FIRE!!

Ok, so I've been bragging on Facebook that I have a super awesome new product coming out......but it's taking a little longer than planned. It's hard! And it involves fire and some not so kid friendly products.

So, until that's all figured out, I'll show off a couple other things.

This is the reveal of the new zodiac signs! I was going to debut them on my new product, but that will have to wait.

This is a new swirl I came up with for No Feather Left Behind!
I put it up yesterday and already sold two (which also has a two dollar donation)! Guess I did good!

I'm still practicing with my fire project, so we'll see how that goes. I also got some new necklace cards for the boxes that go out! I didn't think I'd be running out of my "handmade" ones so quickly.

See y'all next time!

Save the birds!

After putting up Cody's necklace, I was approached with another fantastic question, could I make something for a bird rescue center. Instantly I knew I had to, my mom and I had been avid wild life rehabilitation specialists for many hears. How could I not?

After some back and forth about the colors, what should go on the disc and placement, I came up with this for No Feather Left Behind (NFLB), an avian rescue center.

The red portion symbolizes rescue and the purple is "opt to adopt". Together they create a perfection union to help promote the rescue and rehabilitation and adoption of some amazing birds.

It was decided that 'bird rescue' should go along the top with opt to adopt staying around the bottom to make it a bit more personalized to No Feather Left Behind. So this is the finished product!

The alignment will be slightly different on future discs due to the fact "bird rescue" was placed on after, but I personally feel this one looks awesome. I think it's a great way to help promote No Feather Left Behind. To further help, there is also a $2 donation to NFLB to go toward vet bills, food, shelter and anything else needed to help keep the birds happy and healthy and to find them permanent loving homes.

Get your own NFLB necklace today and help out!

Visit No Feather Left Behind on Facebook

Check out the NFLB blog

Help beautiful birds like this one find a fantastic loving home!

The Reason

It seems the main reason anyone does anything new is to make a difference. That's exactly my reason for starting this business. Until the other night, I wasn't too sure I had really made a difference. I've made loss pieces, love pieces and everything in between. I've made custom, pre-made and things that will never be seen because I wasn't happy with them fully.

I was asked to create a memorial necklace not too long ago. It was/is a very special necklace. It is one to carry around with love, admiration and strength for Cody James.

Cody James was one of too many children who experienced childhood Leukemia. His story is one that will touch anyone's heart.



I had been experimenting with awareness ribbons of different colors. My most recent was the miscarriage/pregnancy loss ribbon I had shown a few posts earlier. So, after a few discussions and some ideas popping in my head, I came up with this necklace design:

After being thrilled to learn that the necklace was well liked, it went up in the shop for a few others who were interested. A little later, I thought that it'd be great to be able to make a donation with each purchase. So, with every purchase of Cody's necklace $2 will be donated to further childhood cancer research in Cody's name.

Here's what you'll see when you open your box!

Be sure to check out his Facebook group and special Etsy listing!

August 19, 2010 - now

The total number of days between Thursday, August 19th, 2010 and Saturday, June 18th, 2011 is 303 days.

This is equal to exactly 9 months and 30 days.

The total time span from 2010-08-19 to 2011-06-18 is 7,272 hours.

This is equivalent to 436,320 minutes.

You can also convert 303 days to 26,179,200 seconds.

Today is 6/18/2011 and 8/19/2010 is exactly 303 days before today.

That means, going off of sales numbers alone, I've had a sale per day average. Yay! Starting out on Etsy, I never thought I'd get here before a year. I guess technically I got here a day or two ago, but still. I'm so thankful.

It's 6:48am right now and I got to sleep close to 1am, so I cheated and used a nifty little tool. http://www.convertunits.com/dates/from/Aug+19,+2010/to/Jun+18,+2011 I'm to sleepy to figure all that alone. haha.

Looking back, to when it all started, I thought this would be easy. I thought it would be a "spare time" thing. Little did I know that spare time would be the rest of my life and the norm would be shop work!

I wouldn't change a thing if I could go back and right now, I can only go forward.

A little bit of something

A few new things got photographed today and one is in the works. The swirl pendant and necklaces will be in the shop soon and the bracelet hopefully in the next day or two. Things have really slowed down. It's been kind of nice getting the chance to take a minute, regroup and straighten out where energy needs to go.






Some amazing supplies are also in transit to me for some fantastic new designs. Something I've never done and am honestly afraid to do. If I get it all figured out and semi-perfected soon, I'll have them out by the end of next week. Wish me luck!

More Package Newness!

Haha, I know, I keep changing things.

Well. I was silly and didn't read a full description/title and ended up purchasing 80 pieces of paper rather than envelopes. So, I decided the paper needed to be used and not wasted.

What did I turn them into?





Necklace cards! This way, there isn't a chance of them being moved and scratched in transit and I think it's a great way to open the box and see that.

Now, I'm also thinking of having special holiday packaging as an upgrade. The twine, envelope and necklace card will have standard, but we need a wow factor in there too.

We'll see......

One last thing for sharing. This is my second request to make music notes on a pick. I'm pretty pleased with how they came out, check for yourself!

Packaging Newness!

Ok, I finally have some time to put these pictures up. The twine on the outside will vary colors so I can get rid of some that I have laying around from last holiday season. Then once all that is gone it will be the white and blue from here on out. The colors of the envelopes will also vary as they are all different in design.




A finalized Holiday line will also be coming out. You can expect some new necklaces to be featured in Nickel Silver and Aluminum. With sterling prices changing by the hour, I'm not sure it would be the best idea to make them available right now.

What designs will be out? I'm glad you asked

Multi-metal tiered necklaces,
Multi-metal tiny tag necklaces
New lockets (some mixed metals)


For the holiday season, the available items will be:
Above listed necklaces and the ones now in shop
Dog tags
Guitar picks
Cuffs

This way, I can't fall behind on supplies as easily and you don't feel overwhelmed with options. Win-Win!

Supplies and stamping, Stamping and supplies!

Hello all!

I know, I know, I am trying to take a step back. I promise, after Fathers Day, I will. I'm so happy to say that the order of 120 washers for a wedding will be going out tomorrow along with 10 guitar picks, 8 golf ball markers and two key chains. Whew!

The packaging for the holiday season is ready and I just need to get it all photographed.

New designs for miscarriage/pregnancy loss and awareness/support items will be rolling out, hopefully, next week. Lockets, rings, dog tags and many new things will be ready to go to someone in need of support.

It's finally cooling down here in KS. We had a few storms to help bring it all down, but it wont last long. So, until the heat returns, I'll be soaking up as much as I can. Hopefully with a trip to the zoo as well.

Not much to show off right now, sadly, but I promise, pictures will come!!!

It's about time!

I have a bit of a breather this weekend, finally. It's also my birthday weekend! I still have some orders waiting to be sent out, some needing to be made, and some washers to do, but it doesn't seem so stressful right now.

If you'e been reading my posts, you'll remember a little bow I got from Lime Green Modern with my earrings way back when. I turned that one into a necklace. Then, I ordered another one close to Mothers Day and she also very kindly sent a small heart as a Mothers Day gift to me. So, I turned that one into a bracelet!

They're finally finished and ready to be shown off!



I'm also putting a lot more work into some Miscarriage and Pregnancy Loss items. I got a new ribbon stamp and I've been using that to work on new designs.






This one was a collaboration between Kristine and myself to come up with the perfect item for her.



I'm going to be working on more awareness ribbons with all the different colors. I'm so happy to be refocusing my energy and coming up with new designs!

Testing New Packaging

Over the next month, packaging will change to get a solid feel for what will go out during the Holiday Season this winter.

My first test was with a batch of colored business card holders. All my goodies went inside and a small stamp on the back.






The next test will be with some wrapping for the boxes. I ordered some white and blue twine that I think will look perfect on the Kraft boxes with a little bow on them.

I also just got some Kraft business card envelopes (ran out of the colored quickly) that I'm hoping will have something cutsey on the front, maybe a handwritten note from me, and a sticker (like above) on the back. Once things slow down I can focus more on it, but right now there is one really important thing to focus on, shop wise, first.