Great Hair Day!

Got my hair done today...needed it badly...starting to look like a shaggy dog. I love my hair short, it's cooler, easier to take care of and you don't have to spend all that time trying to figure out what to do with it. With my busy lifestyle I need something simple, something I can wash and go...! I always feel so much better when I get a fresh haircut....absolutely love the scalp massage! Katie, my hairdresser...gives the best scalp massages I've ever had...and she rubs hard and fast...then does the massage afterwards...makes you want to just go to sleep in her chair. Did some shopping at K-Mart today also...got a great surprise...I picked out a pair of capris marked $19.99....got to the checkout and found out they were marked down to $11.99. I hardly ever have that happen to me. Usually it's the other way around...I find something on sale and then I get up to the checkout and find out the tags been switched...or it doesn't fit or come in my size. So today was a good day all around. Made a nice little sale last night too. That always makes me smile. I love having my new shop at Etsy.com. They are all so supportive and helpful...I must ask lots of questions every day and I read the forums too. I can't believe all the information that is out there for someone just starting out. I was having trouble figuring out how to set up this blog the other day so I just asked a question about it at Etsy and several people jumped right in and started mentoring me. How great is that?! I have to share my experience with consignment shops. For a few months I had a booth in a small shop, downtown Melbourne and I have to say...it was not a very good experience. After a few months of paying rent to the shop owners for my booth space, I was in the hole financially..the first couple of months I made just enough to pay the rent but didn't even cover the material in the pieces I sold. As time went on, I noticed that the shop always had it's front door open and being in Florida, it gets humid alot. My beautiful sterling silver was starting to turn badly from the moisture in the air all the time. I tried to come in and clean it as often as I could but it got to a point where I couldn't keep up with the high humidity. I actually lost a few pieces they got so bad! The other thing I didn't like was when I came in to the shop originally, they told me I would be accepted because I was the only one that had sterling silver and my pieces were more high end...more fine jewelry, rather than costume. Two months later they surprised me with someone right next to my booth coming in with sterling silve, Swarovski crystals, pearls, etc. The only real difference was that she donated a portion of her stuff to Breast Cancer. When I asked about this, they just said," Oh, she was going to come in before you, but she had to delay due to health problems." Who does business like this, anyway? Needless to say, I think the only one making any money in this shop is the shop owner....who also happens to have their own artwork all over the store...and that seems to be the only artwork they seem to promote when someone comes in...they don't even get off their butt to help sell your stuff when they see someone looking at it or asking questions about it. Overall the experience was beneficial to the degree that I did learn from it...and hopefully won't make those mistakes twice. I'm much happier at Etsy and I feel confident that things will start happening for me there.

Cashmere? Do You Love It?

You have to check this place out, Cashmere Connoisseur Blog. Have you ever wondered how to take a sweater or an afghan apart so you can use the yarn again? Full instructions on how to do so are available at this blog. You can also purchase her animal that she makes out of recycled cashmere. These are really adorable teddy bears, not your standard stuffed animals that you'd find at Walmart or Toy R Us. These are animals that you'll want to keep as "keepsakes" and pass them on to generations. You can check out her etsy store at Cashmere Creations. I have two grandchildren being born in September and October, this year so I know that I'm going to be shopping there shortly. I'm going to be busy crocheting each of them an afghan (from Nanny) and since I don't know how to do the animals....these will be perfect! These are my first two grandchildren, boy and a girl, which I have been waiting for for a long time....so I'm going to be doing quite a bit of spoiling for a while...I have lots of catching up with my two older sisters. Of course, the little girl will be getting handmade jewelry by Nanny as well. Stay tune for some of my baby bracelets ideas. I'm also working on a charm bracelet for my step daughter that has to do with having a baby. I found some really cute polymer clay beads on eBay of little babies wrapped in blankets which will be the focal point of the bracelet. I've been collecting some silver baby charms to add to the mix. I will be posting a photo of it here soon so keep an eye out for it. Don't forget to check out Cashmere Connoisseur for the really special teddy bears. Goodnight!

Earrings "Mystic" Blue Larimar Clear Quart

The bracelet looked so lonely without earrings that I decided to make a pair. Loads of quartz crystal chips and blue larimar beads all handwrapped with sterling silver wire. I attached them to a sterling silver chain and sterling ear wires. They look so classy and elegant, just the right touch. I love making chandelier earrings. Since I enjoy making the little handwrapped charms, it's something that I've gotten pretty good at, so it makes sense to me to do the chandeliers. They take a little more time and effort than the regular ones but I think it's worth it when they're done. Spent the day doing some promoting, but most of my day was spent fixing computer problems. I was on the phone with Road Runner for about 3 hours, trying to figure out why my firewall kept locking me out of the internet. Turns out the firewall was faulty, not me this time...now it's fixed and it's working wonderful. I'm not a complete idiot about computers but when it comes to software problems, I don't have a clue. Well, back to the designing board...have some more ideas spinning around in my head...need to get them down on paper before they go flying out the window. Fibro fog sometimes hinders the creativity channels...I've learned to make alot of lists.

Bracelet "Mystic Dragonfly"

Oooh, I love this one so much. The gorgeous clear quartz crystal nuggets and the sky blue color of larimar gemstones makes this bracelet such a wonderful piece. I like the mixing of chunky with graceful and elegant. Lots of sterling silver square bali spacers, sterling chain, lobster clasp and topped off with a beautiful silver Thai Karen Hill Tribe dragonfly. Then I handwrapped some larimar, sterling silver bead caps and Swarovski crystal bicones into cute little charms. This is truly going to be an eyecatcher. You can find this piece for sale at: Naturally Charming Today was a great day for designing. Some of my new beads arrived so I've got some really great pieces coming up. I found a couple of great thrift store finds today also. Little miniature domino pieces and a scrabble board with all the tiles. I'll be using these things in some of my new designs I'm working on. I love using things that I find on my little hunting trips in my jewelry.

Setting up this blog...

This is alot of fun so far...confusing at first but once I found my way around, I think it's going to be okay. Now I need to learn how to get the word out that I'm here so if anyone has any ideas, I'd appreciate any advice I could get. Thanks,

Birthdays...my daughter's

Monday, June 25, 2007...Nellie's turned 28 year old. When I was 28, I went through a major life change...all my dreams, my hopes, my aspirations, my ideals changed and grew into something spiritual and beautiful. Life was a struggle but it all seemed at the time to be worth it...and it was in the end. I wanted this gift for her to be important and momentous. Something that would express who she was and where she is going. These colors are her favorites; they remind her of the ocean, the seashell, dolphins, laying in the sun, spending time with her friends. The design is something new for her, more elegant and expensive than she normally wears. She's changing her taste in style, growing into a lovely woman with maturity as she leaves her little girl ways behind. It's been wonderful watching her grow this past year and it makes me proud to call her daughter.