DIY - Advertising

To get this jewelry project off the ground I need to get my name out there. This is my step one in creating a brilliant ‘quit my job and work from home’ business! Ok this might be step 3 or 4 as I’ve already done the sourcing and prototypes, but shhhhhh.

I’ve contacted a lot of design blogs that I follow regularly and love dearly about placing an ad, or button, on their sidebars. I’ve also asked a couple about hosting giveaways for my products. Very exciting stuff! Long story (not really) short, I have been spending my lunch breaks and evenings creating buttons from photos I already have of my bracelets. It was too overcast yesterday to attempt new photos so I had to make due. I actually love how they came out.

Design*Sponge did some great research on what types of buttons worked well and went wrong on their website. You can find it here (there are a lot of email hoops to jump through before they finally send it to you).

Here are the top few pointers I came away with:

2. DO make sure your ad looks like it belongs on the website - You want your ad to feel seamless with the posts or images, like it is an extension of the site.

5. DO pay attention to font choice for your ad text - Follow the site’s lead with your font choice.

8. DON’T use the same ad on every site you advertise one (if you’re advertising on multiple sites at the same time) - Chances are your target audience reads more than one design website (if you’ve heard of all of these sites, there’s a good chance your customers have too).

I know when I go to any site, the first thing that catches my eye is anything animated. So….I’m going to attempt to make an animated button showing some different merchandise. I think this will help draw readers to my ad and then to purchase my awesomely beautiful jewelry. Here are a couple tutorials on using photoshop to make this happen:

http://creativetechs.com/tipsblog/build-animated-gifs-in-photoshop/

http://www.theintermissionblog.com/2011/02/animated-blog-buttons-
tutorial.html

the 2nd one is a video and was very helpful to watch through before I even started. If I can get this to work I will post it in my own sidebar for you all to see. Wish me luck!

PS more jewelry photos coming tonight too!

Store Update - Even Newer Jewelry

I am dying coming up with cutesy little names for each piece but I am loving how wonderful my photos are turning out. Thank you direct sunlight :)
I've run out of chain for now so I've started on some earrings to round out the collection. I'm trying to use up the beading supplied I have before buying more but I already miss my chains so we'll see how long this lasts!

Click on the item's name to go to the online store. How do you like my lager/earring holder?

Luck Leaf Bracelet

Summer Elements Bracelet

Pink Ice Earrings

Luck Leaf Earrings

Spring Lime Earrings

Cobalt Night Earrings

Store Update - New Jewelry Collection

So I'm taking a break from sewing and going towards the more "instant-gratification" side of fashion - ACCESSORIES! Below are photos from Jessalynne's new jewelry collection titled Stained Glass. Yes this is semi-connected to my latest portfolio collection with the same name, in that it includes mostly jewel-tones. However, these pieces are for a variety of seasons and can be worn in a formal or casual setting. The czech glass beads and the silver chains are lightweight and the contrast of the materials is sure to catch everyone's eye.

In an effort to support this collection, a Kickstarter account has been set up. Please check out the page to see what it's all about. Basically, funds need to be raised in order to support the success of this collection. Only 9 pieces have been created but Jessalynne is very ambitious and hopes to expand the inventory immensely. I truly believe that these pieces will sell, sell, sell but first they need to be made and brought to the light of the public (i.e. online shoppers)! Kickstarter is a great program that allows people like me to post about specific projects and ask for contributions from every caring person with an internet connection.

So please check out the below photos, these pieces are currently available on SenseOfFashion.com/Jessalynne. I'll update you on Kickstarter's decision to aid in the production of this collection!

<3

DIY - Fractal Painting

We rearranged some (extremely large) furniture in our bedroom recently and found that we have 2 GIANT blank walls facing our bed. We were on a mission to fill them with photos but somehow the print order didn't go through. Luckily a few days later I came across this post on Young House Love.

This is their version:

It's perfect, even nerdy boyfriend approved. We had a coupon for Michael's (40% off yey!) and I bought the biggest canvas I could carry (24x48 - $15) and 3 bottles of green paint. I threw in a few used bottles of tan and teal but ultimately we made probably 40 different colors with just these 5 + white. that part was a lot of fun.

This was a LOOONNGGGG project. Here's day 1 after drawing all the lines and what boyfriend tells me are called factals (a rough or fragmented geometric shape that can be split into parts). Sorry these first few are boring, they were taken on my phone.

Day 2:

(we were both standing on chairs to get a good shot, here's boyfriend showing me how his phone is better than mine...)

And finally, after many backaches and finger cramps, here is the final product on our wall. It looks so small up there but that's only because this wall is mammoth-sized.

(from the bed)

(close-up)

(side shot)

LOVE!

Now we just need a billion things around it and probably another painting to fill the next wall.

Book Club - The Ellements of Personal Style / Elle editors

This is a great photo-montage of 25 fashion icons, including their past and present style, closets, jewelry boxes and general lives. I had a hard time getting through the interviews of the women I didn't actually know about but I enjoyed the saturated photos and collages on every page.

Here are my notes:

1. Lea Michele - I totally didn't recognized her as the Glee star I'm obsessed with in this great gown. However, she mentions her stylist a few times in the interview which lends me to believe she is given more credit than she deserves in the fashion world at the moment.

2. Erin Wasson - She is way too messy and somewhat lazy for me to relate to. She also loves to display real art next to crap and I can't really respect that. I moved through her article quickly.

3. Padma Lakshmi - Love her! I would kill for her jewelry collection. I also love that she "commemorates everything with jewelry and food" as these are my two favorite things.

4. Fergie - She is very eclectic but no matter what look she's wearing it always seems 'rich'.

5. Anjelica Huston - She's so evil and I love her in every movie, ever. She sticks to a simple and crisp look that I can respect even though I think it is a little boring.

6. Ashley Greene - She doesn't look a thing like her Twilight character! She's still figuring her style out but I love the looks they did talk about in the book.

7. Tracee Ellis Ross - She is very colorful in a great 70's way and definitely has her own style.

8. Christina Hendricks - BOOBS. That's all I have to say. But really, she tells it like it is: they're there and you can't hide them. She sticks with figure flattering, classic and simple. she definitely dresses like Joan but more updated. God she is beautiful.

9. Diane Von Furstenberg - Love her saturated prints. I also love that she designs dresses that "Showcase the woman." She is so confident in her style and career and I an very enviable of her.

10. Olivia Wilde - Very chic/hippie style. I love most of her pieces but it's just not sparkly enough for me.

11. Estelle - I don't agree with any of her choices with she definitely has a point of view - architectural shapes and glitter on everything.

12. Yvonne Force Villareal - I was really bored by this article. The only interesting thing is that she wears lycra cat suits under everything, which is how I feel about leggings. I love in those (in my house, not outside so much). Don't get me started on her weird art collection.

13. Margherita Missoni - It's great that she wears Missoni about 90% of the time. I know I only want to be photographed in my own designs so I don't really understand why a designer would wear any other name.

14. Katherine Pope - Good for her for being so powerful and all that but her clothes really bored me! It's all about chic office wear, day and night, office and red carpet. Too cookie cutter.

15. Dita Von Teese - She doesn't usually keep her clothes on but god she is beautiful so who cares. It seems her 'accessory' is make up. Her face is perfect! However, I would be so incredibly bored only wearing clothes from one era with all her strict rules. I need more freedom than that to be inspired.

16. Kate mara - Yey redheads! However, her pretty-preppy-pink style bores and sometimes grosses me out. Maybe it's just her culture up north but I feel like preps are just trying too hard and I want them to stop.

17. Alicia Keys - All I could think about was "man she has amazing hair." If I had to have dark curly hair I could only dream it would be as perfect as hers. I loved how Elle made sure Alicia knew her earlier style was just too-damn-much. Lately however, she has made considerable strides transforming herself into someone seen as uber-chic.

18. Becky Newton - Boring article but I loved this: Every girl needs a shoe that goes with nothing and therefore goes with everything. That's how I shop for shoes and bags. Otherwise I'd be buying a new pair of shoes for every outfit and I'd be wicked broke.

19. Candice Bushnell - I love that she is "obsessed with the image of a woman going somewhere" because this is how I pose in dressing rooms. I want to know how people are going to see me walking, standing, sitting, dancing, generally moving around. (even though I just sit at a desk all day and rarely go out).

20. Janie Bryant - Like Dita, she uses certain eras to inspire her (which makes sense since she's a costume designer) but, thankfully, she moves through several eras. She also enjoys some restyling of her own, shopping vintage and changing silhouettes and styles of not-so-flattering pieces. Love that. Look at her closet!

21. Charlotte Gainsbourg - All I got out of this is that she is very laid back and becomes obsessed with one piece at a time. At the time of this interview she had several pairs of flat boots made to copy a pair her mother used to wear. She wears these EVERYDAY, boring.

22. Fatima Robinson - I've loved her for a long time, not so much her clothes until recently. She was into the hip hop baggy look but I was happy to read that she never actually embraced that and only wore it as part of the job. She's very girlie and loves her accessories.

23. Minnie Mortimer - I like that she designed a capsule collection showcasing dressshirts and named each look after her famous friends. Also I want to steal her shoe closet!!!

24. Charlotte Rampling - I've never heard of her but I now want to watch all her super-old movies. She's very feminine and balances that with very masculine clothes.

25. Milla Jovovich - She is perfect. It's a proven fact. We have similar styles, at least logistically, in that she wears basics but likes to dress up the look with one "whimsical" piece to make people smile. I like to wear atleast 3 pieces at all times (a top, a bottom, and something to make the outfit unique like a scarf, statement necklace, hairpiece, etc). Hers is definitely the closet I'd like to sneak into and stuff my favorite pieces into a large handbag hoping she didn't notice...

I know this is a super long read. It probably took me longer to type this all out than it did to actually read the book. I love this book and it did help me figure out how to begin figuring out my own style and ambition. This was published in 2010 but I feel like it's still pretty relevant give or take a few icons. Check this one out asap.

Sharing - New Do

Last night I couldn't take my hair anymore. It got to the point where my bangs weren't the same color and my hair because my roots are just that grown out. Some were even calling me.....BLONDE...

BEFORE

DURING :P

*****TA-DA*****

I absolutely love it! I hope it doesn't wash out too fast. FYI this is the color that I always use...and it apparently fades to blonde haha. My hair's gotten so long I had to resort to brushing the dye through it all and almost ran out. This is why I go so long between dying. It's so frustrating to do myself but I'm not going to pay someone else 4x what the box of dye costs. If you're wondering this is the shade I used: Garnier Nutrisse Haircolor, 66 True Red Pomegranate

DIY - Beaded Necklace Knockoff-Knockoff

Inspired by Flamingo Toes' Necklace Knockoff -

I wanted to give the multi-strand beaded necklace another try. I came across Flamingo Toes' version with a ribbon woven through a chain to add an extra texture to all the strands. I added 7 strands of varying green glass beads with the antique style chain and clipped on a vintage fish broach for extra charm.

I made this one extra long because I am really into the over-sized, stand-out jewelry out now. I want pieces that will dress up a plain T-shirt (that I wear pretty often to work) and also add some glam to my 'dressy' blouses.

I love the shades are green in the beads and how the fish broach doesn't match but still goes with the design. Matchy-matchy is not my style.

Love it.