Tis the Season

Happy Holidays Folks!

Where oh where did this year go? It flew by! Good news is that I've been super busy since my last post and if you've read that post from October, you may remember my comment on the economy. That weekend at the craft show in Leesport turned out to be a pretty decent show. I had another craft show in Leesport after Thanksgiving which was even better! Yay! My in-home jewelry parties have also been surprisingly successful. In fact, the 3rd annual HJD Holiday Show and Sale just recently took place in my home on Dec. 5th and despite the snow storm that just had to occur an hour before show time, I ended up with 15 guests in attendance! I am so grateful to my wonderful friends, both old and new, who braved the tretcherous roads to attend. We had a great night with yummy food courtesy of my friend Jess who sells Tastefully Simple and spiked jello jigglers courtesy of my friend Teresa who drove 45 minutes over snowy slushy roads to get there. I also must thank Miss Caitlyn, my 14 year old daughter who really came through for me that night with multiple shoveling trips up and down the driveway. We only had 1 vehicle get stuck in the snow but thanks to my hubby and Jess' hubby they were un-stuck in no time! Whew!

The kids continue to keep us busy. Zoe earned her first girl scout badge, Caitlyn's Rage soccer team made it to Nationals in Florida where they came in 2nd place and she was named to the All Tournament Team as goalkeeper and Zach was elected Senior Patrol Leader of his Scout Troop. Aeryn continues to surprise and amaze us on a daily basis but seems to be getting in less trouble these days. Following my last blog entry, Miss Aeryn managed to shave one of her eyebrows off. Fortunately she didn't hurt herself in the process and her eyebrow has grown in nicely.

So the holiday season is upon us and the kids are going nuts waiting for Christmas to get here. Funny how the excitement we had as children changes when we become adults. It is pretty cool to see the excitement in the kids but when did it turn into so much work? Christmas prep that is. I still have a few presents to wrap. Cards are finally in the mail. House is decorated and the trees (1 live, 1 fake) are trimmed. I had a bunch of last minute custom orders but they are done and ended up being really cool projects to work on.

A customer asked me to make Autism Awareness jewelry to give as gifts to the many specialists that help her autistic son. I immediately thought of a sterling silver puzzle piece charm to hang on a sterling chain and suggested we personalize the necklaces with an additional charm such as a crystal. The charm next to the puzzle piece is representative of the logo colors used by their autism management support system and consists of 4 Swarovski cyrstal cubes wrapped in fine gauge sterling silver wire within a sterling silver square. The initial order of 5 necklaces grew to 8 as we discussed details of the project. With the addition of a chakra balancing necklace and a pre-made anklet as additional gifts, I really had my work cut out for me!

Another fun project I recently worked on was custom grandmother necklaces and a custom aunt bracelet. Did I mention I'm accepting custom orders again? Yeah, give the people what they want right? Anywho...The grandmother necklaces consist of each grandchild's name hand stamped onto sterling silve sheet metal to dangle along side of a sterling silver wrapped pearl necklace. Each pearl repesents a child. The customer wanted something "funky" for the aunt bracelet. Again, I hand stamped AUNT onto a sterling silver disc that I cut out of sheet metal using my newest jewelry toy...I mean tool...and added crystals and a pearl for the birthstone of each niece and nephew of the Aunt. Fun Stuff. I also hand forged the sterling links of the bracelet.

Thank you to all my customers both new and repeat, custom and pre-made, life-long friends and new acquaintances, for all of your support and encouragement over the last year especially during these difficult economic times.

Well that's it for me tonight. Sorry this was so long but I had lots to catch you up on! If I'm not on here again before Christmas, have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! ~Heather

Spring Showers brought May Flowers

Ahhh, yummy salad, sitting on the deck w/ my laptop and listening to the hum of my dryer, the neighbor's edge trimmer and the birdies singing. It's a bit breezy but the sun is out which makes me a happy camper and the kiddies aren't fighting--for now :-).

This weekend was Miss Zoe's dance recital. It may have been her last. My little ballerina would rather twirl in the breeze than be confined by someone else's procession of steps. She was wonderful though, in her white tutu, all done up w/ make-up and enough hair spray to last a lifetime. Honestly, I don't know how the backstage mom's do this with their kids in multiple dance numbers and costume changes. Hats off to you ladies!

Besides pre-recital preparations, I've been busy with a craft fair, an in-home jewelry party, yard sale, a bridal shower, lots of HJD paperwork, earring making, kid running, still unsuccessful potty training, daily laundry that seems to multiply exponentially, shrub pruning and weeding, prep for next weekend's jewelry party in Churchville, PA and the HJD Summer Sale Jewelry Party on June 19th, and finishing up with the custom orders that were already in progress. I've been putting new jewelry on my etsy site and have so many designs floating around in my head that I can't wait to get crackin' on. In fact I received a very intriguing e-mail the other day that got me thinking about new designs. A brand spanking new art gallery is opening in Philly called The Artists Room. One of the owners saw a sample of my work on http://www.phillyartgalleries.com/ and is interested in talking to me about participating in a gallery showing. Can I tell you how excited I am?? I am jumping out of my skin!!! Nothing is in writing yet though so I should probably calm my keister down and chill but the prospect is very exciting. I'll keep you posted.

Also in the works is the 2009 Berks Co. American Heart Association Heart Walk. It will be held at the Reading Phillies First Energy Stadium on October 4th, 2009. I can't wait to assemble the Hillcrest Jewelry Design Team again this year! We had so much fun last year and hopefully we'll be able to double our walker numbers as well as our donations! I'll be adding to the Four Heart Collection as well, as I donate 20% of each sale from the Four Heart Collection to the AHA. You can read more about that on my website at https://www.hillcrestjewelrydesign.com/Awareness_Jewelry.php . So as you can see, even though I've discontinued my custom design services there is still lots of goings on with Hillcrest Jewelry Design.

Lots going on at and around home as well. The kids will be done school on June 4th and I am happy to say that this is the first time in a long time that I haven't had serious reservations about summer vacation. Cait will continue with soccer throughout the summer months as she is playing for the Berks Soccer Association's Super Y soccer program which will take us to New York and New Jersey (and elsewhere I'm sure). Hopefully we'll get to do a little sight seeing while we're in NYC. Zach has a long week of camping planned this summer as well as driving school-----eeeeek!!! I'm not sure if I'm ready for that... Zach and Caitlyn will also get together with their school soccer teams over the summer for friendly kick arounds and soccer camps. I hope to visit family in Pittsburgh and CT this summer in addition to taking the kids on day trips. Other than that, we plan to get the pool set up in the back yard and enjoy the summer.

As a prelude to summer, I've included photos from my yard. I was recently asked what inspires me in jewelry designing. The answer is...everything! My surroundings are very inspirational, especially with the color combinations that I see in flowers throughout the seasonally changing landscape. I hope you enjoy! ~Heather

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

New Bling, Craft Fair Wrap Up & To-Do List Additions

I'm lying in bed w/ my laptop listening to the snoring princess beside me. Sleeping beauty is beside her. I'm a night owl by nature but my little ones won't settle down to sleep unless I'm lying in bed with them. Do you know how much I could be getting done right about now?? I've already closed up shop so there's no point in going downstairs now though. So here I am, wide awake and finding the need to be productive in one form or another which led me to updating my website w/ new bling pics. I'll save you the trip to the website by publishing the latest HJD creations here:

Last weekend I was set up at the local craft fair. Saturday was a nice day so there was a larger crowd than Sunday, what with the damp rainy chilly weather. I really wasn't expecting any crowd at all on Sunday but much to my surprise the die hard craft connoisseurs were out and about, purses slung across the chest, donning rain gear and pulling carts along to wheel around all their bargains. I really do enjoy working that craft fair, partially because I'm indoors now(thank you Woody!!), and partially because my local loyal customers know where to find me and come to visit and shop. As many of you know, I long for the day when I can afford to open my own little piece of retail heaven so for me this craft show is a tiny sliver of what's to come. Sales were pretty decent considering the current economic situation. I did better than the Christmas show but we had awful weather that weekend. And I made some new friends, both in fellow vendors and new customers as well.

This evening I spent some time with a bride to be and her daughter, my tastefully simple rep/friend. Let me just tell you, her dress is amazing! I have never seen a wedding gown like this one. She didn't want a traditional gown as this is her 2nd marriage. It's off white with a sweetheart neckline, sleeveless, and a fairly straight, maybe A line drop to the floor. There's beautiful floral embroidery on the bodice, along the hem and train, in ecru, rose, lavender and sage. I can't wait to get the pics on here for you to see but we'll have to wait until June for that. Anyway, I'm making custom earrings and matching bracelet for the bride. I'll keep you posted.


My to-do list for this week is never ending as items from last week's to-do list spilled over to this week. I still have yet to make 2 swirly rings and a hand forged sterling link bracelet. Adding a matching anklet to that order, as well as another swirly ring but this one will be silver and gold--should be a gorgeous combination. I finished the custom mother's bracelet from last week. I did get some earrings made last week but marked down several earrings that I've been looking at too long during the craft show so I need to make oodles more. I'm still working on the other bridesmaids necklaces. I had to reconfigure the connections as I wasn't happy with how the crystals were hanging. It was a logistics issue but I think I have a solution. I need to find the supplies for the new bride-to-be's jewelry and price it. I'll need to order bags soon and I think I'm going to go w/ a "greener" option this time. Last but not least, more angle pins.

As usual we have the normal multitude of kids' activities. Volleyball practices and games, soccer, soccer and more soccer, gymnastics and an eye appointment. Somewhere in there my kitchen floor needs a hose down. Any volunteers?

Have a great night if you're up late like me, if not, happy morning! ~Heather