June 30 , 2011 ~The End of the Month!

Hello Everyone, I like the end of the month. It feels like I have accomplished something if only to survive one more month!! It is soon to be July and that means more heat in Memphis, but also means  the Fourth of July is this weekend!! The Fourth is actually on Monday and so we will be celebrating it this weekend. Here in Memphis TN. The celebration consists of Barbeque Pork and fireworks!! I do not eat alot of meat, but Pork Barbeque is pretty hard to turn down. Now I also do not go in for alot of fireworks either, but my neighbors do not share my disdain for noise and smoke so they will be popping them off all weekend. By Saturday night the fire crackers will escalate into gun fire as every adult male in the vicinity will be be shooting their hand gun into the air just becausse they can get away with it!!!. Now this scares my dogs , Misty and Little Joe, and they become very nervous, almost trembling and shaking with fear and anticipation of something "terrible ", causing me to have to stay by their side and reassure them that everything is alright, even resorting to drugging them down with Benedryl!!
So anyway, that is what I am looking forward to tomorrow and the next day and the day after that!!! !!

Happy Fourth of July!!!!

June 27, 2011~Suprise!!

This is Monday and it is HOT! I decided to stay in the house and work on my earrings. A neighbor brought over a video tape of music from 1980 MTV! We were watching the tape and I was working on my earrings. The phone rang. It was Paul Edelstein ,a local artist who owns a gallery. He wanted to drop by for a visit as he was in the neighborhood. I said "sure."
    Paul doesn't drive and I used to work for him as his assistant and driver. He had his new assistant, Kelsey, with him and they arrived and sat down for a chat. Paul asked to see my earrings and Low and Behold he bought 9 pairs!!! I was shocked!! It was a wonderful surprise and just made my day and motivated me to write my blog and to make a whole bunch of earrings.
   My neighbor, Margaret, not to be outdone purchased a pair of earrings for herself too, so that was 10 pairs and I never left the house!!! Hurray!

   So now I am going in the kitchen to make a batch of my famous strawberry salad!! Have you tried it yet?? Just throw some freshly sliced strawberries on your green salad and serve with blue cheese dressing or vinagrette!!! Enjoy!! Love misty lavender
Here is my ETSY link!!
http://www.etsy.com/people/misty714

June 25, 2011~Cooper Young Community Farmer's Market

    I did it!! I went to the Cooper-Young Community Farmer's Market this morning at 7:00 AM with my tent and earrings in tow. I thought I was going to be on the asphalt parking lot in the 99 degree heat, but as luck would have it, Mary placed me on Cooper St. in front of the First Congo church under a big shade tree on the grass!! It was actually quite comfortable with a lovely breeze. Ronnie helped me set up the tent at 7:00 am and he returned at 1:00 pm when it was over and helped take the tent down. In between those times I sat in my lawn chair and was able to make about ten pairs of earrings . I managed to sell four pairs at $5.00 each pair!! The rent on the space was $20.00, so I broke even!!!  I did purchase a quart of cherry tomatoes for $2.00 and I ate every one of them! Delicious!!!.
   I would recommend the Cooper Young Community Farmer's Market to anyone selling Handmade items. The rent was very reasonable and Mary was very nice, stopping by my booth twice to see if I needed anything! The vegetable market was fairly busy and the fresh produce looked wonderful. I think the shoppers were pleased as well. It was a little too hot to expect a big turn out, so I was happy just to get the experience and the exposure!!.
     Here are some  photos for you today,  and here is the link to my Etsy Shop!
http://www.etsy.com/shop/misty714?page=1

Thanks for reading, misty lavender

June 24, 2011 ~ Barbie Shoes

Hello followers,

Today has been good so far. I started out early, as to beat the heat, and went to Home Depot and the Family Dollar. Also stopped by the Post Office to mail out the Hamsa charm earrings that sold on Ebay this week!! Last night I made five pairs of Barbie Shoe Earrings. They turned out great, if I must say so myself!! It makes sense to make earrings from these tiny pumps as they come in pairs, are pretty and colorful, and they are a true fashion statement!

See Photos!!

Tomorrow is Saturday June 25th and I will be selling my earrings at the Cooper-Young Community Farmers Market in the parking lot of The First Congo Church at the corner of Cooper St. and Walker Ave. in Memphis, TN!!! I will be setting up early, 7:15 AM and the sale startsat 8:00 AM and ends at 1:00 PM. I hope some of you will come out and see me there. It will be my first vendor experience and I will tell you all about it next time!!!

Let me know your thoughts in the comments if you can....And check me out on Etsy

http://www.etsy.com/shop/misty714?ref=seller_info Thank you!!! misty lavender

June 23,2011~swarovski~pronounced"swear off ski"

Hello Everyone , I just want to thank you for your encouragement. I am working on my earrings and guess what!!?? I got a bid on a pair of earrings on ebay!! That is the fourth pair for ebay and still zero for etsy, but I am not going to let that stop me!! I am still going to make them and list them !!! I came up with a nice little swarovski crystal design yesterday,and I am posting a photo . Let me know what you think, OK?

Today I woke up nice and early , 6:30 AM, and watched Andy Warhol's movie "Trash". Good title!! That was a hot mess, but it woke me up and motivated me to "wash" if you know what I mean!! LOL Then I went to visit a friend and got a great massage, so now I feel very refreshed and ready to get busy. I wish everyday could begin like this one, but I will take what I can get. I am going to take some photos of this Swarovski Crystal earring that I made yesterday to show you!!!

That was easy enouph, but boy, is it HOT!! The yellow flowers are cucumbers!!!

I am glad to be indoors today. I want to tell you about a salad trick!!! You may already know about this, but I only discovered it this summer!! Put sliced fresh strawberries in your green salad. Serve with blue cheese dressing, or vinagrette, add nuts and craisons too!!! MMMMmmmmm!!!!! Thanks again, misty lavender

http://www.etsy.com/shop/misty714?ref=si_shop

June 22, 2011 Getting it done!!

Ok, so this morning I got up real early because yesterday by the time I got done fooling around and doing laundry, it was too late to make earrings. My eyes were out of focus and I was dropping everything on the floor!!LOL

Now it is not yet noon and I have run several errands and made the bed. (This way I will be less likely to get back in it!!)

The thing about having a JOB is that it forces you to get up everyday at the same time and to get out of the house. Good disipline! When one is unemployed, as I am now, it is up to me to keep some sort of structure to my days. This is really tricky and I am still working out the kinks!!

Somedays I get up like gangbusters and clean the house, do yard work , make jewelry and then be so exited about all my accomplishments that I stay up all night watching movies on Netflix. The next day I will be exhausted and sleep until four oclock in the afternoon!!!!

Then the bad night owl cycle begins, up all nite, sleep all day!!

So this is what I am working on. Keeping some kind of routine so that I get done what I want to do, and still having free time to do my thing!!! Also daylight hours are the best for jewelry making and photography, so sleeping all day is not good. Also sleeping all day leads to depression and I can not have that!!! lol

I will let you know how my schedule turns out this week! I have been unemployed this time since may 25,2011. That is when the thrift store went out of business!

I continue to keep a positive attitude as I know things will be alright no matter what happens!!!....

http://www.etsy.com/shop/misty714?ref=si_shop

June 21, 2011 more ideas...

I did make some earrings yesterday!! I used some antique china stenciled buttons and I like the way they turned out!! See Photos!

Also my sister mailed me a check for the guitar pick earrings. That is motivation!!!

The other thing that motivates me is seeing that you all are following my blog!!!

That is the best ! Thank you so much!!!!!!

Today I checked into the farmer's Market in the Cooper Young area of Memphis for a vendor booth. Who Knows?? That could be a good thing!

I am still trying to sell on Etsy too.

Here is a link to a treasury list I made for etsy, not my earrings, but still nice! LOL!!

I called it "for your ears only"


http://www.etsy.com/treasury/ODA5NjkwM3wzMjY4NTA2ODI/for-your-ears-only?ref=pr_treasury

More importantly, here is the link to my etsy shop!!!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/misty714?ref=si_shop

I am so happy to receive emails and feedback from you!! If you have suggestions I am listening!! Just don't tell me to give it up because I can not do that!!!!

Thanks so much!! misty lavender

June 20,2011- creating

You must bear with me as I am only just now finding out how to do this!! I am stunbling all over the place but I think I have just landed on the place where I wanted to be!!!

You see, I am very exited because I see where five people have asked to follow this blog!!! How great is that?? Now I am going to try to give y'all something to follow!! Originally I wanted to say that I am spending so much time on the computer that I have no time to make jewelry!!

So I must make earrings!!!

I signed up for the Center for Southern Folklore Festival as a vendor to motivate me to make more earrings. The festival is not until Sept 3rd and 4th so I should be able to have a few by then!!
The earrings are not selling very well on etsy or ebay and I don't want them to just pile up for no reason, I may end up giving them away.
One really nice thing happened. My sister, Sue-Su , in New Orleans asked me to make her twenty pairs of guitar pick earrings that she could sell when she attends festivals, which she does often, being that she is a musician. I made them for her plus I made about ten "single" earrings that she could market to the guys!!! They came out nicely and it made me feel really good to ship them off to her!! That is how it should be, I make them and then they are GONE!!!

Anyway, I am still asking for suggestions as I need all the help I can get.

Thanks for reading, misty lavender!!!

Check out the shop on etsy!!!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/misty714?ref=si_shop

Misty's Miracle Earrings!!! Keep Reading...

Millefiore Beauties

I have entered a new frontier. After the Pack Rat closed due to slow sales, I decided to continue selling online. I had been selling on ebay for two years since the granite company went under. It has been a real learning experience for someone my age who had no computer experience. Anyway, I did teach nmyself to list items on ebay. Then I had my neice Amanda show me the basics of beading, and I started making earrings! Originally I had planned to sell them at the Pack Rat, our thrift store, but the demise of the store pretty much coincided with the first shipment of Swarovski crystals from china!!
The next thing to do was to learn how to list my "handmade "earrings on Etsy!!
That is the stage I am in now. I have my Etsy store set up and I have my Earrings made, a neverending endeavor!! Now I have to figure out how to get people to come to my Etsy store. I named the store "Misty's Miracle Earrings". I figured out how to do a banner. Now if anyone has any suggestions , please let me know!!!
Here is a link t the Etsy store.http://www.etsy.com/shop/misty714?ref=si_shop