Sharma Designs - Behind the Scenes of a Handmade Jewelry Business

Eye Candy

Recently I stumbled upon a website called Craftgawker.  It is a beautiful gallery of handmade items.   The site is juried so only pictures that fit their high standards make the cut.  I think I spent 2 hours on it the first time I was there...feverishly favoriting items.  Not only am I a sucker for handmade but I love a good product photo.

Of course I had to submit a few of my own.  I desperately wanted to be among the beautiful things.

A few days later I clicked on their sister site Foodgawker.  Then I lost track of time for a few days... which is random because I am not a foodie.  I honestly don't even enjoy cooking all that much.  For me it is means to an end.  BUT this site has me drooling and clicking and favoriting.  I have tried a few recipes already with very satisfying results.  Now if only someone will bake all the desserts I have favorited and bring them to me.  Baking is not my thing.

I think both sites successfully inspire.  I was in a menu slump when I found Foodgawker and now I have ideas for days.  Craftgawker has found many of my Christmas gifts this year too!

So go browse at your own risk.  You can't say I didn't warn ya!

Friendship Bracelets

I saw some DMC floss the other day and immediately thought of one of my first jewelry projects..friendship bracelets.  Remember those?  They were all the rage when I was in elementary school.  My mom was really good at helping us with crafts and quickly got me set up with some floss and taught me how to make one.

Of course I could not just have a few colors.  I actually bought one of those floss organizers and a million colors of floss.  Now remember I was young so that was hard earned babysitting money I was spending.  I guess the obsessive bead/craft hoarding started at a young age.

You are supposed to leave the bracelet on until it falls off on its own but if I remember correctly the bracelet kinda got too stinky and raggedy long before it fell off.  I usually wore 10 or so at a time.  This was more due to the fact that my friends and I spent every waking moment making them than my millions of friends.

Anyway, there is step by step instructions here if your childhood was deprived of the magic of friendship bracelets!  Thanks for taking a walk down memory lane with me.

Bizarro Moments

Last night I was in the grocery store and looked up and saw a familiar man.  He saw me at the same time and we both kinda did a double take/recognition.  I had no idea what his name was.  I just knew I had good thoughts of him and I felt like I could picture him in a uniform.  I went through a few aisles racking my brain.  Who was this familiar friendly man? 

Then I realized...he's the Fed Ex guy!  Ha ha ha.  No wonder I had good thoughts of him!  And no wonder he recognized me too!

I sadly have had the same thing happen with Starbuck's baristas.

Have you ever had this happen? 

Making Gifts Besides Jewelry

The nice thing about making jewelry is that everyone loves it.  Gift giving is pretty easy.  Even if the jewelry I make for Sharma Designs may not be everyone's taste I can, of course, make other styles.  So people usually get jewelry from me for birthdays, Christmas, etc.

Every once in awhile I like to mix things up though.  I knit.  I have to admit that I don't really enjoy knitting.  (Same darn thing over and over and over....will it ever be long enough?) I would rather leave it to the ladies that love it.  But I do enjoy giving gifts and I love shopping for yarn.  I am a sucker for pretty colors.  But we all know that.

So in my spare time I have been knitting Christmas presents.  Spare time being in the car when Roberto is driving or at the Doctor's office or while I am waiting for water to boil for dinner.  I may have to hide under my desk tomorrow and knit a few rows every now and then so I can finish in time.  I am feeling the crunch!

Win! Win! Win!

Today is the last day to vote!!!  Get over to the Rare Robin Awards and vote vote vote!!!

It is so easy and you could win some very fabulous prizes.  Don't miss out!

Vote now!  Click here!

My Perfect Christmas Ornament

This year is the first year for me to have my very own Christmas tree.  I have been searching high and low for "The Perfect Tree Ornaments".  I really like those glass icicles.  Of course..then I find them and they are not exactly what I want.   Maybe I'm just not sure exactly what I want.

I know I want a simple tree with some kind of color theme.  White lights.  I figure while the munchkin is still too young to make me Christmas ornaments I can get away with this.

I also have to find ornaments that are somewhat kid friendly.  I have found some really cool glass ball ornaments but hello??  my daughter is a terror and she would discover she could shatter them and that would be the end of it.

Maybe I will just buy a bunch of these and call it a day.  It would make me giggle whenever I saw it and the munch would love it too.  Diet Coke was practically one of her first words after all.

Phew! No Internet Addiction Here!

On the front page of Yahoo today there is a study about people being treated for internet addiction.  I have heard a lot of talk about this internet addiction lately and have secretly wondered if I am addicted.

My husband would say yes.  Here's the thing though...Most of the time I spend online is for business.  I am updating my site, checking e-mail, scouring the web for great finds for Rare Bird, reading business blogs (And a few friend and gossip blogs).  I really don't spend a lot of time online shopping for myself or meeting people.

To see if I really did have a problem I took the Internet Addiction Test and answered completely honestly and I got a 38.  It says "You are an average on-line user. You may surf the Web a bit too long at times, but you have control over your usage."

Phew!  Glad to know there is one thing I don't have to worry about!  Ha ha

I would say if anything I have a "Running a Small Business" Addiction.  I struggle with setting boundaries for my business and my personal life.  I tend to let the business take over.  It is something I have to be constantly aware off and keep control of.  It's my black or white personality.  I am an "All or Nothing" kind of girl.

But at least with the internet I am in the grey....

Making time for Exercise

The Lovely Lynn at Adornments by Lynn blog tipped me this week.  Thanks Lynn! 

As I was browsing through her site I found what I want for Christmas.  The Geek a Cycle.  I would love to post a pic but I think it really needs to be a suprise.  Go check it out.

Gosh I would be so skinny if I just had the Geek a Cycle.  As much time as I spend on the computer I would waste away to skinniness in no time!

"So You Think You Can Dance" Recap

Okay mock me all you want for feeling the need to do a recap of my favorite show but don't mock me unless you have actually watched the show a few times. Because I assure you it will suck you in and make you a believer.

First of all....Yay Benji!! I was very happy that Benji won. He seems like such a cool guy and he was so entertaining to watch. Ivan was really my favorite but I knew he wasn't as skilled as the top four. So as soon as he got booted I changed my alliance to Benji. But then last night as the two boys were standing there I felt so sad for Travis. I wish they both could have won. If Travis would have just had a little more personality throughout the show(like he started to at the end) I think he may have won.

What I hated about the finale show:

1. The way the girls got offed. How cruel was that? "Oh America voted and you aren't the favorite!" (aka "You're a big loser!"). They should have just waited until the end and then called the winner. Mean mean mean.

2. The judges obviously knew that Benji was going to win. Last week they only said good things about Travis. They told Benji he wasn't up to par technically. This week they were falling all over themselves to say nice things about Benji too.

3. That now the show is over. Boo!

What I loved:

1. All the dances. It was nice to hear what the dancers favorite dances were and why.

2. Seeing Ivan dance again. Since he is my favorite.

3. The Tranji dance again!

4. All the dancers recap videos. Although, of course, they made me cry. What is it about this show making me cry? I don't understand why I am so attached to it! Those producers do an amazing job of sucking you in!

I would love to hear what you guys thought. If you watched. I know you watched Jenn!

My Dream Come True

I don't really enjoy cooking. I want to love it I really do but to me it is something that just sucks up my precious time. If it was still just me I would honestly just live on steamed veggies and rice (with ice cream thrown in for variety) but because I have a child and a hungry husband I cook most nights of the week. I also cook because I love delicious foods.

Tonight I got invited to a trial Dream Dinners night. I thought, "Hey a free meal? Sure!" I have heard of Dream Dinners but I wasn't really sure what it was. I knew you made dinners to eat later but I was picturing having to cook everything at the store. Not my idea of fun.

I don't want to sound like a commercial for them but I was really impressed. It really is as easy as they promise! Here's how it works... You chose the number of meals you want from the menu and then make an appt one night to go in and make all the meals. I think the norm is 12 meals.

There are stations set up with everything you need and a recipe to follow. For example, we made Cider Barbecue Chicken.... There was a freezer bag of 6 frozen chicken breasts. First we made a marinade for the chicken. If the recipe called for a tbs of onion flakes then the scoop in the onion flakes was the size of a tablespoon. No need to think. Love it. I made my meal in less than 5 minutes.

Then you package your meal in freezer bags and put a heating instruction label (that hubby can follow too) on it. It also has side suggestions on the label. They let us try the cooked version of what we made and another dish and they were really good!

I grabbed a menu for August (Here is the July one) and came home to sell the husband on the idea. Because I work 3 days a week and don't get home till around 6:00 I almost always have to make really basic dinners on those nights. If I am super tired we might even have mac and cheese. You know how those days are! If I made 12 dinners at Dream Dinners then on those three days a week either my husband could follow the directions and have it waiting for me when I get home or I could cook it really fast when I got home. Heaven!

The servings are for 6 people. The chicken we made tonight had 6 chicken breasts in it. So my thought is that I will split it with my mom who also works too much to cook (Just have to talk her into it). That would bring our cost down to $125 a month for 12 dinners. Most meals are between $16-24 (so split = $8-12). I think that is very reasonable.

I don't think it's for everyone. If you really enjoy cooking you will feel robbed. If you are a veggie there won't be anything for you to eat. But..if you love to eat good food but don't want to spend time making it or are just too busy then you should try it. You can host a preview night if you have one in your area and you and all your friends can make a meal for free. I'm already thinking about who I will invite!

So there you go. My review of the Dream Dinner experience. Definitely worth trying! And no I am not associated with them. ha ha I just love passing along good finds!