Camping in the Trees

Well we are camping where there are trees but I just happened to have made some trees....gem trees that is. I will show you a picture but before that I have to tell you that they are not finished, no roots yet and they haven't been mounted on a rock. I also made a new tree that I'm going to call a Charm Tree or maybe a Memory Tree, humm I guess I haven't made up my mind yet so if you have any suggestions let me know. The purpose is to hang charms or pictures or I guess anything you want off the loops. Might be a little hard to imagine without anything on it yet. I already have an Earring Tree design but you could use it for those also.

Here are the other lonely trees without there bases.

One of these trees will be donated to the Harvest of Hope auction to benefit Mary Bridge Children's Hospital and a couple will be sent to the gallery in Oregon. If you are ever passing through Lincoln City, Oregon and want to check it out, it is called Rock Your World on Hwy 101. They've been open since May 31st and so far the trees have been doing really well. Here is their Facebook page if you want to find out more about them. http://www.facebook.com/rockyourworldgallery

Now a couple of camping pictures. One of our spaniel Buddy and the other is me holding Leo.

Buddy's favorite place in the whole motor coach is on the front dash. He will even ride up there when we are traveling down the road.

Leo's favorite place in the coach is anywhere I am. I swear he just follows me around like a little puppy...no pun intended.

Have a good day everyone...tomorrow we are off to the beach for the day.

Catching Up

It feels so good to get things caught up and accomplished. I"m not sure why I don't do this all the time...lazy I guess.

We made it back from our Alaskan cruise on Sunday and it was great. Talk about scenic cruising, this was the one for that. It was a little chilly but being from WA State we are used to that. One of my favorite parts of this cruise was watching for wildlife such as these Orcas.

Then there was Glacier Bay. What a fantastic site. That large snowy thing behind my mom and I is the glacier.

We even had time for a little shopping...okay a lot of shopping.

So, now we are back, the vacation is over and time to get down to business. I had gem trees to ship to Pacific NW Gem and Art Gallery on Monday and for the past couple of days I've just been getting caught up on all my art charm swaps that are coming due, oh and unpacking and laundry. Why is it that if you have all your laundry done before you go on vacation, when you come home you have more than if you didn't go at all. Usually, I only have two loads per week but this time I had three. How does that happen?

Today we had a rainy cold day and I noticed that my lilacs were blooming. Now lilacs are my favorite flower so as soon as the rain stopped I ran out and cut some to have here in the house. You never know if the rain and wind keeps up, I might not have any blossoms left to enjoy outside.

Hope you are having a wonderful day.

Big News

Sometimes fate has a way of knocking you in the head. Take for instance the last gem show we did in West Seattle. It is just fate that we happened to be at another gem show where the organizer saw us and asked if we would demonstrate at her show at the last minute and we just happened to have that weekend open. Then at the show I met a woman who purchased one of my gem tree books and was commenting on how wonderful the gem trees were and how they would be great in a gallery in Oregon that she had visited.

As fate or luck would have it, I contacted the gallery (Pacific NW Gem & Art Gallery) and sent pictures and low and behold I will be commissioning some of my gem trees there. Yea, what fun. I've already made one special tree to be sent to them and am working on one more. The other trees I send will be from stock I already have. Happy Dancing....woo hoo. We actually did pretty well at that show in terms of sales. A few books, a couple of custom jewelry designs that I was able to make there and lots of gem trees were sold.

Here is Hubby with some of the gem trees.

This is one of the new designs I made at the show. All in fine silver except for the sterling silver chain.

In one of my last posts I was complaining about our office not being finished, well today the contractors showed up to finish the job....yea. Hopefully things are now coming together here at home so we can finally get the house back in order and all the office stuff out of the living room and in the office where it belongs. I'll post finished photos soon.

I still haven't given up my charm swaps or bead swaps and in fact will have a blog hop coming soon. Lori Anderson organized a Spring Fairy Tale swap and we are shipping our beads to each other today. My partner is Loretta of Designs by Loretta. She does some wonderful polymer clay work. You can check out her Blog or her ArtFire studio to take a look. I only hope she likes beads.

Okay, I'm off to get some beads shipped and finish my portion of a Round Robin necklace. Have a great day everyone.

Dana

A Little Creating and Making New Friends

Today was my Demonstration and Book signing at Shipwreck Beads in Lacey. Usually these things can be pretty boring if you don't have a lot of people dropping by to check out what you are doing. I actually was able to make 3 gem trees and promote the classes that I'll be teaching there.

Other than making trees and talking to customers today was an exceptional day as I was scheduled at the same time as another author for her book signing. What fun! I was able to meet Christine Hansen, author of Mixed Media Art Charms & Jewelry. If you haven't checked out her book that she co-wrote with Peggy Krzyzewski then you need to, lots of fun charms to make.


Here is a picture of one of my trees...taken with my cell phone camera so it isn't very good.

Here is a picture of Christine making her first charm tree. If you like this tree, I have a tutorial so that you can make your own. Here is the link Jewelry/Earring Tree.

Speaking of trees, my brother made this tree with my Tree of Hope and Life instructions. He used more bead dangle charms vs. some of the ribbons I use but I love how he put it in a dish with sand and made a zen garden.

I hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend.

I Need A Rest

Okay, more like my fingers need a rest. Made 6 small gem trees today as part of a special order for a customer. I have 4 more to make and then I will mount all of them on small rocks. These are all 4 to 6" trees that I consider small as most of my trees are about 3 times this size in terms of amount of wire and stones used. I'm sure you aren't going to be able to tell from the picture but there is a Jade Bonsai, Citrine Charm, Turquoise Pine, Breast Cancer Awareness, Freshwater Pearl and Rock Crystal made with magenta wire (it is the coolest looking one of the bunch).

Maybe I'll actually work on creating some new jewelry pieces tomorrow.

Happy Monday.

Special Order Complete

I have been so disorganized lately and this past week I did nothing. Well nothing isn't a good word as I've actually been sick with the Spring cold. It just kind of jumped up on me without warning. Funny how that happens. So, anyway, I haven't felt like getting in my craft room or even blogging.....really sad for me. This down time did allow me to finish a special order for 9 gem trees that I needed to get out the door this week. Mind you I'm still coughing and hacking up crap but I can still twist wire with the best of them without even looking. That is the one good thing about this hobby. They just kind of build themselves. Here is a picture of my finished creations before they were crammed into a box and shipped. I always worry about how they will look when they arrive.

So that's why you haven't heard from me in over a week. Wow, that's a long time and I wasn't even on vacation. Now that I'm on the road to recovery, I'll be back soon.

Oh, What to do Now!

I think I have created a monster. Yes, that is me. Being off work (forced retirement) has it's advantages and disadvantages. The best for me is being able to make jewelry, gem trees and sew whenever I want. Now you are probably wondering what is the disadvantage about that....well one of the obvious is less money to buy the supplies needed to make all those wonderful things and the other is that I am terribly disorganized and tend to work on my little projects and not my special orders. I'm also accumulating things faster than I am selling them.

The one new thing is my purses. I've made three now and learned something new on each one, so none of them are of a standard I would sell, but maybe the next one, hence the accumulation. I also have way too many ideas for projects that I just can't get to and have found myself working on several all in the same day and not finishing any of them. Okay, I finished a purse yesterday but I have gem trees to make and still don't have all of them finished.

When I was working I was able to focus on what was important (like special orders) get those completed and then work on my little projects. Now I get up in the morning and feel that I have all the time in the world (no job to go to) and sometimes just putter the day away doing my little projects. LOL, I think I need to focus. Maybe start a list each morning of those things I really need to accomplish (like laundry today and gem trees) and tackle those first and then if I have time left over, work on my other projects.

If you have any ideas, please let me know, other than go back to work that is.

BTW, my March newsletter is out and in it is a coupon to purchase my book "Gem Tree Sculptures" for $10.00 vs. $17.99. This offer is only good until 4/1/10, so sign up today (right hand column) and I'll send you the newsletter with the coupon in it.

Woo Hoo I Was Selected

Yes, that's right, I was selected as one of the instructors at the Puget Sound Bead Festival this Summer. I will be teaching Gem Tree Sculptures. All in all it was a good day yesterday as I received this notice, plus I was asked by the Tenino Gem and Mineral Club to put on a Gem Tree presentation and demo in February and I sold 2 items off my 1000 Markets site. It was a good day.

So, if you are wondering about the Bead Festival thing, here is a link to the Bead Festival web site that explains a little bit more about it although they don't have this Summer's list of instructors or classes up yet. I think they indicated it would be the first of March before that gets updated.



So, now you are wondering what is a Gem Tree presentation and demo...well, I have no idea yet on the presentation, but I do demo's all the time, so the presentation part will be just explaining the various types of trees I make and techniques involved. If you want to know a little bit more about gem trees, I have a book and tutorials available for sale or you could check out my gem tree blog.

And what were the items that sold yesterday, two pair of charm earrings. These are my most popular and my favorite to wear almost daily. I have several friends that would also swear by them. They come with multiple gemstone or pearl charms that you can mix or match. Fun earrings that go with most everything. Pictured is a set that is still available. Charms include 2 sets of freshwater pearls, turquoise, black onyx, lapis and apatite. Click the word "Pictured" link above to take you to the product page.

Here is hoping that we all have a great weekend.

No Time to Think

Just when I thought that the holidays were over and we could let out a sigh of relief I found myself getting motivated to paint, make more jewelry and gem trees.  The paintings you can see in my previous post and the jewelry I have yet to photograph. I also have more cookies to make for my nephew and his wife before they head back to Oklahoma on Wednesday.....humm I guess that will be a tomorrow job.

I received a special order in December for 6 opal gem trees that have to be mailed by Jan. 15th, so I got busy today and started making my branches. One tree is completely put together and the others are on pieces on my dining room table in various stages of completion. See messy photo. The trees have either 3 little pearls, blue topaz or peridot at the tip and then I glue opal cabs on as leaves. Makes a stunning litle tree. I have a feeling that they will all get finished this week and be ready to mail next week.....woo hoo. Then I can concentrate on some of my other activities.

Speaking of other activities, January 16th I'll be teaching a fine silver fusing class for my gem and mineral club. I still have yet to order the wire, I guess that will have to be this week also to ensure that I get it in on time.

I hope everybody is having a great week so far and have a safe New Year's Eve.

Ready for anything

I know a lot of you read my posts and are thinking when is she ever going to tell us what she is doing....well that is today. My list of things I'll be doing this year.

• Marketing my "Gem Tree Sculpture" book (due out next week)
• Volunteering at the PVGMC annual show in the kitchen for 4 days June 4-7
• Working at the antique mall on our booth 1 day a week
• Watching my 11 yo nephew for 3 weeks starting July 6th (zoo, NW Trek, Mt. Rainier, Westport, Pacific Science Center) are a few things on the list for that time.
• July 25-26 Tenino Rock Show, demonstrate gem trees and jewelry design
• July 30- Aug 2 NFMS/AFMS rock show in Billings, MT to compete for my Masters in Gem Tree Design and to teach a couple of gem tree classes
• Aug 15-16 Yelm rock show, demonstrate gem trees and jewelry design
• Sept Western WA State Fair - volunteer at our gem club hobby booth for a couple of days
• Sept 19-20 Castlerock rock show, demonstrate gem trees and jewelry design
• Oct 9-11 Shelton rock show, not sure what I'll be doing yet as this is a new show
• Nov 13-15 Opal show, demonstrate gem trees and jewelry design
• Nov 13 Craft show at Russell Investments
• Dec 9-10 Craft show at the VA Hospital in Seattle, WA

All of this plus lots of other things I just haven't planned yet, like an open house for my jewelry designs.....another gem tree workshop or two this Fall, more blogging, tweeting and creating jewelry....oh and did I mention that I still have 3 gem trees to make for my competition in July along with getting my display case perfected.

I may have to schedule some time with my husband...LOL.

At a Stand Still

What do you do when you have so many ideas for things that you can't seem to get to them all? I think this is where I am at now.

I entered a jury competition for RAGS this year and was turned down because my jewelry looked the same as everyone elses. Hmm, I guess when you think about it everyone's jewelry that is being designed today looks like everyone elses. I'm not put off by this, but will definately look at what I'm designing and what is selling. During the holidays, I sold a lot of wire wrapped pendants and gemstone wire trees. I tried selling them about 3 years ago and no one wanted them, go figure that I'm a few years ahead of everyone else. In doing some research on the web, I found that there really isn't a lot of tutorials about how to wire wrap a pendant. There are some simple designs, and that seems to be what everyone is making. I may have to give this some thought, but I could put a couple of designs out here for reference that I have developed. Since I have so much going on right now, this will have to be a goal for later in the year.

If you have read my blog on gem trees, you will now know that I am writing a book on how to make a gem tree. This is taking up a huge amount of my at home time reserved for relaxing. If I'm not writing then I'm making a tree or trying out a new design or material. I found some freshwater pearls at a local large bead shop that are flat and leaf like that I'm working with now. It should prove to be a wonderful looking little tree and one that I hope I have picture for the book as another option to gemstones.

On another note, anyone that knows me knows that I have jewelry on consignment at a salon. In 2006, the Salon did about a 1/3 of my overall jewelry sales and again in 2007 they did about 1/3. I did revamp the jewelry available at the salon this year to items under $50.00. Earrings are always $10.00, bracelets run up to $35.00 and necklaces to $50.00. This does create a challange for me as I have to find affordable gemstones that are still good quality. International Gem and Jewelry shows are my favorite place to look for affordable stones. Unfortunately to get them cheap, you have to buy in bulk. I may have to take a couple of friends along this year and share the wealth so that I don't end up with 6 or more strands of the same type and style of stone.

Well, I'll keep plugging along, but if you find you are stuck or have too much to do, be aware you are not alone.

Thanks for reading, Dana

What's New

Managing a full time job along with a jewelry business has been a struggle, but I am seeing a light in the tunnel. I've been trying to make some contacts with local retail businesses for consignment of my jewelry and I have also been putting the final touches on my portfolio. Next step is to take samples around along with the picture portfolio and see what they think. I know women like my jewelry and I have several customers that buy from me regularly, but the unknown is always a little bit stressful.

On another note, I have developed with my husband and a friend a workshop titled "Tree of Life". The workshop is designed to explore your inner self and be able to apply your experiences in a creative process in designing a gem tree. The arrangement of the tree and it's limbs is a reflection of who you are, who you want to be or what you see in others. We also cover some of the healing qualities of gemstones that are used in the design of the tree. It is a personal growth workshop that will definately be beneficial for me and I hope for my students. This workshop differs from the other gem tree workshops that I teach in that this one is designed for personal, spiritual or emotional growth and not just a craft class. Obviously, if this sounds interesting to you, please send me an e-mail and I'll get more information out to you.

It doesn't seem like I've done a whole lot yet this year, but the year has only just begun.