Who needs sleep anyway?

Fairy Godmother with Wand

Last night I stayed up til 4 a.m. enchanted by the beads again (uh oh). My latest order of charms arrived yesterday afternoon from Treasure Island Jewelry, and as I checked it over that night, I fell in love with every one of them - I bet you will too! Beautiful sterling silver flowers (dogwood, hibiscus, sunflower) and pixie people (elf, female winged sprite, fairy godmother) and some of my favorite animals (sweetest little duck you ever saw - think Easter all year 'round when you wear the pendant I'll make with this little treasure). The purple box I keep them in is bursting at the seams. Can't wait to spend some time making more pendants.

Winged Sprite

Spent time poring through the Shipwreck Beads catalog in search of sparklies for my sister's Christmas order for 12 of her closest women friends - lucky them, lucky me! I've read about every page of this catalog - all compleeetely delicious.

I'm finding that it's really fun and inspiring to do commissioned work (will set this up in my Etsy shop soon, so you can convo me and let me know what you'd like). The way we went about it was that she gave me a couple of sentences about each of her friends, with suggestions for color, what their main interests are, plus a few personality traits. Then we just let spirit take over. Looking for just the right charm and just the right focal bead is such fun! Fusion Beads is another fabulous resource for sparklies! Eventually I'll hook up with artists who make beads by hand - and then you'll see some really exquisite stuff. Here's where you can find some great information on how silver charms are made and what goes into getting set up. These links give you an idea of the work that goes on behind the scenes for your special pieces of jewelry. The hardest thing for me is choosing - I want one of each!

When Pigs Take Flight

All the charms shown here can be found at the wholesale supply company Treasure Island Jewelry

I so meant to take a nap today, but don't want to miss a minute, so I'm kind of floating through the day - likely you'll find me snoozing on the couch after dinner.

I feel such urgency to get the rest of the photos up on Etsy so you can really see what I've been doing for you, but this week I learned something important about starting a small business. I chose the name for my business a while back, and when I went to the bank to set up a business account I learned that if the name of the business doesn't include my last name (who can spell or remember that?!) I have to file an application for a "fictitious name," and the app has to go all the way down to Harrisburg and back. It may take as long as three weeks. So the app has been sent, plus had to put a notice in the newspaper, so everyone knows that my real name (Jen Berghage) is associated with my "fictitious" name (Dreamkeeper Creations). Once I get the notarized copy back from Harrisburg I'll run to the bank and set up my account so the Paypal button will work on Etsy. Can't wait! Stay tuned : )

Update - October 2010 - Paypal's set up in my Etsy shop, yay!

Namaste