Here's to a more peaceful 2016

Hi everyone!

It has been a long time since I wrote here and I hope you enjoyed my latest giveaway.
You are probably wondering why the huge delay between posts, well rest assured I'm doing fine and nothing major has happened. Actually it is quite the contrary. 2016 started with full of wonderful surprise on my side and some elements has lead me to questioned this incredibly fast-paced lifestyle I've had so far.

Kirameku is a wonderful journey - do not get me wrong! I love every second of it, and every interaction I have with you is most precious to me. It is simply that I have been trying many tactics to ensure I reach all of you properly and get you as excited as I am about my new projects. But this rigorous schedule unfortunately led to major lack of sleeps, especially around the time of craft shows.  To get you in context, in 2015 a typical week looked like this :

* 14-20 posts on Facebook, 5 posts on Instagram, 25 posts in the Etsy forums, 1 blog post, Create 5 items, 1 photoshoot session, 1 post on Pinterest, 1 post on Wanelo, involvement in Facebook and Etsy forums, a full time job

And on top of this, depending on the weeks, you do need to add : Shipping orders, Developing new promotional material, Get craft fair applications ready, Stock inventory, Attending craft shows, Fill in custom orders, Develop new collections, Cooking - and I do cook a lot, Typical household chores, Transportation... You get the drill.

So let's just do the maths together : there's 24h in a day, you sleep 8h, and work 8h, travel about 2h, and try to do the best you can with whatever is left - even if sometimes it meant cutting back on sleep.

Why do I share all of this with you? Well because I want you to see that I was doing too much. Weeks quickly turned into months and first thing I knew, Christmas was over and 2016 was already here. 2015 was a wonderful year, and I'm very grateful for everything accomplished in it and all your love and support.

I decided to take a small break from this routine in January 2016 and re-evaluate it all. It suddenly hit me - how many hours a day I spent in front of a computer instead of enjoying summer for instance. I came to the conclusion that instead of sharing articles with no substantial content, I would take this time instead to create new pieces, or work on giveaways and spread the handmade love.

I will also take this time to reconnect with nature through food - one of my biggest inspiration for my creative process. Hopefully, 2016 will be full of new flavours, colours and discoveries that will translate in my jewelry and artwork.

Don't you miss taking the time to enjoy a good cup of tea with a freshly baked scone while bathing in the sunlight? If you are like me, I totally do. I believe that taking back the time to enjoy the simple pleasure in life is important, that exploring new horizon is better than any pay check and that life is too short to let it slip by.

On this everyone, I raise you my steaming cup of Earl Grey tea- To a more peaceful, carpe-diem paced 2016,
* M *

February Giveaway & first ever product review!

Hi everyone!

I hope you all had a wonderful week. In the spirit of Valentine's Day I wanted to share the love of this new boutique I just discovered called Lyli Craft on Etsy. Lily (the owner) is absolutely adorable and she wanted to share her handmade product with all of you dear readers! She is giving away the beautiful purse you are seing on top! (Giveaway link is at the bottom of the article)
But first, I  want to share with you my first ever review of her wonderful boutique.

The wonderful handmade creations for Lyli Craft right out of their enveloppe!

Lyli opened her shop in 2011 in Malaysia. Here is her intro on how she started this adventure :
'' I've grown up with my grandmother in the village and she like to sew during her free time. She sew my clothes, gown, pajama and making soft toys for me when I was a little girl. I always wanted to be like her, very talented and creative. Then I'm going to school and play soft toys with my friends during our free time. They like it and ask me to do it for them. Since then I'm making soft toys and selling it to my close friends.'' 
Her lovely shop specializes and pillows.  Her cute cosmetic purse just grabbed my attention, I couldn't resist their adorable vintage genre and colorful patterns.

The beautiful handmade purses for Lyli Craft!

Her cosmetic purses are simply lovely so very well crafted. I really enjoy their small yet very versatile size and the soft padding added to the clutch. They are big enough to contain all the cosmetics you might need - even that big foundation bottle that never fits in your pharmacy - or even a small pocket camera. The soft padding make it so you don't have to worry that anything breaks, it is well protected for your trip! The purse is small enough to be skidded into your backpack or luggage without taking too much space.

Each purse has a removable wrist strap that makes it easy for you to carry them around. Lyle just went the extra mile in mine and added a lovely name tag inside. I mean, how perfect is it? You can easily see them offered as a personalized gift to your bridesmaids or include the nickname of your BFF or sister for a beautiful custom gift.

Lyli Craft can add a personalized touch to every of her purses.

The sewing is elegant, precise and the zipper flows very smoothly. You can see how much care Lyli puts into each of her creations. I did take longer for me to get her purses because of the distance Canada/Malaysia, but in the end, it was totally worth it...! :)

Follow the link below to get a chance to win this beautiful handmade cosmetic purse from Lyli Craft!

On this you say, I want to have mine as well! Well, you can either enter below for your chance to win the beautiful marine vintage postcard purse (or purchase it here), or visit her boutique here!

You can also follow her on her Instagram or Facebook page!

On this everyone, best of luck! :D
The winner will be announced around the 24th of February.
* M *

Cosmetic Purse Giveaway from Lyli Craft

January color inspiration

Hi everyone!

Long time no see! As the new year started, I decided to take things slowly and carefully plan the year ahead. Taking a bit of time off did wonders as it allowed me to focus back on what is essential, both for me and for Kirameku.

I hope you all had a great year so far and you have lots of exciting projects coming up. Here I launched my first 2016 instagram Giveaway on the 18th with the delicate and new Pink Quartz Berry Ring to celebrate the official Pantone colors of 2016.

As my suppliers orders are slowly coming in, I decided to share with you my top 3 favorite colors for this January.

I hope they will inspire you as well! If ever you have some special requests, please comment away :)

On this everyone, have a wonderful week!
*M*

Cheers to 2016!

Hi everyone! :)

I hope you all had a marvellous Holiday season! With this very first blog post of 2016, I want to wish you all a wonderful new year, may it be full of lovely surprises, joy and love!

My Holidays were unusual this year - but never the less magical. I didn't had the chance to post pictures of snowy landscapes as our winter was very hot - which is abnormal for this time of year. We had our first snowstorm of the season just a few days after Xmas, and now we can finally say that it is winter.

So as you noticed, I took a little break from blogging, as between Holidays orders I was planning the collection for 2016, but more importantly I was asking some very important questions about Kirameku. I was seriously considering opening a store on Amazone Handmade or another similar platform, as despite my love for Etsy, I feel the market there is becoming quite saturated with both wonderful and not so wonderful products. I feel it is becoming harder and harder for me to get my Berry Rings out there on a part time basis. Because yes, Kirameku is wonderful and I put a lot of work into it, but I still have my day job. At one point, I believe one must be realistic, I can't compete with a full time jewelry shop that has over 500 Etsy items listed.

Finally a white winter in Longueuil!

All that being said, I am considering having my own online shop on my website, but for now I'm still debating on which service provider I should turn to. All this is a bit technical but mainly, these are the 3 main reasons why I left the Holiday Gift Guide be my last post of 2015.

But not to worry, my Etsy store will still be open for a long time! I took down many Berry items that weren't very popular on Etsy to make more space for new ones. You can still purchase them through Paypal on my Facebook page and custom orders are always welcomed! :)

I have many surprises in store for you for 2016 and I'll open the year with a Giveaway that is coming up very soon, please stay posted on my Instagram page for all the details!

On this everyone, have a fantastic year!
And how was your Holiday vacation? :)
* M *