Thoughts on Moving

I didn't think there was so much to moving. I've moved a bunch of times. My parents divorced when I was young, and with joint custody, my brother and I switched houses week by week. My mom moved around but stayed in the same area. She rented many houses and apartments before settling into a rental house for about five years, then buying a house she's been in since. My dad rents his house to the local college in the summer, so every summer we've packed up and moved out - where to has varied over the years but again, always within 30 minutes of all current homes. The farthest I've moved so far was to college, and that was only an hour and a half. But nevertheless, packing stuff into boxes is not new to me.

         
This move though, is much farther. From Maine to Colorado, if I forget something, I can't have my parents bring it to me if they have a free day. And this time, I have to go through everything. As my brother and I got older, we kept most of our stuff at our mom's, so we didn't have to move it out of our dad's every summer. When I went to college, I brought a dorm room full of stuff and left a bedroom full of stuff. I always had stuff at home, and it was always just as I'd left it in my room. Now, I want to pack everything up. I'm not planning to bring every last thing with me, but I don't want whatever's left over to be strewn about my "old" room, so my mom can't use it as a guest bedroom unless she cleans.

I've already packed up a bunch of boxes, but most of it was stuff that had already be set aside to move, so my room doesn't look much different. I'd share a picture with you... But it honestly looks like a tornado hit and I don't want people who don't really know me to see it :-P

Even I can't deny that I have too much stuff. I'm one of those people that everything has a story, and I can't get rid of it because I'm attached to the story behind it. I've gotten rid of a lot of stuff since the summer started, but you'd never be able to tell by looking at my room. I have more craft stuff than I could probably use in a year, but since I like doing so many different types of crafts, I can't part with them. I have ideas for almost every craft supply I have, even if I know I won't have time to do it in the next millenia. But I think some day, I'm going to be bored and want something to do, and I'll work on that.

I really need to just let it go!

One of my packing problems is that I'm OCD about organizing (which, most of the time, you'd never know by looking at my room). If I'm moving my stuff, I have to organize it. I can't just throw it in a box. And unfortunately, with the amount of stuff I have, I don't have space to organize. The floor is too covered to put a box down and dig up all the paint, let's say, and put it in a box, because everything I have to move to get to the paint has to go somewhere and there's no where to put it. Then, I want to move on to the fabric, and there's so much of it that it needs multiple boxes. And once I get those boxes packed, sealed, and labeled, where do I put them? I don't like leaving them in my room because I want to be able to see what's left to pack easily. Fortunately, I can put some stuff in my dad's garage, which is helping. I haphazardly put boxes on the stairs until I could bring them over, and I've already refilled that space. Space over there is very limited too though, so I'll have to figure something else out that doesn't require me to remember a list of random places I've stored boxes.

Have you gone through a big move? What packing/moving tips could you share with me, or anyone else going through a move? Suggestions on how to organize while packing with limited space, or do you think I'll just have to suck it up and make do?

Wish Lists and Christmas Ideas

Is anyone interested in creating wish lists? You would email me a list of what you want and any customization. I would make a page here on the blog and post a list with your name, the item and price (without customization). You send your gifters to the list, they contact me with the item they would like to get for you, they pay for it and I make it :) I would NOT update the list as people buy them, so you don't know what you're getting :-P You would have to make a list very soon though, and they would have to order soon - I am closing for Christmas orders on Halloween to give myself enough time to prepare for moving across the country.

Do you need to buy Christmas presents for people in your life? Well, kreative studios has many options for you! Any jewelry can be a great present for someone, especially if it's customized - and with hand stamping options and around 500 charms to choose from, customizing a kreative studios item is easy! Check out facebook and the website to see all the options :)

Earrings are a great stocking stuffer! I don't have many styles listed (here) but if you just give me a color or a birthstone I can come up with something for you :)

The Initial Necklace is also a great stocking stuffer, with two styles to choose from. You can also add more charms that describe the giftee from the add on charm listings!

The Fancy Bracelet is also a great gift. It can be made in birthstone colors, favorite colors, birthstone AND favorite colors! It can also come in a few color schemes too. Charms can be added to the clasp as well - another way to personalize it.

And don't forget! I have a limited supply of gift boxes! Have your item pre-wrapped, or send it wrapped directly to the recipient! Available for sale here.

Jewelry Warranty!

I've never tried to convince anyone that I have formal training in jewelry making, though I'm not sure there even are classes for the type of jewelry that I make (as opposed to metal working, etc.). I at least try to be open about the fact that I've taught myself to make jewelry - and I'm pretty proud of it, actually. A few how-to videos and pages, many questions of other jewelry makers, and a lot of playing around with my supplies.

This, of course, has come with many set backs. Some designs just didn't work, or I didn't have the right materials for what I was trying to do. Family and friends have come to me with my jewelry that has broken - and in every case, I've realized the design flaw, and made changes to correct it and see that it doesn't happen again.

The problem is, I can't do that if people don't come to me. Sure, I make jewelry for myself, and I wear it myself, so I learn some things on my own (like the jump ring on my My Hero Necklace wasn't big enough, or that the crystal on my Birthstone Necklace needed to be round so it didn't wear away the tag finish). But I'm sure there is some of my jewelry out there that has broken, and the customer hasn't come to me to fix it.

               


I WANT you to come to me, at least just to tell me that it's broken, how and why, so I can fix it for everyone else.

So here is my warranty:

I will fix your kreative studios jewelry.
To the best of my ability at least, and if I can't, I'll remake it.
If it's my design flaw, I will fix it for free (you pay shipping to me, I pay shipping to you, no charge for my time or materials).
If it's not my design flaw, I will still fix it. Same shipping rules apply, but depending on how many materials needed, there may or may not be a fee charged.
Because of the custom nature, I can't do returns or money back, but I do want to try my best to make you satisfied with my product.

I'm sure there will be a situation of something I can't remake... a material I don't have any more and can't get any more... and those situations will be handled by a case by case basis.

But for the most part, I should be able to fix most jewelry items (and if it's not mine, I still might be able to fix it, I've done that before!).

So please, please, PLEASE, come to me with your broken kreative studios jewelry, and let me know what has happened. You can email me at kristen.kreative.studios@gmail.com.

Also, comment on this post to win a small gift certificate to the store. Comment with thoughts about the warranty, an item that has broken (or not) and why, ideas for more jewelry... Anything, but it must show that you read the post :) Every commenter will get one, but only available until 9/19/12 :)

The Need to Lose

So, I'm a Unitarian Universalist (you can read a little more about that on my post here). Most of our Sunday sermons are... different. They're not full of Bible passages or stories from the Bible. The theme can come from anywhere. A few weeks ago, the service was inspired by the Olympics. Our minister talked about what the Olympians went through, with training, being away from family and friends, the stress of the competition. He also talked about Jordyn Wieber, the top gymnast in the world, who because of a silly rule and a couple mistakes, wasn't able to compete in the All Around competition, which teammate Gabby Douglas won. She was visibly upset when she realized it, but appeared to be ok the next day during the team competition, and cheered on her teammates as they competed for the All Around competition.

He read some excerpts from a book (I've forgotten which now) and talked about how we're teaching kids nowadays that they won't ever fail. They get trophies for participating and coming in last, and other similar situations. The kids think they will always succeed, they will always win.

Is this actually a good idea?

My minister also told us a story, that I believe was true but forget where it happened, of a man who had a perfect life. Great wife, kids, job, large salary. But he made a mistake in his work, a huge error that cost him his job. He still had his perfect wife and kids, but had never handled making a mistake, never handled losing. And he took his own life because he didn't know how to handle it.

The college I went to is half populated by teachers-to-be of all grade levels, and my best friend is going to be a high school English teacher, so I've had many discussions with her and other classmates about teaching, of all ages. New practices that schools are trying, ones that are outdated, good ways, bad ways. We've talked about how much recess kids should get, and how much attention they should get or how much they should be left to work on their own. Different styles of learning, and how they're mostly not being taught.

So personally, I think small children need lots of recess because they have lots of energy and there's no way to get them to sit still if they haven't been able to run around (and I think ADD is getting over diagnosed these days because of it). I think there are lots of different ways to learn and students shouldn't be restricted to just one and banished from the regular classroom if they don't learn the "traditional" way. I can't absorb something if I just read it or just hear it - I have to have both, and if possible, do something myself to learn how to do it.

And as for losing, I've had my share of it. Academically I've done very well, but I'm not particularly atheletic. I absolutely love dancing, but I wouldn't say I'm fantastic at it (I have long gangly arms and legs, makes them kind of hard to control!). I don't excel at everything I try and have entirely failed at multiple things, multiple times before moving on. Sure, like everyone else, I hate being wrong, I hate losing, and I hate not being able to do something I try to do. I actually get very frustrated and very mad sometimes. But I can handle it.

Of course, I was told I can be whatever I want, do whatever I want when I was a kid. But I wasn't taught that I'd always be a winner. I know how to fail and I've had a lot of practice. Not everyone does these days.

My minister said that he couldn't help but wonder if James Holmes was not accustomed to loss (at the mention of the Aurora theater shooting, I nearly cried - I have family nearby and the whole situation always upsets me). Holmes had recently failed an exam and dropped out of college. Surely, there's more to his situation and mental state, but what if that was a part of it?

Which then begs the question of how many violent outbursts, whether damaging only the self or others, too, are fueled by an inability to cope with loss, at least in part?

I'm not really sure how where I was going with all this, just that I felt the need to "talk" about it. Made me think, so I thought I would see if it made you think too! Think about whether or not you're teaching your kids to handle losing, and if you're teaching them that they're always winners, think about how it will shape them for the future.

Need to post more...

I haven't quite figured out what I want to spend time blogging about... so what do YOU want to read? What would be interesting for you? Since this blog is business for kreative studios but also personal, it can be all kinds of stuff! About my new designs, their new features? Any tips I have for small business owners? New things coming to my business? Books I like to read? Stories I'm writing? PS - I just graduated with a BFA in Creative Writing and a minor in Psychology... *fingers crossed* I'll get a chance to write something and get it published, and I'll probably offer copies in my store, so you can read my work while wearing it! ;-]

Speaking of reading... I got back from vacation a week and a half ago, and on my vacation I started and finished a new novel. I honestly can't remember the last "free-reading" book I started and finished. I used to be an avid reader. I still love it, just not enough time anymore. When I was in middle school, we were supposed to keep a reading log to write down everything we read, in order to figure out how much kids were reading. I hardly ever wrote down even 75% of the books I read, because I would read them so fast and forget to write them down before moving on to the next, and when I had to pass it in I couldn't remember all the names. (I don't read as fast as my brother though - he read Harry Potter 5 in about 18 hours!)

The book I read was The Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs. Because I've been trained to look at the style of writing, the qualities, and what I would change, I didn't really like some of the actual writing. There was something I couldn't quite put my finger on that didn't fit right, felt weird. My cousin had started reading it, and even though she's not a writer, she got the same feeling and couldn't get past the first couple chapters. I liked the characters though, and my interest in knitting and small business kept me reading :) There were a couple characters that said or thought "OMIGOD!" (spelled like that, and with capitals) and every time, I thought it was out of place and out of character. The 12 year old girl wasn't even one of the people that said it! But, the writer knows more about the characters, so maybe she knows something she didn't share (I have a tendency to do that... There's so much I know about what's happening, that I forget the readers don't know too >.<).

The characters over all were very good, and there was quite a few but she managed to make me care about almost every one of them, which is hard to do for a writer! So in general, I would say it's a good book and worth the read :) I will say though, that I was disappointed in the lack of writing about actual knitting. Between chapters it has little pieces titled in knitting terms but it more relates the terms to real life. One section that had a couple lines of pattern, which I read to my mom (knitter for longer than I've been alive) and she said she'd never seen it termed like it was (k2t for knit 2 together instead of k2tog - I've always seen and used k2tog, but I haven't used as many patterns as she had). It seemed kind of like Kate Jacobs had never knitted before... I would have liked to see more about actual knitting.

I read a bunch of quotes outloud to my mom that I thought were funny, or ridiculous. One quote stuck in my head though, something Georgia (the yarn shop owner) says to Cat.

As a small business owner, this quote obviously means something to me, and especially as a handmade small business. Right now I'm in the middle of making setting up and inventory document. It is a pain in my you-know-what! It involves counting EVERY bead, charm, tag, head pin, clasp, etc. Putting them in the Excel document I've set up with a stock code I create, a description, how many I have, how much they cost, and where I got them from. I'm trying to set them up to use a feature that will help in pricing and figuring out my exact costs and profits. Alongside this, I'm trying to update my website. That involves taking new pictures of my bead options, charms, pendants, stamping tags, etc. that people can choose from, cropping them, collaging them, an labeling them with codes. Then, I have to edit all my old listings, and make new ones for my new products. I also have to make new listings for every category of charm so it's easy to find what you want (though now I'm debating on consolidating some if I can). Many items have slight price changes with add ons, and each one has to be listed separately, since I'm not using my own website with HTML. And since I work at a day job about 40 hours a week, by the time I get home and we figure out dinner and eat... I have an hour or so to work on all this! So it's a very slow process, and makes me wish I could afford an assistant! So this quote came at the perfect time for me - reminded me that there's a reason I do all this, and I shouldn't quit :) Once I get my inventory system set up, it will take less time to manage it and keep it updated, which I keep reminding myself (and ignoring the fact that I haven't yet figured out how to keep track of less numerical items like fabric and yarn).

So I've decided to do something special with this blog post... If you read it, I would like you to comment. Comment something about the post, the book, what you would like to read, etc... Just not "comment," "done," or something like that. Comment with a quality comment and you'll get a $10 gift certificate to kreative studios :) (You must also be a fan of the page to get a gift certificate!)

Hope you enjoyed the post!

End of the Semester Craziness!

So as many of you know, I'm a full-time college student. Which means, school comes before business, as much as I don't want it to sometimes! The page as been pretty quiet right now because I have been super busy. But, I am a SENIOR! Which means, this is my LAST end-of-semester craziness! But that also means one of my projects is my writing portfolio, since I'm a Creative Writing major. I have to make two binders of lots of paperwork - a table of contents (which I just now remembered I had to do...), an artist statement (basically my philosophy of writing), 30+ pages of writing samples, an writer's assessment (discussing my work), and an annotated bibliography (list and descriptions of every creative writing work I've done during my college years). I have most of this done now, but I have to put this all together by Thursday, and it's my first project done. After that, I have two 8-10 page papers to write, for Monday and next Thursday. Neither of which I particularly want to write, and I would much rather be working on my portfolio, which is of course, the first thing due...

But stick with me! The first month after my graduation is going to be intensely insane with lots of moving, traveling, reoganizing, spring cleaning, resettling, and just general adjustment. But after that, I hope to get into a groove of working a regular job, working on new items for my business, and the catching up on the businessy side of stuff.

I have a growing list of products I want to introduce this summer, and I can tell you this - it is PAINFUL to not be able to work on them right now! I'm writing down my ideas so I don't forget, and as soon as I get a chance, I'm going to get to 'em!

The idea I am most excited about is my idea for photobooks that I've never seen before. It brings together different disciplines of craft to make one super special product! That's all I'll say for now... But just you wait til you see it ;-)

Another item I'm hoping to introduce is my own fabric bracelets! I have been racking my brain for the past year to come up with my own style of fabric bracelet that's not just like everything else that's out there, which are all mostly the same in my opinion. I have a couple different ideas, and while some are similar (which is unavoidable in simple designs - the basic structure is going to be the same), my first big idea, I haven't seen before :) (though that doesn't mean it's not out there...)

The last thing I'm planning to do more of is baby clothes and accessories! As you may have seen me post about on the page, I have a baby boy and a baby girl to spoil now <3 One is my nephew, my step-sister's son, and the other is my "niece," my boyfriend's goddaughter. They are absolutely the most beautiful babies I have ever seen (unbiased, of course :-P) and you will probably hear lots about them, and how much I miss them because they both live halfway across the country in different directions! But, they give me a reason to make lots of baby stuff :)

So, that's what I have planned for now (along with many other small ideas), but I'm sure I'll come up with more along the way, so stick around!

What do YOU know about child soldiers?

So, lots of things have been going around facebook about the KONY 2012 video. I'll be honest... I haven't seen the Kony video. But, I know what's going and I've seen two other full length documentaries about the situation, but more focused on the kids.

I have a unique position in that one of my classes this semester is "Children and Political Violence." Because of my connection to the military, I was thinking that it would be more towards kids of military members and how it has affected them. We discussed this a bit, as well as all American kids, especially in respect to 9/11. But, most of what we've discussed is children in war zone, both civilian and child soliders.

If you haven't heard of "child soldiers" before, now is the time to be educated. They haven't been and aren't just around for the Lord's Resistance Army lead by Joseph Kony. My class has talked about many other conflicts where they have been used. Falling Whistles is an organization we learned about, started because of the children in the Democratic Repbulic of Congo in Africa. They took kids young and old to use as soliders. The smallest, they would send out to fight with a whistle. The kids would blow the whistle and their enemies would fire at them - killing the children and exposing their position. Then, an older group of kids who could fire guns would be sent out, to fire at those that gave their positions away. The organization is called Falling Whistles, because of how the children would fall as they died.

I have now seen two documentaries about the conflict in Uganda. This past summer, I saw the video Tony that focuses around a specific boy they met while making the Invisible Children video. Yesterday, in my Children and Political Violence class, we watched the first Invisible Children video.

Now, I ask:

What do YOU know about child soldiers and what is happening in Uganda? And what are your thoughts about it?

Briefly what I know is that these children are abducted and forced to kill or be killed. They are desensitized by being shown murders of other children. As seen in the Invisible Children video, some kids would rather die than live in fear of being abducted. Many children are "night commuters" and travel to the city to sleep in the hospital or outside, packed in like sardines, because it's harder for them to be abducted there than in their huts far from the city.

If you don't know what's happening in the world, now is the time to learn.

Loose-Leaf Bible

Some of my close friends who might read this know that I'm a Unitarian Universalist, but most of you will probably go "what the heck is that?!"

Unitarian Universalism is a religion, though there are some people out there who would disagree. I'll try to give a brief description, because I usually can go to great lengths about it haha.

Often times, I find it hard to describe UUism well. We don't have a holy book or commandments, but we do have seven principles that we're all supposed to adhere to. From the UUA website:

There are seven principles which Unitarian Universalist congregations affirm and promote:

• The inherent worth and dignity of every person;
• Justice, equity and compassion in human relations;
• Acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our congregations;
• A free and responsible search for truth and meaning;
• The right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our congregations and in society at large;
• The goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all;
• Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.

I'll be honest, and say that I never memorized these... The kids in my church are doing more with them now, but when I was in Religious Explorations (Religious Education back then) we actually learned quite a bit about other religions and cultures, and when I was in Youth Group we spent a lot of time on other things, like planning our service trip to New Orleans and doing the Our Whole Lives (OWL) program. BUT that doesn't mean I didn't learn them. They've shaped who I've grown to be, and I try to live my life by them.

A ritual that I believe is universal in UU congregations is lighting the chalice - a special candle or flame which is our symbol of faith. Below is the iconic image of our symbol, the two circles representing the separate faiths of Unitarianism and Universalism that were joined to become Unitarian Universalism.

Something that we've done as long as I can remember in my church while we light the chalice is say our affirmation:

We believe in love.

We believe in truth.

We believe in helping others.

We believe in the sacredness of life.

I don't know if it's just our church or if it's common to do, but I've always kept these words dear to my heart and try to live by them as well.


But anyway, the reason I'm writing this blog post is because today was a service that we have every year, called the "Loose-Leaf Bible." Again, I don't know if this is common or just my church... I just know we've done it for awhile.

Since we don't have a holy book, the Loose-Leaf Bible service is made up of people reading various poems, stories, lyrics, quotes, and whatever else they've found that inspires them. They used to put together folders with clippings that people submitted ahead of time and we could take them home. I've always loved this service and hearing what inspires other people.

I didn't know that today would be the service, so I wasn't prepared with anything to read, though since I don't like talking in front of people I probably wouldn't anyway. But I did have a quote that kept running through my mind that's helped me a lot the past few years and that I've shared with a few people I love dearly recently:

Everything will be OK in the end. If it's not OK, it's not the end.

I try to believe this as strongly as I can, to persevere through bad times knowing that it will get better. Sometimes it gets worse before it gets better, but it will get better.

I also find many hymns inspiring, with words that I hold close to me. One of them I found myself singing over and over again while I worked on my rose beads this past week. It's very short and meant to be sung in a round:

I know this rose will open.

I know my fears will burn away.

I know my soul will unfurl it's wings.

I know this rose will open. 

Here's a video of a children's choir and then the congregation singing it. It's not a very good video audio-wise, but it kind of gives you the idea:

Since this is getting pretty long, the last one I'm going to share with you is a song I learned in the youth conferences I went to (affectionately called "cons"), and have sung this to myself through the years as a pick-me-up:

How could anyone ever tell you, you are anything less than beautiful.

How could anyone ever tell you, you are less than whole.

How could anyone fail to notice, that your loving is a miracle.

How deeply you're connected to my soul.

So, now I ask you:

What inspires you?

What poems, stories, quotes, lyrics or anything else do you have tucked away to read again and again that inspire you, hold you up when you're down, show you the light at the end of the tunnel?

I'd like to make a Loose-Leaf Bible part of my blog, so if you would like to email me text or a link of some sort, I can post it for you! Also let me know if you would like your name as submitter, like I would put "Submitted by Kristen S, Maine" or something like that after something I did :) Email kristen.kreative.studios@gmail.com!

Senior Seminar: Ways to Find Articles to Write...

2nd post in from my Senior Seminar's blog...

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So, places that I would like to look at for a paying job is at a craft magazine - writing... something. I don't know what yet. My mom said I should have some pieces to show them, but I don't have much to show them except fiction, and unless they want to start a short story series about crafting... I have a few things from when I took Feature Writing, but nothing about crafting. But I don't really want to just pick something and write about it, I'd like to have a prompt that may be something that a craft magazine would want. Thoughts? Suggestions? How do I find such prompts?

*****

And of course, if you have ideas, you're welcome to comment and give me ideas too! I've been looking into where different craft magazines are based, but it's hard to find, especially since I don't really have a way to have a list of craft magazines to look up. Meant to make a list last time I was at Joann's but forgot -_- I did look on a website called elance, and there was one listing for some articles that I might be able to do, but it didn't really have any "prompts" except subject matter, so I couldn't think of anything to write! Maybe this weekend I'll force myself to write... I could write something for here! What would you like to see?

New Charm Bracelet Style

Back in September, as I was getting ready for the Maine State Firefighter's Convention, I tried my hand at charm bracelets. I'd never made them before, and as with all my jewelry endeavors, I was teaching myself. What I came up with looked like this:

I liked it alright, but it looked (and looks) bare to me, like there's not enough there.

I'm very mathematical in my approach to a lot of things... Which is good sometimes, but also a drawback often, especially in creative projects (I have very different parents and I'm very much like both of them haha). So, I wanted to make sure I had the same number of each color of bead, and I couldn't have two of the same color next to each other. It took me a bit to make a pattern (repeating patterns are my friend!) that I liked, and then made the same bracelet in the different color schemes I set up for the convention.

I never was truly happy with the design, but I hadn't had time to play with it until now! This weekend, while getting new items ready to sell at my school, I revamped the design...

Before:

After:

Lots more beads! I decided to help my sanity and still do a set number of each color in each type of bead, as well as use beads that I can many colors of for the same price, so I don't have to think about pricing every time :) I do have lots of other beads, especially gemstone beads, that if I use them for a charm bracelet I'll figure out the price to see if it would be more or less.

The first one I made, I used myself as a guinea pig, using two shades of green and two shades of purple:

I put temporary charms on it to use as example while selling at school because I wanted to show different options. Now, I've taken them all off and even wore is yesterday without any charms at all and it still looks beautiful :) I'm going to slowly add charms that mean something to me - first will be a little honey bee charm because that's my nickname to my sweet boy <3

Here are two of the options I wanted to showcase:

There's a heart locket, because I wanted to show that they could go great on lockets. Even the larger size I have would work well, though not for me because I don't like anything very big - I have VERY tiny wrists, so it would just look ridiculous. Also, there's a fleur de lis stamp - I have many design stamps that I could use on my 12mm or 15mm tags (I would suggest 12mm like shown so there's not awkard blank space). Also, can be stamped with initials or short names - on 15mm I could put a design stamp and probably up to 7, maaybe 8 characters. Lots of opportunities not explored! (Another idea - a Swarovski heart could be used as a charm, though it wouldn't stand out as much)

Here's one of the bracelet "blanks" (no charms) I made up to show at my table at school:

Very pretty!

The Official Stuff:
Bracelet style as shown without charms: $17 (it may seem expensive, but it takes time to put them together and it uses genuine Swarovski crystals and Preciosa druks, best quality of their kinds!)
Charm price varies, but most are $2. You can see the pictures in this album on Facebook. Eventually I'll get a picture with my design stamps...
You can pick 1-4 colors of druks beads, and I'll use corresponding crystals colors.
Options: Ruby, Orange, Yellow, Honey, Emerald Green, Mint Green, Teal, Aqua, Ice Blue, Sapphire Blue, Cobalt Blue, Turquoise Blue, Montana Blue, Pink, Lavender, Amethyst, Clear, Mocca, Smoke/Black Diamond, Opaque Red, Opaque Orange, Opaque Yellow, Opaque Light Blue, Opaque Blue, Opaque Dark Blue, Opaque Pink, Opaque White, Opaque Black.

Senior Seminar: Writer's Icons

So, for my Senior Seminar class for my Creative Writing major, we have to post in a blog for our class at least once a week. Since I have this blog, I need to post in it more, and I wanted it to be business and personal anyway, I figured I would post my senior seminar blogs here too! Here's my first:

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So, I still haven't quite figured out what we're supposed to write here and this isn't reaalllyyyy about writing, but it's the only idea I've come up with so far.

If you hadn't noticed, I knit and crochet in class... What I make are items usually for my craft business, kreative studios. I knit, crochet, make jewelry, sew... All kinds of stuff. One of the things I do is custom hand stamping, soooo I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions for short quotes about writers, for writers, stuff like that. It'd have to be short to fit on the tags I have for stamping. Also, any charms I can look for that would be good - I know I can get ones that look like note paper, and probably pencils too.

Side note, I'm also looking for ideas for "geeky" items I can make, especially for guys... My brother isn't much help for coming up with ideas haha. I have Jayne's hat from Firefly, and an idea for a Mario Bros. charm bracelet though I don't know any girls that would want it, a Pokeball hat... But not much more than that.

Thanks!

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And, if any of you have any ideas for writer-y or geeky items, please feel free to comment :)

Update!

It's been too long since I posted, so I figured I would write a quick update!

I'm about to be going into my very last semester of college! Very exciting and very scary at the same time!

Starting 2012, Maine residents will have to pay the 5% Maine state tax, whether paid online, cash or check. I'm going to be working on getting a tax ID number, so I will have to report this information. Out of state residents do not have to pay sales tax.

I haven't had much need for policy information as my order volume is generally pretty low and I've never had a disgruntled customer *knock on wood* but in the coming weeks, I plan to write up official policies (most of which I follow, and discuss as situations arise, but I need to state them up front) on custom ordering, shipping, returns, and many more topics! If there's something you think I should cover, please let me know because I know I will forget something I want to write about.

I'm hoping this semester to get some items in stores! There's a few small businesses I would like to talk to and I think would be willing but I feel I should have a consignment contract ready, and I haven't gotten around to figuring out how to write one yet...

This semester I think I miiiight have a little more free time and I am hoping to SEW! I have my own sewing machine and my own serger which I haven't even gotten to take out of the box yet (sorry, honey! I will use it, I promise...). I have many ideas... I have fabric specifically set aside for some tough and sturdy tote bags, baby quilts, pillows, possibly stuffed animals, fleece hats, and much more!

I have been very busy and haven't been able to update the store in a long time (I think since summer... >.<), but I'm going to try to do that! At least for ready to ship items, because it's much easier to keep track of orders if they're all in one place and not every which place!

And, as always, if you have an idea for something you think I can make, let me know! I have many many projects on my project list, but I love new ones :)