Featuring My Customer of the Month – Julie Anne Rhodes and the Vampire Diaries Convention Countdown!

Posted on June 29, 2013 by eldwenne

This is the second customer of the month feature and I’m SUPER excited to present Ms. Julie Anne Rhodes!

Julie Anne is a huge jewelry fan. As a matter of fact, her nickname is Jewels!

Julie Anne and I have much in common, including being incessant workaholics, creative souls, and devoting time to give back to others.

She and I connected by way of her phenomenal site: www.personalchefapproach.com – we worked together to create a pendant that Julie Anne sold out of her shop and we donated 100% of the proceeds to a charity that was near and dear to her heart.

Here is the stunning Julie Anne wearing Jodi’s Jewel for Jewels, our collaborative effort to fundraise against children’s hunger.

From there we just hit it off and she’s been an endless source of inspiration and support to me. She’s literally transformed my household with her Personal Chef Approach, aka PCA.

1. Tell us a little bit about yourself, anything you’re comfortable sharing; family, work, philosophy, etc. Also, if you have a website or brick and mortar business, please feel free to include that info here!

First and foremost, I’m a mom to a beautiful daughter. I’m also the proud owner of the Personal Chef Approach.

Family comes first and in this day and age where time is a commodity, I strive to provide ways for families to eat better together.

Julie Anne’s website – http://www.personalchefapproach.com – incredible food and company await you here!

2. Do you have creative outlets? Tell us about them and if you have photos of your work, please feel free to share!

My work is a creative outlet – I paint with flavor! I am constantly challenging myself by experimenting with different ingredients and flavor combinations.

I’m also an avid art fan – I’m always on the prowl for inspiration!

3. What draws you to handmade jewelry as opposed to store-bought, factory manufactured pieces?

I like the personal touch that handmade jewelry has. Every piece is unique and I feel like it’s made just for me.

4. What types of pieces stand out to you, for example, wire work, crystals, etc and why?

I find something to appreciate in all kinds of pieces.

5. Is there something specific about Eldwenne’s Fantasy – Quality Handmade Jewelry by Jodi Zulueta that stands out to you? (Don’t be afraid to say no, Lol!)

Jodi puts her heart and soul into every piece she makes and it shows. I always get tons of compliments when I wear her jewelry!

Julie Anne wearing earrings I designed made of Bali sterling silver and Swarovski crystals. These are available in my shop!

Wow, thank you so much, Jewels!! I am fortunate to be a member of her site. Working my tail off every day leaves very little time to plan and cook healthy meals for my family and thanks to her, I’ve been able to do just that!

Please follow Julie Anne on Twitter @julieannerhodes as well as @therovingstove. Her FaceBook page is always a fun place to visit her as well: https://www.facebook.com/therovingstove

My daughter, Raven, is such a huge fan of your recipes and always looks forward to meals!

Thank you so much for taking the time out of your hectic schedule – I’m sending goodies your way!

Next topic on the agenda – gearing up for the Vampire Diaries convention in Parsippany, NJ! Whoo hoo!! I’m so excited and I’ve been cranking out tons of new pieces, including pieces that read “My Heart Belongs to a Vampire”, “Werewolves vs Vampires”, “Peace, Love, and Supernatural” (I know, it’s not Vampire Diaries related, but I have t tie everything in to Supernatural, you know that!)

My Heart Belongs to a Vampire Necklace – available at http://www.eldwenne.etsy.com

And very importantly – please visit my friends at http://www.carryonsupernatural.com – they provide a huge support network for Supernatural fans that are in need of a little help from their friends. I designed a bracelet celebrating the fantastic work they do and it’s available to purchase through their site. Every purchase will result in $5 being donated to support their hard work!

Keep Calm and Carry On…Peace Love and Supernatural

If you’re coming to the convention next month, please come visit me! Id love to meet you!

Here is my convention schedule for both Vampire Diaries and, of course, SUPERNATURAL!!

– The Vampire Diaries Official Convention 7/13/2013-7/14/2013 in Parsippany, NJ

– Salute to Supernatural 8/23/2013-8/25/2013 in Vancouver

– Salute to Supernatural 10/11/2013-10/13/2013 in Toronto

– Salute to Supernatural 10/25/2013-10/27/2013 in Chicago

– Salute to Supernatural 11/22/2013-11/24/2013 in Los Angeles, CA

– The Vampire Diaries Official Convention 12/14/2013-12/15/2013 in Orlando, FL.

My traveling jewelry business is just in its infancy and I’m really in need of support, so I’ve set up a Go Fund Me page that gives all of you incredible incentives! http://www.gofundme.com/2kwx90

Every donation receives a gift certificate towards any jewelry in my shop: www.eldwenne.etsy.com

If you donate $25, you get a gift certificate for $40! If you donate $50, you get $75! If you donate $75, you get $100!!! Ad it keeps getting better!

The gift certificates never expire! So you can hold onto the as long as you want! They’re only gone when you’ve spent them!

Thanks everyone and I hope I see you at one of the conventions!

Carrying On, Knowing My Limits, and WOW, There Really Are Some Really Great People Out There!

Posted on June 21, 2013 by eldwenne

As you all know, it’s been a year. Sick husband, lost my job, major car accident, and now – my eleven year old son has been diagnosed with depression.

It’s enough to overwhelm anyone, I’m pretty sure. Trying to stay positive in the midst of it all is quite the challenge, but I’ve had some help.

I stumbled upon a phenomenal website, Carry On – Family Don’t End with Blood. It’s a support group that is focused on the fanbase for Supernatural. It’s a tremendous resource for support; an extended family.

To quote from the site http://www.carryonspn.com :

“Carry On is a place for the Supernatural family to stand united against the evils of this world, as well as our own personal demons. It is a safe place, where you can come and know that you are not alone.”

I was so inspired by this community of selfless people that I designed a bracelet to celebrate the good work they do:

The charms read “Keep Calm and Carry On”‘ and “Peace, Love and Supernatural”

This bracelet is in their shop here: http://www.carryonspn.com/shop.html

For every bracelet sold, I will donate $5 towards their cause which helps fund al lot of the amazing projects they do!

Other examples of great people: Susan Newman, aka Suzy Brandtastic did a radio interview with me! She’s a branding guru and her site is:
http://brandingyoubetter.com

To hear my interview, click here: http://www.talkshoe.com and look at the Past Interviews section – mine was on 6/14/2013.

Knowing my limits – with all of the drama that I’ve been taking on, I did have to let something go. With a heavy heart I resigned as the Events and Workshop Chair for hob’art, a cooperative gallery based in Hoboken.

One of my friends, a beautiful artist named Heather Leigh Corey, is also on the board and knew of the challenges I’ve been facing as of late. And you know what she did? She put me in touch with two MORE phenomenal people, Stacey and Clem Lespinasse – photographers who VOLUNTEERED their services to professionally photograph my jewelry!!

The photos came out so beautifully – an example is below!!! If you would like to hire Stacey and Clem, they can be reached via the following:
BrowsersOnline.com 201-298-3444

And here’s yet ANOTHER example of people being wonderful in our hard times – my van was confirmed unfixable.

With three young kids and my career depending on being able to get to conventions and shows, and virtually no money, how the heck were we gong to get through this? Simply getting another vehicle wasn’t an option. We’re just not financially able to support that.

The wonderful guys over at Aamco, our mechanics, worked with us so that we could purchase a vehicle that one of their managers owned. It’s also a van, and it runs even better than what we had! So a major thank you goes out to them too!!

This really did validate that there are some very kind, generous people out there.

I want to pay it forward, and I’m now offering added incentives for anyone who is donating to my convention fund – you will receive a gift certificate worth MORE than your donation amount!

For example, if you donate $25, you receive a gift certificate to get $40 worth of my jewelry here on etsy! For $50 you recieve $75! for $100 you receive $125! and it keeps getting better – It’s a great opportunity!

Simply go to my Go Fund Me page http://www.gofundme.com/2kwx90 and make a donation towards helping my handmade jewelry business travel the convention circuit!

Supernatural and Vampire Diaries fans – I’ve been invited by Creation Entertainment to sell my jewelry at Supernatural and Vampire Diaries conventions!

I have a lot of gorgeous Wiccan and Pagan pieces! New ones uploaded every day into my shop: http://www.eldwenne.etsy.com

I need help funding the travel expenses – if you donate to my Go Fund Me page, you will receive a gift certificate for my jewelry equal to (and sometimes more than!) the amount of your donation!

http://www.gofundme.com/2kwx90

Support Supernatural Fan of the Month, Life Lessons from Asbury Avenue, and I Stopped and Made the Roses

Posted on June 7, 2013 by eldwenne

It’s been a week. Yup. Quite a week. I’ll start with the fantastic part of it first.

There is a most phenomenal site called http://www.supportsupernatural.com. Yes, it’s about promoting the TV show Supernatural, but it’s SO much more than that.

The fantastic leaders of this site, Heather and Lindsay, also tie in their love of the show with giving back to those in need. I’ve been the art teacher for the Hoboken Shelter for the past two years, so giving back to the community is very dear to me.

A quote from Support Supernatural’s About Us’ page:

“Fundraising for charity is a big part of what we do. In 2008, we raised over $6,000 for charity. In 2009, we raised over $18,000, over $30,000 in 2010 and have reached our $30,000 goal in 2011. Our continual goal with fundraising is to garner positive publicity for Supernatural as a fandom. Supernatural without a doubt has the most passionate fans in the world!”

Here’s a link where you can see these beautiful ladies being recognized by Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles for their tremendous efforts:

http://www.supportsupernatural.com/aboutus.htm

So now you can only imagine how THRILLED I was that Heather and Lindsay chose me as their Fan of the Month for June!!!

If you’d like to read their interview with me, you can find it here:

http://www.supportsupernatural.com/fotmJune13.htm

I am absolutely HONORED to be acknowledged by such wonderful people who do such amazing things. Thank you so much, Lindsay and Heather!

So now here’s the not-so-fantastic part of my week. I was in a major car accident. My husband and three of my children were also with me. I – of the perfect driving record, CAUSED the accident.

We were on our way to Asbury Park. Our first beach trip of the summer. Just a little over a mile away from our destination, on Asbury Avenue, I rear-ended a car. Who rear-ended a car. Who rear-ended a car. Yes, 4 vehicles, including mine.

I zoned out. My brain was on autopilot and by the time it registered that the cars in front of me were stopped and not moving, I hit the brakes, but not in time to stop from hitting the car in front of me, causing the horrible chain reaction.

The absolute amazing thing is that no one was injured. My van – not too sure. The car in front of me – really not sure. But again, no one was injured and that’s all that matters.

Let me tell you something. I am the first person to call people who drive slowly idiots, those who drive too fast maniacs, (George Carlin would’ve been proud), and if you dare forget to put your turn signal on, well, my vocabulary devolves into something that would make a sailor blush.

So here I am, just caused a major accident. A completely avoidable one. And. You know what happened? EVERYONE involved couldn’t have been nicer to me and my family. Not one cross word, not one curse, not one “what the hell were you thinking.” Even the police of Neptune City were extremely helpful, kind, and didn’t make me feel like the idiot I was.

I’ve been officially humbled. I need to stop and smell the roses, allow people to be human, and be grateful of the fact that we’re all ok.

I designed the Rosette Ring as a result of the accident. I wanted something beautiful to come out of something that had all the potential to be tragic, but thankfully something watched over all of us involved in the accident to make sure we were ok.

Roses are sacred to the Goddess – it represents all things feminine; empowerment.

I wanted to capture that feeling in a piece that can be worn as a totem.

I also have some other very good news – I’ve made some changes to my gift certificates available through my go fund me page!

Want a gift certificate for my handmade jewelry that equals more value than what you pay for it? Simply go to my Go Fund Me page: http://www.gofundme.com/2kwx90 and make a donation towards helping my handmade jewelry business travel the convention circuit!

Supernatural and Vampire Diaries fans – I’ve been invited by Creation Entertainment to sell my jewelry at Supernatural and Vampire Diaries conventions!

I have a lot of gorgeous Wiccan and Pagan pieces! New ones uploaded every day into my shop: http://www.eldwenne.etsy.com

I need help funding the travel expenses – if you donate to my Go Fund Me page, you will receive a gift certificate for my jewelry equal to (and sometimes more than!) the amount of your donation!

http://www.gofundme.com/2kwx90

Thank you again to Support Supernatural and the Neptune City Police Department.