I know many women (and a few men) have shown up for our Stamped Jewelry class with a look of fear or disinterest.  99% of them left with a smile and feeling of pride in what they created.

Now that our classes are online, it is difficult to convince those people that Stamped Jewelry isn’t as hard as it looks. I can’t personally talk them through it and tell them they are going to do great! The internet is a little limiting that way.

But I will say, that I’m just an email or skype conversation away if you need help!

I thought I would share this sweet design created as a Mother’s Day gift for a grandmother with lots of little blessings.  Instead of taking the time to stamp out each of their names, there is just a single initial for each grandchild along with their birthstone.

This is a great way to get your feet wet with Stamped Jewelry.  You don’t have to create a charm bracelet full of charms. You could just start with a single initial necklace for someone special is your life.  Believe it or not, this makes an amazing gift for the end of the year teacher gift! Just stamp her initial and put it on a chain. Done!

If you want to give this a try, here is what you will need:

Stamped Jewelry Tool Kit
1/2″ or 5/8″ Disc
Jump Rings
Chain
Jewelers Glue (to attach the crystal birthstone) – optional
Birthstone Swarovski Crystals – (not yet listed on our site, but if you send us an email with which birthstone you need we will include it free of charge!).

Stamped Jewelry Class – Intro  (Watch the video, it is free and see how easy it is!!!)
Adding a Jump Ring Class

{2 years ago, I wrote this blog post as a way to encourage women to love themselves a little more by getting out of their sweatpants and losing the ponytail. I have decided to relaunch this series as an ongoing segment on my blog. So I’m reposting the first segment of “Lose the Mom Uniform” as just a little reminder, in case you are back to putting your hair in a ponytail everyday – you know who you are!}

I’ve decided to throw out my Mommy Uniform! You know the one that someone was handing out at the hospital on the post-partum floor? Except, I don’t remember actually receiving a bag with a mommy uniform, it just kind of appeared in my closet.

Maybe they handed it to my husband while I was checking out. Yes, that must be it. And since nothing else in the closet fit when I got home, I just accepted it for what it was. A rather depressing glimpse into the beginning of my new image.

Before my children, I prided myself on wearing fabulous clothes, shoes, accessories. Other women would ask where I shopped and if I would teach them to accessorize. But some how in the midst of having 3 kids in 4 years (yes, you heard me right) I transformed into a sweatsuit wearing, ponytail sporting, non-accessorized person. I’m not even going to say “woman” because there is nothing womanly about how I was feeling. How the heck did I get here, and how am I am going to get out?

So I decided to lay down a few rules for myself. Should be easy, right? I did mention already that I have 3 kids under the age of 8? On second thought, maybe I will just buy a velour sweatsuit from Costco in every color they make.

No, no, no! I’m going to do this. Back to the rules. We will be assigning one rule in each segment of my blog posts. I want to give you a little time to adjust to each rule. Remember I’m on your side. I am one of you. My muffin top doesn’t look any better in low-rise jeans then any other mom. Who am I kidding, they don’t even make low-rise jeans in my size.  But I promise you, at the end of this series we will reclaim the right to feel and look fabulous together. It will be a transformation that is long overdue and greatly deserved.

Rules for Designing Our New Mommy Uniform

1. Ponytails are not allowed unless someone in the household is vomiting, the water has been shut off because I forgot to pay the bill (I’m not super woman after all!) or my 3 year old has decided to cut my hair while I am sleeping. If you have met my youngest, you know this is a very possible and probable scenario.
Take a minute and do something with your hair. I promise you will feel so much better!Last year I got a sassy new haircut and donated my hair to locks of love. I will tell you that I feel as cute as possible from 6:00 a.m. until 11:00 p.m. This is a first for me. If you are too afraid to cut your hair then buy or make a few trendy hair accessories. My favorite hair accessories are flowers worn off to the side and headbands with vintage buttons, brooches and feathers. If you MUST wear a ponytail, can you do me a favor and at least stick in a cute hair accessory so it looks like you “meant” to wear a ponytail?
The best way to wear hair accessories is to keep everything else you are wearing simple and chic. Let your accessory be your focal point.

If the accessories are scaring you, then just start with wearing your hair in any style besides a ponytail. Just one day! You can do it.

Next week, “Forget the Trends, Find Something that Fits!”

I’m taking a break from my regularly scheduled crafty posts to bring you a message from a Woman, Mom, Entreuprener, College Graduate, Chief Everything Officer, Butt Wiper and Boo-Boo Kisser.  It doesn’t matter what you do, IT IS ALL HARD.

In case you haven’t turned on the news, or have been hiding under a rock, you are missing out on the eruption of another round of the Mommy Wars.  Special thanks to Hillary Rosen for stirring this one up again. You know, because us ladies don’t have enough stress in our life.

So, Hillary Rosen made the comment that Ann Romney has never worked a day in her life (referring to Mrs. Romney being a stay at home mom – SAHM).  Hmmm, where do I start.

I’m not going to just take the side of the SAHM, because I have been on all sides of this fight.  I have been the young 20 something working 80+ hours a week on the executive fast track.  That stint landed me in the hospital with an ulcer – that was hard.

Then I became a new mom who had to drop her baby off at daycare when she was only 6-weeks old so I could go back to my career.  Have you ever sat through a meeting with Fortune 500 executives while your breast turned into geysers because you haven’t fed your child or pupmped in the last 3 hours? You haven’t experienced humiliation until you see a room full of men either gag collectively into their coffee cups or reach for their own cartoon of milk thanks to the large wet circles that appear on your suit jacked – that was hard.

How about seeing your toddler laying on the couch with a 104 fever while a taxi is honking outside waiting to take you to the airport for a business trip – that was hard.

Then there were the days of taking care of 3 kids under the age of 4, one with autism. Days where you are pretty sure this is exactly what heaven and hell must be like all wrap into one experience. Days where you smell faintly of vomit, poop and 7 cups of coffee – that too was hard.

These days I’m trying to juggle running a business from home, and coordinating everything that goes into running a family. Up and running at 5:30 a.m., out of the house by 7:15, back home for 30 minutes (enough time to maybe get a load of dishes done and scrape last night’s dinner from the stove), then back out for another drop off. Then the work day starts. By 2:30 p.m. I’m back out the door for a few hours of pick ups, dropping off for school activities and then home for 2-3 hours of homework and dinner. Once the kids are in bed, it is time for another round of my work day. I typically fall into bed around 11 p.m. – some days are pretty dang hard.

It doesn’t matter where you work, at home, in an office, with your children, taking care of your spouse. We are ALL working! And it is HARD! Life is hard. But what makes it worse is this need for women to attack other women for the effort they are making.

Do me a favor today, tell another woman that she is doing a great job! It doesn’t matter what she is doing, just give her a pat on the back. Chances are, no matter who she is, she hasn’t had one in a while.

I personally want to tell each and every one of you (or maybe just one of you if no one else is reading) that I am proud of you as a woman. You are doing a GREAT job, whatever that job may be because we ALL have one.

Now back to our regularly scheduled creative work