I survived the holiday madness!

Wow, this season was an unexpectedly busy time for me!  Along with my etsy orders, I was swamped with custom orders from my 4 jewelry shows!  My husband thinks I will soon saturate the market with my mother’s necklace.  However, I told him that there are always new mothers out there.

Now that all the orders are fulfilled I will now focus on the dreaded tax preparation part of my business.  Ugh!  How much will Uncle Sam take?  But I’m not complaining that I actually made a decent profit this year (compared to my first 3 years of claiming a “loss”).

I am working on a new product to debut in 2009.  More on that later . . . .

You know you’ve been slacking when . . .

your husband tells you to get more jewelry up on your website.  I know, I know. I have not been very good at adding new jewelry on www.lorifowler.etsy.com.  The reality is I have been creating new pieces with some wonderfully cut gemstones that I found at the Bead and Button Show.  But somehow I have not yet photographed them and downloaded them online.  Sorry to all those loyal customers who browse through my webstore hoping to find something new, only to be disapppointed yet again.  Well, here’s a few photos of some necklaces I recently made with one of my favorite green gemstones – Chrysophase.  These pieces will be available at my jewelry party this Sunday at Karen’s home (Rockford, IL).

Chrysophase on hammered sterling

Girls’ Night

Just back from my jewelry party in Rockford.  This one was with a fun group of girlfriends eager to shop, drink, chat, and have tons of fun.  Although the party was set up as an open house format, it was not the case.  These gals came at the beginning and stayed for the entire duration – and then some!  I had fun getting to know some of the girls and catching up with some high school acquiantances.  Of course, the wine and Cherry Bomb was an added bonus, too!  I also found it interesting to watch each gal’s jewelry selection unfold throughout the night.  Lots of necklaces were mulled over, picked up and put down – only to be picked up again, and several were “fought” over.  And what was great was how these friends gave their honest opinions and helped each other find the piece(s) of jewelry that speaks to their personality. 

Thanks, Lisa and Carly for throwing a wonderful party!  Now I need to get busy fulfilling all the custom orders, which I hope to mail by Wednesday.  Back to the workbench I go!