Metal Stamp Giveaway!

Check out this awesome giveaway over on Lori Anderson's blog. She is giving away this cool stamp set!

I would sooo love to win it! Get over there and enter for your chance!

Yes, I am Still Alive!

I know I have not posted in forever, so I wanted to let everyone know that I am still alive. I've been doing ..... INVENTORY.  As most of you know, I have 2 jewelry shops, Prolific Adornments and Designs By Debi. I also have a supply shop, Sweet Georgia Beads. Well guess what? This girl has been slack, slack, slack! I actually have POS software which I am SUPPOSED to keep up with sales and inventory on. Have I been doing it? A big fat Nope! So I have been having to spend the last couple of weeks counting, counting, counting, count.... well you get the idea.

I can't reopen my supply shop till I know my inventory. (tax crap) I can't work on new jewelry till I know my jewelry making inventory. (tax crap again) So I've been working on inventory and pouting to myself about not being able to make new cool stuffs. :(( 

So anyways, now ya know where I've been. I am SOOOO tired of doing inventory. I will kick myself in the rear if I don't keep up this year!

A pic of my DD's doggie. She looks like I feel! I hope that in the next few days I will be done with this darn inventory and back to creating!

A New Year and Change!

First of all I want to tell everyone, Happy New Year!! So how many people have made resolutions? How many of you didn't bother because "I'm just going to fail anyway"? Year after year people make resolutions but don't succeed. Why? Because they don't change anything to make it happen. They don't plan out their resolutions so that they are manageable. They are doomed to fail before they begin.

A few days before New Year's Day, I went to the bookstore shopping. I perused the self-help books and found what I need. I know it's been out there a number of years but I finally picked up a copy of Jack Canfield's "The Success Principles." Between every thing else I needed to do, I managed to read the entire book in about 3 days. Wow!

Seriously people, if you are not absolutely satisfied with your life, this book will help you to get to where you want to be! I have been inspired by Mr. Canfield since I saw him on "The Secret" DVD telling his story of how he made his first million dollars from the beloved "Chicken Soup for the Soul" book.

The book is chock full of advice and motivational stories, plus exercises to complete. I am working on a few of the exercises right now. Oh, and it is not just a book for those who own a business. This book can help you make positive changes in all aspects of your life- business, relationships, school, finances, or personal goals such as weight loss.

I bought the book at Barnes and Noble for $16.95, but you can get it at Amazon for $12.23. Enough reading now! Get out there and make a real change in your life! I know I am :)

New Things and Possibly a New Line of Jewelry

Ahh, I got rid of the puter virus and am back to normal (however normal you could call me) I really haven't been making much lately. I dunno, I just got burnt out and needed a break. Anyways, here are a couple things I made recently.

 This necklace started off with a couple things I got at the flea market: the domino, which I roughed up and aged and the little girl disk. It came from the tin lid I got here.

There is, as (almost) always, a lot of recycled components. The girl from the tin, the domino, the white spacer beads and the two lengths of chain. The brass connectors are all vintage, but I don't know for sure if they are used or "new" vintage.












I really like jewelry pieces that "mean" something. The domino piece is a talisman necklace for family. The 2 dots on the domino represent man and woman. The little tin disk represents the child. One meaning of green is harmony... jasper represents help in childbirth- and there is a lot of jasper on this necklace. 

This piece started with a cool wooden cheetah.The cheetah, wooden beads and pearly chain came from the flea market stuff here. The elephant came from more flea market stuff here.




This piece is for getting things done. The cheetah represents intent, focus and making things happen quickly. The elephant is for strength, wisdom and power.  Green again is for harmony. When you are trying to get things done, harmony is certainly helpful!

Blue is representative of inspiration and devotion.

I haven't decided on how to name my new talisman pieces. I will have to think on that. I need to decide soon though so I can get them listed. lol

Technical Difficulties...we has them!

Hubby and I both have a crazy sense of humor. And, as I told you a few posts below, I have hearing problems and tend to hear words incorrectly.  So I'm joking around with my husband about Christmas shopping.

Me: So I got you that sex game you wanted for Christmas

Hubby: Huh?
Me: Yeah, I had to go to a few unsavory websites and I think I got a virus on my computer, but I ordered that game for you... Call of Booty"

Hubby: *Laugh* That's a good one.

He actually wanted Call of Duty and yes I did understand him correctly. It was just a joke! I did buy it for him. No sex sites, I bought it at Best Buy.

Then today I am working on some jewerly pics and my computer is pretty lagged down, so I decide to reboot. UGGH! It rebooted up with a virus!!! Mannnnnn, it was JUST a JOKE!

Anyways, I am currently on my other computer posting while Malwarebyte's Anti-malware is looking for the virus. So no posting my pics until I get my main puter back up and running. *cry*

Cool Giveaway by Fancy Linda

Oooo guys, you need to check out Fancy Linda's Blog HERE for an awesome giveaway! She's giving away one of her Cheerful Holiday Mini Kits! They look so fun!

Sale! Yay!

I've put everything in my DesignsByDebi shop on sale! 15% off through Cyber Monday! Prices have already been marked down :)

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

I'm headed out of town to see my family! Yay!

Happy Thanksgiving to all! May God bless you and yours to have a wonderful holiday together :)

~Debi :)

The Crickets In My Head

Hard of hearing

Three retirees, each with a hearing loss, were taking a walk one fine March day.

One remarked to the other, "Windy, ain't it?"

"No," the second man replied, "It's Thursday."

And the third man chimed in, "So am I. Let's have a coke.

I have had tinnitus for as long as I can remember. My tinnitus sounds like crickets at night. It doesn't come and go, its constant, 24/7. I can't understand people when they speak unless they are looking at me so that I can see their mouth. I miss out on a lot of what I watch on tv, cause I have no clue what they are saying. My family gets a kick out of what I "think" they say. My hearing has gotten worse over the last few years. So today I went to an ENT center to see what's going on with my ears. The doc said I have pretty bad hearing loss for a woman my age. (43) Basically, I need hearing aids. Uggh. Really sucks to have no insurance, no savings, no credit cards and a bunch of shops that sell nuttin.  Maybe in a few years I can save up enough to get what I need.

Inspiration Bracelet

Here I told you about the newest challenge from My Life Under The Bus. Well lemme tell you. I had a terrible time with this challenge. It wasn't because the palette wasn't inspiring; I LOVE the colors! It wasn't from a lack of materials. I have tons. It was because this week I have been stuck in a rut. Everything I have tried working on has ended with me getting tired of sitting at my work bench and getting up frustrated. My creative streak is G O N E. I even wrote out a whole post about how depressed I was over not being able to create, about how I could not get a thing done. It sounded so depressing that I never did post it for fear of running off my few readers. lol.

So this was reallllllllllly a challenge for me. I probably put together and took apart my piece a dozen times. It started as a bracelet, then changed to a necklace, then a half a dozen arrangements as a necklace and another half as a bracelet again. I finally settled for what you see here. So without further ado, here ya go. My LABOR of love. lol.

I know it is pretty simple, but it took a lot of tries just to get something I didn't hate with a passion. I chose the darkest of the red-ish colors and gray from the palette.




 I literally just finished it, took the pic with the camera on my phone and made this post. Talk about last minute! I should have lightened the photo a bit, but I just wanted to get it up on my blog so I can go to bed! lol

Btw, as usual, there are recycled components. The large silver rings and the curved beads are from old jewelry :) 

I can't wait to find out what everyone else has created and I hope it was not such a challenge for the rest of the participants. :)