Lately...

I've been sick.. First I thought it was allergies, then it turned out to be the cold with a terrible cough :/ . I didn't even have the energy to add my new pretties to my shop, I feel bad.. The good thing is that I get to try the kleenex with lotion in it, hopefully at the end of this situation of being a sickie, I won't have deep peeled like red scars around my nose and I'll look hot again sooner than it used to be! :P

Last week passed mostly with creating because I was home alone most of the nights due to my husbands different than usual work schedule.. During the days I've photographed the pieces I made, then edited them on Photoshop.. It is actually Photoshop Elements that I just got and have been trying to learn for the last few weeks. It is not easy to achieve certain things I must say, needs step by step instructions first, and then a lot of practicing. If you like to try your hands on Photoshop but shy about spending that much money on something you are not sure if you are going to love (that's how my initial feelings were), you might want to go with elements. Photoshop Elements is a LOT more affordable, and unless you wanna go super pro on these things, it'll give you more than you need.. If you feel like you need more and want to learn more, then you may upgrade to Photoshop , nothing to loose really..

Then there was thanksgiving, oh it was a FUN day.. You know I'm not an American and neither my husband, so we don't celebrate thanksgiving in our country. BUT, we've been lucky to be invited to our friends' gatherings for the last few years, and I must admit; I love it! Haha.. Who doesn't like the idea of 'whatever you eat at thanksgiving day, it doesn't have calories!' Yayy, dream come true! Anyway, we were invited to my friends' house this year, aaaaaandd she is an Etsian too Elsie (click to see her shop), yes I met her through Etsy! That's why I love Etsy, and I will never stop loving it even though if I happen to close my shop one day! Etsy gave me a friend, I believe a life long friend, do you think I'd exchange that to -let's say- a million bucks I make out of Etsy?? OK, maybe I exaggerated here a little bit, but do you think I'd exchange my friend to -let's say- thousands of dollars I'd make out of Etsy? NO, of course not!.. Isn't great? (OK I'm being serious now) :P

Enough silliness for a night, I think my NyQuil is kicking in, gotta lay down a little..

P.S. Don't forget to comment here (click) to have a chance to win my poppy earrings! Good luck! :)

Derya

Lately...

You are Invited!

I'm so excited and happy to announce this event! We (as super talented artists of different mediums) are having a steamy hot holiday craft show this Saturday! Most of the info is on the invitation. If you are close by, just come in and see all the great lovingly handmade unique items from fellow Etsy sellers, and shop till you drop for the loved ones and most importantly for yourself!

There will be all kind of fun things happening there, hourly gift drawings, food, music etc.!

Here are the artists who will be there for you, if you like to peak at some of the items there will be at the show;

Poppy Raye Studio

Designs by Steppie

Namaste Designs

Melissa Loschy Designs

Brook Owens

Cherry Tree Lane

Little Corners

Bratty Dan

Jewelera

My Friend Roze

You are Invited!

Blessed! I'm featured by Smashgirl!

I feel so honored to be featured at one of the fellow etsy artists' blog http://www.smashgirl.blogspot.com/ . She wrote about my blog and my jewelry designs under her "cool blogs from cool people' series, she had many wonderful things to say which made me very emotional to be recognized like that!

Also, she is from Orange County, CA too! Check out her etsy shop to see her beautiful mosaic decorative items! I'm especially loving this 'Welcome With a Cherry on Top Sign' she made, it looks very yummy!

Much love,
Derya

Blessed! I'm featured by Smashgirl!

My lovely customer from Australia..

She is one gorgeous young lady who knows how to work her style and write about it in her blog http://frocksandfroufrou.blogspot.com/ . I was so happy and honored when I found out she had a review in her blog about my poppy earrings she has purchased from my Etsy shop short while ago! She is wearing them in the photo above, and looking all cute and sexy! ;)

I feel lucky to find out about her blog this way, because I always go back and enjoy reading about her shopping experiences and always wonder what kind of a new look she will create next!

You can read the whole post here in her blog!


Love,
Derya

My lovely customer from Australia..

Class Time!

For the last project (after the brooch project I posted about earlier), we need to make a necklace with repetitive images. These are the pieces I'm working on..


This is my sanctuary ! My metalsmithing classroom, it is where I forget about everything and just focus on my metal. I'm so sad the class is ending soon, but no way I'm leaving my metals.. Do you see the roller on right bottom corner? I'm having an affair with that thing! ;)



My sweet friend Kathrine loves robots, so she made a cute little robot brooch in the class! (The lockers' color was matching perfectly with her work apron, that's why I wanted to put two photo together!)



This is a brooch made by one of my classmates a lovely lady, I had to take a photo of it, because I think she did an amazing job with the texture on the fishes and the colors with the heat treatment!



And the fires today.. I'm in Orange and that's how the sky looked when I came back from the class today. My heart goes to all those people who lost their homes to the crazy fires. Sad sad..


Love,
Derya

Class Time!

Work in progress..

The last show I did was pretty great! I had so many great responses from people about my jewelry. Especially my wallpaper necklaces got the most attention, everyone wanted to touch them to see what they were made of, then when I popped the news 'I made them with wallpaper!', they seemed pretty amazed! :)

One of the ladies who purchased one those necklaces didn't let me package it because she wanted to wear it right away. She came back 20 minutes later and told me that she already got so many compliments and wanted to share that with me! I was proud of course!

So having said that, I was inspired to make another piece, so I'm working on it right now. You can see the pieces together above in the photos, I'm liking the combo very much! I'll post the finished photos here soon..

love,
Derya

Work in progress..

I'm in Storque Article at Etsy.com!

I came across to it completely out of luck, and I got so excited! The article is about creative packaging 'how to's for holidays! You can read the article here. All my items are shipped in these cute boxes that I created!


love,
Derya

I'm in Storque Article at Etsy.com!

My brooch!

As promised; my firs finished piece at the metalsmithing class! This is a brooch I made from copper. It is pretty detailed, which is not surprising coming from me if you are familiar with my designs! :) The image was inspired from a painting, I played with the lady figure a little bit and change it as I wanted, I LOVE it, I hope you do too! It is kinda naughty.. :P

Now, I'm working on my next project, which is gonna be a necklace with repetitive images. I'll post it too, when it is done!

love,
Derya

My brooch!

Two new gorgeousness !

My bubble tree necklaces were off to shelves from my shop, so I decided to make 2 new versions of them. They are both amazingly beautiful, with their organic yet delicate appearances. One is in kelly green, with smooth bubble glass pendant, the other one is named 'ice tree' in light rose pink with faceted chandelier like glass pendant.. They are both one of a kind and freshly listed in my shop!

The best thing about these necklaces is that you can wear the pendants separately by simply sliding off the glass pendant from the chain. It is like buy one get one free, ;).. Click on the photos above to see more pictures and read about the details..

Love,
Derya

Two new gorgeousness !

Sea leaves

This is the one I was telling you about in my previous post. I'm very happy and excited about it, so natural and organic look, kyanite stones with blackened sterling silver.. My inspiration was the photo I took in Monterey, with the seaweeds floating on the surface of the water..

I just listed the necklace in my shop, so you can read more about the details here!

I hope you like it as much as I do!

much love,
Derya

Sea leaves

Sunday

I always have a hard time finding a good opening sentence when I'm writing a new post, struggling between if I should directly get into the subject or say hello first? Anyway, I think I just wrote that opening sentence, so I can get to the subject now.. Wheew!.. ;)

I had a fun and relaxing Sunday. I wasn't feeling like going out due to my aching back and upper arms because of the long metalsmithing class the day before, but I literally forced myself to have a shower and dress up, then let my honey take me out somewhere.. We didn't have much of a plan, but decided to just go to Newport Beach first and drive from there by the ocean towards south, and stop and walk if we see somewhere grabs our interest. Our first stop was a neighborhood by the water in Newport Beach . We sneaked into a gated community to be amazed by the beauty of the houses with fronts literally on the water, some had private beaches. It was so quite and there wasn't even one person on the street. We both felt like we were in a movie set. I wanted to take a few photos but then I imagined some rich person's bodyguard with black suit and sunglasses attacking me and breaking my camera like they do to some paparazzi, so I decided not to.. ;)

Then we headed towards Laguna Beach, but on our way we've seen an open house sign in another nice neighborhood so we headed there, we couldn't resist the opportunity.. ;) It was a huge house built in 50's, beautiful backyard, big windows allowing the light to fill the rooms, 4 bedroom and 4 bathroom, ah we loved it! The price was almost 3 million bucks, I still got the agent's card when we were leaving just in case I win the lottery soon. Wait, I don't play lottery! :P (This last part fit perfectly to the 'daily dream' part of my blog name)

We passed through Laguna Beach, one of my favorite places in the world, and decided to go to Dana Point which we've never been before. We ended up at the Dana Wharf , which was quite nice, did a little walking around (worked those legs up), checked a few menus from different restaurants, and my husband craved for Turkish food (of course!). So we decided to go back to Laguna Beach to eat at GG's! (great Turkish/Mediterranean food, highly recommended!).

The weather was beautiful the whole day, not too hot to walk, a little cooling wind, nice.. Although it got a little chilly when the sun was going down, we still sit outside to eat!

Here comes the new week.. I don't know how time flies so quickly! I have a big list of things to do in my head but sometimes it feels like there is not enough time to do them. Organizing my studio area and the rest of the apartment (to tell you the truth) is my priority this week! Everything is out of control again, and I started not finding things easily which drives me crazy..

Oki doki , I'm off now, leaving you with some photos from Dana Point. After I came home, I made a gorgeous necklace which I had the design in my head for a while, I'll post about it very soon!

Take care,
Derya

Sunday

Wanna join to win my unique earrings?

All you need to do is; go to this page on neatostuff.com, and comment about which piece you like from my shop! That way you will have a chance to win the contest to receive my unique earrings! It is that easy, good luck! :)


Love,

Derya

Wanna join to win my unique earrings?

I feel very blessed! :)

Lately I've been very blessed to be featured in several wonderful blogs, a contest on neatostuff.com, and many treasuries by lovely people of Etsy!

I'm not a kind of seller who knows all the tricks in and out about the advertising an online business, which I'm not very proud to say! So, while I'm being like that, I feel like all other people that likes my designs are giving me a hand to show my creations to the world which I'm soooo grateful! I will mention those people, blogs, websites and treasuries in a more detailed future post I promise! :)

OK, lately my creative urge came back (yayy), so I've been up to making some new exciting pieces! I've already listed them in my shop (I couldn't wait, I was inpatient!) , so I thought I'd post them here also to show my followers! I'm attaching the photos above, if you click on them, they'll take you to the listings in my shop. So you can read more about the details, materials etc.

I hope you are all having a wonderful week! :)

Derya

I feel very blessed! :)

Hair pins are new in the shop!

I'm very excited about these! They are adorable, and unique, all with vintage metarials except the freshwater pearls at the middle! I just listed them in my shop for $12 a pair. There are more colors to come soon!

They'll make great little gift items for the upcoming holidays, and affordable too!

Now go and shop! :P

Love,
Derya

Hair pins are new in the shop!

Hello?

I feel like my 'hello' is echoing because I've been away from my little corner here for -let's see- about 3 weeks? Oh my this sounds worse than it feels like.. ;)

There is no particular reason for my absence , maybe a little mix of many things..Lately because of all the economic issues, politics, people wondering/worrying , and all the negativity might have led me to feel less inspired..?

I've still been working on many new exciting designs to list in my shop and I actually will have a show this weekend at Villa Park High School Craft Fair & Boutique. I'll attach the detailed info below at the end of this post. It'll be my first show that I actually set up a table. I had one before, but the host was a gallery and they did all the catering, advertising, set up etc. and it was really awesome! I felt like a very special artist! :)

Since then I never contributed to local shows, but finally I felt like I should be more out there and show what I do to more people! I honestly don't enjoy the whole preparing, getting every tiny little things you don't usually use for anything else etc, also the fact that you may end up selling nothing (I hope it won't happen) ..BUT, I enjoy very much of the opportunity to be face to face with people, and present my designs in person. It is the most fun pat of this whole thing for me! I really think it makes a big difference for people to get to know the artist in person and the fact they can touch and try my creations in non-cyber atmosphere! Anyway, I think it'll be refreshing for me to do that after a looong time of selling from behind the computer screen.. ;)

Meanwhile, I've also been going to my metalsmithing class on Saturdays from 9am to 3pm, 6 hours of hard work, a lot of learning and nice calming 'only me in therapy' time..Believe me, I'm not a morning person at all, so if something is making me wake up that early on a Saturday, it means I love it! I'm so happy with the class so far, and Jennifer our instructor is fabulous and funny -in a good way, making us giggle and laugh by her special way of teaching and demonstrating- especially her horror stories to warn us about safety stuff in the studio is cracking me up! ;)

Ahh, this must me one of my most lengthy posts in the text wise, but I think it is normal after a long absence. So bear with me! ;) I'm attaching some of my design photos that are new in the shop, if you click on them they'll take you to my shop, so you can read the details and see more photos and other new items.

If you happen to be in CA and want to come and see me and other artists/crafters at the show, please do so! If you mention my blog, I will be happy to give you a special discount. ;)

Villa Park High School Vocal Music

Craft Fair & Boutique

Saturday, October 18, 9 AM – 2 PM

18042 Taft Ave., Villa Park 92861

Proceeds of the boutique will benefit the Villa Park High School and Cerro Villa Middle School Vocal Music Programs. VPHS/ CVMS Vocal Music is an award-winning program that teaches lifelong skills in music and the pursuit of excellence.

Hello?

ONLY TODAY SALE! Don't miss it!..

I'm having a sale today in my shop, which'll end at the end of the day! You can find the items that are available for the 20% discount here.

Go and shop! :)

P.S. Just a few of the items for sale above..

Love,
Derya

ONLY TODAY SALE! Don't miss it!..

I have to share this!

I'm so happy, I wanted to share.. Remember my bonjour necklace above? Well, somebody bought it from my shop short while ago. And she left me a feedback;

'AMAZING! wearing this for my wedding.. as if it were made for my dress! so excited and the entire transaction was wonderful.. communication was solid and seller was personally excited for me. yay! haha... thanks so much! this piece was so unique and well thought out. i would definitely return to check out other products!! will try to post pictures later if i can.'

She is wearing it for her wedding!!! I'm sooo flattered, and never imagined my creation from a wallpaper catalog would be worn as a bridal piece! Once again, this proves me 'it is all about the look' not the materials, even if you use trash bags or whatever, but the look & creativity! =)

(Pssst.. There is one more available now in my shop)

Much love,
Derya

I have to share this!

Help to this beautiful family! Please read...

I just heard about this horrible news from Etsy's Storque article. I'm so said but glad I did, so I can do my best to help on my side.

"On Saturday, August 16, 2008, Stephanie Nielson was in a plane crash with her husband, Christian Nielson, and his flight instructor, Doug Kinneard, near St. Johns, Arizona. Doug Kinneard passed away soon after arriving at the Maricopa County Hospital. Christian and Stephanie remain in critical condition at the Maricopa Burn Center. Christian has sustained burns on over 30% of his body. His wife Stephanie’s body was burned over 80%. ..."


You can read more from the article here.

Here is how you can help;

-If you like to donate through your paypal account, please send your money to NieNieFund@gmail.com

-You can see the other help options on this page.

-Even if you can't help financially, send your prayers and positive thoughts to their way. You know how powerful is that!

-Last but not least, feel free to copy and paste this entire post to your blog if you like to join the 'spreading the word'.

You can also read more about Nie family and their recovery updates from Nie's sister's blog at http://blog.cjanerun.com/

Please don't forget, even a little from just one person counts tremendously, and it may/would have been you and your family too.

Nie family will be in my prayers, I wish Ms and Mr Nielson a fast recovery to get back to their beautiful 4 little children and whole family as soon as possible. I know they can do it, I know they will!

Much love,
Derya

Help to this beautiful family! Please read...

Rested, Refreshed, Inspired, Peaceful...

Those are the feelings I have after my wonderful vacation/traveling.

I and my husband drove to Monterey first, stay there for 2 nights. Oh my! I heard that it was beautiful there, but I couldn't imagine how BEAUTIFUL it'd be! We have a friend there, who took us around and we did the 17 miles drive. It was amazing, was the best part of my vacation actually! I was so inspired and amazed by the nature, it brought tears to my eyes. If you ever happen to have a chance to go there, just GO! I highly deeply recommend it..

Then, we left Monterey and drove to San Francisco. I always thought NY city would be my most fave city after Istanbul of course (which is my original city), but now San Fran is sitting at the top! We did many touristic stuff and more, I don't think they'd fit here if I tell you about everything! :) -Or it'd be too long- But I'll try to post as many photos as possible from my trip, so you can get hints from all the beauties I've seen. Oh, I shouldn't forget the Napa Valley also! Beautiful endless vineyards, wine tasting, amazing nature.. I'll post the photos from there as well!

Today I'm only posting some photos from the 17 miles drive!

Other news;

I started taking metalsmithing classes!!! I'm a absolutely psyched! It is every Saturday for 6 hours, until December. I must admit, after taking the first class, I admired even more to the metalsmith jewelry designers. It is a lot of work, and require physical strength too . I'm still kinda sour to tell you the truth! :)

I'll be posting everything I make in the classes, so stay tuned!

I'm leaving you now, with amazing nature of Monterey!..

Love,
Derya

Rested, Refreshed, Inspired, Peaceful...

Inspiration- Orange County -Citrus Tree Necklace

One of my newest necklaces named 'Citrus Tree', inspired by my new location for the last 5 months, Orange County/CA. The funny thing is; I realized that I was inspired by that after I actually made the necklace! I surprised myself, I hope my creations surprises you too, in a good way of course! :)

You can check out the details about this beautiful piece at my shop here!


Derya

Inspiration- Orange County -Citrus Tree Necklace

News and news...

Me keeps creating, and making absurd stuff with some absurd materials! :P

First of all I like to give you some good news (for me), I'm starting to metal smithing jewelry classes! Yayyy, I'm psyched! After 4 years of designing beaded jewelry, it is finally my time to take it to the next level! You know how much I love experimenting with different materials with my endless search and curiosity, so I think this will open a whole new window to fun& new adventures.. I will be updating the things I made at the class every week here in my blog!

OK, I've been working on some necklaces with a new material for the last week; wallpaper! I had some really cool catalogs of wallpaper samples from my interior design school period, and have been thinking about what to do with them! Finally it came to me, and I decided to incorporate them into my jewelry.

First one I did was with cream color vinyl embossed wallpaper. Everyone seemed to love it on Etsy, and it was finally sold on last Thursday to a very nice lady who is thinking about wearing it on her wedding! :)

The other ones are with different illustrations like a bird, goat, and a laundry washing mom with her 2 kids in a boat, all cut out from wallpaper pages in the catalog, backed with felt for stability, and coated for protection. I loved them all, I think they are very different from what you see around in the market everyday, unique and all one of a kind!

If you click on the photos above, they'll take you to their listings in my shop, so you can read the descriptions and see more detailed photos..

News and news...