August 2018

It's almost August and try as I might, I must admit I never seem to find the time needed to do a little blogging. Every time I think I am going to post a new column, something comes up. With running a business on one's own, it's hard to find "free" time. It seems I am always listing on one of my sites, or shooting pictures or doing the bookkeeping (which I hate) or cleaning house. Balancing working hours with household hours is probably the hardest thing to do! But I try.





Buying and selling antique jewelry is a wonderful profession, but I find myself longing to go back into crafting. I did so many shows in the 80s and early 90s that there are, at times, moments when I want to go back to a show to see what I have been missing. Well, one thing I have not been aware of is Where Women Create, a magazine that (once I got over sticker price shock) I found to be the most amazing magazine. To have discovered its sister publications was like a Godsend. Not only did I bring myself up to snuff on the current "name" artisans, but I also found myself revisiting people whom I had known personally when I was still in Los Angeles.

Anyway, after seeing WWC I decided that I simply had to get my studio together. The only question was WHEN?? Well, I don't think it's going to happen this year as there are just too many things on my plate. My father is getting on in age and I have a trip to Vancouver at the end of August, back to back trips to London in October and November, and a cruise to Mexico with my father in December. And in b etween all that, I still have to file my 2009 taxes as I am on extension. Yep, that's enough.

But I do have time to make a few items at night so I did bring out a few bits and pieces and have been busy listing them on my sites on ETSY and RUBY LANE. Now when I break out the Christmas stuff, that will mean I am getting a little more organized!

Do you like the earrings I made? Here's a couple more pair.....

Things continue to change as I travel.  Every trip there seems to be one less shop open, one less market open. I had thought about moving back to Vancouver before I moved to St. Peters, but the realization that I would never be able to afford a home meant I had to choose where not only I could purchase a home for myself, but also where the inventory was. And it certainly was not in Vancouver. Like Los Angeles, Vancouver doesn't have much of a history whereas St. Louis goes back to the late 1790s. So the potential of finding goodies in Missouri was a lot higher than in British Columbia!

Like Vancouver, St. Peters has the same seasons - something Los Angeles did not. I love the turn of fall colors and I love to see snow. Imagining snow in Los Angeles is a bit of a stretch! Anyway, I'm happy here and the "green" certainly has put my soul at peace. If I can't live in Vancouver, St. Peters is the next best thing. Now if they could only do something about the heat!

I have made a promise to myself to get back into crafting. I think I have a lot of ideas to offer but I also realize that to offer them means having lots of inventory in place. Right now, I have little in the way of what I really want to produce. So my listings will continue to be slim on the handcrafted side, but hopefully larger on the antique finds side.

Here's a few of my latest antique jewelry finds..... 

And that's it for now. If you've stopped by, many thanks.

Take care.