Interview and GIVEAWAY with GingerKitty Designs

(pics are clickable)

I was going to wait until I hit 100 followers to do a giveaway, but this is just really too good to wait on. It's basically "burning a hole in my pocket", as my mom would say. I was never patient ;)

Ladies and gents, I bring you my very FIRST giveaway! This giveaway is sponsered by Tracey over at GingerKitty Designs!

Tracey specializes in making jewelry out of nail polish. Yes, you read that correctly... JEWELRY out of nail polish! Your favorite shades are now wearable somewhere other than your tips and toes! She will also CUSTOMIZE anything you want.

What started out as a store on Etsy, making custom orders for swapping and for gifts has turned into something ginormous! It's gone INTERNATIONAL even! Tracey's goodies are sold overseas in specialty shops and she has individual customers from all over the world. She has also been featured in NAILS Magazine!

For over a year I've been wearing Tracey's designs. I'm a TOTAL brand snob and up until I started wearing pieces from GingerKitty Designs I only wore Tiffany, and my engagement/wedding ring. I'd like to share with you some pics of a few pieces that Tracey has made for me.

First came the customized "Mommy" bracelet. When I was pregnant with Lydia I wanted a piece of jewelry to represent my kids that was casual enough to wear with anything. Tracey designed this beautiful bracelet for me, with the colored beads representing the kids birthstones. (and even sent along some matching earrings!)


Next is a ring, I believe made from Essie Starry Starry Night. Totally gorgeous and shimmery. I love love love wearing this one.


Finally, another of my FAVORITE pieces, is a necklace. I saw this on one of her icon pics and HAD to have it. I'm actually wearing it right now as I type. The length is perfect and the colors were exactly what I was looking for.



I got the opportunity to interview the mastermind (aka Tracey!) behind GingerKitty Designs. Below are my questions (in bold) and her answers (in italic):

Tell us a little about yourself (and life!) and also how you got into making jewelry.
"My name is Tracey Barker and I am located in Warwick, Rhode Island, where I have lived almost all of my life. I work in finance during the day and design my jewelry at night. I am the mother of two beautiful boys Ryan and Dylan - and my husband and I have been married for 12 years and counting.

Originally I decided to learn how to make jewelry as a way to hand-craft Christmas presents for my boys school teachers and daycare providers. I then moved on to creating MAC necklaces from recycled MAC boxes. I had always wanted a MAC necklace of my own...so I made one!

Then I set out to combine my love (obsession) for nail polish and jewelry design into one. Once I created the nail polish jewelry line, I started to branch out and my line now consists of rings, earrings, necklaces. The most recent addition to my line are bracelet and next week I will launch my nail polish bottle charm that I was able to design myself :0)"


Do you have any free time? LOL How do you use it?
"LOL, not really! Between my day job, my jewelry line and being a mom...there is not much free time to be had. When I have a free moment I usually spend it curled up with a good book or with my friends for a girls night out."

Where did the idea come from to turn nail polish into wearable art?
"I was giving myself a manicure one day, before going to a party with my husband and I keep thinking, “what jewelry am I going to wear with this outfit?” I kept thinking, “I wish I had jewelry to match this amazing nail polish I was applying and then I thought hmmmmm. The next day I started on my quest of using nail polish as a medium for making jewelry.

Most people do not know that the idea almost did not happen, originally the idea failed miserably. Nail polish reacts very strangely to any chemical and after many attempts I scraped the idea and put the project aside. Luckily I picked it backed up, realized my mistake and carried on with the idea."

What is the inspiration behind your designs?
"Lately I find myself looking at fabrics, colors in nature, magazine covers, fashion and of course new collections of nail polish for inspiration. I received a "Pucci inspired" scarf that I love and I could not wait to make a piece of jewelry that had similiar colors in it.

I find inspiration and ideas all around me...if you see me staring at your shirt or scarf it is probably because I am thinking of color combinations for future jewelry pieces LOL"

Where do you see your jewelry creations taking you in 5 years? 10 years?
"My ultimate goal would be to design jewelry full time. I have so many ideas but not nearly enough time to be able to make them come to fruition.

I would love to see my pieces being worn on the cover of a magazine to accentuate a wonderful manicure or outfit, to be being worn by a famous celebrity and have my unique line carried in stores and salons worldwide.

I have strayed away from making traditional jewelry and I would like to get back into that again as well."

Tell us about the piece you've designed for this giveaway.
"Many of my customers have been asking for an alternative to nail polish rings or necklaces and I was finally able to come with a new option....bracelets! When I set out to design a bracelet for your giveaway, I had just watch a show on TV and one of the girls wore a black and white zebra shirt - it was the perfect color palette for a bracelet.

I used CND Blackjack, Orly Shine and L'Oreal Oracle Holographic to swirl in a design for the bracelet for your giveaway. I love the way the holo color shimmers in the black and silver, it really picks up the silver in the bracelet".

ONTO THE GIVEAWAY!
Tracey's most recent venture in the jewelry/nail polish world has been bracelets. She sent this one to me for a giveaway as the very FIRST bracelet to be featured in any article or contest! She loves me, she REALLY loves me ;) lol

Pictured below is the EXACT bracelet you will receive. No two creations are alike because they're all individually handmade! Contest begins October 6, 2010 and will end on October 20, 2010 at noon EST. At that time all entries will go into a hat, winner chosen and emailed. Once the winner replies and accepts I will announce it on my blog! The giveaway is open to anyone! Anywhere in the world!!




HOW TO ENTER
1. You MUST be a follower of my blog. Please leave your name in the comments so I can check.
2. Leave your email address so that I can contact you.
3. TWEET about this giveaway! (leave a link so I can find it!)
4. BLOG about this giveaway! Either by doing a blog post or putting it in your sidebar (leave a link to your blog!)
5. REFER a friend! Tell everyone you can about this giveaway so they can follow and enter too! Make sure your friend mentions your name, each time your name is mentioned will earn you one additional entry! (i.e. 10 people say you referred them to my blog, you will get 10 additional entries!)

***each number will equal 1 point. Each point = 1 entry, the more entries the more chances of WINNING! All entries will be put into a hat and my son, Owen, will be picking the winner!!


Please take some time and check out GingerKitty Design's Etsy Store, Blog, Photostream, and be sure to follow her on FACEBOOK and TWITTER!