Cupcake Necklaces Have Raised over $500 to Support She's the First!

Purchase a STF Cupcake Necklace: 75% of proceeds
Go directly to She's the First!

Thanks to the generous and fabulous supporters of She's the First over the holiday season, I've actually surpassed the next few tiers of my goal to help raise $1,600 to this great organization with cupcake necklace sales with a whopping $500 donation that was made in 2012: and I can't thank all of my customers enough!

With Valentine's Day soon upon us, I thought this would be a great time to show how through a cute cupcake necklace purchase for your best friend or little sister, you can help support girls' education in the developing world during the season of love :)

If you look on the She's the First website, $500 is enough for an essential sponsorship for the Selamta Family Project in Bethel, Ethiopia.

Holiday Sales Raised over $500!

About the Selamta Family Project

“Selamta” means “be at peace.” in Ethiopian Amharic: the goal of this project is to help orphaned children regain the sense of peace they lost when they lost their family. The Selamta Family Project protects Ethiopian orphans, vulnerable children, and marginalized women by establishing permanent, stable family homes and providing access to continuous medical care, education, and social safety nets. Selamta works to maintain the cultural connections that sustain healthy families, neighborhoods, and communities - so that loving families may build strong citizens.

Selamta has several family homes located in Bethel, a suburb of Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia. To reduce the stigma that often plagues orphans, homes are dispersed throughout the neighborhood, allowing kids to be easily integrated in the larger community. Each family is organized around a permanent, stable Selamta-trained mother, who assume parental duties and provide respectful, loving care for her children. The Selamta staff support the mother in every way to ensure her successful parenting, and the staff is responsible for sustaining her healthy living arrangement.

All of the school-aged kids receive an amazing education at the Alpha Keranyo School, a private school located in the Bethel neighborhood. After-school tutors provide extra support to help children succeed. Despite the fact that many children could not attend formal school before joining the Selamta Family, many kids excel at the top of their class.

What Does This $500 Do?

There are several tiers for this sponsorship, ranging from $360 to $800. This $500 amount can cover the following:

STF Cupcake Necklace, $20

• Continuous education at a rigorous K-12 private school
• School supplies including uniform, backpack and notebooks
• After-school tutoring programs
• Sports and soccer registration fees
• Summer enrichment programs
• Small budget for birthday and holiday celebrations
• Small savings account each child

Interested in helping to sponsor a girl in the Selamta Family Project, or any other girl around the world? Here's how to help!

1. Give the Gift of Awareness for yourself or a friend for this Valentine's Day: 75% of these specially designed Ash Tree She's the First Cupcake Necklace go directly to She's the First
2. Explore the Directory on the STF website to read more about girls who need your help
3. Organize your own Bake Sale to sponsor a girls' education in your school with these great tips from She's The First.

Thanks again to all my customers for your support - I look forward to posting another fundraising update soon for 2013!

Cupcake Necklaces Reach First Goal to Support She's the First!

Cupcake Necklace Sales Have
Raised $300 Towards our goal!

We did it! Thanks to the generous and fabulous supporters of She's the First, I've reached the first tier of my goal to help raise $300 with cupcake necklace sales to reach my goal of donating $1,600 to this great organization.

With She's the First now going to be on NBC's American Giving Awards, I thought this would be a great time to spotlight some of the great work they are doing. STF are currently the running to win $1,000,000 - which comes down to Facebook voting. So if you have a moment, please vote for them to  help to unlock this tremendous donation to send girls to school and share before December 4, 2012.

Back to stunning little cupcake necklace sales: if you look on the She's the First website, $300 is enough for an all-inclusive yearly package for everything a girl needs to go to school in Kopila Valley in Surket, Nepal.

About Kopila Valley School

The girls who go to school here come from poor circumstances. The girls all come from poor or illiterate families, and fall into the “high risk” category of being married off to a man, work as domestic servants, have to work in hotels, or by dry riverbeds to earn a living for their family. These girls are the first of their generation to be educated and literate. Kopila Valley is a co-ed primary school that is a safe place for students to spend the day, receive an education in basic English, Nepali, Math, Science, Health, and Social Studies and have their basic needs met. School runs from Sunday-Friday, with Friday being a half day for extracurricular and fun activities, i.e. racing, sports matches, dance competitions, debate, art, and other activities.

What Does This $300 Do? 

This is enough to provide the following for one girl for a YEAR:

• School uniform: $28 (includes 1 skirt, 1 pair of pants, 2 school shirts, 1 sweater, 1 hat, belt, school tie, a pair of shoes, socks, and warm tights for winter)
• School bag, supplies, and set of the year’s text books: $22
• School lunches: $75  (this includes, rice, fresh vegetables, and lentil soup 5 days a week)
• Tuition: $120 (goes towards everything needed to keep the school functioning and sustaining itself, i.e. staff, teachers, and cook salaries, repairs, and construction, school materials, and classroom needs)
• Medical needs: $55 (i.e. vaccines, vitamins, sanitary napkins, medical emergencies, and dental care for the year)
                                     
Total: $300

Interested in helping to sponsor a girl Kopila Valley, or any other girl around the world? Here's how to help!

Puchase a STF Cupcake Necklace: 75% of proceeds
Go directly to She's the First!

• Give the Gift of Awareness for yourself or a friend: 75% of all specially designed Ash Tree She's the First Cupcake Necklace go directly to She's the First
• Explore the Directory on the STF website to read more about girls who need your help
• Organize your own Bake Sale to sponsor a girls' education in your school with these great tips from STF. 
• Vote for She's the First before Dec. 4th to win the American Giving Awards so they may receive their $1 million grant!

Sterling Silver LOVE Necklace

I saw something like this on Pinterest, and just had to try my own. The newest listing to my Ash Tree Designs Etsy shop is this gorgeous sterling silver "LOVE" pendant necklace - which is at a handmade, budget-friendly  price of $28.

Sterling Silver "Love" Necklace, $28

Perfect for the newly engaged bride or just because you want it, the necklace is strung on a 16" silver plate chain and is about 34mmx19mm in size. I love how elegant yet modern it looks, and think it would make a great gift this holiday season.

Always looking for symbolic jewelry, I definitely have a few more ideas up my sleeve for new products this holiday season. Stay tuned, or shoot me an email to get your own custom order today!

Beach Wedding Gift Ideas: Swarovski Crystal Flip Flop Necklaces

Swarovski Flip Flop Necklaces, contact me to order

This was such a fun commissioned project to work on! This woman came into the 6 In the Shipyard store earlier in the summer and noticed my latest antiqued silver flip flop necklaces embellished with real Swarovski crystals. She liked them so much that she commissioned three necklaces as gifts for her daughter's flower girls in her upcoming wedding.

The custom handmade necklaces were for her daughter's wedding colors were a beautiful lime green and deep purple colors. I was able to get the exact color match of the crystals, and they came out perfect! The three girls were a set of twins and a six-year old, so the twins received flip flops with a bright green center stone and purple bands, while the oldest received a deep purple center stone with the lime green bands.

If you are interested in commissioning some flip flop necklaces for a wedding or as a customized gift, contact me on how to get started!

Rhinestone Cupcake Necklaces

Rhinestone Cupcake Necklaces, $20

Introducing the newest line in Ash Tree Designs handmade jewelry, the Rhinestone Cupcake Necklace. These adorable little treats have been in process for several weeks now - from original conception inspiration from the She's The First cupcakes for education nonprofit that I read about on the train in the Metro to sketching out and ordering (and waiting impatiently) for supplies.

When I first started, I really wanted a bright statement piece of jewelry in cupcake form. I did some research online and did sketches and took notes, but nothing I found really had the "look" I was going for, and I was excited to create my own.

Once I had a sketch in mind, I searched my favorite Etsy sellers for some supplies, as I figured a mold would be the only way to go when crafting something this small and delicate: I was lucky enough to stumble across WhysperFairy, an adorable shop that features molds spanning from anything you could ever imagine. I found a cupcake top and bottom, convo'd her to see if they'd fit, and anxiously awaited them to arrive.

 Meanwhile, I made a trip to Dick Blick art stores to pick up the polymer clay that I needed and a sealing agent that I could use to coat the finished cupcakes and give them a glossy finish and shine. I also ordered my Swarovski crystals in various sizes and colors to embellish the white "frosting" with.

Pink Rhinestone Cupcake Necklace, $20

When my molds came from WhysperFairy ahead of schedule (thanks again to Julie for such great customer service!) I got to work molding and experimenting with how to go about doing the cupcakes and getting them to fit together. Using about a quarter of each color, I made up to 5 cupcake molds, inserted an eye hook, designed and placed in the Swarovski crystals in the appropriate places, and set them in the oven. Once baked, each cupcake got a few coats of a glossy finish to both seal the whole piece together and to give it a glossy shine.


Right now, I have about 20 finished cupcakes and awaiting the arrival of more Swarovski crystals so I can get more out to place on my online store and at my retail location in Hingham, 6 In the Shipyard. But the interest has really taken off, and I'm so pleased to see the results of my time and efforts to come across so beautifully in these statement pieces.

Buy these necklaces at Ash Tree Designs online store

The colors available now (pictured) are red, yellow, green, blue, purple and magenta. I may experiment with some lighter pastel colors, but really like the vibrancy of these for now. You can purchase them online at my Ash Tree Designs handmade jewelry shop, or contact me if you'd like a special order or your color is not in stock. Happy holiday shopping!

Sidewalk Sale: A Great Success!

I just wanted to thank all who came and checked out my work at the Sidewalk Sale last weekend. I hope that you all got something nice, for Mom or yourself!

It was a smashing success! I doubled (and then some) my profit from last year - which was amazing considering we had a freakin scary torrential downpour with scary thunder. Due to my busy-ness, I sucked at documentation :( But my table display was great!! I had a black tablecloth with my handmade jewelry scattered around. I also had my new handmade journals that I blew out of - once I make more, they will definitely be for sale on the website! Lastly on display I had a representation of my handmade sail products, like the sail notebooks and wallets.
As always, I had my embroidered necklaces, which did fairly well - the biggest hit were my $8 earrings, which were the perfect Mother's Day gift at the perfect price :D

I also did some trading at the very end, which is my favorite part - I traded earrings and necklaces for some awesome ceramics: I got two bright blue mugs, an earthy colored mug, a bowl, and a sterling silver wire ring. Fun!! (Pictured below is a piece by Sara Eustis: I custom made a pair of earrings for her mother for Mother's Day, and she traded me a mug that was similar in style to this vessel - I love the look of her pieces!!)

Here were some of the advertisements that we received for the event!

Boston Globe – Thursday, May 6

“Bargain Bin”

Circulation: 264,105

Going.com e-newsletter

“10 Things Boston is Doing this Week”

Style Carrot blog

“ARTevent: SMFA Sidewalk Sale”

Wow, I can make jewelry!

So I'm making earrings, then since I'm also making embroidered pendant necklaces, I decide to try making pretty beaded necklaces, too. I got a jewelry book for my birthday of last year, and started getting inspired by putting my own twist on some of their designs

My style just kind of came though: What I didn't like in the sample pieces in those books, I improved it to make it mine. The process was fantastic, and I really enjoyed it; I still do!!

A few highlights of my most popular pieces: I have this *dangly* necklace design, which is composed of mostly jump rings with stones hanging down. I also have a great mix n' match bracelet design (which is basically a crazy charm bracelet that I absolutely love, being connected by funky wired hoops), and lastly, a cluster necklace design that uses primarily sperical beads of the same color scheme. I also have some wire wrapped seaglass necklaces, and I love shells (turquoise especially!)

The fashion of it is very exciting - I like beads for pieces that are chunky, shiny, and different. Anything to stand out. Always :)