Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Duct Tape Anyone??

The hardest part about being the big sister who always took care of the little sister is letting little sis, who is now 28, find her own way. I want so terribly to fix everything and prevent her from making the same errors in life that I did, but I can't. It took her newborn daughter to teach me that as I had read enough baby books on what to do with pushy nosy people who mean well, but make you feel like you have no sense when I was pregnant and post-pregnancy as a new mommy, that I am determined not to be one of those people. It isn't like I know everything, I surely don't, but it is all I can do to just not tell her how to do this that or the other. I'm a handler, that's what I do, I handle things. If it's broken, then I fix it. If can be improved, then I improve it.

Of course, the other hard part is remembering that the child I helped raise and see more as my child than my sister, is not perfect, can be utterly disrespectful and rude and not realize it. I think it is in part due to having to find her own way and not live in big sister's shadow perhaps, I don't know, I am guessing. But then, perhaps too, she lets her guard down and is more her sassy self with me than with anyone else. I know people have told me she was quiet and shy and quite frankly she isn't quiet very much with me, so I don't see that side. I think I see the real side....... It is ironic, that the harder she has tried to find herself, she became more like me and doesn't even see it. We certainly have our differences - she likes conservative and my wedding dress that I had hoped she would want to wear just wasn't her. My train draped on the floor probably 6 feet once it touched the floor. I don't even remember her dress having a train, I don't think it did.........She likes smaller petite jewelry pieces and me? Well, I like them all - from big and chunky to delicate and light. She likes to keep the peace and please folks and after my own childhood - pleasing people is not real high on my agenda. I pretty well promised myself that what went on when I was a child would not happen post 18. She always had the big sister factor to guard her and catch her when she fell, but of course, I wouldn't let her fall. Our family was broken, so I took care of her in ways she'll never know or understand and that's ok. I didn't do it so that she would remember when she was hitting 30. I did it so that her life would be different than mine and it is and that is a good thing. She's a clean freak and I'm the opposite. Her scissors are in the drawer, me - well, I have to look for them. I finally just bought several pair and put them in different drawers. She throws away things and I keep them. She's petite and I'm totally not.

Funny, by doing my best to not give her a bunch of advice on babies, she has asked me more questions and then asked me why I didn't tell her sooner.....................I told our mutual obgyn about that chat and she said that sis wouldn't have listened before she was ready to ask the question anyway.....................

Sometimes a big sister just can't help but trying to find the nearest roll of duct tape and taping her own mouth shut so I don't tell her how to do things. Funny, she doesn't want me to tell her how, but she doesn't want me to let her fall either. What's a gal to do???

Duct tape anyone?

First Winner

The shop owner of http://www.lilsoutherngirl.etsy.com is the winner of the first jewelry giveaway. I will be mailing her earrings to her shortly.

Congrats!

Mignon

Saturday, January 24, 2009

New Photos
















January 25, 2009 Last Day

Alright guys, this is the last day for bloggers to follow blog instructions to enter drawing for my first jewelry giveaway. :) This is fun and I will be doing it again and likely again.........................Winning one week does not exclude you from entering the next week. :)

Mignon

What I've Been Up To :)
















Some New Postings and/or Updated Photos in Shop

The darling purple set and heart earrings for children are new. I almost couldn't decide how to list the heart earrings as I would have just as much fun wearing the heart earrings as any child would. :)

Also, please remember chain extenders can be added to most any necklace I design, just ask. :)

I have more postings to add and more photos to update, so keep checking in on me and my shop. :0)

I had two sales today and 3 sales this week, yey!!!!!

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Latest Designs

I have several new designs to post. I just have to do my photo shoot for the new pieces first. I have two sets for girls, both in blues and purples with yellow smiley faces. They look really cute. I have this really adorable girl's sterling silver wire-wrapped earrings that have a polymer clay heart for the main bead and I have some lapis earring sets as well. I finally decided on the earring design for my mother of pearl necklace that is already in the shop and will be adding the earrings to the set shortly. I'm still comtemplating my next set. I decided to keep the first lapis necklace set as the lapis was actually a gift from my husband a while ago, but I like the design so much that I will post it to my blog and will eventually design a lapis set to sell and if I get a request, then it will be sooner rather than later. I also have a custom design to finish for the shopowner of http://www.knotaway.etsy.com
My 14 yr. old cat was nearly killed by a dog today, so today was rather done at that point. Jasmine is safe and I have a new shotgun - yep, city slicker done gone country, oh boy. No body told me that when I moved to the country that I would become a smidgeon less city slicker after a decade or so of living out here........You guys better watch out as after another 10 years of living out here, I just might, just might, start saying 'ya'll' instead of 'you guys'. I may even start saying 'coke' for any carbonated drink instead of saying 'soda', but I doubt it, lol, but then again, I never thought I would be wanting to target practice with my Remington. Holy cow, I have my own Remington................................lol.

Free Giveaway

Ok, so the following shop owners have put their names in the pot for the first giveaway of pearl earrings.

http://lilsoutherngirl.etsy.com

http://knotaway.etsy.com

Check their stores out. They have both been on my favorites list for quite awhile!!!! :)

Mignon

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Prayer Requests January 20, 2009

This is a new section for my blog where you are welcome to leave requests for prayer and it doesn't have to be big things. The more we stand together, the stronger we are. Feel free to add your favorite scriptures. There are so many times that we feel like we are alone and that there is no one else who cares, even when we are surrounded by friends and family, so this is a place where you can come, leave your prayer requests and pray for others. We can even add dates later when the prayer was answered. I have been doing this on my own with a handwritten list that I keep in a drawer in the bathroom. I read over it, pray over it, and add dates for when the Lord answers a prayer. It helps me remember that He does answer prayer, but on his time schedule and not mine, i.e. He is never early nor ever late, but right on time. :) By seeing the start of a prayer and the completion of a prayer, it brings me comfort in knowing He heard me and when it takes a long time for a prayer to be answered, then I can realize by seeing it in print that He had a reason for not answering a prayer when I thought He should. :-)

Sunday, January 18, 2009

Unsung Hero

Have you ever thought about heroes being everyday joes that do something extraordinary??? Heroes are sinners, like the rest of us, but they have a trait or a quality that sets them apart and makes them special, at least to the person for which they are the hero. I remember as a child going to a carnival and a 'spiderman' was there. It was really a grownup in a costume, but it didn't matter, he was spiderman on that day, but even as a child, a comicbook character didn't foot the bill as a hero for me. I just thought it was cool that I had met 'spidey'. I remember a little boy whose mother's idea of teaching him to swim was making him jump in the deepend of the swimming pool and figure it out. I was the only other person in the pool and I was 10, a good swimmer, but not match for saving a little boy who weighed double my weight, but he was drowning and his mom just stood there watching him splash and choke on water. He kept sinking further into the pool and was coming up lower each time. He wasn't learning to swim, he was learning to drown. His mom just kept yelling at him. I had finally had enough and swam to him. He kept pulling me under and I finally figured out to gulp a big breath the next time I pulled up before he pulled me under and then to swim with him while I was under water. To that little boy, I was his hero, but all I really was doing was doing what had to be done before he became unconscious. His mother yelled at him about how stupid he was and that if I hadn't been there she would have had to have gotten her clothes wet. R U kidding me?
Heroes take on many shapes and sizes. In this year of learning to appreciate small things like standing and walking and being able to use my mind again, my heroes have been the people who held a door for me as there have been many people I have found who don't hold a door open for a handicapped person. My handicap is much better and I may even get well one day, but what hurts is knowing there are handicap people who are permanently handicapped and if people let doors slam in my face this year when they fully saw I wasn't able to easily get it, then think what it must feel like to a handicap person who goes through years and years of having doors fall shut inches from their faces while able-bodied Americans see them and choose to ignore them and let doors fall in their faces.
I have even found a new group of species of heroes. This group of people really get a bad rap as a group, so single individuals in the group really take a beating. The group I am talking about is, strangely enough, lawyers. I never dreamed I would think that, but after this year, I now realize there are attorneys out there who are pitbulls, but they are pitbulls to defend the weak, the handicapped, and they defend those who cannot defend themselves. There are attorneys out there who actually have morals and are heroes for everyday people, like me.
I must ad that my specialist for this past 16 months is also my hero. She didn't give up when I wanted to. She has a strong personality and many people don't like her, but she gets an A in my book, because she has done her medical best to help me this year.
My husband was probably my first hero in my life and he continues to be my hero. He is very much human and is by no means infalliable or perfect. He was my hero 21 years ago when he bought me food, clothes, and took me to the doctor for basic medical care, and he continues to amaze me by having been my hero again in the last 16 months of my injury, 4 surgeries, 5 months of physical therapy, countless doctor's visits, I stopped adding up the medical bills when they hit $100,000, not to mention the debilitating medication I was on for much of 2008. His house cleaning skills are horrific, but he has washed most of the clothes in 2008, cooked nearly all the dinners in 2008, and saw to it that I ate, took care of both our son and me when I could not, and even saw to it that I smiled no matter what it took. He continues to work on getting me to smile, washing clothes, and cooking dinner. Heroes aren't perfect, they're human, like you and me, but when faced with a challenge, they step up to the plate and swing the bat. I must say that I have been quite a challenge for the last 16 months and I owe a lot to the man I married as he took care of me when I couldn't take care of myself and when so many others haven't realized just how traumatic this year has been, he knows and he keeps working on making me smile. He says that when I smile the whole world lights up........

Jewelry Update etc.

I uploaded the 'Modern Art' marble set to the shop today.

I actually completed a Lapis set today with necklace and earrings today. I also made a couple pairs of lapis earrings for the shop and a couple pairs for FWB. I will have to be shipping my first package of jewelry to FWB very soon.

Our son and I painted in our new 'family arts and crafts room' as he got a rather large pack of paintbrushes for Christmas and has been itching to try them out. He will turn anything from a paperplate to a tissue roll into something he paints, glues, decorates, and gives to us as presents. Of course what you do expect when he is born into an artist family. :) We are in the process of redesignating the purpose of various rooms, which is the benefit of having a home that dates back to the civil war and likely pre-dates the civil war. Anyway, the design of the house allows for changing the purposes of various rooms and what had been a bedroom is now the family room. It works for us. :) Now, if I can just get back to working, then perhaps we can get back to remodeling..................

Saturday, January 17, 2009

Don't forget to register for the giveaway (Pearl earrings)

Go to my blog for the directions about blogging my blog site and shop site and leaving a comment on the blogsite directing me to your blogged entry. The drawing ends on January 25, 2009.

Mignon

Update on Jewelry etc.

Wow, it's cold!!!

Etsy is working again, yey!!

I just uploaded a pair of pearl earrings to my shop, like the ones in the giveaway on my blog, only the set in the shop aren't free. :)

I just changed a darling pair of earrings to a PIF in the shop, as I had a PIF sell this week. A PIF is a Pay It Forward posting where the posting's price is greatly reduced, and may or may not even cover costs for the piece, and in return you are asked to Pay It Forward by doing something nice for someone else. Other than on your honor that you will do something nice for someone else, you may only buy one PIF posting per transaction.

I have the 'Modern Art' set to post, perhaps tomorrow. It is ready. I really wish I had bought more pink marble now, rather than the one strand.

I also have a great pair of charcoal and black marble earrings to upload, just in time for Valentine's!!! :0)

We had a nice time visiting my new niece this afternoon! :) She's 4 weeks old and beautiful. We also picked up the pottery we had painted. We did a few extra things with our son last week to distract him from the family's sadness over the loss of our dear pets. Our son painted two ring holders to give as gifts as he chooses - he can paint anything he chooses when we go, within reason, but he likes to paint things that he can give as gifts. I painted a new vase/glass to hold some of my paint brushes. So, the better paint brushes are moving up from a mason jar to a painted, kiln fired piece of pottery. :) I'll have to upload a picture or two of a couple of my latest painted cards for hubby. I'm no Picasso, but my family loves my paintings and that's enough for me. Hubby would rather all my cards be handpainted versus store bought. Yes, he is a bit spoiled. :)

The FWB shop looks very promising. My jewelry may be in FWB in less than 3 weeks!!!!!! Pray it does well. I hope so as it is a tourist town. Visiting the shop where my jewelry is listed is more than enough reason to make a visit, but now it will soon be a tax writeoff, once this hobby of mine is supporting itself and perhaps making a little money. :)

I also started a Lapis Lazuli piece today. :) I'm ready to see how it turns out. The Lapis is old stock that I have been saving until I came up with a design. I have a design for it now. I may make two - one for the online shop and one for FWB.

Mignon

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Free Jewelry Give Away







I have just completed the earrings for my first give away on my blog!!! :) The earrings are titled:



'Emerald Coast'






These dainty little earrings would be great as a happy for yourself, for a happy for a friend, and would even be great for that special daughter. You know girls, they love getting presents.
What you are entering is for a chance to win a pair of pearl earrings.


Description:

The earrings measure approximately 3/4 of an inch long.

Materials: pale green pearls, copper spacers, sterling silver headpins and jumprings, surgical steel posts, and a pair of rubber ear clutches is included with the give away. Rubber ear clutches are great for securing french hooks on the ears and help prevent earring loss. There is no cost to you, no shipping for you to pay. You will recieve your gift in my traditional cute packaging that I do for all my sales in my shop - http://jewelrybymignon.etsy.com/

Requirements to enter:

1. Blog my Etsy shop on your blog. http://jewelrybymignon.etsy.com/

2. Blog my blog on your blog. http://jewelrybymignon.blogspot.com/

3. Come back to my blog and leave a comment with the URL where I can find your blogs.
4. Make sure you leave a way for me to easily contact you in one of the following ways - your email, your blog page, or your Etsy shop page. OR, you may also be responsible for remembering to check back in on my blog to find out who won and then you may contact me via my blog or my shop.

5. Optional - for a second entry, you may add my blog to the blogs you follow.
6. Free shipping is limited to the United States and Canada.

The contest will run from today through January 25, 2008. The winner's name, shop, and or blog location will be posted on my site for the contest winner. Future drawings will follow. The winner will have 5 days to contact me. If I am not contacted by the winner, then the give away will be relisted.
Good luck.

Free Earrings Give Away etc.

I'm currently working on several things.

One, I just created my first pair of earrings for a 'give away' on my blog. You may enter the drawing by blogging about my shop AND blog about my blog and give the URL to both of my online locations. You may have your name put in a second time by adding my blog to the blogs you follow. Once you have completed blogging my shop and adding the blog to the blogs you follow, then come back to my blog and write a comment with your URL where you blogged about my shop and blog. Provide me a way to contact you either through your blog page, an email address, or your shop page. I can contact you via the convo option on Etsy, if you have a shop.

Two, I am also working on my latest PIF, aka Pay It Forward. The new PIF can be found within the next few hours at my shop. A PIF may or may not cover basic costs. There are only two requirements for a PIF. 1. only one PIF per order. 2. I ask you to Pay It Forward in some way. Either offer a PIF in your own shop, if you have a shop, or do something nice for someone, for anyone, that you weren't already planning to do for that person.

Three, I'm working on a custom turquoise order. It is turning out great! :)

Four, the 'Modern Art' set is ready for upload, so will have to take the time to get it posted very soon in the shop. :)

Look for the photo for the free pearl earrings to be on here directly. :)

I'm totally winning this!!

So, no one go to the blogger site listed in the post beneath this one as I want that pillow!!!!!! My sister would love it!!!! And babies are so expensive, geez!!! And, worth every single penny!!!!!

:)

Baby Pillow Giveaway!!!!!!!!!

Oh, there's a giveaway of one of the baby neck pillows for the car!!!!! Go to goldtonedesigns blogsite and check it out!!!

http://goldtonedesigns.blogspot.com

How cool is this!!! I definitely must add a giveaway each month to my blog!!!!!

Goldtonedesigns.etsy.com

I just came across this fabulous infant neck pillow for carseats. My little niece's head just falls over when she's in her carseat. We always folded up a cloth diaper or thin baby blanket to make a neck roll for our son. This is a great thing to have. The shop also has toddler neck rolls. Even now, our son's head falls over in his carseat when falls asleep.

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5215616

Modern Art
















This is my current work in progress. I always love the latest piece the most, but I can't keep everything.........I only bought one strand of the pink marble and it goes so well with the gray and charcoal marble. The chandelier earrings just make the set come alive. My interpretation of this set is of an abstract modern painting of sky scrapers with luminous gray clouds overhead and just at dusk, the final pink rays of sunlight peak through before darkness arrives...reminding us that hope is eternal.






























Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Personal Collection


This chocolate and caramel piece, which is a bit darker than the picture shows, is one of my favorites as I love shades of caramels and various browns in clothing so to have a coordinating accessory set is great. That, and it makes me smile.

There's no sense in having jewelry if it doesn't make you smile.

marble, jasper, and Japanese Miyuki glass, in sterling silver.



Our son made me stop working on designing and making everyone's Christmas one night right before Christmas, when I was really on borrowed time as nearly all presents outside of our family of 3 were handmade, painted, beaded, etc. and time was short. He demanded incessantly that I stop making everyone else's Christmas present because he wanted to make me one. Every year, there is a defining moment, when Christmas arrives in my spirit. Christmas is my season. I don't need the decorations, but I love Christmas so very much that it is my time of the year to see the world as a child sees the world with wonder and delight and amazement and for many years, I have been collecting Christmas trees, I am nearly up to at least one, if not two trees, in every room, but not this year. That evening sitting by my son on the sofa, with my beading board, warming by the gas fireplace, and going through his various collections of beads with him and using some of Mommy's beads was the defining moment for 2008. I really didn't think I was going to have my annual Christmas moment this year as the year had been so hard and so traumatic and it was already 3 days before Christmas and my weary spirit had just not been moved by the season no matter how hard I wanted it to be, but from an unexpected moment from a source that should have been expected, my heart was touched, the ice was shattered, and for a moment the trauma of the year washed away. We sat there by the fire for well over 2 hours, maybe 3 hours, til way past his bedtime, while he went through all the beads to hand select each individual one, with some only being a milimeter in length, and I crimped an end of a strand of beading wire for him so that he could string up a necklace for his Mommy. I can tell you that his eye for design is already formed and that his symmetry is right on, but I'm not for even though it is those things, that really isn't the point, what I am going to tell you is that this little necklace is my favorite because it reminds me of the gift my son gave me that he is too young to understand - he gave me Christmas 2008. It was in those moments sitting by my son for those few hours that God sent me a message that He was with me and holding me in the palm of his hand.

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Personal Stock


This is a piece I designed for me. I love green, serpentine, and jasper, so I couldn't resist. :) I'll be sharing some of personal collection on my blog as I do not necessarily recreate every piece unless I receive a custom request. Many times I order only enough gemstone beads for one to two sets or sometimes I come across a singular bead that is phenomenally beautiful and it is not always easy to find an abundance of a particular coloration or visual pattern in a gemstone, such as the center (focal) jasper gemstone.


Baby Clothes etc.

Try this site for the most adorable children's clothing, bibs etc. The owner of this shop is a Mississippi girl and a fellow Etsian and quickly becoming a friend. :0)

http://lilsoutherngirl.etsy.com

Check her out!!

Mignon :)

(have a great day filled with lots of joy!)

We Love Etsy

Just joined a sweet group with lots and lots of members on here - 'We Love Etsy'. It is so much fun to be in the middle of a bunch of artisans and crafters and it is the next best thing to living in Eureka. :)

First Custom Order

My first custom order is almost complete and ready for viewing, yey!!!! It will be received before Valentine's Day for Valentine's Day, I think.

Check out her shop as well. She is a fellow Mississippi Etsian and I am looking forward to what she posts in the oncoming weeks.........

Knotaway.etsy.com


I'll be posting the two pieces very soon.

Mignon

First Custom Order

Yey!!! I worked on a custom order for a fellow Mississippi Etsian artisan. She's given me some specifics about a turquoise pendant for herself and corded necklace for her husband with turquoise on it as well.

Her website on Etsy is Knotaway.etsy.com

Check her shop out as she has some pretty things. I love her notecards in particular and I can't wait to see what she posts next.

So, I'm playing around with the design for her husband's necklace at the moment and her pendant is nearly finished for her first viewing and we'll go from there with a thumb's up or making minor changes.

Giving people a reason to smile is fabulous.

Monday, January 12, 2009

Children with Special Needs

You can't imagine how children who are in exceptional education are treated, even by adults, even by regular education teachers. I have seen teachers be mean to these students. I've seen teachers give these children coloring sheets instead of real work. I've even known special education teachers who didn't let their children do their own work. I've literally repeatedly watched as teachers would daily veer to the far side of a hall just to get around a special child and they did not do this for regular education students. I've even come across a fair share of school administators who could not stand my students. If you don't love them all, then you are in the wrong profession. I've not only had to change the views of teachers, but of parents, and of other students who had a misinformed perception of exceptional students, but I have also had to change the students' perceptions of themselves. I worked very hard every year to make my class the 'coolest' as possible. It paid off, I had countless regular education students wanting to be in my class. I coached cheerleading, which meant my beautiful squad of cheerleaders were in and out of my room all day - hence, the cheerleaders' perception changed and my students had the luck of interacting with regular education students, which helped their self esteem. It did not hurt their egos one bit that their teacher ran the pep ralllies!!! Of course, I had to figure out how to run a pep rally first............

Children are children first. The disease, the disability, the deformity, the need(s), the behavior - they are all secondary. You can't catch what my students have. They are people and they are no better and no less than you. For those of you who treat my students and those like them well and equally to other children, then there is an extra star in Heaven for you.

By this all men will know you are my disciples, if you love one another. John 13:35

And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one these little ones...he will certainly not lose his reward. Matthew 10:42

...stand your ground. And don't hold back...Throw yourselves unto the work of the Master, confident that nothing you do for him is a waste of time or effort.
1 Corinthians 15:58 (The Message)

Jewelry By Mignon

I have an invite to display my jewelry in late winter in a shop in FWB. How cool is that???? I have someone from Arkansas interested in seeing my work in person and wants me to sell in Arkansas!! What am I saying, I want to sell in my beloved Arkansas! People like my jewelry! Yes!! It is one thing for family and friends to want it, love it, and wear it and even another thing for strangers to stop me on the street to ask where I obtained whatever designed and hand-crafted piece I am wearing on that day, but it is another when folks from different states want my jewelry. My first sale online went to California. This is pretty awesome. It will be interesting to see where this leads in the future. Once I obtain jewelry cases, I have a place I can sell in Mississippi already, pending an artisan opening at the time I am ready. I was just told today where I could set up to sell locally for a very reasonable booth fee, but of course I haven't invested in a tarp etc. yet, and tarps are useful if it rains..............must get a tarp and frame!!!! I would also love to do the Canton Flea Market, but then I love to go to the Canton Flea Market, so would have to get someone to man the booth while I went shopping...............I'm really interested in seeing where this leads once I post torched designs - I really must get back into silversmithing this year. I have some wirewrapped designs that I plan to do this year too and I'm ready to wear them, so the first ones will be mine. :) I can get gold, but with the economy in the slammer, I'm not in a hurry to invest in gold unless I have a custom request. Gold is running between 800 and 900 per ounce and even at wholesale, that is expensive!!!! I do at least have accounts with the same wholesalers as jewelry stores. I can even get diamonds when I am ready, just not the multi-thousand dollar ones, which I wouldn't want anyway!!! I do have a design hubby wants to see me do in diamonds and he is right, it will be beautiful, but of course I'm going to be tempted to keep the first set I do..........must fight temptation................I just gave a friend her jewelry for her belated Christmas present and she was beside herself and it was a very simple design. Now she's taking my business card to work and sharing with her co-workers who are apparently all women who love jewelry. Yey!!!Almost everyone in the family/dear friends have gotten their Christmas presents, aka jewelry made by me, by now, and they all loved everything. I have I think 3 folks left to give presents to who I haven't seen yet. It is truly harder designing for family than it is for the web store, as I think so hard about their hair color and cut, and eye color, and favorite color, and predominant clothing style, and and and.............it just is very hard to settle on a design for a family member. Hubby wasn't sure about a very pricey turquoise strand I did for his mom, but little did he know the time I put in thinking about her personality and etc., she loved the set!!!!!! The center piece was petrified wood and it just really made the set beautiful. I definitely want a set like that for me one day.............lol. That is the benefit of being the designer, I can make me something when I want to, which limits hubby on what he can buy me that I can't already make and don't already have loose in a drawer. I did give my sis the set she really wanted from the web shop and it looked like her, so I had to make a new Obsidian set for the shop. The great thing about Obsidian is that it is natural and not dyed, and looks very close to onyx, but has some chatoyancy that onyx does not have. Onyx, however is white, it is dyed black, and when it is chipped, then the white shows through. I just got my advertising cards in so I can mail them out to boutiques I am interested in, whenever I am ready. I have to get more stock made up though and I need a good 100+ pieces for the website shop, so I have things to do, besides shooting wild dogs, and maintaining our home.I must create my blog site too. Busy Busy Busy. Well, considering idle hands are the devil's workshop, he has no workshop here!!!!! Oh, I also have to get my portfolio in order. Kind of hard to do appointments with boutique shops without a portfolio.It is one thing to have a dream and it is another to see that it may actually happen and is starting to happen. How awesome is that??? I have my first custom order that I am currently working on and should have finished soon. It would already be finished this weekend if it wasn't for the wild dogs and putting up the fence and staying up half the night waiting on the dogs to show up.I just finished my first repair request and earring replacement request last week. I am about to be receiving my second earring replacement order. It is fun to be able to make someone smile who has lost one of their favorite earrings thinking they wouldn't ever be able to find a replacement.............Honestly, the best part of this whole thing, well two best parts are: one, designing jewelry makes me smile and I've needed smiles this year, and two, the jewelry makes other people smile, even people who just admire it and give compliments. Being an artisan and creating smiles is truly awesome!!!!It is truly amazing to see what God can do with a dream that no one even knew you even had. I'm not in a hurry to rush through the chapters in my life, but I do wonder where this little dream will be in 20 years.