Inspired: Nature

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I drawn almost all of my inspiration from nature. I keep collections of twigs, leaves, feathers, stones, rocks, sticks, coral, shells, wood, bark, bones, pinecones, fossils, and a ton more.While collecting, I've been envisioning wonderful ways to incorporate them into my creations and other crafts.
I'm in the midst of developing my Spring & Summer Collection, so I'm totally immersed in nature and the elements. Between building larger collections, looking at lovely photos like these, and making nature-based color palettes, I'm dying to go explore a new beach or forest!

peace&love,

kaylee

Hello 2012: A Shop Update

To celebrate the new year, I decided to put together a little shop update! This update consists of two small collections of jewellery that I'm extremely proud of. With the start of this new year, I started to look more closely at my shop and this blog, to see what I could improve upon. Well, after a few brainstorming sessions, I've begun making some small changes here and there. I'd love to share my new creations and the changes that are happening in my shop.



All of these lovely handmade goods were created December 2011 through January 2012, and are now available for purchase in the Birch & Bees Shop. I hope you enjoy!

Wirework Earrings & Pendants

((Top Line, Left to Right) Embraced // Blue Lotus // Beached // Gold Swirl // In The Woods)

These wire-work jewelry pieces are the result of a late-night studio session. I loved the process of creating these pieces that I made the entire collection in one sitting. These beauties are something I'm incredibly proud of. I actually spent time in Daniel's Metals Studio, learning about making wire and changing it's thickness/gauge. I adore working with wire, particularly wrapping/trapping shells and things. I can't wait to experiment more with wire-working in the future!

Miniature Dream-Catcher Pendants

((Top Line, Left to Right) Fledgling // Fawn // Cub)

My favorite products to make and sell are the dream-catcher pendants. I adore each and every one I create. The (almost) standard size for a regular pendant is around two inches (in diameter), but now I've added miniatures! These adorable catchers are one inch (in diameter), and are updated versions of the regular Dream-catchers, having painted feathers, microbeads, and some one-of-a-kind glass beads.

(Interesting Fact: My idea for the miniature Dream-Catchers is that they would be named after baby woodland creatures, hence the names: Fawn, Cub, and Fledgling. I thought it was quite clever and cute!)

(These are a few Instagrams of this collection coming together that I've shared over the past couple months.)

And finally, here are a few of the big things changing with my shop:

I'm improving my shop photography immensely by practicing taking pictures frequently, testing different lighting situations, and taking hundreds of photos during each photoshoot.

I'm actually planning look-book photoshoots, instead of haphazardly putting something together. This is a long, difficult process, but I think it's worth it in the end.

I'm changing my pricing structure a bit. (More about this later.)

I'm buying new supplies from local/online small businesses. This makes me feel a lot happier inside about what I'm creating and selling.

I'm creating an entirely new packaging system. With pretty boxes, papers, and decorations. The whole nine yards.

I have over a half dozen work tables. Making jewellery, designing ideas, sewing, pinning fabric, paper crafts. doing paper work (like budgeting), packaging products to send out, painting, photographing products and DIY's. I officially have a space for every task I need to do on any given day.

I'm dedicating 100% effort, focus, and motivation towards my shop. So much of my happiness comes from working on it. This year I want to bring it to the next level. (Very excited!)


I hope you like what you see! Its been fun to work on this little shop update. I put a ton of love into this small collection, I would love to hear what you think of it!

Birch & Bees Shop

peace&love,

kaylee

DIY Collection: #006

1. Birds on a Branch Necklace by Sincerely, Kinsey

2. Velvet Turban Wrap by A Beautiful Mess

3. Fancy Letters by Pie N' The Sky

4. Lace Heart Sweater by Sincerely, Kinsey

5. Beaded Bracelets by Honestly WTF

6. Ombre Infinity Scarf by A Bit Of Sunshine

7. Pretty Moccasins by Just Lovely Things

8. Fabric Tassle Garland by Delightfully Tacky

I've been filling up my 18 Projects book with all the fun things I want to make this year. I've realized that I have way more than 18 things to make! I have so many to pick from, it has actually become a challenge to narrow it down to my favorites. There are a couple DIYs in this collection (such as those pretty moccasins or the infinity scarf) that I'm thinking of adding to my list.

It's so nice to start fresh this year and see so many wonderful tutorials floating around. I just wish I had the time (and materials) to make them all!

Have you made any time to craft this month? What projects are you wanting to do?

peace & love,

kaylee

Dreaming & Crafting

This past week, I took a little hiatus from Blogland, spending most of my time crafting, taking some inspiring photographs, and dreaming up (even more) new ideas and plans. I've been enjoying steaming coffee each morning, long journaling sessions, and taking photographs of tiny details from my day. After taking my little break, I'm full of ideas, inspiration, and motivation. I'm incredibly excited to get back to my studio!

Anyways, here are some snapshots from my week off. (You can follow me on Instagram @kayleebee!)

(from top to bottom, left to right)

A beautiful pink Hibiscus flower, A close-up of my sewing table

I made an incredible fringe bag for the shop (I want to keep it!), Spending time outside with nature

I miss seeing cactus everywhere I go, My tie-dye shirt & headband

A small collection of things I found outside, A close-up of my 2012 art journal

My dream-catcher/feath hair-pieces hanging in my studio, and my Octopus Sculpture

I've also got a nice collection of lovely goodies to add to the shop for the Hello 2012 update. I wanted to have the update completed by now, but I'm devising some new photography ideas for my shop products, and I want to practice my skills a bit more before I share. This update is going to be rather small, because I'm putting most of my effort into getting the Spring/Summer line ready.

I found some lovely pure cotton fabric, and it caused me to get incredibly excited about the upcoming collections. The Spring/Summer line has so much of my heart in it, I can't wait to see it come to life!

peace & love

kaylee

Inspired: Outer Space

Source: Elizabeth Gadd on Flickr Source: This Is Epic (Renee Boyce) on Flickr Source: Eric Yerke on Flickr (no source, possibly NASA) Source: SgtSalt (Petter Almgren)

I find "Outer Space" to be absolutely amazing and enchanting. The Universe is just so incredibly vast, it's impossible to really imagine how large it is. A few months ago, I wrote about Carl Sagan and The Pale Blue Dot. (If you haven't read about this before, I recommend watching this video. It's beautiful.) 

Where I live, it is dark enough that you can still see a lot of stars in the sky at night. My favorite nightly activity is to walk the dogs and look at the moon and stars. I always try to locate Orion, The Dippers, and The Pleiades, as those are the only constellations I can recognize! In my life, I've seen Lunar and Solar eclipses, Mars, Mercury, Venus, Saturn, and two shooting stars. I have always wanted to witness a meteor shower. I hope I get to do that someday.

 Do you enjoy looking at the stars? Can you recognize any constellations in the night sky?

peace & love,

kaylee

My Photo 365 (In Instagrams)

I started my Project 365 on September 18th, 2011, 13 days after my birthday. I decided to take my photos with Instagram, and keep them in a photo/calendar app. This method works beautifully for me, I haven't missed a day yet! So far, I have taken 118 out of 365 photos. It's been going really well!

I was not very proud of my photo project, considering I'm not using a "real" camera. I don't have to put my photos on the computer, resize them, edit them, and upload them somewhere each day. I made the project so much easier by taking all the photos with Instagram, it almost feels like cheating. Regardless, I think a lot of my photos turn out beautifully, so I'm sticking with the project until the end. (Perhaps in 2013, I'll switch to using a real camera.)

(from top to bottom, left to right)

A vintage key Daniel got for me in Italy, Pretty Christmas lights around Escazu

An amazing sunny day, My face

Pretty pinecone, Samson being adorable
Making a drawing on New Year's Eve, Patterns & colors
Collecting Pinecones, Finding pretty feathers
Making lovely things for the shop, Project #1/18 is complete!
A lovely little rainbow, Making something special

When my project is complete, I plan to upload all of my photos to my Flickr, or something similar, so that people can view them online. I also want to make a coffee table book with my 365 photos. The other idea I had was to use my photos to make the Instagram wall that I have been coveting for a long time. But, I don't think I have a wall space large enough to fit 365 photos comfortably. Our walls are pretty full with paintings!

Have you ever tried to take a photo every day?

peace & love, 

kaylee

She Is Clothed

My first project of 2012 is complete! I'm extremely happy to be already crossing things off my project list!
 Originally, I wanted to make this project into a DIY. But it was just too easy, I didn't feel right about calling it a tutorial. The most difficult part is putting in the time, effort, and total focus that is required to make the text look somewhat even and proportional.
 

The original inspiration for this project came from seeing Elise's Script Painting Project. When I looked at her project, I fell in love with the idea of painting the letters in cursive, as it seemed like a fun challenge.

But, after I started my project, I decided that legibility was important for this quote. I've decided that I want to make a couple other typography/script style artworks for my home, and I'm definitely doing one in cursive.
 

This project was really simple, fun, and and I love the finished product. I'm still re-arranging the display and trying to find the right home for my new painting. Now, I'm trying to decide which project to tackle next!

peace & love, 

kaylee

Beached

(Beached Necklaces, December 2011, Costa Rican Beach Shells, Hemp String, Satin Cord, Copper Clasps)

I put together a pretty awesome collection of "themed" presents to give to my family and Daniel's family this year. Now that Christmas is over with, I can share what I made!

Daniel and I occasionally take trips out to the beaches, our favorite activity is to comb the beaches for pretty shells, fossils, rocks, and other natural objects. On our most recent trip to a beach in Costa Rica included a haul of hundreds of shells. (A few of the shells above are ones I found on that trip.) We have a giant collection of shells now, and it's troublesome to find purposes for all of them now.

Unfortunately, I didn't take very good pictures of these pieces. But, here are a couple shots that turned out alright.

Well, after playing around with wire-wrapping techniques and some pretty shells, I discovered that I'm pretty good at wire-wrapping and  I actually really enjoy it! I decided to use these necklaces as a starting point to make some beautiful seashell jewelry with the shells I find in Costa Rica. 

I'm hoping to have an edition of these to add to my Spring/Summer collection. I'm only going to produce a small number of these necklaces, to see if I should make them a more permanent item in the Birch & Bees Shop.

I must say, these necklaces were a big hit! I think everyone really liked their seashell necklaces. I'm really excited to start digging through my seashell collections and see what other beauties are waiting to be used!

peace & love,

kaylee