Etsy Featured Artist: Contempo Jewels

It is with great pleasure that I introduce you to my super talented friend Staci Egan from Contempo Jewels. Staci has been handcrafting jewelry since 1999. She creates original and custom jewelry for any occasion. Her designs are nature inspired featuring wire working techniques using precious metals, freshwater pearls and semi-precious stones.


Staci lives in State College, PA (home of Penn State). Besides selling on etsy, Contempo Jewels can be found at some galleries, boutiques and art shows. Her studio/gallery is located in Surface Artist Cooperative (www.surfcaeartistcoop.com). Surface is an old barn that has been completely transformed. It showcases 6 creative women in several different mediums including pottery, home decoration, photography and bath & body products.


Staci specializes in custom designs and bridal "It’s my absolute favorite! Being a small part of someone’s big day is an honor and I cherish every moment. I am happy to create custom designs on any budget".



Please remember, when you buy handmade you are supporting an independent artist and small business.

Contempo Jewels - www.contempojewels.etsy.com
Contempo Jewelry - www.contempojewelry.net

Facebook Fan page - www.facebook.com/contempojewelry
Twitter - www.twitter.com/contempojewels
Blog - www.contempoweddings.tumblr.com


Contempo Jewels is a proud member of the Etsy Treasure Lover Team!
www.treasurelover.com/

One Goal= Zumba Convention

Ok guys! I’m on a mission and it’s called Zumba Convention!!!

In order to make this happen, I need to come up with a lot of $$$. So, for the next few weeks, I’m going to be making t-shirts and headbands for sale. Aside from super cute, the headbands are reversible and have knit sequin fabric in the middle. You have the option of selecting one with sequin fabric on one side only for $10 or sequin fabric on both sides for $15 (you pick the colors). Custom Designed T-shirts are $20.

If you are participating at the Zumba Bobcats Halftime this year, the headbands would be perfect to match your outfit!! Even if you are not, they are still great to match all your zumba gear. They also look great with a cute pair of jeans. I can make them in any color and different theme. Think about Spring coming up. Imagine some lime green, pinks, purples, flowers, etc...
To place your order, you can go to my fan page or my Etsy shop and convo me. Or, you can send me an email to beyondstitches@gmail.com with your choices and your paypal account so I can send you an invoice. Once payment is received, please allow 3-5 business days for your order to be shipped/delivered.

Care Instructions: hand wash in cold water and let air dry otherwise the sequins will just vanish. Do not dry clean :-)

Please pass the word and share with your FB friends!!!!! Mention it on your blog. If you are a zumba instructor, tell your students!!! Just tell the world, ok? I really want to make this happen!!!!!!!

Welcome 2011!!!

Wishing everyone a wonderful 2011!!! The year 2010 was one of the most challenging years for me. Still, I'm not complaining. Those challenges are what make life interesting :-) They help us grow and look at things from a different perspective. I am so looking forward to the challenges and opportunities that 2011 has to bring. For some reason, I'm really excited about this year!!!!!

This past year, we were lucky to have a white Christmas! My son was in heaven!!!

No major New Year's resolutions as those tend to disappear so fast :-) My goal for this year is to "Make Someday TODAY!" and take action. That will take care of everything. I need to stop complaining about not having enough time. Let's just do it! That includes blogging more often :-)

This week I am taking time to make a few items and send them to Canada for an auction organized by Bamboletta Dolls to help baby Molly and her family. The story is heartbreaking. When I see things like that, I immediately want to do something about it. I know I can save the whole world, but ‎every little bit helps. "I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. What I can do, I should do and, with the help of God, I will do." - Edward Everett Hale So, if you would like to contribute any handmade item go to Bamboletta's page for more info. Or if you can make a monetary contribution, go to Molly's page.

I'm also taking time this week to be more active on my Etsy and Facebook fan page. I'll be listing some of the things I have left from my past show. A lot of super cute accessories. my pictures don't really make justice to them.

Another thing I'm working on this week: Dolls!!! Yeah!!! I've been wanting to start my dolly drive project forever. The time is now! I will need about 300 dolls by the end of May. This batch will be going to Liberia. I will blog about it and advertise it with the hope to get people involved and help. I'm so super excited about it!!!

That's it for today. I'm going to get ready to go to Amelie's French Bakery in NoDA with the family. We love that place!!!

Have a wonderful day!

It's been a crazy month!!!

I know I always start my blog saying that it's been a long time since my last post. Well, I'm not going to do that today :-) And, I'm not going to bombard you with all the great and not so great things that happened to me since my last post. I'll never finish LOL

Instead, I'll leave you with something fun to watch. Here is a little Zumba demonstration that we did on WBTV about three weeks ago. We were trying to promote our zumbathon. If you don't know which one I am, it's easy to find me. I'm the one that seems to be a little lost and always doing the opposite of what everyone else is doing :-) It was so much fun though!!!

I wonder why I'm always seem to be doing something different! Check out this photo!
If you are in the Charlotte area, try to go to a zumba class at the Siskey Y on Monday nights. It's a party! I think is the only exercise room in town that turns into a real club party at night. We have five disco lights in that room!!!! It's awesome!!! We even have theme night where people come dressed for the occasion. Last night was disco night. Those who wanted to join the fun were dressed in shimmery outfits!!! It's so much fun. You don't even know you are exercising:-)

Ok, my dog is calling me. I'll continue at another time. Have a great day!

The Holiday Boot Camp Pledge

I, Larissa (BeyondStitches), pledge to participate in the Etsy Success Holiday Boot Camp to the best of my abilities. I vow to check in every week, do my homework and support my fellow Holiday Boot Campers. I will read the weekly newsletters and blog posts, check in on the weekly forum thread, read the weekly blog post, check off the checklists and salute the mascot. I promise to share what I've learned with those who need it, support my fellow Etsy indiepreneurs and, most of all, have a positive and persistent attitude. I understand that together we can spread the word about our handmade and vintage goods, making this holiday season a more unique and meaningful one to gift givers and give-ees everywhere!

Dolls, Dolls, Dolls! I just love them!

It's been almost a week again since the last time I posted. I know a few more weeks will probably pass before I post again :-) I wanted to post these before we go on vacation.

Remember the cute outfits I was making for my nieces American Girls? Well, I made a few more. I really hope they fit the AG dolls. I don't have an AG doll to try them on. I used one of the first crocheted dolls I made like 15 years ago to model some of the outfits.


Here on the left, she is wearing a very cute dress for a tea party in the afternoon :-) You can tell the dress is a little small for her. My doll has a longer torso than normal :-)

Here, she is wearing a black and hot pink tutu with a black and silver leotard. The leotard is in crochet.

I have no idea why these next two photos turned out like this. I tried uploading them a few times but every time they would come out like this. I gave up! This is one of the reasons I don't blog as often. It takes me hours to post a little thing. I don't find blogger very user friendly. Or, maybe my skills are lacking on that department :-)

Shoes to go with her tutu outfit and knit high pants to go with the orange sweater. The flower on the side is a double layer rose crocheted with variegated blue and orange.

The sweater was made with orange and hot pink Caron Simply soft. I made the fabric buttons to match.


Last, but not least, I wanted to share my batch of dolls that will be going to Freethekids.org to support Sarah's DollyDonations.

I love the way they turned out! I've been practicing my drawing skills so I can come up with my own pattern :-) Also, I've been practicing my sewing skills :-) I want to be really good (fast) at it so I can make tons of dolls and make kids happy all over the world. I'm thinking about sending my next batch back home, Dominican Republic. We share the island with Haiti. It's a dream that I always had! I think is about time to take action and do it :-)

This Past Week

I forgot to mention about our trip to Columbia, SC last weekend to meet with my friend Wendy from Wendilerias. She is very talented! You should check her blog! Wendy and I have been online friends for over a year. We blog, FB, talk on the phone and we have supported each other through our ups and downs, but this is the first time that we actually see each other in person. We had a great time together with our families. We met at the Three Green River Greenway for a picnic. I wish I knew there was access to the river before we got there so we could be better prepared. We were just going to have a picnic and go to the zoo.

The river was inviting us, especially the kids, to go in. We gave in and decided to stay a little longer. The water was freezing, but the kids didn't care. Honestly, I didn't go in. The water was too cold for me :-) I just sat down on a rock and took some photos. There were people Kayaking and tubing.











I love this picture of my son on the left. He loves nature! He was trying to slide down the rocks. He was having so much fun until he got a thorn in his foot, ouch! That was the end of it :-( Did I mention how unprepared we were? We ended up going to the pharmacy to buy tweezers and peroxide. We still couldn't get it out until night time when he was sleeping.

I also love the picture of Wendy and her daughter! Carolina was having so much fun that she didn't want to leave. Since we couldn't go to the zoo anymore, we ended up going to Wendy's house for a little bit. Here is a picture of us:

Another really cool place that we went to this past week is Amelie's French Bakery. They have the yummiest pastries and is such a cool and cozy place! We heard so much about it, but didn't get a chance to go until now. It's in the North side of town, NoDa. We liked it so much that we went twice this week. We went Tuesday afternoon and Friday night. OMG! that place was packed on Friday. My son was having a blast. After we ate our pastries, we went for a walk around NoDA. They had live music at Salvador's Deli. There was also a Drum Circle outside a coffee shop.

This is a really cool lamp at the entrance made out of small pots and spoons.
This is the chimney and piano area.

After finishing our yummy pastries, we sat down in one of the big couches. Gaby was browsing a book and I was knitting(finally took my needles out after a whole year). did I tell you that I also found a yarn store around NoDa. It was closed. I need to plan another trip there early during the day so I can check the yarn at The Yarn House.

This post is becoming too long. I will have to continue to sum up the week on another post. I hope you are not too tired from reading :-)