Saturday, June 25, 2011

A Sale from Miss November Studio!

Head over to my etsy shop for a sale now through July 4th!
All items in my shop are 20% off when you use the code FACEBOOK at checkout!

I recently decided to pursue my bachelors degree and I've been saving away for a new laptop. I'm almost there but I could use a little boost!

Share, share, share!

Thanks for your love and support!!!

-Sandra

www.missnovemberstudio.etsy.com

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

What's Happening With MNS?

Somehow I thought when the busy holiday season wrapped up that I would have some semblance of free time again...WRONG!

Not that I'm complaining though. Most of the stuff keeping this girl busy have been due to an amazing turn of events for Miss November Studio! You all know I have my full time job, lately I have had so much take home work I have forgotten what its like to relax. Right as the homework stopped my sales on Etsy skyrocketed!
 Last Friday was my day off and I spent the first half of my day running errands and purchasing supplies to fill all the orders. The second half of the day (noon to 9pm!) I was in the studio making umbrella necklaces. I had a few hours set aside to spend with Allison Cecil of Monkeys Always Look which I'm so glad for because it was so fun and really nice just to hang out, chat and play around with tools and metal together.

Once the diversion was over I was in super focus mode working on five orders that had rolled in overnight. Thankfully I had decided to make a few extra because one of them melted a bit when I tried to straighten the handle, then I decided to leave the handle on another slightly off kilter instead of risking another being melted. I can't sell it because its not up to standard (all those for a giveaway say "aye!")
I also ran out of 1.3mm chain and when I was purchasing supplies I grabbed chain that was too small to fit my jump rings through.  I sent DH on an errand Saturday while I was at work to purchase the correct chain but they were sold out! Did I panic? A little...but I had him buy the next size up which was too large and had to spend half an hour Saturday night squishing the round rings oblong so it would look more like the original chain. What a ridiculous ordeal! I finished them up Saturday night after leaving work at 4pm, dead tired, but still determined to get them all done on time. I decided I would finish sanding the patina from the chain at home after work Sunday. I had them all in the mail Monday afternoon.

I have to say, my usual local supplier of chain and wire is starting to not quite work out...when the cost of silver was lower he kept the most amazing assortment of chain and wire and was always fully stocked. Now that silver is spiking his supplies are pretty sad.  I found a website through Allison when she sent me a link to a piece of really expensive dream equipment that chops your metal in straight lines. Sunday night I found myself searching through this website and ogling the selection of chain...not as good a selection as my local supplier, but they had the chain I was using and its so much cheaper! I have no reason to run out of chain again,  I won't have to gripe about the cost and I can keep the price on my umbrella necklaces in the realm of inexpensive, although the next time I order silver sheet its going to be almost three times the cost of the metal I have in stock now. UGH!

I do have to make a quick, huge THANK YOU to Carol of In Pursuit of Pretty Things, I know at least one of the orders I received recently were directly due to her wearing and blogging about her MNS Umbrella Necklace in at least one blog weekly.


Oh, and did I mention my Elephant Balancing on Ball Necklace was on the FRONT PAGE OF ETSY for approximately 15 minutes? My page views exploded and the next day my Ray Gun Necklace was featured on the blog EtsyStalker! The day after that I was contacted by the blog Crafterholic for a feature about Miss November Studio to be pubished March 22! Yesterday I was contacted by the blog Bohemian Vintage because she had featured my Elephant Necklace in a collection of her animal related jewelry favorites on Etsy. We got to talking and in April she will be hosting a giveaway for one of my Umbrella Necklaces! So much blog love lately, and I'm in 3-5 treasuries per week...I feel pretty good about that!






All of this has kept me from creating new pieces in the studio so hopefully I can focus this week and get creating again. I don't want to keep making the same three pieces over and over again, I want to be diverse! We'll see what I come up with Thursday and Friday!

Some of last week's treasury love...looks like they're starting to embrace my turquoise background :)









Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Attack of the Futuristic 50's Robot Monsters From the Moon!

Well...maybe not...


...but here's what I made in the studio today!

Thanks to the 2001: A Space Odyssey record cover for making them look even more awesome!


Fresh from the studio!

Cheers!

Friday, February 4, 2011

Superno-Pho!

I had couple of days off in a row this week and was able to get some quality time logged in my studio.

Here's what I made!

First is a necklace specially made for my friend Parisa who just moved to LA. I'm pretty sure I'll never see her again since people tend to get sucked into the vortex of LaLa Land and never come out. Once you change your cell number to 323, its official, you're never EVER leaving. EVER. Not even to visit your old chums in San Diego.

So to ensure Parisa keeps me on her mind I made her a necklace from a conversation we had at tea one day.  We decided that pho would be a good t-shirt logo, as in:

"hoes pho sho"
"friends pho eva"
"what the pho?!?!?!"

Here's the final product, hope you like it pho sho P!




I was sitting at my workbench today trying to figure out what to make next. I have an old typeset tray filled with little trinkets and various stones and when I don't have a plan I like to take stuff out and just touch things until I find some inspiration. One of the items I had been hanging onto is a druzy bezeled in bright gold. It looked super cheesy, the gold was bright yellow and it had a cheap bail on the back. I peeled off the gold which ended up breaking some of it apart, but a large chunk was still salvageable. I started off by loosly tracing around the remaining piece of druzy on some silver sheet and cutting it out. After that I loosly traced the silver piece on some copper sheet and cut that out too. After a soldering, soldering and more soldering and a little more sawing, I finished it off with some chasing tools and patina. Here's what I made, my Supernova Ring:




I read a story recently about a ten year old amateur astronomer who, along with her dad and a friend, discovered a supernova. She compared the activity in her telescope to photographs of supernovas and her discovery was confirmed by two other amateur astronomers and then by professionals. The supernova is named Gray's Supernova after the ten year old Canadian star gazer, Katherine Aurora Gray.

I'll have this beauty on Etsy soon, I'll let you know when!

-Miss November

Thursday, February 3, 2011

February Heart-To-Heart Giveaway!

Hey friends!

I just announced the February giveaway on Closet at Capacity, check it out and let the winning begin! I have TWO necklaces to give away this month!


I made these last month in my studio and just added the chain today! 

Red Enamel Broken Heart Necklaces on Copper with Brass Chain by Miss November Studio.


Thursday, January 27, 2011

Freshly Listed on Etsy!

Hey friends! I finally got around to posting two new pieces fresh from the studio!

Upcycled Tiki Necklace

Parasol Necklace
Check out these new additions now for sale at www.missnovemberstudio.etsy.com!