Not Your Teachers Chalk Board



Oh my! How cute!! I stumbled upon this lovely on the Etsy front page this fine morning/evening. Isn't her work clever? Evrydiki has quite a few little chalk board goodies and some other pretty hand made metal pieces as well. Go check out her shop!




So head over to Evrydiki and look at her pretty jewels. :D


Smiles and Blessings friends,

Jenipher

Life is full of blessings...



You just have to keep your eyes peeled to appreciate them all.

I'm so sad that most of my posts were not the up-most-happiest they could be this year. My life is so full of blessings and i really have to appreciate this more. So below i list a bunch of lovely reasons to be thankful. :)

Just this morning....

I woke up to two sales...

A consignment check...

New crafty ideas to make at work..

I took a warm shower.
I made DELICIOUS fish tacos for breakfast. (yes ma'am, for BREAKFAST!)
I finished two necklaces.

And a really good friend is coming over to hang out before work today.

And THIS silly boy is visiting me tonight!! [and all weekend!]



Life is good. Being thankful and appreciate is key. And this mantra is something I'm going to do more of today. :)

Hope you all have a glorious day and weekend!!!

Organizational Unbalanced Creativity.

Pinky and the Green

Today's creative endeavor (or really..like four days ago..) I found an inspirational book called "A Charming Exchange" which is an INCREDIBLE book folks! It's by Kelly Snelling and Ruth Rae and it's kind of like a challenge in jewelry form. Groups of women all start, send, finish and create gorgeous jewelry. It's so inspiring, and i wish one day i could do something like it. Alas...

Pinky and the Green

CHALLENGE ONE: To get out of my box i would love to make A-symmetrical earrings. generally my brain doesn't work like that.

CHALLENGE TWO: To only use what's inside of THIS container. *

Messy Bowl O' Potenetial

Pink and Green and Red..oh my!

RESULT: I not only made a pair of earrings, which i think kind came out very fun, BUT i made a matching necklace. Yay!!

*I start a million projects at once and get over whelmed, then never clean up, so said box is a mix match of leftovers and never was...

Soul Flower

Soul Flower

So...my challenges as you can read from the "Pinky and the Green" earrings" was taken a bit further when i found all these pieces in the bucket as well.

So awesome! I LOVE this necklace. :)

Custom Thanks.

These past few weeks..okay..SIX weeks, i haven't made ANY jewelry at all. I finally have tons of time and freedom, but I just couldn't focus. So, thank goodness for these two custom orders!! They motivated me to start beading again.

So BEHOLD! My first pieces in absolutely ages!!

Jason's bracelet

Arizona^- Zee Inspiration

My customer and Twitter friend, Jason, was inspired by my "Arizona" necklace and wanted to create a bracelet for a friend. I really like how the bracelet turned out. I really enjoy this color combination.

Angie's Necklace

Angie had an antique butterfly pendant with a beautiful Amethyst stone set into it. I think the lilac freshwater pearls made this necklace very feminine, easy to wear.

I have a few other custom orders i've been making, and it's been helping me come up with some new creations!

Bella Bella Jewelry!

I've been chatting on and off for a few months with Linda from Bella Bead Jewelry and have really enjoyed our corespondance. I was first capitvated by her bright colors and funky lamp work style and have been enjoying reading her daily blog since.

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1. I've been making beads for several years. I don't know exactly how long since I don't track time well! I'd guess about 8-10 years.

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2. I did not always make beads but looking back on my life, beads have always been with me. In High School I made a pair of (heavily) beaded jeans & they were part of a school art show...I wore them for a long time but sadly they are gone somewhere! Before my current bead career I did ceramics & pastels... actually I was an art gypsy. I was a jack of many artistic things. For awhile I did stained glass too.

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3. I love color. But so many people can say that. I guess if I dig deeper about myself & color I would say that color is energy and I am typically an energetic person. So color says volumes about my personality. Of course, may other things are inspiring too. Nature, different cultures, music...anything that is emotive or symbolic I find intreging. Lastly but probably most importantly....the children I work with each day inspire me. Watching them joyfully create & loving what they produce inspires me to feel the same about what I make...be it "good" or "bad". Its the process of creating.

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4. Challenges....hmmmmm.
Well, here it is....the biggest challenge was to learn to disregard "mean, negative" people. They're out there. Don't get rattled by rejection and as far as "copy cats"....let them. My mother always told me that there is nothing new under the sun (Barnimam Baily quote) and that is soooo true. Its how you put it together that is the original thing & people will have a tough time capturing your spirit. In addition, I would say pricing. Pricing is difficult. There are many ideas on pricing but when I started out I first checked to see what others were getting and then I took into consideration that I was "new" and unknown. So my prices to start were slightly less. Once I was "established" I matched what was competitive.

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So, go check out her website, and say hello to her! She is a sweet gal and would love to hear your opinions! :)