use a variety of different kinds of beads for texture and dimension: freshwater pearls, czech crystals, swarovski crystals, czech pressed glass beads, pewter beads, silver beads, art glass - pretty much, whatever suits my fancy.

Here is the latest version of the Gloria, made in shades of pink, by request.

Here is the original version of the Gloria, done in shade of purple and blue:

and here is the version that I made for myself, in greens with clear accents:

What color would you choose for your "Gloria" bracelet?

New Jewelry at Dallas Dance!

First I need to apologize - I had to use a different camera than I normally use and it's just not as good as my husband's fancy Nikon with the giant lens.  Hopefully I'll get to re-take these with the real camera, but I just wanted to get some photos up already!

First up, a multistranded freshwater pearl "waterfall" style illusion necklace set.  I actually get lots of requests for these,  but this is the first time that I've done it in this style.  I really like how it came out.

This is a triple stranded tourmaline set.  One thing I really love about tourmaline that you can't see in this picture is the colors.  Purpley, pinky, green brown, somehow it just works.

Here is a close up of the earrings so you can kind of get a better idea of the colors.  I really need to find the good camera and retake this!

This is a multistranded illusion wire necklace set with chinarovski crystals.  Even as dark as this picture is,  you can still see how the crystals reflect the light.  If you click on the picture, it will enlarge slightly so you can get a better look.  Another one that I need to retake when I get the good camera!

Now for some fun earrings!  First up is a sterling silver set - SS hoops, posts, chain, beads, all of it!  Very bohemian disco.  I really liked how this one came out.

Large mixed green swarovski hoop earrings.  These are too much fun!

These might have been my favorites.  It's hard to tell in this picture, but those are green irridescent crystal swarovski hoops with sterling silver chain dangles.  I love the simplicity, but elegance of these.

So that's the latest and greatest!  What do you think?