Sharma Designs - Behind the Scenes of a Handmade Jewelry Business

Exciting Weekend

I just found out that we will be a vendor at the L.A Bazaar Bizarre on December 11th. I am so excited. For those of you who live in the San Jose and surrounding areas I am doing a show here too. Email me and I will give you the details.

I also have a few home parties booked for the Holiday season. I was working hard all weekend on making more jewelry so that with all these shows I will have enough product to sell.

We are featured on the Parenting Universe's Holiday Gift Guide. See it here

Indie Shopping

Sharma Designs was reviewed today on the Indie Shopping site. You can see the review here. Also be sure to enter the contest for a chance to win a free Sharma Designs handmade necklace!

A Good Daughter

Tomorrow, Friday, is my mom's birthday. She's pretty easy to buy gifts for. She will obviously get one of her favorite presents...a new custom-made-for-her necklace from Sharma Designs. Lucky for me she loves my jewelry.

She also got another one of her presents early. A few months ago I contacted Carrie at Sommer Designs to ask about making my mom a custom purse. See, my mom used to have a purse with cherries on it that she loved to death - and it showed. I thought she could use a replacement. Carrie found the perfect fabric for the job and made my mom the most beautiful purse! I was so happy with it when I opened it that I just couldn't wait to give it to her. So she got it early (I am so bad like that!) She LOVES it. I really can't say enough nice things about Carrie's purses. They are so well made and just absolutely beautiful. You should definitely check out her site.

The only thing I regret about this year's birthday is that I did not find The Birthday Sock site in time for her birthday celebrations. What a fun idea huh? I am definitely ordering a few before mine and Bella's birthdays. What a fun tradition to start!! Birthdays are really big in my family so I plan to always make Bella's birthday a big deal too.

Happy Birthday Mom!!!

Nice Suprise

Wow! I was checking my stats and found traffic coming from this article over at the Bag Lady blog! What a nice writeup. Thank you Gemma!

New Jewelry

Lots of new jewelry. Here are a few new pieces but make sure to check out each of these categories to see everything: Handmade Earrings Bold & Brassy Charming Chokers Dainty Divas Deliciously Dark Flirty Florals Stunning Stones Handmade Bracelets

*New Markdowns Too!*

Wow! What a Week!

You may notice that some of the handmade necklace categories are looking a little sparse. I have been selling like crazy this week! Fortunately, I have also been spending a lot of time in the bead room so I will have some new necklaces and earrings come Sunday night. I am going to have to design into the wee hours every night if I want to keep up this Holiday season!

Speaking of the Holiday season, I found a few sites to share this week:

This is a must have for any friends who are about to have a baby. I remember not wanting to go out without Bella after she was born because I didn't want anyone to ask me when I was due. I wish I would have had this shirt. You can buy it here.

Bee Squeeky shoes. What a cute idea! I love the black flower ones

Pearl River. Love all these shoes!

Enjoy!!

It's never too early...

to start Christmas shopping. I always try to put a lot of thought into my gifts and usually start searching right about now for the people on my list. I really need to be organized this year too because I am very busy. Wasting time in lines at the mall during peak Christmas shopping is so not on my agenda.

I know a lot of women are very busy so I have created a seasonal line of stocking stuffers this year. They are simple yet elegant earrings and are all under $10. I think they would also be a great co-worker gift. If you have a lot of women co-workers to buy gifts for you need something that is reasonably priced. There is a variety of styles to choose from and unlike my one of a kind jewelry, you can order as many as I have in stock.

I think they are pretty darn cute:

Bridesmaid Jewelry

What is a better gift to your bridesmaid than a handmade piece of jewelry that they can actually wear again? Part of being a bridesmaid is knowing that - yes you will have to shell out the money for a dress that you may not like and most definitely will never wear again except for maybe on Halloween. You might even have to get shoes dyed to match the dress that you will never wear again.

I have three bridesmaid outfits. I have never even looked at them again after the wedding day. I even liked the outfits and still never wore them again. I have worn my bridesmaid jewelry again however.

I try to keep this in mind when I make my custom bridal jewelry. I want to make pieces that coordinate with the look of the dress without being so over-coordinated that they will find a spot in a box next to the dyables.

Here is the bridesmaid jewelry I am working on right now:

The Dress (The color is a very hot pink):

The Necklace:

As usual, the pictures just don't do it justice but the necklace is very sparkly and so elegant. I hope the girls will be able to wear the necklace even after the wedding.

New necklaces

It seems that the Holiday shopping season has begun. I am very busy filling orders and I am looking ahead to shows I am doing in the coming months and realizing that I am going to have to make alot of jewelry in the next few weeks. Good thing I love to make jewelry.

Here are a few new necklaces that should be up on the site by tomorrow night:

Shopping Mommies

Sharma Designs is one of the featured artists in the Shopping MommiesHoliday Gift Guide. There are some great sites and discount codes so be sure to check it out.

Sharma Designs is featured in the Gifts for Women section.