My recent trip to the rainy northwest... and new hatchlings in my shop!

Hello everyone,

I just returned home from a work trip to Seattle and returned home with my allergies in full blown irritation due to all the trees blooming here.  I have been to Seattle before, back in 2007, and the weather on that trip was gorgeous.  On this trip I got a real dose of Seattle weather, with dreary fog and pouring rain every day.

Despite the weather, I did get some great shots with my new iPhone that I wanted to share with you all.

Intense Mountains... I am thinking perhaps the Tetons based on our flight path..

 

Pike's Place Market in the rain

Our hotel was quite posh!

I pretty much despise lengthy traveling itineraries, because they always upset my exercise schedule, but they do afford me a lot of free time to knit, which I hardly have the time to do anymore.  I spent about 10 hours on this trip knitting on this scarf, which I began knitting a few years ago.

Actually, the story with this scarf is that I knit this exact item previously for myself, and it took so long to knit that I swore I'd never knit another one again.  I came home with the finished scarf and my mom threw an absolute fit for it.  She loved it so much that I ended up giving it to her for Christmas and never got to wear it.  I started knitting a replacement, but got so busy, it was shuttled to the unfinished object bin.  

Anyway, I only have 35 more rows until it is done!! I hope to wrap it up this weekend.  It is knit up in several shades of Rowan Kidsilk Haze.  It is incredibly soft.

This afternoon I added two new items to the shop.

This first piece is entitled Sun Dancer and remind me of a bright summer day, with cheery hues of yellow and teal blue.

These earrings include multiple layers of trimmed peacock eye feathers layered with yellow and blue rooster hackle and peacock body and sword feathers. The feathers are securely attached to a backing. These are roughly 7-9 inches in length and 3-3.5 inches at the widest point including the sterling silver ear hooks.

You can find Sun Dancer here in my etsy shop! I had the inspiration for this pair a few years back but just now added them to my shop.

This lightweight feather hair clip is entitled Absinthe Dreams and was originally designed as a custom piece for a customer wedding.  It features multiple types of peacock and purple rooster feathers and is suited for multiple hair types. The clip is totally hidden and easy to put on. The piece is meant to be worn on the side of the head, with the peacock swords angled either up or down. It is very lightweight.

You can find Absinthe Dreams here in my shop!

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

On growth and resolutions...

2011 was such an incredible year of growth for me both personally and professionally at BethNouveau.  In addition to all the new customers I served on etsy, I also continued to spread my brand by wholesaling my work to brick and mortar stores.  Around eight new stores across the nation began carrying my jewelry in 2011, including the official boutique of Anusara yoga at Wanderlust festival.    I can't count how many tiring evenings I spent cranking out piece after piece until 3 in the morning, collapsing into bed with glue still on my fingers and clothes.  While I am INCREDIBLY thankful for the business, I began to realize that level of productivity is not sustainable for me in the long run, and in the fall, I began to slow my shops down.  In addition to running a business, I am also in graduate school and have 2 dogs, 2 cats, 2 aquariums, a snake, a boyfriend who lives 3.5 hours away, and I like to stay fit!!  In 2011 I began training for a marathon but unfortunately injured my ankle in October (but thankfully maintained my fitness level).  I also backpacked the appalachian trail in the smoky mountains, covering 75 miles in 5 days in July and finishing the AT section from Georgia to Mt.  Rogers, VA.    

I sit here on a still January evening contemplating the incredible whirlwind that was last year and think about where I want to go this year.  A couple goals from 2011 are wrapping themseleves up as I type:  my website will be finished within DAYS, and I have a host of new inventory to add to my shop with more new ideas still hatching in my head.  My good friend is scheduling a photo shoot with several models, and these new fun photos will be added to my listings and website...   So what next??  Well a marathon is certainly in the works for the first half the year.  With the exception of illness and injury I  have been diligently training for 9 months  now.  Unless something catastrophic happens, I hope to finish a marathon by May.  And I feel awful about how lacking my yoga practice has been the past four months.  An ankle injury doesn't lend itself to sun salutations... so it is time to get back on the mat religiously as well..   I also hope to graduate in the latter half of this year and move on to the next stage of my life, wherever that next stage takes me... hopefully with my beau in North Carolina.  

But what goals do I have for myself creatively?  This is where I feel most lost.  I'm not sure what direction I see my art going, in particular BethNouveau.  The grizzly rooster craze is over... THANK GOD... and I worry that feather earrings may be a trend that some now find outdated.  I hope that my work can remain progressive despite the  passing trends.  Can you believe I was selling grizzly hair clips back in 2009 on etsy!!!!!

In this next year I definitely hope to spend more time designing new creations for BethNouveau, hopefully implementing elements of sterling silver wire wrapping and gems/stones, which have been unexecuted ideas of mine for some time.  I also want to spend more time creating for me and knitting/designing knits.  I barely have time anymore to make something for ME and I can't tell you the last time I knit something or even wore a pair of feather earrings.

So yes, 2012 shall be a rededication of all around creativity, going with the flow of wherever the universe takes me.

xo, beth

Hooray for Spring!

Spring has sprung, and here in South Carolina that means the heat is on.  Temperatures here have been in the mid-to upper 80's now for a few weeks and I'm already dreading the sweltering misery that summer will bring.

I have been furiously knitting away at a crossover cardigan featured in Noro Knits a few years ago.

It is a cross between Myrtle....

And Butterfly...

It is basically the butterfly sweater bottom lengthened to myrtle length with the myrtle hood and sleeves.  So far it looks great!  I have completely finished the body and hood and I'm working on the sleeves. 

Here's a shot of me blocking the body

In other news, I have been creating some hoops for my shop, dystruction designs... There are some really pretty hoops on there, but my favorite one is this rainbow glitter and gaffer tape hoop:

I really didn't want to sell hoops, but considering the sheer cost of buying tape to make myself some, I have decided to casually list some on etsy to pay for the supplies.  Hoop tape isn't cheap, as I am discovering!

My hooping has come a long way since the fall.  Lately I have been working on reversals, knee and one legged hooping, and incorporating more dance into my hooping style.  Here's a shot of me one legged hooping.

I have also been playing with FIRE too :) :)  Which is extremely exhilirating!

As far as bethnouveau goes, I finally got around to making some new designs last month and have been slowly listing them on etsy.

The super long grizzly rooster feather fad is starting to tone down a bit, which is nice, because those feathers are impossible to find, especially in purple and blue.  I do have a few colors left, but those are flying out the door!

Some of my new designs: 

Vamped Out - Super Long Bright Red Grizzly Rooster Feather Wire Wrapped Earrings

Limon - Super Long Green and Yellow Grizzly Rooster Feather Wire Wrapped Earrings

Serengeti - Blonde, White and Tan Copper Wire Wrapped Earrings

Blanca - White Peacock Feather Fringed Earrings.

All of these can be found in the shop!

Thanks for reading, enjoy your week everyone! xox

Oh my how the days go by....

Hi everyone,

Wow, I can't believe it's been five months since I last posted (!!!)  I feel so bad for neglecting my website and blog for so long;  however, I have been doing really REALLY well.  I am progressing well at school and my etsy shop is doing better than I ever would have imagined.  I am incredibly thankful for each and every customer and order and I feel blessed to have made a niche for myself in the etsy marketplace.

Each month of this year has become progressively busier and I find that I have less and less time to create anything new.  I have heard other artists discuss this and thought, "Oh, that will never happen to me".  Over Thanksgiving break I was able to crank out a few new items for the etsy shop, which you can view below.

 

These are called Phoenix Igniting and  feature rooster and peacock feathers attached to a fabric backing and set in gorgeous bead caps

 These are called Pegasus and feature white schlappen strung on either gold, copper, or silver chains.

These are called Persephone and feature irridescent and black schlappen strung on silver chains.

These are called Rapunzel and feature locally sourced, CRUELTY FREE rooster feathers strung on silver chain.

These are called the golden peacock and look awesome with some gold jewelry!

I got some of the photos from my pinup shoot back in April and I am so happy with how they turned out... I have posted some of those below :)

Can you say Lucille Ball?  I love it!

I've also been knitting a bit.  Mostly small projects.. I did finish another Ogee Lace Wrap

I'm also working on a myrtle and butterfly crossover sweater that will look incredible!

 Au Revoir!

<3

Under the weather.. but not out of commission

Hi everyone,

I've been fighting a sinus cold thing since yesterday which has left me dizzy and weak.  Yesterday I slept till nearly 6 pm!  Today I'm marginally better, and determined to be productive without pushing it :)

On Monday evening I *finally* got around to finishing a couple patterns and adding them to the website and to ravelry for FREE!!!!!.  The patterns I have added are:

the foldover cropped cardigan shrug!

my furry rave gogo legwarmers

(as requested by a couple burners on ravelry)

my perfectly flared legwarmers

and last, but not least

my dropped stitch scarf

(a great stashbuster)

A bunch of people have already downloaded the shrug, and I am really excited to see how the projects turn out :)  I proofread the pattern carefully and I'm crossing my fingers that there weren't any mistakes.  I feel like the calculations might be confusing for some people.  Pattern support is provided free at bethnouveau@gmail.com.

In other news,  I attended Floyd Fandango this weekend in Floyd, VA and had a wonderful time.  Sam Bush is an incredible bluegrass musician and I was one of the only hula hoopers there, so I didn't cringe every time I dropped my hoop :)

I don't think I mentioned this yet, but I purchased an LED hoop from trickconcepts and I ADORE it.

It's so bright!

This month I am working on vertical on the body hooping, the barrell roll, the vortex (which is supposedly easy but I struggle with it), and bringing the hoop up from the knees.  Slowly but surely I will master them all :)

sweaty me, hooping at a festival :)

ah funny hooping faces

I will leave you with a few shots of some new wire-wrapped feather earrings I put in the etsy store.

The Kingfisher - I LOVE THESE

The Bees Knees - These look great wrapped in yellow wire.  Talk about DRAMA

The Sandpiper - Understated, the photos don't do these justice.  LOVE THEM

Peacock Jamboree - Very colorful

Butterfly Wings - more superbright color.  I Love peacock body feathers!

That's all for now.  An update on my current knitting projects will follow soon.

happy creating!

xox

Here's to sunny days and dispositions...

Hi everyone,  I apologize for not posting for awhile, but this weather has been so absolutely gorgeous that I have spent just about every second possible outside.  I generally blog during my lunch break at work, but those lunch breaks are now taken outside on a blanket with some knitting.  The positive is that I have completed quite a few projects.

The first project I finished is a cute knitted cropped shrug that I designed.  The pattern will soon be available on ravelry for sale.  Here are some photos.

I made it with 3/4 sleeves as I ran out of yarn to make full ones, but I like it!

I absolutely love the back.  The sleeves were made with raglan shaping.

I love this yarn, Rowan "ribbon twist", colorway "mole".. now discontinued.

As far as etsy goes, I haven't designed a lot of jewelry lately as filling orders has been taking a lot of time. I did design these earrings on the left for a customer as a custom order.  I liked them so much, I added them to the shop today.  They feature peacock swords lightly wrapped in black wire and set in sterling silver ear hooks.  They're about 4-5 inches long and just hit the top of the shoulders.

I hope everyone had a lovely Easter holiday.  I took a ton of pictures of the rural Virginian countryside around my parents home.  Here are some of the highlights.

View of the Peaks of Otter in Bedford, VA

A gorgeous house and stream in Colton's Mill

Another view of the house

A gorgeous farm and greenhouse near Colton's Mill

View of the dogs in front of my parents gorgeous cherry tree

Enjoy the weather!!

xox