Marnie Is My Muse

Thing One, Amorous Earrings

We are only 2 and a half weeks into 2013 and I’m already behind on my New Years challenge…. What challenge you might ask? Well, I decided that this year I am going to make, and post (the posting is the real challenge for me) one thing a week. The worst part is I actually said this out loud, in front of witnesses; don’t ask me what on earth I was thinking! The making part I think I can handle… the picture taking and posting part, well so far, not so good. I had (still have) great intentions! I purchased a new DVD on getting the best jewelry photos with your smart phone. I haven’t had time to watch it yet, which might explain the less than stellar photo quality. I should also add that my 20 year old son, Darius pointed out, and I quote, “The smart phones are all smarter than you are, Mom!” I have absolutely no idea where he gets that attitude….it surely couldn’t have come from me, it must have been his dad…Ya that’s it, he got the attitude from his dad!  Anyway, I have high hopes of at least an 85% completion rate for this challenge. I also have high hopes that my photography skills will improve a wee bit and that I can post the pieces on my web site.

Now that I have committed (notice I didn’t say I should be committed…at least not yet) to getting more pieces made and posted, I am challenging you to hold me accountable! You don’t have to nag me…. just let me know once in a while that you noticed that I actually posted a piece now and then! I appreciate the encouragement up front.

Thing 2, the  mermaid sculpture below isn’t really quite finished yet but you get a sneak preview of her. Her body is Titanium, her head, hair and tail are silver and she is sitting on a piece of drift wood for the moment! When I finish her, I’ll post a picture in the gallery section on my web site.

Thing 2 Mermaid sculpture

Copyright © Mary Ehlers, Good Muse Designs all rights reserved.

I’ve been very bad to myself lately. I haven’t given myself enough time to do all the things I wanted to do when I left the “real work world” to follow my dream of being a self-employed jewelry (and other fun creations) artist. When you work for yourself there are lots of important “things” that need to be done…. most of them requiring a left brain and I don’t think I even have a left brain! As a micro business owner there isn’t anyone to delegate to…so TAG, I’m it!

December is a whirlwind of a month when you work in grocery/retail as I did. It doesn’t stop with the December holidays because they ‘re followed by Valentine’s day, Mother’s day, Fourth of July…. well you get the picture. So I decided to go it on my own instead of working every single holiday, or right up to it like a crazy person. It didn’t stop with the holidays either because corporate insisted employees rush back in to work the day after to make the store look like the big day had never happened. Bull Crap  Boloney! I thought to myself… I don’t need this, I’ll follow my heart and my dream of making jewelry….. But, somewhere along the line I got caught up in the Black Friday, Cyber Monday, the Day after Big Tuesday, Second to the last chance Wednesday, Ok it’s not too late to get shopping deals Thursday, Extended to next week Black Friday, Saturday, Sunday weekend mess. This really bummed me out because I didn’t have the time, energy, or want-to to keep up with the marketing of all that. I was disappointed in myself because I thought I had missed out on jewelry selling opportunities. However, the real disappointment came when I realized that my dream was never really about selling jewelry. I was trying to follow someone elses business plan….. My plan is about making jewelry that inspires me (and hopefully others) to live a better life and to remember that life in spite of all the ups and downs is wonderful! I wanted a life where I had time to smell the flowers, enjoy my friends and family and inspire others to do the same. Yes, this is a business and making money is a priority…. even artist have to make a living….but I don’t have to make myself miserable in the process…. So I put myself in time out! Yesterday evening I took the time to look at the magnificent Tucson sunset…. The picture taken with my phone doesn’t do it justice. And this morning I spent time in my yard tending the flowers. The poinsettia is a hold over from last year and the mums are thriving as well….It’s hard to beat Arizona in the winter!

Copyright © Mary Ehlers, Good Muse Designs all rights reserved.

“Things are going downhill fast!” That doesn’t sound very good does it? Then of course, “it’s all uphill” doesn’t sound very good either…. It’s all a matter of perspective. If you are a mountain climber then all uphill might sound pretty darn good. If you are at Disney Land on the Matterhorn then going downhill fast is the only way to go!

I have had a rollercoaster of a week…. There were way too many things on my to-do list but all of them good. The week started with a Living Social promotion, then classes, getting my pieces ready to go to the caster, meetings, a lunch date with a friend that I don’t see often. Then an opportunity came up to teach at JOGS during the gem show so of course I needed to rush and put together a proposal, I took a fabulous class with Fred Zweig and I’m working on an exciting new venture with my friend Kaitlin from Kaitlin’s Creative Cottage…….(no I can’t tell you what it is but as soon as we have details you will be the first to know!) Anyway, I guess what I am trying to say is that this week has been a wild ride full of ups and downs, twist and turns. It has been a hang on to your hat kind of week but oh boy what a ride! I could have been completely overwhelmed. If I had experienced a week like this a year ago I would have been annoyed and cursed my way through the entire thing. I would have been looking at my watch during lunch. I wouldn’t have enjoyed the class I took with Fred because I would have been thinking of all the things still undone on my to-do list. I would have only been marginally grateful for the opportunity to teach at the gem show because the timing of the offer wasn’t perfect. I wouldn’t have had the confidence to take on a new business venture; well you get the picture…. Somewhere along my path in life my perspective has a shifted…… I no longer see the glass as half empty. I don’t see it as half full either…there is still something just a bit contrary in me that wants to know, “What is in the Glass?”

Copyright © Mary Ehlers, Good Muse Designs all rights reserved.

I started yesterday with big, juicy plans to get into the studio and “MAKE SOMETHING FUN!” I told myself to just go in there and play with the new Goldie-Bronze™ clay I had purchased to try out. No expectations, no worries, just give it a try to see how you like it, I said. Everything was going great! The directions said to make sure all the particles were well mixed so I put on a Ricky Martin CD and danced around the studio to “She Bangs” with a container of the bronze clay in each hand…what did I care, no one could see me…and I was having FUN.

Four phone calls from telemarketers and political surveyors later I stopped turning down the radio to listen to caller ID! Frustration started to build and things weren’t going as well. When hubby arrived home about 1 PM with big news, my day felt like it was shot!

Imagine the mind monkeys swinging around in my head, stirring up trouble with constant thoughts of “what ifs” and “worries.” They taunted me with their high-pitched, monkey voices….all of them chattering away at once, a cacophony of noise that drowns out my calm, centered self; okay, I admit it, my “self” is never really calm and centered, the monkeys are always there. The term “clear your mind” is a concept I usually can’t quite grasp…(what if I miss an important idea while my mind is clear….hey it could happen!) The bottom line is I can get caught up in my own thoughts… Sometimes this is a great thing. Ideas are born when my mind is on auto pilot. Other times the monkeys take over and I’m dazed into immobility. They jabber on and on until I begin to imagine Marlin Perkins in a primate episode of Wild kingdom….”Something has set off the entire troop of the rare Mind Monkeys we are observing here today. It could be that ‘For Sale’ sign in the neighboring tree.” (Yes, that is what really set off my mind monkeys, my DH had announced that our neighbor’s house went up for sale… there goes the neighborhood the monkeys started screeching!)

I knew I had to act fast before the monkeys could actually take over my entire day…. I had to get out them of my mind. I needed a way to shut them down! That’s when it hit me! Wouldn’t it be great to have a gizmo that would act as a re-set button? A little reminder to stop, breathe and actually think instead of letting “the monkeys” confiscate my thoughts?  So when you see me wearing this new pendant (pictured) you will know…. The mind monkeys have been evicted!

Copyright © Mary Ehlers, Good Muse Designs all rights reserved.