Bead Studio-WIP

The bead studio is coming along! I have a few more things up in my room. 

I got this great pegboard installed! This is so functional! I love having everything out where I can see it all and just quickly grab any tool or supply I need. The pegboard comes as a kit with different kinds of hooks, attachments and accessories, like these clear bins and the cups. I found these pegboards on Amazon.com.  

Here's the link to the one I bought. The price on Amazon was a little cheaper than on the manufacturer's website. The pegboards are made by this company called Azar Displays. They make all kinds of pegboards and displays for retail stores. They have a variety of different accessories that can be used with the plain pegboards. Definitely check out this company!

I put these painted wooden drawers behind my laptop. They hide all the wires in the corner from my electronic devices. Plus, I can store a few things in the drawers. They also hold a few jewelry displays on top, which I hope to fill with newly made creations soon!

Here's my wall art for the room! Well, it's not really finished yet. lol. It will be a cherry blossom branch once I put the flowers up! But even just the branches are pretty! Can't wait to see it finished, it's going to be sooo pretty! It's a vinyl wall decal I ordered from The Kinky Wall Studio on Etsy. It is really the perfect solution for the slanted in walls in this room!

Here is more pegboards on the opposite wall. I started to put a few things up. These are most of my cords and ribbons. A great way to store and display these materials, don't you think? I just love this! Everything is well organized and each material has a place to live! I love it when things have homes.  As you can see, I'm a big fan of having everything stored out in the open. I find it much easier to design jewelry that way. If I don't see it I forget I have it. I can't take full advantage of the beads and supplies I have if I don't know I have it or I can't find it in boxes full of random things. Am I the only one with this problem? I think not.

 Well, gotta get back to this cutie right here.

I'll show more later! Thanks for stopping by! Let me know what you think of my space so far and the pegboards and wall decal!

Bead Studio-WIP

Beady playdate with Emma Thomas

I met a new beady blog friend yesterday! I just LOVE meeting friends! Especially, beady ones! Here's me and Emma Thomas of Fredbean's Nook. We met at the Riverwalk Bead Shop and Gallery in Amesbury, Ma. Emma makes some WAY cool jewelry! I love her seed bead work mixed with metals and other elements for stylish, modern jewelry. Check out her creations here.  Emma came all the way from her home in Rhode Island  to have a little beading session with.....ME?! I felt so flattered she wanted to do that and so very glad she did! I had a lovely time with her and I really enjoyed chatting! We have lots in common, of course, beading and being apart of this online beading community. The conversation just flowed as if we were old pals getting together. It just felt so natural! Anyway, back to the beading! I showed Emma how to make my braided waxed linen cord necklace. If you look closely at the picture above, you can see our necklaces on the beading table in the background there! Here are the necklaces we made in our session below:

Emma's is on the left and mine's on the right. Both necklaces featuring Gaea hearts! I swear we didn't plan that!!! I didn't call her the night before. It just happened! I had planned my necklace before our meeting and Emma showed up at the shop with her heart pendant ready to go. I'm sure Gaea will be thrilled! It was a day for her hearts apparently. My necklace also includes a Miss Fickle Media antiqued silver ring and headpins.

I had a blast with Emma and I hope she'll want to get together again sometime!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Yes, that's right. I'm one of those moms that dresses her child in holiday outfits. It's not my fault, though. I'm not the one buying these outfits! Other family members do. Who am I to ruin the fun. Besides, I enjoy being festive! I just hope Nora doesn't hate me later for these! Wish me luck on that. May the luck O' the Irish be with all of you today!

 HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!

Love, Erin and Nora

Just moved!

Hi There, My family and I moved into a new apartment over this past weekend. YAY! I'm very excited about our new space. Here I am, sitting in the bonus room that will become my new bead and jewelry studio!

We had out grown our previous place quite awhile ago, even before Nora was born. It was a tiny one bedroom apartment. No room for Nora and no place to bead either, except for the kitchen table...and there's nothing wrong with that! Believe me, that was my space for a loooong time and that was fine, but it just gets to a point where that just isn't workable anymore. This is a BIG step up for me and I'm so very happy and grateful for this new place. I'm looking forward to sharing this space with you!

Sorry for this crappy quality video below. It's from my camera. This is the first time I tried using the video function on it.

Meet Our Editor!

As many of you may have heard, I'm currently writing a jewelry instruction book with jewelry designing friend, Lorelei Eurto for Interweave Press. We were recently assigned our editor for the book! It's Michelle Mach! Come on over to the Jewelry Accord blog and read our interview with her! I asked her some interesting questions I know you'll want to hear the answers to...so come read!.... Okay, now back to working toward our deadline, which is NEXT week!