Sharyl's Jewelry & Reflections: donations

Showing posts with label donations. Show all posts

Sunday, March 23, 2014

Who Moved My Jewels? (A tale of cheese, bread, and a super sale)

Warning: This post may make you a bit hungry! ;-)

You may have heard of a book called "Who Moved My Cheese?" by Spenser Johnson. Even if you haven't, once you've read the title, you've pretty much got the idea of that book. (Here is a summary if you haven't read it and want to know more about the mice-sized people who get all confused when their cheese is moved.)

Anyway, I went to my local grocery store last week, the smaller of the two I frequent, which I like because I know just where everything is without having to look up and down every aisle for what I want. Do you know what I mean? Do you have one like this?

Well, of course they had rearranged nearly every item in the store! Forget about the cheese for a moment, think of BREAD! The bread, which was always next to the bakery items (makes sense, right?)...the bread had been moved 1/2 way across the store next to the greeting cards. Magazines had been put in the place of the bread. (Um, what? And why???)

Like most folks, I really hate it when things get moved all around, unless it's really for a good reason... or if I'm going to get something out of it! :-) So far, I haven't discovered the reason for the rearrangement or the benefits it serves me, so I'm just peeved.

You may be wondering, "This relates to me how?"

Well, I've decided I have too many categories in my "Sharyl's Jewelry" Artfire store. So many that I suspect people ignore some of them. I also have too many items sitting there that need to go visit someone else's home! :-) So, I'm thinking, if I'm going to move things around, and get rid of sections of merchandise, the least I can do is make it a win/win situation for all. (Really, it's the least I can do for "moving the cheese" or bread, or jewelry, as the case may be.)

So, here's the deal:

1. I'm closing out my "HOPE" jewelry collection. (I know, that's heartless. My original intention was to use this section to raise money and awareness for people with rare disorders and other diseases such as cancer and Alzheimer's. But I've only sold a couple of items out of this collection in 2 years. I haven't given it the attention it deserves, I know, but I'm closing it down for now at least.) After Tues, items will be moved into "Clearance" or other sections and the "HOPE" section removed.

Use coupon code: LASTCHANCE to get 50% off items remaining in this collection through Tues, 3/25/14. (At this lower price, no donations are being forwarded from the sales of these items. I will continue to make personal donations for such causes, of course.)

2. I've also closed out a section I started not long ago, "Mixed Metal and Polymer Clay." (If I create something that has both, I'll put in one section or the other, based on my whim at the moment. All items in this section have been moved into the "CLEARANCE SALE" section.)

3. Everything in the "CLEARANCE SALE" section is also 50% off through Tues. using the code: LAST CHANCE. In this section you will find:

Items that were already there, marked down, now offered at 1/2 off the marked down price!
New items just moved in from other sections

(including... a variety of metal components and polymer clay beads!) For this sale, 1/2 off the original price! (This is the first time I've included beads and components in the "Clearance Sale" section.)

The 50% off only lasts through Tues and you need to use the coupon code: LASTCHANCE at checkout to get this savings! (Discount only good in "Hope" and "Clearance" sections.)

After Tues, this special deal ends. Those items will remain in Clearance at reduced prices (but not 50% off)!

I hope that finding these items at rock-bottom prices, some below cost, will help ease the pain of moving things all around. I also hope you'll find some bargains to love and take home! Win/win.

Best wishes to all,

Sharyl

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Credits:

Swiss cheese:

http://www.wpclipart.com/food/dairy/cheese/swiss_cheese.jpg

Shopping cart:

http://www.wpclipart.com/household/chores/shopping_cart/shopping_cart_2.jpg

Bread:

http://www.wpclipart.com/food/breads_and_carbs/bread/Bread_Slices_5.jpg

Confused:

http://www.wpclipart.com/smiley/glossy_smiley/blue_smiley/smiley_confused.jpg

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Sunday, April 21, 2013

Val's Ceramic Garden Winner's Announced!

My thanks to all of you who stopped by in the last two days to read the post about Valerie Garber, and my thanks to Val for being our special guest!

If you missed out, be sure to check out her interesting life and work with ceramics and the women in Namibia. More information can be found at these sites:

her Etsy shop, ValsCeramicGarden,
her newest shop on GlobeIn,
her blog, "Work of our Hands,"
her business Facebook account, "Work of our Hands."

Thanks to Val's generosity, we were able to have 2 sets of give-away gifts from her shop this time! Winners were picked from those who left messages on the last blog entry, then were assigned a number, and the winners were picked by a random number generator. And the winners are:

Gift Set #1: Flower & Leaf + Baby Elephant

WINNER: PAM from KLASSYJOOLZ

Gift Set #2: Orange Elephant + Blue Bird Pendant

WINNER: SHIRLEY MOORE

Thank you all again! Wishing you all a good week!

~Sharyl

P.S. Yes, it's Sunday, but no outdoor nature photos today. Instead we have photos of nature in ceramic form! Flowers, a bird, and closeups of elephants--I don't get a chance for elephant shots every day in Kansas! ;-)

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Image Credits:

Ivy: http://www.wpclipart.com/page_frames/floral/garden_page.jpg

Photos of ceramics by Sharyl, April 2013.

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Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Sharing Hope with "Captured Moments"

Please keep reading to the end!

Contest announcement is included.

I want to thank Cindy Kovar, with "Captured Moments" for helping me spread some hope this week! She featured my "Hope" jewelry on her blog!

If you visit the "Captured Moments" shop on Etsy, you will see the wide array of lovely pottery beads Cindy makes and sells. I've been using a lot of them in my jewelry-making recently and love the varieties of colors, textures, shapes, and sizes!

"Captured Moments" pottery is frequently used in my "Hope" line of jewelry, which I started to help raise funds and awareness for those with rare disorders. Each piece of jewelry made for this line includes a "hope" charm. 25% of the purchase price will be donated to a charity connected with rare disorders.

Although many people have rare disorders, the number having any particular one may be very small. This makes it difficult to draw public attention for the need for funding for treatments and cures. One group doing just that is the National Organization for Rare Disorders (NORD).

Another group doing good work for the cause is the "Global Genes Project," which Cindy mentions in her blog post. They have a project specifically for jewelry designers called "7000 Bracelets." Both Cindy (see her bracelet donation photo at bottom of her page) and I, and many of you, have participated in this wonderful project!)

I would like to thank Cindy, and all of you, for taking time to deepen your awareness of and/or commitment to rare disorders. We have encountered them in our family. In particular, my sister has several rare autoimmune disorders. (As I have learned from her experience and from research, it is not uncommon for one to develop more than one autoimmune disorder as the body begins attacking itself as though attacking a foreign substance. Thus it affects blood, bones, muscles, organs, etc. ...These are my words, not intended to substitute for medical research or a physician's opinion, of course. But I hope it helps you understand my commitment to this cause, and why my gratitude is so great.

In addition to the "Captured Moments" blog and Etsy shop, please visit Cindy at her FaceBook page. Take a look at her lovely work, and give her a "like" if you please!

Best wishes,

Sharyl ~ Sharyl's Jewelry

P.S. My bracelet sale continues! Some up to 50% off. See "Bracelet" and "Hope" sections for all possibilities.

CONTEST ANNOUNCEMENT!!!

Look through my studio on Artfire and count the number of "Captured Moments" beads you see in use.

Submit your guess to me through the Comment section. I'll hold comment publishing until the deadline.

I'll send the winner a little prize package including a "Captured Moment" bead! (If more than one person gets the answer I do, I'll draw a name to determine the winner.) Please submit answers by 12 noon Wed., May 9, 2012. (Central time)

No worries, if the number of beads changes before the deadline, I'll accept all possible answers! :-) I already have the starting #!

Friday, February 24, 2012

Just 2 of "7000 Bracelets!"

Earlier this month, I decided to join the effort to make "7000 Bracelets" for the Global Genes Project....

...our wonderful organizers being Erin Fickert-Rowland and Christine Altmiller.

The goal was to create a bracelet that would be rather casual, blue (to go with denim), and something that would fit most wrist sizes. With that in mind, I set to work!

I knew immediately how I wanted to make the bracelet. I started by collecting a container full of small blue beads that were anything close to denim in color--everything from light blue (faded denim) to dark navy. The beads were mostly glass but some were opaque, others Czech glass crystals, some glass seed beads, etc. Here's a little peak:

I started using bright copper wire to make the small dangles, but eventually decided to do a mix between bright copper and antiqued copper (permanently covered copper wire).

I had a big debate with myself about what sort of chain to attach these to, but finally went with a rather large copper one that had just arrived. In addition to being durable, it had the added luxury of being more adjustable in size. I made a hook and it can go into any loop in the chain!

Finally, as with other items I've made recently for people who are ill or to support people with illnesses, I added a "Hope" charm. So here is my finished bracelet:

Partway through that project, I started asking myself why I selected one of the most time-consuming designs for my bracelet when time was limited! It seemed I would get 5-6 dangles done each night before there was some interruption that stopped me!

Once I finished that one, though, I still had a BUNCH of those blue beads mixed together! I know many people start out making memory wire jewelry, but I had never used any until recently. I had just made a multi-colored glass bracelet and while it was simple and quick to make, I liked the look of it. I decided to make an extra bracelet to add to the collection of the 7000. It would just be one more person who would get a bracelet, I figured. So I whipped up this one, added a "hope" charm, and I'm sending it off too!