Thank you, Etsy!

I was recently informed that my local Etsy team, East Valley Artisans (EVA), was awarded an Etsy grant to help open up a booth at the Downtown Phoenix Public Market. Hooray!!! We will be there every Saturday morning of the year selling lampwork & fused glass items, chainmail, various types of jewelry, baby clothes, gift cards, stationary sets, recycled bottle cap magnets, picture frames, ceramics and more! Everything is handmade by Phoenix area local artists and crafters! We are really excited and have scheduled a meeting for next week so we can get working on exactly what we need and our budget. I have been the team leader of EVA for nearly four years. We started out with a small group of very talented and wonderful women. We have added new members quite slowly. Some past members have sadly gone on to other things, but the group of members we have right now is an amazing group of artists and crafters who are energized and want to make things happen. There were days in the past where I would have a meeting and one person would show up, or where we had an event that wasn't all that successful and I would go away feeling like EVA was done for and I was throwing in the towel. So, I would drag myself to the next month's meeting ready to inform anyone that showed up that I was done ... and then I would see 13 eager women sitting there sharing some amazing resources and ideas with one another. Quitting plan foiled again. ;o) And thankfully so. Something just shifted in the energy of the group several months ago and here we are making headway to our first joint business effort. I am soooooo excited!!!!

For more information on EVA visit us at our various sites:
http://www.etsy.com/teams/5186/east-valley-artisans
http://www.eastvalleyart.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#!/group.php?gid=224379351234

So close to 50! Giveway for 49 and 50th followers.

I hope everyone had a great New Year's Eve. I did. And ... I had every intention of adding a slew of new items to my Etsy shop on New Year's Day, but technical difficulties arose. I am out of space on my hard drive so can't put any of the photos from my camera onto my computer. So, we wait, patiently. My husband is shopping for a new hard drive for me, and fortunately I have a techie hubby who will install it for me in the next day or two. So I will have new items soon! It was strange. My son's computer stopped working, my has slowed to a near halt and I fried our external hard drive. Ooops! I thought it was very Y2K.

On another note, I have been keeping rather busy and getting ready to start my doula workshop next month. I have a bunch of books to read beforehand. I am excited. It is just another of many things I will do in my life. I am not the type of person to get any job and keep it for the rest of my life. I couldn't live such a boring life. Maybe it wouldn't be boring if you loved what you were doing. I love making jewelry, but it is a hobby and I fear making it into a career might make me love it a tiny bit less. But, we only have this life to live once and I want to experience many, many different things. I keep slowly adding ideas to the book that I will complete one day, which is taking on a very new form. It is a semi-autobiographical novel. There were a lot of things I was upset about only weeks ago that have changed right before me. I feel very grateful for all that has happened in my life and brought me to the place that I am. I was feeling angry and cheated, but the more I reframe things I have realized that all the things that angered me about my past were my little treasures. I have learned so much and that is what life is all about. I am sleep deprived and time crunched, but very happy with all the love that surrounds me ... and so far, I have come out of my battles on top, even though sometimes it takes time to reveal that. There is nothing that I would have changed in my past or done over for fear that it would change my current circumstance. And I wouldn't want that.

Anyway - I am only 2 people away from having 50 followers, it is a milestone that I have been dancing closer to, but never quite achieving it. I will have 48, 49, 48, 49, now we are at 48, and I am ready to move into the 50s. So I am offering a pair of Swarovski crystal earrings to my 49th and 50th followers. I would show you what they look like, but at this moment, I can't. :o( Check out my Etsy shop or website if you would like to see my style.
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