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Friday the 13th was super fantastic!
No, I’m not being sarcastic either. It really was completely awesome! Friday the 13th has ALWAYS been my favorite day! 13 has ALWAYS been my favorite number. I can’t say Fridays have always been my favorite- but they come with many perks 
After the week I’d had, banking issues, insurance issues, kids driving me insane..Friday was just awesome. It really made up for it! I got to bring Roxie home! Not without a couple of issues though. we had to do a little bit of repair work to get her goin..and I had to give her a push start as well. Ultimately – even though i had to shell out for a flat bed- (we’d gone 20 miles so the tow wasn’t as expensive as it could have been) we made it home. A new friend Andrew just drooled over her. He knows a couple of people and really wants to help get her up and running. even offered to store her in his 3-car garage. We declined, as we’ve got a perfectly good (albeit kinda cluttered at the moment) garage, where we will be doing I’m guessing at least 90% of the work. I’d like to think 100% but realistically I’m thinking we’re gonna need some professional help at some point. (and I think the car too *snikcer*)
“Not even a tow truck can upset your day”
As a friend told me; “You know you’ve had a great day when having to pay for a tow truck doesn’t bother you”
The car runs fantastically for its age. it needs some maintenance, but you would too after sitting stagnant for a few years, and before that well who knows? We also found out that she was originally white. Her red color is the 3rd color she’s been. she’s also been black. Well we’re gonna sand off all the paint eventually, and put her a gorgeous cyan color and put on ivory/cream-colored stripes. She’ll be a superstar in no time. I just know it! 
We’re pretty sure that the miles on the odometer are original. Lucky 7′s! It read 77,770. so I had double luck.
So, that’s what’s current with Roxie.
aren’t they pretty?
In other news, why yesterday the 13th was so fabulous?? I totally pitched myself to another local business with my jewelry! J&B Atlantic Co. in Ellsworth, ME. was really interested in my wire wrapped pendants and bracelets! they’re flooded with earrings and *run-of-the-mill* mass-produced jewelry. They’re trying to get more local artisans into their store. It’ll be on consignment but I’m ok with that! The huz just dropped off 8 hand carved canes to them yesterday as well.
The jewelry I used to sell myself? Blue lace agate pendant and the dalmatian jasper bracelet. I constantly get; “I’ve never seen wrapping like this! It’s so pretty!” Another friend has told me I do so well with it because I’ve got an “Artist’s Eye”. That was a fantastic compliment. I also have been charming all jewelry pieces that I sell. The way I see it, everyone can use a bit of magick in their day
blue lace agate pendant wrapped with gold-plated wire (currently for sale)
So, now that I’ve caught you up on my recent wanderings, I’m sure you now know why I had such a wonderful Friday the 13th. Even with mercury going retrograde today. (that is a WHOLE ‘nother issue in of itself)
have a fantastic saturday!
an update, with a positive note :)
So, y’all know how I’ve been wanting to go to conferences for bloggers and social media peoples right? well I think I may have been able to hit 2 birds with one stone.
I know that when one door closes another opens. I’ve done some magick with my youngest for prosperity. Not so surprising it’s yielded some amazing results. More than, what i believe, could be attained on my own. I’ve been running a fundraising effort so that i can pay bills, rent, gas, and buy the items that SNAP benefits don’t cover. I guess one time that I posted about our efforts, my favorite uncle saw the posting, and sent me a message to give him a call.
He’s a busy person. When I called him yesterday, it was just a voicemail that he didn’t return. Today, I was able to catch him, however my phone died and when I called him back, well, he was on his way to a doctor’s appointment this morning so, I’d have to call him
Anyway.. he made mention of becoming his social media manager. Heck, I’m doing most of what it takes for that already, and many businesses are just starting to see how powerful this type of marketing really is. SO, i figure, why not? I’m on twitter, Facebook, google+, instagram, LinkedIn, and a couple of others. I have a blog, I’m becoming a bit more familiar with how WordPress works, I know how blogger works, so for me, this is easy peasy! again later. He lives in Arizona, so I think that’s a 2 hr time difference. it’s hard to keep up with that kind of thing.
So the huz has some seasonal landscaping work. I need to call in on my PT cleaning job, to see about getting some more hours in there.. but also, to get in some projects he’s asked me to try out.
lots of good possibilities now.. the aim? hang on tight and make each one of them work!
A little bit of magick
It’s rare that i actually do a post about my beliefs or faith. Right now, however, i feel the need to do so. I’m pagan. I believe in magick. 
I’m a witch. I also believe in faeries and the Fae. I believe that there needs to be balance, that it takes a male and female to create life. Lately, I’ve been working jewelry. I started with wire wrapped pendants (which started because i wanted a gemstone on top of my staff), then expanded out to necklaces, earrings, rings, and bracelets – all wire wrapped.
Every single piece is cleansed, charged, and charmed with basic intent. Usually with the most common ‘wants’ – love, health, happiness, and prosperity. All the jewelry I’ve made I’ve gotten such wonderful and awesome feedback from the people who’ve purchased something.
It was my goal for a long while to have 2-3 new pieces in the store a day. For a while this was great, it built up my stock again, quite quickly. Unfortunately for me, because I invest so much in each piece, I was getting more and more drained. So I had to step back from creating to recharge. Fortunately for me, this was just in time with Mercury Retrograde. I’ve slowed down, and taken some time. Even did a few sketches, with color. That has now been put somewhat on hold as I was doing them as a graphic design thing for another business.
I may continue to do some ‘fan art’ as I find it quite amusing and very fun, if not frustrating at times. Anyway.
I’ve moved forward with jewelry design again. Today I got a good handful of gemstones in the mail, that i ordered last week. I also purchased some lamp work glass beads from a local artist, and will be designing with them too.
You can see & purchase some of this unique jewelry from my webstore at http://www.beyondthewillows.com if you’re interested in selling online, I have been working out consignment details.
The Fundraiser..
link to the fundraiser http://igg.me/p/75659?a=482351
I was clicking through links the other day and came across some interesting tips for women in business..specifically on how to get your business going. The big one- startup costs. I’d heard of kickstarter. However, upon further research into this platform, it wasn’t going to work for me..so back to the drawing board. The more recent one, while watching video clips, was called IndeGoGo. a SUPER fantastic site. There are fees up the wazoo, but you know what? It lets you fund-raise for ANY cause or reason. I was STOKED! i mean seriously!! how cool is it that i can start a campaign to subsidize or even completely help pay for my trip to Blogalicious ’12. This conference will be beneficial to me on many levels. Networking, learning better blogging tips, and also better business ideas. Plus, i get the added bonus of a great time and meeting people and making new friends. ALSO? It’s VEGAS!!! I mean who doesn’t want to go and visit at least once in their life? I if i had the funds? and the means? I’d take the whole family.. it is a family friendly event. Unfortunately – i don’t have over 10k to drop on a venture like this. I don’t even have the $2500 (a cushion to help with other business needs) Thus my fundraising campaign.
I’ve figured that if i can get at least 100 people to give $25 I’ll have reached my goal of $2500.
As of right now, any sales proceeds from the store – http://www.beyondthewillows.com HAVE to go to my house necessities such as food, rent, diapers etc. why? because my husband was fired Tuesday morning and today he received his last paycheck. Also, the way that Maine state unemployment works, you must have an interview to see if you’re even eligible! his interview? MARCH 30th!!! How I’m not covered in stress hives is beyond me. I THINK we may be able to make rent – a week late, if i figure things right. but nothing else will be paid. and no groceries for the rest of the month either. i might be able to squeeze a pack of diapers out of the other checks I get- but nothing else.
it’s seriously time to get creative..and sell my self, sell my business, and get my name out there. so, who’s gonna help me reach my goals?
Rainy Thursday
Sorry, no recipe this week. 
Yesterday was pretty good, I sold 3 pendants from my store! (you can see it at http://www.bonanza.com/booths/celticcreations )
Today has been busy with one piece of jewelry .. an attempt at wire working a gemstone into an animal pendant. This is actually much harder than i originally thought. This is mostly due to me not being able to put what i see in my head, out in form. which really sucks.
Finally, on my 3rd attempt at this, it’s working. I’m nearly finished. here’s a few photos of my work in progress..
D5 Creation