In The Studio: Bubbly Baubles

Just sharing a little peek at some special pieces I've been working on especially for our December craft shows. They're tiny bubble necklaces filled with delicate and gorgeous feathers. Simple & stunning.

They'll be available at our shows this weekend, Urban Craft on Saturday (10am-2pm at The GCTC, Holland & Wellington) and Shanghai & Daily Grind Craft Shows (Somerset St. West) on Sunday! Pop by & say hello!

Where You Can Buy Urbanite Jewelry this Holiday Season!

Photo by Anne-Marie Bouchard of AMBPhoto

Shows
We will be at the following shows with tons of jewelry--including new and never-before-seen styles for you to shop from! Come say hello to us!

Urban Craft
Saturday, December 3, 2011
10am - 2pm
GCTC @ The corner of Holland & Wellington
Ottawa, Ontario

Shanghai Winter Craft Sale
Sunday, December 4, 2011
10am - 3pm
Shanghai Restaurant, 651 Somerset St. W.

Craftalicious
Saturday, December 10, 2011
10 am - 5 pm
St. Matthew's Anglican Church, 217 First Ave.

Stores
If you aren't local to the Ottawa area, or donèt have a chance to come out to the events above, our jewelry is now available in 13 stores across Canada (and one on St. Louis)! Pick up some jewelry and support your independent, locally owned store while you are at it!

CANADA
Workshop Studio & Boutique
242 Dalhousie Street, Ottawa, ON

Flock Boutique
1275 Wellington Street W, Ottawa, ON

Steel Style Garage
21 King Street E, Gananoque, ON

Relish Vintage
6 Cannon Street E, Hamilton, ON

With Love Bridal Boutique
1501 Stittsville Main Street, Stittsville, ON

General 54
54 St. Viateur Ouest, Montreal, QC

twigg & hottie
3671 Main Street, Vancouver, BC

Frakas - Kelowna
#20 3155 Lakeshore Road, Kelowna, BC

Frakas - Saskatoon Downtown
#1 - 183 2nd Avenue S, Saskatoon, SK

Frakas - Saskatoon Erindale
#9 - 410 Ludlow Street, Saskatoon, SK

Dots & Loops
183 Lincoln Street, Lunenburg, NS

Love, Me Boutique
1539 Birmingham Street Halifax, NS


U.S.
Charm Boutique
7312 Manchester, Maplewood (STL), Missouri

First Snow.

Just a little snapshot of the first snow of the season here in Ottawa, Canada. It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas. :)

In The Studio: Holiday Prep

November and December are hands-down the busiest season for me--and indeed, for many small businesses and crafters out there. So although we're barely past Halloween, the reality is that I've been gearing up for the holiday season for weeks now. This season I'm not only gearing up to stock the 10 stores that carry our jewelry, and preparing wild amounts of jewelry for the craft show season...but also running four craft shows and producing Ottawa's first Craft Crawl. Thank goodness I have so many wonderful people helping me out; otherwise I probably wouldn't sleep for the whole month of November!

The busy season kicks off for me this weekend with Urban Craft here in Ottawa and Handmade Harvest, a fantastic show out in Almonte. Two shows in one weekend? Whew! I spent this morning preparing over 100 pieces of jewelry to ensure we have enough stock on hand for both shows! I also spent this weekend ensuring we had enough packaging ready for the whole holiday season, which meant preparing nearly 500 polaroids (pictured above). My little fingers are tired, but I'm feeling quite accomplished!

In The Studio: A Business Evolves

When I first launched my business 2 1/2 years ago, one of the first orders of business (aside from, you know, making and releasing my first pieces of jewelry) was to order business cards. I remember designing them on Vista Print, placing the order, and eagerly awaiting for their arrival. This may or may not have involved checking the mail box multiple times every day. At the time, I was living in the UK and had roommates from Australia, China and Cyprus. My Cypriot flatmate Kalia and I became fast friends and soon we were as close as sisters. When the cards finally arrived, we went to get the mail together and squealed in delight when they arrived. I was so proud! Since then, I have used the same cards (with the design altered a bit), and people seem to swoon over them and love the design.

Over the past few months, my business has really moved to the next level as I have picked up quite a few stores across Canada. In May I started with one store account and I currently have 8 stores across the U.S. and Canada selling my stuff. By the beginning of November, there will be 10. This fact in itself completely blows me away and I am constantly grateful.

As urbanite has shifted into a new era of sorts, I figured it was time to finally upgrade my business cards. I contacted Aiko to redesign my cards. Aiko owns Potomac Studio and she is the graphic designer we work with on all our projects; she is incredibly talented and so wonderful to work with. I asked her if she would do a bit of a redesign for me and she was happy to help. Within a few hours I had a new business card design, which I am so excited about:

I am sending the cards off to Deja Printing, a local company that comes highly recommended from my friend Amy of Splendid Events. Having held Amy's cards in my hands many times, I cannot wait to get my brand new cards in, printed in full color on both sides on heavier weight paper. I can almost imagine how luxurious they'll feel already! I'll be sure to share them as soon as they arrive!

In The Studio: Limited Edition Lovelies

Hello loves! Just wanted to pop in and share some a little peek. I've been working on some new and limited edition pieces for Urban Craft this Saturday. The spread will include the beauties above, a special edition of our Casablanca style. If you're free on Saturday, join us for Urban Craft from 10am-2pm at The GCTC (Holland & Wellington in Hintonburg). We'll have over 20 fantastic modern, indie vendors for you to shop from! xo!

In The Studio: A Second Peek

Another quick little peek for all you wonderful people. We'll be releasing a slew of new cities this fall including Barcelona, Manila, Beijing, Victoria BC and so so many more. Here's a peek at some of the new styles which we'll have available for the first time at Urban Craft this Saturday (10am-2pm, The GCTC @ Holland & Wellington)!