100 Earrings in 100 Days

As I discussed in my last post "Generating Creative Energy" I was really inspired by one of the speakers from the Etsy Symposium I attended.  I've found Noah Scalin's blog about his project "Skull-A-Day" if anyone's interested: http://skulladay.blogspot.com/  Part of his speech focused on getting us to be creative everyday, to really challenge yourself.  He must be persuasive because I was inspired to start my own project, "100 Earrings in 100 Days".  I've already announced it on my facebook fan page, but I'll reiterate here.  I will be creating one pair of earrings everyday for 100 days straight.  Come rain or come shine, I must create a new pair of earrings everyday, no excuses.  I started this on Wednesday, February 9th, so I'm on my 3rd pair of earrings and I can already tell this is going to be tough.  Actually I could tell the first day when I was so freaked out about my first pair that I couldn't even get started.  I put too much importance on them, because they were the FIRST pair.  But that's sort of what this whole challenge is about, getting over that need to be perfect, because let's face it not all 100 pairs will be perfect.  There will be days when inspiration is wanning or time is running out.  But there is no rule that every pair must be a masterpiece, in fact there are no rules at all, except that I must post a picture of my new pair of earrings to my facebook fan page by midnight (central time) every day.  But otherwise the sky is the limit, I can use any materials and any techniques that tickle my fancy.  I can draw inspiration from anything and everything.  Which brings me to the main point of this project, and that is to expand my arsenal of skills.  Through this project I plan to try new techniques, use different materials and increase my creative capacity. 

But I'm not just embarking on this journey to serve my own selfish purposes, I will also be giving away a free pair of earrings every Friday.  Everyone who likes my facebook page will have the opportunity to vote on their favorite pair for the week.  By voting they will be entered into a drawing to win the pair that they voted for.  The voting will take place on Thursdays, or what I like to call "Voting Day Thursday!", everyone will vote on the earrings I created the previous Wednesday to Wednesday, and the winner will be announced on Fridays, what I like to call "Friday!". 

I'm excited about this challenge, because I honestly think it will be help me grow and become a better jewelry designer.  But also because I did a giveaway this past week and it was so much fun!  I liked hearing people's feedback, and I loved making someone's day by sending them a free pair of earrings.

I also think it would be fun if someone came on this journey with me by doing your own 100 in 100 project. 
Does this sound like something you would be interested in doing too?  What creative outlet do you have?  Do you like to paint, draw, or write?  If you want to challenge yourself in this way let me know, it's always good to have a buddy to help you keep going!


To follow my project find me on facebook, search for JoMarie Jewelry and like my page.
To see the jewelry I have for sale go to my etsy shop: www.etsy.com/shop/jomariejewelry

Here are my earrings for the first three days:
#1 The Simple Elegant Ones

#2 The Ones with a Bit of Sparkle

#3 The Sweet Ones

Generating Creative Energy

As you all already know I have a shop on etsy.com.  I've really enjoyed being a part of the Etsy community, I receive e-mails from them with tips on improving my shop, marketing, inspiration, and success stories.  Well today they held a symposium online with different guest speakers addressing many of those same topics.  So I attended, actually, I'm in the middle of attending (they are taking a break) and I just had to share!  The first topic was "Generating Creative Energy", the speaker was Noah Scalin.  He did a project in which he created a new skull every day for a year.  It became quite a big deal online, he got a huge following world wide and turned it into a book deal.  He showed some of his creations and they were really cool, so check him out if you have time.  At the end of his speech he had us do a little project, we had to choose a shape or object and create it ten times in about ten or fifteen minutes.  Being so close to Valentine's Day I chose a heart, I found it challenging because I'm a perfectionist, but the time constraint made it impossible for me to perfect each creation.  However, I'm pleased with the end result and enjoyed the exercise because it did get my creative juices flowing and reinforced the lesson that nothing's perfect, and that's okay. 

So here it is, Happy (early) Valentine's Day!

I really like this one, I made it by arranging tiny ruby beads.

My nod to Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman :)

These two obviously aren't perfect, but I was running out of time.

This one is similar to my Hammered Heart Necklace http://www.etsy.com/listing/66507866/hammered-heart-necklace 

This one is my least favorite, probably because it's the least creative:

And this one is my absolute favorite, I think I'm going to use it as a new design for a necklace!

I hope you enjoyed this little creative journey, if you have ten minutes and want to smile I suggest trying this exercise at home.  Don't think about it, just do it.  You'll be surprised with what you end up with.

www.etsy.com/shop/jomariejewelry

Enjoy What You Have

As a small token of appreciation to my customers I've begun including a Dove chocolate with their order.  Not only is the chocolate a little treat for the taste buds, but the sayings on the wrapper can be a little treat for the soul.  Recently I indulged in a chocolate myself and found a saying that really got to me.  It said, "Take a moment, enjoy what you have.  You see, I suffer from the grass is always greener syndrome.  And generally once I have the grass from the other side, I'm already looking beyond the next fence.  So this was a good reminder for me, I have a lot to be thankful for and I need to enjoy it!

One of my hobbies besides making jewelry is painting, I'm not very good at it, but it's something that I like doing and it's very therapeutic for me.  So to de-stress from the day's work I pulled out my paints and canvas and put that saying from the chocolate wrapper to good use. 

The Inspiration:

The Process:

The Result:

I'm going to hang it in my studio as a well needed reminder :) 

To see some of my newly created jewelry designs visit my website: 

www.etsy.com/shop/jomariejewelry

I hope you're all taking the time to enjoy what you have as well!