Resolutions

The husband and I haven't worked through our family goals (aka resolutions) for 2011 but I have been thinking a little about my goals for DandLs DangLs.

I love making jewelry and selling it to happy customers. But in this phase in my life...

Stay-at-home mom to these amazing babies!

...I am not going to pursue this as a major money-maker. I'm enjoying it being mostly a hobby that pays for itself!

Lord willing, I will be able to pursue this much further as my children get older and don't need me quite as much. (I'm looking forward to and dreading that time coming!)

In light of my stay-at-home-wife-and-mom job being TOP priority and my purpose in life, the DandLs DangLs goals for the coming year are fairly simple...

1. Set up and organize my work space at our new home

2. Post on this blog at least twice a week

3. Post at least one new piece of jewelry weekly

4. Have 2 parties and go to 2 craft shows (at least)

5. Make a daily and weekly work schedule

I'm sure I'll come up with plenty of sub-goals but this sounds like enough work to me!

What is most important to you? Make sure your new year's resolutions reflect that!

Happy New Year from DandLs DangLs and the Jacobs family!

 

Chainmaille... what??

In my previous post I bragged about my handsome man making chainmaille jewelry. The perfect intro to explaining what on earth chainmaille jewelry is!

In a nutshell, chainmaille (chain mail, chainmail, maille, etc.) jewelry is jump rings interlocked in some creative form of jewelry. It's actually derived from the type of flexible armor made with metal rings. You know, like in Gladiator...

photo credit

It's so fun to make and often a lot easier than it looks! (Often, but not always!)

I must warn you it can be very time consuming. It probably gets a lot quicker as you get the hang of it but I'm not quite there yet. In fact, I've only done a couple chainmaille projects...

Byzantine Bracelet

Chained Black Dangles

Oh, and I almost forgot this one!

Snowflake Necklace

 The husband actually has more experience.

Here's a couple of his creations...

So that's the basics of what chainmaille is. You can find easy kits at your local craft store.

photo credit

And for the jump rings I recommend ordering online. You can order the exact sizes required for whatever pattern you're doing.


Here are a couple places we've ordered from:
Blue Buddha Boutique
The Ring Lord

Look for future posts about chainmaille weaves, tools needed for chainmaille, and how to open and close jump rings! And, of course, a tutorial!

The "D" in DandL

Maybe it's because my little business is kinda lucrative sometimes so his monetary contribution hasn't been as necessary.

Or maybe it's because making jewelry is just that much fun.

Whatever the case, my husband has spent the past several nights working on chainmaille jewelry! He searched online for the best price for jumprings, ordered, asked on a regular basis if they had arrived yet, and has spent hours working since they finally did arrive.

It's been kinda nice to be teaching him something for once.

If only he could do more than close jump rings.

But I'm grateful for what he can do, and what he does is great!

Here's a peak at a set he completed all on his own...

I'm so proud :)

Feature Friday #4

It's Friday already?!? I love Friday's but seriously, time is flying!

Due to unforeseen circumstances (aka life), I won't be able to feature the shop I wanted to as well as I'd hoped. At least not today. I will in the future. But for now I'll just show you a pic of the brother/sister set I won from their blog! I cannot wait to do a little photo shoot with my babies!

See more of what these very talented ladies can do at The Blue Ladybug.

The first real snowfall of the season was December 1. So I decided to sort of have a snow theme around here. Marie and I made a snowman and snowflakes out of construction paper. She's learned to say snowman and I showed her how to spell it. You know, that kinda stuff. It's been fun! So I'm going to stick with that theme today...

Stunning.

Buy it at Allison Marie Design. She's good.

So cute. Makes me think of my Baby Girl.

Catch it at All Artsy.

My husband would totally roll his eyes at me but I think these are fantastic!!

Candy Apple Cutie makes them!

And finally, a chainmaille snowflake pendant made by yours truly.

This won't be listed on my website until after the jewelry party. But you're welcome to claim it here! $8.

Happy December, everyone! SO excited for Christmas!

A Party and A Sale

So I missed this past Feature Friday. There was a reason I said, "Lord willing!" I knew last week was going to be crazy, but I wasn't actually prepared for how crazy it was!

It was a WONDERFUL week full of family and food! Doesn't get much better than that.

Unfortunately, it was also a week full of no internet or iPhoto access. So my online business and blog have seriously taken a hit! I don't know when I'll be back up and running.

God has His reasons for things.

In the meantime, my mom is having a DandLs DangLs Jewelry party!

Saturday, December 4, 10am-1pm

• Touch/Hold/Try on all the jewelry you want
• Eat yummy snacks
• Enter to win free jewelry
• Find unique, handcrafted jewelry to give as gifts this Christmas season
• Purchase gift cards
• See yours truly in creative action
• Bring friends and enjoy fellowship

Hope to see you there!!!

(Email me for directions - dandlsdangls@gmail.com)

Also...

I've never braved Black Friday. Not my thing. But Cyber Monday - I'm all about that! So of course DandLs DangLs is having a sale! 25% off everything in my shop beginning at 6am and ending at midnight!

If you plan to attend the jewelry party, you can still take advantage of this sale! Just let me know in the note to seller that you'll be picking up your jewelry at the party and I'll refund the shipping and have your jewelry waiting for you!

Go to my Etsy shop tomorrow (Monday) and check it out!

Hope you all had a fantastic Thanksgiving!! THANK YOU for supporting my love for jewelry making!

Feature Friday #3

Eventually I will figure out how to make a button so if you're featured, you can add my button to your site. But of course I never think to work on it when I actually have the time to.

Yes, I should write it down.

But have you seen my desk?? No, you haven't seen my desk and you never will see my desk in the state it has been in lately! So don't even ask. And don't try to imagine it. Just forget I mentioned it.

So I really like themed feature Fridays so in light of the coming holiday (Thanksgiving) I'm going to feature things that are reminiscent of things/people I am thankful for.

First of all, I'm thankful for my husband...

These are AWESOME! Made with a real soccer ball! 

Find them at qacreate and buy them for my hubs.

Second, I'm thankful for my baby girl...

It's hard to find Elmo things that are for girls! While I can't imagine my sporty girl wearing a tutu, this outfit just has to be featured! I love it!

Find this fantastic outfit at Nanastutus

Third, I'm thankful for my JackJack...

Okay, so he's only 4 months old. It's hard to know what he's into right now. But He is definitely in need of something to keep his squishy feet warm. I was sold on these as soon as I saw the name of the shop - PleasantlyPlumpKnits!

My son defines "pleasantly plump."

Finally, I'm thankful for the Word of God...

This verse has been very important in my life lately. And it is beautifully displayed here!

Find this gorgeous canvas at soul blessings shop!

I could go on and on.

But instead, what are you thankful for??

 By the way, next week (Lord willing!) I'll be featuring one shop that I love. I recently won something from them that I just received today and can't wait to show off! Check out their shop while you wait :)

Happy Friday!

Bead Shopping with my girl.

As I've mentioned before, my baby girl loves to bead shop with me. And I'm beginning to enjoy shopping with her, too!

It definitely wasn't always pleasant. But now that she's old enough to walk around on her own and (usually) obediently stay nearby, it's been fun.

While I hate the idea of her growing up, I'm looking forward to when she can join DandLs DangLs and create jewelry with all the beads she picks out!