week 31 - readers

this post is dedicated to kathy and kelly...and all of our weekly readers. we deeply apologize for the short post last week, and hope to make up for it today. really, i can't believe how many of you are out there and depending on our monday night post to make your tuesday morning a sensation...okay, that may be a bit of an exaggeration, although i am truly impressed that we have readers at all...so thanks!

sherry and i have been off of our weekly beading nights, due to busy travel schedules over the past month or so. we see each other at our shows as we haul our goods out of our cars and into our venue for the evening. we have been meshing for so long now that we don't really have to see each other to run this side business of ours as a team. we are already coming up on our 5 year anniversary show, IIDA bizarre bazaar at the mart (november 11th, 5:30-8:30pm). i can't believe it has been that long already...this was our first show in november of 2005! yowsa, how time flies.

we are doing everything we can to inspire ourselves and keep everyone surrounding us intrigued. we have a spectacular new year of products around the corner and can't wait for you all to share in the excitement.

as i was beading our six-hundredth (or so) one-of-a-kind necklace tonight, i can't help but think of where they all are. i hope they are not in your dresser drawers waiting for a special occasion, because tuesday is an occasion enough to make a mesh statement...even if it is faceted glitz, offset by multi colored felted wool balls...work it mid-week!

on the table | over-stated combos

-melissa

week 30 - countdown to christmas

so, it’s 67 days until christmas. and guess what…? mesh is making this really easy for you.

you can complete all your shopping for the women on your list the first weekend of december. that is, if you attend our two day / two city open house!

saturday, December 4th 2010 | sherry’s house
(chicago’s west loop)
10:00 am – 2:00 pm
RSVP @ meshdesigns@yahoo.com or on facebook


sunday, december 5th 2010 | melissa’s house
(oak park)
10:00 am – 2:00 pm
RSVP @ meshdesigns@yahoo.com or on facebook

in addition to our one-of-a-kind necklaces, come browse our scarves, earrings, bracelets, cuffs, clutches, ear mufflers,headbands….well, every type of woman’s accessories! scarves make a great stocking stuffer...and all are $20.

FREE mesh T-SHIRT to all attendees!

-prices range from $20 - $150 -cash, check & credit card accepted

on the table | everything listed above!!

week 29 - shanghai

as you have read in the past few posts, i survived my first trip to shanghai. although it was a 14 hour flight there (12.5 hours back), it did not feel at all like I was half-way around the globe. in fact, the city itself was a bustling mecca of everyday people working their tails off to make a living...much like those in the u.s. of a. it actually reminded me a lot of nyc, as it was filled with lights everywhere i turned (other than in the slightly creepy dark alleys). there is led lighting on the river boats, the buildings, the cabs in some cases, etc... in fact, there is a code there that every new building must light up to some extensive degree from dusk until 1am...the place is truly ablaze. other than the fact that i could not read the signage...i would have thought i was in the middle of times square at midnight.

as i mentioned, the alleys were a bit less lit than the bulk of the city, although far too thrilling to avoid. we were guided through the 'secret' shops by our very own 'personal shopper'. he was dedicated to us, to say the least, and actually may have been the only reason we made it back to the hotel that night...slightly sketchy. it was quite fun to see all that these little hidden shops had to offer; whether it was silk scarves we were looking for, or discs of tea leaves, or jade and pearl necklaces...our guy knew exactly where to find it all. the people in these shops were more than friendly when they saw our faces walk in the door...little did they know that we knew how to barter with the best of them...even with a slight language barrier :)

i can't wait to visit the city again to discover all that the true markets have to offer...stay tuned, as i believe my next trip will already be in a few weeks.

-melissa

on the table | quilt square clutches prepped and ready to go to their new home at Salon Rhapsody in Frankfort, IL.

week 28 - travel inspiration

i am always inspired after traveling! over the past few weeks melissa and I were both traveling…and to two completely different places with very different experiences. I was fall foliage hunting in Vermont, while melissa was in shanghai for work (more to come on this topic in next week’s blog I’m sure…!). either way, both trips were very inspiring!

i’ve grown up in the mid-west and thought we always had the most beautiful fall seasons…that was until this past week! I have never in my life seen fall colors like those in new england! wow! i recommend this fall trip to everyone! every turn we take along the road is jaw-dropping!

(travel tid-bit) despite the lack of starbucks in this region, i am supplementing with apple cider at every stop...and maybe the occasional pumpkin donut.

this is the best part…so, you can take the ski lifts up to the top of the mountains to view the fall colors! It was breath-taking! (enjoy a few photos from an elevation of 4,241 feet!)

anyhow, I think the traveling was a much deserved mini-mesh break for us…as this week we begin the official holiday mesh shows!

we are excited about all the shows we have this season and the opportunity to show off a bunch of new product!

on the table | chamomile tea

-sherry

week 27 - animal print

love it or hate it…animal print is back (again). everywhere I turn I see it roaring on jackets, sweaters, scarves, and my personal favorite…shoes. let’s face it. everyone needs a tiny little kitten heel in cheetah or the like. i am yet in need of this in my wardrobe for this season.

psychologists believe that fashion's obsession with leopard print is because the pattern is simply in our DNA — way back to a time when our ancestors were hunter-gatherers and animal skins were a necessity for warmth. (according to telegraph's hilary alexander in her september 06, 2010 feature "leopard print? it's spot on")

huh? no, my theory is that girls like sassy accessories. done.

here are the keys to rockin’ the animal print ladies…seems intuitive, but we’ve all seen it done wrong. let’s remember these few tips.

1. don’t go overboard on the animal print…one print item per outfit.
2. nervous about being too trendy? keep it to accessories….scarf, shoes, belt…always classic.
3. tone it down. always complement with classic black or brown.
4. jury is still out on leopard tights in my book. pair them with confidence and I think it works.

now, if mesh can figure out how to incorporate this trend into the fall/winter necklace line we may have something exciting on our hands!

thanks to everyone’s support in october. we are super excited about our four (!) home|shows…

-sherry

on the table | a weekend’s worth of new necklaces

week 26 - braids

i was sitting on my sofa last night, annoyed that i had nothing hanging on my recently painted living room walls. as i stared at my incomplete living room project, i decided to take matters into my own hands. i have been meaning to make cords to hang our artwork from, as my parents once gave me a few antique molding hooks to utilize for this sole purpose. i love these old brass hooks. they simply hang directly off of my crown molding, to avoid nailing holes into the walls that we just had painted.

i needed material to braid! so i started wandering around my 800 square foot (on a good day) condo. you would think there would not be too many places to hide a collection of textiles, although you would be sorely mistaken. i have project materials in every nook and cranny of this place (amazingly unbeknownst to my minimalist husband). i was able to come across a pile of cotton tank tops of every color that i had been meaning to take to good will. at first this seemed like a bad idea, as there are plenty of people that could utilize barely worn tank tops, although I figured i would still be putting them to good use... so i started to cut them into strips.

soon enough I had three 8'-0" knotted strands of jersey knit material...ready to braid! the braiding itself was slightly easier said then done, due to the length of material... before I knew it i was braiding both ends of the fabric strips simotaniously. i had to take it a bit slower and keep my braid as organized as possible to avoid further knotting.

once i finished the extensive braid, i was ready to hang my first piece of artwork...so rewarding...and also addicting! i started my second braid this monring, and i don't intend to stop. i have decided that this is also a perfect solution for necklace 'clasps'! i will not utilize my tank tops for future mesh wears, although i am so thrilled with the outcome of these braided cords made out of miscillaneous materials...why not secure strands of beads with braids!

on the table | jersey knits ready for a new form and function!

-melissa

week 25 - careers

as most of you know, sherry and i both have full time day jobs aside from our flourishing mesh business...i'm an interior designer working for an corporate interior architectural firm, and sherry is an interior designer working for a not-for-profit organization that happens to be changing the world one child at a time...slight extension to our mesh responsibilities, but we are of course managing with no sweat :) we have so much going on in our day to day lives and we rarely take the time anymore to simply catch up on what is happening outside of mesh. as we sat at the kitchen table tonight, creating our one-of-a-kind pieces of inspiration, we were discussing the recent responsibilities we are taking on, such as a radio interview that sherry is helping to coordinate tomorrow morning that will raise money for her girls in India, or the trip to shanghai that i have coming up for work in less that two weeks. we don't know when our lives became so busy, although we are very aware that we are both self-made fillers of time...we don't like to sit still, because when we are sitting still, we are not accomplishing much. i can't believe how far we have come with mesh while still making sense of our everyday careers. we can't wait to find out what's around the next corner of our journey!

-melissa

on the table | new supplemental bling and an anthro catalog full of endless inspiration...