Sharma Designs - Behind the Scenes of a Handmade Jewelry Business

Lurking Around the Corner

In just a few weeks I will be the big 3-0. It's hard for me to believe. I thought I would be more upset about it but I look at my life and everything I've been blessed with and the things I have accomplished and I feel okay that I am reaching this milestone. Plus I don't feel 30.

I have decided that I need to do a few things to ensure that I don't look 30. Or at least don't look older than 30. Here's my list:

1. I need to start working out again. I used to be psycho about working out. I got up at 4:45am and did my Firm videos or I hit the gym in the morning and did a video at night. I even went through a period where I cut all sugar and processed food and even Diet Coke out of my diet. When I got pregnant I slacked off of the working out. I was too tired and developed sciatica early in my pregnancy which made it hard to walk much less work out. It disappeared by my 3rd trimester but by then I was too huge(and clumsy) to workout. I gained a ton of weight. I told myself the minute she came out I was starting the videos again.

Well the metabolism gods must have been on my side because a week after I had the baby I had already lost 35 lbs. I lost the rest of the weight (yes there was more!) fairly quickly and the last stubborn pounds evaporated when my husband (then boyfriend) and I joined Gold's Gym for a few months.

Now I am as skinny as I was before I became pregnant which makes it hard for me to be motivated to work out. I know that for my health I need too but I tell myself I get plenty of exercise running after Bella (and carrying her - she weighs a ton!). Regardless, I know I feel my best when I am lifting weights so it's time to dust off the Firm videos. If you have never tried the videos you should! They really do deliver amazing results. They are not for the lazy though. They will give you a serious workout!

2. I need to start a skin regimen. I have been so bad about taking care of my skin. I always tanned, I smoked for years, and I always (used to) go to bed with my makeup on. My problem is that I know nothing about beauty products. Fortunately for me I have a friend that is a beauty expert. Mei Lynn suggested that I read the Skin Type Solution book. You take a quiz to see what type of skin you have (In 4 different areas) and then there is a list of recommended products for that exact skin type. For example, I am a DRPW or Dry, Resistant, Pigmented, Wrinkled. I ordered the products I need this week and can't wait to see the difference!

3. I need a natural glow. My mom always said that tan fat is better than white fat. I couldn't agree more. I wouldn't dream of actually tanning, especially since I read the book mentioned above. So I bought some Oil of Olay Touch of Sun to test out. My sister in law uses it and her tan looks great. I have used the Jergens one before and I liked it but it smells awful!

I know the self tan seems silly but it's an easy self improvement. And I will see immediate results with this one.

So there you go. My "I'm getting older" to do list. I will keep you posted on the results.

Oh and I haven't forgotten about my "Earrings that Flatter your Face" tips. More to come soon!

Posted in Getting Personal_

Catching Up

After my fun day at the beach I went full speed ahead into a crazy weekend. My brother in law graduated from San Jose State this weekend so my mother in law stayed with us for the weekend. It was a fun weekend but all the cleaning beforehand and the party we made food for was exhausting. The party was a blast but I am not an extremely social person (tend to be a little shy) and that much talking and hugging/kissing (Big Italian family) wears me out.

Yesterday Bella and I were alone all day so we spent the day blowing bubbles, shopping and playing at the park. I spent the evening laying like a zombie on the couch which I never do so I must have been really tired! Today we hit the sales with my mom (I'm a shopaholic what can I say?).

I didn't even get around to designing with my brand new beads that I received on Friday:

I am such a sucker for window beads (the pink and purple beads). My customers love them too. In fact, many of the first necklaces I sold were made of window beads. I think what makes them popular is the gorgeous colors and the fact that you don't see them in alot of jewelry. I use the amber/brown and turquoise/brown ones a lot but I thought I would branch out with a few new colors.

The big chunky caramel colored ones are also just amazing in person. They have a gorgeous amount of depth and shine to them. They kinda remind me of candy (most beads do). I think it's about time for some super chunky necklaces.

I also got a few new pendants to play with:

The black pendants are definitely going in the Bold and Brassy section. They are really striking in person. Definitely not for the timid jewelry wearer. They will definitely get you some attention.

I am waiting for a few other new things and then I will start designing the new pieces. I can't wait to see what I come up with!

Hope you had a relaxing and fun weekend!

Posted in Business Babble_

A Good Man!

When my sister read my love letter post she said she also had a "My Sharma Stole the Show" story to tell. I love all these stories! Keep them coming!

Here's her story:

I was giving the boy I've been seeing a test to see how observant he is (he's pretty into details). I was asking him what I was wearing on our first date. He remembered I had some sweater on with some funky little sewed on flowers, but he thought it was black (it was light blue). He said all he remembered was a cool white necklace (the white mosaic, one of my favs). A testimony to show that even though guys may not remember what you wear, the jewelry stands out (especially if it's a Sharma).

Do you have a "My Sharma Stole the Show" story to tell? Email it to me! I'd love to hear it!

Posted in My Sharma Stole the Show_

New Jewelry!

I added a few new jewelry pieces this morning. Inspired by my "Colors" post, I tried to incorporate some colors that I don't usually use(and some I always use). It was challenging but I like the end result!

Posted in Jewelry Previews_

You Want Me to Stay Where??!!

I was copying and deleteing the pictures from our camera last tonight and came across pictures that I just had to share.

For our honeymoon, we had my friend who is a travel agent book us a trip to Maui. When we were discussing hotel options we agreed that we wouldn't stay at the fanciest hotel because we would rather spend our money on doing things and enjoying the island. So my friend said there was this hotel right in Lahaina that had recently remodeled but was a decent deal. She sent pictures of what the rooms looked like and I thought they looked fabulous. We said great.

The first night of our honeymoon we arrived at the hotel around 11:30pm. The hotel looked a little run down but there were obvious signs of construction like a big overhaul was in the works. Afterall, I had seen the remodeled rooms so I knew that even if the exterior was a little rough the inside was like a tropical heaven.

We wearily dragged our bags down the corriders and mysteriously left the quiet, newer looking halls and entered a shadier area where the residents peered out their windows at us. Hmm. We opened the door to our room and I entered my worst nightmare. It was the shabbiest little room I had ever seen. It made the Motel 6 look like a luxury hotel. I am not kidding. I started freaking out. I told my husband I could not stay there. He was trying to convince me that it wasn't that bad. He headed for the bathroom and I heard a "You're not going to like this very much". He was referring to this:

How nasty is that bath tub? The towels were like the threadbare towels that you give to your husband to use in the garage for rags. The kind you would NEVER put out for company. The couch was threadbare and there were super thin parts in the chinzy carpet.

I sat on the bed (after I pulled back the quilt - I know they don't wash those) and cried. Then I remembered that I had seen those remodeled pictures. "Wait! They put us in the wrong room! We have a remodeled room!" I called the front desk and told the guy. He assured me that we were in the right room and that if I wanted to talk to the manager in the morning I could.

Stay in this dump? All night? How could I sleep knowing that there were most likely bed bugs crawling all over me? And look at the ceiling!!

Somehow I fell asleep. The minute I woke up I called my friend. Of course she fixed everything. I was so happy at that moment that I had decided to book things through her. Not only did we get a remodeled room but we also got a 1 bedroom room instead of a studio. It had a full kitchen instead of a kitchenette and had a living room with an additional tv to the flat screen in the bedroom.

Strangely enough...when we were walking around the complex a few days later we saw that the whole wing where they stuck us the first night was gutted. Ya right we were supposed to stay there! I think they overbooked the first night and didn't know what to do when we showed up.

Fortunately, the rest of the trip was uneventful and at least we have a funny honeymoon story to tell! It sure wasn't funny then though.

Posted in Getting Personal_

Aw!! A Love Letter

I got this email from a customer a few days ago and just had to share. I thought it was so sweet of her to send it...

"Yesterday, I was at a drive through and the man, at the window, leaned into my car to look at my necklace. He said it was beautiful! Thanks for making such pretty things for us to wear and get complemented on."

Posted in My Sharma Stole the Show_

Colors

In my entire collection of jewelry, there is not one piece that I would not be happy to wear. I sincerely love every piece that I create. The problem that I come across sometimes is that I tend to use colors that I love best or look best in. If you use the shop by color feature on my site you will notice that the greens and browns have the most pieces of jewelry. What can I say? I love earthy colors.

I try really hard to branch out but whenever I get more beads I notice that they are in the same color family. I guess I am just not drawn to other colors like I am greens, blues and browns. I know for sure that I have few (oops none) yellow pieces because yellow looks horrible on me. I have a lot of yellow in my skin tone. I think I subconsciously stay away from it because I have trained myself to "not even go there".

For me, it's not really a color trend thing. Sure I watch the trends. I don't usually subject myself to them though. Especially in my jewelry. The focus of my collection is on being an individual and having a unique piece of jewelry not looking like everyone else.

So I need your help. What colors would you like to see more of at Sharma Designs? If there is a specific shade please leave it in the comments of the poll (also anonymous if you wish). Ie..you vote for blue but specify "Periwinkle blue" in the comments.

What Color Would You Like to See More of?
	Red
	Orange
	Yellow
	Pink
	Grey
	White
	Green
	Blue
	Black
	Purple
	Brown

Studio Friday - Contrast

I had a great Studio Friday planned. I took the picture and the stupid flash kept going off and well...it was just not working for me.

As I looked at my pictures, I found the perfect contrast candidates. My black and white jewelry that I had to re-shoot this week. I like to photograph my pictures with a white background, but the white in these beads just makes them really hard to see so grey it is.

I hope you all have a great weekend!

My Other Blogs

I try to keep this blog fresh and interesting. Some weeks I am on the ball and have a new post up every night and sometimes there are days in between. It's hard sometimes to come up with a post everyday. I also have 2 other blogs that I post to.

One is my daughter's blog. Because my relatives are all so far away I used to send out "Bella a Day pictures". It got to be too much pressure to make sure I had a few good pictures to send everyday and it morphed into "Bella a Week". It was fun but as her personality was developing I wanted to let everyone "get to know her" so I started a blog for her. "She" posts nightly and let me tell you..when there is not a fresh post I hear it! I find myself looking for funny anecdotes to blog about all day. I hope someday she will be able to read it and enjoy it. My husband and I joked last night that when she is old enough to read it she will probably be saying "You guys used Blogger? That is so 2000s!" Ha ha.

My other blog is a blog I started with my friend Mei-Lynn of the Hella Good fame. It's called Rare Bird Finds. It started as a cool finds kind of shopping blog. I've had a great time with that because I am such a shopper by nature. I love finding the uncommon little treasures. Recently we have added a poll and some funny stories asking "What Would You Choose?" It's a lot of fun to write for. I would love to hear what you guys think about it.

So when this blog hasn't been updated you should check the others. Chances are..one of them has been!

Ps You can get your very own "I'm blogging this" tee right here for $17.99

Posted in Business Babble_

Earrings to Flatter your Face Shape - Part 1 Round Face

We all love the little tricks that help us look our best right? Well, I have been researching what style of earrings look best with what face shape and I want to share my findings with you.

Face Shape: Round

Styles that flatter the face: To make your face appear longer try some long and narrow earrings. Earrings with a square or oblong shape also work well.

Not the best choice: Very small or stud earrings

Examples of good choices for a round face:

Wood Oval Earrings

Olive Jade Butterfly Earrings
Posted in Jewelry Tips_