Black Friday Sale!!!

Order anytime on Friday, November 26th, and receive 20% off your purchase. When you order, enter the coupon code BLACKFRIDAY20 and etsy will adjust the price. Have fun!

www.tagyoureitjewelry.etsy.com

So...it's been a while...I've been busy:)

So...it's been a while since I posted, BUT I was busy! On August 17th, I gave birth to a beautiful baby girl, Delaney. I was fully expecting to jump right back into the jewelry making without skipping a beat. I even scheduled a craft show 2 1/2 weeks after she was born. Before I met her, I didn't think that would be a problem. However, the morning of, I was bawling my eyes out at the thought of leaving her for 8 hours. I fully did not expect her to survive the day without me and I didn't think I would survive without her (Luckily, my husband brought her to visit me because he knew I was struggling:) Anyway, to make a long story short, she changed my schedule for making jewelry. Now, instead of working at 2 pm, I am often working at 9 pm, while holding a bottle with my chin and trying to print out Paypal labels with my left hand pecking at the keyboard. I honestly can't believe how such a little person can control my entire day. Not to mention that fact that hammering metal is not exactly the best way to keep a napping baby asleep. Although the naps are few and far between because she doesn't want to miss a beat. Combine that with my sister's five-year-old boy and 10-month-old daughter and you can imagine that a work day at Tag...You're It is not what you would call typical. However, we make it work:) We've been busy preparing for the holiday season. (Hint, Hint: ORDER NOW TO AVOID THE HOLIDAY RUSH AND TO ENSURE YOUR DELIVERY FOR CHRISTMAS:) ...Although, I guess since you are reading our blog, I should tell you to wait for our Black Friday/Cyber Monday sale:) Yes, we have been busy preparing for Christmas.

Right now, this is my Tag...You're It to-do list:

1. DEBUTING OUR CHRISTMAS ORNAMENTS- You will love them and have to have one- I can't WAIT! Look for them by next week:)

2. finalizing our copper bracelets

3. coming out with more men's items (we did finally make a men's style necklace that is now on our site-yay!) such as- guitar picks, more keychain styles, leather cuff bracelets with personalized silver...

4. listing our gift certificates so that they can be sent as pdf files

5. stamping silver cuff bracelets

6. more soldered necklaces- look for these before Christmas:)

7. prepare for our three remaining shows of the season (Come see us at IUPUI this Saturday with a LONG list of great vendors and the Saturday after Thanksgiving at the Hamilton County Fairgrounds for an etsy vendor show which will be fabulous!!!)

8. oh, and of course, stamp orders and ship them out!!:)

Here are a few new items and we have much more coming soon...

Copper FYI...

Here are some before and after shots of our copper. We do not treat our copper in any way because many people like for it to tarnish on its own. When you first receive your copper pendant, it will be shiny like a new penny. However, over time, it will tarnish to a nice antiqued look. You can keep your copper shiny by brushing it with fine steel wool. We don't recommend a liquid tarnish remover such as Brasso because it can remove the oxidation in the lettering. You can also let it tarnish like a penny and create a timeless patina.

We're Famous:)

Well....Here is the article that featured us in the Hendricks County ICON. It is a paper delivered to three zipcodes in Hendricks County (not exactly USA Today, but WE'LL TAKE IT!!). I live in Hendricks County, but don't even get a copy, but that is okay:) The woman who wrote the article called Brodi and I at different times, and we both laughed afterwards because we are so UNeloquent on the telephone. At one point, I think the words, "We think the necklaces are cool," came out of my mouth, although I'm embarrassed to admit. However, she took our flawed words and put a nice article together, so we are grateful. Oh, and when looking at the photo, please keep in mind that it was over 90 degrees that day, and we're not styling new manly haircuts- they were just pulled back in ponytails:)

L-O-V-I-N our new TYPEWRITER font!!!!!!

We finally decided to buy a new font! When looking for a new font, it is a very in depth process because these fonts are NOT cheap!! We found one we loved on Etsy (of course) and knew we couldn't live without it. Luckily, a friend ordered a necklace and wanted the new font, so we were able to take some pics of what it looks like. I hope you love it as much as we do:)

Farts in the Park

Let me first explain that we are from Brownsburg, born and raised. Therefore, growing up, every year there would be "Brownsburg Arts in the Park," which my dad would always refer to as "Farts in the Park" and we found that hilarious. It was a huge craft show that ALWAYS seemed to be held on the hottest day of the year. It was almost a town joke that it was always on the hottest day of the year and not to try to go down SR 267 on that day because of the traffic. Well, "farts in the park" has dwindled down over the years and it is now referred to as the "Festival of the Arts" and I don't think "Festival of the Farts" is nearly as funny, but how were they supposed to know when they changed the name?

We were really looking forward to this show and were hoping to do really well. Unfortunately, it seemed to be held on the hottest day of the year again. It was probably 95 degrees outside and the sun never went behind the clouds. I think that kept a lot of people away. The show just isn't as popular as it used to be either, which could be attributed to the economy. We had a good time, but it seemed to be a ghost town after lunch time. The highlight of my day was drinking a strawberry lemonade smoothie. The lowlight of my day was when I felt my feel swell (I am 8 months pregant if you didn't know). All of a sudden I looked down and Brodi and I just started laughing. Each toe looked like a sausage. It was gross. Thank goodness I had a pedicure last week, so they looked like sausages with neat red polish.

So, here are some pics of the show. Sorry, no sausage pictures, not that you wanted to see them anyway. Oh, we did have a lady from the Hendricks County ICON magazine interview us for an "artist" piece. Look for us in the ICON in the next month if you live in Hendricks County!




Yes, we have changed our look AGAIN!! Haha! Well, we bought this great stamp from Twisted Sisters and so we stamped all of our boxes and bags and we think they look super cute!!

We were already tearing down by the time I remembered to take some pics. Pretty similar to the Fishers Show, but turned the tables so that you could not walk inside of the booth.

It seems each show we're adding a bit more and trying to perfect our display. Maybe by the end of the show season, we will have it exactly right:)

My dad is always thrilled to come and help set up and tear down a jewelry display:) I'm sure he would rather be at home, but it is nice to have the help from the guys, especially when it comes to the tent! Oh, notice our new directors chairs. I found them on Craigslist and they work out great because we can still see everyone without feeling like we are sitting on the floor. We just need one more, so if anyone is getting rid of their tall director's chair, let me know!

Fishers Freedom Festival

Well, we completed our first large summer show. We have one more, then I'm having a baby, then we begin our fall shows. Fishers went well--the crowd was much smaller than we hoped, but the threat of rain kept a lot of people away. We still had a good time though (except for when we tried to zip the tent walls up, which was a nightmare). This was our first show using a tent, and we were really happy with the outcome. Although it was 95 degrees outside, we were under a tree in a very shady area with a nice breeze.

WRONG ORDER!!

Haha! I had to blog about this. So, from one of our trusted suppliers I ordered a black jewelry case that our jewelry trays slipped into. It kind of looks like a small canvas suitcase. Well, the box came, and as with any new mail, I quickly opened it to look at my new purchase. Well, to my surprise this is what I found inside....

I could NOT stop laughing. I felt like the mom in The Christmas Story when they open the box and find a giant leg lamp inside. I am not sure what jeweler WOULD use this display to hang necklaces, but it is not quite our style. Luckily, after a phone call, our case was on the way. This on the otherhand is still sitting in my kitchen because I just can't seem to send it back yet.

Living and Learning about Shows...

Well, live and learn, right? This was a show we did at the end of May, I think. The lesson we learned is don't do shows from people who email you the week before to ask you to be a vendor. Oh, and don't do it if it is the first show they have ever done. Oh, and don't do it if it is in a bad neighborhood. Oh, and "Mass Ave" could mean ANYWHERE on Massachusetts Avenue, not necessarily the retail district. Oh, and check to make sure the location is not up 3 full flights of stairs when you are pregnant. Oh, and when it is 85 degrees outside, make sure the location has air conditioning. I could go on for a lot longer. But, we did make a very small profit, which covered our vendor money, bought us a milkshake on the way home, and put a LITTLE money in our pocket. And at least our display looked cute:)

Fishers Freedom Festival!!

Fishers Freedom Festival is this Saturday from 9-8 pm and this Sunday from 10-8 pm. COME and SEE us there and check out our necklaces up close! It is held at the Roy G. Holland Memorial Park (1 Park Drive) off Holland Drive and Eclipse Parkway in Fishers.

New Copper Pieces!!

Woof! Woof! We are starting to make dog tags because the ones you buy at PetSmart just aren't cute enough. The big, black schmear on the right is not from the stamping:) It is to protect the number of Sadie's owners.

 I am in love with this new piece, which is also available in all silver HERE!! (Brodi designed it, so I guess I'll give her the credit). Such a cute phrase and you can stamp your children's names on the back of the disc. It is a copper disc with a smaller sterling silver disc/moon soldered to it.

"Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep." -Scott Adams

Okay, here are a few of our new copper necklaces/dog tags we have been working on. We have a few more that we need to finish and post. We have been working on "non-custom" necklaces for our shows coming up. I look forward to making some custom copper pieces after our show next week. However, today we had other priorities (the pool was calling our names)...

To see all of the new pieces in our shop, visit us HERE!!

A Day in the Life of a Handstamped Jewelry Artist (since I'm sure You've always wondered)...

These are our new business cards and packaging!! I didn't include an up close picture, but we are really happy with the way they turned out. We have already changed looks three times now because we are indecisive women, but I think we've finally settled:)

The aggression of a pregnant woman...Okay, some days I seriously feel like stamping like this, but it actually requires much more precision (for instance, I'm not even holding a stamp, haha). Obviously, you can see that my current stamping station is my living room. Mark doesn't love it, but it until we move into that dream house with the giant furnished basement with the special jewelry room corner, the living room will have to suffice.

Yay! This is our sign for our upcoming summer shows. Brodi did this (my handwriting is not up to par and she will be the first to remind me) and I think it came out fabulous! We will set this up towards the front of the tent. We'll be sure to post pics of our final display after our first summer show next weekend.

SUMMER STORMS!!!

Well, we worked from 9-3 on jewelry today. We had some new copper necklaces we have been working that we WANTED to take pics of and post on the website. However, right after Brodi started taking pictures, some ominous black clouds rolled in. Our pictures look best in natural light, so the camera went away for the day. A few hours later, the REAL storms rolled in, which are still passing by right now. A house on my street was struck by lightning (no one currently lives there) and so there was basically a neighborhood block party outside while we watched the firemen put out the fire in the rain (I guess we live in a nosy neighborhood and were all willing to risk our own lives in the lightning to watch them work). Anyway, in tribute to the summer storms, here are some of my favorite storm inspired pieces from etsy!



Afternoon Shower Tee by circularaccessories.etsy.com

Tower of Yesterday by urbandesign.etsy.com




Rainy Day Apron by sewinggeek.etsy.com




Rainy Drops Coinpurse by pocketcarnival.etsy.com

Coming up on the first year of business...

Well... I found it was time to start a blog! I've really enjoyed looking at fellow etsians (etsian= someone who sells products on the website, etsy.com) blogs and can't believe our etsy page was started less than a year ago! August will be an important month- Delaney is due the 20th!, my birthday, my nephew Isaac's birthday, AND the one year anniversary of Tag...You're It! Jewelry. I will give a little background on myself and our business adventure:

I am a 25 year old Hoosier who married her high school sweetheart and is a born again Christian. My first passion is worshipping the Lord with my voice, but I don't see a career panning out for me with music:) I have a degree from IUPUI in elementary education. I taught for a year and a half after graduating, but we are now expecting our first child in August. I LOVE teaching- I really do. However, it wipes EVERYTHING out of me. At this point, I know that I need to take at least a year off when the baby (Delaney) is born and we'll see where life takes me. I honestly can't imagine teaching all day and then coming home to take care of a child, but I know thousands do it. I really am throwing my heart and soul into Tag..You're It in hopes that I can stay at home with my kids while they are little because I know I will never get that time back.

My husband, Mark, is a Marine Corps Veteran who is currently working as a manufacturing engineer and going to school at night for Mechanical Engineering Technology. He is super busy and when he does have a spare moment I'm usually asking him to help me with something for jewelry. While I type, he is out in the garage pouring concrete for weights on our craft show tent.

So, the point of this blog is mainly to keep you in the loop about TYI and to support other etsy sellers and handmade items. However, I'm sure I'll pop in with personal stories quite frequently! Right now, I have a baby coming in less than two months, yet my mind is focused on 18 inch cable chains. I am eager for the day when I am not a jewelry-brained frazzled mess, but until then I'm just going to have to be this way.

Current Tag...You're IT News:

We are currently working really hard for the Fishers Freedom Festival. This will be our first big show, and the website says that 60,000 people attend. Wait...60,000 people... AAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!! (That is what has been running through my mind the last few weeks). We have been trying to up our inventory and have designed some great new copper necklaces, which I will post tomorrow or Tuesday. As for now, I'm just going to post some pics of our current designs for those of you in the blogworld who have never been to our website.

--Kelsey

All components of our necklaces are sterling silver and/or copper: