Craft: That scarf I started...

I finished that scarf I started a while ago, so I thought I'd post it for you to check out...  I'd love to read your comments since I'm thinking very, very seriously about adding a crochet section to my store in the near future.

Keep it Crafty!
Kristin

Featured Artist: Jennifer Robinson of My First Jewellery on Etsy

      I love the concept for this shop because it IS nice to be able to buy something of quality for your daughter that she can pass down to the next generation and get it at a reasonable price. I hope you enjoy this interview as much as I enjoy this shop! 

On Etsy

      

      What do you make and what was/is the inspiration for your shop?  I make birthstone and heirloom jewellery for little girls. My 6 year old daughter Lauren gave me the idea when she saw the jewellery I was making for women and asked for her own gemstone necklace. I thought, “Why not? Little girls appreciate beautiful things too, sometimes even more so that adults.” Soon after, My First Jewellery was born.

Tell us how your creativity has woven itself into your life’s journey to make you what you are today. I have always been a crafter. I have dabbled in beading, needlework, crochet, scrapbooking and other paper crafts, drawing and sewing. I studied Interior Design in College, and designed custom closets part-time for several years. When I decided that I wanted to craft full-time, I considered many different mediums. But the very first time I picked up some sterling wire, a beautiful gemstone and some pliers, I was hooked. I knew that I had found the right medium for me, because I couldn’t get enough of it. The fact that I love sparkly things helps! After almost two years I am still as excited about jewellery making as I was on that very first day. And I’m finally using those sketching, proportion and colour theory classes that I took in school, just in a different way.

Pink Tourmaline for October

In what other areas of your life (or interests that you have) do you see your creativity shining through? Definitely writing. If I hadn’t become a jewellery designer, I may have ended up writing for a living. My favourite type of writing is poetry, and I have written dozens of poems, mostly geared to children. It’s on my To Do list to have them published some day! For now, my audience is one appreciative little girl who is learning to appreciate poetry in the same way I did when I was young.

What is your vision for the future of your business?  I want to develop a line of birthstone jewellery for girls aged 3-tween. My product line will include many core styles that I will always have available, with new designs being introduced regularly in order to keep things fresh and interesting. I want to expand into wholesale at some point, as well as showcase my work at jewellery parties which I find are a lot of fun for everyone. As much as I want my business to succeed financially, my lifestyle is of equal importance to me and I want to sell in ways that support that lifestyle. While my daughter is young, attending weekend-long craft fairs is not reasonable for me. So I hope to achieve success online, through wholesale, and parties that I can plan around our family’s schedule.

Tell us about your typical day.  I take Lauren to school in the morning and then settle down with my coffee in front of the computer. This is my time to check my three shops, catch up on Facebook and twitter, check my various e-mails and chat about business in the forums. I allow myself until 10:00, but after that, I must move away from the computer or else before I know it, half of the day is gone! The bulk of my day is spent doing a combination of the following: designing and making new jewellery, photographing, listing jewellery in my online shops, ordering supplies, packing orders, mailing orders and communicating with customers. Lunch is about 10 minutes long and is eaten at the computer, then it’s back to work. At 3:30 I pick Lauren up from school and we have some time together reading, talking and snacking. When she’s ready for some downtime, I go back to work until 6:00 when my husband comes home and starts looking around for dinner (yes, I’m the only one who cooks). I tear myself away from my craft room and make dinner for my starving family. Then there’s the usual kitchen clean-up, dog-feeding (we have a large furry family) and bathtime. While Lauren’s in the bath, I sneak back into my craft room so that I can list an item for those perusing my shop in the evening. Sometimes I can make a necklace, photograph it and list it before I hear the tub draining! Moms have to be efficient. After storytime and bedtime, I spend a little time online before my husband gives me that look. The look that says, “Are you going to be on there all night?” That’s my cue that my work day is over. And you know what? I can’t wait to get started again the next day!

Are you trained as an artist?  I hold a diploma for Interior Design from Sheridan College in Oakville, Ontario. And though I’m not designing spaces, I find that many of the elements that I studied all those years ago come into play now. The most prominent one is colour, which factors into all types of design. Proportion is also a main element of jewellery design, as is the ability to sketch out an idea and        make it a reality. I am trained to look for inspiration in everyday things, magazines, stores, the outdoors. This comes naturally after studying design for three years. As far as designing jewellery is concerned, I am self-taught. I picked up a free booklet one day in a craft store that showed how to create a wrapped loop with wire. I tried it, and the rest is history.

Peridot for August

What is one thing you will be going out of your way to learn more about in the coming year to benefit your business?  Without a doubt it is the business side of things, namely the necessary bookkeeping and income reporting that comes with any business. While I do keep track of expenses and sales, I need to do it in such a way that will make it easy come income tax time.  It’s a necessary evil.

What steps are you taking to ensure your products follow applicable child safety laws?  My first idea for my line of jewellery for little girls included less expensive materials, namely silver plated chain, Swarovski crystals, lampwork beads and colourful enameled charms. Then I started reading up on child safety laws and quickly realized that this was not going to be possible. The chain that I was buying was from other sellers and I didn’t know what the base metal was. Having each item tested was not going to be financially feasible. So I switched gears and started buying only sterling silver chain and findings from a major wholesale company that can guarantee the material and provide me with lot numbers. The stones that I use are all genuine, natural gemstones and pearls. There is nothing in my jewellery that is harmful to children, and I’m happy now with my new direction. Instead of fun, costume jewellery, my pieces are meant to be given as gifts to flower girls, at christenings and for birthdays. They grow with the child, so it is jewellery that is kept and cherished for some time. This is a good choice in a tough economy where people are looking for things that will last.

Here are the links to My First Jewellery and Jennifer’s Facebook Page for women, which she sometimes uses to promote the pieces she makes for little girls.  http://www.myfirstjewellery.etsy.com http://www.facebook.com/livjewellery

Quick Healthy Snacks and Give-Away Winner Announced...

Congratulations to Rachel! She won the chance to pick out one free item in my shop! Stop by her Little Birdie Blog to say hello and let her know I sent you.

Now on to the snacks...

Ok so we all know that veggies and fruit are great snacks for the kids, but we all get bored with the same old thing. Here are some ideas for healthy snacks that you may not have thought of (at least for a while) to add to the lineup.  Enjoy!

Image Courtesy Heartfelt3

Bumps on a log (Peanut butter inside the celery with rasins or crasins on top)

Apple or orange slices with cinnamon sprinkled on them

Apple with peanut butter for dip

Peanut Butter or cream cheese and any kind of fresh fruit sandwich

Garlic Toast on high fiber bread

Roasted chickpeas... My kids LOVE these!

Make fruit kabobs

Dark chocolate milk (Put 2 tsp unflavored fiber powder and a very little bit of cocoa powder in a cup and add 1 cup of milk a little at a time while stirring or put it in the blender... The dextrin is sweet enough to make it like dark chocolate... you can add more cocoa as desired.)

Mexican style dark chocolate milk (add cinnamon to the recipe above)

Image Courtesy Prrint

Frozen Pea Salad (Peas frozen - do not thaw, sour cream, salt, pepper, a pinch of garlic granules and onion powder. Add chopped salted nuts to individual portions if you like. Store any extra in the freezer or it will separate... and no nuts in the freezer, unless you like them squishy later.)

Green cheese spread and crackers (with fiber in them) or celery...  I call it 'Monster Goo'

Toss chopped tomatoes and lettuce with pesto (or mild salsa) and a tiny splash of apple cider vinegar and salt to taste for a yummy salad (freeze leftover pesto in ice cube trays for future use)

Marinate a couple of sliced cucumbers and a few slices of onion in a couple of Tbsp. red wine vinegar, salt, olive oil 1 tsp. honey and a little water for a couple of hours in the fridge Serve cucumbers to the kids, toss the onions (or eat them yourself ;)  This is quite refreshing on a hot summer day and also makes a stellar side dish to go with grilled burgers.

Make a healthier smoothie (Add to your blender 1 cup of plain unsweetened yogurt, 1-2 bananas, and enough fresh or frozen strawberries, raspberries or blackberries to almost fill it up and add some fiber powder. Blend. One banana should be enough sweeten the deal, but you can add the second one if your strawberries are super bland.) Serves 4-5 people.

Image Courtesy HaveArt

Chimichurri Hummus (1/2 a recipe chimichurri sauce blended with one can drained chickpeas - I haven't tried this one yet, but I did make the sauce {It's delicious!} and this was the application that immediately came to mind. Let me know how yours turns out!)

Banana Delight (Mash a banana and add plain unsweetened yogurt to taste then add some fresh berries, serve with chopped walnuts or slivered almonds on top)

Harvest a couple of home grown tomatoes or cucumbers... Serve with a sprinkling of salt and eat.

Split an avocado with someone, salt it and eat. (This is also good with a tiny splash of lemon or lime juice.)

Keep it Yummy and Healthy!
Kristin

Who wants to win a gift certificate?

This is your last chance to win your choice of one item from my shop and here are the details. Giveaway closes at Midnight PST on Friday July 14th.
  

Craft: Sunny Circles Sun Catchers

The current art on my kitchen window was getting pretty faded after being up all spring, so this is what I did to replace it.  Yeah, I did it by myself without help from the kids this time because I had a pretty rough day with them and I just needed to chill a bit after bed time.  (It worked wonders, by the way...)  Tomorrow, I will let them have their way with the tissue scraps and all will be well in our house again. :)

What you need to do this yourself:

Waxed Paper

Liquid Starch

Scissors

Bowl

Paint brush
Paper Clips
Tissue Paper Scraps (I recycled some from a party)

Sharpie

Place to Dry your finished piece
Tape or Hole Punch and Ribbon

I folded one sheet each of red, yellow, white and pink tissue into rectangles about the size of a half sheet of paper and traced three different size circles onto two of them.  Then I stacked them two high so I could see the circles on top of each stack and added paperclips around the design to help hold the paper together and keep it still while I cut them out.  Squares, triangles, or just torn up scraps work well too, but I really wanted circles this time. 

Paint liquid starch on your waxed paper and add one layer of tissue circles.  Paint over them with more starch working from the center out on each tissue circle to prevent distortion of your shapes.

Add more layers of circles, overlapping them as desired until you get the look you want.  Using more layers makes a sturdier end product, which is important if you want to hang them or use them as gift tags.  (You can write on the paper with a Sharpie!)

Put a couple of heavy books around the edges to prevent curling and let it dry....

Trace various sized circles (or your favorite shape) onto the waxed paper with a sharpie and cut out. This paper cuts fast with little resistance to your scissors so it is easy to make mistakes.

Carefully remove the waxed paper from your tissue sun catcher.  If it doesn't all release, it is okay  because when you put it up to the light, you can't see the traces of waxed paper anyway.   (Unless that's the place where you wrote on it with a sharpie!)

I didn't like how mine hung with ribbon, so I ended up using some clear tape on the back to stick them directly to the window so that they laid flat.  I SO love how these turned out and would love to see pictures of your creations if you decide to make some too.

Keep it crafty!
Kristin

When Life Gets Tough... Lean on the Lord

I've been going through some troubling things that I really can't share.  Thank you in advance for your prayers, they really do mean a lot to me.  What I am grasping on a deeper level is that when I am faced with difficult things is that I can take comfort in my God because of who He is... 

Image Courtesy Divine Stampings

Here's a tidbit or two:


God wants me looking at Him not what happened, or what could have happened, or what could happen in the future.  He is stronger than all of that.   He is the one who overcame the power of sin and death.  He is our protector. He is the only one who is wise, and He declares that justice is His to pronounce over those who would stand against him.  He is perfect, and He loves perfectly.  He is trust-worthy, our comforter, our ever-present help in time of need.  He is our only hope.  Yes, I will cling to that hope with white knuckles, because it's all I have.  Really, it's all any of us have.

First "Real" Featured Artist... by that I mean someone who is not me...

I have long awaited the day when I would begin featuring other remarkable artists who make great things for kids.  Hooray! Today is the day we feature one of my fellow Etsy Kids Team members,  the fabulous Rebecca of:

on Etsy

What do you make and what was/is the inspiration for your shop?  I specialize in hand dyed and stenciled onesies, but dabble in some sewing projects like pacifier clips, hair bows, look books & I SPY bean bags. I'm just starting work on a line of fabric appliqué's of my favorite onesie designs.  I think about what I like, what my kids like and go from there. I'm not a pastel & puppy dog kind of girl so my onesies are bright & designs usually un-"baby". Though the occasional animal does slip in there. Who doesn't love a baby crawling around in a little cute animal onesie?

How cute is this?!?! I love Vespa's.

Tell us how your creativity has woven itself into your life’s journey to make you what you are today.   I worked as an HR Director in NYC for over 7 years. Working until 9pm, having dinner, going to bed and then waking up to do it all over again was not how I wanted to spend the rest of my life. I'll say this though, it helped me realize that if I really wanted something, only I could make it happen. Going from Wall Street to Stay-at-home-mom was tough. My desire to have my own projects and have an identity other than WIFE & MOM is really what fueled me to keep going with Max & Magnolia. I learned from my own mother that having your own "life" is healthy and ok. She managed to have her own activities and hobbies on top of being a wife, mom, sister & friend.  Plus, I have a husband who really understands that I need my own outlet and "me" time. I'm convinced providing that for each other is key to our great marriage. 

What is your vision for the future of your business?  Things are plugging along great lately. If I can continue to earn my own $ to support the nasty shoe-buying habit I picked up in New York, I'm happy :)  Oh, & If I could find some time to build my own website that would be wonderful.

Tell us about your typical day.  What I plan & what actually happens often don't coincide at my house.  I imagine my day is much like any mom who works from home. I aim for:

-Boys up and fed. By their father, I'm not a morning person.

Perfect road trip toy...

-Play time with mom

-Announce "Mommy has to work for a bit". They are usually pretty good at letting me check my Etsy shop, emails and Facebook for about 30 min.

-Stories and train tracks re-built.

-Lunch

-Naps for boys. During their naps is usually when I fill any non-sewing orders that have come in that day.

-Afternoon play date or trip to park

-Cartoons while I attempt to make dinner

-Dinner with Dad

-Family time

-Bed time for boys- usually around 7:30 or 8

-Sewing time . Any sewing can't happen until after the kiddos go to bed, or if Daddy takes them on a bike ride. My machine is in the family room where they play and if I'm in the room they selfishly insist that I be doing something with them.

-Catch up on my taped TV shows

-Bed time for my by 10:30

Are you trained as an artist?  If yes, what degree(s) or certificates do you hold and where did you earn it/them? If no, how did you learn to make the items you offer in your shop?  Nope. Mostly I’m a self-taught girl dying, stenciling & sewing away. Although I have to say my mother is a great quilter and sewer. She attempted several times in my youth to teach me. I was too impatient to absorb most of it.

In what other areas of your life (or interests that you have) do you see your creativity shining through?   I do have a small garden, but I don't enjoy taking care of it. So I guess that doesn't count.  Hmmm... probably in my GNO's. I have a fun group of friends and we try to get together at least once a month for a craft night. Projects are selected by the hostess and we sit around and craft, gab & eat.  I also like to make things for my boys. Dad's dress shirts or sweaters have become shorts or vests & some fabric from a friend became a Teepee.

What is one thing you will be going out of your way to learn more about in the coming year to benefit your business?  Definitely website design. I'm spending time researching how I want my page to look & work.

What steps are you taking to ensure your products follow applicable child safety laws?  Thankfully a lot of this is just good common sense. People want to know what your product is made of & how to care for it, and babies should not be chewing on things that are small enough for them to choke on.  I put all that in my ETSY listings and on the tags I put on each item.   Google search & fellow shop owners were great resources as well.

Where can we find you?        

www.maxandmagnolia.com

www.facebook.com/maxandmagnolia