Tiara King's Blog: Jewel Divas Style, page 64

BUSINESS STYLE: How I Made My Jewel Divas Collections Folder

This is the third post in the blog planner series that started with how I make tabbed inserts for my folder files. The second was how I made my Jewel Divas Business Folder and this is about how I made my Jewel D ivas Collections Folder.

With any designer we need to keep a record of pieces we make and for me, where I bought all the findings and how much it all cost. For some, a Look Book is made, for me, can’t afford that and there’s nowhere to get one made so I made a simple folder with simple pages that I lined up each photo on and wrote out all of the details.

As usual, I bought a pink J Burrows 3D ring insert folder from Officeworks for $5.99 and filled it with 300 plastic insert sheets from Kmart for $4. The Manilla folders were .72 cents but were less when you buy 10 or more.

I added a printout of my old website for the insert cover and cut down a piece of blue scrapbooking paper to fit as a background.

I chose the coloured manilla folders I wanted for tabbed inserts and made them to fit. Details on how I did that here. I chose the names for my inserts and started filling the folder, starting with IDEAS. This is where I write down lists of names for pieces, sketches etc.

Next is WEBSTORES. This will be details and info on the stores I sell through or on.

Next up I wrote down all the jewellery I had made and the years I’d made them, then collated them all into their years so I could find them easily. I also printed out pics of each collection/collections for the cover page for each year so they are easier to identify.

As you can see from 2009 and 2014 I made a few collections/pieces those years, so each collection has its own insert picture page to separate each collection from that year.

I will have to overhaul this folder as well over Christmas as I’ve been lacking in getting the pics done and info sorted. So that will be a job over the holidays.

Also, as you can see, I haven’t made any jewellery for sale since 2014. I’m not sure when I’ll be making jewellery next as my books have taken all of my time. From writing and releasing my How To Be A Jewel Diva book in 2014 to my Closet Confidential book in 2015, my books have taken over my creative time.

I’ve also taken to writing young adult and children’s stories under a pen name, and now have ideas about a series of jewellery mystery stories, so when or if I get back to making and selling jewellery is up in the air.

For all of the jewellery designers out there, have you thought of making a collections folder as a way of keeping your records neat and tidy?

HEALTH & BEAUTY STYLE: I’m lacking good old Vitamin D!

A few weeks back I had a blood test to see whether everything was all right. And for those on benefits, you need your blood test before you can have your care plan with your nurse at your local medical centre.

Normally everything’s fine. She tells me my cholesterol is a bit high at 6 but it’s been that way forever. This year, it was down to 5.2, meh, so what. What she told me next was a bit weird.

My vitamin D level was down to 28!

Apparently it’s supposed to be 50, and if it had of been 48 or 49 she would have told me to go out in the sun, but because it was so low I needed tablets. 

Blimey, I’m only 41 but clearly getting old if I need to take tablets.

Have you guys had your bloods checked and have you been told the same thing?

MY STYLE: Purple Swirls, Silver Metallic and Floral Sparkle

OUTFIT #1

TOP: Millers, $10 on sale, from 2014
SHOES: Rivers, $29.95, from a few years ago
JEWELLERY: Jewel Divas skull bracelet stack, Lovisa earrings and ring

OUTFIT #2

TOP: Valley Girl, $10 on sale, from 2013
SHOES: Rivers, same as first set.
JEWELLERY: Lovisa earrings and bracelet stack, eBay art deco cameo rings (black and white)

OUTFIT #3

TOP: bought from op shop, $1.25 (yep, I said $1.25), in 2013, originally from store Noni B
KIMONO: Kmart, $8 on sale, from 2013
JEWELLERY: Jewel Divas Fly Away bracelet stack, Lovisa rings and earrings, Colette necklace

DESIGNER INSPIRED: Marrakesh necklace and earring set

Recently I discovered an online jewellery store I hadn’t really heard of before. I’d seen the odd piece of jewellery in a magazine but it never occurred to me to check it out. Last month I purchased a necklace off eBay which came from this store, and after seeing a particular design in another magazine that they sell I headed on over to check them out and ended up buying five pieces of jewellery. Three were the Marrakesh range.

Now the designer inspired part comes from the fact the design is similar to what an Aussie designer put out a few years back, and since I liked hers but couldn’t afford them, I jumped at the chance to get these and make them my own.

Here’s what I did with them.

After inspecting the necklace I found an issue with two pieces and removed them. As you can see from the pic on the right there were holes in one of the pendants. No biggie, a few twists of the pliers and they came off.

Then I took one pair of earrings and pulled off the ear stud and filed it down. I glued silver bails on the back and left them for 24 hours to dry. I turned one into a pendant, and one into a bracelet stack charm, which I made.

The set below contains two rings (in the middle) that I bought. The ring on the left is from Colette and had been bought months ago. The ring on the right is from the designer who bought out the design years ago. It was cheap at $45 off eBay.

Below is the other designer label so you can see the similarities.  I do love finding similar pieces at remarkably cheaper prices and then crafting them into my own.

BUSINESS STYLE: How I Made My Jewel Divas Business File Folder

Last week I showed you how I made tabbed inserts for my folder files, and this week continues with the folders I made over with the new inserts.

This week it’s my Jewel Divas Business Folder. The folder had been in disarray and still is, so it will be getting  much needed overhaul over my summer holiday, but at least I tidied it up by making my tabbed inserts and putting what I did have under labels. It’s much neater and can now be added to.

As with the Style File last week, I once again bought a J Burrows insert cover folder in pink from Officeworks. It holds 300 plastic sheets, again, from Kmart (100 for $4) and I used a print out of my old website for the cover. I also add a piece of blue paper from my scrapbooking days and just cut it down to fit.

I whipped up a simple inside insert to show it was the business folder, and laid out my tabbed inserts and labelled them. I printed out insert pages to show what each section was for. I went with the labels of Social Media, which will contain all the social media sites and pages the business is over and any information about those sites.

I added a tab for Madeit next. this is where I ended up setting up shop after closing down my website a few years back. This will contain any info on Madeit and how it works.

Next tab is Articles. This is for any articles on business in general, running, working, inner dealings etc. And the Business tab runs on from that with any info about setting up and running. A how to guide essentially.

After that are tabs for Legals and Selling, and one free for whatever else pops up.

When running a business you end up reading all sorts of legal documents and websites with so much info you don’t know where to get it or where to put it. I made up the tabs as a guide to get me started and sorting it out, and hopefully over Dec/Nov I’ll be getting to it.

Have you guys made up folder files for your businesses and how did you do it?

MY STYLE: Turquoise Pegasus on Silver Metallic stripes

OUTFIT #1
JUMPER: Ed Harry, $20, from 2009
SUNGLASSES: eBay, $2.

 

OUTFIT #2

TOP: Kmart, $15, from 2014
JACKET: Op Shop, $6, from the 90s
JEWELLERY: Jewel Divas necklace and bracelet stack (right hand), Lovisa earrings, bracelets and rings except for the small sterling silver on right hand.

 

ACCESSORY STYLE: Matching your jewels to your kaftans

I have so much jewellery it’s ridiculous, but the good thing about having so much is that when you buy clothes you will more than likely already have jewellery that matches it. If not, as a jewellery designer I’m in the position to make it. If not, I try and get it from ebay already done or buy beads and charms and make it.

When I started buying kaftans earlier this year I found I was buying tropical prints. Easy enough to match bright coloured jewels to. B ut I found that after buying parrot and tropical print kaftans I wanted a jewellery set to match, so I started with the jewels I already had.

I already had this neon bead set with the parrot necklace I had already made. Then there was the wing bracelet stack that I made, and the parrot stack I bought from Lovisa a few years back.

I took the two stacks and removed a few bracelets from each, and then added to the parrot set on the right. I added the two neon bracelets and the pearl, to which I added the parrot earring I had.

I then found and bought parrot earrings and a ring on eBay, and as you can see by my hand pic below, the ring is large. Thank God for the elasticised band.

As I thought about how many kaftans I could match to this set, it became apparent that I’d be able to match a few. The two parrots, long and short in different hues, the tropical print kaftan bottom left with it’s tropical tree and feather print. The shorter kaftan and the drawstring dress, both with leaf and feather style looks in their prints.

While I don’t specifically set out to buy clothes that match my jewels, tropical print is something I love and high on my list of prints to buy. I will always be able to match jewels to any kind or tropical print, regardless of what colour it is and I just happen to have already had three pieces to start off my parrot set with.

I also buy clothes that I love. And if I don’t have jewellery to match to it, then I will either track down jewellery to match, or track down charms and beads to make it so I have something different over everyone else.

For those who are jewellery designers, do you buy clothes to match jewels you’ve made, or do you only realise once you’ve gotten home that you have jewels that match your clothes?

BUSINESS STYLE: How I made Tabbed Inserts for my Folder Files

I know there’s been many blog posts about tabbed inserts and how many companies don’t seem to make them in different styles, or even big enough size wise, so after much looking I decided to make my own.

This is not new to me, I’ve made a bunch of stuff over the years and have made tabbed inserts before, but they were on the fly and not very good. Hence, a blog post on how I made them.

I have a bunch of folders for different things that I’m doing, one is my style file. It’s a folder where I keep a bunch of magazine pages of funky looking shoes, bags, clothes and jewels as not only inspiration for making and styling, but in case I can track them down.

I have recently found a tonne of rainbow coloured J Burrows insert binders from my local Officeworks store. I don’t think anyone had ever done them in 3D ring 300 page size before as I have been buying binders for decades and never found the cover insert ones in colours. So more to come in the future weeks about other folders I’ve been making. I also bought a mega load of plastic insert sheets from Kmart. At 100 for $4 it’s relatively cheap and you can be guaranteed that they will all be the same size as insert pages are all made differently and I had that issue in several folders but have fixed it with the Kmart inserts.

For my Style File I simply used a magazine page for the cover insert. For the inserts, I used a bunch of coloured manilla folders. At .72 cents each, also from Officeworks, they’re cheaper if you buy more than ten, and they come in great colours that I love and use. I bought two of each.

I measured the width of my plastic sleeve inserts and they came to 21.8 cms. I then measured from the edge of the manilla folder and marked it at 21.8cm. I did that top and bottom and ruled a line down the side. You can get two out of one folder so be careful how you cut. I did it on the back and front of the folder to get two single inserts.

Next I slipped each piece into a plastic insert page to see if it fit well. They did.

When it did, I made a pencil line across the top where the plastic page ended and decided on how many tabbed inserts I was going to need. I decided which colour order they would go in and divided that number by how many cms I could make the tab, after dividing it into 21.8cm of course, and I made each tab 1 cm high as seen below with my pencil marks. I carefully cut off the cardboard I didn’t need and was left with my tabs, as shown on the pink one below.

After deciding which section would come first in the folder, I used a Sharpie to write them out. This is what I ended up with.

Fill up your pages and your folder. You can do this for many more folders and I have a bunch of them which I’ll show you in the coming weeks, including an internet/blogging planner I started after seeing them online. I figured I needed one with the amount of stuff I do on the web.

If you love making things this is an awesome and cheap project. The folder cost $5.99, the manilla folders were $6.88 after the 10% was taken off for buying more than ten. 300 insert sheets cost $4 from Kmart. All it takes is a bit of time and patience cutting them out.

MY STYLE: Multi Colour Cardi Wrap and Studs

OUTFIT
TOP: Millers, $5, from 2014
CARDI WRAP: eBay, $48.98, current, first time wear.
JEWELLERY: Jewel Divas elephant bracelet stack, Lovisa earrings and rings, eBay bangles and necklace

BOOK STYLE: How to Be A Jewel Diva and Closet Confidential now up for pre-sale on Amazon

How To Be A Jewel Diva: Tips And Tricks to Buying, Wearing and Caring for your Costume Jewellery and Closet Confidential: How to Audit Your Wardrobe and Update Your Style are now up for pre-sale on Amazon for you to order for your Kindle.

Jewel Diva debuted in May 2014 and Closet Confidential in July 2015 on my Madeit store. Now they’re on Amazon and both  released as of October 1st, joining my book, Carers Need Help And Support Too: One Woman’s Journey Through The Sacrifice of Caring, which is also in paperback.

Jewel Diva and Closet Confidential will not be released in paperback at this stage.

For the rest of the year the two books will be available in Kindle Select. Whilst in the program they cannot be for sale anywhere else, hence they will not available at Madeit until next year.