New Years Eve -hidden giveaway-

What will the new year bring? Yet again, it's time for those resolutions to be brought out and even though most fail, we try.

What are yours?

Mine:
Cut down to 1 soda a week (I'm currently at 3 a day)
Become more organized for the shop
Be pregnant by Christmas. I know I can't really make it happen, other than the obvious way. But it's something I want to prepare for. Be healthy, be on my medicine, things like that.

I'm working on more Valentines projects, but I haven't photographed them yet, which I need to.

Right now, taxes and wholesale have pretty well taken over my thoughts for the new year. I'd like to branch out, become more known locally. Things like that.

Here's one new project though:


I did get some new copper washers in I'm excited to stamp on. I also have aluminum washers I've put something on, but I need to attach it to a chain. Not sure how I want to attach it yet.

Right now, the aluminum bar is still waiting to be stamped. If you can tell me something to put on it I'll let you have it for free. It doesn't swivel, just to warn you. But it's light, smooth and a good size. It could even be a good key chain.

Tell me what to put on it, and if it should be a key chain or necklace and it's yours. I can only take the first two requests due to limited supplies.

The bar measures 1/4 x 1/2 x 1 1/2


I'm also contemplating taking on this 52 week challenge. It's a challenge to yourself to create one new project a week. One week it might be to make X amount of gift boxes, or create X new jewelry pieces, etc. So we'll see! I'll update each Monday with how it goes.

See you all in the new year!

Today is Christmas day

If you celebrate Christmas, Merry Christmas to you! If you do not, Happy Holidays to you! Either way, this is a happy season for most.

I've come up with some more Valentines Day designs. The cuff, I am in love with.


I also have a new ID bracelet designed to hold two names. I'll work my way up to four so that those who want less than six names will have options as well.


I also had a somewhat secret project over the last few months. I offered stamped washers to the ladies of the online group I'm in for an ornament. I also used hemp of their choice to hang it and sent them in holiday cards.

Here is the collage of the pictures I received from the lovely ladies.



Last night I set up Noah's work bench I picked up during Black Friday. It was fun to see his face when he realized it was there as we came down the stairs this morning. He has been playing with the drill and hammer all morning.


Noah also got a train set from my parents. I don't know who has more fun with it, us or Noah. Haha. He does enjoy using his Thomas, James and Victor on it though. They all have magnets that hold the trains together. It's also fun when they fall off and Noah yells out "No No, Oh No!"
This is how it's designed to be set up, but we change it around quite a bit. It's fun!


All in all, though I've been sad, this has been a very enjoyable Christmas. Tonight we go see Aaron's parents and Noah gets his first tricycle!

Wishing you all a safe, happy and warm Holiday.

Yay!

So, my very first cuff bracelet was talked about in a blog! Ok, not my very first one. Mainly because that one had the wrong date. Haha.

A fellow member of an online group I am in for women who have had losses received a memorial cuff. She requested I stamp "In memory of our johnny appleseed 9-13-10" in the memory of her lost little one.

Click here to see it!

I've also been working on fixing up the shop and adding items. Recently I've added some new creations of a copper cuff, bronze cuff and three toned necklace.

Copper cuff:

It's a pre-made Valentines gift stamped with the word "Love" and two hearts. It can have a name or quote stamped on the inside if needed. I'll also list the option for a personalized one. Click to view listing

Bronze cuff:

This has a beautiful quote I found that says, "you don't lose by loving, you lose by holding back- De Angelis". I loved that quote as soon as I read it. While it's not listed yet, it will be right after Christmas in both the pre-made and personalized options to make it yours.

Three toned necklace:

This is a necklace made of aluminum, copper and bronze squares stamped with "Live Well, Laugh Often, Love Much". Also a perfect Valentine gift. I'll soon be listing the chance for you to make it personalized on each square. Click to view listing

I've also newly listed a binary necklace/key-chain, ID bracelet and personalized square washer necklace with Mother, Daughter, Sister, Friend stamped on it.

Visit my shop to see the newest listings, I'll break them down for you tomorrow!

This is most of what has kept me away for nearly 10 days! It's been a madhouse of packaging, printing, mailing, stamping and convo'ing.

I don't remember the last time I went to sleep before 12am. Haha. The "Christmas rush" is pretty well over it seems. Just getting out the last few bracelets and necklaces to get out.

Don't let me get bored!!!

Custom Creations Galore!

I've been having so much fun creating beautiful pieces of jewelry for everyone!

Here are some things I've been working on!







The cuff and both sets of earrings can be purchased in the shop! Also, the cuff can be personalized as well. I just haven't gotten the listing up yet.

Remember! If you want to have your own creation not up on the Etsy site, or make changes to what is up, please check out the DIY page for what's available! Never hesitate to ask for something and remember that I can get all different kinds of blanks to stamp for you.

Business! Craziness! Awesomness!

I must say, I don't even have the time to be here! I have so many orders I stayed up until 1am working. I love it!

What's going on right now.....

1 save the date necklace and 1 save the date keychain



1 personalized bracelet





What is in the works.....

1 mother-in-law bracelet
1 copper and hemp braided bracelet
1 necklace with two hearts and birthstones
1 personalized sterling silver and hemp bracelet
3 necklaces for 2 sisters and mom
1 school spirit necklace
1 cuff bracelet

Can you tell I'm busy!?

I also have to send out the family Christmas cards as well as my online card exchange ones and finish up the gifts for my online ladies!

Whew.

I'm loving the holiday season.

Camera Fail

Well, as it turns out, new technology isn't so great.

The Kodak Easyshare showed up. 14 megapixels, 3x Optical zoom, NO macro mode. I didn't know that last part. I need macro for my close-ups. Plus the stabilizer was horrid!


So I took it back to WalMart and headed to Best Buy where I grabbed a Samsung. Simple point-n-shoot with 12mp and 4x zoom. Yeah, turns out, that's not so good either. Stabilizer didn't work and if it did, it took the picture what felt like a full minute later.


I decided to get the same version of my old/now current camera but it's just a bit newer. Instead of 10mp it was 12 and instead of 3x zoom it was 4. Same settings and same usage.


Now, I'm on a hunt for my camera! I have found it on Ebay but the auction doesn't end for 6 days.

I just called Best Buy, they have the camera that is exactly like mine (with a couple changes). I'm hoping I can go grab it! Plus it's a $40 difference (cheaper). Now for another exchange......sigh.

In other news, I just finished up two orders going out to awesome customers today!


For the rest of the day I'll be making up a calendar key-chain and necklace and two FAITH necklaces!

Newness

Well, this break has been pleasant and busy. More busy than anything really. My Thanksgiving....Wow...

So, I went to bed about 1:30am Thursday morning and woke up at 3:25 to put the turkey in the oven. We got up for the day about 7am. The turkey was ready about 10am and I took it in at noon (just turned off the oven and left it in). Apparently everyone loved the turkey and it was nice and moist and tender.

That night, I went out shopping with a friend of mine. All I can say about that night was that it was amazing. In so many ways on so many levels. We got in line at Babies R Us at 8pm for the sale starting at 10pm. We were probably 150th in line (guessing). About 10 people in front of us was a woman with a very young child, maybe 18 months. He was screaming from the cold because he was hardly covered. His mom? She took pictures of him crying. After talking to several other women around us, I called the police. I don't know if she found out, but she left right after I called. We ended up seeing her (and her child) at Walmart about 12am.

Babies R Us was crazy! There were armed security guards, caution tape and tickets. People tried to cut, people were yelling and people were pushing. We ran in, ran through the store, grabbed diapers, toys and batteries.

Next we went straight to Walmart for the 12am sale. There were young children everywhere who looked exhausted. If they weren't half asleep, they were wide awake. I don't know which made me more sad. Yes, you can tell I'm a mother. Lol.

Then we hit up Ihop! We were starving. Particularly me since I'd only had a bite of turkey and a small piece of pumpkin pie that whole day. We stuffed ourselves with bacon, eggs and pancakes. Then topped it off with coffee and water. I even took four pieces with me after eating another 4 pieces. So delicious.

We drove by Target and looked at the scary long line and decided to go to Kohls instead. We got there about 2:20am and they opened at 3am. It was also pretty insane there. We were cold, anxious and angry. People tried cutting, people were pushing and we all were running.

Now, the newness part I teased about. I'm working on some great new things. No pictures though, my camera is due in tomorrow! I snagged a new Kodak Easyshare 14 megapixel camera for $59 on Walmart.com!! I'm very excited. Noah has taken a liking to my camera and I now have a fuzzy spot in the lens and scratches on the screen. I think I was due.

I've got some new designs, new pictures and new ideas to bounce off everyone!

Now some pictures of cuteness!

Asking him to say "cheese"


Asking him to smile instead


Kisses!


He found his favorite letter! W

Taking a break!

This next week has a lot going on. Between now and Saturday, I'm likely to only get about 7 hours of sleep. These next few days include Thursday night shopping and it lasting to Friday morning, visiting families, making a turkey (starting at 4am) and much more.

The most important part to me though is that in one week, it will have been my due date with my most recent angel. I'm having a bit of a tough time with it because we have decided to put off trying for another one for nearly a year. Right now, I have my miracle, Noah, and my two angels to keep my thoughts and days filled.

Anyway, I'm hoping between Thanksgiving and family and Noah, I can stay busy enough to keep my mind off things.

Help keep my mind busy with those Black Friday orders! 35% off and Free Shipping.

So, until Monday, I say Happy Thanksgiving, happy shopping and safe travels.

Truly handmade!

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I am now making my own gift boxes for every purchase! Yes, it's alright, you can be that amazed.

I was up late on Friday and saw a link to a video showing you how to make your own boxes from paper. Lucky me, I have a TON of scrap paper that's actually the perfect size!

Also lucky me, I remembered the entire video and was able to complete the gift box on my own. I headed out to Michaels to get some batting for the filling and some hemp for the "ribbon" outside. On my way to the counter I saw an adorable stamping set with all the letters, the parentheses an asterisk and a smiley face. There was also an adorable snowflake stamp that I had to get.

They went out in a purchase today! I put NAC on the back of the boxes and a snowflake on the front. Then I tied the hemp around them and put on the personal stamped washer.

Sadly, I didn't get a picture of the final product but here are a couple that I made up without the ribbon and washer.


Here are the ones I made up today to put on my Etsy product pages.


I'm so proud of them! As you can see there's a sticker inside the box. Not only does that help be sure it stays together, but it's really cute. I have NAC on top and a smiley on bottom.

I feel very creative!

Preparations and new items galore!

Well, lets start out with the upcoming holiday, no, not Thanksgiving. I'm talking about Black Friday!

I've set up the shop to go on sale Thanksgiving morning and end at 12am on Saturday! This sale will also include all custom orders put in and paid for that day. To do that, you either purchase the item you want customized or put in your alchemy request. I'll have my phone for internet access and I can keep in touch.

Forgive me if I take a break, I'm waking up at 4am on Thursday to make turkey for Aaron's work at noon, going shopping from 8pm on Thursday to about 7am on Friday. That's roughly 27 hours of being awake! EEK!

Now to the new items! I was inspired by the ID bracelets I created and another seller on Etsy and combined the two to come up with these. Like I mentioned yesterday, I'm not sure if I'll continue this design unless interest is shown in these. The pictures below are of the re-purposed metals and the hemp cord I have for the Christmas items.

Speaking of Christmas, Noah is less than two months away from being two. That makes me so sad! In 6 weeks, my baby wont be a baby. *sigh* Well, for his birthday we're hopefully going out to a firehouse! In honor of his Planes, Trains and Automobiles birthday, we got some gift bags made for the kids who attend! These were made by Bagsnbunting on Etsy. She did a fantastic job and I'm very thankful for her!



This is going to be a crazy holiday season! I'm also going in this week to take a drug test so I can, hopefully, get a job at the Sunglass Hut! Whoot!

WOOHOO!!

Etsy now has an awesome option for using coupon codes! No more buying at full price and being refunded a certain amount to compensate for the sale.

To test it out and give everyone a great reward, now until Jan 1 use the coupon code BLOG15 for 15% off anything in my Etsy shop (minus gift certificates)even custom orders!

I've designed a couple new bracelets tonight. They're made from some re-purposed materials and hemp. I'm not sure if I'll continue the line unless some people show some interest in them and purchase them...**hint hint**

I also finished a custom order tonight! I created three necklaces for sisters stamped with a quote broken up among the three. I love them and I think the customer came up with a fantastic gift.

Yet again, my apologies

I've had a rough couple days lately and I'm sorry for letting my blog go untended.

What would have been my second due date is coming up and it's made some things a bit more difficult. I find myself thinking about how things should have been. If my first pregnancy after Noah had gone to term, I can guarantee I would not be creating jewelry. If my second had gone to term, I probably would be stopping for a while after I had the baby (which should have been Dec 1).

Thankfully Noah has become very good at keeping me busy. So has the jewelry. I feel so grateful to be able to create things that mean something to others.

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

That's right! NAC is under construction for tonight. I'm doing an overhall of the DIY and Products page!

I'm also going to let out a secret



I'm working on a webpage where you can order directly from it without needing to be linked to Etsy and sign up for it!

I'll also be laying out all my stamping blank options, sterling silver, nickel silver and copper. There will be discs, designs, connectors. OH MY!