Hi everyone and welcome to my blog! This is my first attempt at anything like this, so it should be interesting. I'm from the pen and paper generation, so this is all new to me. You're welcome to come along with me while I learn about socializing online. So far, the extent of this has been my daughter setting me up on facebook and me asking her to post something for me about once a week or so, so I don't get kicked off!
I started making jewelry about six months ago. I need to always have something to keep me occupied, so I don't "think". I can't just sit still and think about things, because I get overwhelmed! I guess everyone is a little like that. We live on 11 acres of land that I can't keep up with. My family consists of my husband, two children and me. In addition to us "humans", we have 5 dogs, 5 cats, 5 potbelly pigs, 2 pygmy goats, 6 horses, 1 miniature donkey, 1 miniature Hereford bull and too many free range chickens. It would appear that I should have plenty to keep me occupied, but it's not true. Yes, there are lots of responsibilities, too many sometimes, but they aren't always "fun", or "just for me". It's hard to find "me time" when there are so many others around you with their needs and wants.
I love "creating" and seeing something from start to finish. Making jewelry is so rewarding. I get to start and finish something, and feel really good about it. While I'm working on a piece, I only concentrate on it, nothing else, like the "cat hair tumbleweeds" rolling around the house! I don't think about the geriatric pig who isn't "eating like a pig", or the weeds in the pasture that are taking over, or even the bull in the backyard pushing down the fence as he rubs on it to help shed out his winter coat. Take my word for it, farm life isn't always pretty! There is alot of "poo" that goes on and it will keep you busy. The jewelry is clean and pretty! Words not often heard on a farm. I must admit, I love animals, and some of my pieces show that. The Horse bracelets that I make are from pictures of various breeds of horses, some of which we own. There is just something about a pretty paint horse! I look at our paint and think about how the Native Americans would have loved her. She has a perfect picture of an owl on her side. The saying is that if a horse has a picture on it, that the horse is magical. I will admit that she "magically" knocked me over and rolled me not long ago, when she got frightened by her shadow when the clouds moved away and let the sun shine on us!
The "Roses, Roses, Roses", bracelet and the "Vintage Gardening" bracelet are both inspired by the plants that I "WISH" I could grow. I have dreams of having a nice flower garden or growing veggies and feeding my family salads fresh from the garden, but alas, wherever I try to plant anything nice, some animal eats it! I actually grew an amaryllis in the yard once. I waited and waited for it to bloom and finally the day came. My husband saw it first and called me outside to see the flower we had watched and waited for. I opened the door and ran out just in time to see our dog take a large bite and eat the whole flower in one gulp!
Of course, the "Three Little Pigs" bracelet was inspired by the pigs we have, and the "Peter Rabbit" bracelet was inspired by the rabbits we have had over the years, none of which stayed around long. They all dug holes in the ground and went under the fence, just like Peter Rabbit, and instead of coming home to Chamomile Tea, went to the Foxes den for "Dinner".
The "Pandora" style bracelets and anklets have been good and bad. I love the look of the colorful beads. I kept looking at them and loving them, then I ordered some. I ordered plain colorful beads from china. I honestly thought I would just get pretty colorful beads that I could make into bracelets. They came with the word pandora stamped on the silver center. Talk about opening a "pandora's box"!! Everyone loves the look, no one wants to pay a fortune, the people who charge a fortune don't want me around, I try to tell the truth about the beads and get penalized, the people who buy them don't care about anything except that they are pretty, I'm scared to try to sell them, I need to sell them, I dread looking at my email for fear I'm in trouble over them, I love looking at my email because I sell them quickly. They were certainly named properly! I guess I'll keep selling them until they're all gone, and be more careful when I order them in the future. I still love the look, and I don't think anyone is fooled by my bracelets that cost $20. Is there really any need to ask if they are "authentic" at that price? I don't think so!
Go out and have a great day! I've got to go catch "Leroy" the mini donkey, he just went under the electric fence and is headed to the neighbors shrubbery.
