During March Break this year, my family and I visited Baja California, Mexico, where we discovered an old, quaint Pacific Coast town for the first time called Todos Santos. Known for its artistic charm, it is filled with galleries and unique handmade jewellery stores. While in our tour group, we stopped in at a local jewellery shop call The Velvet Box Todos Santos. Here we had the opportunity to learn about the formation of pearls . To our delight, the session ended with a GIVEAWAY coincidentally on National Jewel Day. Much to our excitement, my son drew the lucky number and won a 12mm authentic pearl - which he gifted to me . Intrigued by how pearls are formed, I wanted to share this process with you. Keep reading to learn what unique piece of jewellery I crafted. Handcrafting a Fine Silver Pearl Necklace
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Do you find yourself left with one earring and the other one lost? I am guilty of this. I have lost one of the earrings above multiple times and have luckily found it each time. If I have done the following, I would probably never have had to go looking for it! 4 Tips to Prevent You From Losing an EarringIf you are wondering if you should visit Costa Rica, stop wondering! PURA VIDA...that's their motto. It means "pure life"or "simple life". It's a way of life for Costa Ricans. They use it to say hello, goodbye, cool....we heard it a lot! Do you love wildlife? National parks and volcanoes? Latin American food? 4 different types of rainforests? Water activities? If you answer YES to any of these, then perhaps your next trip should be there. 5 Things to Experience When Travelling to Costa RicaMy first blog of 2024 is starting off with a behind the scenes look at my in person markets from 2023. I had the opportunity to work with a group of McMaster University students last fall. Their project was to focus on a small business and find ways to improve some aspect of it. We decided to focus on customer experience when shopping at my market booth. In person markets are where I generate the majority of my sales. I don't get a lot of clicks to my website. (Even though I receive a lot of spam emails from unknown addresses saying they can get me on page one of Google). I am curious how did they find me? My social media engagement has declined overtime. So attending markets are very important for me. The McMaster students did the following:
3 Ways to Increase Customer Experience at In Person Craft MarketsIt's back! The 2023 edition is here. I have curated a list of 5 small businesses to shop from this year. All of these small shops handcraft their products. From one of a kind cards, body care and more, please check out the following businesses. 5 Local Businesses to Shop from this Holiday SeasonMunday Body CareMun is the founder of Munday Body Care. With a background in architecture and a diverse life journey spanning multiple South-East Asian countries, Australia, and Canada, Mun's life experiences have led her to a profound appreciation for the remarkable healing potential of botanicals, rooted in the age-old self-care traditions of South-East Asian cultures. Mun's personal encounters with the therapeutic wonders of plants ignited a passion to explore the incredible benefits of bio-adaptive botanicals such as moringa, turmeric, gotu kola, and thanaka. Stepping away from her architecture profession, she initially found a creative outlet in crafting artisanal soaps. Fast forward to 2019, Mun and her husband decided to transform her passion into a full-fledged venture, giving birth to Munday Body Care. Munday stands as a testament to hand-crafted self-care products that embody the essence of nutritionally rich, plant-centric formulations. At the heart of Munday's creations are adaptogens, nature's answer to the everyday skin challenges posed by environmental stressors like fluctuating temperatures, pollution, and dry conditions. Mun elevates her products with the artistry of aromatherapy, crafting unique blends of essential oils. At Munday Body Care, it's not just self-care; it's a holistic journey of nourishing your body, mind, and soul with the power of nature. Connelly CraftsStephanie is the creator behind Connelly Crafts, a small-batch handmade greeting card and paper goods company. She began making cards when she moved to Canada from Scotland and couldn't find the cards she wanted when she needed them. What started as a need soon blossomed into a love of all things papercraft. In addition to greeting cards for all occasions, she creates card-making kits to help beginners find a love for papercrafts too. She also has a regular supply of gift tags, gift card holders and money wallets available. Stephanie prides herself in keeping each piece as handmade as possible with the aid of stamps and dies and a hand-cranked die machine. Tia Toria's CreationsVictoria is the creator behind Tia Toria’s Creations. In 2016, she became an aunt (Tia) for the first time and started creating things from her littles. As an educator by day, Victoria knows how important play is to support littles in their learning and from there the resin products were introduced. Resin alphabet and number sets are at the core of Tia Toria’s Creations, however overtime sensory loose parts and kits were added to the collection. You can find a variety of resin sensory items for the littles in your life to assist them learn and explore. Here's how it all started...Tia Toria's Creations began with alphabet and number rein sets for the littles in my life - to provide them with fun and engaging learning tools that were disguised as play toys. The resin collection has grown to include sensory loose parts and sensory kit items, as well as letter keychains and kid safe Christmas ornaments as well. These items range from $10 - $50. Cards by NieseyDenise is the creator for “Cards By Niesey.” She started making cards for her family and friends and after years of bringing smiles to those she loved, decided to turn her passion into a small business. With a little help from beautiful paper and stamps, she designs and colours each card by hand. The best part of making her cards by hand is that each card is completely unique, which makes them a little extra special. Clay Tulips by CCasual, earthy jewellery made of eco-friendly recycled silver. Cheryl is the designer behind Clay Tulips by C. Her jewellery making began as a hobby when her youngest child started school full-time and turned into a small business in 2015. Her love of the outdoors is seen in the silver jewellery she creates. Designs are inspired by nature and she imprints pieces of nature into her pendants, earrings, rings and bracelets. She also loves using unique stamps and interesting buttons in her designs. Since every piece is individually hand-sculpted, they are truly unique. Thank you to each of these businesses for sharing their wonderful products. When you are thinking of shopping this festive season, think of supporting local.
Happy shopping!🎁 Cheryl September is Arthritis Awareness Month! It's a disease that affects 1 in 5 people in Canada. That's more people than diabetes, heart disease, cancer and stroke combined. Arthritis can look like anyone - a child, a teenager, your mom, your friends and myself. This month my blog is focusing on amber, arthritis and a new collection. How Can Amber Help With Arthritis?There are so many islands in Greece, it's hard to choose which ones to visit. Santorini and Mykonos are definitely two of the more popular ones. But be prepared in the summer they are quite busy. Greece begins it's tourism season on Greek Orthodox Easter weekend until October 31st of each year. In 2020, my family and I had booked a trip to Crete along with a small island called Naxos but it had to be cancelled. You know why!! It took us 3 years to take this trip but in July we flew to Crete to spend 8 days there. It is the largest of the Greek islands and one trip cannot cover even a fraction of it. It takes almost 4 half hours just to drive from the east side of the island to the west. Renting a car is a must if you plan to explore and try to get the smallest one you can. The roads are narrow especially in the small villages. One thing we learned when driving is when someone wants to pass you, be courteous and move to the right edge of the road so they can. We decided to stay in eastern Crete near a small village called Plaka. I did very little research when planning this trip but I must say the eastern side was a great choice. Eastern Crete is much less developed than the western side. It is more rugged with small villages interspersed throughout the mountains. The western side of Crete is more touristy and I think it's because they have the best sandy beaches there. They also have the Samariá Gorge which is a major tourist attraction. We spent most of our time along the eastern coast with a couple trips into the capital city of Heraklion. Top Things to do in Eastern CreteWho loves to pack when you are going away? Not me! I have a list that I go by. I add and subtract depending on the type of travel it is. One of the last items I always pack is my jewellery. What jewellery I decide to pack depends on the type of place I am going. But no matter where I am going I always to try to do the following. 5 Tips for Jewellery Safety When TravellingPeople love to visit craft shows because they want to find unique items that have been handcrafted by someone who is passionate about what they create. They can come home after the show and share what cool handmade product(s) they purchased to their friends, family, and co-workers. If you are thinking of attending a show this year (market season kicks off in the spring), here are some reasons why you should. 5 Reasons to Attend an In Person MarketMother's Day is May 14th this year. Perhaps you celebrate with your mom(s) or your children will be celebrating with you. It can also be a day you reflect back on memories of your mother. I have been a mom for over 21 years now. I am blessed with two sons. My oldest who turns 22 this year brings so much energy to our family and a smile to my face each time he walks through door. My 15 year son is very witty with a dry sense of humour and keeps me on my toes. He's my logical child who tells me straight up how he feels. I am fortunate that my mom is still living. She will be turning 90 this November. The last number of years have been more difficult as she now has dementia and was diagnosed last year with Mild Cognitive Impairment. She stayed with me this past March and it was so nice to spend time with her. At the same time, it was also emotionally draining. If you have aging parents or grandparents you understand how it feels. To celebrate our moms, mother in laws, step moms, grandmas, and mother figures, I have designed new floral necklaces and created a Mother's Day Gift Guide. A Mother's Day Silver Jewellery Gift Guide |
HI! I'M Cheryl!I love nature and it inspires me to create sustainable, eco-friendly jewellery using recycled silver. I love helping people find that perfect gift of silver jewellery. Categories
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