The Blue Daisy & Co.

Everything is mostly in its place...just need to add the jewelry tomorrow.

I ended up doing some last minute rearranging when I found out one of my next door neighbors moved basically giving me a corner booth.

While these look fairly simple, there were approximately 15 different steps and probably just as many tools to get them to a finished pair of earrings. They are truly one-of-a-kind as Fossilized Coral is millions of years old.

I'll be bringing some new pieces that could be the perfect addition to your jewelry collection.

My booth is directly across from the food trucks so come do a little early Christmas shopping and then grab a bite to eat...it's looking to be a beautiful weekend!

Just the look of silent judgement I get from Harper when I've been sitting on the couch scrolling Instagram instead of being up in my studio making jewelry. Does anyone else have this problem?

A few booth pics from the last Saturday. I brought some of my tools and work-in-progress pieces since this was also an educational experience for the students at my school to see what it was like to run a business.

Being I'm still new to the whole festival/show side of my business, it was a great opportunity for me to practice set-up and tear down entirely on my own.

Several of the pieces that my students helped me out with found new homes so I'm excited to be able to donate the proceeds of those sales back to the Entrepreneur program.

Just some new cuff bracelets ready to be formed. My students helped me with adding texture to the metal during Career Day. I'll have these plus a bunch of other pieces at the at the end of April. Some of the students in our Young Entrepreneur program will have booths selling their products along with a few other local businesses.

I took off my Music Teacher hat today and put my Metalsmith/Jewelry Maker hat on to share my other passion with my students today at my school's Career Day. I brought a few of my tools and some of my jewelry so they could see what I start with and how it ends up. I even had the classes that got to stop by my table to help texture some brass, copper, and silver which I'm going to turn into some necklaces, earrings, bracelets, and rings to sell at our upcoming Blooming Business Festival/Entrepreneur Fair at the end of April. Some of our 4th and 5th graders have been working on their own businesses and will be selling there as well. All the profits from the jewelry my students helped me make will go back to the school to help fund our young Entrepreneur program.

Follow for more information on the program and the Festival!

I'm so excited (and a little nervous) to be part of the Brookhaven Cherry Blossom Festival this year. It's 13 days and counting! 🤸🏼‍♀️

Some of you may remember that last year my tent got totally destroyed by some unavoidable straight line winds at a different festival and most of my display was soaking wet so I packed up, came home, and took it as a sign to slow down and regroup (and not do that festival again). I didn't do any other festivals or shows in 2023 as some life events outside of my jewelry making took all my time and energy. In the past few months I've been able to slowly ramp up my studio time and added a few new tools that have been on my wish list for awhile.

So that being said, I have been working my tushie off getting ready for Brookhaven. New tent, some tweaks to my set-up, and lots of new never before seen jewelry! My booth is right across from the Tennis Center building (2nd pic). If you're in the Atlanta area it looks to be a fantastic festival line up this year as far as entertainment (Lisa Loeb/Crash Test Dummies/Barenaked Ladies/+Live+/Sister Hazel to name a few) and🤞🏼that we have a gorgeous sunny weekend!

Are you team "Mixed Metal" or "All Silver/All Gold"?

As you can see, I'm definitely a Mixed Metal Girl. While I tend to lean towards Silver and Gold (the thick cuff is one of the new brass cuffs I'll have at the ) I do occasionally wear copper as well depending on my outfit for the day and what "look" I'm going for.

I like using all 3 metals in my jewelry, sometimes combining them on the same piece for a little variety.

Let me know below what's your favorite!

How did I spend the last day of 2023 you ask? I sat on the sofa in my pj's with my dogs finally figuring out a system to make my website updates more efficient. Yes I'm an introverted geek. 🤓
It's something I've struggled with since I started this whole jewelry making gig (not the introverted week part but the system part 😁)
It seems like it should be an easy thing to do but over the years I found that my ADHD brain likes "systems" and I never really had one that helped me easily get from the fun part of creating and making to the more task oriented part of listing an item. Photos, descriptions, costs vs. price, SKU's to keep track of everything. That's the boring part of being a small business owner.
And while I have my own website I also wanted to experiment with listing on Instagram as well. Unfortunately it's not quite as user-friendly to set up or navigate as my site (it's up in my profile) but I'm trying to see it as another way to get my work out there.

These were some of the earrings I made over Winter Break and I've got several more I need to photograph, etc. The plan is to work on that the rest of today and tomorrow. 🤞 Hopefully my new "system" will help me get things from my bench to my shop faster!

I hope you and yours have exactly the kind of New Year's you need! ❤️

One of the cool things about being a metalsmith is you can design and make your own Christmas ornaments whenever you want! These were the last 3 years...this year's ornaments haven't been gifted yet so you'll have to wait until next week. 😎

Took a little break from all my running around today to mess with the new photo editing app I recently got. BTW, I don't recommend running errands in the middle of the day on the Friday before Christmas. 🤪

Anywho, I'm a perfectionist when it comes to certain things and photography is one of them. It's to my detriment as I often won't post pics of my finished work unless it looks "just right." But then nobody sees it so that's why I got this app in the hopes that the magic of AI will help my jewelry pics look closer to the way I want to present them.

I am still playing around with capturing the true look of the metal (the brass in these pics isn't really popping the way it does IRL) but for now they're good enough.

I'd love it if you'd tell me in the comments which is your favorite. ❤️

As I get back into the swing of things in my studio, I'm discovering unfinished projects and other fun things I had forgotten about.

I had textured some scrap brass and copper sheet back in 2019 when I was taking one of my last classes and knew I wouldn't have access to a rolling mill for quite some time. It got tucked away in the back of a drawer as I never quite knew what I wanted to use it for until today.

I just love how these came out!

I have a few more patterns to play around with until I get my own rolling mill which should be very soon!!! 🙌

I have nothing to share other than I made these and I ❤️ them and thought you should know! 😁

: FRIDAY FOTO CHALLENGE :

Well the last Friday Foto Challenge ended in a tie between the Beach pic 🌊 and Driftwood pic. 🪵(results in my stories)

I posted both of those again to go up against the Autumn Leaves pic. 🍁 Scroll thru if you didn't get a chance to see the others.

Tell me in the comments which one is your favorite! ❤️

: HAPPY THURSDAY :

I'm sharing this again from last year because not everyone might be having the picture perfect holiday.

I'm thankful for all of my blessings including those of you that support me in any way, shape, or form. ❤️

Reposted from
An updated version of an old favorite! No matter how you’re choosing to spend your day, I hope your Thursday is a happy one. 🧡: REPOST :

: How to Show Some Love :

Don't wait until Small Business Saturday to show you favorite small businesses some love. Even if you can't support them through a purchase you can help them by doing the following:

1. If you see something you like or really want but aren't in the position to buy it just yet, SAVE IT!

2. Share their content with your friends and followers by adding them to your stories and/or DM'ing them.

3. Drop a comment even if it's something simple, it will help to make sure you keep seeing their content.

4. Engage with them on their Social Media Platforms by liking their posts.

And if they're somebody new you happened upon and you like their content, please hit that blue FOLLOW button!

     

: Meet the Maker :

Hey y'all! 🙋🏼‍♀️It's been awhile since I introduced myself so if you're new, welcome! I'm Erin, the CEO, CFO, marketing director, shipping coordinator, designer, and web master, of this little company...oh, I make the jewelry too.

I figured I start with the obligatory bench shot for Festival applications as I usually forget to take pics of me doing what I do. I prefer to be behind the camera instead of in front of it so maybe it's slightly intentional that I don't have many pics of me. But that's me sawing out some earrings that are STILL sitting on my bench. I never got past the sawing out stage. 🙄

Pics 2 and 3 are the first stone I set a few years ago and then one of my most recent stone settings - what a difference lots of practice can make! Thank you for teaching me so much and for being an awesome place to take classes. If you're in the Atlanta area, I highly recommend signing up for a class!

Pics 4 and 5 are from Career Day at the Elementary school my day job is at. I've been the Music Teacher there going on 18 years now and our Counselor does an awesome job getting a wide variety of presenters. This was my second year presenting and was loads of fun as my Kindergarteners, 1st graders, and Special Ed kiddos helped me texture some metal for some jewelry I presented to our Admin team.

Let me know in the comments what else you'd like to know about me or The Blue Daisy & Co. in my next Meet the Maker post.

Long time, no post...

Life outside of The Blue Daisy & Co. has kept me from doing anything in my studio since April. 😥 Now that things are settling down I have some time to get back in here to clean up, reorganize and move some things for a better work flow and new piece of equipment or two. 🤞

Any guesses as to what they might be? 🤔

Before I became a metalsmith I was a "beader." I still LOVE beads and have to really control my impulse to buy "ALL THE BEADS" when I go to a bead show or see pretty strands on the web.

Lately, in between my bigger, more intricate and time consuming pieces with stones to be set, I've been having fun playing around with left over metal bits and beads.

I don't even remember when I made these but apparently forgot to share them so here are a few that I managed to snap pics of.

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Finishing up the last few pairs of the new "Luna Collection".

Some of the kiddos at the school I teach at helped me with texturing the metal during Career Day. I made 19 pairs of earrings out of the Brass sheet they beat the heck out of. 🔨

Six pairs will be presented as gifts from our Special Ed and K/1 classes to the Admin. Team, Counselor (she coordinates Career Day), and our Parent Coordinator. The remaining will be sold with 100% of the profits going back to my school.

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: TRUTH :

Do you ever wish you could clone yourself so everything that needs to get done could be done by the clones and the real you could just nap in a hammock on a beach somewhere??? 🌴🏖️

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Here are a few others that will be heading to the website.

Check out my reels to see what else has been added. You never know these days what the almighty algorithm is going to share with you! 🙄

Click on link in bio for website. 💻

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Feeling defeated today...

What was supposed to be a nice weekend at the Cherry Blossom Festival in Conyers had me picking up my broken tent and packing up my soaked display in the pouring rain and lightning this morning. I actually fared better than some vendors but it still stings. Unfortunately it's the chance you take when doing outdoor shows. I keep telling myself it could have been worse as this was the line of storms that roared thru Mississippi with tornadoes. The only thing that kept my tent from being blown down the hill behind me into the parking lot was the electricity hookup pole. I had close to 120 pounds on the tent... apparently that wasn't enough for the winds that roared thru. 😩

Fortunately I can buy replacement parts for my tent and all but 2 of my display items survived the deluge of rain and dried fully without issue.

In the meantime I'm gonna be over here trying to make lemonade out of the bowl of lemons I got handed. Guess this means I need to focus on my website for awhile.