It's the most wonderful time of the year....

..well, in theory anyway! lol! All 5 of my little ones have had the flu, ear infections and 2 with pneumonia this past week. Did I mention that I too have had the flu and pneumonia at the same time?! UGH! Needless to say, not a fun week! Everyone seems to be on the mend. I need to see about getting some antibiotics for myself tomorrow as I have neglected myself with the kids being ill. Time to take care of me! I'm still not sure about the baby as she was SO miserable today! She is usually such a happy girl, but today all she did was cry :( I'm hoping it's just being overtired due to the constant coughing....perhaps another check at the pedi for her tomorrow as well.......
The jewelry orders have been rolling in for holiday gift giving! Such an exciting time of the year. I think it's so nice to give something personalized. If you can't make it yourself, then giving something that has been made just for that person is perfect. I've done lots of custom work lately and today I did a piece that I've fallen in love with! I have so many necklaces that I've made for myself, that I really don''t need another one, but I just might have to do one for me!!! I have had such a hard time getting the rimmed circle pendants lately. A customer had ordered a family necklace about 5 weeks ago using these pendants. I've tried so many different suppliers and they are all OUT!! So frustrating! Fortunately my customer has been super patient and understanding. I've been in touch with her to keep her posted and today I offered a solution that she was happy with. I made the rimmed pendants myself!! I have made some before, but I hadn't thought to offer it to her as the ones she had picked had a fancy bail at the top that I really didn't think I could duplicate. Well, turns out she liked mine better anyway! lol! I spent most of the day on her piece as it had multiple charms on it and she wanted it oxidized as well. It is just SO unique and beautiful! I will post pics here as well once the battery has charged. Well, as I admitted to right from the beginning, I am not great about posting here too often. As the holidays approach I imagine I will be even worse! lol! I do post on my fan page daily which is linked to twitter to those of you who'd like to follow me there ;)

I have to be better about posting!

Well, it's been about a month since I last posted! Yikes! I will try to be better! Life has been crazy getting back into the school routine. Now with 4 kids having homework, it means I have homework! lol!
I had an open house at my home yesterday along with my mom. We both make country/primitive crafts. (Yup, I somehow squeeze that in to my schedule too!) We had our first OH last year and had a great time. It was in Nov. so we focused on Christmas items. We thought that the next time we should have 2 so we could focus on fall/Halloween for one and then xmas for the other. It worked out well and we had a pretty good turnout! I also included my jewelry and sold some of that as well. Our next one will be Nov. 14th, so after taking a little break, I'll be back to crafting for that as well!
I've begun a new line of soldered jewelry. I just love it!! I was afraid of the torch initially, but now I fire it up w/o a second thought! Next I'd like to try my hand at PMC (precious metal clay). It starts out in clay form, but once it's been fired it becomes 999 fine silver. I hope to give that a shot within the next month or so.
Well, that's my brief version of the goings on here! Please suggest my etsy site to friends! I can use all the help I can get to make my shop a success! Also, be on the lookout for my mom's new etsy site. I hope to get her up and running this week! She makes BEAUTIFUL country items!! Her site will be www.grammyscountryporch.etsy.com

Sale

Well, I was right! I am not very good at keeping up with this blog! lol! Perhaps I will get better about it as time goes on. I only have 1 follower so far (thanks btw :) ) , but what can you do? Anyway, I am having a sale right now, buy any bracelet or necklace and get a pair of earrings at 50% off. This is going on through tomorrow.
I wish I had some better ideas of how to better market my product. There is a lot of competition out there right now for hand stamped jewelry!! I know that one thing that sets me apart is the fact that I solder all my jump rings. Most out there do not take this extra step! Yes, it's time consuming, and we know time is $$! However, I really feel that this is an important step. I use thick jumprings which is very important and some would argue that it's enough, BUT how many times have you caught a teeny, tiny corner of something on a sweater or gloves etc and BOOM! Your beautiful piece of jewelry is broken and now it's time to find someone to repair it!!
Well, that's my piece for the day, lol!!

New to this whole blogging thing!

Well, setting up a blog is something I've THOUGHT about for awhile now. Actually getting it done is something else altogether, lol! SO, here goes! I'm not sure how often I'll actually post on here, but perhaps it will become as addicting as FB has become for me ;-)