Blogging makes me happy!

If you look on the right sidebar towards the bottom you will see "Modified by Blogcrowds". That is where I got the 3-column template, when I embarked on the HTML hell post. Since I did that - I have been posting on their forum with the bits and pieces I still needed to fix. Stavanger, the guy who the site belongs to - has answered all my posts and been most helpful! Tonight he gave me the code to fix the last problem I was having where the color on the right side wasn't reaching the edge - and it worked! I mean - I was able to exchange the old code for the new - and it worked! And believe me - I don't know anything about HTML!! So I wanted to say THANKS to Stavanger for being out there and being available for assistance with his templates - and for creating templates that give people the layouts and options they want for their blogs! If you have your own blog, you might want to check out his site for new templates and or help!

I realized today, that blogging makes me happy. Not because I'm touting my shop, selling my jewelry, not because it's a good online business decision - but because I love to write! I write like I breathe - it is effortless for me. I don't necessarily mean I write well like I breathe, just that I can write the way I speak and sometimes better. I enjoy it. So picture a little girl stepping onto a stage, onto a small raised platform all dressed in dance clothes and quivering with anticipation! There is a spotlight and it's ONLY on her - she is the STAR - no one else exists on her little platform. The light from the spotlight is in her eyes so while she believes there is an audience out there - she can't see them - so she imagines them all watching her dance and loving every bit of her performance. And in the end - it doesn't really matter if there is an audience to her, it is the performance that means the most.

Me, and my blog. :)

Also today, in Etsy forums, there was a thread posted about a guy named Mike who has his own website, kind of like Craigs list - and he is accepting free ad submissions. Woo hoo! I love that all the people (most) on Etsy are so encouraging and helpful to each other! Of course giving out Mike's website helps HIM too - I think he's just getting started - but we all need new places to get our names out there so I am happy to give his site a plug! It is called Tuningin.com - and I will put a link under "shops, sites, etc". Not only is the ad free - but you can load up to 5 very good quality and fairly large images along with your ad. For the life of me I can't locate the thread or I would mention the Etsian (sp?) who posted it! Good thing though, it all helps! Every place you can get your name, shop name - or even Etsy.com. Ads are good! Take a look at my ad! http://www.tuningin.com/?view=showad&adid=1337&cityid=16&lang=en
SWEET!
Loading these pictures on here that have nothing to do with anything is a total indulgence for me - but like I titled the flower pics - upper right - you can never have too much beauty. Enjoy!

I thought last night was fast!

Tonight - just a pretty picture from Hawaii. Kauai actually, really beautiful there. Just incredibly sleepy tonight. Going to get my tea ready for the morning, take my makeup off and the like. Early night for me. Very early. :) Sigh-h-h-h .....

Quick post

Just a quick post tonight - wanted to post pics of 2 things I made last night. The first is a bracelet made with green aventurine and smoky quartz. Yay! Makes me happy!! Worked on connecting beads together by making loops - this bracelet was not "strung" so to speak. :)

Next is a necklace, made with pink quartz, blue glass, and smokey quartz. Made the same way as the bracelet - just different beads. Again - makes me happy!

Not ready to list these - haven't taken real photos yet or anything, but hey - this is a start towards the direction I'd like to go. Need a whole lot of practice which I plan to get. I want to feel that what I am asking people to pay money for is unique and strong and all my own.

I need to go and do some other stuff with the rest of my evening, so I will pick a nice landscape pic to close with. It's a good day!
Ah - I found a nice one. Talk about water like glass - so nice.

Need to improve!

Anything is possible. That's what this picture says.

Seems I am not happy enough with my beading. Beading. Hmmm. I don't want to just string beads on wire and try to make pretty patterns. I enjoy what I do - but I really need to do more. I feel a bit like a fraud - I need to try something more. I'm repeating myself. Well - I'm going into my bead room. Maybe I should lock the door and not come out until I have accomplished something new!! :)

I'm not unhappy - just feel something is lacking in my jewelry - I need to make it more my own. Maybe that's it. I feel a bit like anyone can do what I do. I need to develop my talent. It's funny cause one of the big discussions on Etsy has been about underpricing. I tried to get it across that I am an amateur - and I cannot price the things that I make - like someone who wire wraps their stones, makes their own earwires or clasps.

There didn't seem to be any getting it across to some people - that they should be able to charge more because they are better than some of us who have just started. I would really feel like a fraud if I charged more than I do. Even tried to tell them that it was a compliment to them that some of us don't charge as much as they do.

So much concern about driving the market down - seems to have blinded some people to who they are comparing themselves to.

Do not misunderstand, I am not hopeless. LOL! Not by any means! There is a plan in my head to continue to move forward and keep getting better until I know about the different gauges of wire and how to use them. Till I know what a tumbler is for or what a burr is!!! Progress. I must make some. :)

Mostly I think I'm saying - I know I have a long way to go. What I make appeals to some people and I am very happy about that. But I want to make pieces that I am totally internally pleased with. Something that reflects the ability I hope to develop. There, THAT'S what I mean.

I always use more words than I need to get a thought across. Always.

Almost there!

I think I finally got this template as wide as I want it. Now I have an edge line going down the middle of the right side - it's the coloring at the edge of the template. If anybody knows how to adjust it and it's remedial - please let me know. If it's beyond remedial - I'll live with it!!

Took a couple pictures of Dani modeling her necklace today. She is so adorable! She doesn't remember but when she was little I used to tell her she was special and very very lucky. I told her she was really smart, smarter than most, she was lucky because as a bonus - she was pretty too - but most importantly - she had a great big heart and was a good person too! I tried to de-emphasize the pretty part - in the context of it being an important part of her makeup. I wanted her to know she WAS pretty - but that certainly wasn't the most important thing about her. I think she understands that better than a lot of people do. But then again, it's still true - she IS smarter than most! Straight A's her junior year of college. OMG I can't believe she's that old. On the other hand - Andy is 23 now, boy does that make me feel old!! He really shares very few details - but I will have to ask him what kind of grades HE just got! He's a good kid (kid?) though, I don't worry about his grades.

So I managed to make a necklace, 2 bracelets, and I think 3 pairs of earrings last night. I love this bracelet, I actually dreamed about those 3 green stones across the front. No lie. I know that's a bit weird but it's true. The stones on either side of the green jade - are lavender, I know the picture doesn't refect that really well. I just love the green with lavender and then with the yellow. Great stuff. Another one of those chunky stone bracelets I like. Don't know if anyone else likes them - no one has bought one yet!! :) I'm trying to be patient. See my fingers drumming on the table ... ! I'm waiting ... come and get it!!

Haven't visited the Etsy forums much the last couple of days - I've been obsessing about this blog and trying to make it cool. But I obsess too much and it takes me forever! I saw a comment by jessprkle from Unique Expressions - her Etsy shop - and I went to her blog and saw this WIST thing I liked. Rotating pics from other Etsy sellers - I could do my own stuff I suppose, but anyway - I wanted it. So I clicked on it from her site and went off into an exploration of WIST and how to make it work. I still don't understand it entirely, like how to make ALL the choices I picked show up in that sidebar, but other than that I'm happy with what I did. Just don't ask me to explain it because I don't think I can! I get in trouble when I start to explore because I find things I need to figure out.

Haven't figured out Html a whole bunch, but did figure out I could alter numbers and look at what I did - and change it back if I needed to. Messed with that a lot too. Don't understand it much, but messed with it enough to get most of what I want.

Now though, I need to get a bit of jewelry made while I still have some evening left. Gonna pick out a purty picture to close with, and then head to the bead room. Woo hoo!!

Don't remember where this picture is from but I was struck by the contrast between the blue and the yellow. Pretty. Pretty and tranquil.