Pleasures of meeting new people

This is a new design that I have added to my store. Let me tell you a story about the pleasures of meeting new people. I met a wonderful women named Linda who lives in Sweden. She ordered a special necklace that she designed based on items in my Etsy store.







She came up with this name necklace pictured with 2-5/8 inch charms, a white pearl, and puffed heart charm. I actually call it my Sweden necklace now. I sell it on my website and in my Etsy store.




Well one might wonder why I would call it my Sweden just because one nice women bought one. Linda writes a blog in Sweden that focuses on scrap booking. It is a very popular site that receives a lot of traffic. She took a photo of her necklace that I made for her and posted it on her blog. I have received a lot of orders from other women for the very same necklace which is why I call it my Sweden necklace. I tried to read her blog, but it is another language. I have asked her and others what it said. She said she was happy with her new name necklace.

Maybe I should call my new design my "Thank you" necklace. I recently mailed out a live, laugh, love necklace to Linda. I told her how much I appreciate her recommending me to all her friends. I have had so many opportunities to meet terrific people from another country. Just recently I have been emailing with a women about some customs she ordered for her and her friend. I asked her what it is like where she lives and she shared some neat things with me. Also, all the ladies that order speak and write English very well. I look forward to meeting more people and making them smile with a custom name necklace. Thank you so much Linda. Read her blog with her new posting about her gift. If you scan down you can see a sentence in English.

Confessions of a Jewely Maker

When I first started making jewelry I rarely had any of my jewelry on. I know terrible. I would often be asked so what do you do? Oh I make jewelry and sell it at craft shows. They would look at me and kind of look for any sign of jewelry on me. So I tried to wear a few pieces. Now I did enjoy seeing my jewelry on others it sparkled and they loved it. I made alot of crystal beaded jewelry and it was not my thing. I also should tell you it was not my thing probably because I am very plain jane and I rarely get all dressed up and jewelry is usually the finshing touch. I did enjoy wearing my beaded anklet but that was seasonal. So why am I telling you all this?


Well I think it officially started when I made these earrings for myself. I loved wearing them, but I realized I needed some other oxidized pieces to go with my new earrings. Kind of like a set, so I aquired a few pieces that were not perfect for sale but just fine for me. Now I get why people want a "set" of jewelry. I also am starting to get why people want different "sets" to match different outifts. Now for me I am very practical and I like to design that way as well. I now also have a set of shiny pieces of silver. I also have a few pieces that are multi colored so they will go with many items.(remember I said I am practical) Okay so it has happened I became a person who does not feel fully put together without a few pieces of jewelry on, even when I am running out to the store. (I even put make-up on) I am becoming high maintenance. LOL! So I went to the movies the other night. I wore the following; necklace, bracelet, earrings, ring, and an anklet. Wow can you believe it? I must say as I was out I thought you know on my other wrist it would look really nice with maybe a few light weight wire bangles maybe with a charm. (so look for them maybe in my store soon)


Note: I acquired my new necklace design because it was not perfect as I originally stamped the "l" as an "i", but it is fine for me. It is two 3/8 sized charms and 1/2 inch small but definitely there to be seen. So I hope you join me on my journey to make more jewelry for me and you.

Sharing my first creation for a man

I have a dear friend who supported me so much when I first was starting out. She hosted one of my first at home jewelry parties, she bought gifts for others from me, and she has been so encouraging to me. She is still a wonderful friend of mine and we get together as couples to play games. Well her husband liks to wear jewlery and has mentioned to me before way in the past about creating jewelry for men. I was doing alot of bead stringing at the time and did not have the vision to create for a man. Besides my husband does not wear jewelry so I just did not have a clue. Well about three months ago I was talking to the husband of my friend about his work. I think he needed some encouraging at the time and I said I am going to make you a man cuff. So I asked him his favorite verse in the bible. Well Mother's day came along and it was so very busy so I had no additional time to create something new. It was driving me crazy, because evertime I saw him I thought of the "mancuff". LOL! Well finally I made the cuff and gave it to him and he loved it. His wife says it his favorite thing. I hope he finds it encouraging. Since then I have made a few men items that I have listed in my Etsy store. (I recently made a cuff for a husband and based on what was stamped inside I think she is pregnant. How exciting that I was a part of that news. Well, maybe.)

My Coffee Cup Spider

Okay, now that I scared you with this horrific photo. Let me tell the story. We just got home late from my sister in law's house from a BBQ. The kids were in bed and my husband comes into our room saying there is a huge spider in the kitchen. I am thinking in my head yeah it is a spider but not huge, but he was very convincing. He said he went to go get a drink of water from the kitchen sink. He looked down and thought I should be screaming but he said it was so big he was in shock and just backed away from the sink. LOL! I love him but he is not the best bug killer. I went out to see this HUGE spider in my sink. OH my goodness. (Side note: kitchen sink was left a mess from making macaroni salad) So we tried to figure out how we were going to kill this massive spider as big as a full size coffee cup. My husband starts to boil water to flush it down the drain, but I just knew with it's size it would hold on for dear life and than crawl out later. So I thought we have to crush it but how it was almost on the edge and a pot is round so what can I use. I do not want to miss and have to chase this or worse miss it and wonder for the rest of my life when we will meet again. The spider was aware we were looking at it, but it stayed still so I thought I will use those steel block I have that I do not use. I thought it was brilliant and it worked. I held a 2.5 by 2.5 steel block over the spider and let it go and it barely fit underneath. So yes, I am a spider killer, but can you blame me.

Thank goodness my children are older.

I will come back and post a picture from daughter's 13th birthday cake. Can you believe it? Well I can't sometimes. She ended up having a nice day. My husband went out to get her a cake from our favorite bakery Sweet Eats. She thankfully had her birthday celebration last weekend. She wanted to go to Clementon Park so we all went. It was alright. I only went because it was a birthday request and we gave her birthday present to her early. We bought her a flip recorder. It is too cool. It is a small recorder and you can easily take still shots off of it. It take 60 minutes of video and it is easily download so you can record more. It plugs right into your tv to watch or computer. Okay back to why I am so thankfully my kids are older. I was sick this weekend. It started Thursday night just not feeling myself. Friday was my youngest daughter's field trip to Wheaton Village where they blow glass. It was neat, but I used all my energy at the park and was basically useless for the rest of the day. Saturday I woke up with a burning fever. I called out a request for the thermometer, but it could not be found. I really just wanted to prove I was sick, because I feel guilty just laying around. My husband felt my head and said oh you are very hot. Well I took lots of medicine to bring down the fever, but I still felt terrible. I got up enough energy to help straighten up so my mom could come for pizza and cake later that night. My now 13th year old opened her present and had cake and we went to my mom's down the street to watch National Treasure 2. (I went in my pj's and laid on her coach fully medicated lol!) Well I woke up with that pesky fever again today and took more medicine and after sleeping all night I slept again from noon to 5 pm. I could not believe I slept so much. Well, I have been busy getting different emails and such so I have been trying to keep up with them. I worked a little tonight just to catch up. I had two orders that reached the 7 day mark so I stress. I say a week from ordering to mailing. I now I able to send them out. I also got some others done so I will be okay. I am just thankful my kids are older, because I can concentrate on getting better. They are able to do their own thing at their age. Except I was too sick to insist that my youngest brush her hair before playing outside, my husband could care less. I think only moms care about those things. LOL! My oldest even made me dinner tonight. Thank you. She loves to cook. Hopefully I am done with my sickness, because I need my energy this week. I have family coming in from Florida tomorrow. My husband's grandmother passed. She had 95 wonderful years. So I will be a occupied with family and the service, but I will be working at night.