This is a special NewsLetter.

I'll get to St. Patrick's Day shop offerings and the recent weather here in Toronto later!

Some of you have been with me since launching three years ago!

It's OUR 3rd ANNIVERSARY!!!

Congratulations to us.

Yabadabba-doOOOoo!

I had to go back and count how many years it's been because time has taken on a different dimension. 

When I look back at the moment I first thought of setting up shop, I recall the first Jewellery class. I received promo up until the Fall of 2024, but nothing seemed to change with the curriculum since I  began attending classes back in September of 2018.

 Was the program cut? There was some concern it might be. 

I signed up for these classes to get back out into the world of the living after Mom's death in January. When I took it, I was ready to return to the real world after settling our family estate. As my friends all know, it was one of the smoothest sailing ships, as both my parents had taken care of every last possible detail. I just had to show up to cross a few t's and dot a couple of i's.

Mom's younger sister, Frances, and Mom's bestie, Barb, took on motherly roles and were there for me when I needed them that year. Thank you both. I'm wiping tears away as I type this.

It meant the world then AND does still.

 

Back to the first day of this silversmithing class when we learneded silver piercing.  After sawing a zig-zag through a piece of brass, I turned to the woman next to me, so amazed I'd done it ... and said, 'We could sell this stuff' ... she'd just thrown a saw blade across the communal desk in frustration. I'd just sawn through metal like butter ... I showed her my trick.

Relax and let the metal dance with metal like nobody's watching. 

We became friends and chatted before, during and after classes ... but then covid.

 We took every class possible that year and the next and planned to take them over again to access the equipment.

But it wasn't meant to be.

After everything was cancelled ... we texted ... until we didn't. 

I had joined a downtown jewellery studio and had access to a jeweller's bench and professional torches - all the basic equipment. I slowly began purchasing the more exotic equipment and tools and planned to set up a small enamelling studio at home. I bought a kiln after taking a cloisonné course at another local school. When covid shut everything down, I purchased basic tools and began working at my table using the stovetop and extractor fan as a periodic soldering site and created my 1st collection, The Chain Gang. It launched the shop. 

Those were the days. I began taking every online course I could get my hands on. I am working on a new YouTube channel. You'll know more about it when I get it to where it needs to be before I release it to family & friends. 

I'm happy to have this video blog as a place to keep everyone updated on some of my adventures. I told a couple of online retired friends that retirement needs a new definition. How many people retire in the sense of the word as it stands, according to Wikipedia...  'the withdrawal from one's position or occupation or from one's active working life.'

NooOOOoo. None of us have done that.

We've never been busier. 

Time's never flown by so fast. 

I've never had more on my plate. 

I've never been more satisfied with my days. 

I've never learned so much in so short of a time nor done so many new things while I spin like a top ever so slowly moving back and forth towards the edge of this stage of my life to wherever I think I'm headed before coming to a full stop. I learned in ballet class to pirouette successfully, I had to keep my eye on one spot on the wall. I learned to go softly with the flow to avoid whiplash and that you can move the spot to another place and go where you'd most like it to be.

I'm using this knowledge as my metaphor for life at the moment! 

I have an online set of friends who help keep me accountable on business goals. Two sets of friends came together recently and offered similar advice when I let them know I'd made a TYPO on last month's newsletter. Let it go, Moe. 

 

I won't make you go on a long search for Waldo.

Suffice to say, it's on the last line of our last NewsLetter where I typed MOE (my least favourite of the 3 stooges) instead of MORE.

And as the universe is apt to do, it immediately manifested another TYPO for me to learn from. It was done by someone other than myself, on a well-known/well-used item (The Daily Greatness Business 2025 Planner).  I've been able to use it in comparison to my own misadventure.

It put things in a better perspective for me.

I made a little video about it below.

I've corrected the Big Hall Wall Calendar I defaced with marker after trusting the Daily Greatness Planner's March Block Calendar was correct. It wasn't!

I'd done all this Quarter's Planning using dates from the Daily Greatness Planner. When I began translating the dates to the Big Hall Wall Annual White Board Planner upstairs, things got more than a little confusing.

I was quite impressed with myself after I figured it out though AND then figured out that some dry erase markers aren't so easy to erase. I was pleased to learn that rubbing alcohol can help get it off! I was given a refund by the company after letting them know their Big Annual White Board Planner had arrived creased and had a typo. As soon as I realized it wasn't their error, I let them know and they kindly still offered a refund based on the creases they saw when they asked me to send them a photo of the typo! They will start sending their calendars out in tubes now.

 

AND now - a little about the new Knotty Bead Collection - also shown in the video. Here is how I started and finished the clasp on the new line.

     

In the top left photo, the two threads on the left side of the clasp are shown at either side of the last bead next to the clasp. When the last bead was on, I looped both threads through the clasp without knotting the last bead and tied a double knot next to the clasp using the same knotting method used to knot between each bead. Then, I separated the silk threads and used the thread with the needle attached to push it back through the last bead to secure it in a 2nd spot with glue. I used G-S Hypo Cement on both sides of the last bead and both sides of the clasp, allowing the long threads to remain on the piece as the glue cured for 24 hours. The next day, I cut them off at the glued knot with nail scissors. I then used a pair of baby nail clippers to make the final cut and got in right beside and next to the knot as close as possible.

I've been wearing the bracelets non-stop for a few weeks and the clasps and knots are as good as new. As I've mentioned, after watching many videos on securing the clasps, I used a combination of ways shown. Then I doubled back, taking a thread through a bead - something I've not seen anyone else teaching knotting methods do. I'd also not been impressed with just cutting the threads using scissors. That was until I used precision baby nail clippers that are designed to carefully and safely work in tiny areas.

And onto another topic. I'm rather impressed I finally had success getting the Gift Certificates set up in the shop because they can now be used for everything, including these multi-functional Knotty Silk'n Bead Sets.

So far, the Kits are the most popular. I made illustrated PDFs and videos to go with them and do a quick e-mail back and forth to colour & size check beforehand because it's all still bespoke whether purchased made or in the Kits.

A few solo travel friends pack only a carry-on suitcase and they said they have gotten Kits to take & make while they are at their destinations. It gives them something to do in the evenings. They finished pieces and the kits are compact and go well in various ways with their base wardrobe outfits. I know when I travelled, I brought stitching kits with me and often sat in cafes people watching after joining an expat group in Paris that gathered weekly to exchange information. 

I had a feeling these might catch on! 

Things I made travelling hold a special place in my heart.

They bring me back to very specific moments I was there.

My sketchbooks, full of small drawings & paintings done in museums and art galleries were always faithful companions. They still go everywhere with me ... along with mending kits! 

I brought and filled many a kit at local haberdasheries. 

Many rolling hems were added along fancy fabrics I'd pick up abroad. I was able to use them in numerous ways and bring them home as gifts. I loved when things serve double, triple and multi-purposes. 

I found with fabrics, I could avoid the bulk of zip up packing cubes yet still enjoy the ability to compartmentalize my belongings. I used them as headscarves, wristbands, picnic blankets, chair and pillow covers, sarongs, and so many other things. Many were threadbare by the time they made it home. It's why I have the furoshiki/sarong kits in the shop.

After taking a few business courses that promised so much, I worried needlessly about things taking off, particularly on social media. Would I have enough product. I've enjoyed a slow steady trickle of wares leaving though. It's always joyful, when an order comes in.

I go back to that moment I turned to my friend on that 1st day of class and wonder what I would have said instead had I known everything that would go on between then and now.

Ahhhh ... that's almost 7 years ago. Three years feels like such a drop in that bucket.

AGAIN - Happy Anniversary to us!

It does often work to our advantage, though, to not know exactly what lies ahead. 

Hopefully, the same can be said for the days ahead.

It's impossible not to mention how much is going on in the world at the moment.

Let's hope what usually happens regarding the weather happens soon though.

On this side of the world, we're looking forward to clocks springing forward shortly.

In a few weeks, the snow will have melted, and the light will have increased during the daytime.  I look forward to returning to my Apres Tea daily walks through the neighbourhood.

Here are the before & after pics of the roof deck from last week so you can see what's up there at the moment!

It happened overnight. I wasn't prepared. The shovel is inside the greenhouse. I made a note, in my Daily Greatness Planner for next year to keep the shovel inside the door so it's easily accessible.

Things began melting, and now we're in a cold snap again, and everything has frozen, and what was melting is now held in suspended animation.

I hope everyone is warm wherever you are!