Loving the New Year!

I love the New Year and all the promise that it holds for us!

This year I've started out by cleaning out my craft room. De-cluttering is so freeing! I also rearranged my room. I told my husband "A new year a new flow!"
This year I'm also concentrating on a new jewelry medium...Metal Clay. I find it so exciting to use. In high school (a million years ago!) I use to do pottery and worked with clay. This clay is very different from pottery clay but for some reason it gives me the same thrill.
So to all of you who have been making New Year's resolutions...good luck and keep up the good work towards your goals. To all of those who need a fresh new start at life, business and or personal life...may you find your hearts desire!

The Big 5-0!

The Big 5-0! What a day! Yes...that's right! I turned 50 this last weekend. And to tell ya the truth...I've never been happier! I have a great life. Great family, great friends, I love what I do and life is just pretty darn sweet!
My husband gave me a party with several family and friends attending. My grandson is "helping" me open my gifts. We all had a great time.

I actually asked for this party because a friend of mine didn't get the 50th birthday party that she wanted and then shortly afterwards, she passed away. So this party was more in her honor than in mine, as far as I was concerned. I wrote a toast to her and my daughter-in-law read it for me. It went like this "Thank you for celebrating with us tonight. A great big thank you to Deb F(I won't print her full last name) for inspiring this celebration. She may not have gotten the chance to celebrate with her family and friends but she made it clear to us how important it is to take these chances when we can. So love your kids, spoil your grandkids, appreciate your friends and give your spouse a big smooch. Cuz we don't know what tomorrow holds for us and we don't want to blow it while we're here. Here's to Deb."

I'm really thankful that we got together that night. We definitely won't wait for the next birthday to do it again!

How Exciting! A Great Girls Night Out!

Hey all!

That Girls Night Out was so interesting! Thanks Dee for all the hard work you did to get that going. I met some very unique people and saw some amazing items in their sites.

Thank you to everyone who stopped by my site and commented in my blog. As a newbie, it really meant a lot.

I was so excited when I saw that someone had posted to my blog, I was shouting excitedly. My husband came running thinking I had seen a bug or something! When I told him that someone had posted to my blog, I think he wanted to squash me instead! He congratulated me and went back to the football game. Nice to know he's there when I need him. ;)

Now I have a renewed feeling of working harder at my site and business. There's so much more to learn and I can't wait to obsorb it all. So I'll hit the Blogging for Dummies some more and learn, learn, learn.

Keep those posts comming and let me know your "pearls of wisdome". I'm grateful for them all.

Girls Night Out

Come join us on Girls Night Out! This sounds like it could be a lot of fun and interesting!

Go to http://rdgirlsnightout.blogspace.com for more info!

My first craft show is now under my belt! It was a great experience. Didn't sell a whole lot but just getting the experience and some exposure was worth it.

The event was in Cheyenne, Wyoming on August 15th. I was wanting to enter this 30 + year event last year but it was on my grandson birthday so I chose my precious grandbaby over the event. It ended up getting rained out anyways so I'm glad I went with the family event instead.

This year the weather wasn't too bad. Since it's an outside show it really mattered to the attendees. Anyone who has been in this area of the state knows that the wind also makes an appearance! But I'm happy to say, my homemade booth and displays held up very well in the elements. Many of the booths didn't have sides and they were adversely affected by the wind and rain. I'm glad my side panels and water-proof roof protected my jewelry and me!

I learned so much from Rena Klingenber's book "Ultimate Guide to Your Profitable Jewelry Booth." http://www.home-jewelry-business-success-tips.com/ The tips and advice she offers in this book were so helpful. Even though I'm new to this business and to craft shows, she prepared me in so many ways. Many of the things I learned from her book would have taken years of experience to discover for myself. Thanks Rena!

One more hurddle I think I'm going to love!

Well here I am, almost 50, and going down yet another new road in my life! A few years ago I left a high stress job and started a new adventure in jewelry making. And to tell you the truth...I've never been happier!

I've done all sorts of crafting projects throughout my life, but beading and jewelry making has always been something that fires up my creativity.

Learning about e-commerce is a very fascinating aspect of selling my creations. But WOW...there's soooo much to learn! So now I'm learning about blogging.
I don't know about many of you but I've been a little intimidated by this process. If anyone has any advice or stories they'd like to share about this process, I'm all ears! Or should I say eyes?!

I'd love to hear about how you came about a new adventure in your life too. People love to hear about how someone else fell down and picked themselves up again. And in times like these, falling down has been happening to a lot of people. We all need to know that with perseverance and a little knowledge, we can make things happen for ourselves.

For me and my family, we've been very blessed in many ways. If it weren't for my husbands good paying job and his understanding for what I was going through, I wouldn't be able to do what I do. I never want to take those things for granted. Too many of us know how fragile this type of life can be.

So I'll keep you posted on how things are going with my business and blogging endeavors (although you'll be able to see that for yourself).

I've started a couple of websites with my jewelry in them if you're interested in checking them out. You can go to http://www.creationsnthings.etsy.com/ and http://www.creationsnthings.com/ to see how my jewelry is coming along.

Your blogging newbie,
Laurie

P.S. By the way, that's me in the pic with my two grandsons. They are the apple of my eye to say the least!!