Back to Production

I (Lauren) have been so busy lately with moving back to school and starting classes again that I have had absolutely no time to make any jewels. At least a week went by where I didn't make one piece of jewelry. Now, this doesn't mean that I haven't been thinking about making jewelry. On the contrary, ALL I've been thinking about is making jewelry! I'll be sitting in class and instead of paying attention to my professor, I'm thinking about the next piece of jewelry I can make! This weekend, though, I finally had a whole day that I could devote to making jewels...and I did! I made between 20 and 25 pieces that are all EXCLUSIVELY for the Designer's Downtown Market. Let me tell you, I'm very excited about these new items. They're fresh inspiration and great for the upcoming Fall season. Since they are exclusively for the market, the unsold ones will not be posted until after our market day, which is September 25th (less than a month away!) For all of you living in the Raleigh area, be sure to come see us downtown Raleigh on that Saturday to look at our (NEW!)  jewels and enjoy the rest of the handmade market!

Custom Order for Bridesmaids

We received a custom order for jewelry for bridesmaids! She wanted simple earrings, made in silver, and adorned with a slightly off-white pearl.
Here's a photo of what we made!

Fall Trends 2010

Just stumbled across this wonderful blog about the trends in jewelry this fall!

Read it here: Jewelry Trend Blog

And see if we are on trend HERE!

Dazzled.

I was like a kid in a candy store.

I discovered an incredible bead store in a nearby town. w.o.w. Anything and everything I could ever want. It was just so fascinating to wander around the store and thing, "what can I make with that?".
Of course, I immediately got to work and used some teardrop shaped rosie pink beads to create some pretty awesome earrings. Check them out here.

Are you interested in a custom order? We both love to try to create something that our customers really want! Whether it's just a specific color, or a certain charm, we can usually come up with a fabulous piece of jewelry.

New Discoveries

One of the wonderful things about Etsy is the unbelievable amount of supplies that I can purchase to make interesting jewelry. In doing some research, I thought would just check, one more time, and make sure there aren't any other local places for me to purchase beads and charms. Well that was a bad decision because I discovered 2 cool bead stores! I cannot wait to go check them out tomorrow. You may think this is crazy, but I might actually loose sleep because I'm so excited.
I'll keep you posted on what I find, and make sure to check our shop for new pieces!

It's like a new wardrobe.

For any of you that know me, you know I kind of enjoy shopping. I like clothes. More specifically, I love a new pair of jeans or a new cardigan. I don't really care about shoes much. . . but they do have to be the appropriate height in order to show the world that my husband is taller than me.
So, about every month I get the itch to go shopping and buy a BRAND NEW WARDROBE! Well, that's not very feasible. Nor is it healthy.
I use to be a minimalist when it came to jewelry. Jewelry made me feel really dressed up since I never wore it.
Every since Elisabeth Ashlie started, I've had the joy of increasing my own jewelry collection. It's wonderful. I'm more excited to create my outfit around my necklace, or do my hair around my earrings, than ever. And that has really distracted me from wanting all new clothes. ;)

The week before Elisabeth Ashlie started, I asked my sister an interesting question.
"If you had several thousand dollars, would you expand your purse collection or your jewelry collection?"
Her answer? "Purse. Without a doubt".
My answer? "Jewelry!"

Don't be mistaken, we didn't stumble upon several thousand dollars. But we did create this jewelry line and I think her answer has probably changed.

If you're feeling bored with you clothes, buy a statement necklace. Or buy two, wear them together or separately. Look for unique earrings and wear your hair half-up. You'll be surprised at how good you'll feel.

So it started with. . .

So does everyone know the story of how Elisabeth Ashlie Jewelry started? No? Okay, I'll tell ya.

I (kate) had been eyeing a BEAUTIFUL necklace at Target for months(see above). MONTHS, I tell you. And it was expensive. After looking at it more closely one day, I thought, "I could totally make that". This happened to be at the same time that my sister was living with me (she was staying for a month while my husband was away on an internship for Engineering).

So, off we went. To Michael's, that is, and found all the necessary supplies to make the Target necklace. A few hours afterwards, the necklace was born. And this necklace was cherished. We quickly realized the joy and fun of making jewelry and the dream of Elisabeth Ashlie was born.

Neither Lauren nor I can remember the actual conversation that had to have happened regarding the start of our business, but before we knew it, we had about 20 items made (earrings, necklaces, rings) and were ready for our July 7th opening day!

Now, only a little over a month later, we have had the pleasure of creating unique and wonderfully priced jewelry for everyone. Many friends and family members have already purchased some of our creations, and we have also had a surprising amount of new customers find our Etsy shop and purchase something they loved.

As this process has continued, we've both enjoyed the ability to make "look-alike" jewelry. Here is an example of some of our creations:
Rosy-Posy Posts vs. Elisabeth Ashlie Creation: Dorothy Posts (make sure you look at the price difference)
Torotix Earrings vs. Elisabeth Ashlie Creation: Annie (still available!)

What to make, what to make. . .

I (kate) received these ADORABLE branch charms in the mail today from a wonderful Etsy seller!

How cute are they? I am very excited to come up with an idea for a necklace and hopefully some earrings too!

SALE

The time has come here at Elisabeth Ashlie Jewelry for our first official SALE! With the Fall season rapidly approaching, we've been creating a lot of new Fall items. This means that some of our Summer items are being sold at a discounted price!

How much discounted, you ask? Well, select earrings and bracelets are 20% off and select necklaces are 30% off! These discounts bring some of our items down to only $4.50! I don't know about you, but I'd say that's a pretty great price for jewelry :)

We've added a "section" to our shop titled "Sale". You can find it on the right hand side of our shop homepage. Just click on the tab and you will be taken to the Sale page, where you can find some great items being sold at discounted prices.

We've also added some great new Fall necklaces and earrings. Be sure to check out our regular priced items while browsing the Sale section. We hope you find some items you like!

Do you have friends of family members with birthday's coming up soon? Not only is our jewelry great to buy for yourself, but also to give as a gift! And remember to keep us in mind over the Holiday season!

Happy Shopping!

Fall Line

Fall is quickly approaching, which means Fall clothing is being stocked in the stores. Cardigans, boots, scarves, and JEWELRY! Fall is hands-down my favorite season of the year. I love the clothes, the weather, the colors, and the food.

Here at Elisabeth Ashlie Jewelry we're beginning to create some of our Fall line. There's a ton of fabulous trends that we're seeing in the stores and at our supply stores. What trends, you ask? I'll give you the inside scoop...

Colors: oranges, greens, browns, matte gold, brushed/gunmetal silver, and, of course, pearls.

Chains: chunky gunmetal silver, brushed gold, combination metals, and possibly copper!

Charms/Pendants: birds, owls, elephants, leaves, branches, trees, and flowers

We're also branching out into more beadwork jewelry and more intricate designs. We're inspired daily and creating often, which means our stock is growing quickly. Remember to check out our etsy store as often as you get online [just kidding...but really :)].

And don't forget to come see all of our jewelry and some exclusive pieces at the Designer's Downtown Market in Raleigh, NC on September 25th!!

Market!

Designers Downtown Market
(http://www.designersdowntownmarket.com/)
We are looking forward to participating in the Designers Downtown Market in Raleigh, North Carolina for the first time this year!

This is an outdoor market on a quiet side street in the heart of Raleigh. Easy to get to, and abundant parking space, the market will be filled with handmade goodness.

From pastries to jewelry, there is something here for everyone. Please come see us!

Our goal for the market is to have 200+ pieces for sale. This includes necklaces, earrings, bracelets, rings, and hair accessories.
Several pieces of jewelry are going to be Exclusive Market pieces. These will not see the light of Etsy until after the market. We are hoping to have 50+ market exclusives made by September 25th.
We will also have a SALE section with some of our Summer inspired pieces.

There will also be an assortment of handmade cards for sale. I (Kate) began my obsession with Etsy.com by selling handmade greeting cards. It had been such a wonderful creative outlet for me.

Creating cards came from a very random place. I never liked scrapbooking, but I loved the paper and million other things you could use to make a scrapbook. So, I thought, "why not cards?". And so it was.

The whole idea is to create adorable and unique cards for great prices.  Like, half the price of Hallmark cards. No offense to Hallmark-your witty phrases and beautiful cards aren't going anywhere...I just don't feel like spending $2.50-$3.99 on a card. And sometimes, I like the front but hate what is written on the inside.

Don't you hate that? It's awkward to write AROUND the pre-written phrase. Do you  include it in your personal paragraph? Do you squeeze a few lines underneath it? Or are you the person that writes "-Sara" and that's it?

Thankfully, I have solved that problem. BLANK INSIDE. Easy peasy, lemon squeezy.

So, all that to say: come to the Designers Downtown Market on September 25th. We'll be there and be looking for you!

Custom Order Earrings

Recently we received a request for a custom order from a very valued customer!

She found a pair of earrings at Anthropologie and fell in love with them, but not the price.

So, she contacted us to see if we could make a coordinating pair for cheaper. And the mission began.

There are different parts that need to come from different wholesale jewelry supply dealers so it has taken a bit longer than we intended-but nevertheless, we are still charging ahead!

Here is a photo of the Anthropologie earrings:  Rosy Posts

And soon we'll be able to post OUR version of these very earrings!

New Endevours

And so continues the journey of Elisabeth Ashlie Jewelry.
Unfortunately, my sister does not go to college in the same town as where I live so that means our jewelry business must spread it's wings.  The span of those wings? About 900 miles. From Chicago to Raleigh.

Thankfully, the Internet is our only shop right now, so it'll be pretty easy to continue creating and posting new items almost daily. The sad part is-we won't be able to sit at the same kitchen table working on our creations together.

In some ways, she's better off. My kitchen table is glass. That makes it pretty impossible to see what you are working on unless you remember to put a piece of paper down first.

iChat, photos via iPhone, and email are going to be the best ways for us to show each other what we are working on. After we complete, and even sometimes before we are finished with, each piece-we get the "okay" from the other. Usually, I am receptive to her critique. Sometimes I think something is great the way it is... And I begin the photoshoot. Then, after seeing it from another angle, I see what she saw. I would quietly return to the glass table and make the necessary corrections.

Even though the business is about the endure a big, and unfortunate, change-do not fear! Elisabeth Ashlie Jewelry lives on. Your shipments will still be prompt. Your jewelry will still be made with the same amount of excitement and love. The same excitement and love we, Kate and Lauren, will feel when the day comes again that we can create together!