VICTORIAN VINTAGE IMAGES

VICTORIAN VINTAGE IMAGES | Vintage Clip Art Vintage Ephemera Vintage Scrapbooking

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Learning to Use My New Hips

I am now 12 days post-op from hip surgery.  I have two new hips now which I am slowly getting used to.  I cannot deny it has been hard to rehab - and I still have a long way to go!  But progress is being made daily.  I will need to use my walker for about two more weeks until I see my orthopedist - can hopefully advance then to a cane.  I can drive after six weeks.  Just went up the stairs in my house for the first time yesterday - with the help of my physical therapist - scary but I did it!

Re-training my muscles to walk with a normal gait after having such an abnormal gait for so long due to the arthritis is proving to be a true challenge.  But I am intent on doing it!  I am receiving in-home physical therapy for now and will progress to more agressive outpatient therapy after seeing my orthopedist in two weeks.

Just re-opened my Etsy and ArtFire shops after having them on "vacation mode" for the past 12 days.  It is truly good to be involved with my shops again.  For now, I have not added any new designs, but will be doing so soon!

Updates to follow.

Preparing For My Surgery

Busy day today!  Getting ready for some long awaited surgery.  Tomorrow, I undergo bilateral hip replacement.  I am admittedly nervous but ready to proceed.

It seems a million things need to be done.  Of course, getting my pre-operative medications filled - have already done.  Making sure all the bills are paid up as I am the one that manages the bills in our household.  Stocking groceries as I will be unable to drive for six weeks.  Of course, my husband will be around to help, but I feel I need to have things as organized as possible while our routine is disrupted a bit.

One of the hardest things is putting my jewelry business on hold for a short while.  I just placed my Etsy and ArtFire shops on "vacation mode" with messages that I will be unavailable for, hopefully, no more than a week.  If all goes well, which it should, I will be able to at least be back on the computer and able to manage e-mails, etc by the end of a week.  Still, I will miss this daily interaction with Facebook friends, customers, etc.

I guess the hardest part of doing this is giving up my sense of control over my life.  Putting one's life under the care of others is a difficult thing.  But, I am certainly doing something that many others before me have done.  And I know it must be done.  After stopping my anti - inflammatory medication last week (because it can increase bleeding during surgery) I have been miserable from an orthopedic standpoint.  Going to the grocery store yesterday was agonizing just walking around the store!  Getting in and out of the car, going up and down stairs - almost impossible.  So, I now intend to focus only on the post-operative aspect.  In another week - it will all be over and I will be rehabilitating and starting life with new hips.  And I know from talking to many others who have undergone the same procedure, I will likely wish I had done it years before.

So, next week I will give an update on my life with new hips - see you then!

Custom Designed Eyeglass Chains

This week I made two custom design eyeglass necklaces for one of my customers.  She wanted something vintage/Victorian style for both pieces.  I love to custom design jewelry for others - the process is very interactive.  This customer lives far away and found my shop on Etsy, so I have never actually met her and all communication was through e-mail

As she told me the kinds of things she liked, I would e-mail pics of specific beads and components which she would then tell me which ones she really liked.  The whole process was quite interactive as the design evolved from sets of loose beads and components to the finished designs.

She specifically wanted to be able to wear both designs with other gold and silver jewelry pieces.  Other requests were for pink and white, cloisonne and heart components.  Here are some pics as these pieces were constructed.

My customer likes pink and white - so I started with this selection for her to view

She also likes cloisonne - so another set for her to choose from

Selection of silver beads to consider

"Rough draft" layout of potential design

Finished design with antiqued silver, cloisonne, pink glass beads and garnets

Initial finished design of second necklace with antiqued silver eyeglass loop

Finished design of second necklace - changed to antiqued brass larger loop to accommodate her extra wide sunglasses  (Gunmetal chain, cloisonne and Czech glass garnet beads, and Swarovski crystal pearls)

My Gift From Uganda

I received a gift this week that I want to share with you.  It is a necklace hand beaded in Uganda.  The beads are all handmade with paper and painted in bright beautiful colors.   The person who gave me the necklace has a daughter who spent about two years in Uganda, and she brought several pieces of jewelry and other items back with her.  I have learned that Uganda is an extremely poor country.  Many of the women there make beads and jewelry to eke out a living for themselves and their families.

I was so curious about the origins of my new necklace that I went in search of more information.  There are several groups that help these women sell and market their goods.  Outreach Uganda is one such group and is a non-profit organization based in Colorado whose mission is to empower Ugandans and help them rise out of poverty.  Their focus is on education, women's empowerment, and promoting self-sufficiency through job creation.  They have three beader groups and follow fair trade practices.  Each beader group is run much like a small business with the women choosing how to allocate their group monies and making decisions such as giving small loans to members within the group.

Today I ordered some loose beads and am looking forward to creating some beautiful designs with them.  Remember, these beads are all handmade from paper!

Bright Purple Paper Beads

Bright "Red Hat" Paper Beads

Bright Green Paper Beads

I encourage anyone who wants to help with the Ugandan cause to visit Outreach Uganda where you can learn much more than what I have described here.  You can also visit their online store and purchase loose beads as well as finished designs such as necklaces, earrings, eyeglass lanyards, beaded purses and more!

After I receive my beads I will start beading, then post some pictures of my finished designs!

How Arthritis Helped Me Start a Jewelry Business

In just another month, I am "going under the knife" so to speak - getting both of my hips replaced.  It has been a long four and a half year road arriving to this point, but I am ready both mentally and physically now to do this.  You might ask, "What does bilateral hip replacement have to do with my jewelry blog?"  Well, nothing actually, but the process that brought me here has everything to do with how I ever started making and selling jewelry.

I started having pain in my right hip first about four years ago, but then not long afterward also developed pain in my left hip.  At first, I thought I just had strained my self overdoing.  After all, I have always been extremely active.  I worked out regularly, walked my black labrador retriever "Buddy" three to five miles daily several times per week and did a lot of yard work.  Other than routine soreness, I had never had much trouble.

Well, my pain and soreness this time did not improve as it had in the past, and in fact steadily worsened.  Ironically, my dog Buddy also developed hip problems about the same time and we both became less able to do the things we once so enjoyed.  Buddy died about 2 1/2 years ago, and I along with my family grieved and still miss him.  But, we do have another dog now named Jenny who is an absolute delight.

Back to my story, though.  X-rays done four years ago when I first became symptomatic showed some mild arthritis in my hips.  I was 50 years old at the time.  Over the next couple of years, my pain increased as my mobility decreased.  My x-rays now show severe osteoarthritis - or degenerative joint disease.  What I now know, is that I have a condition called hip dysplasia - which means my hip sockets are more shallow than they should be.  This condition inevitably leads to arthritis as the too shallow hip sockets lose their cartilage with increased wear and tear.

As I became increasingly unable to be as physcially active as I once was, I began to seek mentally challenging activies.  I started making very simple jewelry designs at first, gradually adding more complex designs as I improved my skills.  I started first selling my jewelry on Ebay in 2007, later moving to Etsy and ArtFire.  I now also sell my designs in a jewelry and art gallery in Charlotte, NC called Ruby's Gift, and will soon be selling in another local store in the town of Clover called Crafty on Main.

Now I do not mean to say I am totally sedentary.  In fact, I still continue to work 36 hours per week in an urgent care facility as a nurse practitioner.  Although there have been days this has been physically depleting for me, I have not missed a single day of work ever during the past four years.  I am glad to have had the chance to continue working, enjoying the sense of camaraderie I have with my co-workers and the opportunity to work and interact with a wide variety of wonderful patients.

During my days off and early in the mornings when I just could not sleep because of pain, I have continued to nurture and develop my jewelry business.  And I must say, it has become a passion for me.  Looking back, I do not think I would ever have started down this path of jewelry design had I not had the need to look for a pastime to fill my time.

So, now in another four weeks, I get my new hips.  My hope is to regain my previous level of activity.   I want to walk my dog Jenny again, get in my yard and do my yard work.  I want to work a full day without going home physically exhausted from suppressing and "tuning out" pain.  I want to be able sleep without pain.  I want to be able to go up stairs easily, get dressed without difficulty and a whole host of other everyday activities that right now require a lot of energy and effort.  I look forward to getting that part of my life back!

But I do not mean to evoke sympathy or pity because I also look forward to continuing on with my jewelry business.  It has now become a part of me that I choose not to give up!  It would honestly be like cutting out a part of me now.  So even though dealing with my hip arthritis has been life altering, I choose to see the positive in it all.  I would not have this fulfilling passion and part of my life now if it had not happened.

My surgery is scheduled for August 29 - I will have turned 55 by then.  I will have to be out of work totally for eight weeks, and then will be allowed to work half days for another four weeks before returning full time to my job as a nurse practitioner.  During that time, I will convalesce and rehab, but also, what else - work on my jewelry!  I look forward to weaving a passion for my jewelry business into a life filled with all my previous physical activities.

Before closing, I want to share some favorite quotes that have inspired me to pursue something that has been very fulfilling for me:

"Show me someone who has done something worthwhile, and I’ll show you someone who has overcome adversity."  By Lou Holtz.


"If you don’t like something change it; if you can’t change it, change the way you think about it."  By Mary Engelbreit.


"The difference between stumbling blocks and stepping stones is how you use them."  Unknown.

Taste of Charlotte and Ruby's Gift

Haven't posted in a while, so thought I would give an update.  Since the last post, I have participated in the "Taste of Charlotte" event (June 10-12) in uptown Charlotte, NC.  It was hectic and long with 12 hour+ days.  I shared a booth with another jewelry designer and sold a number of items.  Here is one of the tables with some of our jewelry displayed:

Taste of Charlotte - June 10-12, 2011

Today, I will be adding some inventory to Ruby's Gift in NoDa.  "NoDa" is a historic art district in Charlotte, NC which has been revitalized and is a thriving community filled with artists' shops, galleries and restaurants.  Ruby's Gift is a gallery with an eclectic group of artist vendors and has everything from jewelry to pottery to art.  If you are in the Charlotte area, be sure to visit!  Here are some of the items I will be adding today at Ruby's Gift:

Red Glass Fire Opal Necklace

Red Rose on Black Cameo Necklace

Pink Lampwork Sterling Silver Earrings

Crystal Ball Pendant Necklace

Crystal Pearl/Antiqued Silver Earrings

Dichroic & Czech Glass Beaded Necklace

Swarivski Crystal Heart Necklace

Lampwork & Antiqued Silver Necklace

Chocolate Lampwork Beaded Earrings

Amber Glass & Antiqued Brass Earrings

Sapphire Blue Teardrop Necklace

14K GF & Gold Foil Lampwork Earrings