Bella Vita Handmade Jewelry

Friday, April 13, 2012

Beaded Bangles + Giveaway!

Coral + Turquoise set embellished with ruby moonstone, quartz, copper, amethyst, orange moonstone. $75/set

Back in February I decided to take a risk and invest in these beautiful, handmade, beaded bangle bracelets. I had seen them for the past couple of years at one of my vendors booths but wasn't sure if I wanted to offer something that I didn't make. Well, after thinking about it for a year, I decided I was ready. I had also come up with my own design idea for these handmade bracelets. To put my own twist on these bracelets, I decided I would sell them as is and also embellish them with charms and semi precious stones.

Needless to say, the bracelets are a HUGE hit and I am expecting my second order today!

Now, there are a lot of these beaded bangles on the market today. I am really surprised that they became such a hot accessory this year... like I said, I have seen these bangles at my vendor for years! My bangles are not the popular "Lilly and Laura" brand, but, they are just as special! The beads are higher quality glass, smaller in size, and more uniform in shape. A lot of the color combinations are more subtle which allows you to have a more neutral look or a fun/funky look by mixing and matching. The other thing about the bangles I carry is, they cost less than any I have seen so far! How is that? Me, an independent jewelry designer can offer these for $10 each or 3 for $25? I am not really sure... but I do know that I search and travel high and low for you, my clients! It is very important to me to be able to offer you the best possible pricing. So, there you go! Come see me at one of my upcoming shows to personalize your set of bangles. You can choose from my bangles or bring your own. I have a tray of charms and semi precious stones waiting for you!

Or as always, you can order off my website, email, or call me!

Meditation Set - amethyst, pyrite, silver, garnet, chalcedony. $75/set

About the Bangles and the people that are making them:

(this is directly from my source)

"All of the bangles we sell we have made for us in Bali and Nepal. We design the colors and patterns and then send over the seed beads for them to crochet - mostly Japanese size 15 & 11. We have worked with the same family(s) in both countries for over 20 years. In the last 5 years we have put more energy into designing the colors and patterns according to upcoming color trends, etc.
In Bali our supplier employees 15+ women and men who come to work from 9 to 5 in her home studio. It is all open air overlooking a rice paddy and they get an hour for lunch. When I was there a few years ago I decided I wanted to move back and work for her if only I could learn to crochet and stitch!

In Nepal we send over the beads to our supplier in Kathmandu and his bead & bangle makers come down once a week/month to his offices to pick up new beads and then they go back to their mountain/village homes. They work at their own pace while caring for their families etc and when they have finished with their beads they bring them back to Kathmandu.

In both countries we pay what they ask - a fair wage - and we never

bargain with them."

The women behind the beautiful bangles.

Bangle customized at a recent show... I believe this custom design was around $28. I love this design! I can't wait for my new order to arrive so I can claim a few for myself.

Now, if you have made it this far in this blog post good for you! Please leave a comment telling me how you would customize your own set of bangles. You can find charm ideas on my website, www.bellavitajewelry.net as well as some of the bangles (I am expecting a lot more colors any day, hopefully today).

I'll be giving away one set of bangles (excluding charms) on Friday, April 27th.

For an extra entry, share this on facebook, twitter or your own blog. Just make sure you leave a comment or email me, brandy.elizabeth@gmail.com so I know. (this contest is open on facebook as well)

Monday, March 26, 2012

Weekend Recap - in Photos

Restocked my necklace selection in time for Friday's Trunk Show.


Finally had a chance to add the charms to the new Beaded Bangles!

Spent a lot of time with this guy (and Matt) while working in the yard all day Saturday!

Planted a bunch of seeds for veggies, herbs, and flowers... and got all my pots planted! Can't wait for everything to start flourishing!

Photoshoot with the lovely Miller sisters and Rex Barrett on Sunday.


Can't wait to see what his creative eye comes up with!

Topped off with a steak dinner with our "City" friends. T'was a grand weekend! I got a lot of work done, spent time with friends, and got to spend a lot of time in the garden! I never got my nap in though ;)

Friday, March 16, 2012

New Jewelry Line - Giveaway

Yesterday I did a "soft" launch of a new line that has been added to my website called "Personalized by You." I'm very excited about this latest addition because it will allow you to design your very own necklace or charm bracelet.

There are 16 stone charms, 19 charms, 2 lockets, and 8 stamping blanks to choose from. So, that makes ??? how many combinations? I don't have time to wrap my head around that number :)

Not only can you customize a necklace you can also customize the new "Beaded Bangles" that are in the Bella Vita shop (see sample below).

I would LOVE for you to check out the new products your self.

As a thank you for looking at my new product line I am going to host a GIVEAWAY for a charm necklace (limited to two charms of your choice)!

Leave a comment below telling me the following:

- Would you customize a necklace or a beaded bangle bracelet?

- What charms/stones would you choose for your very own?

Each comment is an entry, you can comment more than once but each design has to be unique. For an additional entry into this giveaway share it on facebook or twitter. If you share it please leave another comment on this blog post. The drawing for the winner will be on Friday March 23rd at noon! Good LUCK!

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Spring has sprung?!

Isn't this weather c-razy?!

I went to the local garden store yesterday looking for pretty flowers to plant in my pots on the porch. They had some amazing primrose but they were a bit pricey for me. Especially b/c I bought some last year and they didn't do so well, probably my fault. They are beautiful flowers though.
I asked the lady if they had any more colorful flowers and she informed me that they had a bunch of starters but they aren't ready yet. Then I realized that is only March 13th and I am probably jumping the gun a little bit! So, I opted to stick to the original plan for the evening, which was to plant our veggie seeds. And so that is what I did.

Matt mowed the lawn and pulled some weeds from the garden. After all our work was done we grilled burgers and corn and enjoyed a quick beer on our back patio. The burgers were amazing! I am not big on burgers or red meat for that matter. We finished off the night with a milkshake white Russian! Yum! White Russians are my new favorite drink... not sure that is good for my diet though!

Other things going on at Bella Vita...

I am interviewing an intern today! I am a little nervous but judging by the resume's I have received I should be able to hire someone that can help me out a lot! I have also hired another helper to work for me a couple of days a week. It is such a relief to know that I have help. I have been sooo overwhelmed lately with all that I need to do and have to do.

I have recently been working with Meredith Mashburn Photography (Northwest Arkansas) to photograph some new product that is ready to be added to my online shop. I am adding a new section to my site where you will be able to customize your own necklace! I am very pleased with the photography results! I'll share a few images with you :)

Until next time! Hope you all are enjoying this unusual warm winter!

Saturday, March 3, 2012

Bead Soup Blog Party

My stash before...

My Bead Soup REVEALED!

A classic Bella Vita Style "Cluster Necklace" - (handmade charm holder).

Hanging View

Handmade Bella Vita "Wire Wrapped Ring" made from a modern Czech glass button.

One of a kind earrings.

The Bead Soup party has been a lot of fun for me. I think the funniest/best part of the whole experience is the fact that my partner, Amanda, and I sent each other one of the same beads (the purple ones at the bottom of the earring)! Amanda gave me a beautiful sterling silver and amethyst clasp but I ended up not using it. I love it but liked gold tones better with this project. I'll use it on something for me though :)

I hope you enjoy my projects and leave me some feedback! I am going to rest up so I can look at everyone's posts tomorrow. For a complete list of participants see my previous post via this link.

And Thank YOU Lori Anderson for organizing this!

Friday, March 2, 2012

New York, New York

We started our road trip, yes I said road trip, on Wednesday morning, bright and early. After arguing with the rental car company we ended up in a mid sized Chevy Malibu for our epic adventure. Honestly the 26 hour car ride didn't feel like it took that long. Perhaps it is because I slept or played on my phone for most of it.

Matt and I had separate itineraries for most of the trip but did get to spend all day Saturday together which was great! Friday was my day at the warehouse, Saturday was our day, Sunday was another day for me to hang out by myself (which I really enjoyed) and Monday we wrapped things up and hit the road around 2 p.m.

All in all the trip was amazing! I kept telling Matt that I couldn't believe I got him to NYC with me! He isn't a big fan of the city, if you know him you'll completely understand that :)

We ate good, drank better, made new friends, met up with a couple of old ones, I shopped and Matt gave his talk... all went well! See for yourself, I have chosen my favorite pictures from the trip.

Top secret warehouse. All 5,000 sq. ft. look like this and I dug in it for 8 hours, I probably could have spent 8 days!

The Seagram Building, I studied this building in college and finally got to see it in person. It was always one of my favorites!

Matt at breakfast, somewhere around Madison Ave. and 50 or 60's Streets.

The Metropolitan. Matt and I enjoyed this together... it's pretty confusing building! But oh, so amazing!


An installation of glass at The Met. I found this to be beautiful!

This was the begining of the day I spent by myself, I walked from Broadway and 46th to Chinatown which is around Broadway and 1st. It was at least 6.5 miles according to google maps. This day was great because I got to go anywhere I wanted to!

Flower Market.

Tender Buttons, a button shoppe.

Bedlam with David K! So much fun.

Paper lanterns in Chinatown!

Lunch for one, streetside in Little Italy.

Probably one of my most favorite things ever! A mail chute in our hotel.

Sunday, February 19, 2012

Bead Soup Blog Party

A couple of months ago I learned about the Bead Soup Blog Party on Lori Anderson's blog, "Pretty Things." I was immediately interested and counting down the days until the applications opened. This was the first time I had heard of the Bead Soup Blog Party but it is actually the 5th one they have hosted.

On January 15th the participants were announced and I was chosen! So exciting.
You are probably wondering what a Bead Soup Blog Party is... well, the artists that are chose from the lottery pack up a bag of goodies from their stash and mail them off to their partner and in turn get a bag of goodies back from their partners stash. My partner happens to be Amanda Dittloff of Charlotte, North Carolina.

The only rules of the party are to make something unique, blog about it, and check out other peoples blogs/creations that are in the blog hop. So, I am off to design something fabulous with my new goodies! Below you'll find pics of what I sent Amanda, what she sent me, and the list of the 198 other people that are participating! Check them out! And, come back here on March 3rd to see my final designs.