Sunday, August 28, 2011

Blog Feature Sunday - Get to know Angela @ Bella Anela Jewelry

Click HERE to enter Bella Anela Jewelry!

Info about self: My name is Angela and I was born and raised in Hawaii. Although I love traveling to new places and learning about other cultures, I feel blessed to have Hawaii as my home base where I can return and inhale the Pacific air and enjoy the almost garishly bright sun reflecting off of the myriad of colorful plants and flowers.

I have a very active imagination. In fact, most of the time you see me, I am not "here". Wait, that doesn't sound too good. Creativity has always been a part of my life. Verbal expression has never been my forté. I've always loved dreaming up stories in my mind, and when I have the time, I write them down. I also enjoy drawing, painting, and so many other forms of artistic expression. I just wish I had more time, money and space to practice all of them more often. Right now I have several jobs that include working with children and in retail. My dream is to be able to spend more time creating jewelry and tutoring future presidents, but for now it must be cashiering and sweeping up glitter.


3 descriptive words for self: moody, empathetic, daydreamer


3 descriptive words for shop: imaginative, motley, slightly to the left of common


How long creating/selling product: I remember first creating jewelry back in the 7th grade. I once made these horrid-looking cartoon faces from fluorescent fimo clay and glued them to earring posts. Looking back I can now see how nice my classmates were being to me, because they oohed and ahhed over the little creatures when I wore them to school one day. I think it was more over the fact that I made them myself and had the guts to wear them in public.

I really got into making jewelry as an art and profession about 5 years ago when a very close friend of mine taught me basic wire wrapping skills. Since then I have never looked back. I immediately started to create jewelry to sell to her so she could sell them at her mobile jewelry booth. At first I was doing it just for fun. Jewelry making was yet another creative outlet for me, and I wasn't really interested in making it a career. I think the "high" I got from selling my art came when I started hearing compliments from customers passed on through my friend, and acutally getting special orders from her regulars. They liked me, they really liked me!


I love your story from grade school, how fun! I love looking back and seeing what I used to create and compare it to how far I've come. My Mom still has some pottery that I made for her YEARS ago!


Creative process: My inspiration for my designs comes from all around me. I will often see someone wearing something, or a picture of a piece that I like, and I'll go home and take out what I've got and use that inspiration to create something new and unique to me. And then there are those times when a silly friend will grab some of my materials, hold them together in a mock design and say with a guffaw, "What about this?". And the durned thing will actually turn out to be pretty amazing. I won't tell them that, though.

Other passions: cooking, scrapbooking/card making, working with children, other artistic mediums including drawing, painting, printmaking, etc...

Two fave items from shop: 
Vintage Lace Blue and Cream Cuff - I think the design represents all that I love about jewelry and accessories (color, romanticism, flirtiness, beauty), and I love the mixed medias represented.

The Age of Aquarius White Coin Pearl Ring - It's simple and lovely. I am very much a ring person, even though you can't really tell from looking at my shop.

Oh, that cuff is SO lovely.

Favorite shops: On Etsy? They would be:

www.etsy.com/shop/underoakstudios - love their item descriptions
www.etsy.com/shop/palmeras - now THIS is a jewelry artist!
www.etsy.com/shop/twistedsisterarts - those eyes...and those wire working skills!
www.etsy.com/shop/lonkoosh - I want one of everything from this shop
www.etsy.com/shop/ArtsyFartz - a fellow jewelry artist from Hawaii who gave me the encouragement I needed to open up my own Etsy shop!

Advice: Just do it! I spent several months researching this and that so I could make my store absolutely perfect before I even opened it. Truth is, although that research did help, I'm still learning about the ins and outs of Etsy and sales to this day. And I wouldn't have been able to get that kind of info if I hadn't just dived right in and let things happen.

Now it is my favorite part of the feature, where I get to share some of my favorite pieces from Angela's shop! (It was REALLY hard to just choose a few, by the way!)


Ohh, the stones on these earrings are amazing!

Aren't the colors on these earrings fantastic!? They look like candy.
Whenever I get more sales coming in, I am buying one of these bracelets! They are so gorgeous, Angela!

Angela, thanks so much for stopping by and letting us peak into your creativity! I have enjoyed learning more about you and the lovely items that you create. I love your shop.


Thank you for the gift certificate donation for the Mega Giveaway!

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