Infinite Possibilities Week 2

When I write my posts up on my computer I do it on a single page in Notes. Once they’ve published on Blogger I delete them and start fresh. For whatever reason I only deleted the post back to the original goals. Turns out it’s pretty handy to have them there! Then I realized I had started this post on a different page so I wouldn’t lose the “journaling” aspect on the computer - *face palm* Good think I had it “backed up” on the blog!!

Day 5 of our Journey was to envision what life will be like once your dreams and goals have become reality. That one’s kind of fun a little day dream to start the day with, puts a smile on your face for sure.

Day 6 plan and write down at least 7 baby steps that can be taken immediately that will allow me to move towards my goals. 

Steps I can take

• meal planning
• start every morning with a few minutes of cardio
• scheduling days to concentrate on different areas of business
• scheduling posts on social media so I can share them across sites on different days
• break down current projects into bite sized chunks that can be done in a day or less
• input one invoice at a time into inventory and check current supplies for accuracy
• consider how to reorganize beads and metals 
• start current year receipt folders
• look around for replacement software
• offer to help photograph or write copy for the kiddos ceramics
• start listing and adjusting tags for Valentines and Mothers Day
• clean out a spot in the basement and create a tool/supply room for my son -

 Hahaha I dreamt once my basement had become a mini mall, it seems to be on it’s way, kiddos ceramics studio, office for the boy, wood working shop for the hubs, the gym, all it needs is a jewelry kiosk - now where do you suppose I could find one of those?!

Day 7 Pay attention to the words you think and say, self correct where necessary. I like this one. I’ve been doing this since I was 16, but it is really nice to have the reminder with all the negative we get bombarded with on a daily basis anymore. I have noticed the past several years those negative words creeping into my own vocabulary - that’s where the be kinder goal comes from. Kinder to myself, kinder to my family with responsible and positive words.

Day 8  Take a hard look at the story you’ve told yourself about your life, rewrite it so it becomes empowering.  This one is going to take some thought. I pretty much already do that….. but there is always room for improvement right? My Mom has always called me a rebel because of my “just watch me” attitude, maybe it’s time to wake that part of me up again? Kind of like that Meme This is the year I will be unstoppable. This year I will be fierce. Which is a pretty cool affirmation. Rewriting that to be empowering becomes  In 2016 I became unstoppable the moment I remembered that I Am Fierce!  

Day 9 Choose beliefs that enforce your goals. He gave a couple examples that I thought fit perfectly so to be “efficient” lol I grabbed a couple of those to add to mine.

• I chose to be here to succeed, I am finding my way, it’s all making sense. 
• I’m protected, guided, and loved; always in the right place at the right time.

Day 10 oops I had in my mind combined 9 and 10 before I even knew what 10 was….. ever efficient I am! :D Choose affirmations that enforce your goals. A Mantra - well can I say how efficient it is to have already chosen efficient? lol OK I’m having fun with it now. I knew this was going to be a great start to my year!

• I am grateful for all that is unfolding in my life and all that is yet to come
• My life is prosperous and multiplies all that I have, give and receive 
• I am open and receptive to abundant good

I can actually give credit for the last two to Katie over at the Red Lotus for these, I’ve had them set up as daily reminders for a year or so now.

http://redlotusletter.com

Day 11 Surround yourself with empowering resources. Ted Talks, Notes from the Universe, groups on FB etc etc Create a book list, video list, whatever it is that supports your choices.       done done and done  I actually do this a couple times a year it really helps to recharge the batteries so to speak.  Day 12 as this posts……. I hope you’ve been playing along, this has been pretty fun so far.

Week One of Year of Jewelry had us introducing ourselves and sharing our goals for the year. I know! Our Jewelry goals, what we want to accomplish by participating, since I only made it as far as April last year my goal was pretty simple, to finish out the year, if I stumble (or my Muse takes a vacation) I’ll just pick myself up, dust myself off, and continue on.  

This years theme is Color! Week two was Monochromatic…how fun!…….

Picture Jasper, Copper, Elk Leather
Wrapped, Coiled, and Netted
I love how the patina on the copper wire mimics the coloring of the stone.

Of course after I made it I discovered the color of the month had been decided and it was pink. I actually had Rose Quartz pulled for a bracelet but set it aside to make my Owl set. Coral next week and I’m thinking red and turquoise instead of pink. We’ll have to see what my Muse whispers in my ear over the next day or so.

All in all another very productive week. I need to price and write copy but I have several new pieces to list on Amazon that should mix really well with the pieces already on offer.

Thanks for stoppin by!

We'll see you next week!

Making Time for MORE Playtime

Before Facebook there were forums, forums filled with people who liked the same things. I belonged to several forums, the community feel was really very nice. We fed upon the energy of each other. bolstering and encouraging and reaching higher and loftier heights. It was an amazing ride.

Then along came Facebook and what amounts to the slow death of forums. Groups replaced forums but the community feel just isn't quite the same. At least not for me. I see a whole lot of that's MY design and very little of let's all play with this design and see how many ideas we can come up with. No real camaraderie to speak of. Oh there is an amazing amount of support but no real push to play and move forward with the idea to try this instead of that, oooh I'd love to see it in this color, etc etc.

I miss that.

I miss the ever-present push to do better, to improve, to master.

Please don't get me wrong, I love playing and exploring the many myriad ways metals move and twist and morph into the visions in my head or sketchpad. I love learning new to me techniques. It just makes me sad to think I was playing with an idea and did nothing more with it. It makes me sad to see someone else go further with it in the direction I wanted to take it. Not because they did it, but because they remind me of what I DIDN'T do.

It also makes me glad I spent time just playing this last month and I've realized I NEED to spend more time just playing and experimenting and plain old enjoying what it is I'm doing, no matter what that happens to be.

I think I might just share some of those playtime experiments here. A little What I'm Playing With does seem to be a natural extension of What's on the Desk don't you think? Me too!

Hey! If you're stateside, today is Election day, if you haven't already, GET OUT THERE AND VOTE! Your voice does matter!

Want to know what is on the ballot here? They want the right to do whatever they want to do even if we voted on it. So not cool......  They also want to make the whole state wet. I live in a dry county.  Dry? Yup, no alcohol, gotta drive to the next county over if I want to buy a bottle of wine, made the kiddos 21st a real big deal for her. We made a special trip to the liquor store on the county line a half hour away.
What's on your ballot? Does it matter to you? Why?

Thanks for stoppin in!
We'll see you next time!

of Faith and Magic or Perception and Goals

I'm having a business/pricing crisis and since so many artists have difficulty with pricing/business I thought I'd post here as my crisis could turn out to be beneficial for someone else. :)

In one of the groups I belong to on FB, one of the members posted a set of wood/stone stretch bracelets she found priced at $175.oo. Set of 4. Cute but nothing extra special about them, just a single gemstone connector and wooden beads. At first glance I thought Wow! I am not charging enough. Breakdown the price and it's about $45 each bracelet. Looking up the components and how I charge for bracelets that aren't stretch the numbers seem to be about right. Poke around her shop and she has had 3000 sales, quite a few of these sets. That makes an estimated $90k a yr in sales.  Her shop is full of bolo leather, wooden beads, and single gemstone on a chain, prices from $150 - 890 Nothing that I can't make, using materials I have on hand. 

So why does this create a crisis for me? I look at my shop and then look at hers. She has mostly production pieces, things that can be made made quickly and easily over and over again. I have mostly one of’s with only a small handful of production pieces. We opened at almost the same time, days apart at most, I’ve averaged one sale a month, she’s averaged 11 a week and I haven’t come any where near 90k total. One third of my sales are production work,  20% is custom work, and the other half is one of. 

Until I broke down those numbers I felt the bulk of my sales were production work. I felt I wasn’t charging what I should be, I felt woefully underpriced.

When we compare ourselves to others it creates a "what am I doing wrong" thought process, and that is a dangerous place to be. It’s comparing apples to oranges.

My goal has never been $90,000 a year in jewelry sales. My original goal was a consistent one or two sales a month. Combining all sales from Artfire (I started there and moved to Etsy) sales on Etsy, sales on FB and offline I have met that goal. The whole idea when I began selling was for this to be a self supporting hobby, gold and silver, and all those sparkly things can get a little pricey :) To me meeting your goals is the definition of success, once met it’s time to set new goals.

This crisis though, has gotten me thinking about the direction of my shop, about my pricing, about business vs hobby. The moment I started selling it became a business and I have treated it more like a hobby. Oh, I’ve priced properly taking all things into consideration. Considered other avenues for sales and weighed those options for profitability, and added items based on sell ability. But still, there are things I would do as a business I am not doing now.

this showed up in my feed this am on FB pretty apt I think

Perception is a powerful thing. I don’t really like it when people say I ONLY USE THE BEST. This shop did that, she’s selling wood stretchy bracelets, and has managed to convince people they are something extra special. My hats off, she turned a simple inexpensive material into an only the best product. Maybe my crisis has more to do with marketing than pricing, as we do seem to price similarly. I understand marketing and, having been self employed since the age of 20, I know what to do. I’m not entirely sure why I resist it so much in this endeavor of mine. My hand work has always sold itself, someone sees, comments on it, a little chit chat, asks how much and orders. It’s just different online, and while I can still follow the premise it’s difficult to replicate that "in person” experience online, the warmth of the interaction, the smiles, the laughter, seeing their face when they hold it. I do however, have a couple ideas on how to maybe bring some of that warmth to the screen.

Ok then, having met my goals I suppose next is doubling, setting a dollar amount to aim for. 90k is more than I want, that’s full time work and I think I’m pretty happy with part time!  Up until now I have done nothing more than passive marketing, a little cross promotion working with Etsy teams but nothing truly marketing myself. I have felt like I might be ready to step it up a notch and have been laying out ideas and I think it just might be time to start developing those plans. End of year is coming fast and it will be time to implement them before you know it. So the next couple of months will be all about the holiday season and me planning my marketing strategy. Don’t worry I Hate a hard sell, I won’t even buy something I need if it involves a hard sell, so the plan will still include passive marketing. I’m just going to get much more creative about it.

Hopefully this has helped someone in some small way to remember to use a crisis to push you forward, don’t let it hold you back. You are worth it!

Til next time!

Thanks for stoppin by!

Of Family and Soldering…

and how simple changes can make a world of difference.

I want to to make stacking rings so badly that even though I have struggled and struggled to master soldering, I keep trying and trying and trying. For several years I’ve tried. I’ve struggled with the right torch, the right flame, enough solder, too much solder. I have adjusted every little detail I could think of save one.

This weekend I thought I would give it yet another try. Several hours and complete frustration later I was ready to give up. I didn’t though. I marched myself over to you tube and found my friend Melissa Muir’s videos. Melissa goes into great detail when she makes a video. She explains the what and the why right alongside of the how. Being left handed I need that as mentally I have to flip all I see in my head in order to mirror the actions and there are no classes local to me where I can just be told I’m doing something wrong and how to fix it.

I found a video that uses soldering and clicked. It hadn’t played for very long before I hear, you can’t just use any flux…. What? The solder won’t flow properly ….. serious? The ONE thing I never once considered.



Found a quickie how to make a boric acid flux and voila! I CAN solder! Happy Dance! I still need practice, obviously, but I am now wearing two copper stacking rings and am planning several more. This one seemingly small detail has made a world of difference for me and opens up another avenue of jewelry making I’m excited to explore!

As I mentioned in an earlier post my Grandma was gravely ill. They had decided it was time to send her home to hospice care and allow her to die in her own bed. I was heartbroken to say the least. But before my Mom could bring her home another Dr stepped in. He studied her charts and her file. Talked to my Mom and Uncle, actually listened and then made a simple change in her medication. This made such a huge difference he decided to take an xray of her chest and found a pocket of fluid pressing against her lung. She wasn’t suffering from congestive heart failure at all. Her recovery has been nothing short of miraculous! She’s currently in an assisted living center for physical therapy. She will be coming home, not to die but to live!

Never underestimate the power of small changes and persistence. They can pay off in very big ways!

oh and Yes! I am still going to donate my hair. I’m thinking another 12 inches is in order this go around. That leaves me enough to make another donation in the future.

Thanks for stopping by!
See ya next time!

What's on the Desk...

I could have sworn I posted last week, but I don't see the post I could swear I posted. Then again I had an entire post worked out in my head on Monday and thought I had written it to post on Tuesday but nope to that too. sighs

Turns out the broken tooth is a dead tooth and needs to come out, next week in fact. But I get a brand new one in it's place. Looks like I'll be pretty loopy for a day or two so if my post is a little incoherent please accept my apologies in advance!!

Erins most awesome little bead is still on walk about, sooo we've postponed our reveal date. On the bright side, Paige and I have decided on the design for it once it does arrive. I'm really looking forward to working on that with her this weekend.

What I have been working on the past week or so is my Design Challenge piece for Bead and Button. ooh I had so much going on last month I don't know if I actually said anything here. I - are you ready? - was chosen - I'm so excited!! - to be one of the designers to participate in Bead and Buttons Design Challenge!! I've been giddy ever since! I received the most wonderful assortment of beautiful little baubles from A Grain of Sand. I drool over that site on a regular basis as it is but now I'm drooling over my own desk lol I have been having so much fun playing with these and I'm so happy with the way it's all coming together - I wish I could show you....... but you'll have to wait for the February issue. Don't worry I will remind you {HUGE GRINS} so excited, does happy dance back over to my desk. haha new laptops are awesome you can dance with them!

Thank you so much for stopping by!
We'll see ya next time!

Birthday Toys and Mozart

Last month's emotional roller coaster left me tired and feeling a little drained and not much in the mood to do anything creative. So I thought I'd turn my focus into a little house cleaning in those areas that were bugging me - the dust bunnies hiding under the couch, the dust accumulating on the front edge of the ceiling fan, the clutter on the kitchen counter tops. Something physical enough to get me up and moving but inside (summer woke up from its nap!) Unfortunately I had already used up those newly written back up posts so I missed last weeks post during my need to clean - oops!

While I was sipping my coffee this morning the e-mail brought a nice little note from Pandora radio. It said "Your next favorite song is waiting on Mozart Radio" Well why not? I'm in the mood for a little Mozart. Once upon a time I played violin and Mozart is as soothing to my soul as working with my hands is. One quick click later and my foot is keeping time and the stress is melting, just that quick.

I sat reading the rest of my e-mail, foot still keeping time, and checking in on Etsy. Quiet save for the violins, not even any chatter in my brain. A smile. Then a flash of a little something and a need to grab the sketchbook. A little time with the pencils and the need spilled over to my new toys. (My birthday was last week and I got some new toys to play with) With Mozart and friends still playing in the background I played a little. Cut, embossed, patina'd and buffed. I even dapped a couple. Not quite sure what I plan on doing with them yet. There really wasn't any plan for them to begin with, but I like them and since I'm waiting on beads to arrive what better way to entertain myself!



”Every artist dips his brush in his own soul and paints his own nature into his pictures.” -- Henry Ward Beecher.

My bead from Erin should be here any time now and the beads from Bead and Button should be here by the end of the week so together should be enough to keep me creatively happy for a little while. If I forget to pop my head up I apologize in advance - I see more Mozart in my near future!

Thanks for stopping by!
We'll see you next time!

Turbulance

It's been a very strange month. The ups and downs have been a little surreal. The ups have been wonderful and the downs have been frustrating to devastating and they're happening back to back paired up like a wicked roller coaster ride. The wonderful overshadowed by the bad and then the bad eased by the good. This is life as it always has been but amplified from one extreme to another.

A Nicer Example: I'm allergic to insect bites, we had quite a bit of rain recently and the mosquitos are thick. My horse found a weak spot in the fence and opened it up like a gate, so has been free grazing the neighbors pasture (thankfully we have permission to graze him there) but I've been reworking the fence and getting eaten alive by mosquitos. We also just finally replaced the dead lawn mower and while I was mowing I discovered a hill of fire ants by being attacked by them. All the work done in the front of my mouth by my previous dentist has now fallen out and I have been reluctant to trust another dentist (the last several have been not so pleasant experiences) as a result I broke a tooth - in the front of my mouth and my lip keeps getting sucked in and bit. All this leaving me with a slightly puffy face, a broken tooth and since my birthday is coming, a drivers license needing to be renewed NOW. sigh But it was my son's birthday and we went together to get our licenses renewed, the Revenue office was empty NO LINES, we had a blast, and the new pic wasn't even remotely ogre-esque looking!

At roughly the same time Erin over at Treasures Found and of Tesori Trovati had an inspirational give-a-way that was part of her birthday and reflections of the celebration of life that was a dear friend of her family's.

She asked:

If you are a Child of God and you can do anything, what is that anything that you would want to do?

and I answered: Once upon a time I taught fourth grade art through the arts council. I taught all three of my children and all of their friends. My daughters dream is to open a store where she can also share her love of art with the local children. If I could do anything it would be to help her realize her dream, to share her passion with the kids.

And I won! Paige has agreed to work with me on this project which we promised Erin we would reveal on September 20th. I'm really looking forward to having a little playtime with Paige. We've thrown out a couple ideas already and now we're just waiting for the bead to arrive. I gave Erin our favorite colors and told her to surprise us in her choices, all her beads are gorgeous so I have complete faith this one will be as well. Paige is taking another ceramics class this year and I just may have to break out the polymer myself or resin, I haven't played with resin in ages.

Whatever we decide on, I do hope you'll join us on the 20th to see just what we've come up with! And hopefully in the meantime my life will have settled down to a less tumultuous and turbulent ride. ~~~

Thanks so much for stopping by!
We'll see you next time!

Alex's Crosses

My son Alex, my best repeat customer!

Every year he has me make several crosses for him to give as gifts. He designs them, draws up a sketch and has me create and fine tune the piece.

Not this year.

Oh, he designed and drew up sketches. But, he wanted to be the one making. So, he asked if I would teach him how to weave, and I did gladly!

So here's my proud Mama moment, My Son Made These!
I hammered out the frames for him and he did the weaving, and wrapping.


Brass with a bead filled base - I helped a little more with this one, he wanted to learn wire weaving not bead weaving lol


He wasn't content to just weave the cross for this one he also wrapped chain around the halo and wrapped beads to the chain, paying special attention to the sizes of the beads to create a pattern for a scalloped edge. I almost forgot to add, he even LOS'd it!!


This one is my personal fav. Again, I did the bead work for him - I love that detail!


This one started out a very simple cross with a couple beads in her favorite color. By the time he had finished with the others he started to feel a little badly that they were ornate and this one wasn't. Back to the design table, he dressed it up a little bit, adding swags of chain. The beads free sliding on the chain are mood beads. All week they were a pretty bluish green, I set the cross on the anvil while I snapped some quick pics and this is what I got lol Please don't hold the color change against him :)

Thanks for stopping by, taking a peek at our hand crafted Christmas goodness, and sharing in my proud Mama moment!
See you next time!
Dana

Believe

I've mentioned my favorite blog before. Brass Tack Thinking Todays post is just pretty inspiring. It's one of those "I just knew I could" stories.

Someone somewhere decided that an inspiring story had to be about overcoming adversity and this post has a touch of that too but the true inspiration comes in the form of I just knew I could.

Haven't we all done something that someone else thought impossible or improbable? But we just knew it would work and so we just did. And it did, and life was great and we just didn't get the fuss. Right?

Well if you haven't, you really should try it and you really should read this post.

http://www.brasstackthinking.com/2012/10/fate-serendipity-happiness-and-listening-for-patterns/

The guy swam 1000 miles with no special training. He just knew he could. Seriously! He knew he could swim 10 meters, so 1000 miles was a gimme. Even if it meant just swimming 10 meters at a time.

Is that not brilliant? We can all do pretty much anything a little at a time can't we? And that is what makes him so inspiring.

Let's all pick one thing we REALLY want to do but have been holding back on because the big picture was so darn intimidating. Now, what would we need to do to get from here to there? Break it down into manageable tasks. How much time will you need to achieve your first block of tasks? Set a goal and a goal date and lets do this!

I want my house finished by August and I have some writings I've been working on I would like to gel and be a little more cohesive. I've kicked around the Need to Do's but haven't actually written them down as a check list, I think it's time.

What about you? Have anything you'd like to share? Feel free to comment, if it's important to you - it's worth doing!

Thanks for stopping by!
See ya next time!