Details are a Good Thing

So I'm trying to be better about updating my blog, and since I'm homebound nursing my back to health I will post two days in a row.  Score for me. . .  :)

This was a custom order for my husbands, Aunt Debbie.  She attended a Junk Market Under Glass event with her sweet daughter, Christi and I happened to be wearing my personal "Believers Necklace".  She loved it, and asked that I try to do a focal similar to mine for her.  It took a while for me to amass the right elements, but than finally, it all came together for me.

This was sent to Debi right before the Holidays and this is what she received in the mail.  The photograph of the mannequin with wings is one I took last Summer and had made into professional stickers.  This made a nice little extra touch for her otherwise white cardboard jewelry box that I have been packaging my SOLD items in when shipping via the mail.

I love bakers twine for packaging and happened to have it in aqua/white, black/white and grey/white for my packaging choices.  When I found this pretty aqua feather in my stash and the ivory floral pick, I decided to use this for her package.  I of course, was short on time, and oh how easy it would of been to throw that white box in the bubble mailer.   However, I'm glad I took the time for presentation.  This was one of my highest price point items, thus deserving of forcing myself to slow down and take that extra time to gather the right materials to make a statement.  In turn this went from a blah, to ahhha package with a few extra touches.

I bought these picks one year at the end of the Holiday season on clearance for like .29, and it probably would be about that same time of the year that I bought these, so if you like them places like JoAnn's, Michaels or Hobby Lobby would be apt to be the kinds of places to carry something that could be used like I did here.

This photo shows the focals of the necklaces.  My original one that she loved is on the right.  What I recreated for her is the one on the left.  Each of ours has about 18 vintage religious charms and I carefully chose each and every one to be more desirable for a person that is of a Protestant faith vs. the Catholic faith.  So no saints were used, and only one of Mary.
Many of you know that I create only OOAK (One of a Kind) jewelry designs, so when Debi asked me to make one like mine, I explained to her that I couldn't do exactly.  When one works with vintage elements like I do for these creations, I can only make it resemble one another, not duplicate.  The "believe" silver tone and bronze tone word tabs and the crown elements are new, so that portion was changed with the words being chosen in different metals, but all else is vintage elements.  A pretty good match and I think she was pleased in the end with the results.

A Few January Sold Items

It has been a while since I posted some of the jewelry I've been creating and/or have sold, so thought I'd share a few items real quickly tonight.  My Internet is having fits, so I'll make it short and just a few photos.  Enjoy...  Sorry, but these all have sold at either recent events or through my face book site.

On a side note, I have been laid up most of last week with quite a severe back issue, but am hoping that I am on the mend now.  It appears that the good Lord is telling me to slow down a bit, and smell the roses, as I tend to go pretty non-stop when I'm awake.  Unfortunately, this may mean some down sizing at future shows, but this will unfold according to how my back heals from this injury.  It was not lifting excess weight, but rather reaching for a jewelry product off a shelf in a backwards grab while walking forward and my sacroiliac came to a screeching halt and chose to lock up for about a week.  Not a fun thing to experience, but indeed I am much more fortunate than many that actually have a lingering illness they are battling and even those that are fighting terminal disease.  This just has gotten my attention.

Bethlehem Steel, Sparrow Point numbered vintage brass tool tag id, along with a sparrow bird, turquoise nugget and a long antiqued gold tone ball chain necklace.

These two lovelies are both sold, but are buttery soft leather adjustable style cuff bracelets and I have a variety of these types of pieces that will be featured at the March 1-3rd Junk Market Under Glass event at Otten Bros. Nursery in Long Lake, MN.  This is a fabulous event that you'll want to be sure to plan to attend and schedule it on your calendar.

I will continue to create my original hand stamped spoon pendant necklaces with bling and also simply stamped spoon pendants for those that like a more modern feel to theirs.  These pendants are scattered through out the internet with others selling them now, but I'm happy to say that mine were originally created into necklaces early on and still are an original design that had been inspired by a local gal stamping plant markers out of silverware.  About four years ago, I bought some of hers, and made them into pendants, and soon after started using my vast collection of silverware I had been collecting to hand flatten, hand stamp, hand polish, hand ink, drill and hand select the bling pieces that I would cold solder to each pendant, choosing it according to what had been stamped on them.  Thus, the hand stamped spoon pendant was born...  Because of the wear and tear on my body and an injury I suffered while setting up at an event several years ago, I have since started hiring a friend to use his industrial press to save my back from one step in this multi step process.  You may think they are simple, easy to duplicate, but truly they are a labor of love and quite time consuming, when you attempt to create a well made design.

This was one awesome piece that had two different chain options sold with it, so that there were many ways in which it could be styled.  With it's oversized leather tooled cross, vintage key, gorgeous chunky semi precious gemstone bead and funky heart and cowboy hat, it was a quick seller at my recent Trunk Show.

ETSY and Thoughts about Customs

Every heart has its passion,

Doing what you love gives your spirit wings.”

author unknown

Did you know that I have an ETSY store?  Trying to get it started, but I am still working on orders from the last two events in September, as well as custom orders I've had backed up for a while, so it's been very hard to get enough items extra to list in my Etsy store too.  

I also have 2 Trunk Shows that are coming up in November that I am designing jewelry for too, as I need to have a good variety of product for each of these show dates.   Mark your calendar...

The first one is:

 November 11 & 12th

Antiques Downtown

Elk River, MN

(held in conjunction with their anniversary sale at their shop too)

To see how to purchase on ETSY click on hi-lited link:

'A wise person once said, “Find something you love to do, and you’ll never have to work another day of your life”.

Obviously, this is a generalized statement, but truly if you love what you are doing, it really doesn’t seem like work.  For me personally, when I am designing jewelry on my own, and not a custom commissioned piece, it does not feel like work, as it’s something I love to do and feel so blessed to be able to freely create. 

However, sometimes when I’m doing a custom design as per a customers specifics that it can become work, if I’m not inspired by what I am to create.  I find balance is the key in my design business.  I have chosen to say “yes” to some of these custom designs as a service to my clients, but it isn’t something that I would choose to do over the freedom of creativity that I usually have when I just let my found elements/beads and baubles inspire me to design with them.  I often find it a struggle to get myself creating these custom orders.  Do you find this the same for you and your business?  If so, what have you found to be effective to get yourself motivated to create someone else’s vision?

Truly, it isn’t that my vision is better than someone else, or better the wants specified from a customer, or anything like that.  It just is that then my creativity feels like it's put into a box.  Yes, the box may be large, or it may be very specific and concise.  Nonetheless, this box so to speak, is a specific set of parameters, and as an Artist I find it sometimes squelches my creativity.  It’s not that eventually, maybe a really great piece is created for a said customer, but it takes me longer, and I find I need to have the elements I’m creating with in my possession for a longer amount of time.  Than suddenly one day, a design inspiration may strike me, and I can start on the project commissioned.   Or, maybe I’ve run out of time allotted and I just have to bite the bullet and design, inspired or not.  I find this to be the worse case scenario.  How about you?  Do you have any creative exercises to deal with this portion of your business?  Or do you never choose to do custom orders?

As a customer, how does this affect you?  Do you get impatient with the wait, when dealing with people such as myself that struggle to create under a set of parameters?   Or does the end result outweigh the frustration of the wait?  I’d love to hear the feedback from you all. 

Please, don’t anyone think this is intended for you….

It is not!

I am at my cabin for a 24 hour period and have been working on jewelry orders, as well as just some free design work (my own creativity at work), and was editing some photographs of photos I’ve not ever gotten around to editing, when this blog post jumped in my head.  It is NOT intended to apply to anyone in the past that I’ve designed custom pieces for, nor is it for any I’m working on now, or in the future.  Just some thoughts I wanted to explain and also wanted to get feedback from other Artisan followers as to how they handle custom orders and their creativity.  Also, would love to hear from past, present and future customers as to how you feel and/or handle it when you are on the waiting side of this.

On a side note...  I cannot take any custom requests through the end of 2011.  Time to get caught up on back logs of customs.  Sorry...

Stay tuned for future post on the upcoming Trunk Shows.  The second date is: November 17 & 18th in St. Cloud, MN at Marishka's on St. Germain.  A lovely boutique style shop located downtown St. Cloud.  I will be the featured Artisan on November 17th as part of their annual "Art Crawl".  Mark your calendar...

Have a great day!

And be blessed ~

Gretchen :)

Video Clip - Mimi-Toria's Design

The Story of a Memory Necklace... created by Gretchen

~Here's the Story~

A Mother,

with 2 beloved children...  

A boy, and a girl. 

 Both born in November. 

 The Mother an August birthday.

A tragic accident...

“Be joyful always,

pray continually,

give thanks in 

all

circumstances.

For this is God’s will

for you in Christ Jesus”

1 Thess 5:16-17

~This Bible verse is one of my favorites and seemed appropriate for this blog post today. ~

It's not easy to be thankful always...but we are called to do so.  I would think as the daughter of this heartbreaking story, the loss of one's Mom in a tragic car accident would be a difficult thing to be thankful for, but we are called to be "thankful in everything".  Wow! He is in control and knows the future of each one of our lives.

This post is about something I'm asked to do more and more in my jewelry design business.  It is a privilege for sure.  However, it's always a huge undertaking.  It's always tough when as a designer you are given treasured pieces of a loved one that has passed on.  To have the vision and to try to create something that the recipient will love and also captures the essence of their deceased loved one is always scary for me. 

You truly don't get paid as much as one would, if you just spent the same time designing jewelry you could create to sell vs. custom creating.  However, to me it isn't always about the almighty money making $ that I do this for, but rather the love I have of designing jewelry, and the reward I obtain while ministering to my customers that brings me rewards through joy.  This is something I find myself doing more and more.  

I believe I have been called by God to use my jewelry design business to minister to my customers on a regular basis.  Whether it be through my designs such as my "Faith/religious jewelry, custom memory jewelry, or designs I create that speak to my customers and minister to their spirit".  This is and has been an unexpected and added gift to me as a jewelry designer.   My hearts desire and goal is to be used by Him in all I do, all I say, all I create, and for Him to ultimately be glorified through it all.

Back to my story...

I'm struggling with blogger, so will post at the bottom of the photos the rest of this story.  Sorry about this.

Last Fall, I was brought a stash of elements that had been owned by a customers deceased mother-in-law.  These precious bits and baubles were now what my customers sister-in-law had left to remember

her beloved Mother by.  You see, this Mom was tragically killed in a car accident, when her daughter, Lori was young.  I was asked by my customer, to create a necklace from these items to be given as a Christmas gift 2010 to her sister-in-law.  It took me several months to look at, think about and than create these pieces with the items I received.  Of course, I also added into the mix my own bits and pieces as I deemed appropriate.

The Mother had a charm bracelet with her daughters name engraved on a Sterling Silver girl silouette, bits of chain, a Sterling Silver cross charm, a Swedish style Sterling Silver filigree pin, etc., as well as a few faux white pearls.  I added the wire and vintage AB Swarovski crystals for some sparkle.

The Mom also had these two tiny gold silouette boy/girl charms, the two November birthstone shoe charms that represented her kids birthdays and the green heart peridot charm representing her month of birth.  I purposely created these pieces in the same area on the necklace to represent the family structure of this Mom.

I added the Mother of Pearl floral button and vintage beads from my stash.

This shot shows the Mothers watch, which was worn in the accident and you can tell it has a damaged crystal, and basically stopped working most like at the time of impact. :(  Time stands still, and two young children had their lives irrevocably changed.  This watch element was requested to be included into the necklace and what a great idea Lori, the daughter had with the inclusion of this time piece.

Note the scratches and damage to the watch crystal.  This necklace surely tells a story of love, as well as a tragic loss of life.

The goal was to create with as many elements as possible of the Mom's and I actually was able to make five different necklaces that could be layered with one another and/or worn separate.  The addition of this necklace being an adjustable style necklace added to its length being short or longer.

Although this close-up of the inside necklace on the photo below is simpler, it is still unique with the use of all of the Mom's jewelry to create it.

This shows two of the necklaces layered together.  I apologize for the poor quality of photos, as these were all taken in the middle of December 2010, on a cloudy day, inside my Minnesota home just before mailing them off to be given as a gift last Christmas.

I just came across these photos and had always meant to do a blog post with them, but didn't realize my photo quality were so poor until now.  Still wanted to share this inspirational memory piece with my readership.

Enjoy your Mom's while you have them.  Life is uncertain, and we should all live our lives like it could be the last, and love our family and those around us as if we may never again see them.  Live with no regrets...

A Gift...for Mother's Day

 This piece was a labor of love.  I had 5-6 hours of time in its creation.  Jon's parents are in the focal, layered and layered beneath resin.  A multiple timed process of pouring, waiting hours, waiting days, pouring again, waiting hours, pouring again, waiting days, etc. etc., until it finally was totally encased in resin and now had a nice dome on it.

 This photo shows the full view of all of the elements on this necklace.  Each piece was picked out specifically for a reason for the Mother that was to receive it.

The 5 represents the number of children she has, the music represents her love of music and organ/piano playing for years in church, the buttons represent her sewing skills and her job for years as a seamstress, the crosses and bible represent her faith, the bird and floral connector represent her love of gardening and nature, the kisses and xoxo represented her love of family and families love to her, etc. etc.

This mother has sewn all her life and even worked her entire career as a seamstress, so I incorporated as many vintage buttons as possible into the design of this.  The cross is representative of her Christian faith.

 A mother to 5 children, and a lover of flower gardening were just a few of the elements that were gathered to make up this memory necklace.

This mother is always creating something.  She re purposed junk before it was cool to do so, and has continued to do so her entire life.  Always making and giving of her talents.  The create hand stamped charm was a given that it needed to be somewhere in the design to represent this large facet in her life.

I've worked extra much on this all week, to the neglect that I didn't even get the jewelry made for the give away.  Sorry about that.  Will have to get on that soon.  Stay tuned for real.

Happy Mother's Day everyone!

Shop Update:

Thank you to all of my blog shopping customers for your past patronage and your patience waiting for me to list new items for you to view and/or purchase.  I am currently spending my time preparing for income taxes, which I am scheduled to have done next Thursday. 

After that I plan to list new items on my SHOP tab (see the top of my blog page, right above each of the new blog post I write), which you can click on and it will open you to a new page filled with jewelry to purchase.  Currently there are some items still for sale in the SHOP tab, but I haven't had time to update that tab lately.  I do have a lot of items I can add for your purchasing, but need the time to do so.

I also will be adding a SHOP SALE page for items that I've had in inventory for a bit longer than I'd like and plan to discount them online for your shopping options.

Stay tune for these updates, which I hope to have completed the week of April 15th.

Again, thank you for your friendships, your following of my blog, and your loyalty.

A Natural High

Just a little update...

the FMUG

(Flea Market Under Glass)

event was

SUPBURB.

Who would of thunk it...

We were given the go ahead

after a successful pre-event

in the form of a 10 vendor trunk show

held January 29th...

Sheyenne and Sherri drove 12 hours each way from Montana to shop this show.  They ended up renting a trailer to bring their wares home, as their pick-up wasn't big enough.  They have great taste...fun style and are the sweetest ladies ever...  They each bought a fun necklace from me and have keepsakes from their experience here.  I know they'll be back again soon.  They were SOLD on the event Sue created.

Sheyenne chose this fun necklace as her wearable keepsake from the show.

"Penny", my penny doll necklace I created for the event, found a good home.

Penny and her new owner.  See that smile?  Penny was making her smile.  You see 2 years ago the Minneapolis Star Tribune did an artisan expose' about me as a jewelry designer whom was re purposing and creating jewelry with found elements and vintage finds.  Another penny doll I created a necklace out of and was named Claire was featured in that article and this lovely lady saw it in the newspaper spread, and came to the Junk Bonanza event to purchase her.  She was already sold to another customer and this lady was sooooo sad.  Fast forward 2 1/2 years and you're at the "Flea Market Under Glass" event.  Another artisan had Penny for sale and had turned her into an ornament.  I changed her up with a restyled outfit, new accessory bling I prefered, added the wings, took her down to the bare doll again and reattached the items I kept and added the new, wire wrapped arms for her to hang from and took vintage faux glass pearl beads and made rosary style links with them to create the chain portion of her.  I then added a cool padlock style toggle clasp and she was ready for the sale.  I spent an entire night creating the pearl/linked chain portion while watching the only TV show I ever watch each week, "the Bachelor".  Now, how fun is this story?  Customers like this lady and her excitement to find "Penny" which by the way, she loved better than the origianl doll necklace I had made, is what makes my business so much fun for me.

Talk about loyalty...

This photo is of me on the right, and Susan on the left.  I am changing the length on a necklace for her.  She and her husband got up at 3 a.m. to drive here from out by Green Bay, Wisconsin to come to the show to see me, as well as the other vendors.  They are friends I met while selling with Sue at other events and they've been wonderful customers and now friends through the Junking industry events I'm a part of.  Now how lucky am I?  Thank you Pat and Susan for making the trip.  I hope you weren't disappointed and enjoyed yourselves.      (photo courtesy of Pat McClearney-husband of Susan)

Yes,

in 4 1/2 weeks

the

FMUG event

was brought to you...

courtesy of a fabulous

Otten Bros. team

along with the

brain child of the incredibly

talented

Ms. Sue Whitney of

Junk Market Style.

A large area in the middle of the greenhouse was staged and created by the outstanding talented Sue Whitney of Junk Market Style.  These design styled areas were a wonderful addition to the overall experience of the "Flea Market Under Glass" experience and these living spaces helped people to be educated on re purposing JUNK treasures and turning elements into unique accents and useful items in their home decor, garden decor, etc.  This particular photo showcased an outdoor living space and was filled with wonderfully creative inspiration....

Notice the incredibly FRESH ideas for displaying your FRESH plants?

All FRESH plants were courtesy of OTTEN BROS. NURSERY

whom hosted this fabulous event.

 Me in my vendor space...Day 1.

My dear friend, Laura, came and worked for me on Thursday.  She was a huge help.  Thank you Laura...

Than you throw in a mix

of 40+ hand picked junk vendors

along with a sprinkling of

fabulously talented

Artisan vendors

and

finally add the incredible

networking that the Otten group did,

Junk Market Style Events,

incredible vendors

and

the added boost of KARE 11 TV

filiming onsite and running

segments of 2 minute snippets

and it all

='s

the most incredible

opportunity ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Karla (left) was a vendor and friend I brought into the show and Carolyn (right) is my loyal friend and helper.  Carolyn worked with me on Friday, and arrived the night before from a FL vacation and still helped me out.  Amazing friends I'm blessed with.   I love you ladies!

 One of the pieces I created Friday night, which SOLD on Saturday.

 SOLD this morning on Facebook.

:)

More details will follow

in future posts.

"Flea Market Under Glass" Event Starts Today

Good Morning my lovely blogger friends. 

 It's 4 a.m. the day of the big event, and I cannot sleep...

What does a girl do? 

 She goes online and promotes the show...

truly, you will not want to miss this event.

My jewelry aside,

it is an incredible site to behold.

The entire place is rocking...

and you'd never know that it's still Winter.

Details of my Penny Doll Angel girl. 

I spent an entire evening,

creating the rosary style links

on this little precious girl.

She is being showcased...

on my angel manequinn.

A simple but fun necklace!

An ultimate mix of JUNK elements

are used to create this

one-of-a-kind

design.

Some fun

JUNK and QUEEN

inspired

pieces.

A few even humorous designs.

This one has the jist being...

vaccinate your dog

to

avoid the bullet.

The show is at Otten Bros. Nursery in Long Lake, MN

It's a fabulous greenhouse,

currently being used to house the

"FLEA MARKET UNDER GLASS" event,

thus the garden inspired pieces.

My cabin was the inspiration

for this fun design.

Ahhhhhhh,

Spring

take me away

to the 15,000 sq. ft.

Otten Bros. greenhouse

turned into an

indoor Minnesota

Flea Market extravaganza

which includes

wonderful JUNK

incredible displays

by Sue Whitney of Junk Market Style

and 40+ fabulous artisans

and vendor areas.

I even created some

vintage redesign

Bridal bling.

And beach inspiration...

yes, it will one day be warm again in Minnesota,

the snow will be melted

and we'll be romping on the beaches.

Besides,

I'm off to Mexico for some

fun in the sun,

sand,

surf,

and ocean.

A girl needs some fun when she's ready to hit the big "50".

See you on the beach...

I'll be the gal with

NO JEWELRY,

NO CELL PHONE,

and

NO COMPUTER

for a week.

:)

Don't worry,

I will still have my camera,

my inspiration magazines,

will have my nose on the ground,

looking for found elements to create with,

but inbetween the walks on the beach,

the playing in the surf,

and the fabulous food and drinks,

I will vow to slow down,

enjoy my family,

and catch up with

some reading.

Sorry for the quality of photos and lack of editing. I remembered at the last minute to take some photos with my cell phone, and borrowed them off of my facebook page.  Will try to post updated photos as the show goes on.  It runs today, March 3-5th and the link is provided above for more information.