Happy New Year with no Resolutions

It's that time of year again when everyone is making promises to themselves like - no more dessert, get to the gym, stop this, stop that........

That never works for me so instead of resolutions, I make a list of goals and projects; pieces I plan to make and the challenges I want those pieces to present, stores I want to visit with my work and so on. To me, goals are very important. They are a road map that helps steer you to where you want to go with your life and your art.

Over the years I have attended many practice management seminars with friends who were professionals and every one of those seminars, without exception, first and foremost would tell their audience to set goals.

Then, I like to look back on all the things I am grateful for; my family, my customers, the sales I made, the pieces I made, the concerts I saw, the people I met.....and celebrate it all! I really believe it is important to take stock of what you have in your life and to be grateful for whatever that is.

I apologize if I sound preachy....but I really believe it all!

And thank you for being a reader of my blog.....I appreciate you too and wish you a very Happy and Healthy 2011!

Holiday Sniffles

It's the holidays. The pressure is on. You have deadlines to meet and orders to fill. But now you feel that tickle in the back of your throat, your nose is getting stuffy...oh, no... you don't have time to be sick!

The very fact that the heat is on can lower one's resistance to fight colds and flu bugs. This past week I came down with the worst cold I've had in years. What to do?

I always have on hand a few "mindless" projects. Things I can do almost with my eyes closed. Pieces I can work on in front of the fire or the TV. Even the most complex project has its tedious, auto-pilot type of tasks such as filing and sanding, opening and closing jump rings. I try to work on this part of the piece when I don't have the energy or concentration to do something more involved.

While I've been "grounded" this past weekend I worked on a something relatively easy. I forged a necklace 0f 68 links, each a different shape, linked them and soldered them closed. I finished the piece with a hammered texture, added a clasp and I was done in about 3 hours. The piece measures 40 inches long and can be worn as a single length chain shown on the right or as a double chain shown at the top.

I had so much fun making it that I'm continuing on with a few more.

My cold is almost gone but the necklaces aren't. If you want one you can buy one here:

Oooh, I want one - take me to your Etsy shop.

And don't forget to enter the coupon code: HAPPYHOLIDAYS for 10% off this and anything in my Etsy shop.

Happy Holidays and thanks for reading my blog posts!

p.s you won't catch my cold - everything is sanitized before I send it out!