Share the Love Wednesdays: Little Gems by Luisa

This weeks interview was with Luisa Perez from Little Gems by Luisa!  Luisa was kind enough to send me some behind the scenes pictures of her works in progress and workspace. 

Q. Tell us a little bit about yourself.

Hi! My name is Luisa. I have been designing jewelry for over ten years now. I am mostly self taught and design by intuition. I have a lovely young family that keeps me busy and young.  I have an interesting assortment of beads.

 Q. Tell us more about your shop and the kinds of things that you sell?

Most of the designs are all one of a kind and colourful. I love colour and texture and that is something that is present in most of my pieces if not all. It's very difficult for me to stick to one bead, pearl or shell!

My shop carries a multitude of designs of necklaces and bracelets. I also make earrings and brooches. Most necklaces and all bracelets can be altered to fit your wrist or to the length of your neck that you like at an additional cost.

I just started working with leather too and am trying to find different ways to incorporate it with my current inventory. 

  Q. What is your inspiration?

Generally colour and mother nature inspire me. There are incredible amounts of colour combination and if you add texture, the combinations are endless. I also get inspired by fashion, greeting cards, art, past fashion trends and other cultures.

Q. What made you first start selling on Etsy?

I had been encouraged years ago to start selling on Etsy and the reality was that I didn't really think about it until now. Etsy enables me to have a creative outlet, be in contact with other talented artisans and learn about business.

Q. What was the first thing that you sold?

My first sale was to my sister. She purchased a long necklace for her best friend :) But my 'real sale' was a blue brooch to a lovely person in The UK. The colours were pretty intense and it was fun to put the pieces together. She was very pleased with her purchase.

Q. You have some amazing jewelry pieces! Which one is your favourite to create?

That's a tough question. I love doing the wire wrapped jewelry with chain link, but I also enjoy the crochet necklaces because the end result is always a surprise.

Q. Do you have a favourite time of day that you prefer to do your creative work?

I love working with natural light, so anytime after breakfast is ideal for me. I prefer sunny days like most people and only because we had a long Winter and a very cold and wet Spring.

Q. Where else can people find you? i.e. facebook, twitter, pinterest etc.

If it is there you will find me!

Facebook: www.facebook.com/LittleGemsByLuisa?ref=hl
Twitter: twitter.com/gems_little
Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/littlegemsl/
Wanelo: wanelo.com/littlegemsbyluisa
Google+: https://plus.google.com/u/0/107055601646014545909/about
 Fancy: fancy.com/littlegemsbyluisa
Weheartit: weheartit.com/littlegemsbyluisa
Tumblr: www.tumblr.com/blog/littlegemsbyluisa

Q. Is there anything else that you want people to know about you or your shop?

I do a lot of custom design for individuals who have an idea in mind or are looking for a special piece for their wedding day. I work in person or via email. I am also selling in some shops in the city now and will be starting some markets this Summer.

Thank you Luisa for your wonderful behind the scenes photographs and for doing this interview!  I had a great time.

The Making Of.... Crochet Baby Blanket

A behind the scenes look at how this baby blanket was made!

Maybe you've seen my Instagram posts and wondered more about the process of making it.  Or you've been following my Facebook page.  Or maybe you've seen it for sale on my Etsy page.  It doesn't really matter how you've gotten here, but I hope you will stay and learn a little bit more.

The blanket is made up of a whole bunch of different crocheted motifs and attached together using different methods.  For some of the blocks I used single crochet to join and others I used join as you go techniques and still others were alternating joins.  It was actually a lot of fun to try out different joins to see which ones I liked best.  (By the way, the continuous final round join as you go technique won HANDS DOWN).

It was made from Knitca Wavy 100% cotton yarn.  I love the bright and cheerful colourways.  I used white, light blue, light yellow and lime green in this blanket.  (I will be soon adding Knitca yarns to my Etsy shop so watch out for those changes coming soon).

This is a picture of me getting ready to start one of the join as you go techniques.  You can see the completed block on the left and then the partially completed blocks on the right.  The idea is that you join the partially competed ones at the same time as doing the final round for that block.  It really is a lot of fun.

Once all of the joins were completed for the different sections then I had to attach all of the sections together and do the border around the whole blanket. 

I think it turned out beautifully and I hope that you enjoyed this blog post on the making of!

Making some Changes

As you can probably tell I've been making lots of changes to the website over the last week.  I've added a "Contact Me" page as well as a page listing some of the services that I offer.  These services include learning to knit, learning to crochet, finishing details, and commissions.  In addition, I've added my Etsy shop information to the side bar.  These changes are just the start of things to come!