New Etsy Shop, New Designs

Aluminum Key Chain

Aluminum Best Friends "Bestie"  Bracelet Set

Hope, Dream, Love and Trust Custom Necklace

Bee Happy Copper Necklace

Personalized Sterling and Fresh Water Pearl Necklace

Mother Bird in Nest with Fresh Water Pearl "Eggs" Necklace

A lot has happened since my last post which was far too long ago. I've been meaning to post more often!

You know what they say about good intentions......

I started a new ETSY shop Always A Memory  and have been diligently working on new jewelry designs over the past few months....making sample pieces and photographing them which seems to take more time and effort than making the jewelry!

But the payoff has been that these designs have been well received! 

I've been in several etsy treasuries over the last week or so and that's a record for me!

I use sterling silver, copper, brass and aluminum in my work. Sterling Silver is so expensive right now that I've been looking at alternative metals. I just started making hand stamped bracelets from aluminum and they've turned out very well and are an affordable alternative to silver for now!

Hand stamped jewelry making is my new addiction! It's quite an investment in tools and materials but I have had so much fun making things. I have many design stamps and hand tools now.

And I want so many more! I think it's going to be a never ending wish list for me...

Next on my wish list is some fancier font stamps!

I'm still working my other job part time since last May. I think I will be full time again soon.

Not sure how I feel about that yet but we'll see how it goes. 

Hoping I can balance my creative needs with my practical-need-a-paycheck life without going crazy! 

 My family is well. I spend as much time as I can with my 3 grand kids (who are growing like weeds and never fail to make me laugh or smile). My 3 kids are all doing fine and moving on in their own lives! My husband and I celebrate our 24th wedding anniversary on January 26th.

Winter is getting me down (I've had enough rain and gray days) but I'm looking forward to Spring.

I know it will be here soon enough!

I'm looking forward to a beach trip soon and another trip to Portland to visit one of my daughters.

More soon!

Oregon Beach Photos

I had a great weekend at the Oregon Beach! It was warm, sunny with not much wind! Uncommonly good weather for this time of year. It was beautiful so I took lots of photos between Lincoln City and Newport. Lots of surfers were out at the Otter Rock/Devil's Punchbowl beach.....

Hope you had a great weekend as well! I'm off to list some new things in my etsy shops! Have a good day! Kitty

Summertime and the Livin' is BUSY!

Nye Beach, Newport, Oregon

I really meant to keep up with this blog but I've been so busy with so many different things over the past month!

I've been to the beach....
I went camping....
I've been on the boat at the lake....
Went to my nephews high school graduation....
I went to 2 parades....
Spent the night in Portland at the Hotel Lucia.....
Had more BBQ's than I can count.....
Made lots of jewelry findings.....
Went to a rummage sale and found something incredible.....
Changed the focus of one of my etsy shops....
Walked in the Relay For Life Marathon as a Cancer Survivor.....
Spent lots of time with family....

It has been almost a year since I quit my full time job. I'm just now starting to feel the freedom in having done that. At first I was afraid it was the wrong thing for me to do. I thought my fears were correct when my husband was laid off around Christmas time and only working half of his normal hours. Yes, that was a struggle but we came out of it fine. I'm happy to say he is back at work full-time (he loves his job!).

My goal now is to work harder on my business and put more time and effort into making it more successful. I'm going to keep spending more time with family and doing the things that make me happy! Things are looking up!

Back To The Oregon Beach!

I recently posted photos of my last trip to the beach here but it was raining that day and it wasn't quite the experience I was hoping for. Well, yesterday we went and it was glorious! The sun was shining and it wasn't too windy....well, it was.....but it was okay....the sun was shining! We went to the beach first and took a walk to the bayfront to look in the quaint shops. If you ever want to visit a very clean and pristine beach go to Newport, Oregon and visit Yaquina Bay. It's a fun place to visit and it has the most beautiful beaches and scenery. Great fishing and crabbing too!

Oregon Coast Getaway

I've been wanting to go to the beach for a few months now and I finally made my getaway yesterday! Of course it was sunny when we left home and raining when we arrived. It stopped raining long enough for me to take some photos.

It was just me and my daughter, Chantel. We had a good visit and enjoyed the view!