2012 A Year In Review

I firmly believe you must look to the past to know where you are going in the future. That is so very true when you are an entrepreneur.

It makes perfect sense to want to know: 'how well did my business do?', 'where was there the most interest?', 'what was I most vested in?'

In fact, I think I tried to get a similar blog post pulled together at the close of 2011 and failed in doing so. But not this time, life is finally back on track (I think. I hope).

So, I spent some time taking a look back over the past year and was really surprised with just how much had occurred in one year (some of which I had forgotten about). As with all indie businesses', our personal lives can sometimes dictate what and how much we accomplish in our business. The biggest change in our household was the adoption of our daughter this past December just days before Christmas. What a beautiful present that was!

Although life seems to have gotten back on track, the truth is, the last few years have really been life-changing for me and 2012 began with still a little uncertainty, carried over from the previous year. I found myself feeling in limbo because my own decisions were cemented in the actions of another person. Although if the truth be told, I felt caught in the middle. It didn't matter which way this uncertainty were to end, either way, I would lose...something. That was a hard pill to swallow.

By early spring, it became clear which direction things were going to go. While I accepted the resolution, it came with a myriad of emotions. Some I was prepared for, others I was not. I found myself bogged down not by the emotions that I expected, rather, I found my thoughts being drawn to something that I didn't expect.

All this aside, this major life-changing event ultimately affected how Crystal Allure Beaded Jewelry operated throughout the year. That said, with being so tied up in personal affairs, you might be asking, "So, Stephanie what did you actually accomplish with your business?"

Well, I maintained status quo (which is not a good thing for an entrepreneur) and focused on creating truly personalized custom handmade jewelry, by request. I also admit to having (at guess) somewhere around 50 new beaded jewelry pieces to picture and add to the jewelry boutique. I just found myself running out of time to get everything done while still taking care of myself and my family. I promise those pieces will be coming in 2013!

But, all that said, there were some very special custom beaded jewelry pieces created, as well as, unforgettable awareness and inspired designs that I wanted to highlight for you. Read more about some of these special 2012 handmade beaded jewelry highlights below.

Custom Jewelry
Holly contacted me to create a very special Custom Hope Love Cherish Crystal Awareness Bracelet for a woman, whom she considered like a mother, suffering from lung cancer. The design incorporated inspirational words combined with the gift recipients' birthstone, Sapphire Swarovski Crystal, Pearls and sterling silver.

Over the years, I've created many organ donation awareness and transplant awareness bracelets, but last year I received a unique request to custom create a living donor awareness bracelet! Kayleigh requested a Custom Kidney Donor Name Awareness Bracelet as a gift for her mother. Kayleigh's mom, Carrie, selflessly donated one of her kidneys to her friend.

Sometimes, the best gift to give is one from the heart. And that is just what Diane did. She requested a Custom Swarovski Crystal Red Heart Survivor Gift Bracelet for her 48-year old daughter, Candy, who had just recently received a much awaited and anticipated heart transplant.

In my middle school years I played the flute so I thoroughly enjoyed creating these Custom Swarovski Crystal Musical Charm Necklaces for a long time customer as a gift to his granddaughters. I also learned about a new disease with this Custom Polycythemia Vera Awareness Bracelet request and was so excited to be a part of Jackie's special day with this Custom Cystic Fibrosis Graduation Crystal Bracelet.

One technique, in particular, was quite popular and that was hand stamping! The first hand stamped charm of Matia's Custom Behcets Disease Awareness Anklet inspired many requests. This Custom Crystal Awareness Bracelet was designed for the Mommy who gives Love with a Bear Hug! With the Custom Crystal Epilepsy Awareness Bracelet and Custom Military Deployment Crystal Awareness Bracelet following.

Awareness Jewelry
There was also no shortage of ideas on our ever-increasing Awareness Jewelry Collection either! Just in time for the holidays, I introduced the Gift of Life Crystal Transplant Awareness Bracelet and the Live to Give Organ Donation Awareness Bracelet.

Inspired Beaded Jewelry
In an attempt to stay connected with my second-oldest niece, I caught myself up on the ever popular Twilight series. Can't say that I'm hooked, but I love that I have this to share with her. Of course, (you guessed it!) from that came this Twilight Inspired Blood Red Velvet Crystal Beaded Necklace.

There were the Sanibel Island inspired Sink or Swim Artisan Lampwork Swirl Pendant Crystal Beaded Necklaces. And in a twist of 'what comes around, goes around', read about the inspiration for the Believe Swarovski Stardust Angel Charm Beaded Bracelet.

It was a very hot and humid summer last year. Sitting in my air conditioned studio, mesmerized by the beautiful butterflies visiting my garden came some inspired Swarovski Crystal Butterfly Jewelry and in a last ditch effort to not let summer end came the deliciously juicy Tutti Frutti Gemstone Crystal Beaded Earrings.

New categories were also introduced that included: Beaded Lanyards, Beaded Pens, Animal Awareness Jewelry and Aunt Beaded Jewelry.

Behind the Designs
When I was not creating beautiful handmade jewelry, I stayed true to my crafty nature, as you can see with my Chair Cushion Reupholster Project; or spending time with family on daytrips, navigating parenting and facing my fears.

I celebrated good friends and always supported fellow artisans, especially those that are friends as well! With the crazy past few years, I spent a good deal of time thinking about my muse and still wish he were here today.

In an attempt to stay connect with friends, family and fans, I made a more concerted effort to stay on top of Facebook and Twitter. Then I added Google+ and LinkedIn to that list. Whew!

By years' end, the adoption of our daughter, made for a happy ending to a very stressful, frustrating, successful and exhilarating year! Now it's time to list out some 2013 goals. :-)

Happy New Year!

Grand Re-Opening Discount Extended

So, it's summer...and the days are longer (right?)...and yet, there just is never enough time in the day to do what one has to do!

The last few months have been extremely busy and I am still in the middle of getting all facets of the grand re-opening in place at Crystal Allure. Soooo, because of this delay and that I have been unable to focus immediately on incoming orders (my apologies to those who have had to wait), I'm extending the 20% storewide grand re-opening discount until May 31, 2010!!

To take advantage of this fab offer, just enter grandopen2010 in the coupon box at checkout.

SHOP CRYSTALALLURE.COM

Happy Shopping!

Spring brings forth a New Brand for Crystal Allure

What started out as a "freshening up" of the Crystal Allure brand, has turned into a full-on website, logo and brand restyling project! Before the end of March I'll be introducing a new brand for Crystal Allure. Since this past friday, I have been working with a fabulous designer and I'm super excited to introduce her when the project is finalized.

As many of you know, the concept of Crystal Allure came about because of my love for Swarovski crystal. My goal with Crystal Allure was to offer luxury handmade jewelry at affordable prices, with a variety of styles to choose from that ranged between beaded to wire-wrapped. I can't even count the number of times I've changed the website look, but over the years, as we all do, we learn something new everyday. While I sat looking at the website this past week, I had a "gee...." moment and decided Crystal Allure is ready to take the next step to further the success of the brand and company. I hope you will be as excited as I am and rest assured, the brand may look different but you will continue to receive beautiful, quality handmade jewelry and personalized customer service.

Reflecting my love for Swarovski, I happened to stop in the local Swarovski retail store this past weekend and picked up the pen pictured above. I was told it has over 500 crystals in the top of the pen! Now that makes for a stylish writing instrument! Hmmmm....I wonder if it could write in sparkling ink?!

Raise Your Hand If You Hate Being Sick

Ahhhh....what a way to end the holidays. I'm not a doctor, nor do I play one on TV (a little humor..what very little I have right now), but whatever I got, I certainly wouldn't want to pass to anyone else. ugh. I hate being sick. Right now, I wish I looked half as good as this little fellow to the right.

It started out as a scratchy throat and each day it was something else. But Sunday, it was a full blown sinus/headache/stuffy nose/can't breathe/ache head thing. Still today nothing has changed. Well, not to lie, yesterday when I woke up it felt like someone was hammering a nail in my ear -today, that didn't happen. Although I honestly felt that if I moved my head just an 1/8th of an inch my head would spontaneously conbust. No, today, I'm just plain tired and debating if I should call the doctor or not. Have you gotten sick in the last month or so? Do you think it was the H1N1 flu? I don't think mine is that, but whatever it is certainly has a hold on my head. Hoping for a much better day tomorrow!

Even through the holidays and being sick I did manage to work on the website a little. I wanted to change it up, fresh for the New Year, and was inspired by the website of a fellow blogger (Azure Islands...remember her guest post). But that's about all I did this past holiday week. I had so many things I wanted to do, the list is off the charts. But this year, I had no choice but to relax. So it goes.

And now, it's about time to start thinking about the dreaded end of year, bead inventory count. Yeah. Do you count your year end inventory? Maybe if I didn't have so many beads I wouldn't feel so overwhelmed doing this year end task.....nah! One can never have too many beads!

Well, coffee is kicking in and for now, I'm a little more awake. Guess, I should try and get some things done...and visit some fellow blogs!

NEW! The Crystal Allure Learning & Resource Center

I have been consumed. Yes, with my website. But, I needed to dedicate this time to the redesign. It just has to be done so I can move on to more important things. So, I've been plugging away at the website and I'm quite pleased with how it's turning out. I'm excited to enter the fall season (my favorite time of the year!) with the new look in place and new designs to follow. Yes, yes. It's still summer. But you know how that goes...in business you must always look ahead.

With the new website look, there have been MANY changes (too many to count or even list) and I still have much left to do and finish. But, I'm excited about our new Learning Resource Center: Jewelry Articles. I've had this feature in place (in various forms) since I started in business, but with the new web look, this whole bigger concept just fell into place -and it feels quite at home. Again, still working on the page a little, but you can get the idea.

The purpose of the Learning and Resource Center is to provide information on beaded jewelry, caring for your Crystal Allure handmade and beaded jewelry, proper measuring and even general information on some of the techniques I've used and the materials of our designs. It is my hope this added information will be of benefit to my customers, visitors and fellow artisans.

My task will be to begin filling the page with useful information and jewelry articles (I have tons of info for the page, just need the time to format it into something readable and get it listed). But, you can hop on over to the website now and read what information is already available and feel free to comment below on what information you'd like to see.

The Crystal Allure Learning and Resource Center

Psst. I haven't forgotten about you Favors of Love! I know I need to get that picture to you and I planned on doing that in the next day or two.

A Review: 5 Years in Business!

I can't believe 5 years of jewelry designing have gone by already! Although, it is 5 years later, I'm still learning alot. My biggest hurdle -pictures. Ugh. They can be so daunting sometimes. What is fascinating is to see the quality of the pictures I've taken from the first year in business to now (of course a new camera helps!). Definately an improvement! Hmmm...just for fun, I think I might try and find some of those earlier pictures to post for your enjoyment (and laughs!).

There is so much about art and design that I love that it has also been difficult to stick to one "look" (for the website). I love change and trying different layouts and colors. But, after 5 years, it was time for a look that I could live with. Enters, Meredith with Spiffy Boutiques. By luck, I found one of her templates that really incorporated all the colors, elements and style that I felt worked for CrystalAllure.com. We now have a coordinated look throughout our website and blog. Thanks Meredith!

Design technique is another area that has improved, as it should. When I began in business my necklace designs were mainly crystal and chain; bracelets were for the most part beaded and earrings tended to be more chandelier and longer. Over time, my customers' preferences geared the designs towards more beaded, semi-precious gemstone necklaces and earrings have become more functionally shorter for the everyday workplace. And I love incorporating wire-wrapping whenever possible. I've enjoyed seeing the changes over the years and look forward to many more years.

Uniqueness -an absolute must and #1 rule for me. From day one, it has been my personal goal to create unique jewelry that women around the world will love. I remember a few years back exchanging an email with someone (very savvy, experienced person) and this person suggested I "stick to one 'look' and think about designing more 'lighter' looks". WHAT?! As you can imagine, I was for a loss of words. Stick to one 'look'? Are you crazy? How is that unique? And forgive me, but over the years I have failed to see how putting a pendant, no matter how big or small, on a chain constituted artful creativeness -granted, I have (very few) designs like this, but they are far and few between and I mainly only do them during summer months (as it can sometimes be too hot to wear fully beaded necklaces). Beaded jewelry is definately not for the wall flower -it can be bold at times but one thing you are always guaranteed is uniqueness!

From day one, my packaging has always mattered. I firmly believe in the small details and as a shopper/customer myself, I'd much more prefer to get a "pretty" package in the mail of what I've ordered. Personally, I've also more fully embraced the handmade life. I've always grown up around handmade goods (which is partly where my creativeness comes from) but time and knowledge has made me see even more the importance of handmade goods, over mass produced products. Whenever, where ever possible, I buy handmade! (Which makes me very proud to be designing beautiful handmade jewelry!)

The success of Crystal Allure is determined by my customers and I have spent many sleepness nights strategizing designs, and the perfect business model, for and geared towards my target market. I've created many things since I was a child, but Crystal Allure is my passion, my calling and it gives me great satisfaction when my customers are thrilled with their jewelry.

In celebration of my 5 years in business, all my VIP newsletter subscribers received a special email yesterday. If you'd like to receive that special offer, just contact me with your email and I'll add you to the newsletter list.

In closing, I'd like to sincerely thank all my wonderful customers for their support over the years -thank you, thank you. My designs are made just for you! I'd love to hear from you. Feel free to leave a comment or contact me by email.

Begin your Crystal Allure collection today, shop CrystalAllure.com

Fan me, Twitter me, Kaboodle me, Add me!

There are so many ways on the web to share what you love with friends. I know you love your Crystal Allure handmade jewelry pieces and it's the best kept secret in handmade jewelry (and thank you for that!). But please help me get the word out about Crystal Allure by posting your favorite handmade jewelry pieces on these social sites:

Fan Me (Facebook)
Twitter Me
Kaboodle
MySpace
Polyvore (add my handmade jewelry designs to your favorite wardrobe pieces)
Behind the Designs Blog

I do my best to keep each one of these sites updated and don't forget to sign up for my newsletter (using the subscribe link in the right hand column) to receive VIP exclusive discounts and offers (feel free to forward my emails to a friend!).

Thank you!

Just In Time For The Holidays...

The Gift Registry is back!

As the holiday shopping season begins, we all dread the question we must face for each person we are buying for -"What do I get for (fill in the blank)?" Hmmm...the stress.
Well, stress no more! I have found gift registries to be an amazing tool (and stress reliever!) when it comes to gift buying. While most of my gifts this year will be handmade, there are still some things that are just too personal a choice to know exactly what would be that special gift for that special person. That "thing" is jewelry. Purchasing jewelry is a very personal choice and one that reflects our style, as well as, our personality. You can NEVER go wrong with jewelry -but, should you get silver or gold metal? A simple chain pendant necklace or a chic beaded necklace?

Whether you are the gift receiver or the gift giver, the Crystal Allure Gift Registry can be your new best friend! Simply shop CrystalAllure.com until your hearts content, adding each piece to your gift registry and then provide your friends, family and loved ones your registry information and make their gift buying for you much easier and less stressful.

For each product, just look for the button:

Start your holiday shopping at CrystalAllure.com

Holiday Gift Guide 2008

I think it's safe to say we are now in the holiday mode (and if we're not...someone didn't tell the retail stores!). In fact, just this past weekend I spent some time creating some handmade gifts, although none of what I made included starting my blanket. Maybe I'll get to that over the Thanksgiving holiday (who am I kidding?! You know I'll be making more jewelry!).

There is one more Crystal Allure show before the holidays begin but if you can't make that show and need some gift ideas, there is a new section on the website now called "beaded gifts". Here I will post or highlight some of the bestsellers, great gift ideas and newer beaded gift creations (pssst...stay tuned, there are some *new* beaded gifts coming soon).

So avoid the crowds, stressed out shoppers, traffic and enjoy shopping from the comfort of your own home!

Shop Crystal Allure Beaded Gifts

Website Changes -Custom Jewelry

The Fall season is in full swing and with it comes the need to create even more new designs to accommodate the upcoming holiday shopping season. I do have MANY new pieces to picture and get added to the site, but I felt it important to get my website updated a little.

I have found over the course of the year that many people (shoppers) did not know I do custom jewelry work. I have always done custom work and my website reflected this at one point -but when I changed the site earlier this year, I also had to recreate all the pages and I'm still working on that.

Over this past weekend, I updated the main site to highlight some beaded jewelry pieces that reflect the Fall Trends in both style and color. As well, I added some neat sections that highlight the other work I do.

Custom Beaded Jewelry
Whether you are looking for a stand out necklace, bracelet or pair of earrings for your work wardrobe or a special occasion, right down to the last detail, I'll work with you to design a piece you'll treasure for a lifetime! Specializing in Custom Bridal Jewelry, Custom Bridesmaid Jewelry, Custom Mother of the Bride Jewelry, Custom Flower Girl Jewelry, Custom Prom Jewelry, Custom Special Occasion Jewelry.

Inquire about a custom beaded jewelry design

Swarovski Crystal Jewelry -Crystal Ice
The Crystal Ice Collection is not necessarily *new* but I did want to keep it highlighted, especially with the upcoming holiday season. The jewelry from this collection are fantastic pieces that add a little (or a lot!) of sparkle to your holiday parties, new years' eve bashes and even winter themed weddings!

Shop Crystal Ice Jewelry

Gift Certificates
Gift certificates make the perfect gift! We've always offered them, but again, with the upcoming holiday season, it can be tough to decide the perfect gift for a friend or loved one. Let them shop for exactly what they want. Gift certificates are easy to redeem and allow the recipient to get their perfect jewelry gift!

Purchase Jewelry Gift Certificates

It's never too early to start your holiday shopping!

Shop Crystal Allure Handcrafted Beaded Jewelry

Rising Costs Are Everywhere!

Not that I thought it wouldn't happen at some point but, geeze! Coffee too?! I love my afternoon coffee, but not anymore. Today, I went to get my regular afternoon coffee from my favorite coffee vendor (and no, it's not the place you're probably thinking of). Anyhow, the woman cashing me out just blatantly shouts the new price and I'm taken back -$4.54?!?!? Are you kidding me?

So, today is a sad day...Now I'll have to bring in my own creamer from home just to have a decent afternoon cup of coffee.

Okay, rant is over. On to the really important part of this blog post. Ask any of my friends and they'll tell you the same thing. If the crowd all shuffles left -I'm going right. I like to be different, that's just my thing. So, beginning August 15th you will find some great savings on handmade beaded jewelry from Crystal Allure Designs!

Change -I love it!
A great sale for handcrafted jewelry -love it more!

Shop CrystalAllure.com

VOTE For Crystal Allure

StyleBakery.com has teamed up with Ravinstyle.com and Metier Magazine to present the 4th Annual "On the Rise" Awards honoring the year's most exciting emerging designers.

Click on the image below to put your vote in for Crystal Allure Designs and you could WIN a $500 shopping spree at Ravinstyle.com!! Thank you in advance for your support and vote.

Link To Me On Myspace

There are so many social networking sites that exist nowadays, but just about everybody has a Myspace page. If you do, check out my page here:

Crystal Allure Creations on Myspace

Network with me and Crystal Allure Creations handmade jewelry! I look forward to adding you as a friend!

The Crystal Allure Jewelry Blog Has Moved

Hi everyone! The Crystal Allure Jewelry Blog has moved to its new home. We are excited about the new website redesign and coordinating blog. Please take a moment to visit the new blog as it will replace this existing blog. As always, I will continue to post for you the same quality of information, current events, inspirations and much more that I did in the past. Hope to see you at the new Crystal Allure Jewelry Blog!

Update On Website Redesign

This is me: change this, update that, change this, oh and change that, how about this, how about that, what if this, what if that, change this, change that......

This is Meredith, our web designer and programmer:


Whew! It's difficult to redesign your website. Obviously I know how hard it is for me to make decisions that will affect my customers online shopping experience but I can only imagine what it's like for web designers.

You originally start with an idea and budget. Here it is. Then as things begin to be designed and you see your idea on screen you find some of the changes you wanted to do won't work, or work in the way the site has developed and so forth. Then of course there is the commitment factor...it's hard to get to the point to say, YES, DONE, PERFECT. Because once that happens, you are done. Anymore work and it'll cost you. Sometimes it's good, other times it bad, but I'm the type of person who tries to account for EVERY LITTLE what-if. That way, you know it's done perfectly.

BUT, if you get a great designer who understands you're a little weird (and picky) but through all this can still see your vision for what you would consider the perfect website -then what you'll end up with is just that. It has been what seems like a long road to get here but the new design is in the final stages and I'm getting very excited that it will be done soon.

Stay tuned....

With Spring Comes All Things New

Nearly half-way into 2007, it has proven to be an extremely busy year so far. Business has been progressing along at a very fast pace with orders, a whole new look for the website, new website features, wholesale requests and the like.

With that said, I am very excited to announce Crystal Allure Creations is in collaboration with web designers to give us a whole new look! There are many, many changes coming down the pike. We do expect some minor bumps when the transition has been made, but for all the great changes coming it will be well worth it!

Our new look will incorporate different colors, website structure and logo. What you see now will be no where near what you see later! Just some of the new features to be added include a wish list, gift certificates and coupon/discount options for VIP customers. There are also plans to allow visitors to make a purchase without creating an account.

One of the things that I have struggled with since day one, has been photos of the jewelry and after many painstaking hours at research, testing and testing again, I do believe I have resolved this issue. You will start to see some better photos for the jewelry coming out now. I am even in the process of evolving the jewelry line and what you see available now might not be available once the new site is finished.

So as you can see there are HUGE changes coming in the VERY NEAR future. I am excited beyond words and look forward to the challenges the come. Now....if I can only make this a full-time venture it sure would make life easier!

Don't forget to check out the current designs, while they're still available!

www.CrystalAllure.com

Happy Shopping!

Website Problems -Actively Being Worked On

I have been told that since yesterday my web hoster has had some DNS issues. What that means is, should you be attempting to pull up the Crystal Allure Creations website, you will not have any success. Due to these problems they are experiencing, they must reload all the configurations for their accounts and do not have an estimate of time as to when that will be completed.

You may be able to intermittently pull up the CAC website, but for the most part, most pages will be inaccessible. As soon as this issue is resolved I will be sure to post that information here.

With hope these issues will be rectified today so that I can post the "Winter Bonanza" sale that you really won't want to miss!!!

Just A Quick FYI

In case anyone was confused, I wanted to post an explanation about why someone can still purchase products under the old product webpages.

At the moment, the old product webpages are still sitting on the server. As a result, if you had saved a product page in the past as a favorite, when you select that link the old page will still come up. All the old "add to cart" features are also still in place.

This was mainly a safeguard in case there were problems with the new online store. The intent was to delete those pages this weekend barring no purchasing problems with the new online store.

Based on the fact that I have received some purchases from the old pages and also the new online store pages, I see it is working and will be deleting the old pages from the server this weekend.

Have no fear, if you save a particular page you can still go to the new online store and do a keyword search that will return to you the exact product you were looking for. I hope this has helped to clear up any confusion and as always, I am here should you have difficulties checking out in the new online store.

Happy Shopping

It's Finally Here! New Online Store - New Look!

Happy New Year!!

I know I haven't blogged in what seems like quite a while -but I've been extremely busy. Aside from having created a handful of new pieces I've been diligently working on improving your shopping experience.

Today, I am so very excited to announce the new online store has been finished and tested, as promised for 2007. There are still a few minor things to tweak, including better quality thumbshots for each product and better organization of products. BUT, shopping at Crystal Allure has never been easier!!

With the new store your shopping experience is now improved through an account creation that offers (to name just a few) order tracking, mailing address management, discount offers AND now you can pay using either PayPal or your credit card! Also forthcoming will be a gift certificate option -great for gifts!

In the next few days I'll be working on finishing up the smaller details of the new store so that I can get to the introduction of all the new pieces for early 2007 -stay tuned.....

The only caveat to the new store is even though it was tested I am nervous a customer might have a problem checking out but if for any reason you do -PLEASE email me so that I can get that problem fixed.

Thank you and happy shopping!!

Add My Blog To Your Personal Page

Call me a "late bloomer", so to speak, but I've just discovered the wonders of having an RSS feed. This cool feature allows you to easily add an RSS feed of my blog to your personal homepages.

Get the latest news about Crystal Allure Creations' Handmade Jewelry directly on your personal homepage! To get the RSS feed just scroll down and on the left side of my blog under "Site Stuff" there are buttons you can simply click on to add my blog to your page.

Right now, I've got feeds for My Yahoo! Coming soon will be Google and MSN! Stay tuned!