A new year is upon us

Well some how 2011 is underway and I have not had time to say “Hello!”.  I am still stuck focused fully on 2010.  It seems that I had about 4 packages go missing in the mail this holiday season so I had to play catch-up and re-make those items instead of working on new work as I had hoped.  The the dreaded 2010 End of Year accounting had to be done.  That entails taking inventory of all that material I still have in stock and making sure my business checking account register is fully reconciled.  No small feat considering you have to do funny accounting stuff if you use any personal money to pay for business stuff.  Oh well!
I have finally finished up with 2010 and am ready to welcome 2011.  What does that mean?  Well first I need to make some of those new items that are swirling around in my head and get them photographed!  Second, I have to re-evaluate my shop offering and the prices.  The cost of silver has doubled since I last ordered supplies….that is major.  Third I need to figure out how to better balance being a mom, a wife, an artist, a shop slave, a shipping department, a customer service department, a PR and marketing person, an accountant, a photographer, a cook, a maid, and myself.  It is a lot to juggle and I feel as if I am successfully accomplishing anything.  SO bear with me as I try to figure all of this out…

You asked for it…Ring Engraving is Here!

I have been getting soooooo many requests for inside ring engraving that I decided to offer that service.  The following are the font dials I currently have.  After the holiday rush I will take some time and make ring samples with the fonts for you, but for now I can at least share the 6 font dials I have with you!

The Hebrew Font Dial:

The Fancy Script Font Dial:

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The Greek Font Dial:

The Modern Block Font Dial:

The Modern Script Font Dial:

The Script Font Dial:

‘Tis' the Season!

Many of my friends have asked me what would be a good gift to give to co-workers, friends, holiday hostesses gifts, and for teachers.  I always find homemade ornaments to be great catch all gifts!  So I decided to make a nice set of holiday ornaments that look like Snowflakes…or stars…or flowers…whatever it is you see in it. 
They are made from reclaimed copper and aluminum and hung onto handmade copper hooks.  I made the hooks dark so that they would almost disappear in the greenery of the tree or garland that they are hung on and let the ornament take center stage.  Each ornament is about 2” in diameter.
You can buy the ornaments in person at Shared Space in Urbana, Illinois or via my Etsy website.  They come in packs f 6 ornaments and you can choose from either all copper, all aluminum or a 50/50 mix of copper and aluminum!  They all come in a gift box with a festive ribbon tied around the box, ready for gift giving! 



 

Forcing Myself to STOP and Smell the Pine Trees!

It is that time of year again…I have come to both dread it and love it, but it was not always this way.  Five years ago, before kids and before running my own business, it was a fun time of year because I got to get out all of the lights and decorate my house to the hilt and had no worries.  Gift shopping was easy because I could just go out and get whatever for whoever and not have to think about it too much.  Then came kids… the first year we didn’t do much with a little person dominating our lives, the second year I think there was no tree at all for fear that the tiny terror would pull it over on himself, the 3rd year we had baby #2 and quite frankly I don’t much remember that one at all, the 4th year had a mostly naked tree that was securely tied to the stairs so tiny terror #2 would not topple it over, this is Christmas #5 with kids (now aged 4.5 and 1.5) and I am ready to go all out again!  Or so I think, because somewhere in all of that insanity, I decided to start my own business making handcrafted silver and copper jewelry.  Don’t get me started on holiday shopping,  it has been reduced to sitting at 3am in front of my computer and cruising Amazon.com.

The jewelry making has been something I had dabbled in off an on, but with the advent of Etsy, it became feasible to make a little business out of a hobby.  And as a new mom I needed something that I could do for myself as a time out from the kids.  So my jewelry business was born.  It has been great don’t get me wrong, I am sure I would be insane if I didn’t have it.  But the only problem is this time of year puts quite a demand on any retail based business as one would expect.  And since I make all of my items as the orders come in, I feel like I an in a mad frenzy trying to get them finished rather than taking the time to enjoy the holiday and its preparations with my family.  I felt the frenzy fever kicking in just before Thanksgiving when I noticed that each time I went to check my emails I would have a new order there….great for business but stressful too.  It just happened at the same time one of my facebook friends posted that she was going to do an online photo workshop.  I decided to look into it and it sounded like it was what  I needed to force myself to take time out and focus on family. 

So the workshops have officially started and I will be posting the photo results from my “assignments” and sharing them with you….hoping that you can extract a little extra holiday joy in your life as a result!

Search Term Tuesday, Honoring the Book Lover!!!

It has been a while!  Well the little one is asleep and the older one is at pre-school, and I find myself in utter silence on a rainy Tuesday morning.  So what should I do?  Revive Search Term Tuesday of course!!!

Search term 1:  “she has read too many books and it has addled her brain”
I love that quote, it is one from Louisa May Alcott, but it really shocked me to sea that search term brought someone to my site for almost 30 mins!  I HAD to look it up.  What I found was the cutest little shop named “Bookity”.  What a great find this shop was.  I have some many friends and family who are bibliophiles and this shop is a PERFECT place to do a little holiday shopping for them.

Search Term 2:   “Sarah plain and tall”
This book is found on MANY of the required reading lists for schools and was made into a popular made for tv Hallmark Movie series and featured Glen Close and Christopher Waklen. 
First let me say this…I am a SLOPPY typer…my mind moves faster than my fingers.  When I first typed this into Google I typed “Sarah Palin and tall” and was stymied as to why all sorts of sites dedicated to Palin popped up instead of the book I thought I was searching for, DUH!  Okay so after correcting my typo, I found this site for Elizabeth Metz, who does some interesting illustrations, one of which is “Sarah Plain and Tall”.
 
Search Term 3 “e.e. cummings gift “
EE Cummings is most often thought of as an American poet, but he also did a few plays as well.  There are so many wonderful quotes that you can pull from his body of works!   I enjoyed this print with the Quote “The Earth laughs in flowers”   in the Art by Erin Leigh shop: