Please join the poll and help me out!!

OK, this is a question I've been wondering about for a while, so I wanted to create a poll to hopefully see what most of you think!

As some of you know my butterfly earrings are listed in my etsy shop in a way that you can choose the color scheme, ear wire styles, butterflies etc. to create your own unique pair. Here is the listing if you like to take a peak; click click I'm aware this may not be the most convenient way for some of my customers as some people prefer to just click and buy without the hassle of thinking about which ones to choose, what colors etc.

So my questions is; what do you prefer? Take the time and create your own pair, or choose from the ready made ones listed as all you need to do is click to buy the one pictured and you are good to go! ?

I really appreciate everyone for participating, as I'm willing to do some changes in my shop depending on how this poll will end! :)


Love,
Derya

poll by twiigs.com

Please join the poll and help me out!!

12:49am Friday, A quick post to show this to you!

{Such a bad blogger I am I know I know..But to be honest I've been super busy, my shop was on fire for the last couple of weeks or so (no complains there!) I will come back again very soon to show you all the new super unique creations I've been working on, you can click here to see take a look at my new things (most of them are listed in my shop too)! I'm literally seeing butterflies flying around my head like in the cartoon movies but not birds; butterflies! lol }

will be back soon...

love

Derya

12:49am Friday, A quick post to show this to you!

Moth to Jewels!

 

      Lately I've been seeing butterflies everywhere even
when I close my eyes! Though that is a little overwhelming from time
to time, I'm extremely happy and excited my butterfly designs are
receiving such wonderful interest & feedback from all over! 

  One of the best parts is that I've been getting a lot of bridal
orders lately on the bfly designs, especially the large bold single
earrings which  excites me even more because as I see there are a lot of
cool ladies who are willing to go bold and non-traditional
with their bridal accessories! Isn't that great? 

Kudos to all like minded ladies out there!!

I need to take more photos of this one, then it will be available in my shop! 

Update* I couldn't wait and listed it as it is to add more photos later! ;)
click here too see!

love,

Derya

Moth to Jewels!

How far are you willing to go?

I mean as far as the unusual-ness of the jewelry you wear? Would you wear this salt shaker ring?

I don't know about you but I just love creating this kind of unexpected jewelry pieces as well as wearing them. There are so much of the cookie cutter stuff in the market already, so why not go for something bold and surprising? ;)

Here are my latest designs, freshly added to my shop. I hope you enjoy what you see! Oh, there are also 2 new gorgeous cuffs I just finished (sneak peek on those are in my previous post) and I will share them with you here tomorrow, so come back to check them out, I know you won't regret! :) 

 Vintage sterling silver salt shaker ring- It is a keepsake piece which you can put a special note, or your favorite quote or whatever you want as long as it fits!

My newest addition to the cotton plants collection -double layered braided batik fabric with cotton boll charms and lucite flower on the side!

You may have seen these gorgeous earrings in one of the shots from my studio, well now they are available in my shop! 

love,

Derya

How far are you willing to go?

what's cooking in the studio? I won't tell you but here are some clues..

I'm in a little secrety mood today. :)

-Very much connected to this photo
-nothing like I've created before
-each of them has different ingredients
-contain some architectural details
-mouth watering qualities
-they are wearable (duh!)

OK I can't say no more but I'm just having a lot fun creating them. The secret will be revealed here in this blog very soon! Any guesses??


Oh by the way, here are my latest designs listed in my shop ( click on the photos to go to the listings)

 

what's cooking in the studio? I won't tell you but here are some clues..

from past, from nature, from my culture...

I'm super excited for the new additions to my all 3 collections!
This one you see above is a single earring I shared the process photos with you here previously..It is a statement piece! Can you see the flying birds on the butterfly, and trees and the blue sky on the lower background? I've created those on photoshop, transferred onto organza fabric and combined with brass components. I think it turned out dreamy!
Very soon to be listed in my store.

Another single earring, and statement piece.
This one is going to be latest addition to my cotton plants collection. I love the color tones, the feel and the texture! Hand died to golden color sari silk ribbon is braided, at the center I've placed an antique brass branch with leaves and cotton boll dangle.

Two of these gorgeous reconstructed vintage
cuff bracelets are listed in my shop already and the other one is coming soon!

Last but not least Take me to Istanbul Earrings are now in silver tone & oval shape available in the shop! You can still find the original round &antique brass version here..


Love,
Derya

from past, from nature, from my culture...

'Set' is done, it is your turn to tell the story

When I was studying Theater Set and Costume Design back in college; my favorite play or opera projects were the ones that are from the Ancient Greek mythology.. I was always amazed by the places, creatures, gods, goddesses and stories.. I think I loved the freedom of 'flying as much as I could' part as far as the design & creativity.. It was a lot more fun than working on a let's say Chekhov play where you have all the resource under your hands about the time period, opposite to the Greek Mythology which is only limited by your imagination..

This earring I've made last night, made me think of all the above which I see skies with stars, flying birds, turquoise waters, beautiful sand, climbing vines, and butterflies in it! Oh yeah, and the column of course, everything started with that piece at the first place. When I finished the piece it just looked like a little set design where you can play your own story in it, what to tell is up to you.

Lately I've been really into large statement single earrings, yes usually 2 is better than 1 they say, but sometimes not.. I enjoy creating pieces like that which can stand on their own as a focal accessory, and tells a lot already by itself, it feels like there is no need for another one..

I took a few photos during the process of creating, which you can see above.. They are not very good looking photos because it was night and the lighting wasn't good but anyway I hope you enjoy what you see!

Derya

'Set' is done, it is your turn to tell the story

Fluttery Breath of Life this is!

As I work more on my organza butterflies/wings collection, even more unique designs are coming up right after another. I fall in love with each one of them.

Especially this new amazing necklace makes me wanna get married again and wear it with a simple off white gown at a spring wedding in a whimsical theme. *sigh*

For the long single earrings I have used more insect wings this time, as I'm always fascinated with the amazing beauty on the details of those wings. Each earring features wings from 7-8 different insects from the mother earth...

Click here to see the rest of my butterflies/wings collection.


love,
Derya

Fluttery Breath of Life this is!

My Cotton Plants are in Paper n Stitch!

Brittni is the sweetest, and I love her blog. This morning I woke up to her nice feature on my Cotton Plants Collection in her Paper n Stitch blog, and I was a HAPPY girl!


Love,
derya

My Cotton Plants are in Paper n Stitch!

Designing with a special client at my studio!

C found me through Etsy, asking about my butterfly earrings. When we found out that we were almost neighbors (she lives in Long Beach, I'm in Orange), we set up a meeting at my studio. C is getting married next year, so she was looking for unique pieces to accessorize. We created a large size butterfly single earring for her, collaborating together. We both loved the results, and enjoyed the process. I'm so excited to design coordinating pieces for her wedding, like hair pieces and shoe clips in all butterfly theme. I can't wait!

Love,
Derya

Designing with a special client at my studio!

Cotton Field Earrings- Simply Unique and so Organic

One of my creations that I'm so proud of and currently in love! Sorry to brag, but I know they are one of the most unique little things you will find in jewelry world! ;)

Just listed in my little corner click here to see and shop!

Cotton Field Earrings- Simply Unique and so Organic

Cotton Plants Collection is about to Launch

I'm very excited about this, can't wait to start listing the pieces to my online shop! They'll all be available soon!

If you are on Facebook, please join my jewelry page to be alerted with the newest items, news and special discounts only inclusive to the members of my group! Click here to go to my page (after signing into your account)


Love,
Derya

Cotton Plants Collection is about to Launch

Man, life is good!

From the Naturelle Collection

First of all; do I need to say it again? Yep, you got it! I'm the the worst blogger, I don't update my blog enough, blah blah blah.. This is done, let's talk about something else..

MAN! Am I happy? Oh YES! I don't know what happened, how my mood changed, what switch turned on (or off), but I became a fully motivated, excited, joyful, smiling (a lot) and looking better than ever person -again-. You know how you feel when you meet an oooold good friend you haven't seen for a long time, and when you run into her unexpectedly; you say 'wow, I've missed you!' realizing it just that exact moment? I feel like that for myself nowadays.. I had no idea real me was missing in my life for so long, and I'm so bubbly happy to meet myself again! As I said, I even look better from outside; because my positive energy is coming out with a big smile on my face, a spark in my eyes, I walk more straight, even my fashion sense got better, and my hair is nicer , and the list goes on.. To put the cherry on the top; since I've started feeling that way, I started making more friends, and really good ones too.

I don't wanna sound like I'm bragging about myself here, but I'm just trying to be open with how I feel, so somebody out there who is reading this can find a tiny little light or hope maybe, which can change their outlook in life into a more positive way. See, I was depressed for a while (a combination of reasons).. I think I've mentioned that before here in my blog. Anyway, I'll do it again, because I know there are so many people out there suffering. I had those days I didn't have the tiniest motivation or desire to leave home, or returning calls from my friends.. All I wanted to do was; just to go somewhere really far away that nobody knows me (even the existing family and friends), so I wouldn't have any responsibilities etc. Little things seemed so big, and I had a constant fight between how my soul feels and my logic.. One said 'hey you are better than this, get your butt up!', the other one said nothing but feeling sad for itself.. Sounds familiar? I hope not, because it really sucks big time. But even if it does, please know that it doesn't have to last forever.

Therapists, medications, talking with close friends or family members, etc. may help but none of them is the solution. It is you my friend. You need to make the decision to not to be 'not you' anymore, and get that oldy but goody yourself have the grand opening to the life again! Once you start implementing that into your life, I promise, everything will get better and the positive things will start happening right after another.

Everything is like a chain in this life, every move or step effects the next one. Once you feel better, you smile more, when you smile more people react to you the same, then you start communicating better, make more friends, be more outgoing, feel energetic, you wanna dress better too because you are out more now, so you get compliments, you feel better, you have more contacts now, so you may even find a better job, you feel better, you realize that life is actually worth living, you feel better...

I believe us humans are like mirrors, we do mirror each other in life really. Whatever the way you approach others is a similar one you will get in return. Also the way you see others is actually the way you see yourself. You know those people, who is cocky and sees everyone below than themselves, and belittle people around them? That actually means that person is seeing himself that way, he has confidence issues. Or, if someone is mad all the time and mean towards others, that means they are angry with themselves. I always try to keep this in mind, because I believe it gives me a good direction in life to be more understanding towards myself and others, as well as to have a more positive attitude. (The palm of my right hand is itching right now, and it is believed -in my culture- that I will earn money, yayy! lol)

Ahh I hope this post doesn't sound like a lecture, because I didn't mean it to be. One last thing I wanna say is about 'being a good friend' before I move on to some latest highlights about my little business. Trust is one of the most important things in a good relationship (I know you already know this!). If you realized we are becoming more and more reserved about our feelings by the time goes. This causes less sharing between people, while we are needing more of that actually nowadays, because the life is getting harder and more complicated with the 'modernizm' and its down sides it brings to our lives. As much as you need a person closer to you that you can fully trust, so do others. So please learn and practice, actually decide right now, to be good listener to others, and the best secret keeper on this earth! Nope, it is not OK to share even with your other best friend, or your mom or your husband/wife etc. This is done too, let's move on to the next section now;

What's up with my jewelry biz?

Well well.. Now you all know I'm back on track with my life, and that includes my jewelry business. I've been on a creative roll, making stuff day and night, sleeping very little (which is OK for me, but yeah unhealthy I know mom!). I've already done a few shows, one of them was very successful for me. I will have at least 2 -maybe 3- shows coming up for holiday season. One of them is Patchwork/ Santa Ana, which I've done once before and LOVED it! The other ones is Unique Los Angeles in the beginning of December (heard good things about it), I'm hoping to book more shows, I'll let you know. There is also the art walk nights in Artist Village/ Santa Ana first Saturday of every the month. As some of you know I have a studio in Santora Building there (2nd floor, suite B).. So please stop by if you happen to be there! Oh, I will post later about the dates and all the info about the shows by the way!

I have a lot of plans to improve my little business, a photo shoot is one of them.. I wanna do something very artistic, it'll be my first experience, fingers crossed! I'm flirting with the ideas these days..

OK, I can write more, because there is more to share, but it is already a long post so here I will end it and attach some photos of my new pieces.. If you made it this far, good for me! ;)

Love,
Derya




Frida Necklace is a part of a new upcoming collection..

Bracelets from my new Turkish Tiles Collection

Man, life is good!

Sometimes you do something without realizing...

The ring

...that you are taking the first step of creating a memory for yourself, something you will always remember...

That Sunday morning of the street fair (which I was a vendor of), I did that by deciding to wear my ring I got from my recent Istanbul trip. That ring wasn't something expensive, but had an unusual design which grabbed my attention when I first saw it. Of course I didn't know then, the ring was going to be a conversation starter for me to find out; one of the people who stopped by at my booth was half Turkish. It is not very common to meet people from my country in the OC area, so I was pretty happy to meet that young lady which also happened to be an artist. Apparently her mom was from Istanbul, but the young lady herself did not know any Turkish. Though, her name was Yagmur (which is a Turkish name) meaning Rain in English. She told me that she was going to go to Istanbul in the near future for a few months, and she also had a lot of relatives there.. She was very nice and it was pretty cool to have such an unexpected connection with someone.. We exchanged our contact information to meet and talk more later as she was leaving my booth..

Later that evening, I found myself thinking; if she didn't see my ring and compliment on it, I would probably not tell her where I was from and we would not have that whole conversation. No wait (!) if I did not choose to wear that specific ring that day, the whole thing would not happen.. I can even forward time back more to the day I purchased the ring! It is like that movie 'The Butterfly Effect', whatever route you take in life will take you somewhere different that it would be if you've taken another route, no?

I'm not a strictly believer of destiny, as no matter what you do in life, something is written for you and that's what you will get at the end. I don't agree with that. I think we each have different destinies in our lives, and what we will get as a result of our actions depends on our decisions we take at the time. Like those questionnaires you see on the paper; every question has two options 'yes' and 'no' and your route will change depends on your answer, so you keep following the little arrows that will take you to the results.. Does it make sense?

Anyhow, the street fair was fun, I can't say it was a big success business-wise but hey I got to meet many cool people, actually became friends with them afterward, and had a great time with my booth buddies! And ohh, I and my buddies also managed to do some awesome trades, so I have 2 new amazingly beautiful necklaces that I adore!

By the way, I'm aware my Etsy shop looks pretty sad right now with only one item, but I have been on 'oh boy!' creative roller coaster ride, preparing some very intersting pieces with my new unique tecnique which I believe you will love too! I'll be photographing them these days, and list them in my shop, so get ready to be amazed and not being able to stop yourself but shop shop shop! OK, enough of the bragging.. Bye now! ;)

Hugs,
Derya

Sweet Melissa, I'm looking forward to do many more shows with her! Check out her unique jewelry designs click here !

My other gorgeous booth buddy Elsie is wearing my design that I traded for.. Check out her etsy shop click here !

Sometimes you do something without realizing...

I'll be at the Orange Street Fair this weekend!

So I've been getting ready for the show, creating new babies.. I just wanted to do a quick post with a little sneak peek to my newly pretties! These will be in my online shop very soon!

If you are close by, and can't wait for me to list those to my shop; please come and visit me this weekend in Downtown Orange at the Street Fair!

I will be there from 5pm to 10pm on Friday, 10am to 10pm on Saturday, and same on Sunday!
I don't know where my booth is gonna be, but look for 3 fabulous jewelry designers under 1 tent, OK? ;) I guarantee you it'll be worth it!

Muah,
Derya

I'll be at the Orange Street Fair this weekend!

Don't miss this sale!

Did you know there has been a great sale going on in my shop? Yep, some of my really cool customers have been taking advantage of it too! Don't worry, there are still many unique and fabulous designs are left waiting for you to take a look!

Buy one get the second for half off! The details are at my shop announcement, go and check it out!

Below are some of the sold items during my sale! (if you see anything you love and want me to re-create for you, please don't hesitate to contact me!)

Don't miss this sale!

My Mini Treasury

While drinking my warm mint tea, I'm going through my latest pretty and cool finds in Etsy, so I decided to make a little treasury for you, yes only for my blog here at this very moment.. Enjoy!

Here it goes;



The first time I took a look into TreeandKimball shop, the overall ambiance reminded me one of my favorite shops Anthropologie. And reading their profile confirmed that they were actually designing for Anthropologie! I especially love their collection of hair bands with lovely vintage embellishments in pastel tones, and couldn't pass the gorgeous vintage shoes for $26. (Any way to grow my feet about 2 size larger?)

These cool little inspirational vintage bottles are from AlphabetCocktail , which I discovered through 'pounce undiscovered'. Each one is priced around $18.






Breagha is a 'fairly new to Etsy' shop from Scotland. First the 'Pink Heart' clutch caught my eyes, then I had to take a look at the whole shop. I love their feminine details with a definite flirty flair and warm & cozy feel that comes across the screen!




I love it when I see jewelry designs with a new technique or materials, and that's how I felt when I find these 'ear pillows' from waywardradish . They are tiny puffy pillows, intricately hand embroidered onto silk , and turned into earrings. How cool!


Hope you enjoyed taking a little peek at my new favorites on Etsy!

See you soon,

Derya

My Mini Treasury

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...

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..

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!