~ Plump Strawberry Bells in Etsy Finds ~

I was supposed to go on a short hike today, but we were feeling ambitious and a 2 hour hike became a 4 hour hike.  It didn't help that we got a little bit lost too.  I would love to post more hiking pictures, but I forgot to put memory card in my camera!  Epic fail!  But, there is good news!  My strawberry enamel bells are in the Etsy Finds email!

What a fabulous edition of the Etsy Finds!  There are so many awesome items and I just love all the holiday colors!  I specially love all these minty fresh green items.

So far, I have sold 5 packages of these bells and Google Analytics show 794 visits from Email!  That's about 10x the number of visits my shop gets on a regular day!  So awesome!  I am running low on these bells though.  They are a very popular item even before today.  I only have about 6 packages left.  Let's see if they will sell out this weekend!

~ Weekly Specials: 25% off Silk and Organza Bags ~

Are you ready for the holiday rush?  How are you going to package your items?  Maybe these little bags will help!  25% off these pretty organza and silk pouches!  If you need larger quantities, just let me know and I will set up a custom listing for you.  And yes, I will apply the 25% discount no matter how many you buy.  Note that each silk pouch is different.  You will get what you see in the pictures if you purchase those listings.  But, if you want more, it will be a different pattern and/or color.

~ Hiking the Orange Trail at Sugarloaf Mountain ~

It's been getting pretty cold, but not cold enough stay away from the falling leaves and fun trails.  This time, it was Sugarloaf Mountain again, but the orange trail instead of the blue trail.  We parked at the East parking lot and the view is already very nice! 

Orange trail starts from the East parking lot and is very short, but very steep!  We met some people on our way up who couldn't make it down!  On the way up, we saw many pretty mosses and leaves!

Check out these leaves!  I have never seen leaves that have splotches of yellow like this.

There were a lot of funny looking mushrooms too!  I think these look like roses.

I guess it's not too cold for new growths though.  It's so strange that little seedlings are still growing in November!

We ended up at the peak through the red trail.  Look how pretty the view was! Except for that factory in the back.  I didn't even know there are factories around here!

We took the shortest way back through the green trail.  It's so rocky that it's mostly stairs!  There are a lot of rocks and crevices that I can hide Momo in.

I saw some people trying to climb rocks like these.  Craziness!!

After the hike, it felt good to lie around and enjoy the breeze.  Momo wanted to keep going thought. 

Check out this pretty tree I found in my neighborhood after the hike!  So pretty!  Love the gradient colors.  Gotta hike more now before it gets really cold!

~ New Swarovski Crystal Jewelry for November ~

Can't believe it's November already!!  I finally found some time to make jewelry this weekend and I had a blast!!!  I have been meaning to make another Stardust bracelet for sometime now in soft vintage colors.  I think I am going to call this one "Vintage Lace".  It has some topaz, Provence lavender, and other dreamy colors!  It looks awesome with a sweater and jeans.

I also made a pair of matching earrings.  It has one big star on the bottom and 2 small stars in the cluster.  Very pretty if I may say so myself.

I started playing with the new Swarovski crystal Wild Heart pendants and made these dainty little earrings and simple necklaces.  The orange/yellow one is the new color called Sunflower!

Here are more creations made with the new Swarovski 2011/2012 Winter Collection new addition.  First, a beautiful pendant made with a Swarovski crystal filigree and the new pear pendants.

Next is a simple and dainty necklace made with the new clover bead.  This one is only 8mm compared to the 12mm beads I use for the star necklaces.  It's only 15 inches and will look awesome as a simple necklace for dress shirts. 

This is the new Helios pendant!  I tied it on a silver chain.  Simple and beautiful!

Winter is coming so I made this special snowflake necklace with the prettiest sterling silver bail I have every seen!  I used a double chain because it feels more like light and fluffy snow.

Finally, a pair of stunning earrings with a Swarovski crystal filigree, crystal heart pendant and dangly chains.  Chains are so trendy right now!

I will be listing these in my shop soon!  Can't wait?  Just send me a message and I will set up a listing for you right away!  By the way, I decided to use the brown background color because my husband said it looks good and he has great taste! :)

~ Still Searching for the Perfect Picture ~

I have changed the photo style of my etsy jewelry shop quite a few times in the past.  In general, I have tried white backgrounds and many different props and the newest dark brown background.  For white backgrounds, I feel that the lighter colors look too washed out and the crystals just don't pop unless they are a bright color.

Dark grey looks good, but I think it's too dark.  But I like this cool shade.

 

 I tried this brown patterned paper and I like it, but I have gotten various comments that it's too dark or the color is weird or that the color doesn't match my jewelry's style.

I like the brown and this yellow green pot.  This picture even got into craftgawker!!  But my husband said it's weird looking.

So, I tried something else yesterday.  I finally broke down and got a sheet of textured gray paper.  That seems to be the standard neutral background for a lot of jewelry shops.  This is very neutral and looks nice.  Though it doesn't help with branding because it's too common.

For branding purposes, I tried a blue sky and white cloud background too, but it seems too childish.

So, I think it's either the brown one or the gray one. Here's the brown one with this bracelet.  I think the brown just gives it more character.

 Just for completeness, here's the bracelet on a plain white background.  Too bland right?

I really need to stop obsessing over this and just pick one!  Gray or brown, gray or brown??

~ Weekly Specials: BOGO Free Acrylic Flowers ~

Every week, I am going to feature 4 items as Weekly Specials in Happy Cloud Supplies.  I aim to make these deals irresistible and what's more irresistible than free??  So, for this week only (11.5.10 - 11.11.10), these 4 types of acrylic flowers are buy one package get one package free!!

Want to control what I put on sale? Leave a comment with a link to the items you want me to put on sale! I will pick the most popular ones!

~ Amazing Human Flowers by Cecilia Webber ~

I love flowers. I am just a typical girl, what can I say? You know what's better than flowers?  Flowers made out of people!  According to her website, Cecilia Webber  wants to celebrate the beauty of human bodies and started this series of images of flowers created from photographs of human bodies in different poses.  This is a close up of one of her creations.  See the faces and the bodies?

These are just so awesome!!!  She created quite a few of these and here are my favorites.  First, the yellow dandelion  Yellow is so pretty :)

One of my favorite flowers, the bleeding hearts.  Note that even the branches and leaves are bodies!

Sakura! Who ever would've thought that if you sit with your arms out on the floor, you'll look like a cherry blossom petal?

White dandelion!  I love the flying seed!

The colors in this one is just amazing!  The leaves are so awesome too!  They look so natural and organic.

Another yellow one.  Just the thought of coloring these photos and laying them out boggles my mind!  Prints are for sale at Ms Webber's website so be sure to check it out!