Accessory Making Revived

It's been such a long time since I've made costume jewelry, but it has always been a fantasy of mine (along with other friends) to make it big in this business.  It really all started about eight years ago when we called ourselves KLAD (Kristine, Love, Anna, Dianne) and sold accessories to our officemates and friends.  Yes, those accessories were made by our "untrained" but very passionate bare hands... and we selected and bought all materials ourselves - from beads to strings to chains and charms, all the way from Divisoria.   We just had an initial outlay of 1,000 pesos each and ran the business for about two months, around Christmas time.  It was a success, but we're all so busy with our day jobs, so we had to stop after the holidays.  

Five years after, we decided to revive the business, but the "K" left for Singapore so we obviously had to change our name as LAD didn't exactly sound fab haha!  We called ourselves "IF", short for Insanely Fab, because it speaks for our designs.  Definitely insane, but still fabulous!  Those were really (insanely) happy times as we were practically doing a countdown to 5 o'clock (at work) so we can rush home and create our "day-dreamed" designs.  And "coffee tayo" means let's discuss our business strategy.  Here are some cherished photos with my business partners...

Our style had definitely evolved in 2009 as we had started making "bibs" which wasn't popular back then (we'd like to think we're one of the firsts hehehe) and did more sewing than the usual stringing or wiring.  We used more fabric (some recycled), lace, appliques, and ribbons.  And our trademark?  Look below and you'll notice.  We love floral touches.  They're also our best sellers.  And, we not only did direct selling but joined bazaars - from Ayala Alabang to World Trade Center - we soared!

We had a goal, and in less than 3 months, we exceeded it.   But starting in January the following year, our day jobs got the best of us and we weren't able to spend any more time continuing the business (sigh).  To this day we still receive some inquiries and requests, but our hands are tied.  Ahhh... IF only... 

A week ago, I was feeling so creative that I started planning for home made gifts - after all, they are inexpensive, unique, and honestly, therapeutic.  Being in the US obviously did not give me many options for buying materials for my accessories - I definitely miss Quiapo, Divisoria, and Carolina's!  But I do have a special happy place here - Michael's.  Never mind the $$$ conversion, so I bought a few materials and recycled some of my old necklaces so I could come up with pretty stuff such as the one in the photo below.  I realized, I still have the "IF" in me with the bib-like design and of course, the flower!  I made this for a friend for her birthday.  This is made in the USA, baby!  Haha! :-)

I still have a few more projects in progress, but I could not post them yet as they are all gifts - I'll upload them after Christmas.  I'm getting more and more excited each day.  Let's see how it goes.