Thursday, June 18, 2009

The Summer is Here

The summer is here in NY, well after all this rain clears up, the summer will be here. Anyway, I look forward to many days at the beach. I also look forward to no schedules to follow. I truly feel the summer should be about doing out of the ordinary activities. Wake up and believe that your day is going to be a new day full of new beginnings. Walk outside and enjoy the beauty of a summer day. Oh and even better, enjoy the beauty of a summer night.

I have been waiting for the summer to begin and I tell you I am very happy, after the rain, it is here.

Live Love and Enjoy!

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

New Earrings!!

I created this wonderful new earrings! I am so addicted to earrings. I love how they change the whole appearance of a person. For instance, simply put on an adoring pair of earrings on a bad hair day and you will end up looking fantastic. Love that.


Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Challenge Yourself!

Everyday you should challenge yourself to do something new. For instance, learn a new word, learn a new language, or learn a new skill. Every time I sit down to create a new jewelry design, I challenge myself to create something new and different. I create with a blank slate. I do this because, I believe in myself. I believe that what ever piece I design will be satisfying. I love creating this way. It helps to bring in a what is to come excitement. I challenge you to believe and challenge yourself. You will be amazed of the outcome.

I designed these with a blank slate!!!


Sunday, June 7, 2009

Last Two Stores for the week!

Here are my last two stores. Come check them out!



Hendricks' Hearth - ¤ ¤ ¤ You will find only the highest-quality natural and organic ingredients along with aromatic fragrances, delectable botanicals, and other wonderful essentials.



Catherine's - Handcrafted Jewelry Designs

More Shopping!

Did you visit the three below? Come on visit some stores. Love to Shop!



By Ro Designs - This store has very precious designs for plus size woman. That is original. A lot of great bathing suits! Come and see.



Continuum Designs - Slinky Wire and Glass Jewelry. Creative items.



Anac Designs - Lots and Lots of lovely jewelry designs.



The French Needle - WOW! Cross Stitched Items

Shop in These Wonderful Etsy Stores!

Feel liking shopping today? Come and shop in these wonderful Etsy Stores. You never know what treasure you may find.

Click on the image to visit the store. Live, Love and Enjoy!!



Garden Gate Design - Currently having a June Special - ALL JEWELRY BUY ONE AT ALREADY 50% DISCOUNT PRICE AND RECEIVE SECOND ONE OF LESSOR OR SAME VALUE AT HALF PRICE.



Magnet Games - Really Cute Stuff! - Handmade games for your fridge.



Kubera Cove - Amazing Crystal Clusters

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

The Wonderful Inspiring People of Etsy - Part 1

I am so happy to be a part of www.etsy.com. I have met wonderful people. People who are doing things that they love. People who have decided to make their lives fulfilling. People who are driven to live a happy life. When I view an item on www.etsy.com I get so inspired. I am inspired simply because most of the items were created by people with a passion for doing what they love. People who have not allowed themselves to believe they can not accomplish something. People who have taught themselves to create something extraordinary. People who are happy.

I created a forum asking etsy sellers to tell their stories on how they started and I was so amazed in reading the responses. I am posting them here in the hopes to inspire someone to do what they love. Also, please visit their stores. You will be amazed at the creations.


www.silvermooncrafts.etsy.com - Handmade Sterling Silver and Copper jewelry

The creator of this shop has been creating since she was a little girl. She started by drawing her own paper dolls and design clothes for them. However 7 years ago she was looking for beaded Christmas ornament patterns on the Internet and discovered beaded jewelry and instantly became hooked. She has been creating jewelry and selling it since.

My Favorite Silver Moon Craft Item


www.woolybits.etsy.com - Hand knit, dog sweaters, bags

The creator of this shop started knitting when she was living in Ireland. She picked it up from magazine articles. She loved making Aran sweaters and things for her kids. Until about 2 years ago, she never thought about selling any of her things - until her middle daughter wanted an Aran sweater for her "child" too - her child is a beagle! The sweater was a huge hit - Toby's modeling sold about 7 sweaters and then her daughter sold about a dozen more at a work craft fair.

My Favorite Wooly Bits Item


www.wildhare.etsy.com - Handspun Yarns, Hand-painted rovings, spinning batts

This creator began when she was just a toddler, her great-grandmother watched her while her mother worked each day. Her great-grandmother was a phenomenal quilter and crocheter and seamstress, and taught her the basics of those skills before she started kindergarten. From her she inherited her grandmother's spinning wheel. She has been spinning ever since. She also taught herself to knit when she was in junior high school, from a 'learn to knit' booklet.

My Favorite Wild Hare Item
www.scenicnewyork.etsy.com

The "wife" half creator of Scenic New York, was taught by her mother. When she was around 5 years old she received a fisher price 110 camera. Her mother loved photography, and took her on little day trips around the area they lived to take pictures. Sometimes her mother would let her use her camera, a 35MM Miranda SLR (which she now owns-it was sent by her mother a few years ago). As a teen, she used to go to garage sales to buy vintage cameras (usually old, broken Brownies) and collect them. She also had a Polaroid and a Kodak 110 that she spent a lot of allowance money on film. For a few years when her husband and her were first married they didn't have the money for film and development, but they eventually got another inexpensive 35MM. Then he got a chance to borrow his dad's old Nikon SLR, and the bug bit again (he also has a life long interest in photography). The wife creator eventually got a 4 mega pixel point and shoot Minolta, then moved up to their current Canon Rebel XT (he uses a Canon 30D).

The shop itself was born when they decided they needed to break away from their previous fulfillment partner and do this on their own. They chose Scenic New York so they could have a cohesive theme, as well as highlight the beauty of the state they call home. Scenic New York is more than photos, it will include some handmade crafts. Although, photography was and always will be their first "love" in the art and handmade world!

My Favorite item from Scenic New York - Foggy Day At The Lake Photograph 8X10



I am Showcasing my Store today.

I am finally trying a showcase today. Please have a look --->

http://www.etsy.com/showcase.php?showcase_id=5

Aside from my wonderful items, there are some other fantastic items made by very talented people. I will be honest, creating jewelry has open up a whole new world of amazing. The handcrafted items I have seen on www.etsy.com are astonishing. There are so many items that I can not believe someone created with thier own hands.

People are so fascinating and I want this post to be an opportunity for fellow followers who handcraft, to please comment and share your links and stories. I want to inspire someone to believe that they can do whatever they set there mind to do.

I also would love to write a post featuring wonderful creators!

Monday, May 18, 2009

Love Creating with Wire!

Love creating earrings with wire. Most of my created earrings are created using Artistic 20 gauge non-tarnish wire. I also create earrings using sterling silver 20 gauge dead soft wire. The type of wire and strength of wire is so important for my creations. I want wire that will hold its shape securely and will bloom with beauty. For instance, copper artistic wire is one of my favorite colored wire. I love the shine it brings to a finished creation.

Creating with wire is absolutely so much fun. I can twist, cut, turn, bend, loop, wrap and flex a wire into a fantastic pair of earrings. I will admit some of my earring creations resulted from playing around with a wire. However, after continuous practicing, I now create instantly.

Creating hoop wire earrings are my favorite. I think it is because of the appearance of them. Hoop earrings are so noticeable, especially when combined with the right bead or gemstone.

As I keep mentioning on this post, I adore creating with wire. I look fowarded to expanding my wire designs to creations I never thought possible!

Enjoy my collage of wire earrings.
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Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Another Hobby!

Aside from taking care of my small children and creating jewelry, I workout 6 days a week , 45 mins a day. I began this workout regimen 2 years ago after deciding to get my body and health in shape.

I have so many people ask me, how do I find the time to workout, what type of workouts do I perform and why do I workout. Well, I am posting my responses here on my blog.

First question, how do I find the time - my answer - I do not find the time, I make the time. When I first decided to workout, I had a 1 year old and a 5 year old and very little time. Nevertheless, I knew the time to get my body in shape had come and I had to figure a way to squeeze in exercise.

I started to workout at home with Taebo DVD's, http://www.billyblanks.com/ I exercised when my little girl napped, at night, or whenever I felt I had a solid 45 mins. At times, I would get up very early in the morning and exercise while everyone was asleep. Taebo workouts were incredible. I learned how to workout properly and effectively. The workouts were fast paced and challenging. They helped me burn an average of 450 calories per day. My favorite Taebo DVD was the Get Ripped Series. For 7 months, the Get Ripped Series, pushed me way beyond my expectations.

Second question, what types of workouts do I perform - my answer - For a year I was really into cardio. However, I recently learned the importance of resistance or strength training and incorporated training with weights into my workouts.

The following links are helpful in understanding the importance of resistance or strength training.

http://www.nwhealth.edu/healthyU/getMoving/resistance.html

http://www.everydayhealth.com/fitness/workouts/benefits-of-strength-training.aspx

I never did strength training. I always shied away from picking up weights, However, let me say, I now love it. I see a huge change in my body because of strength training. I feel healthier and stronger. I am toned in areas I never thought possible.

Currently, I do strength training with dumbbells 3 days a week for 45 mins. I use DVD's from Jari Love http://www.rippedworkout.ca/. These workouts are phenomenal for challenging muscles I never knew I had.

I also do a push up workout inspired by this website http://hundredpushups.com/. I must say, push ups are the best for toning your upper body. Push ups also help me burn tough hard to get rid calories.

As far as cardio or aerobic workouts, as I mentioned before, at home fitness DVD's were my only option due to my children still at home and having no child care alternatives. However, now that my children are older, I now attend gym classes 3 days a week. Attending gym classes are very motivating and also break the body plateau gained from performing the same workout routines.

I also keep track of my target heart rate. Tracking my heart rate helps me stay focused and pushes my performance. I found these articles very helpful in learning how to track my heart rate.

http://www.ehow.com/how_5139_calculate-training-heart.html

http://exercise.about.com/cs/cardioworkouts/l/aa022601a.htm

http://www.extremebodyworkout.com/blog/2008/09/29/what-is-my-target-heart-rate-for-weight-loss/


Last question - why do I workout - my answer - I need too. I truly believe that my body is the most important thing I have and I intend on taking good care of it. I intend on keep it as strong and functional as I possibly can. There are no excuses for me.

For anyone who intends on working out, check with your physician prior to beginning any workout regimen. Also, start slow. Make sure you live, love and enjoy taking care of your body and health.

Monday, May 11, 2009

Created my New Etsy Banner!


The last couple of days I have been trying to figure out how to improve my http://www.junucreations.etsy.com/ banner. I was about to purchase a pre-made banner, however, I frequently change my mind and thus a purchased banner would not suit my personality. Therefore, I went about learning how to create my own.


I first googled - how to create an Etsy banner and web results were very helpful in starting me off. Web results included creating and changing my banner background. OK, I did stumbled on this. How was I going to create an appealing background for my banner. I am not a graphic designer. Then I realized, I could download a background and use http://www.photoscape.org/ps/main/index.php to create my banner. I searched on the web for free backgrounds and saved them. I used Photoscape to re size my background. I believe the size for an Etsy banner is 760x100. Once I re sized my saved banner I entered my shop name using fonts I downloaded from http://www.dafont.com/.


I was very satisfied with conquering this task. I am now able to improve my shop and hopefully create a huge audience.

Sunday, May 3, 2009

I Have Been Promoting My Handcrafted Items

I have been promoting like crazy! Hopefully all the promotion will turn into lots of sales.

I am sharing what type of promotions tactics.

For Twitter - www.twitter.com/junucreations, I update almost everyday. I update mainly about items I am passionate about. Believe it or not I mainly tweet about personal opinions. I try not to tweet to many listings because then I' ll lose followers.

I also use twitter applications to help me manage twitter.

www.hootsuite.com is a great twitter manager and www.huitter.com/mutuality is a great tool for viewing who is not following you.

This thread on etsy.com was also great for tips on boosting twitter followers - http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=6127828


I created the following thread on etsy.com to get an idea of social sites that have brought in traffic http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=6135817

I noticed that a lot of members recommended Flickr.com, so I created an account - www.flickr.com/junucreation. I have found that Flickr is a great way to show off your items. I love that I can display photos of my items without limitations. Flickr also gives you the capabilities of automatic photo sharing with other social site.

Additionally, you can join groups within Flickr.com and post your photos within those groups.

All in all any social site that allows me to show off my creations and hopefully gain a sale, I will use it.

My next venture will be to work on this blog further and facebook. I will post my results soon.

Lots of Luck.

My Creation Collection


My Twitter Background
Originally uploaded by junucreations
These are some of my favorite creations. Every single piece was handmade. I love making them all!

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

I am so excited the warm weather is about to arrive here in NYC. The warm weather makes feel so alive. I adore being outdoors in my flip flops.

So many wonderful activities to do outside in the warm weather. For instance, me and my family love hanging out in NYC. We spend the entire day walking, eating, shopping and site seeing. We are so entertained by they fascinating things we see in NYC.

The warm weather is also exciting because it creates the long waited opportunity of showing off your latest fashions. Finally, I can show off my creations.

Check out my latest earrings at www.junucreations.etsy.com

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Friday, April 3, 2009

Go on wear them...


Have you worn these earrings yet? They are beautiful. Did you know they are made with sterling silver and the mystic black pearls are from Swarovski. JuNu Creations handcrafted them elegantly.


You have to wear these.


What do you mean you do not know when it is the right time to wear them. That is crazy!


Wear them now. Go on put them on.


You see, look at that smile on your face. I knew they would look stunning.
(available at www.junucreations.etsy.com)






Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Some tips on increasing twitter followers.

I have noticed that the two following methods have help me in increasing my followers.

1. Researching fellow twitters that have similar interest. You can use the following directories to do your research, http://wefollow.com/, http://www.tweetfind.com/, http://www.tweetwheel.com/, http://www.twitterlinkup.com/, http://www.twitterpassion.com/ or http://www.twellow.com/

I know researching takes time, however it is worth it. You will find so many people to follow and maybe if you have an online business, you will increase your sales.

2. Follow people with low followers, they are more willing to click on your link

Thats all I have found for now.

follow me http://www.twitter.com/junucreations

Monday, March 30, 2009

Use Twitter Feed To Automate Your New Listings

I found out that www.twitterfeed.com can be a great tool. You can insert your store rrs feed from your etsy store and this application will automatically posted into a tweet.

If you have an etsy store like mine ( www.junucreations.etsy.com) you can find your rrs feed on your public shop in the bottom. Simply click on it and copy your feed into your tweetfeed account.

Follow me on twitter http:// www.twitter.com/junucreations

How to create a free background for your Twitter page

I figured I include details on how to customize your Twitter page for free. Since I have an online store at www.junucreations.etsy.com and use Twitter to help me with sales, I felt I had to create a Twitter page that will give a glance into what it is I create and sell. Anyway, I hope this post helps.

Oh follow me on www.twitter.com/junucreations

Here are the steps

1. I used Photoscape to create my background page. You can download Photoscape for free here http://www.photoscape.org/ps/main/index.php

2. Once you downloaded Photoscape go to the "page" tab. In this tap you can drag your images into any layout you choose.

3. Save your layout onto designated folder.

4. Log onto your twitter account

5. Click onto twitter settings

6. Click onto designs

7. Choose your design layout

8. Then scroll to the bottom and upload your save background

9 Click on "don't use background image"

10. Click on "tile background image" to spread your background

11. Click on save changes and that is all

Monday, March 2, 2009


About one month ago I got an idea for a necklace design. I thought about this design almost everyday. The design included a multi-link pendant that would cover a good portion of the collar bone. However, I was unsure of the type of multi-link pendant to design. For instance, should the pendant include gemstones, beads, or chains. I also could not decide how I would link the pendant together. I experimented with different designs, but none of them satisfied my vision. Until one night it finally came to me. While making rings for my hoop earring line, it occured to me I can use these same rings and linked them on a chain. Before I knew it I created this necklace. My vision was finally satisfied. I am so excited about this design because now I can create another necklace similar to this one, only instead of linking rings, I will link gemstones or maybe chains. So very excited to see what designs lies ahead. Enjoy viewing!


Sunday, March 1, 2009

Hoops! Hoops! and More Hoops!



I love making hoops. Hoop earrings are so vibrant and fun to wear. They really look great with any outfit. Enjoy viewing!

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Long African Onyx Copper Necklace


This wonderful necklace was made with African onyx. African Onyx is a natural gemstone with beautiful mixed colors of soft blue, soft green, cream and shades of brown. I love this color mix. It looks amazing with all types of outfits.

Monday, February 16, 2009

I really wanted to create a unique piece. I love bold and rich colored gemstones. I especially love it when they are mixed together, like on this necklace. The brass creates a natural and soft look. I called this piece, "the crazy gemstone necklace."

Sunday, February 15, 2009

I love color! This bracelet is a favorite of mine. The sterling silver findings were handmade. The bead colors are very natural and thus makes this bracelet fun wearing.

LOVE COLOR!!

Saturday, February 7, 2009

New Item Listed - Free Shipping!

Follow Link -http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=20765177



Monday, February 2, 2009

Upcoming Projects

I am planning on creating more styles for the summer. I want to create bigger and bolder bracelets. I love bracelets. I want to create bracelets that create a lasting effect. I found a wonderful website with great beads and I am looking forward to putting more styles together.

Friday, January 16, 2009

Black Honey Natural Brass Bracelet

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Rusty Brass Necklace

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