From Paper to Metal

I start with this...

And, end with these...

What do you think?

Fish Creek Finery

Lucy at work.

Sometimes craftiness and humanitarianism take root young.

Lucy is a 10-year-old with a big heart.  She decided that she wanted to help less fortunate children and started making woven potholders and braided & breaded bookmarks to raise money for Child Fund International.  Instead of sponsoring another child (the family already sponsors a Haitian teen through World Vision), Lucy donates to specific projects.  So far, she has helped buy blankets for babies in Mozambique, mosquito netting in Africa, and school supplies and a school uniform for an orphaned girl in India.  Another $100 donation (that has turned into $1694 through matching grants) is helping to build Hospital Huts in Senegal villages that don't have doctor clinics.

The potholders are available in many different designs.

The next project Lucy is planning to fund is a fruit orchard for a farming family in a developing country.  Once she makes that donation (the target is $79), a family will be able to grow fruit for their own use and sell any extra in a market - helping both the family's health and financial well-being.

You can find Lucy's potholders and bookmarks in the Etsy shop she shares with both her mother and her aunt - Fish Creek Finery.

While you're there, check out the necklaces, bracelets, beaded dog & cat collars, dog coats, and dog collars made from vintage belts made by the other two-thirds of this shop.  20% of the proceeds from all the pet items are donated to pet rescue organizations.  Put that with the 100% Lucy donates from her items, and you have a whole lot of giving from 3 talented ladies.  What a family!

"No one has yet fully realized the wealth of sympathy, kindness and generosity hidden in the soul of a child.  The effort of every true education should be to unlock that treasure." - Emma Goldman

Organizing.

One of my goals for 2012 is to de-clutter and organize our house.  Two month in, and the going is slow.

So far, the downstairs bathroom has been done, my chainmaille supplies & tools are organized, and there is a box nearly full of items to donate.  But, I could use a few more hours in the day.  Finding time to work on this house-overhaul is not easy.  Dealing with the little one's naps and a husband who works nights and sleeps in the day complicate things.

And, the toys.  Oh my, the toys.  Every couple of weeks, I've been going through the toys in the living-room, pulling those that are broken or missing pieces and the ones that no one has been playing with.  Either the toys are reproducing when the lights go out or they are migrating from the boys' bedroom.  sigh.

Oh well.  It's only March, right?

"Don't agonize. Organize."  - Florence Kennedy

Angel Baby Pins

A selection of Angel Baby Pins.

Sometimes we find our calling through our tragedy.  Angel Baby Pins is the newest part of a great mission of outreach and support.

Kandis is a fellow angel-mom.  Her son, Isaiah, was stillborn on October 23, 2008.  Trying to pull something positive from a nightmare, Kandis turned to her sewing machine, creating hats, blankets, and burial gowns for Threads of Love, a non-profit sewing organization that provides handmade memory keepsakes for families facing the loss of a child through miscarriage, stillbirth, or infant loss.  Isaiah's Chapter (which became official on Isaiah's first Heavenly birthday in 2009) also completes memory boxes, hosts a Day of Remembrance each October, and has a fundraising sale each Spring.  And, now, this amazing lady is also making pins.

New pin designs.

Kandis began making pins for pregnancy and infant loss awareness but has expanded her vision to include pins to raise awareness for other causes, as well.  A pin can be custom-made for anyone dealing with the loss of a loved one and for anyone wanting to raise awareness for a specific disease or ailment.

My custom pin.

But, Angel Baby Pins has another mission, too.  Kandis and her husband dream of adding a living child to their family and are saving the money from the sale of the pins to fund either an adoption or IVF.  A worthy cause in its own right.  So, take a look at Angel Baby Pins.  I know I can't wait for mine to arrive.

"Who better to softly bind up the wounds of anther, than he who has suffered the wound himself?" - Thomas Jefferson

Looking Back

Now, that we're in that temporal "no-man's land" that is the week between Christmas and New Year's Day - when it's technically still 2011 but that year is essentially over and we're just waiting for 2012 to officially begin, it's the perfect time to reflect on the year that was.

Eli, Clara, Jonas

In 2011, the boys started Sunday School (and love it!).  Clara became an active toddler, climbing everywhere, dancing up a storm whenever there is some music playing.  A new cat, Sammy, adopted us late in the summer, and Rain has accepted him into our home quite well.  On the down side of things, we had our 1st trip to the ER (Jonas needed a stitch for a head wound) and we had a miscarriage. But, we are ending 2011 with all 5 of us together, healthy and happy.

scale flower brooch

It was also a busy year with my chainmaille jewelry - with a display in a shop, 5 craft fairs, and lots of custom orders (including jewelry for a wedding!).  I introduced the first 2 pieces of a line that will see half the price donated to the IWK hospital and have been very pleased with the response.  The annual "Adam's Month" IWK promotion went very well, too. The year included experimenting with anodized aluminum scales (such wonderful color!), new designs and shapes, and creating some items - brooches, sweater clips, and silver-plated post earrings - which were all received very well.  I am also beginning 2012 with my sketchbook full of notes and ideas, waiting for me to create the time to work on them.

Now, it's time to focus on the New Year, make some plans, think of some goals, perhaps come up with a resolution or two, keeping in mind that we have to be flexible in life for we never know what's coming around the next bend.

"One resolution I have made, and try always to keep, is this:  To rise above the little things."   ~ John Burroughs

Why "Adam's Month"?

Years ago, when I was expecting my first child, I bought a kit to make a chainmaille necklace.  Life got busy and the kit got put aside and buried under other things.

Then, in October 2009, I was expecting my 3rd child.  And, things went wrong.  Very wrong.  I delivered Adam at 3:54am on October 17th at the IWK Health Centre in Halifax in a dimly lit room with just his father and our nurse present.  He weighed 18oz at 21 weeks 1 day gestation.  My water had broken weeks earlier and the membrane didn't heal, so his lungs couldn't form, his heart was pushed out of position, and his chest was starting to become deformed.  He was beautiful.  He had the same nose as both his older brothers.  He was like a kitten, with pale lines where his eyes would have opened.  We had the nurse take photographs of his hands and feet, but not of his face - no one else would want to see it and we would never forget.

A few weeks later, while still needing to keep my hands and mind occupied at all times, I came across that forgotten kit.  I thought it would keep me busy in the quieter moments for a few days, but I had it finished that night.  Doing a little bit, messing up, taking it apart.  Over and over until I figured out what I was doing.  I've never worn the necklace - it's a bit too chunky for my taste - but I will never part with it.  It's connected to my grieving.

The day after making the necklace, I started gathering materials to make more chainmaille - the repetitive nature of weaving the rings together was relaxing, allowing my mind to wander enough, but  not too much.  As I learned to do more patterns, I realized that I had found my creative outlet.  And, the added bonus - I could work on it for a few minutes at a time and pick it up where I left off without too much trouble.  What began as a sort of therapy became a love in its own right.

The chainmaille will always be intertwined with Adam - I think of him often as I work.  The jewelry is a connection to him.  Chainmaille is a gift Adam gave to me.  That is where "Adam's Month" comes from - it is a way to give back to him, to have something positive come from it all.

This year, 20% of the price from each item sold in October will be donated to the IWK Health Centre Foundation.  And, I've introduced the first in a series of pendants that will have 50% of the price go to the IWK year-round.  Trying to create some meaning by helping the children's hospital where Adam was born in some small way.

So, there it is - why October, why the IWK, why "Adam's Month."  Maybe someday I'll be able to tell Adam's story more fully than this, but today is not that day.

"A wife who loses a husband is called a widow.  A husband who loses a wife is called a widower.  A child who loses his parents is called an orphan.  But...there is no word for a parent who loses a child, that's how awful the loss is."  --- Ronald Reagan

Keep Going - Notes from the Seaside Craft Fair

Last weekend, I took part in a craft fair at the Seaside Centre in Beach Meadows (and, I'm just getting to posting about it now - ah, such is life with small children).

I like doing craft fairs - yes, there's work to get everything ready, to set the table display up, and to pack it all up again when it's over, but I like to watch and listen as people look over my jewelry.  I get to see which pieces people just have to touch, what colors and styles are drawing their eyes, which items get the most attention.  I get to hear what metals they prefer, how dangly they like their earrings, and what items they're looking for - for themselves and for gifts for others.

My Table at Seaside

I always come away from a fair with a list of ideas I've gleaned from the shoppers - both items they've asked about and pieces inspired by some of what I saw them wearing.  At the Seaside fair, I had a few people asking about jewelry for men - something I've been thinking about for a while - so, I guess it's time to work on that.  I had a few people ask if I sold the frame displays I put together for my most popular earrings.  That's something worth thinking about, too.

The Wonderful View

Another great benefit of selling at a craft fair is the encouragement  A number of my latest pieces sold in the first hour of the sale, which is great for the pocketbook but also tells me that people are 'getting' the direction my work is going in.  I had a lovely British gentleman purchase two pairs of earrings as gifts and tell me to 'Keep going; keep at it,' as he walked away.  Encouragement like that makes the whole thing worth it.

Sneak Peek - Adam's Heart Pendants.
50% of the price of these pendants will be donated to the IWK Children's Hospital in Halifax.