Two Days to Goal, The Walking Dead is Ruining My Life, and to All Those Who Have Screwed Me Over in 2013- I THANK YOU!

Posted on December 28, 2013 by eldwenne

Today marks two days left before my Click Start Me campaign comes to an end. I’ve made $200 of my $5,000 goal…I want to thank all of you who have donated and supported my campaign.

The campaign is needed in order to grow my handmade jewelry business, Eldwenne’s Fantasy. Eldwenne’s Fantasy has two specific components; an online presence via my etsy shop: http://www.eldwenne.etsy.com and I travel all over the country (and to Canada) selling my jewelry at Salute to Supernatural conventions, where I specialize in making custom Supernatural-themed pieces for you.

Misha Collins shopping around at my table at a Salute to Supernatural convention – if it’s good enough for Misha…

I’m in good company here…

With just two days to go, I’m trying to rally the troops – if you could please share my link for my campaign – http://funding.clickstartme.com/project/help-fund-my-handmade-jewelry-traveling-business/

You’ll be helping me jumpstart my dream by providing the resources to grow Eldwenne’s Fantasy into a healthy, flourishing business where I can provide you with quality, handmade jewelry. My jewelry is original, one of a kind, and also inspired by the hit show Supernatural.

Inspired by the episode of the same name – Cas’ first episode as a human

Family Don’t End with Blood – Bobby Singer, you’ve never been more right.

I love working with wire and glass to create ethereal, one of a kind pieces

Making ordinary materials extraordinary

And now a new fandom has wormed its way into my life – The Walking Dead. SERIOUSLY?? Screw you Netflix, The Walking Dead, Norman Reedus, crossbows, the whole shebang! My husband and I have made it our mission to catch up on the entire series. We’re 4 episodes shy as of this writing. We only started watching it about a week and a half ago. Yup. This is serious, personal, and now the jewelry ideas are brimming. Watch this space for my The Walking Dead inspired pieces!! AMC – bunch of jerks. THANK YOU AMC AND FRANK DARABONT – WE LOVE YOU!

The Walking Dead – aka my new life-ruiner.

And now, as we all prepare to kiss (or kick) 2013 goodbye, I took some time to reflect on the year in general. As most of you know, my husband got sick in September 2012 (and still is.) I lost my job on January 23, 2013. I’ll never forget that day for as long as I live. It was quite literally the end of an era.

I spent the past 20+ years of my life on the corporate treadmill, terrified of jumping off. We couldn’t afford for me to not continue to work in the financial industry. But my former job took that choice away from me. As I left the human resources office, I called my husband, got into my car, and by the time I met up with him 20 minutes later, already had my plan formulated to start a new life for all of us.

So while losing my job was definitely not something I planned on, not something I was happy about, it was definitely something that needed to happen in order for me to take my life by the reins and move forward.

Within a short period of time I was able to start doing flea markets and eventually my first Salute to Supernatural convention. That was a life-changing event for me if there ever was one. The convention showed me that my jewelry is desired, wanted, even demanded! The wonderful people I met encouraged me to plow ahead and make a name for myself in the convention circuit.

This year I was able to sell my handmade jewelry at NJCon, VanCon, TorCon, and most recently, BurCon. Each of these events were a success for me and allowed me to learn how to do things better. If I can continue to do this, it would mean the world to me. Thank you all for being so incredibly supportive!

We had setbacks. My husband got sicker. Our 11 year old was so severely bullied we had to take it to court. Things spiraled out of control. The saying is to “roll with the punches.” Nope. I’m putting my arms up and swinging back. Rolling with the punches got me 20+ years of my life being thrown down a corporate toilet.

The universe has thrown some balance into my life and allowed me to pursue my other dream – to become a teacher. Through an extremely arduous application and interviewing process, I was proudly accepted into the Teach for America program!

Providing education equality and my passion for teaching!

The organization has made it possible for my family and me to have a brand new life. We will all be moving to Nashville, Tennessee by the end of July 2014! A brand new environment will help us all thrive.

Another eye-opener this year has been that I definitely needed to pare down the baggage in my life. You’ve heard the rant before – when things are going well, cheerleaders are in your face. When things start to fall apart, ‘friends’ and ‘family’ kind of take several (many?) steps back in the opposite direction. Run to the hills. Start judging and blaming. The few times you do wind up hearing from them is for them to have the balls to actually try to one up me on the crap things that happen scale.

Seriously, there are so many people, just in my life alone, that thrive on “wow, your husband’s sick? I had a nightmare and think I may have the same problem your husband does.” “You lost your job? Wow. Sucks. Sorry it took me so long to write, but I was busy working a full time job.” Yes, I’ve gotten emails like that. That last gem was written about a month after I lost my job.

As a result of these things (and many others that I really don’t think I’ll post here – yet!), I’ve decided to remove those people from my life equation. Wow, that felt GOOD!

This pretty much describes exactly how I feel!

2014 is a clean slate, a fresh start and any other cliche you can think of. It’s been liberating, honestly.

So to those of you who have screwed me over, went out of your way to kick me when I was down, to judge me, my family, I want to thank you. Without you all showing your true colors, I’d be jumping right back onto that corporate treadmill going nowhere exceptionally fast and setting myself up for continued failures. Thank you for revealing who you really are and I thank the universe my eyes were open enough to finally see things for what they really were.

In 2014, I will be doing the things that make me happy for the first time ever. I think I’ve earned that.

Goodbye 2013 and Happy New Year to you and your loved ones!

Goodbye 2013 – Hello NEW LIFE!

T-Minus Ten Days, Christmas Crunching and Habla Espanol?

Posted on December 20, 2013 by eldwenne

Today marks the beginning of the 10 day countdown to the end of my Click Start Me campaign.

It will end at 4pm on December 30, 2013. My birthday, of all things. The campaign has been wildly popular in terms of views – Click Start Me has put me FIRST on their Featured Projects page – come look!! http://crowdfunding.clickstartme.com/projects/featured-projects

Misha Collins shopping around at my table at a Salute to Supernatural convention

VERY exciting! Not only that – my project was awarded the “Most Popular Projects” badge because it’s made it to the first page of the “Most Popular Projects” search results!

Two great honors from Click Start Me!

This is such a huge honor that so many people are interested in my dream of making my handmade jewelry on the convention route a success.

I’ve received a few donations from very generous people and I cannot thank you enough for that!

My goal is $5,000, of which I have raised $100. I have just ten days to try to achieve my goal and then my campaign will be closed by Click Start Me– if you can share my links in the hopes that it will reach someone that will make a donation, I would be greatly appreciative.

As a matter of fact, if you share my link with someone who donates, YOU will receive a gift certificate worth $20!

So far from my goal – help spread the word?

To get an idea of where the money will be used, the money is needed to go towards jewelry making supplies, traveling expenses, and materials that will allow me to develop new techniques and enhance my existing ones.

For every donation you make, you will receive a gift certificate equal to the amount of your donation – my way of thanking you for your generosity and believing in me!

You’ll receive this in the amount of your donation. If your donation is $25 or more – your gift certificate will have an extra $25 value!

If you donate $25 or more, I will add an ADDITIONAL $25 to the value of your gift certificate! So if you donate $25, your gift certificate will be worth $50! If you donate $50, it will be worth $75! There’s no limit!

So if you’re suffering from gift-givers block, the gift certificate comes in super handy! I guarantee that every gift certificate will be emailed to you within 2 hours of donating or if you purchase a gift certificate directly in my shop at www.eldwenne.etsy.com. Emailing is free, of course – no shipping charges!

But if you want more bang for your buck, donating via Click Start Me gets you more, since I’m adding $25 to every donation $25 or greater : )

If you want a hardcopy certificate, today is the last day to guarantee Christmas delivery within the US. I will mail to wherever you like via Priority mail (additional shipping charges will apply).

I can personalize with a message for free as well.

Like many others, I’m still working on my Christmas crunch – just when you think that list is finished, you remember someone else. It never ends!

Are you in the Christmas crunch?!?

I hope that I can help you out of your Christmas crunch – I’m ready, willing, able, (desperate?!?) to make your Christmas gifts a reality! Don’t hesitate to contact me!

Now an update on my impending move to Tennessee and Teach for America – I’ve recently learned that I will be expected to get an endorsement in English as a Second Language instruction for elementary school. This is incredibly exciting for me!

Providing education equality and my passion for teaching!

What this does mean, however, is that I need to cram 6 college credits of Spanish between now and May 2014 – which is going to be QUITE the challenge. And expensive as all hell. Gotta figure that one out.

I took Spanish in high school. 30 years ago. I remember one very important phrase, “Donde esta el cuarto de bano?” I’m sure I spelled most of it wrong, but the gist of it is, “Where is the bathroom?”

We’re in the process of looking at places to rent down in beautiful Murfreesboro, trying to figure out where Raven is going to be (mainstream versus auditory/oral program), and preparing for a trip to Nashville this coming April for a job fair.

Gorgeous shot of the Rutherford County Courthouse

The job fair is going to be super exciting because I’ll be meeting representatives from schools all over Nashville looking to hire.

A lot of new changes are coming up very fast for us. I’m trying to keep up with all of it!

And I hope that all of you try to keep up with me and my newest adventures in making my handmade jewelry accessible to the masses and bridging the gaps in education inequality through Teach for America!

Remember to come to www.eldwenne.etsy.com for all of your handmade jewelry needs, including some kick-ass Supernatural pieces that I will custom make just for you! I’ve created a contact form that you can use right from this post to get a hold of me also!

Red Glass Encased in Woven Silver Necklace

Silver Goddess Spiral Ring

Clear Glass Goddess Spiral Frame Necklace

My Eldwenne’s Fantasy Mystery Hex Bags are always a very fun gift option! Each bag is $16 and contains a fabulous piece of jewelry, keychain or bookmark! If you want it to be SPN-related, just let me know!

Let’s pay some respect to Kevin Tran – aka Kevin Fricking Solo!

Thanks everyone and have a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS/YULE/WINTER SOLSTICE!!

The Hoboken Shelter, Nashville in Motion , and ClickStarting Me is Down to the Wire

Posted on December 6, 2013 by eldwenne

I know I promised you a feature on my customer of the month, Melstiel, but we’re running just a bit behind schedule with that, so I will do my best to get that posted next Friday. Today I wanted to … Continue reading →

Thankful for My Family, the BurCon Experience and Phoenix Wins!

Posted on November 30, 2013 by eldwenne

Okay, well first things first – As you all know, I’ve been trying to get to BurCon for quite a while now. And thanks to my family out in California, Aunt Doree and Uncle Jeff – my son Phoenix and I made it!

BurCon was an incredible opportunity because it would be my jewelry’s first West Coast exposure in the US. A completely different demographic that I’ve never had the chance to tap into and meet.

Thanks to my my family’s generosity using my ClickStartMe campaign: http://tinycs.me/9T I was able to fly over from New Jersey to Los Angeles and see a part of the country I’ve never been to. And my son has NEVER been on a plane or left the tri-state area, so this was a special treat for him as well.

This trip wouldn’t have happened otherwise. Thank you, Doree and Jeff. I love you.

My incredibly supportive husband, Merrill, as well as our oldest son David, our younger son, Jaden and our daughter, Raven all are the most amazingly understanding people on the planet and I love all of you so much!

Phoenix channeling his inner William Shatner

Phoenix spent most of the flight doing his homework, since he was going to be missing three days of school. Responsible kid – who ARE you?!?

What made the trip extra special as well was that one of my cousins from Tennessee, Alexis, and her beautiful son, Zane were going to be there as well – a rare treat getting us together!

Upon arrival, seeing my aunt, my cousin and her baby boy were a heartwarming welcome.

Unfortunately my trip was mostly business, which meant I spent most of my time at the convention working while my family took care of Phoenix. But we did sneak in some quality time together and will be doing much more of that in the upcoming months, which I look forward to more than anything!

My first night there was spent learning that the rumors of LA traffic are TRUE! We spent forever on 405N. It was literally a parking lot. For those who chose not to turn their cars off while we waited learned the hard way and there were many stalled cars once the lanes opened up again.

I arrived to the convention late, but still had JUST enough time to set up the majority of my wares. I was very excited about the new coffin jewelry boxes I hand-painted and lined them up along the front of the table.

My very patient aunt Doree waited until the vendors room closed and we went back to her home in Santa Monica.

The next day I was to get a much earlier start and Doree drove me into Burbank. It was great! Almost no traffic! For me. After Doree dropped me off, she got stuck in traffic for hours on her way to work. Sorry!! I still feel terrible about that.

It was a great day. Many people stopped by to check out my table and budget the weekend away. Everyone was trying to figure out where and what to spend their money on. There was so much great stuff around like a makeup table, movie posters, books, a rare gem jeweler, and CLIFHANGERS!

Yup – I was Clifhanging again! I had a great table lined up with Clifhanger shirts and beanies (including rocking grey ones!). My beautiful friend Shannon designed the gear and owns the company with none other than Clif Kosterman – the shirts are amazing, the beanies are rockin’ and you NEED to get the edge and WEAR THE GEAR!

The Clifhanger table – Get the Edge – Wear the Gear

A very happy Clifhanger with her new shirt!

Come visit the Clifhanger page at http://www.facebook.com/Clifhangers

Saturday continued to be pretty eventful for both Phoenix and me. Doree and Jeff took Phoenix to Disneyland! How cool is that?!? He refused to wear the mouse ears, but did get an awesome Jack Skellington baseball hat!

As for me, I met some guy named DJ Qualls….a few weeks ago I had tweeted DJ asking him to come by my table at BurCon so I can give him something. He replied back saying he would. Oh SURE he would!

Would you believe He SHOWED UP?! I showed him the bracelet I made for him and he asked me to put it on him, gave me a huge bear hug and a kiss. I hereby declare that DJ Qualls is one of my favorite people ever!!! What a nice guy!!!

Saturday was when things started to pick up a bit. More people arrived, the excitement was building.

You think that would be the icing on my cake of a day, right? Nope. I had dinner with one of my friends that I hadn’t ever had the pleasure to meet in person. We’d been friends via internet for years, but never had the chance to sit in a room together.

Here’s the view of the other side of the dinner table:

The stunning Julie Anne Rhodes – even more beautiful in person

We had such a great time catching up and talking about our businesses, our kids, life in general. Julie Anne is the owner of http://www.personalchefapproach.com – I’m a proud member and her services have literally changed the way I cook and my family eats. If you’re a busy person – and who isn’t – this website will save you countless hours. Julie Anne has dinner all planned out for you or you can plan it out yourself with her menu builder! Check her out and tell her I sent you!

Julie Anne is extremely passionate about her membership – it’s a cyber family that she cherishes and appreciates so much!

Our selfie:

Julie Anne says hi to all of her amazing PCA members!

Phoenix was absolutely beside himself to meet her – she inspired him to start his own food blog:

phoenixphenomfood.wordpress.com

Sunday was a huge day because Phoenix would be with me for the day – I barely got to spend any time with him.

Phoenix was jet-lagged and a tad cranky, so I decided to take a break from the table and walk him down to the Random Acts table. Random Acts is a charity founded by Misha Collins. They had some cool activities to do at the table, so he decided to write a note in a book to Misha and color a Misha drawing in.

We made a donation and Phoenix’s name was entered into a raffle. Which he WON! Phoenix became the proud owner of a Random Acts journal signed by none other than Misha Collins!

Phoenix accepting his prize from Random Acts

Phoenix and Random Acts

Random Acts tweeted him – he was a bit overwhelmed, lol!

So the lesson Phoenix learned from all of this is “get cranky and miserable and you’ll win an autographed prize from Misha Collins.” YAY!

Then it was photo op time! Phoenix was getting a trio op with Jared Padalecki, Jensen Ackles, and Misha Collins – WOW!!

When it was his turn, he showed Misha the journal. I then asked Phoenix if he wanted me in the pic – Misha grabbed me and said, “Of course he does!” and pulled me into the shot. Then Jared tried to pull my Clifhanger beanie off my head for some reason…I’m sure the photo came out well and we’ll have it in the next few weeks.

This was Phoenix’s first photo op and he was very VERY happy.

So what were some of my big sellers? My coffin jewelry boxes were a big hit!

My original coffin jewelry box painted ala the Impala, complete with its own devil’s trap under the hood and handstamped license plate!

Just add a miniature Crowley!

Carry on!

Some other big sellers of mine were my leather cuffs with stamped plates! Such as this one:

Family don’t end with blood bracelet – Sam, Dean, Cas, Bobby, Ellen, Jo, Ash, Rufus and Garth

The highlight of my weekend? Meeting YOU!

Ramona with her “Demons I get” “It’s people that are crazy” earrings

I thought she was cosplaying Ruby – does she not have Ruby’s face??? She’s beautiful!! I think she looks just like Gen!

Leah was one of the most interesting people I met – she collects quotes and gave me a couple of her faves”

“No artist tolerates reality” – Nietzsche

“Normality is a paved road – it’s comfortable to walk but no flowers grow on it” – Van Gogh

One of my new friends, Leah! She’s sporting an “I found a liquor store – and I drank it” bracelet

Here’s Leah again with her best friend, Brucie. Great people! They’re wearing matching “Bitch” and “Jerk” bracelets!

Crowley’s woman – Elizabeth!

I had the incredible fortune of meeting this young woman, Shanaya Fastje. She is an accomplished author who specializes on the subject of bullying, which all of you know is near and dear to my heart. I obtained a copy of her book, “Bully in the Mirror” and am sitting down with my son to read it tonight. If you’d like more information, please read on at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanaya_Fastje

Shanaya – a remarkable young woman! She’s wearing my Dean tribute earrings (One reads “Awesome” , the other reads, “Pie”

Susie and Taylar! Susie is wearing one of my woven necklaces and mosaic tile earrings and Tanya is wearing my white feather earrings with the goddess Diana symbols!

There were so many more of you – if you can send me a pic of yourself wearing the jewelry you bought from me to eldwenne@yahoo.com, I’ll publish your photos in an upcoming post!

And next week’s feature is going to be great! It’s going to be a Featured Customer of the month starring Melstiel!! Keep your eyes on this space!

As of today, I am 30 days away from the end of my Click Start Me campaign: http://tinycs.me/9T

Misha Collins shopping around my table at a Salute to Supernatural convention

I will have exactly 30 days to meet my goal to raise funds which will go 100% towards building my handmade jewelry business:Eldwenne’s Fantasy

If you are in need of a gift idea this Black Friday or Cyber Monday – I have FANTASTIC offers!!!

If you donate $25 or more, you will receive a gift certificate from me worth the exact amount of your donation PLUS an additional $25!! Spend it on yourself AND use it to buy gifts – including custom orders!

If you share my Click Start Me campaign with someone who donates – they will receive a gift certificate in the appropriate amount – and YOU will receive a gift certificate for $25! It’s a win/win that costs you nothing!

My business is a primarily online presence which I am in the process of building in two ways: developing my own domain:www.eldwennesfantasy.com – which is currently under construction. In order to get the domain to a point where it provides my customers with an excellent shopping experience, it will cost me in fees and possibly bringing in developers.

The second way I am working on this is to put money into advertising on both Facebook and on Etsy.

I am also building my brand as I tour the convention circuit for Supernatural and The Vampire Diaries. The travel expenses I incur just in airfare and hotel alone are vast and while I am trying to build a strong presence, I am in need of support to get me to the locations that will be successful for the business, such as the upcoming The Vampire Diaries convention in Florida in a couple of weeks.

The supplies I buy are expensive and the funding will help cover those as well.

If you donate to my campaign, know that you are investing not only in my handmade jewelry business’s future, but you are also helping a woman realize her small business dream.

Thank you for reading and sharing!

And THANK YOU to DOREE, JEFF, ALEXIS, JENNY and ZANE!! I MISS YOU GUYS!!

Learning to Recognize Truths, Kicking Emotional Vampires to the Curb, and BurCon is ONE WEEK AWAY!

Posted on November 16, 2013 by eldwenne

Learning to recognize truths. Well what the hell do I mean by that one, you’re thinking. Or not, it’s ok, I can take it – because I CAN RECOGNIZE THAT TRUTH. Get it? Not yet? Let me explain…

As everyone who’s been reading this blog knows, my family and I have had our challenges set out before us. Not gonna get into the specifics of it here, but if you’re so inclined, please check my post from two weeks ago: https://jewelrybyjodizulueta.com/2013/11/01/teaching-for-america-what-kind-of-discounts-move-you-tell-me-and-win-a-gift-certificate-and-do-i-need-to-start-liking-country-music/

As difficult as these experiences have been for us – they’ve been freeing as well. “Sokath, his eyes uncovered!” Go check it out, Trekkies.

There are people we’ve surrounded ourselves with for years. Since childhood. ‘Friends’. ‘Family’.

Bobby Singer had it right when he growled out, “Family don’t end with blood, boy!”

I have people I have known since grammar school, high school, college, etc. I also have family members that have been in my life since childhood. And some family members that I’ve been fortunate enough to reconnect with fairly recently.

Some of these ‘friends’ from grammar school, high school, and college – not one single phone call. Not one single email to say, “Hey, how are you?” I have actually gotten a couple of snarky emails from so-called friends with hints of jealousy that I lost my job of all things. Seriously. They’re upset that I lost my job, but not because I’m unemployed. They’re upset because they’re still employed. Nuts you say?

This is where I began to learn how to recognize the truth. It only took me 4 decades.

So I hadn’t heard from pretty much anyone after I lost my job. Two months later, I emailed one of these ‘friends’, giving her the benefit of the doubt that maybe she does care, since she used to email me multiple times a day every day when I was working.

Now that I wasn’t working in an office (but working my ass off on my jewelry), maybe I was out of sight/out of mind and it’s an honest mistake. I recognize that truth.

She replied a couple of days later and it kind of sent me reeling. Her remark, “I’ve been so busy with holding down a full time job and doing homework with my son every night” took the wind out of my sails. OUCH.

I have never not worked from the time I was 16 years old. I never lost a job before. I never collected unemployment before. So she’s pissed that not only does she have a job BUT she has a child that she has to help do homework??

Talk about your first world problems…about 18 different memes just came to mind, if only I knew how to make those damn things…

Your heart may belong to a vampire – but an emotional vampire will drain away your soul

What bothered me most of all was something else she had written. She wrote about how she thinks she has what my husband has because of a few nightmares she had. That was the moment I finally recognized the truth.

For anyone who has suffered from depression or has loved someone suffering from depression – you all know you do NOT compare yourself to the one suffering. It’s insulting. Demeaning.

My husband was hospitalized at one point because of his struggles with depression. It’s not the blues, it’s not ‘oh I’m having a bad day/week’, it’s debilitating.

But this isn’t new for her. I should’ve expected it. This is the kind of person where if you have a headache – she’s got brain cancer.

If you stubbed your toe – she’s got an amputation scheduled.

Some people are only happy when they’re unhappy

Do I need this emotional vampire in my life? NOPE! Why? Because I can finally see the truth for what it really is. No more excuses being made for other people’s behaviors and shortcomings.

The family members that we just reunited with not too long ago? They can’t do enough for us. Even if we go for a length of time without emailing, I know in my heart that I am as much in their thoughts as they are in mine. There’s no question.

Last night we had a horrible time with our van. We went out to Staten Island and while making a turn, our wheel fell off our van. Yup – just fell off.

Trying to make light of it, I posted a pic of the mishap to Facebook. I have family that I’ve not seen in the longest time over in Brooklyn and they messaged me last night to make sure we were ok. They have an 8 year old and a 1 year old at home and they were ready to come pick us up and take us back to Jersey City.

Same thing for family in Jersey City that texted me to come into Staten Island and pick us up.

THAT’S FAMILY.

I have friends that I’ve not seen in years who messaged me to make sure we were ok, even though there was nothing they could’ve possibly done, they wanted us to know they were thinking of us.

THAT’S FAMILY.

And the friends that I’ve made in my handmade jewelry journey – I’ve only met them a short while ago and I feel as if I’ve known them forever. And they’ve been more of a friend to me than most have been my entire life.

I LOVE the fact that many of my customers that I’ve met at the Salute to Supernatural conventions and Vampire Diaries conventions friend me on Facebook, take the time to email me and actually become friends with me.

THAT’S FAMILY.

There are some friends that I’ve only met online and they’ve been more supportive than people who have grown up with me.

THAT’S FAMILY.

People in other countries. Other states.

What has this all taught me then? That I choose who I want to surround myself and my family with. It has nothing to do with blood lines, legal documents, just because we’ve known each other X amount of years, etc – IT’S SPRING CLEANING FOR THE EMOTIONAL CLOSETS TIME, GANG!

I’ve seen the light! Recognizing the truth, trusting your instincts – who would’ve thunk??

It’s sooooo liberating. I now can recognize the truth. See things for what they really are. They don’t seem like friends or don’t seem like family BECAUSE THEY’RE NOT.

Listening to that good old gut instinct is so freeing. So if I were to leave one word of advice behind – it would be to always ALWAYS trust your feelings. You feel that way for a reason.

You will feel so much better for being honest with yourself and taking action to make yourself happier.

The floodgates of creativity have been unleashed as a result of my recent introspection:

Family don’t end with blood bracelet – Sam, Dean, Cas, Bobby, Ellen, Jo, Ash, Rufus and Garth – who would YOU put on your own Family bracelet?

This is a piece I did with just that in mind. Included on this piece are all of the Supernatural characters – related by blood or by circumstance – that are family.

If you were to make a bracelet like this with people from your life – who would make the cut? Think about that!

I’ve taken the reins and am forging ahead. Too many new and exciting things to look forward to. No need to waste my energy and time on people who are simply just not worth it.

So BurCon, Salute to Supernatural is coming! This time next week I’ll be in the vendor room working my fingers away at custom orders for the amazing fans I’m going to meet – exciting!!

I’m going to have my amazing 9 year old son, Phoenix with me – please be prepared to laugh. He is everything short of a stand-up comedian. And an excellent cook, by the way. If you read his blog – phoenixphenomfood.wordpress.com you’ll know that already.

The Phoenix is coming to BurCon – prepare for belly laughs!

What I’m looking forward to most of all is that I’m going to be with my Aunt Doree. Really looking forward to being able to spend quality time with her, my Uncle Jeff, my cousin Jenny, and her pet snakes (they’re gorgeous!). My cousin Alexis and her beautiful little boy Zane are coming in as well – whoo hoo!

It’s going to be a great time creating a lot of fun memories. And hopefully I’ll be creating some of those memories for YOU!

Like this lovely lady:

She wears it well – Melstiel wearing a custom-ordered I love Castiel necklace – LOVE IT!

She commissioned me to make her an “I love Castiel” necklace back at TorCon – she wears it beautifully!

This is one of my favorite pieces!

I’m really super proud of this piece – it’s one of the coolest things I made there!! I loved how the texturing came out.

I LOVE the fact that she asked for the large wing. I originally wanted to use a different charm but Melstiel insisted on the larger one – and she was 1000% correct – just look at it!! And what Melstiel doesn’t realize is that I’m going to be asking her to be an upcoming Featured Customer of the Month – so Melstiel, if you’re reading this, message me on FB to let me know if you’re cool with that! Nothing like putting my friends on the spot, lol!

I have so many new pieces that are going to be coming your way next week at BurCon – I have gorgeous handpainted coffin jewelry boxes inspired by Supernatural like one that is painted like the Impala (with a devil’s trap when you open the lid!), keychains, and Eldwenne’s Mystery Hex Bags!

Inspired by the episode of the same name – Cas’ first episode as a human

There’s no way you can keep calm and carry on while watching an episode of SPN – but you can certainly try!

The Hex Bags are going to being a blast – you won’t know what’s inside! It could be a necklace, a bracelet, a keychain…who knows??

I’ll be customizing these for you at BurCon!

I’ll also have gift certificates available for sale as well in case you want to get some holiday shopping underway!

You name the denomination! It can be from $5 to $5,000,000! (Well a girl can dream, right?!?)

I’ll also be selling the most awesome t-shirts, hoodies and beanies – Clifhanger gear!!!

My beautiful friend, Shannon designed these groovy wearables and I’ll be doing her and Clif a favor and manning their Clifhanger table at BurCon!

Women’s t-shirt

Men’s t-shirt

Hoodie – THIS IS AMAZING!

Beanie – I’m buying me one of these at BurCon!

If you’re a Supernatural fan, then you’re a Clifhanger – simple as that. Clif Kosterman, Bodyguard4JandJ is the man who keeps Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles safe and sound.

He’s also an incredibly generous soul who cares a lot about the Supernatural fans. Let’s show some Clifhangin’ support and buy the best t-shirts, beanies and hoodies you will ever lay your eyes on!

Come check out the Clifhangers page www.facebook.com/Clifhangers

I wanted to remind you that there are just a little over 30 days left for my Click Start Me campaign and I need your help promoting/sharing my Click Start Me page:

http://tinycs.me/9T

The funds I raise with my Click Start Me campaign go towards the following:

– Travel expenses to get to the conventions where I can meet you and personalize pieces just for you!

– Much needed supplies and materials to create new pieces (that’s how my new line of hand-stamped pieces was born – through your generous donations!)

– Educational opportunities to learn new techniques and mediums

– Some venues charge high table fees to vend with them – this helps make these venues more attainable to me so that I can connect with you in person!

I have great rewards in return for your generosity! ALL donations receive a gift certificate worth the amount of your donation at Eldwenne’s Fantasy: http://www.eldwenne.etsy.com INCLUDING CUSTOM ORDERS, by the way!

For example, if you donate $20, you will receive a gift certificate worth $20.

If you donate $25 or more, I will add an ADDITIONAL $25 to your gift certificate!!

For example, if you donate $25, you will receive a gift certificate worth $50! If you donate $50, you will receive a gift certificate worth $75! There’s no limit!! I will always add $25 to all gift certificates on donations of $25 or more!

It doesn’t stop there. I always give rewards to those who share my link with someone who donates!

If you share my link http://tinycs.me/9T with someone who donates, you will receive a gift certificate for $25!

Remember – my gift certificates never expire!! They’re valid until they’re spent! Their value never goes down if you don’t use them right away. A gift certificate’s value is what it is – no fees, no expiration dates – just opportunities to buy one of a kind, handmade jewelry!

Thank you all for reading! I hope to see you all at BurCon next week!! Until then, remember to trust your instincts!!

My ode to Charie Bradbury

Teaching for America, What Kind of Discounts Move You? Tell Me and Win a Gift Certificate and Do I Need to Start Liking Country Music??

Posted on November 1, 2013 by eldwenne

What can I say, it’s been an extremely hard year.

My husband got sick September 2012, I lost my job in January 2013, and we’ve been hit in the gut repeatedly ever since.

And one of our kids was subjected to HORRIFFIC bullying in school to the point where we had to press charges against the kid as well as file a complaint in juvenile court.

No child should ever feel bullied. EVER.

While the judge believed us and ruled in our favor, because it was this kid’s first offense he got away with simply an order of No Contact and required anger management therapy.
Our kid still has to look at this bully’s face every single day in school. They’re not in the same classes, but they’re in the same hallways and the same cafeteria. It’s beyond stressful.
The bullying wasn’t physically afflicted. Let me correct that – the bullying wasn’t DIRECTLY physically afflicted.

A huge part of it was cyberbullying via FaceTime. Our kid was threatened via FaceTime by this kid that if he didn’t cut his arms up and hold the phone so this kid could WATCH HIM DO IT – that he’d spread rumors about him and his entire family. Our child succumbed and did what this kid demanded. It was heartbreaking.

The effects are still just as prevalent now as they were when the bullying happened, and therapy has been in place for our child since last May.

Those three things alone have been more than I can contend with, honestly.

And then I’ve been trying to slowly build up my jewelry business, Eldwenne’s Fantasy by taking it on the road to Supernatural and Vampire Diaries conventions. I still have a long way to go there. But I am DETERMINED to get this ship sailing! I’m hoping my Click Start Me campaign picks up before it expires on December 30, 2013 (my birthday, of all things!) To be able to get my business the funding it needs to succeed would be the best birthday present ever.

Most people that know me know that I’ve been trying to get into teaching elementary school.

I’ve also mentioned to my friends and family that I’m looking to get out of New Jersey. It’s just way too expensive to continue to live in a place where it’s just not safe, property taxes are out of control, and being a homeowner is just not what it’s cracked up to be anymore, you know?

I’m sure many of you out there that own homes, at least in New Jersey, feel the squeeze. And for people like us whose income was slashed to bits are feeling it even more. I’m trying to minimize the stress from as many angles as possible for myself and my family.

And last night, I got a piece of life-changing news.

After an extremely rigorous application and interview process, I’ve been accepted into the Teach for America program!

Providing education equality and my passion for teaching!

The Teach for America program, in a nutshell, provides quality teachers to underprivileged regions to provide education equality.

I am beyond honored to be accepted into this program, I really can’t articulate how excited I am about this!

The icing on the cake? I’ll be based in NASHVILLE! I have a lot of family in Nashville and will be surrounded by wonderful people. Now I might have to start getting country music savvy, Shannon!

Lots to see, lots to do, LOTS TO LEARN in Nashville!

We have a lot of family where we are here in the NJ/NY area, but we will be making stops up here at least every month or every other month.

This is the kind of change in scenery that’s going to make a huge impact on us, especially for our child that’s been suffering in their current school.

So the next question everyone has been asking me is, “What about Eldwenne’s Fantasy?? What about your jewelry??”

Well now I have the fortune of doing BOTH things that I love most – teaching AND jewelry! Eldwenne’s Fantasy will be going just as strong (hopefully STRONGER) than ever! I will still do the Supernatural and Vampire Diaries conventions circuit.

Misha Collins checking out my jewelry at a Salute to Supernatural convention!

The conventions are on weekends. Yes, they usually start on Thursday nights into Sundays.
If I can’t take a Friday off here and there, there is nothing wrong with doing just Saturdays and Sundays either. Those days are incredibly busy and worth it.

And I’ll have the opportunity to meet my beautiful customers, such as Molly! Isn’t she gorgeous? My friend, Jenn, commissioned that necklace for Molly’s birthday. Blue is her favorite color and she wears it well!

Jenn’s beautiful little girl, Molly!

Thank you for sharing Molly’s pic, Jenn – she’s SO PRETTY!!

Now I have the daunting task of coordinating our move to Nashville.

With that on my plate, I need my Click Start Me campaign to be successful now more than ever.
The funds raised by Click Start Me http://tinycs.me/9T will provide the funding I need to cover everything needed to grow Eldwenne’s Fantasy:

– Travel expenses to get to the conventions where I can meet you and personalize pieces just for you!

– Much needed supplies and materials to create new pieces (that’s how my new line of hand-stamped pieces was born – through your generous donations!)

– Educational opportunities to learn new techniques and mediums

– Some venues charge high table fees to vend with them – this helps make these venues more attainable to me so that I can connect with you in person!

I have great rewards in return for your generosity! ALL donations receive a gift certificate worth the amount of your donation at Eldwenne’s Fantasy: www.eldwenne.etsy.com INCLUDING CUSTOM ORDERS, by the way!

Gift certificate given for EVERY donation, in the amount of your donation! $25 or more will receive an ADDITIONAL $25 added!

For example, if you donate $20, you will receive a gift certificate worth $20.

If you donate $25 or more, I will add an ADDITIONAL $25 to your gift certificate!!
For example, if you donate $25, you will receive a gift certificate worth $50! If you donate $50, you will receive a gift certificate worth $75! There’s no limit!! I will always add $25 to all gift certificates on donations of $25 or more!

It doesn’t stop there. I always give rewards to those who share my link with someone who donates!

If you share my link http://tinycs.me/9T with someone who donates, you will receive a gift certificate for $25!

Now lastly – I want to hear from you about what kind of discount offers you’d like to see Eldwenne’s Fantasy have for November!

That’s right – you tell me and I’ll do make it happen (within reason, lol!) If I choose your discount idea, I’ll give you a gift certificate worth $20!!
And I leave you with some pics of the goodies you’ll see at this month’s BurCon in California!! Yup – I’ll see you all in California later on this month!! Thank you!!

This is a five inch long coffin-shaped wooden jewelry box that I’ve hand painted! TONS more of these coming up!

My ode to Charie Bradbury

Another coffin jewelry box that I’ve hand painted! These are so much fun – wait until you see the Impala I’m working on!!

TorCon Mayhem, Dick Roman Squeezes the Karaoke Party, and Fair Leather Friends

Posted on October 18, 2013 by eldwenne

Wow. Just, well, WOW!

TorCon came and went in a blast of craziness.

I arrived in Toronto on Thursday to set up for those who were pre-registering for the weekend. I’m not too sure if I’m going to continue to do that in locations where I’m staying in a hotel in the future.

If you are going to be a part of the pre-registering Thursday crowd and would like first crack at my wares, please let me know. If the response is large enough, I just may continue to do it.

I’ll definitely be setting up on Thursday evening for BurCon, but not sure about future events. Please let me know.

I digress (as per bloody usual)…I arrived early enough to enjoy a couple of hours of downtime before getting ready for the pre-registration crowd, so I took a stroll around Toronto.

Lots of things to see, I just wish I had more time to do what I really wanted to do – go see that Bowie retrospective!

Was I the only one that thought something COMPLETELY different than what this really meant?

Evil Dead – the Musical – This BETTER make its way to the States!

A sculpture. I leave the comments on this one to you.

Only in Canada

It was a relatively quiet evening, however, you could most certainly feel the buzz grow. Everyone’s excitement was palpable.

My table was set up. My lovely friend Ruthee sent me the most beautiful goddess candle that I proudly displayed on my table. She is so incredibly talented. Please let me know if you’re interested in having her make one for you. You can email me at eldwenne@yahoo.com and I’ll arrange for her to make one for you for $15 each plus shipping.

Set up and ready!

She also made these lovely gift packaging boxes and envelopes. Many people were buying my items as gifts, so they were grateful to have gift packaging! Again, if you are interested, please let me know and I will arrange the order for you.

Some examples of Ruthee’s beautiful gift packaging! Contact me if you want to order!

I had quite a few new additions that have never seen the light before. Lots of fun SPN-themed stampings, such as my “I found a liquor store” “And I drank it” pair of earrings.

Also new were my experiments with leather cuffs. I took leather cuffs and added stampings to both the leather itself as well as including stamped silver plates with sayings such as, “Hello Boys”, “Balls”, “Bitch”, “Jerk”, “Moose”, etc.

I never used leather before so this was a huge leap of faith for me. And it seemed to work out better than I expected!

I wish I had pictures to share of what I came up with but these literally flew off my table quicker than I could make them!

After spending close to three hours setting up my table, the doors were opened and the rush of people came in.

A lot of people were doing window shopping; budgeting for the weekend.

What caught a lot of attention were the cuffs, the stamps, and of course, anything with a pentagram on it.

Friday morning came and I was raring to go.

More people filed in and circled round my table here and there. The custom requests started to come in – custom stampings, on both leather cuffs as well as metal stampings.

A lot of time was spent on my feet, hammering away, but I was in the zone!

I was really looking forward to later on in the evening when my friend Shannon would be coming in.

Shannon was rooming with me at the hotel as well as vending next to me in the vendor’s room.

For those who don’t know, Shannon is the brains, brawn, and beauty behind Clifhangers.

Clifhangers are fans of Clif Kosterman, the bodyguard for Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki, also known as J and J.

Shannon designs and sells t-shirts for both men and women, as well as beanies.

My Clifhanger shirt is sooooo well-loved. I’ve worn/washed/lived in it so much and it looks exactly the way it did when I first got it.

And what I love most about my Clifhanger shirt is that Shannon knows EXACTLY what kind of cut flatters a woman.

The neckline is a modest v-neck, the length is just right – it disguises a lot of things I like to keep under wraps, lol!

Please go say hi to Shannon and Clif at the Clifhangers FB page: www.facebook.com/clifhangers

Friday night wrapped up in the vendor’s room, Shannon arrived, and we grabbed a bite at Miller’s Tavern. One of the best burgers I’ve had in a looooong time!

No Salute to Supernatural convention is complete without seeing at least a tiny bit of the infamous karaoke party.

Richard Speight Jr. (Trckster/Gabriel) and Rob Benedict (Chuck/Edlund Carver) were amazing hosts.

Matt Cohen (young John Winchester) was delayed at the airport, so Rob stepped in and rocked the house.

Did you know that Rob has a band called Louden Swain? Did you know that their music is fricking AMAZING? I downloaded their latest, Eskimo, and I’ve been listening to it non-stop.

You really need to check them out as well as follow them on Twitter @LoudenSwain1

It was great to see so many cast members get up on that stage and have a good time such as Samantha Smith (Mary Winchester), Jim Beaver (Bobby Singer), Ty Olsson (Benny/Eli), but what had the crowd in a frenzy was when James Patrick Stuart (Dick Roman) stepped up to the mic.

Samantha Smith and Jim Beaver getting their karaoke fix

James did an incredibly soulful rendition of ‘Tempted’ by Squeeze. Who knew Dick Roman could belt out a tune?

James Patrick Stuart Tempted the audience

We stepped out of the party well before was a respectable time to do so, but we had a big day ahead of us, as the vendor’s room was to open at 9am and stay open until 7pm. Needed to get some rest and eat our Wheaties.

Saturday morning came and we made our way to the vendor’s room. I met soooo many fantastic people!

The costumes were incredible, like this leviathan. I can’t even tell you how many times I had to keep looking up to make sure I was really seeing this!

LEVIATHANS! (Sorry, I was channeling Cas)

The afternoon became a bit interesting as Misha Collins set up to sign autographs. Twenty feet away from me.

I had a necklace that I made for him to give to whomever, lol, so after everyone received their autographs, I strolled up to him and gave it to him.
“Wow! What the hell is it?” Um, not the reaction I was hoping for.
“It’s a necklace, Misha.”

“I know! But what the hell is it?” It was then that it dawned on me that he was asking me what it was made of.

So I explained the materials to him and he seemed to genuinely appreciate it (although he IS an actor, lol!). He then complimented me on my dress. That I bought at the salvation army for $2. I shared that with him and he gave me a thumbs up and some comment about $2 being an excellent ‘price point’ in my wardrobe selections.

I got to meet a bunch of lovely ladies affiliated with Random Acts. From their front page at http://www.therandomact.org: “Random Acts is a non-profit organization that’s aiming to conquer the world, one random act of kindness at a time.”

I met a woman who was literally moved to tears because she had gone to Haiti and worked on a project with the Random Acts Team. They had each signed a banner after their project was completed. She really wasn’t expecting that banner to be hanging on the Random Acts table here at TorCon:

Random Acts is a non-profit organization that’s aiming to conquer the world, one random act of kindness at a time.

I made a modest donation to Random Acts and received adorable Misha Collins drawings to color in and a cute little froggy sticker! Here’s what my two youngest. Phoenix and Raven did with the drawings:

Random Acts Goodies!

Phoenix’s and Raven’s Misha colorings. Please note Phoenix’s message, “Don’t Fall.”

Richard Speight Jr. was in and out of the vendor’s room plenty of times and I finally had a chance to give him the necklace I made for him. It was very graciously accepted – super nice guy!

Sunday was a complete and total whirlwind. Vendor’s room opened at 9 or so and was open until 6.

Basically we were expecting to hear crickets in the vendor’s room since the Js were in the building. Between photo ops and autograph sessions, were people really going to be coming in to see us?

Well, they did!!

I took a quick break to grab some lunch for Shannon and me (to eat while we sat in on a bit of the Js panel!) and who do I run into? Jim Beaver.

He was such a NICE guy! Very sweet as I shook his hand and introduced myself.

I also ran into Rob Benedict and Richard Speight Jr (who remembered my name, astonishingly enough!).

He thanked me again for the necklace and Rob turned to me and said, “Wait – you gave me one at VanCon!” I said that was right and thanks for remembering.

I have never met such nice actors before in my life. The SPN crew is a bunch of genuinely nice people who seem to really appreciate their fans.

I’ve been asked why I give pieces of jewelry to the actors. I do that because they give me and my family a lot of enjoyment on SPN. And because of SPN, I have a career doing something that I love doing. How can I not give back? I’ve made jewelry for a very long time. But SPN has given me the inspiration and opportunity to make this a CAREER. It’s a thank you to the SPN world.

I was sad when it ended, but thinking about everything keeps a smile on my face.

Like how TorCon was full of surprises. For example, does everyone remember my lovely guest blogger, Kyra who had written about her GISHWHES exploits? Well I had the pleasure of meeting her mom!

Her mom was super sweet and I loved spending time getting to know her better.

And my friend Rachel Cree-Lowe sent an ambassador, lol! Bonnie came over and said, “Our friend Rachel wanted me to tell you she said hi” – I nearly fell out of my seat! Rachel – that was AWESOME!

Those that couldn’t make it but were there with me in spirit like Ruthee (the goddess extraordinaire), Kendra, Doree, my husband, Merrill, our four kids David, Jaden, Phoenix, and Raven, David’s beautiful girlfriend, Vi, all made the weekend so special and I really felt like you were all there with me.

Getting to meet and to talk with so many of you is what I love doing most at these conventions.

My inspiration to keep going comes directly from YOU. When you come to my table and ask me about my work, it really makes me feel great about what I do. It’s not about who buys from me; it’s about the appreciation and the time you take to look at my work. It’s seeing the admiration in your eyes when you hold up one of my pieces.

I wish I had the opportunity to take pics of all of you – I know I missed many of you. If you bought a piece from me, PLEASE send me a photo of yourself wearing it so that I can properly feature you!

The lovely Carolina who had me make a Non timebo mala bracelet

Maryam with a spider web necklace

Lexie, Cas cosplay maven, with a Hello Boys bracelet

Kristi made a point of coming to see me – thank you!! It was great to finally meet you!

Manon and Sarah – Manon brought the lovliest stone and asked me to create a pendant out of it for her!

Stella showing off her vampire charm bracelet!

Tatjana (if I got your name wrong, please let me know!) – she had me make a bracelet with a G Clef and blue roses – I love it! And that’s Misha Collins in the background signing at the table.

VERY determined young ladies. Stefanie (r) took a BUS to get to an ATM so she could pay for her “Sam and the Honeys” custom stamped necklace! Her very cool friend, Gina, is on the left.

Max with my signature wrap necklace – wearin’ it with ‘TUDE and I love it!

Joy wearing a one of a kind silver bracelet!

I took a selfie with some guy named Ty…

I know there were MANY many more of you, so sorry that I missed including your photos. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE contact me at eldwenne@yahoo.com with your pics – I’d love to show you off!

My ClickStartMe campaign is running out of time…I’m going to be trying to get to many of the future events such as Las Vegas, Washington DC, and of course VanCon and TorCon for next year.

I’m still offering an amazing set of incentives! For those who donate, you will receive a never-expiring (good until ya spend it!) gift certificate good towards any merchandise in my shop www.eldwenne.etsy.com that will be equal to your donation amount.

Are you donating $25 or more? Well then you’re going to have an ADDITIONAL $25 added to your gift certificate value!

Are you sharing my ClickStartMe link and someone you shared my link with donated to me? Well then they get a gift certificate in the appropriate amount and YOU also get a gift certificate worth $25!!

You can’t lose! If you can please share my link: http://tinycs.me/9T I’d greatly appreciate it!

TorCon Preppin’, Off the Cuff, and Help!

Posted on October 8, 2013 by eldwenne

I leave for Toronto this coming Thursday – I am STRESSED, lol!!

There are so many things I need to take care of before I go, including adding more new pieces. I’ve got a-plenty new pieces that haven’t been seen yet, however, I NEED MORE!

I came up with a lot of new pieces that dared me to expand my horizons and experiment with materials I’ve never used before. Like using ribbons:

Rich chocolate brown ribbon paired with waves of silver wrapped with goddess spirals, deep green and carnelian

I needed more supplies, so I went on a run for some. And I fell in love. With leather. I saw it out of the corner of my eye. It kind of crooked its finger at me, beckoning me to come forward.

I did.

It was a gorgeous leather strap that could be used to make a cuff bracelet. Its skin was smooth, just begging to be stamped. The potential it had – infinite. Wire. Cords. Beads. Plates. It was too much, I had to touch it.

I picked it up and it said, “You like?”

“I like.”

“Take me home?”

I looked at the rack. There were a ton more of them. I scooped ALL of them into my basket.

I heard a muffled noise from the bottom of the basket – “Hey! I thought we had something special!”

Now the guilt came crashing over me. “It’s not metal. It’s not wire. It’s LEATHER. HOW COULD I BETRAY MY PRECIOUS SILVER?!?”

Apologies ran through my brain on overdrive.

I went home and immediately set up to work. I created a phenomenal “Hello Boys” stamped onto a silver plate and attached it to the band.

A bracelet even Crowley could love. Or spontaneously combust.

I then stamped the band with some gorgeous markings. I LOVE the effect the stampings have on the leather!

I went on to create a bunch of new pieces, I hope I have the chance to show them to you in person at TorCon!!

Brotherly love, immortalized in leather and silver

TorCon is literally days away and I’m so super excited that I’ll be there to meet you in person!

I’m trying really hard to get out to the other conventions that are happening in December up through March 2014. You can help me with my small business AND get some great perks out of the deal!

If you go to my Click Start Me campaign – http://tinycs.me/9T check out the great incentives I have for you!

If you donate, you get a gift certificate equal to your donation amount good at my shop: www.eldwenne.etsy.com!

You think that’s good? Well if you donate $25 or more – I will add an ADDITIONAL $25 to your gift certificate!

If you can’t donate but want to share my link and someone you share my link to donates – YOU BOTH WIN! You will receive a gift certificate for $25 AND the donor will receive their gift certificate in the appropriate amount.

It’s a win/win, you’re supporting a small business, and helping me get on my feet.

I hope to see you at TorCon and if you are a blog reader of mine, mention that to me at the con – I have a special gift for you!!!

Thank you all!!

My Featured Customer of the Month – Kyra, and her GISHWHES Exploits!

Posted on September 27, 2013 by eldwenne

It’s that time of the month again – no, not THAT time of the month. At least not since I had my hysterectomy (best surgery I ever had, by the way!) too much info – of course! But you kept reading, didn’t you…

Now time to read about one of my amazing customers – Kyra!!

Kyra and I met at VanCon this past August. She liked my hand stamped pieces and commissioned me to make her one of my signature wrap necklaces. A lady with impeccable taste!

Kyra with some chick named Felicia Day…seems a bit familiar to me…

Not only is this a feature on Kyra, she is also guest poster as well. She did an incredible write-up about her recent experiences with GISHWHES – a must-read!

For those who don’t know, GISHWHES is the Greatest International Scavenger Hunt the World Has Ever Seen. And this is the brainchild of none other than Misha Collins – so you know you’re in for a wild ride.

So without further ado – take it away Kyra!!

My name is Kyra Hall, I’m a writer and am going to college with a focus in early childhood development education.

Meanwhile, I work at a playcenter in Bellevue, WA, called Wiggleworks. Perhaps a bit cliche, but I do believe children are the future, and that the written word is one of the most powerful forms of communication we possess.

Aside from writing, I am also adept at making stained glass and dried floral arrangements. I am also an aerial dancer and a scuba diver in my spare time. Most everything, to me, can become an artform.

The reason I find handmade jewelry more alluring than factory made is quite simply the uniqueness, the time and effort that is put into each piece is irreplaceable.

When someone creates something, a little piece of themselves goes along with it.

Store bought items have such a uniformity to them that all of the heart that would be otherwise put into them is lost when sold and pocketed into the hands of thousands.

Instead of a simple exchange from creator to buyer, you get a hundred other factors measured in. It’s messy.

Pieces that stand out to me are stamped pieces, but just because I like rugged/simple things and oooh, shiny!

Crystals also get to me because as they say, there’s some kind of energy that they just seem to have. I enjoy the thought behind that.

The wirewrap necklaces stood out to me. Honestly, though, all of your jewelry is very well done and intriguing. You also really communicate with your customers, something not a lot of people do.

I don’t have any pictures of my actual stained glass because I gave away all of my pieces, the most notable being a mermaid.

There is a Castiel piece I did for GISHWHES. It wound up being done at 3am, and is actually puffy paint, pastel paints, and plexiglass.

Kyra’s Stained Glass Depiction of Castiel – it RAWKS!

I did buy a sheet of glass and got a new glass cutter for the task but didn’t have enough time to venture it, as I’m sure most participants found.

GISHWHES itself is like a weeklong sprint. It was my first year this year! I didn’t even know it existed until I saw one of my friends on Tumblr mention it…. Then I started searching the tag and saw so many people looking for others to join their team.

So I messaged someone I thought I might get along with. I registered the day after registration closed for team Mishapocalypse.

By the time GISHWHES started we’d been merged with another team, and were finalized as MishapocalypseLovesScalenebunch with most members being in Tennessee, Maryland, and Canada.

One of my good friends now was in the UK and I was solo in Seattle.

We ended with around 5,600 points, over half of the possible, though nowhere near some teams.

So how did we do it?

Easy… ish. Before GISHWHES started it was important to assess everyone’s strengths and hobbies. We set up a facebook group, exchanged phone numbers, and made a google document for all of the items for us to sign up for and then update when we completed and uploaded them.

Day 1 was the hardest part, because when the list went up, we went crazy. About a third of the items were claimed, some we deemed impossible (like getting Jared to tweet Misha a compliment, or getting the international space station to acknowledge us. I COULD have gotten a CEO to dance to Single Ladies… but he was out of town with his sick family).

Day 1 was a planning day, where the flash mob was planned, I payed my local paper to make an ad for Destiel, we made a twitter clock (and exceeded the required amount of followers in two hours.

I also tweeted Osric about it and he followed us as well). But that wasn’t enough. So I made another facebook group with all of my friends in town that were willing to help me.

Every day I had three to four items planned, and often got an extra two or three in the middle of the night (like sewing teabags together for a bathingsuit that leaked no matter what I did, or duct taping plywood and gloves together for another outfit item).

Kyra’s boxing glove ensemble – this is a riot!!

One day after work I drove three hours to the border of Canada to find a camel – only to find that the people not only knew about GISHWHES at the fair where they were, but also had many participants already by there.

That’s Kyra. On a camel. In CANADA. I’m not sure which is funnier – that Misha Collins had this on the list or that Kyra FOUND one – Kudos, girl!

Another day I drop to the dog park to pitch a quoit in my finest medieval garb.

By Thursday, I was a little depressed. Teammembers kept dropping things they were going to do, and two dropped the scavenger hunt entirely.

I picked up a few of their impossible items…. And wound up driving another three hours in the middle of the dark last minute with a friend who happened to have a steampunk outfit because she happened to find a public park with an actual steam train in it.

But that was Saturday, I’m getting ahead of myself.

Thursday I went into Seattle and got four signatures for a petition to pave California’s beaches.

Some other Seattlite GISHWHESeans reported the Pike’s Place Market police to be a little unhappy at them being there…. But when I went around with my (not exactly welcomed) petition, I got hugs from them for another item… breaking the world record of hugs! For which I got 36, and my team surpassed the amount possible for a team.

Hugs for GISHWHES!

I also took off my shirt for a bit of a risky “Sock Monkey Apparel” display. Then I grabbed my friends, shoved them in my car, and we raced off to my old junior high to have a pool party in a dumpster. We didn’t beat the sun, though….

Just when you thought ‘dumpster’ and ‘pool party’ couldn’t be used in the same sentence!

Kyra – you wear it well! However, I don’t think I can look at my son’s sock monkey quite the same way again, lol!

Friday was my last big day. Considering I worked every day, I think I did really well.

Friday was my bungee jump day. I met other amazing GISHWHEseans there, one who had had an accident in a plane and was afraid of heights. She told us that without us, she wouldn’t have made the jump. But she did, and I am so proud of her.

I actually wound up going first for everyone else. Haha!

And once the timer went up on the GISHWHES home site, it was all back to normalcy and everyday work. We laughed, we cried, we were all friends by then. None of us were ready to say goodbye.

And none of us can wait to do it all again.

Jodi here again – WOW, Kyra – your experiences sound like a Dali painting. Or a typical day in my house.

The camel story cracked me up – unreal!!

Thank you so much for sharing your experiences with us! It makes me want to join in the madness next time!!

As all of you know, while I’m In addition to my etsy shop, I am trying to establish my jewelry on the Supernatural (SPN) and Vampire Diaries.

In an effort to try to build my business, I have a Click Start Me campaign http://tinycs.me/9T

The Click Start Me campaign allows me to help cover my travel expenses and get my business to the point where it’s self-sustaining and enough to support my family. And it also is a way I can give back to YOU – for every donation, you will receive a gift certificate towards my shop!

The gift certificate will be worth the exact amount of your donation! And it doesn’t stop there. If you donate $25 or more, I will add an ADDITIONAL $25 to your gift certificate! For example:

If you donate $10, you will receive a gift certificate for $10.

If you donate $25, you will receive a gift certificate for $50

If you donate $50, you will receive a gift certificate for $75, and so on and so on!

And you know what totally rocks about my gift certificates? They NEVER EXPIRE! They’re valid until you spend them, so you’re not put into a time crunch to use it or lose it!

I now offer incentives for SHARING my campaign! If you share my Click start Me link with someone who donates, YOU will get a gift certificate for my shop for $25!!

I also wanted to remind you that I am having an amazing deal the entire month of September – if you go to my shop http://www.eldwenne.etsy.com – I am offering FREE US SHIPPING!! Just use coupon code FSSEPT at checkout in order to receive your free shipping!!

Just a few days left, so jump on the ship now!

Thank you, everyone!

Prepping for TorCon, Being Anti-Trendy, and Who Wants to be my Featured Customer of the Month?!?

Posted on September 14, 2013 by eldwenne

TorCon – the final frontier. These are the voyages of the blue-haired one-boot wearing jewelry designer…

Sorry for the cheese, I was just really struggling with an opening line.

So as you can tell from the title of this post – TorCon is happening and I’m busy as a bee (btw – bees never really looked too busy to me- they look more like drunken little things and their flower-hopping is the equivalent to a pub crawl).

Anyway, I thought a post about my prepping process might be a tad interesting.

The first thing I always do is take an inventory of the pieces that I have on hand to see where I’m short, for example, I have close to 150 necklaces but only 35 pairs of earrings.

That at least gives me a push in what area to work on.

Then I take a good look at the designs of the pieces that I have. Do I have a decent variety? Or do I have the same design done to death on most of them?

More often than not I find that I need to push my creative boundaries and challenge myself with a new design element or technique.

Once I find that I need to change things up a bit – the motivation bug bites (not the drunken bee sting) and I start reading tons of materials on new weaving techniques that I haven’t tried or have only tried once or twice.

Another thing I’ll do is dig into my older supplies to find mediums/stones/crystals/etc. that I haven’t ever used or haven’t used in a long time. Sometimes just looking at the supplies makes 1,000 ideas pop into my head all at once!

The one thing you will NEVER see in my shop or at a convention – trends. Call me weird, call me crazy, call me anti-profit – I REFUSE to make pieces that are ‘the latest thing’ or ‘in Vogue’ or whatever. That’s not why I make jewelry.

My jewelry – each and every piece – is about creative expression. Uniqueness. You’re not going to see pieces that look like something store-bought where everything is so perfect that it looks as if a machine made it.

You’re going to find pieces that have very human elements. You’re going to see that one of the rows in a weave may be slightly crooked. You’re going to see asymmetry. Because it’s about demonstrating the humanity in the work. I don’t want to emulate a machine, I am producing what my hands produce.

I can’t tell you how many people tell me how my work is so different than most and I find that to be such a tremendous compliment.

I’ve gotten the snide remark here and there as well. “Oh, your stuff is, um – different.” Damn straight.

I don’t mind getting the odd negative reaction. It means that I’m getting honest responses from people and I value that. And as an artist – I like to think about how Andy Warhol recommended to others to not worry about the content of the criticism, but to count the number of responses you’re getting. Kind of like being the kid starving for attention, so you’ll take the negative in with the positive, lol! Attention is attention!

I digress (as per usual). This is my long-winded way of saying my designs are my designs and not remixes or replications of what you will find everywhere else. Why come to me then? What makes my stuff attractive if you can buy the same stuff somewhere else?

Yes, I’m a business and I do need to sell my pieces. But I’m an artist and my jewelry is my art. And my art is all about individuality, uniqueness, and wearing my heart on my sleeve, er, wrap necklace. You get my drift, I hope!

I mean, if it’s good enough for Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki (yes, the boys are holding Eldwenne’s Fantasy jewelry that I made for their wives), then you’re in great company!!

The boys own my jewelry, you can too!

Even Misha Collins enjoyed perusing my table – and remembered my work!!

What I do love to make a lot of, especially when I’m gearing up for a convention, is a lot of Supernatural-themed pieces. Now that I’ve gotten a great response with my hand-stamped jewelry (Son of a Bitch necklace, anyone?), I want to take it to the next level and make new SPN jewelry that mixes hand-stamped with wire-wrapping and see how far I can push the design elements.

I learned that from the…

Dean’s Catch Phrase

Like a bracelet stamped with ‘Moose’ and hammered away with a beautiful texture, holes punched around the perimeter with gorgeous crystals dangling from it. How cool is that?

If there is a Supernatural idea you would like to see me create – let me know! I’d love to make it a reality for you!

As you all know, I feature a customer of the month for the last week of every month. If you’ve bought a piece from me, I’d really love to feature you. I just need you to send me a pic or two of yourself wearing my pieces – eldwenne@yahoo.com.

I’ll then send you five questions where you’ll have the opportunity to talk all about yourself, promote your own business, shout out to whomever you want to, and talk about what handmade means to you.

It’s a great way to connect and I look forward to hearing from you!

So I’m off to now work on more for TorCon. I do hope to see you there – if you’re going, please stop by and say hi! I really love meeting all of you. It helps inspire me to continue to do what I do, and I hope it brings you closer to enjoying handmade art.

I am trying to get to as many conventions as possible in order to build my business so I have a Click Start Me campaign http://tinycs.me/9T

Gift Certificate for www.eldwenne.etsy.com

Gift Certificate for http://www.eldwenne.etsy.com

The gift certificate will be worth the exact amount of your donation! And it doesn’t stop there. If you donate $25 or more, I will add an ADDITIONAL $25 to your gift certificate! For example:

If you donate $10, you will receive a gift certificate for $10.

If you donate $25, you will receive a gift certificate for $50

If you donate $50, you will receive a gift certificate for $75, and so on and so on!

And you know what totally rocks about my gift certificates? They NEVER EXPIRE! They’re valid until you spend them, so you’re not put into a time crunch to use it or lose it!