About Volunteering and MLK and Barack Obama and Heather

Happy Martin Luther King Day! Happy Pre-Inaugeration Day! I am a core member of Etsy Team Columbus. So I am on a committee and there is one person that just joined our committee and you know what she wants us to do? She wants us to all consider volunteering!!! What? Why do I want to do that? I am on this team to mingle and learn from like minded fellow artists. I am on this team to sell my jewelry. Now you want me to do what? I can't believe it. I don't have time to volunteer. I only have enough time to run up and down the highway and earn a living. I don't have time to volunteer, there aren't enough hours in the day! I don't have time to volunteer and you can't make me. So what does that Barack Obama do? The guy I helped vote into office. The guy whose hand I shook while I was in Philadelphia. What does that whole Obama family do? They volunteer on Martin Luther King Day! I didn't vote for that, did I? I can't believe it! Oh, so now I HAVE to volunteer! So ya take the lemons and ya make the lemonade. And you share your skills and the results of your labor. And everybody is happier than they would have been if you hadn't done something! Oh! Now, I think I can! Now, I think I can squeeze a few more things into my day!

I think I could figure out how to add volunteering to my agenda. Okay, I suppose it's probably taken a little longer than the time its taken to write this to decide that I need to volunteer. I know it's taken a lot of soul searching and prodding to arrive at this decision. I'll be on the volunteer wagon in my neighborhood. I'm gonna look forward to it too.

Gee, thanks a lot Heather, and Barack and oh, yeah, Martin Luther King!

Jewelry Marketing Idea Turns into a Weekend Project

Happy Saturday! It's up to ten degrees and I'd really like to take a drive in the country. We've got a lot of snow and I think the pictures could be fantastic. I've got a snow setting on my new camera too! Can you imagine, a snow setting? Technology is something else! So as I wait for my precious husband to get ready, I thought I would write. I am preparing a portfolio that I can carry down to my friend's place of business to sell my jewelry. One simple request via email and my mind creates a weekend portfolio project. It's gonna be beautiful when I get done! It's going to be portable. It's got to help sell the jewelry or I can recycle it into something else. I'll be using a large sheet of cardboard that I'll get from packing at work. I am continually amazed at the amount of recyclable materials that I can get from packing materials. There will be a little cushioning on top of the cardboard and then I will cover it with fabric. The cardboard is folded like a notebook with a spine that will accommodate the hanging configuration inside. It'll have handles. I'll take some pictures and post them when I'm done. I love the idea of using black and white velvet on the inside. Not together though. At least I've learned that jewelry needs solid color presentation. Whew! Is that a term or what? Solid color presentation as opposed to a loud print presentation! I know anything will work but I want the best presentation ever. Solids are a must. Well I just heard the bathroom door. I think that must be a good sign. So I'll see ya later. I'm off to a drive in the country and a stop at the fabric store. Could a Saturday afternoon get any better? I think not!

Happy Beaders with Too Many Beads or Too Few Beads

Happy New Year and to all I wish you SUCCESS! Success in all your endeavours. I have many beads to convert to jewelry. It's simply amazing how one can have so many beads in such a - okay - midsized area. And yet, I can look at them and cry that I don't have enough! Tragedy, that's what it is. As an artist, I believe that I can create what ever it is that I want to create. So I got all these beads and have kind of depleted my stock and I suddenly believe that I don't have enough. Do you have this problem? My hands are itching to bead something. I'll let you know what I end up creating. I have enough beads to do several sets of jewelry. I have a mind that for some reason has not come to terms with it. Oh, my land! This is the dip in my beading career! Doesn't "beading career" sound nice! I plan to keep my beading career as I learn to market and sell my beads. That is what I need to learn. Perhaps the dip is only a shift. Perhaps as my supplies of beads has dwindled, I've felt more pressure to expand my business. I have noticed that as I have developed my business, there are many more facets that I need to explore. So maybe I don't have a beading career problem after all! In dealing with a smaller supply of what I need to make my hands happy, I am finding that there are other things that I need to learn. Marketing and selling for which I will need consistency also. That will feed my supply facet, and therefore keep me from crying about not having enough beads. That should make my hands happy too! I want happy hands!!!