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Thursday, April 23, 2009

Trying to find balance

I crave balance in my life. I am a Libra, you know, the scales? When I feel like life is imbalanced I get a little wackier than normal :) Lately, the scales don't come to mind but for some reason I have this image of a seesaw that can never really stay horizontal for long. It's not natural for a seesaw to be like that. A seesaw is more about the extremes-high or low and that's what makes seesaws so much fun, if you go with the flow of the ride and enjoy it. Hence my problem. I'm always fighting the natural ebb and flow of the seesaw. I get too much weight on my end so I put it off to the other end. That's where hubby sits. He balances the load and he does it well and I know if he weren't on the other end I'd be on my keister on the ground. Are ya all following me? Problem is, when he's all the way down there at the other end, we rarely get to meet up and that's what it's been like lately. He is wonderful with the kids, the food shopping, cooking meals and paying the bills and ladies, you can't have him! He's so great with the kids that I find I'm seeing less of him and the kids as I throw myself into building my little business. I miss my family. It is the price I pay and so I've decided that while I do not wish to sacrifice my entrepreneurial endeavours, I need to change something so that I can make the time to see them. After much thought and consideration, it finally dawned on me that hello...I am the boss, I can call my own shots, right? So, the shots have been called.


I am discontinuing my custom design services. All current projects will be filled, however, going forward, I will not be accepting new custom orders. Custom design can be extremely rewarding (as well as frustrating at times) and time consuming. In the current market it's not as profitable as one would think. I will still be making my unique, funky, wonderful (okay, I'm biased) designs and selling them through in home jewelry parties and craft fairs. I am also in the process of listing pieces for sale on my new etsy on-line shop, http://www.heathermgannon.etsy.com/. The shop is up but it's looking very sparse at the moment so feel free to stop by but please be patient as I figure out all the etsy ins and outs and get my products listed. For now, I plan to put all the newest items in the etsy shop. I will be removing items from the original http://www.hillcrestjewelrydesign.com/ website as they sell so you may want to view both sites. You may purchase directly from the etsy shop, however please send me an e-mail at hillcrestjewelrydesign@comcast.net if you would like to purchase an item from the hillcrest site as the hillcrest site does not have a shopping cart on it. Confused? I hope not. Let me explain.


I set up the original website with the intention of adding a shopping cart at a later date. I found out after the fact that the options I chose with the website necessitated certain requirements for a shopping cart that would have been costly and time-consuming. Live and learn. The website serves as a sort of on-line catalogue though so I kept it going. When I'm having a show, my customers can preview stock prior to party time. I do not have a printed catalogue as my inventory is constantly changing. So that's that, in a nutshell.



Now, getting back to the basics. The jewelry making continues as I prepare for an in home jewelry party this weekend. Potty training is in full swing: potty, pull ups and pee accidents OH MY! We missed dance class this week as someone forgot her dance bag and mommy didn't remind her prior to leaving the house, so more than half way there, we turned around to get the bag only to realize that we'd be missing more than half of the class by the time we got there. The amazing goalie got to play the field for the school's varsity team yesterday and managed to score a goal from the center fullback position!!! She was quickly pulled off the field as her coaches didn't want her to push up the field that far. Big picture people--she scored! She also had an assist from the same position. For those of you not in the soccer mindset, the full back position is way back on the field far away from scoring position. In addition, more soccer, volleyball, a yearly check up at the pediatrician, a school field trip and Zoe's birthday party mark the calendar this week. Did I forget something?? Probably.



Enjoy the pics, enjoy the wonderful weather we're suppose to get this weekend and happy belated earth day! ~Heather

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Bridesmaids Necklaces

The Bridesmaids necklaces are finally done! The bride had a color scheme in mind that incorporates the color of the crystals with colors in the floral arrangements. The girls will be wearing black dresses so this pop of color will be stunning without being overpowering. I can't wait to see the girls all done up!!!

The amethyst crystals are Swarovski, the olivine and orange pear shaped crystals are cubic zirconium. I hand forged the sterling silver links and extender and finished off the extender with another crystal.

That's it for tonight. Have a good night! ~Heather

Sunday, April 5, 2009

Spring Fever? Yup, little bit!

Let's take a little break from the bling to enjoy this gorgeous weather, shall we?

Welcome to my garden. I just wanted to share with you some signs of spring that are popping up around my yard.

The spirea is beginning to bloom. The metal little trellis thingy is what I cut my hand on while weeding this flower bed. Nothing major people, just a flesh wound and yes, I'm still current on my tetanus shot. Maybe I should stick to the jewelry. LOL!

A tufted titmouse at the feeder. My little diva, the 6 year old (otherwise known as 003), wanted the birdies to eat from her hand but it was not meant to be as the holy terror (004) refused to sit still and kept scaring the birds off.



The crocuses are done blooming but they looked so pretty while they lasted.

The lamb's ears are now filling in where the crocuses were blooming.

That's our fat cat, Schayna, scaling the fence.

Pulsatilla Vulgaris, or commonly known as Pasque Flower. This one is new to me but I'm told it is native to PA. It's a perennial, gets to be 8-10" high and enjoys full sun to part shade.

The maple tree has buds on it!

Ahhhh, I wish you could smell the hyacinths.

A couple of the fishies in our very murky pond. I was so relieved to see that they survived the cold winter.

More garden pics will follow as more plants bloom. I also have a very scary before picture of our veggie garden. Makes me sad to look at it with all the weeds and so neglected. Hopefully I'll get out soon to clean things up (good intentions, right?)

For my facebook friends who have already seen these pics, I apologize for being redundant. I'm just so happy for the warmer sunny weather!!!!

Enjoy your day! ~Heather

Thursday, April 2, 2009

New Earrings and Necklace

I managed to get more earrings made yesterday but the kitchen floor still looks like a bomb exploded and landed on it. I've marked oodles of earrings down to make room for the new spring/summer ear bling. Anything that I am tired of looking at got marked down. Unfortunately I don't have time to make the price changes on the website so if any of the earrings on the website float your boat just shoot me an e-mail at hillcrestjewelrydesign@comcast.net to inquire about the price. I still have a lot of empty space on my earring racks so more newbies are yet to come.

I just had to share this necklace with you. I found this carved bone pendant and thought ocean jasper, with all it's color variations, would look great with it. The necklace is adjustable and measures 16-19". I've hand turned each sterling silver link. HJD1353 $43.00

These dainty rhodonite earrings are wrapped in sterling silver and measure approximately 1" from the top of the ear wire to the bottom of the wrapped stone. The stone is a mauvish pink. HJD1347 $10
I found a mix of wood beads at a great price and couldn't pass them up. The white beads in these earrings are actually wooden and very lightweight. A tiny Chinese turquoise bead dangles from the bottom. Sterling silver accents and components. HJD1354 $12 approx. 2" long

It's hard to see in the photo but the teardrop shaped Unakite stone has a mottled dark and light green w/ a peachy pink color to it. The cube hanging above is pink lepidolite and picks up on the pink in the unakite. These earrings hang approx. 1 3/4" from the top of the ear wire to the bottom of the teardrop. HJD1355 $14

I've dressed up a buri nut in these earrings. You'd never know it but the red bead is actually a nut that has been dyed. I've combined sterling silver accents with vintage crystals to make these earrings sparkle and shine. Measuring approx. 1 1/2" long. HJD1356 $16

Again with the wooden beads. I love the casual look of these earrings. At approx. 2 1/4" long, the wooden beads make these earrings very lightweight and comfortable to wear. A green glass lentil bead dangles below the wooden beads. All sterling silver. HJD1357 $14

My daughter shrieked when I showed her these. Okay, she's 13 so does that make these earrings teeny bopperish? I don't think so. They are fun though!! The sterling silver chain dresses the wood up a bit. Hanging at 3" long, the wood circles keep them light. HJD1358 $21
I am currently updating the website so you'll be able to see these on there in a bit--assuming of course that I'm not interrupted in the meantime--ha ha! I can hear 004 running amuck upstairs. God only knows what I'll find when I get up there.
Have a good one! ~Heather
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