Taking it to new heights

I am taking my jewelry to new heights, literally. At my last craft fair, I opted for a half booth. So I need a way to maximize my space. I stacked a smaller table on my larger one and added some snowflakes to take your eye away from the ugly metal legs and it turns out they were an attention getter as well. The tables kept the most awesome pieces at eye level. My printer drawer full of pendants fit perfectly just below it. I wish i had electricity (a plug was nowhere near me) to add some lights for further display below the table, but it worked great as a place for my checkout stuff like bags, necklace cord, etc.


I would love to hear your ideas about your favorite display ideas. Have you seen or made a great display?

A rose by any other name

I started by hammering copper spirals and loopy Celtic waves, but I wanted to somehow bring a more sculptural quality to my work without the need for soldering. I wanted the piece to be one long piece of wire molded and hammered into a miniature sculpture. I started making roses almost by accident. I had a crinkly piece of wire that on a whim I hammered flat and wound into a spiral shape. The crinkles in the wire made such a neat, roselike shape to the spiral that I kept working with it and eventually added leaves or other decorations. What resulted was a unique, 3d rose that had an elegant shape. I have been making these roses for a while now and each one seems to be a little more elegant than the last. Here is my latest one, a rose ring from recycled sterling silver.

Display ideas for craft fairs

I thought I would show the results of my display search. Here it is. Lots of junk repurposed into jewelry displays along with some store bought ones I had already from previous years of selling. We were under some trees so some of the pictures had less than ideal lighting, but you get the idea. Happy hunting!

I used old crates and boxes to add height and
scarves for color

Me and Miss Priscilla ready to sell

We are ready for our closeup!

Close up of my stacked boxes

Shutters held earring cards, I hung a mirror from the canopy

an old printer drawer makes a great pendant box

an old stand up mirror and some scarves thrown on the canopy for color

I found the clear step display (right) at the Goodwill

My father in law helped me build the ring tray from an old board
the crates helped the necklace boards from blowing away in the wind,
a problem I had at the last show

What's right with hand-me-downs

My sister and I were born 18 months apart and my family has never been rich so I was always blessed with hand-me-downs. And when it wasn't handed down we got great clothes from consignment shops or yard sales. The clothes were usually really nice pieces too, things that lasted through us and got recycled back to the consignment store or thrown in our own yard sale stack. There were some pieces that were obviously made by someone's mother or grandmother, sweet little sailor suits and smocked dresses with little flowers and birds. Pieces that inspired gray headed women to get a dreamy look when they saw us wear them. Probably making them recall their own children or grandchildren.
I, too, am a dreamer. I always have been and maybe it's because of the clothes. When you buy a new garment, it's been sewn from a bolt of fabric and sent to the stores. When you get a hand-me-down, there is a story behind it and sometimes they even have super powers. I was a little shy when I was younger and my sister was not. When I wore her clothes they were almost like a cape for me. I could pretend that I had her confidence, that I wasn't the skinny kid with glasses who tripped over my own shoes, but the athletic, outgoing one that could catch a fast ball. And with things from the consignment and yard sales the story behind the outfit could be even more fantastic. Maybe the little girl who owned it before me was a lion tamer, or a princess.
Now as I am grown, my stories are a little more mundane, and I have collected a little more confidence in my self, although I am still a little clumsy. I still shop thrift stores, second hand shops, and consignment sales. My daughter has a cousin six months older so she has worn lots of hand-me-downs and our favorite place to shop is our local kids resale shop. And anything she outgrows goes to my large circle of girlfriends and their little girls. Its not just about saving money, although paying $1 for a dress that normally retails for $30 is awesome. We get excited seeing the clothes we loved on our little girls on someone else's. One outfit that we got from her cousin has been worn by at least 3 little girls in our circle and is still being passed around. And we share pictures with each other of each little girl in the outfit. It's a way to stay connected. To feel like, even though we live far away, we can still share things.
We still buy new clothes for our daughters and, lord knows, I can't stop my mother from buying 3 dresses for Easter for her only granddaughter, especially when they are cheap at the local superstore, but most of my daughter's wardrobe is preowned. And I hope that I can pass on my love of secondhand clothes to her. Its like a treasure hunt going to the secondhand store and finding a lovely dress that is in her size or a worn in t-shirt with her favorite character on it. And I have begun to sew a few things for her. Recently I made a Batman cape from a piece of secondhand black material with lady bugs on it and she wore it for 3 days straight only removing it to sleep. And when she outgrows it, that cape will be passed on to fly around someone else's hallway and save little toys from impending disasters.

Green is easy when you are cheap

Think about it. The best way to be green is to stop paying for expensive packaging, to reuse what you have, and to not introduce toxic chemicals into the environment. So, basically live like you would have before the industrial age. Here's some tips:


1. That thing in your house that shows you all the coolest new gadgets and gizmos, turn it off!
TV not only stagnates your brain and body but makes you feel like you "need" everything and if you have kids, you have heard them want everything from toys to vacuums and pipe cleaners. Who really needs all that stuff? And think of the money you'll save on electricity and cable bills!


2. Why buy it when you can make it or grow it? Everything from pantyliners to pantryshelving can be made using a little ingenuity and a pattern, and many patterns and how-tos are available online for free! And it will fill up all that spare time you have when the boob tube is turned off. You can find recipes for soap, laundry detergent, quick fix meals that don't come from a box, and patterns for cloth diapers and feminine products, stuffed animals, toys, shelves, even houses!


3. Stop throwing things into the dump! Why use throw-away stuff when you can buy good quality dishes that will last for literally hundreds of years or flatware that you can pass on to your grandchildren? That's why our grandmothers stuff seems so priceless today, they used it for everything so it's part of our parents every food memory. If you simply must have a new set of dishes every year, shop the second hand stores and donate your old dishes. Everything comes back again. And if you follow rule 2 it's easy to follow rule 3 because then you can cut out lots of paper and packaging as well as reusing what you make!


4. Slow down and enjoy what's here and now. Do you know what you can take with you when you are dead? . Memories. That's it. So why work yourself to death trying to buy a new car or house, when you can slow down and enjoy exactly what's in front of you, family, friends, good food. It doesn't take much to have a fun family night. I can remember having a great time sitting in front of our wood burning fire with my family listening to the fire crackle and pop and telling stories about our favorite things. That's the biggest secret, if you enjoy what you have, you won't want more.


5. Stop buying junk. Think quality and care. When people start buying things just because they are cheap or trendy, then they rack up somewhere, either the house or landfill or your pocketbook and they end up not so cheap. If you buy a new pair of sunglasses every other week because they break or because you lose them in your house or car, its not so cheap anymore. Try before you buy so you know that its something you can or will use and have a care regiment in place so that your good quality things stay good quality. Buy things as an investment and take care of them as if they are just that. Repair instead of replace. Buy things that grow with kids and they can use for a long time.


Using these 5 simple rules you too can be cheap and when you're cheap, it's easy being green!

Swimming like a box turtle

     Today I was out by our saltwater pool, checking the temperature under the warming blanket to see if it was warm enough to swim and I saw a dark spot bobbing under the blue bubble wrap cover.  I lifted it and saw a box turtle, treading water for dear life.  When he saw me he couldn't figure out whether he should keep paddling or if he should duck and cover. The effect was quite comical. Now, remember, box turtles live on land and their stubby little feet aren't wide and webbed like their cousins, the snapping turtle, so he was bobbing around like a buoy because box turtles don't sink, especially in salt water.   I'm not sure if I saw panic or annoyance in those rust colored eyes.  I scooped up the little fellow and laid him gently down in the woods out back and he plodded safely away to hide under some brush.


    I'm not sure how or why that box turtle got over the 3 foot brick wall and into our pool without cracking his shell or how he ended up in the shallow end of our pool, but I am glad I was there at that moment to save him from being a permanent floater under the warming blanket on our pool.  I'm sure that box turtle was one of the two camped out at our fence a few days ago waiting out the recent rainstorms. Funny that our hill would bring the thing he was trying to avoid, high water.  You see box turtles, unlike their water loving cousins, snapping turtles or red eared turtles, head for the hills when the barometer drops. That's a surer way to tell than watching the weather channel, if you see box turtles heading for high ground, some rough weather is coming.


      We live on the top of a hill on the outskirts of a nice wooded area so we get lots of little shelled visitors when the weather starts looking bad. And I pay attention to the lessons that they teach me when they do stop by:
 1) If it looks like rain, head for high ground. In other words, if your gut tells you something is up, listen to it.
 2) Even though at first glance we might look like we can handle things ourselves, it never hurts to have a little help when we run into obstacles.
So be prepare for what the future holds, but let others help when things get difficult or offer your own help to them if you see someone trying to keep their head above water.
And if all else fails? Hide in your shell til its all over!

This little guy (maybe the same from the pool?) wandered into our garage before all the horrid thunderstorms that caused massive flooding around our area this spring, we fed him a tomato, which he devoured, then he went on his merry way 

Gonna have an Earth Day

     That was the title of  the play we did in the 4th grade, "Gonna have an Earth Day" and I played Small Voice, the one that finds out that one 'small voice' can make a difference.  It's been quite a few Earth Days since that play and now, I am going back to being one 'small voice' at this years Earth Day Festival in Nashville, TN's Centennial Park.  This saturday, I will be taking my salvaged jewelry and inspiring people to think about reusing everyday objects. 
     My main focus for my jewelry lately has become using objects that have lost their official usefulness.  I will be selling lots of button rings, earrings made from plastic bottles and containers, bracelets made from salvaged electrical wire, and pendants made with expired dog tags.    Now, when I throw things away or recycle them I think first, can I reuse this one more time before I stick it in the pile? Because ultimately, for most things anyway, reusing saves more energy than recycling. 
     I don't stop at the actual jewelry. Instead of putting greeting cards from Christmas and birthdays into the bin, I use the pretty blank parts as cards for my earrings and tags for my necklaces. I have about a dozen old peanut butter jars that I use for beads, wire scraps, and catchalls.  Old tins and sturdy boxes are used for shipping.  Clothes with holes or stains get cut up for jewelry bags and shopping sacks. My displays are made of an old pair of shutters, scrap lumber, an old art case, and a mismatched sheet for a tablecloth. I have driven my conventional husband crazy with all of my salvaging and hopefully it will payoff. 


I hope to sell lots at the festival on saturday, it is my business after all, but I hope that my creations will inspire people to think about what they buy and what they throw away as well.  Earth Day is a day for inspiration afterall, its a day when all us 'small voices' get together and make a difference.


     If you would like to know more about the Earth Day Festival in Nashville go to www.nashvilleearthday.org

The search for displays

I have been searching and brainstorming for good ways to display my jewelry at the festivals and craft shows I am entered in. I have seen some really awesome wooden display stands online and really want to make something myself to save money and make my jewelry stand out from the huge masses available out there (pun intended).  I have lots of logs and wood that is nice and seasoned in my backyard from before we put the gas logs in our fireplace.  (A side note on gas logs: I miss the crackle and smell of the wood fire but the gas does heat better than wood.) But back to the topic at hand, I am fairly handy so my plan is to try to create something that will reinforce the fact that my jewelry is one of a kind.
In the past I have used copper wire and seasoned wood to create lovely display pieces but I want something more substantial than the slim trees of my earlier designs. Therefore, I am entering the world of creating in wood.
After a trip to the wood working capital, Gatlinburg's Arts and Crafts Trail
in the Great Smoky Mountains of Tennessee just a few weeks ago, I am brimming with confidence that I can create something just as spectacular as the amazing pieces there! (They make it look effortless, but I think it will take more than just effort.) I have built some pieces before, taken a few classes in carpentry and worked a little in a shop, so of course I can create something awesome right?!


Wish me luck!!!