 The view from our new house We're finalizing our plans for moving to our house in South Dakota! We've had enough of our current situation, and are really looking forward to the sunny skies and open fields! The above photo shows the awesome view from our new house in Wall, overlooking what the locals call the "Mini Badlands". We've never taken such an adventure before in our lives! We're leaving behind friends, family and everything we knew, in pursuit of a minimalist lifestyle. We will be able to focus more on our art, and enjoy the best of what nature has to offer, while not having to worry about keeping up with the Joneses. I'm going to be so much more in touch with my art, and can finally find my own rock bases! There are a lot of rock shops in the area too, so I should never fall short of some really cool bases. Who knows, maybe I'll get a part time job in a rock shop! I'm not sure how many trees I'll come across, there is more rock than tree in our area. I have a feeling I might stumble across some really cool bonsai trees in the rugged landscape. I plan on doing a lot more photography, once we leave Minnesota. There is so much to see in South Dakota! I am very proud to be sharing a part of Wall history, as well. There have been millions of people through Wall Drug, which is only a few blocks from our house. The store started very modestly, trying to catch some business from the new highway that went by town. Look what they turned themselves into! Its pretty cool. I don't know a lot about the history of the area just yet, but I am very eager to learn. I've only passed through Wall, and had my longest stay in the town of Hot Springs, which is about an hour south of Rapid City. I'm going to be using my Instagram account a lot more! I'll probably come up with a neutral name for the account, so that I can use it for both Spirit Gem and for Oddball. But for right now, if you'd like to follow me, I'm at http://www.instagram.com/oddballcatttoys. We have quite the project out there too; we bought two fixer upper houses. The main house where we'll live, needs mostly cosmetics and projects finished. We have to install flooring, patch drywall, and fix a crooked foundation. The walls are all white, so it'll be fun figuring out what color scheme to paint. I'm a total HGTV addict, so hopefully I can put together a really cool, cozy space! Our other house will become a workshop/studio. I will have my work and businesses in there, away from the house. My fiance, Kevin, will have his wood shop in there, as well as a space he can do his jewelry. That house is going to be a challenge! It is basically gutted right now, they even took out some load bearing walls we'll have to put back in. The floor is gone, so we're thinking of pouring a concrete slab. One of the previous tenants cut holes on a couple of outside walls, to make room for larger windows. While its a great idea, the project wasn't finished. I think we will definitely put in the larger windows, but we'll have to put in siding, since its tough to patch stucco. In celebration of this move, I'm holding a moving sale in both shops, to help raise money for additional moving funds and house repairs. Both Oddball Cat Toys and Spirit Gem Designs are using coupon code MOVINGSALE for discounts. Oddball is offering free shipping, and Spirit Gems is 10% off the price.  Our new home! Looking at this photo of our house, I'm starting to feel like Laura Ingalls Wilder, from Little House on the Prairie. Do you remember those books as a kid? It would have been so interesting to be a pioneer in those days. I would have definitely loved all the crafting they did! All right, I need to get back to work. I have one new sun catcher to list today, and more to make! I'm not sure about the design just yet. I made the hoop myself with twisted wire, but I'm not sure if I like the look or not. I'd almost rather have a thicker hoop and a simple twist of wire, maybe a colored wire against the silver. But, I think this is definitely a step in the right direction! I enjoyed my old sun catchers, but these are another level. I also have a redesigned Tree of Life pendant too! I'm so proud of the pendant hoop, I made it myself! I don't know a lot about wire twisting, other than my trees, and am eager to learn more about forming hoops for jewelry. I may get into more complicated forms of wire wrapping from here, who knows!
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Happy Monday! I'm really feeling charged up these days, ready to make some new tree designs! I found some interesting gem trees over the weekend with shapes I haven't seen before. I am excited to try and incorporate that into a design of my own. I should be able to get some really interesting Bonsais going too, for those of you who are looking for something truer to nature. I made a couple of Tree of Life pendants over the weekend. I'm still thinking of growing into this segment, its something that doesn't take long to make and will package well for local shops in SD. I want to keep the TOL different than the others on the market- the shape of the tree, possibly even the wire hoop, and definitely the roots. I want to get a line of birthstone pendants, as well as specific chakra healing pendants, made. These will form two different series, to keep things different and interesting. I should really be growing my website too, make it a really good place for crystal education. There isn't a lot of really good information out there, and many of my customers want to know more about the crystals I work with, and what they're buying. This post has got me thinking about a new design for the website, and a much more exciting blog. :-) The ideas turn, I just wish I had many more hours in the day to get it all done! I'm also trying to work on concepts for some really cool product tags. I want to have a little story with each piece, basically the story of trees and their meaning. It would be fun to name and number the trees too. All of these ideas are exactly why I'm behind in getting new gem trees made! I'm sorry! I need to figure out a better balance between marketing, creating and listing. Since gem trees aren't like the latest infinity scarf on the market, I have to do a lot to market and drive interest to my work. I'm trying to figure out better way of doing it so I have more time to create. With all that said, I'm going to leave you with photos of the brand new Tree of Life pendants! The first one is Andalusite, and the second is Blue Topaz. Andalusite is a very interesting gem, that shows different colors in different directions. It helps overcome depression and self doubts, helps overcome past troubled memories and overwrite into present and positive experiences. Andalusite is also great for helping heal bone fractures, connective tissue, psychosomatic and stress related conditions. Blue Topaz is the stone of the moon, helps you be honest with gentleness, helps sensitive people cope with teasing in good humor, controls feelings of anger by bringing hidden emotions to the surface in a calm way, good for speech and communication problems, helps emotional balance. On a physical side, Topaz is a body vitalizing gem, helps in whole body regeneration; disperses effects of negative energy from whatever source, helps maintain metabolism; assists thyroid, throat, eyes, ears and nasal issues.  Andalusite  Blue Topaz |
