And The Winner Is...

Happy 4th of July and thank you all so much for stopping by my blog and following me. My necklace giveaway is now finished. I placed every ones name in a bowl and had my little man pull the winning name out. Congratulations Sara Mason!!  I will be in contact with you via your profile e-mail.

I will be hosting another giveaway in August. A special thanks to Erika over at IndieSpotting for letting my necklace be a part of the latest roundup of giveaways on her blog.

Charming Giveaway

 I am posting my first joyajewelry giveaway!! This is so exciting and I have been thinking about doing it for some time. I am feeling a sense of renewed energy from the e-course I am taking and it has motivated me to celebrate what I post on my blog. To welcome this celebration I am giving away a one of a kind repurposed vintage charm necklace. It is so sweet and dainty. All you have to do is "follow" my blog. Just click the follow button in the right hand column and you are entered. On the 4th of July I will post the winner. I will put all of your names in a bowl and have my hubby pull one out. Thanks for following.

Creative Circle

 Monday was a great meeting of like minds. I am so thankful for the circle of creative friends that I have in my life. I met Tiffin about three years ago in my mom's bunco group, of all places. We started gabbing about antiques and then creative aspirations and the rest has been a whirlwind of fun times. Jessica and I met through Tiffin when we were at our first photo shoot. Jess was our photographer extraordinaire. Good times ever since. I recently met Jenni at a local festival and can't wait to get to know her better. I introduce these fine woman because they help me. And when I say this, I mean it so sincerely. We support one another whatever creative dreams we are chasing. The part I love the most is that there is no jealousy just love and support. When one succeeds we all succeed. We try to meet monthly and this gathering was about revamping our blogs and finding new ways to get ourselves out there into the world.
 So, if you would love to surround yourself with other creative people, go to etsy and click on the shop local section.  There you will find other artists in you area. You would be surprised at how many of you are looking for one another. I tell ya it helps to have the support.

Taking Flight and Setting Goals

Yesterday I started this wonderful e-course taught by Kelly Rae Roberts. The course is designed to help me (and other artists) really think about where I want my creative business to go. But with a twist!! It is so spiritually driven and so personal that I am, after the first day, realizing how badly I want my creative business to grow. We were given the challenge of setting goals for ourselves and it got me thinking and motivated to right them down in my journal. And now I am going to put them out there into the blogosphere.

1. List more jewelry regularly on my etsy shop.
2. Reorganize my blog and make it a wonderful place for inspiration and honesty.
3. Get published in a national magazine ( Lucky and Country Living magazine I am talking to you)!
4. I would love to be a jeweler featured on the Today Show.
5. Publish a book about repurposing vintage jewelry.
6. BE DIFFERENT IN A SEA OF OTHERS CREATING JEWELRY. I AM NOT THE SAME!! (This one is very important to me hence the all caps)
7. Becoming a legitimate business
8. A big goal I would love to accomplish is to design a jewelry line with any of the greatest costume jewelery houses: Lisner, Trifari, or Monet. A line that would bring back the beautiful jewelry of the past. I would even like to see Sarah Coventry bring a line back to life and I would love to be a part of it.
9. This goal is the biggest of them all. I really want to find a successful way to juggle being a first time mom with being a successful creative artist. This I know will come to me:)

I know these goals are very real and tangible and I am very excited to have them out of my head and out there to come true. The universe knows my hearts desire to do what I love. And being a designer, artist, crafter... whatever you want to call it. It is my bliss. So, whatever it is that swirls in your head, write it down, yell from the roof tops. It can happen. I have seen it.

first beach trip and antiques on holiday

   On June 8th Kenon and I will have been married for 8 years. We got engaged in Destin Florida so we thought it would be fitting to take Wren there for his first big trip away from home. So at two months old we packed him up in the car and headed to the beach. He did so well in the car and was not even phased to sleep in a foreign place.
 This trip was also to help me restart my creative juices. So where else to jump start creativity but to go antiquing off the beaten path. I have a radar for finding thrift stores, antique malls, and Goodwills when on vacation. My mom just said to me "how do you find these places" and I responded "I just do". Plus google on my blackberry is fantastic!!!
     So, I hit a couple of local antique malls but one stood out among all of them and that was Antiques on Holiday (105 N. Holiday Rd. Miramar Beach, Fl) This place was amazing!! Every booth space was a vignette of beauty. I walked thru these black french doors and I was immediately surrounded by vintage clothing, scarves, shoes,  jewelry and hats. I just wanted to spin and giggle with delight like a little girl getting ready to play dress up. One room after the next just blew my mind. I got just a couple of pictures with my blackberry but they certainly don't do the place justice. You will just have to check this place out for yourselves.
     In the end of our short but well needed trip to the beach my most favorite part was laying Wren on his favorite blanket and putting his little toesies in the sand.

A boost and a wish of Luck

My very talented friend Jessica with Peachtree Photography  recently had the opportunity to submit images to a magazine cover!! So excited for her. She was kind enough to ask me to design a necklace for the shoot and I was more than happy to do so. I so needed this challenge after having my son. It was a great motivator to get back into the swing of things. I so miss being creative right now. But, like my mom says I am technically still on maternity leave:) With that said, I still am jonesing to get back to creating the new joyajewelry line and posting new pieces on etsy . So thanks Jessica for giving me a boost and good luck!!!

Our New Little Man

So I have been MIA for a while now. A very good reason for that. Kenon and I just had our first child ,Wren :) He was born March 26 and weighed 8lbs 8oz and was 22 inches long. What a wonderful blessing he has been for our family. It is the truest form of LOVE I have every felt. It is quite amazing how you can't imagine your life with out this little person in it. We learn from one another everyday and I can't believe he will be 3 weeks old tomorrow.