So what does this mean for a crafts person who sells jewelry or a Tennis Pro that owns a club or a restaurant owner that has had a record season. … Quiet Time… New Idea Time…. Time to reflect …. or Maybe just Time to Keep On Truckin‘.

For me, Keep On Truckin means time to get working on the web-end of my business.  I started this new old endeavor a week ago with my niece, Laura Pennisi.  Laura just graduated with an Art Education major.  Not only is she an artist, but she is good with computers and lucky me, she hadn’t found a job yet.  It was March 30 and I knew I had exactly one day left to make my new Facebook banner before my Heaven Lane Creations page got changed over to the new format.  I was frantic.  I could not figure out how to make a collage of pictures that would fit into the new banner size.  Laura patiently showed me how to do it.  Like a good teacher, she modeled how to do it several times, assisted me and then let me demonstrate my understanding.  Look what we came up with

With my mentor next to me, it only took an hour.  Today, I tried to shoot more pictures of my latest creations to post on my store which I am hoping will be ready very soon.  But the shooting of the pictures and the editing took me three hours.  Not very efficient use of a jeweler’s time and I am still not satisfied with the photo results.  I will share with you my new creations; visit my Gallery page.

Here is my latest idea.  I want to find a person who lives really close by who is a great photographer.  Once a week they will shoot pictures of my jewelry and help me post.  Until I start making money off my business, I will pay them with lovely jewelry.  Any takers?

On to the main event.  Amanda Tibbetts is my partner.  This is what she sent me. 

Here is a close up of the pendant she made.

Here is what I made

Floating Bead Necklace

and as I went back to a dear old friend, a golden beading technique which allowed me to complete my Bead Soup Blog Challenge in time hosted by Lori Anderson

I will not reveal what I made from the products that were sent to me by  Amanda Tibbetts until Challenge Reveal Day, which is March 3rd, but I will tell you that I  would never have finished this project without my trusty old friend, the floating bead necklace, which I learned ten years ago at Studio Baboo in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Back then I was a full-time teacher.  One unbelievably snowy winter, I was sitting around the house on a three-week forced vacation called snow days with my three antsy sons, when I realized that I needed desperately to calm my mind and pour my enormous creative energy into a new hobby.  I discovered beading.  For the next year and half,  I learned several dozen techniques, but non as useful and versatile as the floating bead necklace.  It is my old stand-by.  It is by far, my most consistent seller and it has bailed me out of quite a few creative dilemmas.  Just a sampling of some of the jewelry I have made in the past few years using this technique.

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Jewelry makers, teachers, mothers, tennis pros… we all have our favorite tricks of the trade… the ones we know work and we can fall back on when we need an old friend.

It seems to me the classroom problem is in fact,  not just a dilemma for teachers, but for all of us who struggle to conduct our lives and businesses in a  meaningful  way.  I often think I am communicating clearly to my friends or my family, my clients and employers.  I see the world one way and I am sure that my perceptions are shared by these other people.  But they don’t agree, in fact, I am not even sure they hear me.  The techniques I use in a classroom to remedy this situation don’t often translate to the outside world.  Here is how it might look:

Teaching Scenario 1: Jewelry Business

Show them the necklace. Ask them the following question.  “What do you think this necklace is worth?”

They might answer, “I could buy on ebay for $25.00″

Follow up with a question to challenge their private theory.  “What if i told you I spent four hours making it and the cost of my materials were $10.00. Do you think I should charge only $25.00?” Let them feel the necklace.  Show them the technique used for making it.

Allow them to try making it to see how difficult the technique really is?

Teaching Scenario 2:  The value of eating healthy and practicing preventative medicine

I have been preaching healthy eating to my children ever since they were old enough to eat solid food. Two of my three kids get it.  In fact, my youngest son completely gave up all sodas, limits his snacks to one a day and reaches for bananas, peanut butter, carrots and yogurt when he is hungry and my husband and I are not available to cook. My middle son, on the other hand, flat out rejects all my preaching and teaching.  He has to learn everything through personal experience.  His private universe has recently intersected with his little brothers and mine in fact.  In the past two years, I have lost a great deal of weight and in general have been experiencing very good health.  In the meantime, his 13 year old brother is getting far more buff than he is.  I have watched my son start investigating healthier eating habits.

Tonight the teaching went like this?

Mom, I have got a really bad cold?  What can I do?

I start rubbing the bridge of my nose.  He gets on the internet and researches head colds and it shows a person rubbing the bridge of their nose.  He starts rubbing his.  Then he looks at me and says” You do that all the time.  I just thought you were crazy.  By the way Mom, can I borrow your Neti pot as well. ”

You get the picture.  Teaching and learning take time.  Human interactions are very complex and fraught with dangers. Do any of us take the time to interact in this fashion with our friends, partners, business associates? My friends and family think I am too pedantic as it is.  They will never let me get away with this behavior.  They will roll their eyes in their head as they hold on tight to their private theories on jewelry, health and life.

This weekend, my 17 year old son, Danny is having a Bar Mitzvah.  We missed out when he was thirteen (long story).  However, the decision to do this was entirely his and I am amazed how he has pulled himself together to accomplish this beautiful spiritual journey.  He will be leading an entire 1.5 hours service this weekend in front of 70 to 80 people.  It will be mostly in Hebrew.  When you have an event like this, you gain perspective on friends and family.  Some of my family never even RSVP’d and some friends who haven’t seen me for years sent my son a generous gift. 

Life changes.  Friendships come and go.  Even dynamics of your own family change.  Danny mentioned how excited he was that his older brother Ben is coming to town.  He used to resent him.  Now he wants to take off from school to spend all of his time with him.  I hope this feeling continues into adulthood.  I hope they still care enough about each other to attend each other’s important events.  I hope they put aside petty differences and come together when end-of-life decisions have to be made about their parents.  My siblings have fallen apart as my mom’s alzheimers worsens.  No more family get togethers over Thanksgiving where all 30 plus grandchildren hang out in my brother or sister’s yard.   So in the midst of my joy over my son’s success, I am also feeling a bit disappointed with most of my brothers and sisters. (One brother,John and his wife Sue have changed their plans to attend).  But my friends have come through. Many of them are taking time out of their busy lifes to honor my son and our friendship by attending and for this, I am truly grateful.

Original Necklace had one strand of wood beads, one strand of mother of pearl beads, two strands of gold seed beads and a leopard spotted focal shell

Now I thought this would be easy, but it wasn’t.  For three weeks, I fiddled with ideas and themes.  Maybe it could be a bracelet, maybe turn it into a halloween spider jewelry.  I was stymied by the multi-color focal shell and did not like the combination of wood and shell together.  Finally, a week ago, I received inspiration.  This is what I came up with.

Something Old, Something New

Teaching and Selling at the same time works for me.

So now I am going to stop talking and show you a few pictures from the event.

My Banner adds a Nice Touch Photo by Mark Trank

By the time Mark got there to shoot the Crowds had thinned out

I really enjoy talking with customers. Photo by Mark Trank

By the way,  I have to share something really interesting.  There is a growing trend among jewelry artists to combine efforts to increase sales for all.  I saw evidence of this at the show… when a a few artists came up to me and offered to share space at a store or even give me a heads up on future events.  This is happening on line as well.  Check out Melinda Orr’s blog at http://orrtec.blogspot.com/ to be part of a Big Yard Sale and Give Away.

Andrea at Middle School Flea Market photo shot by Mark Trank

My Competition Photo shot by Mark Trank

When we arrived, I noticed that all the other people set up were basically selling chaserai –old shoes, old toys, old clothing and old household items for 50 cents to $1.00 each.  I was still undaunted.  My beautiful jewelry would still make great holiday gifts. And I wasn’t planning to lower my prices to $1.00. I did not have time to go to the bank, so my dear husband ran off the bank to get me money, in case I needed change.  Round trip one for the first hour.  After  Mark went home the second time, I proceeded to set up meticulously.  And then the winds came.  My jewelry stands were flying, my jewelry was flying and I had forgotten the duck tape.  So I called Mark up and he ran around looking for suitable weights and the duck tape needed to hold jewelry stands.  Trip number 2 to the craft show. By this time, he gave up on going home and sat with me.

During the last hour in which no one even came over to see my jewelry, he asked me three simple questions.  In the sweetest voice he could muster, he asked “how many degrees do you have, my dear?”  I knew where this was going, but I played along.  “Three,”  I answered with a sigh.  “Tell me what those degrees are in?” he asked.  “B.A. in Speech Communication,” I said. “From where?” he asked rhetorically. “University of Virginia,” I announced with a laugh.  “And your next degree?” Mark asked.  “Masters in Science Education,” I laughed.  “And where is that degree from?” he mocked. “University of Virginia,” I answered a bit more quietly.  “Your third degree?” he asked.  “Educational Specialists in Curriculum and Instruction,” I announced. “From where?” By this time, my voice was a bit tight. “the University of Virginia.”  So how is it that a girl with three degrees from one of the highest rated Universities is stupid enough to try and sell her Jewelry that looks more like art to a crowd that won’t even buy items for .50?” he concluded.  “Maybe you should stick to art shows!”  This coming weekend, I will be at the Alliance for the Arts Annual Festival.  Last year it was a good event for me.  By the way, I did sell two people some jewelry.  Both happened to be teachers and both were my student teachers that I had supervised.  So my education degrees came in handy after all. Tonight we were discussing this event and I had to laugh, when Mark said”  What’s next, a truck pull in Okechobee?”

I was a journalist following my first degree and I made a decent salary, but my life changed.  I wanted to have a family and globe trotting around the country to cover all the bad news was not conducive to family life, so with my husband, I re-evaluated and pursued a new passion… the environment and education. 

Lobbyist for the Sierra Club, founder of a small recycling organization, environmental educator and finally after two more degrees, high school science teacher.  That is how I spent the next fifteen years.  In the meantime, I gave birth to three sons and my life changed again… for the better I must admit.  What was important in my 20s and 30s took a back seat to having a good home life with Mark and providing my children with every opportunity to grow up to be caring, healthy, successful young men.  One of my young men is successfully launched, the second is applying to college and my third spends a little time as possible with me…. my life is changing again. 

My mother, who has alzheimers is declining rapidly.  My brothers and sisters are at odds over how to care for them.  I am trying to earn a living a new way…making and selling jewelry. 

Maybe it is my age, 52, maybe its the times… economic woes, divided country, a society that seems to value voyerism more than living full lives….   But I am feeling a bit discouraged. Millions watch the fate of Amanda Knox ( Don’t get me wrong, I am glad her nightmare is over) and millions watch a You Tube video about a woman who hears for the first time.  (  I am happy for her too) But really, is this productive use of our time and our minds?  Or are we all so overwhelmed with life’s difficulties that we sit  in front of our computers and TVs hypnotized…. hoping for some instant way to get fame and inspiration.  Well, I for one, am going to get off my duff and create some jewelry tonight.  Keep moving, keep plugging away.  By the way, here is what I created this weekend.  I am still getting the hang of taking good pictures.  Please write back.  I welcome your thoughts and feedback.

I am still experimenting with creating a style for my photographs and jewelry.  Haven’t yet decided on what works?