The first time I saw any of Erin Prais-Hintz's work it was in a beading magazine (Stringing? Bead Style?) when I was still pretty new to jewelry making. They had done a little piece on her Simple Truths Sampler Club and I was intrigued by both the club and her lovely creations. Here's the idea in a nutshell: each month Erin makes an limited edition piece just for the Sampler Club. It's usually a pendant but sometimes a set of beads (as you will see in my photos below.) You can choose from a 3, 6, 9 or 12 month subscription... and the longer your subscription is for the more you save! If she has open spots in the club she will often add any extras to her shop, but there are only 20 members at a time.
When Erin first started her Simple Truths line her creations all had a similar style and feel to them... many of them including words or sayings... "simple truths." I love that as time has gone on, Erin has used the sampler club as a way to stretch her own creativity and experiment with new techniques all while staying true to her artistic vision. Currently each month's special creation is Erin's inspired response to the monthly challenge artwork over on the Art Bead Scene blog where she is an editor. (If you aren't familiar with that challenge, you can check out all the details for this month HERE.)
Each month is a delightful surprise... her creations are a joy to create with! You'll see some of my designs featuring Simple Truths throughout the rest of this post.
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| January 2014 |
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| May 2014 |
Rewinding back to my personal experience with Simple Truths... I SO wanted to join up right then and there when I read that article, but I couldn't quite justify the cost at that time. I was only making jewelry for myself and hadn't yet become the art bead addict that I am today. The article did introduce me to Erin's blog Treasures Found and she became one of the bloggers that I regularly followed. I continued to drool over each new piece that Erin shared and would look often at her shop, but never pulled the trigger to sign up.
All that changed when my sweet husband had the winning bid for a 6 month subscription during a charity fundraising blog hop... What a wonderful surprise for me! I enjoyed my monthly works of art so much that he extended my subscription for another 6 months as a Christmas present. Best Husband Ever! I just signed up for another year of Simple Truths and couldn't be happier... I know I will continue to me more in awe of Erin's talents with each month's design. She hasn't disappointed yet!
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| April 2014? |
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| March 2015 |
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| May 2015 |
I'll be honest, the only problem that I have with the Simple Truths Sampler Club is that I want to keep them all for myself. Don't laugh, this is a real problem! Erin's creations are so lovely and special that I don't want to give them up so they sometimes end up languishing in my hoard of art beads for far too long. I don't know about other folks who sell some of the jewelry they make, but if I know something will be for me to keep then I have a tendency to push it to the bottom of my to-do list in favor of more profitable projects. Here are just two of my pretties that are just waiting for me to give them some design attention.
Thanks for stopping by today. In Erin's words "Enjoy the day!"
Everything you said in this post is right on, and all of your creations with Erin's beads are wonderful. I'm looking at some of them and wondering, "How did I miss those beads?" :) I'm lucky in that I don't sell my jewelry, so I DO get to keep them all for myself.
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