Carnival Blog-November

 

The Blog Carnival….a group of jewelers get together via the web, once a month, to post on a topic that has to do with jewelry.  It’s a fun way to hear different opinions from wonderful artists.  Hope you’ll visit their sites and read their great blogs!

 

This month’s topic: Gratitude

What am I grateful for and especially how it relates to my field of jewelry….

 

I love this topic.  In fact Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday and it’s not because of the food.  But that is a great perk!  My goal this previous year was not to be grateful during this time of year, but to make it a regular practice.  To start each day with gratitude.  Even for the things that were put in my path which were a challenge.  To be grateful for everything.  I believe it has changed my attitude and attracted many good things into my life.

 

Of all the attitudes we can acquire, surely

the attitude of gratitude is the most important,

and by far the most life-changing.

—Zig Ziglar

 

I am grateful that I get to do what I love every day.  Most of my days are not spent at the bench, boo-hoo, but instead teaching others how to be creative.  I get over 100 emails a day asking how to use this tool, my piece had this happen, please help me fix it, I don’t understand how this works, etc.  I could take the emails I send out and put together a marvelous book!   I love being able to help them.  I love being able to share what I know, in the pure sense of giving.  My grandmother was a teacher and artist, and I am following in her path.  Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought I could or would want to be a teacher.  I love to instruct and teach and I also love to create.  

 

I am grateful for the days I get to play at the bench and make anything.  I sign up for workshops because no one can interrupt my day at the bench there and it’s all about learning.  When given the choice to work at the bench or answer customer questions, it’s never a struggle in deciding which comes first….my customers of course.

 

I am grateful for my customers.  They allow me to have a wonderful avenue for my passion.  I am good at researching and gathering.  I love finding new tools, new products, new techniques.   I started my business as a way to have a one-stop shopping source for my students.   I am very appreciative to my customers who have supported us along the way!  Many of those customers and students have become good friends and that’s truly the silver lining.  Without them life would have far less enjoyment.

 

I am grateful for my amazing family.  My mother is my business partner.  She is my silent strength and source of encouragement…my best friend.  She encourages me to take workshops, to try new things, to never hold back.  My father also works for us.  He thought he was retiring 2 years ago.  We very much appreciate having him as an essential part of the team.   My husband is a genius and without him I wouldn’t have WLW.  He is the brains and brawn behind the website, photography and catalog.  He works 40+ hours a week for his employer, his true career calling, and then a lot more for me and WLW.  We make a great team.  I am grateful that we all still speak since we are together 6-7 days a week…all day long.  It says a lot about each of us that we can make it work.  Along that extension I am grateful for my staff.  They are an integral part of my success.  I’m happy to have met them and been able to spend time with them.  I am also grateful for my son.  Although he has nothing do with my jewelry, I am grateful that at the age of 13, he presents me with daily challenges that only a 13 year old can do.  He pushes every button to make me grow to be a better parent and mother.  I am grateful for that.  I am grateful that I can share my experiences with him so he can grow to be a wonderful man.

 

I am grateful to all my instructors, mentors and fellow teachers.  I have learned so much from them.  Not only how to make amazing jewelry and be a technical master, but how to be a better person.  Each one of them have touched me in so many ways.  I am truly in debt to them all.  They have opened my eyes to all sorts of things that have nothing to do with jewelry.  However, it’s all tied together in life.

 

I am grateful for everything I have, all the challenges I face that make me a better person, and for the ability to wake up to another day and try something new.   

 

Hope you will take some time today, to think about all the things you are grateful for.  Here’s the other carny’s blogs and what they are grateful for:

Lora Hart

Angela Crispin

Tamra Gentry

Kirsten Skiles

Lorrene Davis

Elaine Luther

Chris Parry

Marco Fleresi