5th Edition of the Bead Soup Blog Party

Hip, Hip, hurray!!!  I have been selected to participate in the 5th Bead Soup Blog Party!!!  I feel very lucky there were 384 people that signed up to participate, so I feel very honored that I was selected.  I have been paired up with Kristina Johanson, Maneki's Bead Blog, I am very excited to get to know Kristina and participate in this challenge.

Congratulations to everyone and I look forward to all of the future participants that weren't chosen this time around and I hope you decide to participate in the challenge that Lori suggested,  click here for the post.

Thank you to Lori for all of your hard work and putting on this fantastic event!!!

Happy Sunday everyone!!

Much love,

Penny

Word for 2012

The month of December was a very busy one for me, we have two birthday's, kid's Christmas parties, concerts, adult parties and just general holiday activities.  It has been a great holiday season filled with many great memories and spending time with wonderful friends and family.   I am so thankful for our lives we are bursting with so many wonderful people, this year was very special for me I reconnected with two wonderful people who have been absent from my life for many years, we had a lot of catching up to do but it feels so good to have these people back I didn't realize how much my heart was missing them until we started talking again.  I can't wait to strengthen our relationships and hopefully spend some quality time with both of them and their families. 

My jewelry business has had some highs and lows, I think the lows have been that I don't get as much of an opportunity to work on jewelry as I would like to and that is something I am going to try and do because I get so much joy out of it and I feel so content when I am playing with my beads.  My highs I have had a few parties at the end of the year and I have added to my client list and I am hoping that these people will think of me, and some of these people have been very supportive and are assisting in helping me build my business, I am very grateful for you!!!

My word for last year was GROWTH and I do believe that I have grown throughout this year, there is still lots of work to be done, this was the first time I chose a word of the year it was a good one and served it's purpose.  I think because I want to continue to grow my business and expand my skills growth will still play a part this year.

I have been struggling the last part of 2011, I feel like I have been stretched in all different directions and not keeping my head above water.  It feels like my house has fallen apart, I can't seem to keep on top of the cleaning, laundry, preparing supper and just everyday tasks.  I seem to be lacking energy to do any of these things, and it is driving me crazy.  I function better in a clean and tidy house and I love to cook but all of those things seem like a huge challenge for me.  So I have decided that I need to find ORDER and BALANCE in my life, I need to follow a sequence, I need to start with something and complete it, I need to make taking care of my home, my family and myself a priority.  I need to prioritize my life and the things that are most important to me, I need to learn to say NO, I need to take some time for myself to recharge my batteries, I want more quality time with my children and husband.  Oh how I need some exercise and healthy eating, I have fallen off the wagon and I know that is contributing to my lack of energy.  So my word of 2012 is ORDER.   I don't have a plan of action yet, but organizing my house is top priority, creating a meal and grocery plan, and trying to get some exercise are some of the things I need to work on first.  Then I need to organize my bead table and I need to start creating.  One of my goals for jewelry this year is too try and get published, I also want to try my hand and participating in some of the monthly challenges at Art Bead Scene and Love My Art Jewelry, I also want to play around with metal, hammering, punching, patina, the sky is the limit.  I also have the Allegory Gallery Design Team that will be a big part of this year, which I am very excited about, working with Andrew and Will and the whole design team has me pumped, I can't wait to start!!!

I have been creating a necklace with pearl knotting and I am almost done so I am planning on that being my first post of 2012 with jewelry, hopefully tomorrow.

I want to thank all of my blog friends this last year for following me, commenting and being great new friends!!  I can not express to you how much you all mean to me and how some days your comments and blogs lift my spirits.  I look forward to strengthening our friendship and reading about your journeys this year!!

Much love,
Penny

Winners!!!

For Lori Anderson's, First Virtual Craft show, Clamworks, Christine Hendrickson won my Byzantine bracelet with the crystal clay focal.  Congratulations Christine!!  Check out Christine's blog she is making some beautiful things with copper.


I had a giveaway in conjunction with the craft show and Sandy, Sandy's Coloring Box, she won some lovely earrings made with beautiful charms by the wonderful Marsha Neal.  Congratulations Sandy and thank you to all the people who hopped over to my blog and left comments, they were appreciated.

I want to give a sincere thank you to Lori Anderson for putting this event together.  I had a great time and loved seeing all of the beautiful items that were offered by all the great artisans.

Take care,
Penny

Right, Wrong or Otherwise

As a mom of three children, I often try to think carefully how I am going to word things to my children.  When my son was growing up I don't think that I was as conscious of this but now that I am a mom a second time around and have matured and grown some wisdom, I always try to put a positive spin on my comments to my children.  I don't want to sound like I have stars in my eyes and that I am in la la land but have you ever noticed how much negative information is sent our way, from loved ones, our peers to society.  Criticism comes from the individual who is dishing it out and it has too do with how they see the world not necessarily how we see the world or how we perceive our own behavior or the outcome that we are looking forward to.  I realize that there is constructive criticism and that someone may have more experience in a situation than we do, and that is wonderful but I don't want to be confined to just one way of thinking because there are always more than one way to do some things and it doesn't matter how you achieve the goal just as long as you get there in your own time.

When I was younger I had very thin skin and I took everything so personally, I personalized a lot of comments that were directed toward me and I would deliberate with anyone who would listen too me and it usually ended up with me feeling bad and beating myself up and saying negative things about myself and the other person and trying to defend myself.  Don't get me wrong, sometimes when my husband, son or parents can still stop me in my tracks and I can reel with what has been said but I have learned to handle those situations differently, I ask for clarification and share my thoughts or feelings with that individual instead of stewing on it and making it much simpler and lets me move on. I have spoken about this book before in my blog but I do believe that is was a life changer for me and has helped me to see things differently.  The book is the Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz.  One of the chapters that I think relays to what I am talking about today is Don't Take Anything Personally.  This is very hard to do because I believe a lot of us are emotionally charged and we feel very invested in situations but if you can Not Take Things Personally we are all so much better off and we can still feel at peace with ourselves and also not feel so upset by others words or actions.

So really why did I decide to write this post today?  Well I have been looking around and there are so many rules and regulations and people feel the need to tell you how they think it is!!!!  But I think we need to learn to listen to ourselves and process what they are telling us and see if it fits for us and if it doesn't pleasantly say thank you but I think I am going to follow my own path.  We need to learn to move forward in life and all get along, but getting along doesn't mean that we have to follow how others tell us to live, run our business, how we look, how we dress, how we manage our blogs, or even how we operate in our families or with our friends.  We can do our best, but our best may be different from others but we must true to ourselves, because that will give us peace.  We need to be loving and kind to ourselves and be forgiving of ourselves and others.

I try to be open and kind, do I always achieve this, not always, do I sometimes take things personally yes, especially when it is something that I have thought of myself.  I try to reframe my thoughts and shake off those feelings if they don't make me feel good, because I have learned over the years that having my mind in the toilet, usually life starts to look alot like the toilet too.

So how do you take care of your mind and spirit?  What do you do when criticism comes your way?  Are you loving and kind to yourself?  Do you remember to take care of yourself too?

Much love,
Penny