Happy to be so busy....

I am back to give you an update on things and to also post new pictures of some new stuff I have designed!!  Let's see...I participated in a vendor night for the Pediatric Cancer Foundation of Lehigh Valley last Friday evening.  It was a wonderful evening for a wonderful cause!  I met some great ladies and got to spend the evening with a great friend who I met last year at a local craft fair.  She is a very crafty one herself making gift baskets, candles, lotions, soaps, etc.  She is also a consultant for Usborne Books & More.  Which is an awesome book company that has fantastic childrens books!  Since that night I have decided to also sign on as a consultant to do it part time to get books for my boys who enjoy them so much.  So if you are ever in need of some great books please check out my site http://www.kidsreadwithus.com/ you won't be disappointed and neither will your kids!!  I have also received four more custom orders this week and I am planning a open house to launch my line.  I have done a lot of designing this week as well and I am posting some pictures of my wares.  I am also happy to announce that my FB Page is at 99 fans!!  When it hits 100 I will be doing a giveaway!!  Tell your friends!!
Thanks for checking in and taking a peek at what has been happening!  Enjoy the new pics, I am having a bracelet moment in my head so that will be next time I'm sure!!

Ciao for now!

Some new pieces.....

I have really been slacking on my blog, but have really had my creative juices flowing!  I have decided that I will  blog a few times a month with new things going on and post pictures of my creations.  I am preparing for an event this Friday to benefit the Pediatric Cancer Foundation of Lehigh Valley.  I am so excited and hoping I have enough inventory to put on a fantastic presentation.  I have just finished some new charms made of polymer clay.  They are stamped with inspirational words and I am going to use them on a combination of Irish linen cord and also sterling silver chain.  So in my next post you will see those!  But this post I have a few custom order pics and also a few pictures of some new earrings that I have designed.  I hope you enjoy the pictures and pray for some warmer weather for NJ, I have been freezing the past few days!  Brrrrrrrr!!

Oh my!

Oh my has it been this long since I have posted?!?!  Well, honestly it has been crazy for me thankfully with orders, the kids, and this time of year.  I have such a love/hate relationship with this time of year!  I love spring here in NJ with all the beautiful trees, flowers, and warmer weather.  But then ugh, call in the pollen and yard work and I am not a happy girl!!  We spent the past weekend getting our fenced in backyard ready for the boys.  We decided to separate it in half and make a playground area for the boys and a grassy area for our crazy dog.  It came out just wonderful especially with the find of the day by my sister!  She found the boys a HUGE Little Tikes castle (for boys!) at a yard sale for, get this.....$15.00!!!  And it is awesome!!  The boys can climb and slide, there is even a trap door!!  The love it!!  So that and their sandbox, basketball hoop, and cars I think we will be in business for the summer!!! 
We then got up to our elbows in weeding our rock garden, which is the length of our driveway.  Probably half the length of a football field but feels like 10 miles long when I pick the hottest day so far to weed it!!  But it is finished and weed free, yay!  We still have a bit more to do but this weekend should cover it, well at least Saturday since Sunday is Mother's Day and I am OFF DUTY!!
I also have been able to get a little creative in my little bit of spare time that I had left after that and the boys!  I have designed three more pairs of earrings and a very funky cool ring!  Pics will be posted soon, I need to run them through the tumbler to shine and harden them up!
I am also getting prepared for an event to benefit the Pediatric Cancer Foundation of Lehigh Valley.  I am looking forward to showing my work and helping in every way I can to help this great cause.
I will be doing another giveaway here on my blog in the next couple of weeks!  It is going to be a good one so stay tuned!!
Also be sure to check out the Etsymom blog http://www.etsymom.blogspot.com/ for great features, stories and giveaways!
Until next time my friends!

The smell of fresh baking bread.....

what a wonderful smell!!  A late afternoon shower and homemade bread baking away!  I cannot wait to drop a little butter on a hot slice when it is finished!!  I followed a recipe for hearth bread, nice and crusty on the outside and soft in the middle!!  Yummo!  I will be sure to share if it comes out deliciously!  It smells like it will be just perfect, we'll see or should I say taste LOL!
Enough with making you all hungry!  I just wanted to share my rainy afternoon.  I will also be working on a necklace that was won by a fellow crafter on the EtsyMom blog giveaway.  It is a great blog that is doing a giveaway each week until Mother's Day.  I was blessed to be able to kick off the giveaway and we are now up to Giveaway #3!  It is definitely worth checking out: http://www.etsymom.blogspot.com/ it is awesome.  We have a great group of women that work together to help promote our group and each other's businesses.  I attended my first team meeting last evening and it was such a great feeling to be involved with such an inspirational group.  There was a lot of energy in our virtual lab as we all met through our computers.  It is absolutely amazing to me how women can just come together and unite.  So in this blog I just wanted to give a shout out to my fellow members of EtsyMom Street Team and say thank you for welcoming me and for helping me feel that I can get this business of mine up and going and prospering in no time!!  Thanks ladies!
Oh yeah, I am going to be doing another giveaway here on my blog very soon!!  Details to follow!  Make sure you sign on to follow here and my Facebook page, and also on Twitter so you don't miss out!

Big hugs!

Faith Hope Believe

I am so sorry I am behind on blogging.  I am happy to say, however, that I have had some custom orders! days seem to speed by soooo fast that I realize "wow, I need to update my blog".  So here I am back in action with a great new picture of a custom bracelet I designed and hand stamped for a friend that I reconnected with through Facebook!  I use the words "faith", "hope", and "believe" a lot with my hand stamping.  I think that people have a tendancy to link these words with religion most of the time.  I know I do when the words come to mind.  I am happy to say that I do have a strong faith and a good relationship with God.  My children are learning that the Lord keeps them safe and how easy it is to talk to God from anywhere you are about anything you need to.  In fact my four year old Jack came into my room this morning and I explained to him that I wasn't feeling well and I had a migraine.  And he looked at me and said, "mom, why don't you talk to God?".  And right then and there we said a prayer out loud talking to God to help mommy's head feel better.  I then hugged him and told him he was sent to me straight from heaven!  Now I know religion is a touchy subject for some but these words also come into play when we are even speaking of ourselves and life in general.  There are times when I have wanted to just throw in the towel with starting my business because things may not have been going as fast as I would like them to go or sales weren't happening like I wanted them to.  But I stop take a breath and think to myself...I need to have faith in myself, hope that things will take off and start happening, and believe in my business.  I then, because it's what I do, I say a prayer and know that it is in God's hands and will happen when it is suppose to.  So when you have those feelings of despair or wanting to give in just take a breath and have the faith, the hope, and the belief in your heart!

Hope you enjoy the picture of my newest custom piece!!

Have a blessed day!

Pink Lemonade

Well it is another beautiful day in New Jersey!  My boys and I were outside today for I would say about five hours!!  I just absolutely love spring time!  Although I look around me and all I see is yardwork!  I just look past that for now and see all the beautiful things blooming.  In my last post I posted about these new beauties I got my hands on.  Well I paired them up with my shiney sterling silver handmade earwires and designed some simple dangle earrings!  I just love them!  So much so that I made a pair for myself as well as my Etsy shop!  I wore them yesterday and they are so comfortable and light in my ears.  The facets of the bead with the pink and yellow colors are simply smashing!! 
I am super excited to also tell you that I have now started designing and making my own beads!!  I have been using clay and have come up with some beautiful earthy combinations that I know will be a hit!  But of course you will have to wait until my next post to see them!  Sorry to make you wait but they are still in the works.
Another fabulous thing that has happened today in fact, is that one of my pieces is being featured in a blog giveaway for Etsy Mom Street Team!  I am a proud member of this team.  So please check out the blog, http://www.etsymom.blogspot.com/ there is even a little interview with me.  So happy to be given this opportunity.  It is a great bunch of moms there to help each other out!!

Have a blessed day!!
Barb

Warm sunny day!

As I sit on my patio enjoying the sunshine, breeze and my children's voices playing, I can't help but count my blessings.  How fortunate I am to be able to do something that I love and still be able to be at home with my boys, and crazy dog too!  This little heat wave we are having mid April cannot help but make me think of those summer days drinking lemonade and running through the sprinkler as a child.  Life's simple pleasures!  I can only hope that my children hold on to their innocence and not grow up to fast!!!  I sometimes want to sneak into their room at night and just bottle them up so they stay young and  innocent forever!  Then there are those nights after a long day of them being boys that I wonder....are they 18 yet!! LOL
We have spent some time this past week traveling and I must say, I just love springtime in New Jersey.  All the dogwoods and weeping cherry trees blooming.  All the grass turning green and the flowers opening up to show their gorgeous colors!  The pretty daffodils and tulips!  I will say my very favorite are the pink dogwood and weeping cherry trees.  So that is my reason for creating a piece with these beautiful pink beads I just got my hands on!!  I absolutely cannot wait to share it with you so please stay tuned for something stunning!  And it sounds like we will need it since the weather here is suppose to take a turn colder :(

Have a blessed day and please count your blessings!
Barb

Winner

Congratulations to Ribbitscraps!!  The giveaway winner!!

Giveaway Day!

I hope everyone had a fantastic Easter! We had a great time in NYC with family. I was able to come home with some great inspiration for some new designs! I am so excited for my giveaway tonight! I am posting a picture of these beautiful earrings that will be my first giveaway piece. These are gorgeous green jasper beads with hints of brownish red hues. I handmade the ear wires from sterling silver and the beads are on a sterling silver headpin as well. I love these little beauties! Please leave a comment either here or on the next post for your entry to win! You have until midnight tonight and the winner will be announced tomorrow morning! Thanks and good luck!

Enjoy the day!
Barb

The First Giveaway!

Good afternoon everyone! As the Easter holiday approaches I am so excited to offer my first jewelry giveaway! All you have to do is make sure you are following my blog and leave a comment after this post! That is it! And on Monday the 5th of April I will pick a winner! If you refer someone new to my FB page and blog you will each get two entries into the drawing! I will post the picture of the piece that will be given away on either Saturday or Sunday, I am awaiting an order for some absolutely gorgeous and unique beads that will be perfect for this first giveaway! So round up those friends and start following my blog you will NOT be disappointed!

Big hugs!
Barb

How Earthy met Elegance.....

Since my blog is new I thought I would take this time to write a bit more about myself and how my business started. I will start with my most biggest reason why, which is shown on my blog, my boys (oh, and husband of course! LOL). They are my reason for everything really! I am fortunate to be able to stay at home to raise my boys. Now granted some days I want to run screaming but 98% of the time all is good! Some days it might be and 80% 20% split! I have however found a groove with balancing my love of designing/making jewelry and being a wife and mom. It did take some time but it is all coming together and is a bit easier as the boys continue to grow. It also helps to have a super supportive husband who through my trials, tribulations and childbirth loves me anyway! LOL
So when this whole adventure began I had not a clue what to name my business. I knew I had to come up with something before launching my shop and venturing out to do vendor shows so I thought and thought. I am a very down to earth person, very "what you see is what you get", t-shirt and jeans kinda woman that sometimes shows her "spicy Sicilian side" (husbands term), loves simple things, the outdoors, the change of seasons... that is where "Earthy" originated. Flip that coin over and you have a definite girlie girl who loves to shop, get dressed up to go out, pretty shoes and bags and of course JEWELRY! That is where you get "Elegance". So out of that Earthy Elegance Jewelry Design was born. Taking the elegance and crossing it with earthy and simple. So in my creations you will always see a little bit of me! I've characterize my line as having an organic flair, kind of "raw" if you will. You will see that things do not always look "perfect" and that is on purpose to give it that organic feel or the whimsical feeling.
Well that is how this third baby of mine was born! I am super excited (you will hear me say that alot) about what is next! I will be starting some awesome monthly giveaways here on my blog!!! In the next week or so I will be posting the giveaway and all you need to do is leave me a comment to get entered! I also have a FB page if any of you are on there just search out Earthy Elegance and become a fan too! Between here and there you cannot miss out on the "goings on"! On my Facebook page I also post when I am having sales on my etsy site or couponcodes for free shipping, etc.
Hope you enjoyed this post! Stay tuned for the start of the giveaways!!!

Oh PS if you have new people join my blog or FB page you both get a second entry for the giveaway! All you have to do is put each others names in your comment!!!

Have a fantastic day!!!
Barb

Mommy Runs on Dunkin'

Thanks to my afternoon cup of Dunkin', my oldest son at nursery school, and to the Backyardigans keeping my youngest son occupied I am able to start my first blog post! I am very excited to be able to start this blog and share my life, my designs, and why I love designing with all of you.

I am a self taught jewelry artist, very new to this business actually. I actually got my certification in personal training after having my second son. I had the intentions to start my own personal training business, and did for a short time. After realizing that I in fact do love fitness and training, I also came to realize that I love designing and making jewelry more. I still train (myself) and help others that may ask for it but jewelry is where my passion is. I will always keep up my certification because you never know what the future may bring, but building my jewelry business is what the concentration is on.

Well, let me tell you how I fell in love with beads and designing! I actually thought I would make a couple gifts for a few people, so I went to the local craft store to take a peek at their bead supply. I just simply fell in love with the feel of the beads and wire in my hands and the peace that came over me while I created and designed the pieces of jewelry. From that point on I was hooked and thought of different ways I could possibly make this a business. I started last fall by doing local craft and vendor shows. I met a lot of great people! It was also a nice out for a stay at home mom of two boys 4 and 2! I have received a lot of great feedback regarding my designs and people often say that they can't believe I have only been doing this for such a short time. I am so flattered with the great comments and strive to produce more and more great pieces!

I have started using only sterling silver for my designs and have also introduced metal stamping and wire work into my line as well! I am super excited to share all of this with you! I hope you all tune in to see new posts, new pieces, and to hear new tales of this crazy moms life!

Pictured above are a few of my newest earrings working on a couple of new earwires so stay tuned!

Until next time....