Back to jewelry

Good morning,

So I have been working on some new necklaces and bracelets for the spring. I will have pictures as soon as it gets light enough up here in the Northeast to take good pictures. My house is not big enough for a good studio yet, so I am at the mercy of the sun…

But I have been wanting to make more rings for a long time. I want to check out this video

http://www.interweavestore.com/13-rings-with-eva-sherman-using-wire-coiling-wire-bezeling-and-organic-wire-techniques?utm_source=jmdtj150128&utm_medium=bl&utm_campaign=Eva13rings.

It’s a bit more than I would normally spend on a video, so I will either have to break down and spend the $ or wait til it’s around for awhile and see if I can get it on Amazon for less. We’ll see.

I have wanted to make bezel rings forever!!! Like these beauties.

This one by Kathryn Cole can be found at https://www.etsy.com/shop/kathryncole

I love this ring

This beautiful aqua calcedony ring by is made by EONDesigns. It’s so pretty! Check them out at https://www.etsy.com/shop/EONDesign

And this one by Louisa Gallery, found on https://www.etsy.com/shop/louisagallery

I have always been in love w/ bezel style rings since my husband and I went on his President’s Club trip to the Sundance Resort in Utah. I took a ring making class and made myself a pretty ring (that lasted about 8 years before the bezel fell out…my skills were not so good back then!!) I keep telling myself that once I get my own space in our new home (whenever that happens…) I will have more room for soldering and can finally get started. But really there is no reason why I can’t start now, except my own fear of starting something new…So my goal for 2015 is stop fearing myself and tackle some new things.

Blizzard of ’15

This is supposed to be a blog about jewelry. So this will be a short one…but yesterday I talked about the snow and just wanted to give you a good idea if what’s going on in Eastern Mass.

This is my grill on the back porch at 8 am.

This is hard to see but that’s my neighbors shovel and mailbox.

Snow, snow and more snow

So here in the Northeast, we are about to get clobbered w/ a massive blizzard. Worse than the blizzard of ’78, which may not mean a lot to you  if you either don’t live in the Northeast or you were born after 1980… But it was a huge, debilitating storm at the time. And now, this one is supposed to be worse!!! While I like a little bit of snow, but this is ridiculous!!!! Schools are already cancelled for tomorrow and most likely on Wed too. The area that I live in could get 3 feet of #$%^ing snow, 3 feet. Good god, that is way to much snow. Now I know those that live in Buffalo are probably laughing at us right now, but this is a big one for us. The winds are going to be so bad, they are almost guaranteeing massive power outages. That’s just fabulous!!!!

Well, there’s nothing we can do about it, so I am going to try hard not to grumble about it. Can’t change it, just have to prepare and hope its not as bad as they say. It certainly will give me some time to work on new jewelry, if I can steal some of the candles and flashlights from the kids…

So this is my 5th post I think, I am hoping to post at least every other day for the next couple weeks in hopes of getting better at it. I am trying to get more exposure,

<a href=”http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/13544691/?claim=9tzzfjr92g2″>Follow my blog with Bloglovin</a>

please check it out! Thanks for listening.

Traci

Saturday

So up here in Massachusetts, we are getting  a snow storm right now, and supposedly all day! What to do, what to do… After I get motivated to shovel the backyard, while my husband is snow blowing the driveway. I think today is the perfect day to make some jewelry (if my kids can find something to keep them entertained for awhile…) I have about 4 different things going on right now, and they are all over my jewelry area. Someday I am going to take a picture of my totally unorganized desk and show it to you all. But for now, I will live in my embarrassment all on my own!

I am working on a few valentine’s day necklaces. But trying to make them into necklaces that can also be worn all year long. I don’t believe in jewelry that can only be worn on certain occasions. Wedding jewelry may be a bit different, but for the most part I want to wear jewelry whenever I feel like it…work, shopping, girls night out or date night! I also want people who buy my jewelry to be able to wear it with any outfit they choose. So the goal is make red/pink pieces but not all lovely dovey heart ish pieces…Stay tuned!!

Spring 2015

So I am making a conscious effort to commit more time to this blog. I want to get better at this whole thing. I was just reading some other people’s blogs (way better blogs than mine…) and I came across one that talked about Spring trends for 2015 from Vogue. 2 of the trends make me happy. Tan suede jackets are coming back. This makes me smile with glee. I don’t consider myself trendy at all! And I am only somewhat stylish. I know what I like and what looks somewhat good on me. But a lot of trends/styles I either don’t like at all…ie florals, no matter what year they come back I do not like flowers on clothes. Or if I like it, sometimes I don’t really know how to incorporate it into my everyday life.  My suburban stay at home mom, wearing to many hats, constantly running around life…But I follow trends and styles as I love all things shopping and fashion related.

I digress, I have this tan suede belted trench ( I really wish I knew where it was in my attic, so I could take a picture for you…I’ll be headed upstairs was soon as I am done) I got it years ago and have worn it a few times and it’s sooo comfortable. But it’s not super warm so I need to wait til the spring. But I have put it away for the last couple of years because it was looking dated. WELL, now I am bringing it back!!! I can’t wait for it to warm up about 20-30 degrees…

My second happy dance trend this spring is layered necklaces! This is True Happiness Designs dream come true. I have always worn multiple necklaces. I love love love long necklaces and I sort of thought they looked lonely without a shorter necklace to hang w/.  Almost every single one of True Happiness Designs necklaces can be layered together for any type of look you fancy that day! It also means I will be making MANY necklaces in the coming weeks!!!! Here are a few I think would work together. Stay tuned for many more!

Flourish & Thrive Academy Laying the Foundation

Hi,

So this is only my second blog post ever. I was a pretty good writer (well maybe an ok writer…) in school. But somewhere along the way I seem to have forgotten how to speak and write properly.  And while I have sat here a million times w/ a blank draft in front of me, I just haven’t been able to write anything productive. I am a jewelry designer from Massachusetts. I never really thought of myself as a very creative person. But I have always been drawn to style…fashion, jewelry, shoes, home decor (well that didn’t happen til I had a home and couldn’t really afford to decorate it the way I’d like) But I always found myself wondering why people chose the things they did to express themselves. “What does that car people drive say about them?” “Why did that girl choose that sweater w/ those pants…?” ” Why does that guy think that hair cut makes him look cool?” I could people watch for hours and wonder why people make the choices they make and how does that define them. I have always believed that jewelry is an extension of ones personal style. And the jewelry I choose to make is definitely part of my personal style. I believe in feeling good and looking good makes us happy. And there is nothing better than true happiness. Which is why I named my company True Happiness Designs.

I love making jewelry. I wish I could just make it all day long…It’s the selling part of it that is not in my nature. Right now I make a few pieces at at time and put them on Facebook and luckily most of my friends and fans of my page usually buy my stuff from me. I do have a webpage http://www.truehappinessdesigns.com but it is very time consuming to keep up w/ it. And because I am not super tech savvy I tend to forget how to add new things or pages. Then it takes even longer to do it. So I put it off. I have an Etsy page http://www.Etsy.com/shop/TrueHappinessDesigns, but I was selling sporadically. There are just so many jewelers on there right now. It got harder and harder. So I haven’t added anything new to it in awhile.

I do think there are a few things holding me back…some are fixable, they are probably more of an excuse than anything else. There are some things that I need help with and I am not sure how to move forward. One thing right now that is definitely holding me back is the fact that my husband and I are sharing an office. We are committed to moving in a new home soon ( 2 kids, 3 cats and 3 businesses are making our current house smaller and smaller ) but we aren’t exactly sure when that will happen. I keep telling my self that once I get my own space I can get more tools and learn more techniques. Or it will be easier to make jewelry when my husband isn’t sitting behind me working on our other business. I know that maybe this is a bit of an excuse but it does make me anxious knowing he’s in the same room (and he’s sighing again because I am hammering while the phone is ringing!!) The business side of it is definitely holding me back. We use Quick Books for our other business, so it’s not the bookkeeping part of it as the marketing side. I don’t know anything about Marketing!!! I have never ever been a salesman in my life, I have listened to my husband be passionate about whatever it is that he’s been selling over the years and I have never been able to wrap my head around it. I know social media, I am on quite a few sites. But I don’t really know how to market my stuff and use social media to my advantage.

But I do think one of the biggest hurdles is not knowing what the next step even is for my business. I know nothing about manufacturing, outsourcing or what to do next after selling the one piece I make at a time on Facebook is. I feel like I am stuck in this place and I have no idea how to move forward, what that would even look like.

My vision for my business is to be successful at it, meaning yes I would like to be able to use this as a 2nd income for me and my family. To help us enjoy the life we like to lead. But to mostly feel like I am accomplishing something. To have people want to buy my jewelry because they like it and it makes them feel good. I want to be able to earn a living doing the thing that I enjoy the most…second to being w/ my family.

But with that accomplishment of feeling like my creations mean something, I also have dreams of being able to balance my life. Being able to spend time with my family when I want to. Being able to enjoy family time without worrying about finances or emergencies popping up. Being able to travel and enjoy life to it’s fullest. While the money is definitely important (no one wants to worry about the future…) having a sense of self, like I can set my mind to something and be successful at it. To make it work and not fail, is my biggest dream for this business. I never really knew what I wanted to do when I was younger (again going back to the not seeing myself as very creative) I bounced through a few majors in college, then quite a few jobs over the years. And then when I had my children I couldn’t wait to stop working because I didn’t love my job. But then I also didn’t love being a stay at home mom either. Don’t get me wrong, I love my children and love to be around them, but I am not the type of person who can spend 24/7 with anyone. I liked my job before kids, but I was never dying to go there every single day, I got bored easily. I realized I wanted to both thing, but only each one a little. I wanted to work part time and be able to spend as much time as I wanted with my children. And not they have sports and other activities that I don’t want to miss. But in the beginning it was impossible to find a part time job that was worth the time and effort it to took to get there. But the time babysitting, gas, food etc…was done, the paycheck was gone. Then I started researching jewelry making and watching videos and I LOVED it. It was finally something I could see myself doing for the rest of my life and being happy at it!

So here we are now. I would love to be a part of Flourish & Thrive Academy. I am not sure if I have done everything right. And this is probably the longest blog post you will see. But I would love a chance to participate in the Laying the Foundation course and learn what’s next for True Happiness Designs.

If you haven’t already go check out Flourish & Thrive Academy and enter a chance to win a spot in their next course.

http://www.flourishthriveacademy.com/2015/01/16/win-scholarship-ftas-laying-foundation-course-2015/