Friends

We all go through life with friends that come into our life in one way or another. Some we know face to face, others we meet in strange places who fast become friends and then there are those who are lucky enough to have friends from when they were little. Oh and don't forget the friends we make on the Internet....
Recently I was able to learn just what friends mean to each other. The friends I am talking about have hearts bigger than Texas and a love to share with their fellow team members. I am speaking of the members of eSMARts. They have opened their hearts to help a friend in need. Mind you they have never met this person before but still they have opened their hearts to help someone in need.
This is not charity, this is friends helping friends and they want to continue helping anyone who needs help in any way. I am very proud to be a member of this team, and even prouder to support my friends in any way that I can
I will definitely write more about these amazing people in upcoming blogs, but for now, I ask that if you have a chance please take the time to visit the newly created esmarts .com store and make a purchase please to help in this great cause of "helping other people in need"

Brrr Its getting Colder

Well Here it is October has 12 days left then comes the frosty November air and then.......
As usual I have been lax with posting to my blog. Sometimes there just aren't enough hours in the days to do all I want to do. Like take this week, My son has a Dr appointment on Monday at 4:00pm and on Tuesday at 4:15pm. My work has finally consented to giving me a flat screen monitor so I need to exchange mine on Monday, which means that I have to make up the time out of office to travel there to get it and back. Don't know when I will make up the time as I also have a craft show on Saturday that I still need to prepare for.
Booked solid though December 14th with craft shows. I am loving every second of it and meet so many nice and interesting people. Yesterdays show was a little slow, but I made two new friends! That sometimes is better than selling anything!
Not to awful worried about the Christmas Holidays this year. There is no extra monies for gifts for anyone. I feel especially bad for my son who lives with me, as he has always looked forward to Christmas. This year we are about on the poverty level as I am sure everyone is, so we will just have a quiet day and not decorate the house or anything so as to not feel so bad.......
Counting on lots of overtime to supplement the monies I spent from my tax returns. Need to have enough to make the trip back to NY for my Sons wedding in May. so I am hoping my craft sales and Etsy sales go well so I don't have to dip into household monies to pay the business credit card. Going to have to do that this month as sales weren't great yesterday, and the monies I made from my last craft show last weekend were stolen before I had a chance to deposit them into the bank.
Oh on to happier notes I have been dabbling with wire wrapping, and will have 2 new necklaces to post in Etsy today. Gosh I don't know if I did it right, but I sure had fun trying to create something different! If you get a chance please check it out. Which also reminds me that I have some beads that I need to mail out...very very neglectful for me to not get them out as soon as I was paid for them. I wouldn't blame the person one bit if they blacklisted me on Etsy!
Well I need to make some items up for my next show and work on getting my excel program updated, here it is the end of the year almost, and I haven't put any information in yet. Well that's not quite true, I had the whole spreadsheet updated to 7/1/08 and forgot to save it, so I have to go back and reenter it all!

Till next time....happy blogging and good luck on your craft fairs.

Wilma

How people affect me

Last time I talked about being a hermit. That I am having trouble changing, but slowly its happening.

This time I would like to talk about "how people affect me" As I mentioned I belong to two Etsy street teams.I have a great rapport with quite a few of the people I met in eSMArts. My favorite place to hang out. I have learned so much there, my head is still spinning.
There are two people especially that I would love to talk about. The first one is abeadedaffair.etsy.com. She has some wonderful things in her shop and writes a wonderful blog. I am so impressed by the beauty of her items, a lot of wire wrapping and she has a love for gemstones. I have loved gemstones and often mix them with my jewelry that I make. In her two recent blogs she has spotlighted opals and labrodites that have become my favorites. So now I have everyone I talk to looking for places for me to buy gemstones.

She also confesses to still be living in the "dark ages" which I really find hard to believe! Here is a snippet of what she says about that..."To say I am old fashioned and behind the times, well, it's really not an insult to me. I take great pride in doing some things the old fashioned way."
There is some of her lovely jewelry to look at, but to get the full impact you should check out her sites. She also has a Blog list and hopefully you will be able to check out some of our fine artists
Here is her blog address, please check her out.

My other favorite person whom I mentioned in my last post is Anna Lee Husband. A person who is willing to help any one and everyone. I am a lucky person to have her as a friend. Anna Lee is the person who founded and created eSMARts. Anna Lee makes wonderful jewelry and has two websites on etsy. You will truly be amazed at the wonderful work. Here are her shop names-Gaholld tree Designs; Sassy D Lite and has also shared with us some of her wonderful gems at GaHoole Tree Supplies.

I could go on talking for hours about these two special friends, each have taken my hand and helped me in many many ways. P;ease check out their shops and blogs and see the amazing work they do.

Wilma
www.wilmas-whimseys
www.whimsey.etsy dot com

Meeting New People

I must tell you all that I am a hermit! I have a craft that I LOVE doing and try to spend as much time as I can on creating not only beads, but jewelry too. I am lucky enough to be able to work from home and have been doing so for almost three years now, its really great, I get up 20 mins beforeI need to be at the desk and walla my day begins. when I am done with work, I walk around the office desk and to the torch desk so I can create my beads. Then I go upstairs and sit in the dining room and create jewelry. Actually I don't have a dining room any more, its the jewelry room now. We eat in the living room in front of the "boob tube".

There does come a time that you need to break free of you old ways and reach out and meet some people. I guess I have been lucky to meet two other beaders in this large city I live in and have become very close to two people. They are Deb "Hopeful Journeys" and Julie, "emt.jmb" Julie got me out of my house last year and introduced me to doing craft fairs, so now I can say that I have finally taken the step this year and signed up for quite a few shows. I had a show today and let me tell you the old feeling came back this morning, and I almost didn't go. After all my time could be spent making more beads right? Well the little guy who sits on my right shoulder whispered in my ear---"go, you have already paid for your spot and you have the chance to sell" Guess he won and I must say I am glad that I did as I now have met another great person. Sierra Hegstrom. Sierra is just starting out as a matter of fact this was her first show. She started and Etsy store Maximo Joe, and is in the process of loading her goodies in. I got hooked on what she makes and I now am the proud owner of one of her creations.

Getting out into the world is not the only way to meet new and exciting people. being a member of Etsy (whimsey.etsy.com) I was lucky to find a local "Street Team" which I have joined. I met some wonderful people there, but unfortunately have not had the chance to meet them in person as yet, just Sierra and her friend Amy. Hopefully that will be remedied soon. As I was lurking on the Etsy forums one day, I love reading them , I came across another street team called "eSMARts" This was started by a wonderful Lady named AnnaLee who has a world of knowledge and freely shares it with everyone. Anna Lee has taken me under her wing and has guided me with so many many things. Certainly made my understanding of so many things, I can't begin to tell you! Not only is she knowledgeable, she is a very talented artist, and is even learning another craft to further enhance her two etsy shops. Please ,if you have a chance, or will make a chance visit her wonderful shops. You will be amazed at the wonderful work she does. You can find her at - http://gahooletreedesigns.blogspot.com and here is an inside look at her blog- http://sassydlite.blogspot.com. And I also want to say she has become a great friend. I am blessed to have found her and the wonderful eSMARts team that has so many wonderful people on there, all whom I consider my friends (cyber buddies).

So to sum this up, Thanks to Julie who has gotten me out into the craft show circuit; a very special thank you to AnnaLee (be sure to check her shop and blog) and all the wonderful people from both teams, I guess I am a three quarters time hermit now!

Till my next ramblings....

Wilma
www.wilmas-whimseys
www.whimsey.etsy.com