Change..

This has been a strange month to say the least.  My favorite saying is "Be the change you want to see in the world".  The first time I heard it I thought this is my motto.  I practice through my everyday actions and through my children.  I have twins and starting with being  boy/girl twins they are polar opposites.  One has dark hair and dark eyes the other has blond hair and blue eyes.  One is quiet and the other has severe ADHD.  One is kind the other not so much.

My son is the one with ADHD and he is just the sweetest thing in the world.  He has a huge heart and helps everyone that he can.  He has been this way as long I can remember.  His sister on the other hand can be very selfish and demanding.  Teaching her to be kind has been a long hard road with pitfalls mostly at her brothers expense. Before having her, I thought kids were born being kind and helpful.  Much to my surprise that isn't always the case.  I teach her and I know one day it will be worth all the effort because she will be better off in the long run.

My son is another story.  I have to teach him to protect himself from being hurt or taken advantage of.  I am hoping that where they go with their life that they will in turn "Be the change that THEY want to see in the world."

This has been the week of disasters

Not jewelry disasters but natural disasters.  Japan is playing on my mind as they try and control the nuclear plant on top of the horrid tsunami. I've looked at some pictures but I can't wrap my head around what they are going through.  Also, my sister in law was just diagnosed with breast cancer.  She started her battle on Friday with chemo. 

It all makes me take pause and give thanks that right now things are pretty good.  I've been through some rough patches myself.  It;s nothing compared to what is going on all around me.  I feel like the eye in the storm and I'll enjoy it even if it doesn't last

To honor and support my sister in law I will be making one piece of jewely a week in pink.  It is to raise awareness for breast cancer and also I will be donating all of the sale to Susan G. Koman Fund or directly to my sister in law to help with expenses.

New Stuff - Handpainting Octopus Pendants once again

I had an order placed last week for one of my hand painted octopus pendants. Since I was already painting one I decided to go ahead and paint a couple more.

I had forgotten how fun it is to paint the pendants. So much thought goes in to make each one unique. Much to my daughter's delight I even name them.

Here are a couple I have finished and listed on Etsy..

I call this one Zardoz. He is handpainted sea green and has kelp green highlights. I used a crystal for his eyes. Not swarovski since I need to order some soon.

My next one is a hand painted scissor pendant. I painted one many moons ago and it sold really fast. I've gotten several requests since then to make more.

Then I've added Miranda and Tandar.

I have to add that Miranda is my favorite so far.

I have a couple more that I have yet to post. As you can tell I've been busy :)

Love is in the air!

My husband asked me this weekend what I would like for Valentines Day.  I told him I'd love some chocolate strawberries but I didn't need anything else.  While I was reading facebook this morning one of my friends said that she usually does the same thing.  Her reason being that everyday is like Valentines Day with her husband.  I thought about that this morning and realized that I feel like that too.


I feel so lucky to have found the love of my life when I had given up all hope.  He in turn gave me two awesome kiddos that bring more joy that I ever could have imagined.  We had a Valentines Day party yesterday courtesy of my daughter.  As we sat around and played the games she came up with I thought that I just couldn't be any happier. 

I did make some jewelry but never got a chance to get it listed.  So here are some of my Mithril Dreams Jewelry shop on Etsy.  Shop from here and save 20% by using the code valentine.

Something old something new... Nursing Necklaces

I just posted up this new nursing necklace I call Flowers In Bloom.  I loved the center bead and built the entire necklace around it.  When working with red and green, I have to be careful not to get to Christmas themed.  I think the black beads accented the colors perfectly.

Now for the something old.  It isn't really old but it is an older design that I never really promoted much.  It is made with mood beads which I think are seriously nifty.  The beads change color with body temperature and when your baby plays with it the colors will shift.   The beads that run up and down the sides are rainbow moonstone.  I may make a verison with just the mood beads since the moonstone drives the price up a bit.

More to come later as I post more jewelry.

Baby it's cold outside...

We got up this morning to really cold temps.   I, of course, came down with a cold on Monday night.  Lucky for me the cold weather encourages me to sleep and get better.  I drove my kidlets to school this morning explaining to them about weather.  We talked about what a wind chill factor means and why pipes breaks when the water freezes in them.

After I dropped them off, I listened to the radio a bit about the effects of the cold temps.   There have been rolling brownouts all over the city.  I called home and asked DH to turn off everything that we had left on in our mad rush for the door.  I came home and promptly went back to bed.  Lucky for us we are on a hospital grid so we didn't experience any outages.

DH went and picked up the kids this afternoon and I am making Chicken and Dumplings for dinner with garlic Texas toast.  The weather is going to get worse over the next few days but we are ready.

I'm also done telling the kids that it doesn't snow in Texas.  Since I have told them that it has snowed EVERY single year.  Whats up with that???

I'm sure I'll make some jewelry tonight but right now I am just happy snuggling under my blanket.  The kids are wrapped up in their snuggies and playing games by the fire.  Bliss....

Trying to find my niche..

I have been beading for over six years.  I thought that I would gravitate towards a specialty over time.  In December I decided to make a choice in what direction I wanted to specialize in.  It makes things easier when I market if my jewelry is targeted to a certain group.

So, I choose making jewelry for mom's, daughters, and grandmothers as my primary audience.  The type of jewelry I will make the most is nursing necklaces as those have been some of my favorite types of necklaces to make.  Plus it helps both breastfeeding and bottle feeding moms which is win win.  

Happy Customer with a Teether Nursing Necklace

 The nursing necklace is designed to distract a nursing baby from pulling hair, scratching, or just looking wildly around the room.  It is a focal point for the baby but is still really pretty for mom to wear everyday.  I also sell a wood ring nursing necklace that has been extremely popular!  When my twins were babies anything that made me look better made me feel better too.

I also am working on wirewrapping for a more difficult challenge since I don't see how how could ever become bored with it.   I still plan on making other things I just needed focus.

Nursing Necklace listed this week

Click on Necklace to see listing

 
Sterling Silver and Amethyst Hoop Earrings

Click Picture for Listing Info

 I am currently working on a valentines day bracelet.  It is wirewrapped so I've worked on it over a couple of day now.  I have a few more necklaces to list yet and hopefully by then the bracelet will be done :)