Red Charlotte

Sucking Pads for your Ergo, Beco, Boba, Mei Tai, Bamberoo, Baby Bjorn, BabyHawk and More!

2011-04-19T14:03:00.000-07:00

Sucking pads for your baby carrier!

Shop for Red Charlotte Sucking Pads in my Etsy shop.

These sucking pads fit the Ergo, Beco, Boba, Mei Tai, Bamberoo, Baby Bjorn, BabyHawk and More!

Red Charlotte Sucking Pads available with ribbon taggies on one side or both sides. Babies love to play with taggies and you can easily hang linky toys and pacifiers from these ribbons.

Don't see a fabric you love? Contact me for a custom order at redcharlotte (at) gmail (dot) com.

More details available in my Red Charlotte Etsy shop.

Taking a Break

2010-06-06T07:54:00.000-07:00

As Cora's due date (July 29th!) approaches I have been less able to create pretty things and focus on my little Etsy business. I'm going to take a break on this blog for awhile and keep focusing on my posts over at our boat blog: http://rebelheart.squarespace.com/charlottes-blog/.

Feel free to join me over there!

I will be back to Red Charlotte though, and I have a few new ideas and tricks up my sleeve for when I return. Until then, keep creating and have fun with D.I.Y.!!

Beautiful Cakes

2010-04-24T21:13:00.000-07:00

I often dream of the things I'll obtain when we "live on land again." I have no idea when this will be but a short list of items include:

- A garden (in particular so I can grow tomatoes)

- A panini grill

- A huge, comfortable couch

- A bathtub

And to add to that? Cake stands, beautiful vases, glassware and dinnerware. Some day I'll have all of those things. Until then, I'll dream about them and enjoy traveling around the world on our boat.

These beautiful cakes and the handmade stands they are found on made me wistful for a large kitchen in which to bake wonderful treats such as these and for cabinets in which I could store all my lovely cake stands to display my baked goods. You can see the rest of the wooden items at Herriot Grace. Enjoy!

{Found via Handmade Charlotte}

Custom-fit Sheets for the Boat

2010-04-18T21:19:00.000-07:00

Stop by my sailing blog to see some of my recent work on the boat. I've made fitted sheets for the seaberth and the v-berth.

I'm using fabric from Alexander Henry's Good Earth collection for the seaberth.

For the v-berth I used fabric from Amy Butler's Lotus collection. The boat is a much cheerier place now. After the seaberth is done, I'll be starting on the cushions on the settee in the salon. Enjoy!

Wanna Get Excited About Fabric?

2010-04-07T11:39:00.001-07:00

I just discovered http://www.trueup.net/, a blog devoted to fabric. All things fabric. They review new fabric collections, digital fabric, sustainable sourcing, and fabric patterns, among other things.

They also have a fat quarter giveaway for Jessica Levitt's new line called Timber. The giveaway ends on Friday! Enjoy

It's a Girl

2010-04-02T16:38:00.000-07:00

I know I mentioned it on my sailing blog already, but wanted to say it here too, we're expecting a girl!! Cora Rose is set to arrive on July 29, 2010. I wonder what day she'll actually come? There's a full moon on July 26th, but for some reason August 1st keeps popping into my head.

This picture was taken last night at my brother's before dinner. I'm officially 23 weeks. I read in my pregnancy book that Cora will double her weight in the next four weeks. No wonder I've been so hungry lately. I feel like I could eat a house! It took her 23 weeks to weigh a pound and in just four she'll weigh two pounds. Amazing.

I guess that she'll have dark hair like Eric but wavy hair like mine and she'll have our light blue/green eyes as well. Can't wait to meet her.

Inspiration is Everywhere - Truckers Pick Up Quilting and Knitting

2010-03-31T18:02:00.000-07:00

Totally awesome. This Wall Street Journal article follows a growing trend among truckers who have picked up quilting, sewing, and knitting as a hobby. The downturn in the current economy has meant that instead of dropping off a load and picking up a new one right away, truckers will sometimes have to wait hours or days until they can head out again. Some men (95% of truckers are men) have started using a needle and thread (and sewing machines!) to pass the time.

The article is a fun read and it is full of great photos of their work and a video that shows a trucker and how he incorporates quilting into his routes. Very cool. Inspiration really is everywhere!

~~ Found via Craft Blog

Handmade Sheets for the Boat!

2010-03-29T20:23:00.000-07:00

Check out the sheets I made for our boat on our sailing blog here. So happy to be

creating fabulous DIY again!

Solar Cooker

2010-03-23T20:19:00.000-07:00

In the process of making a solar cooker. I've wanted to try one for a long time. I'm going to try cooking something delicious tomorrow and will let you know how it goes:

I think I'm going to start easy and bake some cookies from pre-made dough, just to see how this things cooks. I'm just going to leave it out during the day at school and make sure it is at a good angle to the sun as the day goes by. One of my students is bringing her solar tea kettle. We'll have a feast!

**Update** the cookies are "cooking," which translates to mean: I put them out in the sun on a black cookie sheet and now I'm waiting. No idea if this will work! I'll post pics a bit later!

We just used some pre-made cookie dough and my student brought the tea and solar tea kettle from her house. Here we have the cookies as they'll look when we place them outdoors:

From what I've read you can cover your cooking with a glass lid or top or an oven backing bag (clear) to keep off flies and to trap heat but I'm just trying this today sans cover. (Haven't seen any flies yet so cross your fingers.) Honestly there will probably be more saw dust in these cookies than flies as my students are constructing medieval weapons today on the same balcony that the cookies are baking on.

Below are the cookies 25 minutes into baking. It's working!!!! I turned the sheet around to create oven baking. I'll probably have to keep rotating it every 20-25 minutes. The cookie sheet was HOT to the touch. Will use a hot pad for the next rotation:

****************************************************

Update: It's 12:14 and the cookies still aren't cooked, but they're cooking. I've had to drag the cooker to follow the sun and at one point I found it in the shade, so I'm not sure how long this will take. The problem is we're on the third floor of the school and the outside patio has a big cover on it so I'm working with an angle of the sun. I wonder if they'll be done by this afternoon?

Update: Well I finally pulled the cookies out of the cooker at 2:30 as we started to clean up for the day. They had started to firm and crust up but were still raw and doughy in the middle. I had a few student volunteers thoroughly wash their hands and then pinch off bits of the cookies from the pan as they were too undercooked to pick up as single entities and eat. The cookies disappeared but I think that's because people like chocolate chip cookies cooked or uncooked. This is what they looked like at 2:30 when I pulled them off. One bummer about using store dough was how oily they were. I don't think homemade dough would have released this much oil (as homemade dough doesn't use oil).

I'm going to try another batch tomorrow. I'll start at the same time but try to position them in more direct sunlight the whole time. I'm very interested in seeing how good I can get at solar cooking with a homemade cooker as the ones I've seen online to purchase are fairly pricey. It would be great to know how to use one while we're sailing, especially in the South Pacific and other hot areas. The cabin will be unbearable if I have to use the oven or stop during the day to make meals.

Cool Photo and Boat Organizing

2010-02-02T12:54:00.000-08:00

I'm at home with a nasty cough so I thought I'd share this awesome photo of me and Eric taken at a friend's wedding in July. I had so much fun dancing with Eric that night:

If you're interested in life aboard a sailboat, I have an update on my sailing blog on some of the organizing I've been doing onboard here.

We're Expecting!

2010-01-24T14:47:00.000-08:00

I'm happy to announce that we're expecting our first child in late July. This is one of the reasons that I've been pretty quiet on the blog lately. I'm 13 weeks and was sick with all-day "morning" sickness from weeks 6-12. Eric has been an incredible support through this. He's going to be a great dad. Just wanted to introduce the world to our little gummy bear.

We are still planning on living on our boat and raising the baby on board. I'll be making posts on my sailing blog about the specifics about life on board with a baby. Feel free to follow along if you'd like at http://rebelheart.squarespace.com/charlottes-blog/

This is him/her at 8 weeks and and 12 weeks:

Projects for the New Year

2010-01-06T14:33:00.000-08:00

It's January and I have a new digital camera! Hallelujah. I'm offering the same DIY/Craft class at school as I did last semester so I'm looking forward to meeting my new students and seeing what creative projects they come up with.

The first projects I'll be working on are this storage container created by ReadyMade Magazine. It's Pringles cans covered in Contact Paper and glued together. So cool.

I'll also be refinishing some beautiful teak lawn chairs and of course, working on my jewelry display boxes.

What are you working on?

Meaningful Gift Giving

2009-11-25T13:50:00.001-08:00

My camera is officially dead. This is so, so sad. I like to document my progress on the shop and post what I've done, but until I get a new camera you just have to believe me that I'm working on things! Things are good and I'm making progress.

In the meantime, I've been thinking about Christmas. Eric and I have never been big Christmas spenders. Last year we took off for the holidays and celebrated our honeymoon instead. What a stress-free way to go through the holidays. We're planning on doing a repeat again this year, but I still want to get Eric something.

Meet the Giver's Log. This is a beautiful blog about giving gifts, wrapping gifts, and gift ideas.

Inspired by this blog post, I'm thinking of getting Eric something he wants, something he needs, and something he can treasure. I'm always trying to not spend a lot of money, so I've got to be thrifty and creative. I think the 'treasure' gift may be something I create that can be printed on this free canvas being offered by http://www.canvaspeople.com/.

How do you approach gift giving each year?

My Shop - Progress Update

2009-11-08T21:10:00.000-08:00

I came up with the idea to open my own Etsy shop in April of this year. Since then I have spent approximately 100 hours researching Etsy, small businesses, photography, crafting, and the potential market for my jewelry display boxes.

This weekend I worked on filling in a few gaps in my boxes with wood filler and sanding them to perfection. This week I will be painting and working on stenciling some designs I've found. My camera recently died (RIP), but I want to keep my blog posts going until I can get a replacement.

I'm hoping to do a soft opening of my Etsy shop during the Christmas break and will keep you posted on my progress.

If you read this and are also working on a big project, how are you doing? What are you working on now?

(Pillow from www.pillowfarmer.etsy.com. Isn't it fabulous?)

Etsy Finds - Vandalized Vintage Plates and Arts

2009-10-23T19:22:00.000-07:00

Trixie Delicious' Shop on Etsy creates "vandalized vintage" items like this fabulous set of plates on the seven deadly sins. More highlights below.

I'd love to have tea with a girlfriend with that kiss and tell set!

Inspiration is Everywhere - Magazine Page Pennant

2009-10-23T17:49:00.000-07:00

I'm addicted to pretty little hanging pennants (also called banners or bunting.) Here is one I made from Yoga Journal and Real Simple magazine pages for a friend in a craft swap.

I highlighted an adorable pennant on Etsy in this post last month and below is a DIY I'm planning on making from Cathe Holden's blog Just Something I Made.

I'll post pics of my own once I've made it. If you haven't checked out Cathe's blog yet, head over when you get the chance. She is a great designer and offers a ton of freebies and tutorials.

Halloween Pennant - Printable Freebie

2009-10-20T19:39:00.001-07:00

I made this sweet little Halloween pennant for a craft swap on http://www.momsasylum.com/. No, I'm not a mom, but I fell in with this great group of ladies and just love it there. I've included links to the pennant below for free download. Feel free to contact me for the Photoshop files if you'd like them.

Oh, a tip. Use a pretty black ribbon to sew the pieces together but make sure your ribbon doesn't get twisted. Mine did and I had already finished before I noticed. It was still cute, but I'll try to save you the trouble.

Halloween Banner 'T'
Halloween Banner 'R'
Halloween Banner 'I'
Halloween Banner 'C'
Halloween Banner 'K'
Halloween Banner 'or'
Halloween Banner 'E'
Halloween Banner 'A'

*As always my free tutorials/printables are for personal use only. ;)

Jewelry Display Box 2.0

2009-10-18T19:16:00.000-07:00

I started work on my second jewelry display box prototype. I need to come up with a catchier name than a "jewelry display box" but I haven't figured one out yet. I think I may call each version or different size a different name. Like "Chloe" or "Illiana." Maybe I'll do city names. One style can be "Savannah" and another "Paris." If you think of something fancy, let me know okay?

I'm working on two right now. They are smaller than my first one but I'm reworking the design so I wanted to work small and then go big. I'll be working on these all week and will post updates as they come along.

More Creations from Craft Class

2009-10-16T19:05:00.000-07:00

Featuring from left to right: Rachael's paper star earrings (modeled by Tobi), Marlene and Lulu's plushie, Nicole's Bob Marley painting, and Ahsaki's pirate plushie.

Above we have Brendon working on one of her cosplay wigs and Coco and Taylor working on the base coat for a chair design they created.

To all the ladies and one gentleman in my class (just wait until you see what Jeremy is working on), thank you for really diving right into this class. It is so inspiring to see what you come up with and it is so motivating to work with you every day.

Morgan's Box

2009-09-24T16:34:00.001-07:00

This is Ruthie and this is the box she made for her friend Morgan:

Aside from the wonderful hand-painted stripes and hand-drawn name, I am so impressed with how classy a simple cardboard box can look. What a great way to repurpose material and what a wonderful gift for a friend. Well done Ruthie!

Sundays are Lovely

2009-09-20T21:04:00.001-07:00

I spent my Sunday afternoon at Sky Dive San Diego. What did you do?

Creation ~ In Progress

2009-09-17T15:44:00.000-07:00

A few shots of the class at work:

More to come as our creations continue!

School is Back in Session

2009-09-05T13:45:00.001-07:00

I'm teaching an elective (called X-block at our school) for any students who want to craft or D.I.Y. We meet three days a week and the students are working independently on what ever they're passionate about. This little notebook lunchbag was so back-to-school-y that I couldn't resist posting it as possible inspiration for some of the kids who still may not know what to do as their first project.

A lot of the students have already posted their projects in the comments section of my post below entitled "What are you Working on?"

I am going to emphasize using available resources this semester for our crafting and DIY projects, especially on repurposing items for something new. Do you have any examples of repurposed items that have been given new life? I'll post great examples here from time to time to show you my inspiration. Here's one that I thought was wonderful:

This is via Design*Sponge. It is a filing cabinet that has been repurposed as a planter. Brilliant! and beautiful!!

What are You Working On?

2009-09-03T14:25:00.000-07:00

I've been wanting to make a cloth pennant/banner for quite a while. This is one from Sweet Jessie's Shop on Etsy.com. I'm going to start with a paper pennant first in a fall theme for a craft swap I'm participating in.

I also want to whip up some of the boxes I mentioned in this post for some of the new teachers at my school.

What are you working on?

Free Handwritten Fonts

2009-08-24T19:17:00.000-07:00

More examples of creative people doing creative things. Tripwire Magazine links to 45 different handwritten fonts, all for free and ready to download. No go make something pretty!

via, Craftzine.com

Inspiration is Everywhere - Framed Flowers and Shelves

2009-08-24T18:59:00.000-07:00

I'm still diligently working on my frame ideas so any creative way to use frames grabs my attention. The folks at the. (that's right, their name is "the") have created these three beautiful ways to use them as decoration in your home.

School starts next week, so I'm focusing on lesson plans at the moment, but I'll still continue to post beautiful inspiration and Etsy finds until I have a new shop update.

Inspiration is Everywhere - Rainy Day Cloud Box by ISLY

2009-08-13T12:14:00.000-07:00

When I first discovered the wonders of Etsy.com and started to dig deep into DIY and the handmade movement I just couldn't believe how creative people were. I have a long blog roll I read every day in Google Reader and it is chock-full of blogs where people continue to dazzle me with their ingenuity and craftiness.

This craft is from ISLY (I Still Love You). I love how she describes her inspiration for the project and that she offers the template for her readers to download for free. You can guarantee that many of my fellow teachers and maybe even a student or two will be receiving one of these boxes this coming school year.

Ecstatic! First Jewelry Display Box Complete!

2009-08-05T09:26:00.000-07:00

Wow. I did it.

I completed the first 100% handmade version of my idea. It was fascinating to create something I had been thinking about for so long, and to see it turn out so well!

I learned so much in the process of just making one of these babies. I can't wait to implement what I learned on the next one. A few of my friends decided to do a craft swap this summer, so this version was mailed off yesterday to the girl I got in the swap.

I went with purple because it is her favorite color. The next one is going to be done in a deep blue for another friend's birthday. I want to have a few under my belt before I start selling them on Etsy.

I still can't believe I did it! Go me!!

First Handmade Prototype

2009-08-02T14:29:00.000-07:00

Whoohoo! I finally compiled all of the tools I needed to start trying to hand-make my own version of my jewelry display cases. Eric helped me on this end.

Honestly, it was more moral support than anything else. I had made a dozen runs to Home Depot and Michael's searching for the perfect paint, for hooks of all sizes, for screen, for sawtooth hangers and L-braces, etc, but when it came to buying a mitre box I just really wanted someone standing with me in the Home Depot tool aisle debating the virtues of which yellow box was better, and it helped, it really did.

So I installed the box on the work table in our storage shed and got to work cutting angles on the wood I had picked up. I can't believe how much I've learned, and I'm not even finished with the first prototype.

Here are some more shots of what I'm working on:

Using the mitre box

Spacing out the different hooks

Bringing the pieces together & more to come!

Sensitive to Metal - Nickel Allergy

2009-08-02T14:21:00.000-07:00

I have a sensitivity to nickel. A lot of the metal in costume jewelry contains nickel because it's fairly cheap. When I shop on Etsy I always search for nickel free earrings, but sometimes even the ones I pick up can make my earlobes start to burn after a few hours. So I'm trying this:

I've heard that if you coat the posts and backs of your earrings in clear nail polish it can really increase the amount of time you can wear the jewelry for daily. Has anyone else had success in doing this? I'll let you know how it goes.

Using a Light Box

2009-07-28T08:53:00.000-07:00

I followed this tutorial yesterday to make a light box. It didn't take very long once I had assembled all of the materials.

A few things I've already learned:

1. The tutorial above suggests only leaving two flaps to control the light source coming in from above. I would suggest leaving three or following this tutorial where the entire top is covered in cloth or paper.

2. I grabbed this box because it was free and because I thought I would need a large box to work with the frames I'm making. It was just too big. Perhaps if I had an apartment or house it would be okay, but after making it I looked around my little storage locker and realized I had no where to store it. I'm going to make a smaller one that is tall (to accommodate a frame).

Here are some of the photos I took yesterday when playing with the new light box:

Whoohoo! Such clarity! This is a lovely bracelet from Out of the Blue, a sweet little shop on Etsy.

Here is a sneak peak of one of my first prototypes:

Again, I'm looking to create a jewelry display that shows off the beauty of one's jewelry while still being very functional. That cute little owl necklace is from Polished Two on Etsy and the gorgeous turquoise necklace is from Hey Renee Designs on Etsy as well.

I'm really impressed with how these photos turned out with the light box. Now I'm wondering how to create a similar, built-in situation on a wall so that I can take photos of the frames while they're hanging.

I'd like to be able to switch out color on the "wall" that they hang on as I'll be making different colored frames and want to show how they'd look in different styled homes.

Last shot - I'm working on hooks and how to best install them. I've got to get just the right drill bits to make sure the wood doesn't split as it did on my first prototype. I used a shadowbox that I picked up on sale from Aaron Brothers, but in my newer models I'm building everything from scratch, so I'm hoping that won't be a problem:

Before and After - My Sister's Craft Room

2009-07-26T22:28:00.001-07:00

My sister Sariah is an incredibly talented crafter. While several of the siblings in my family have creative talent, Sariah seems to excel in things like baking, sewing or (paper)crafting. I just returned from a week long "vacation" from visiting Sariah and her family in Utah. We spent two and a half days redoing her craft room.

Here are the before pictures:

We also had to incorporate her craft supplies she was temporarily storing in her bedroom:

We were operating on a very limited budget so we were as resourceful as we could be. Eventually we sorted her supplies into three main areas, baking, sewing and (paper) crafting.

Sariah and I are similar in that we're visual. If we can't see what we have to work with we can't remember what's available. She wanted a way to stylishly display and quickly locate things like her different threads, her embellishments and notions for sewing and scrapbooking, her 12x12 scrapbooking paper and her paper punches, ribbons and fabric.

We scoured the internet for quite a while looking for inspiration on different ways to store her scrapbooking paper until Sariah thought up her own idea. We disassembled her metal shelving in her bedroom (shown in the pic on the left) and reassembled only one column of it in the scrapbooking room. We then used twisty ties (because we didn't have any zip ties) to make flat shelves to hold her paper by sorted colors and designs. Brilliant and it was free. Interestingly, we found a woman on Etsy selling the very same idea in her Etsy shop. Good on her for selling her ideas and good on us for thinking of it on our own.

Here is the craft's room east wall where we decided to locate the scrapbooking corner and store her fabulous fabric supply:

Oh glorious organizational wonder of all that is crafty and good.

- We bought the little wooden shelves that the jars are resting on at a thrift store for a couple of dollars. The jars on the shelves were bought at Ikea and Sariah is going to make little stickers for each one.

- We made the strong, square shelves out of MDF board that Sariah had on hand. We made them big enough to hold several of her scrapbooking books at a time.

- The desk is a good ole' fashioned option made from cement blocks and more of the available MDF boards.

- We also used hooks and dowels to make the hangers for her paper cutters.

- The chair was also bought at a thrift store for $10 and Sariah is going to recover it. Brilliant.

- Lastly, we moved the black shelves that were already in the room to the entrance way and organized the fabric by color and placed her patterns in easy to flip through plastic storage bins.

Next up, the craft room's south wall. We divided it into two sections. This is the baking corner:

Pan racks can be incredibly expensive. We made our own by drilling holes 3" apart from each other on the top shelf and hot gluing them to the bottom shelf. Perfect!

Sariah wanted a designated area to be able to freely use her various sewing machines so we gave her a separate desk for this section. She also wanted to display the quilt because it was the first craft she made in her teens and it is really what started her lifetime interest in crafting.

We hand made the thread and spool holders from wooden plaques and boards we bought at the thrift store and then painted white and modge podged with scrapbooking paper. Then we added nails and hung them on the wall. Voila, a sweet, visual way to access her different threads.

Lastly, the craft room's north wall:

Oh wonderous organizational fabulousity! Here you can see our creative solution for storing her scrapbooking paper for easy access. We bought the white shelves from the thrift store for only a few dollars and we used some scrap wood to extend the dowels from the wall to create her ribbon holders.

It was exhausting, but so worth it. I'm looking forward for updates on some of the finishing touches from Sariah. Oh, if you're looking for more creative ways to organize your craft room, check out this post from Craftynest. Oh, here's an adorable way to store your fabric as well. Just another fabulous offering from Cathe Holden at Just Something I Made.

Making a List

2009-07-17T09:50:00.000-07:00

I've always been an uber-organized person. I love lists and order and neatness. This is helpful when living on a boat, because there is no room to be messy. It's also helpful with the small storage unit we rent out at the marina. It's about 6'x8' and it fits my work bench and Eric's computer desk. Where I'm also hoping this neatness will be helpful is in opening an Etsy shop.

I've been doing a lot of research on how to open your own business and I keep developing all of these lists in my head to get started. Here are a few of the items on my list:

1. Create inventory. I'm working on this now. I'm slowing bringing my ideas to life and will post some prototypes soon.

2. Learn how to best ship the displays to people. This needs to be cost effective, preferably earth-friendly and the packaging should be cute and reflect my shop's style.

3. Master taking really good photos of my product. I'm creating a lightbox and trying to understand the different modes on my digital camera to know how to do this. I'm going to work on the light box today so I'll post pics of my progress.

4. Getting my shop fully functional on Etsy. I need to figure out what my shop policies are going to be and how I'm going to label and describe my items.

While I know there are a bazillion other things I'll need to do to get going, these four items seem like the most important to my initial start and initial success. More pics to come!

Etsy Finds - Soil

2009-07-15T11:38:00.000-07:00

I just discovered this children's clothing shop, Soil on Etsy and am in love with the whimsical, adorable things she creates.

Gasp! I don't have children yet, but I do have little nephews. I may just have to put this entire outfit on order for them:

Chimney Sweep Shorts/Grey by Soil on Etsy

These make me want to have a little girl, and horses! Maybe they are for a little girl who loves horses or playing dress up.

Polly Spats by Soil on Etsy

Pinnochio Suspenders? OMG. And I thought the t-shirts with appliqued ties were cute!

Pinnochio Suspenders by Soil on Etsy

I found this shop through Freshly Picked, another blog I adore.

Etsy Finds - Beautiful Ceramics and Pottery

2009-07-13T14:29:00.000-07:00

When we moved aboard our boat we got rid of all of our glassware and anything that could easily break, however just because you're on a diet doesn't mean you can't view the menu! Here are a few beautiful pieces of pottery and ceramics. They all leave me thinking, "if only...."

pair owl candlesticks or bud vases ala macrame from
laurawallstaylor.etsy.com

Love Birdies Vase from redhotpottery.etsy.com

PEACE dove tiny text bowl from palomasnest.etsy.com

Welcome to My New Blog!

2009-07-08T16:17:00.000-07:00

Hello! I've started this blog on Blogger because it is so much easier for me to modify and design than my Squarespace one. Eric and I will continue to keep our website and I know Eric will keep his blog on the site as well.

I've been working on an idea for several months now and would like to share it with you. It deals with my jewelry problem. Well, I don't want to call it a "problem", because having all this fantastic jewelry is surely not a problem, but storing it has become one. This is a photo of what my current storage situation looks like:

I love all of the little boxes that my jewelry comes in when I buy it off Etsy.com, but I can't keep cardboard on the boat (increases the chances of vermin getting aboard), and I'm a visual person, so I really want to see my options every morning or evening when I'm putting on my "glitz." I have researched jewelry organizing solutions and have come up short. While there are several functional options, I couldn't find a stylish solution. Jewelry is beautiful on and off of you, why not display jewelry in a functional, design-oriented manner when it's not on your person? And so, I am working on a line of jewelry displays that will do just that.

First step, take a look at how much and what types of jewelry I have:

I have a large collection of necklaces, some earrings and very few bracelets and rings. As I work on this new line I have to decide if I should group jewelry displays by color, style, sets, or materials. Also, should I create separate displays for necklaces, bracelets and rings, or go multi-use? I'm working these questions out now with my first proto-types. I'd love to know how you store your jewelry at home (or on the boat :)

Tell me:
1) how do you store your jewelry?
2) do you like how you store it?
3) would you be open to another way of storing it?
4) would you like to incorporate design/style into your jewelry storage?

These are the types of questions that have been keeping me up at night!