Restarting Something You Love

Alli at Allena Mistral is here today to share her inspiration and passion for jewelry. She is a new, up-and-coming blogger, and was recently featured by Danielle at Framed Frosting. That sort of support made me check out Alli on the spot, and Danielle was spot on. She's great! You'll hear more about her at TYD next month, but keep reading for her story, and a special treat at the end :).

Hey guys! My name is Alli and I blog over at Allena Mistral. When Brittany asked me to write a guest post, I was so thrilled about getting to share with all of you lovely readers, but I had NO idea what to write about! So Brittany and I decided that it would be great for me to tell you all about why I reopened my jewelry shoppe.
Back in high school, I went in to a big department store and fell in LOVE with some earrings that I saw but, after looking at the price, said, "I'm NOT paying $28 for these... I could MAKE these." So later that night, I went home and talked to my dad, who is also an artist about getting the supplies needed to make the earrings. He referred me to a jewelry supplier and I order the Swarovski crystals needed to make the earrings.
Now, they were slightly different from the ones that I had seen in the store, but I was was super happy with them. I wore them to school a few times and one of my friends asked me if I could make a copy of one of her necklaces. I said I could try, I inspected the necklace and decided how to go about making the copy for her. I did it (for free) and decided that it was time for me to come up with my own designs. The next piece I came up with my signature necklace, the crystal flower necklace.
I also did some pieces with adorable clay beads as the focal piece. I worked pretty hard on this business for a while, but after I started college, my time that I could devote to my business was cut back to almost nil. The business went by the way side with only a few orders over the course of the next couple years. I had no time to go to shows or to really promote and, although I never officially closed my shoppe, I haven't really done anything with it in years. But everything changed when I graduated in December. I decided that I needed to reopen and to do something that I loved again. I love making jewelry and I love making other people happy with my jewelry! I reopened my shoppe using Storenvy and I couldn't be happier! I focus mostly on metal working. In "real life" I'm an inorganic chemist, so I play with metals all the time at the molecular level, but playing with bulk metal is different. Plus, when I do fold forming, I get to pound metal, which is a great stress reliever. (It also makes a really pretty texture)
I love making something that every woman can wear. Jewelry is great because it's a one size fits all piece, unlike clothing.
To thank Brittany for letting me share my story with you, I'm offering all of you wonderful readers a 10% discount on everything in my shoppe! You can use the code TYDFAN to receive 10% off!