I'm back. And with a HSC giveaway!

Raleigh Raised Border Necklace

"The unfortunate thing about working for yourself is that you have the worst boss in the world."  - David Eddings

This quote make me chuckle. Tis very true. If you are a new reader to my blog, you may not know that I run a small jewelry business named Her Southern Charm. I love what I do, and it gives me a outlet for creativity, but working for yourself is not always easy.

Because of a very busy 2010, my little business took a backseat to my personal life. I still had orders and I still had to work, but most of those orders were from repeat customers and by word of mouth. I didn't advertise. I didn't pass out business cards. I didn't participate in shows. In fact, I didn't do much at all except fill orders. :)

 'Bama Bee Necklace

But I feel the tide turning. I feel my creative juices begging to spill out. And I'm getting excited.

I've added a couple of new designs that I worked on in the past months but never had to time to add to my online store. And I have more on the way. In fact, these mornings I can't wait to wake up and rush upstairs to my craft room to get to working. :)

So, thank you so much for your patience as I waited for my life to settle down. :)

 Mama Susie Necklace

To celebrate my return, I'm giving away a $50 gift certificate to my shop. This should let you get whichever necklace you'd like!!

To enter:

• Entry 1: Visit my site and comment on which necklace you'd like if you win.
• Entry 2: Tweet about it and link back to this post! Add @hrsoutherncharm so I can see your tweet. :)
• Entry 3: Put it on your Facebook, linking back to this post and comment with the link.
• Entry 4: Blog about it, linking back to this post, and comment with the link to your blog.

That's four chances to win! Yay! Be sure to make one comment for each entry. Contest will end May 16th and I will announce a winner chosen by Random.Org.
 
Thanks so much everyone and good luck!

Lately.

This week has been kind of slow, so I apologize for the lack of posts. Here is what I've been up to lately.

Baking.

I adore baking bread. And Southern Hubby and I can't seem to get enough of this particular bread I've been making recently. I got the recipe from the Homestead Blessings: The Art of Bread Making DVD. I treated myself to a few of their DVD's recently and I love them. ;)

Puppies.

This little man warms my heart and soul. Even though in April it will be two years since we rescued him, he can still be a bit skittish, slowly poking his head around corners and jumping at the smallest sound. I often wonder what sort of hell he lived through at the puppy mill he came from. I can't say this enough, rescue, do not buy.

Working.

My 'Bama Bee necklace is not one of my most popular necklaces but it holds a special place in my heart. I got a couple orders for it this past week and I decided to use the typewriter font for the word 'happy' and I love the way it came out. Must make one for me now.

Crafts.

My youngest sister had her wisdom teeth out, so I bought a soft blanket from Target and embroidered it for her to take. (My sewing machine also does embroidery.) I took one (yes, I'm a scaredy baby) and it really comforted me and kept me warm when the anesthesia made me chilly.

And how was your week? :)

Update, updates!!

 Be Still Necklace

This should have been done months ago, but you know how life sort of gets in the way. But I finally got (force myself to make) a little bit of time to update the shop with new designs! Truth be told, I was supposed to have been working on the Beth Moore bible study homework my women's group at church, but something's gotta give. Tis my life, I guess.

I've got a couple more that I need to put up but it can be quite time consuming. Oh, how I wish I had a computer tech fairy that updated my site regularly. I'm no good at it and am very computer illiterate. It takes me a heck of a lot longer than it would a techie.

Okay, okay, I guess I'm done whining now. With my business, the move, the packing, the searching for a new home, ect, life is getting quite hectic for me.

Austin Framed Necklace- Square

Hugs and Kisses Necklace

I also wanted to thank all you that have emailed me kind and supportive words or left sweet comments. I really do appreciate everyone's supportive thoughts.After much thinking and praying, Southern Hubby and I have decided to scale back on our home search. In light of recent events in the world, hand scraped wood floors and exposed wood beams have become quite meaningless to us. We'll still be moving because we feel the timing is right, but we're not as concerned with all the extravagances as we once were.

Hope everyone is having an awesome week!!

xoxo

Winner, Winner, Crab Ravioli Dinner!

Hey gals,

Sorry for the late notice. This weekend was just too crazy. But Mr. Random.Org chose a winner for us in the HSC drawing.

Congratulations to LEAH MARIA!

Yay! (see, that extra entry helped! hee hee)  Thanks to all who entered. And don't worry if you didn't win. I still have 3 more left! They are $30 each plus shipping and handling.

Email me to let me know if you'd like one and I'll get it out to you asap!

I'll be back this week with my newest obsession: ruffles.

xoxo

Happy Love Month: A Her Southern Charm Giveaway

Happy Love Month, ya'll!!

I totally heart this month. I love how everything is decorated in pinks and reds. Such a fun time of year. I'm such a sap, too. Last night, I got in the mood to create a fun, new charm for me to wear. I wanted it to have an organic feel to it because I so love the homemade look. This is what I came up with...

I wear this necklace daily.  I used to have Georgia Heart on it, but I've wanted a change for a while now. I have no idea what I'll call this new design but I loved the word "always" because Southern Hubby and I will be always. Sappy, huh? On the reverse side, I put our anniversary date. I love how it turned out but I've got a few kinks to work out in the design before I put it up. :: For some reason, we call each other Bee, hence the other charm. ::

And because I want everyone to feel as lovey-dovey as I do right now, I thought a little giveaway might be in order! :)

I'm such a fan of X's and O's and hopefully this simple design will put a smile on your face. Isn't it darling? I'm giving away one of these necklaces and I'll put the rest up in the shop. Unfortunately, I only have four more, so if you want one before I put them up, let me know and I'll send you a paypal invoice. They are $30 each plus s/h. These little beauties are made already, so I can send them out asap. Just in time for Valentine's Day!

To enter:

* Leave a comment; be sure to include your email address.

* For a 2nd entry, twitter about it and leave me the link. Make sure you leave a separate comment for the twitter entry. 

(click on the timestamp and copy that link to the comments section.)

                                                  

* Contest will end on Friday the 5th at 11:59pm. I'll announce the winner during the weekend.

* Again, please leave a different comment for each entry. It makes is a jillion times easier for me to count them all up. For example, if you enter twice, then you will have two different/separate comments for each entry. Got it? Good! :)

Good luck, ya'll! Have a great Monday!
xoxo

Rolling Stone Magazing

I'm sure a lot of y'all have heard the news since I twittered the heck out of it (I was so excited!) But Dave Grohl, the lead singer for Foo Fighters and member of the band Nirvana, was featured in the December 10th issue of Rolling Stone magazine. And he happens to be wearing a charm that I made him!! Yes! Her Southern Charm is officially on Dave Grohl's neck!! lol! We were all so crazy excited!

I've zoomed in a little for you so you can get a clearer shot. It's the one circled. He wanted the Austin Framed Disc with the first letter initials of his wife and two daughters. I think it's so sweet and adorable that he wears it. ;)

I also wanted to mention that anyone was thinking of ordering a necklace from Her Southern Charm, please do so TODAY! I'm going to close up shop for the month of December. We are so bogged down with orders and I'm trying to fill them just as fast as I can, but I can't seem to keep my head above water. (Hence me being MIA lately.) So that I don't become a Grinch and miss all of the holiday season, I need to be able to get caught up- which means I can't take any more orders after today. I'll re-open sometime in January.

Hope y'all are enjoying the season!

xoxo

I'm a Nesterhead

I'm sick.

The nauseous, head feels like someone's drilling in my ear, constantly have to sleep sort of sick. And mother in law is still in town, so I've been missing out on all the fun shopping and dinners.

But here's a bit of good news... the Nester is featuring moi in her post today. Please tell me you've not been living under a rock and have heard of the Nester...she's quite fabulous.

Anyway, head on over there and put your name in to win a Her Southern Charm necklace just in time for the holidays!

xoxo

PS- THANK YOU THANK YOU to all my blog reading loves who have been so sweet in the comments section. I love recognizing your names and I do read each and every one. I seriously have the best readers ever! Smooch!

It's up! And the Etiquette Grrls

Yay! After the whole summer of having a craptastic website, I finally got a designer that knew what she was doing! :) Sara, from Sara's Pixel Studio was awesome. Better than awesome. She actually would respond to my emails when I had bajillions of questions. Who knew customer service was still alive in this day and age? (Can you tell I'm still a little bitter over my last designer?) And best of all, she had my site up in a matter of days. So, thank you, thank you Ms. Sara.

So, y'all go visit. Show me some love. You know you want to! ;) I would be your BFF!

In other news, insomnia got the better of me last night. I lay wide awake until 2am rolled around then had fitful sleep until 5am. I couldn't fall back asleep between the dog's snoring and Southern Hubby tossing and turning.

Instead of much needed sleep, I decided, in honor of my favorite decorum guru, Miss Janice, I'd show you some of my etiquette book collection. My faves are the "Things You Need to be Told" books by the Etiquette Grrls and "Manners" by Kate Spade. The Etiquette Grrls have a dry sense of humor and I found myself chuckling throughout the whole book. (Yes, these books are meant to be read through all the way, not just skimmed.)

One of their fun suggestions for a Halloween costume is:

A Burberry Overdose. Go to the Kiosk in the Mall that sells all the Fake Burberry Stuff, or, better yet, hit up Friends Who Love Burberry Too Much, and see how many items of clothing in the Signature Plaid you can wear at One Time. Extra Points if you Dress Up a Small Pet, too.

How dreadful would that one be?! I think you would render every guest cross-eyed by the end of the night! Or at least very dizzy.

What are you wearing for Halloween?

Happy Friday! Yay for the weekends!

xoxo

Weekend Coin Purse Giveaway!

Being an insomniac, well, bites.

Last night I worked on a new business card design for 5 hours. Around 1am, I called it quits. I turned out the light and started to snuggle in with my boys. I snuggled. And snuggled. And snuggled some more. I squeezed my eyes shut tightly. I stared out the window at the moon that was beautiful but very bright. I flipped the pillow every 13 minutes. I scratched Matty's head. I scratched Jackson's stomach. I even Twittered. And I had about 503,355 million thoughts.

One of them being that I had several brand new coin purses in my craft room upstairs. Let me back up. Before there was a Her Southern Charm, there was Pink Ric Rac. I used to make custom totes and coin purses but realized that it wasn't quite my niche. So I closed shop at the antique mall I sold at stashed away my goods. I had forgotten all about them (probably cause I was sleeping) until last night.

I only have use for one, which I use to store my business cards. I carry it in my purse so I can drop one in every single restaurant bowl that offers a free lunch for my office. What office? I don't know. If I ever win one of those things, I'll probably just end up taking Matty and Jacks. They help package the necklaces sometimes. They used to write out the invoices, but their handwriting was too messy and I could never read it.

Anyway, here's the low down. I'm offering to giveaway two of my Pink Ric Rac coin purses. These were pretty successful sellers. But I never priced them high enough to make a real profit. (Hang on while I go dust off my Harvard Business School diploma.) All you have to do is leave a comment telling me your best falling asleep technique by midnight Sunday. That's it. I'll pick two winners on Monday morning. It's not a free trip to Paris, but they're cute and practical. :) Be back next week with the last installment on my series on meekness.

Happy weekend but grumpy, sleepy Southern Housewife

xoxo Y

A couple of things...

First of all, thank you so much for all the words and emails about my last post. Your words have definitely helped me and I plan to continue working on hearing Him when He speaks. I know I will also need to remove any obstacles that are keeping my ears plugged. With things like pride, idolatry (materialism), and complete trust, I think I have my work cut out for me. And as much as I'd like to beat myself up, I know I'm a sinner. And I know I'm not perfect. And He knows this. So, my prayers right now are for removing these obstacles that often block a lot of us from clearing hearing what He wants us to do. And I thank you for the wisdom you shared.

I also wanted to tell you a little bit about Puppies Behind Bars. My friend Erin, who's heart is as big as her smile, is attempting to sponsor a puppy by selling super cute dog collars with 100% of the profits going to her cause . Puppies Behind Bars is an organization that pairs prisoners with Labrador Retriever puppies to train them to be service dogs. Often, the unconditional love of the puppy is the only unconditional love the prisoners ever receive. To me, it's hard want to give a criminal enough trust to train a loving dog, but I think that's why God presented me with this situation. He wants me to open my heart a little; entertain the idea of second chances and forgiveness.

So, I told Erin, I'd love to help her in any way I could. Before the deadline, I do plan on purchasing two collars for my babies, but until then, I'd like to help by spreading the word. Please take the button and put it on your site. Talk about it to your readers. Hopefully we can all help her raise the $3000 goal. If you don't think you could buy a dog collar, Erin would gladly accept any fabric donations. Please visit her site for more information.

And lastly, I'm soooo excited to finally announce that my website is up and running! I don't have everything on it yet, but I do have most of my PMC designs as well as a couple of customer favorites. I'd appreciate if you'd spread the word as I feel it's going to be a bit hard to make the switch from Etsy to my site. I plan on having a coupon code for my readers soon. I'm still trying to figure out all the nuts and bolts about how to maintain this site, so give me a little bit of time on that one. :)

Happy Father's Day weekend!!

xoxo Y

Organization Sheet

Good morning Ladies! What's for breakfast? (I made Southern Hubby these yesterday and they were delish!)

After a mailbox full of emails about my organization sheet, I wanted to remind new readers that I did indeed write about it. You can find the post here. I'll try to upload it to Adobe again, but at least you'll get the gist of it and can model your own. I hope that it brings you as much help as it has me. In fact, I am filling mine out for the day right after I blog! :)

I also wanted to let you home decor goddesses know that I added a decorator's fabric folder into my household binder. I stapled all the fabrics that I've used, or have thought about using. Then I punched some holes in it, stuck it in my binder and voila! For those that are avid garage sale and thrift store shoppers, this might be a good idea to carry around when out on those shopping trips. No more wondering if something you have your eye on will match the current colors in your home! Eeasy peasy.

And one more tidbit, for those who asked me to notify them when they were on sale, I've added two new necklaces to my shoppe- The Carolina Initials Necklaces and the Aniston Littles Necklace. Be sure to check them out! More darlings to come soon!

Happy Hump Day!
xoxo Y

I'm so excited! And I just can't hide it!

Okay, so as mentioned previously, I'm thisclose to launching my new PMC (precious metal clay) line just in time for summer. Can I tell you that I am having an absolute BALL designing these cute necklaces. And each night, I am coming up with other new ideas.

I have no idea how long it will take to get a website up and running, so I'm thinking about just putting them in my Etsy shoppe for now. I still have my massive sale going on because I'm hoping to stream line my collections into less than 20 or so pieces to make it easier on myself as well as the buyer (You have no idea how many people wait a week or so because they simply cannot decide on what to get.)

But before I put them online, I wanted to give my readers a first glimpse at what I have coming up. Please bear in mind that I have so many ideas just bursting out of my head so this is just the tip of the iceberg!

I was also hoping to get a few of your creative ideas to help me come up with my photos. Right now, I have my necklaces on this vintage wooden box. I think it looks great but I didn't know if I should use any 'props' or just keep it simple so as not to detract from the necklaces themselves. What do you think? Have anything in mind for props? I'm wanting to go with a preppy/southern/girly sort of theme. Sounds crazy, right? Yeah, I thought so, too. Well, if anything crosses your mind, I'd love to hear about it!

On with the show! Here are my newest designs... I'm so proud of these and I hope you all love them as much as I do!

Inspire Growth Necklace

My Sunshine Necklace

Bee Happy Necklace

Happy Bursting Creativity!

xoxo Y

Get some early Christmas gifts!

I'm clearing out all my old designs to make room for new PMC (precious metal clay) collection! I've marked select necklaces more than 50% off! Get a start on Christmas early, or get something cute for that new grad.

I've also started a blog just for my shoppe so you can keep updated on the goings on, special promotions, sales and even giveaways! Be sure to check it often cause I'll be announcing the launch of my new collection soon. :)

Precious Metal Clay allows me, as an artist, to take all kinds of creative liberties in my designs as well as allows my customers to express their own creativity! The sky is the limit! I can't wait to show you all. :)

Thanks so much for always supporting me and Her Southern Charm. I seriously have the best readers!

xoxo Y

Today is the last day to sign up for my giveaway!

If you want to celebrate my 100th post and enter my giveaway, click here.

Good luck to those that have already signed up! I'm so anxious to find out who the winner is!! Yippeeee!

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

xoxo Y

My 100th Blog Post and a Giveaway!

Wow. I made it to 100. :)

Who knew when I started this blog just this past December, that it would become such a big part of my life? It's amazing that these past one hundred posts just flew by so quickly! I'm loving writing and sharing, so that you guys for sticking it out with me!

In honor of my 100th, I've decided to host a giveaway of my very own. My past giveaway, although super cute, was from a sponsor. This time, it's all me. :)

So, what am I giving away?

Why of course it had to be from my shoppe! This sweet necklace is just in time for Mother's Day and a perfect way to celebrate your role as a momma. And if you're a fur momma, then how sweet would your baby's name look on here with a bone charm, or a heart charm?! I love it!

In order to enter, you must:

• Leave me a comment telling me what names you'd put on your necklace if you were to win. (Please know, I can only fit about 20-25 characters on this disc.)


• For an additional entry, become a sweetie poo follower.


• For 2 additional entries, post about it on your blog. Send me the link in a comment.

That's 4 chances to win, y'all!

The winner will be chosen on Wednesday, the 6th. I will put this at the head of my orders and get it sent out to you in time for Mother's Day (hopefully!)

Good luck girls, and thanks so much for sharing these past few months with me. You all have been such a joy and blessing in my life. Mwah! I'll be back Tuesday with the pictures from my 80's party. It was oh so much fun!

Happy 100th post!

xoxo Y

Crafty Tuesdays: March 10, 2009 and Gratituesday

Hey everyone! Sorry I've been MIA on the Crafty Tuesdays posts. Hopefully you'll remember it's here and link up!

Today I'm posting about a new design I put up in the shop. I recently ordered some new sterling shapes for my store and loved how thick they were. I knew they'd be perfect for a key chain charm since they're pretty substantial. I just had to make myself myself one, but didn't want to put my full name on there. As you know, I'm a big fan of monograms, so I figured it would be a great compromise. I was very excited to get them up in the shop!

What did you make the week? I'd love to see it!

I'm loving this carnival! I definitely need to remind myself daily of all the things I'm grateful for!

As I sit it my untidy kitchen, today I'm most grateful for being able to stay at home and take care of my little family. I know there are many women who are working right now- who are missing their babies, who are thinking about the million and one things they could be doing to better their family instead of someone else's, who would love to be doing the same laundry I'm dreading instead of staring mindlessly into a computer. Thank you Lord for giving me the opportunity. I pray that I have a servant's heart today and can honor and serve you and my family through the work I do today. Amen. :)

Happy February, y'all!

Can you believe that February is already here? Wasn't it just New Years?! Craziness!

How were y'all's weekends? We had a very low key one. Friday was date night and my choice... so what did I pick? I told Southern Hubby that more than anything I wanted to put on my comfiest flannel pjs, get into our super warm and soft bed, order in from a local Italian restaurant, and catch up on our tivo'ed shows. And that is precisely what we did! And oh honey- it was wonderful! Flannel, carbs, and my guy- what more could a girl ask for?

I cleaned my booty off on Saturday morning and attended a party at night thrown by one of my besties. She made probably the best margaritas I think I have ever had in my entire life. Seriously. But I was DD for the night so I didn't get to have much. Better safe than sorry. Sunday was the Superbowl but during the morning and early afternoon I set to work on my craft room. I got 80% of it finished and I can't tell you how happy this makes me! Now I can sew, make my jewelry, and whatever else my heart desires in a clean and organized space! Eeek!!

So let's back up to last week and my goals for HHM and MAHHM.

I am happy to report that I did really well on my first goal. I think I made some awesome progress on my spiritual morning time. I figured out a way to journal and pray that I'm really comfortable with. And I'm going to participate in a Bible reading challenge, but I've decided that I'm not going to worry about finishing it in a year. I don't plan on dragging my feet, but I think it's good for me to not worry about time constraints. If I'm rushed to meet a certain deadline and I never do, I'll feel like a failure and it will completely overshadow all good that I will have learned. I really loved a line that I read in my new book. I'll have to look it up and post it here asap. It was very fitting. I'll go in more detail on my routine later this week. So, I'm going to keep that number one on my goal list because I value this time so much. And it really does dictate how the rest of my day will go.

You're going to laugh (and I'll bet you already knew this) but, I didn't finish my other curtain panel. HOWEVER- I don't think you can appreciate how bad my craft room was (when I moved it all in, it was the holidays and I didn't have time to touch a thing until a few days ago) so I might have to give you a glimpse of it. So I decided that I'm going to give myself a break, because this room took about two days and that was with dear Southern Hubby's help! Bless his sweet heart. As I said, it's still not finished but it makes a world of difference. I have a lot of little boxes full of sewing notions to organize and I'll vacuum and steam clean the carpet, but that's about it. And even though I didn't get to my curtain panel, I'm sublimely happy. I think I'll spend some time in this room tomorrow...

Southern Housewife's Challenges for February 2nd-9th:

1. Continue becoming comfortable in my morning routine, remembering that it takes 21 days of repetition to make something a habit.

2. Make my niece an applique t-shirt for Saint Valentine's Day. I already have an idea in my head and I'm so excited to get started on it!

3. Work on a care package for my sweet sissy who is a sophomore in college. Her freshman year I sent her some cute cards that had "Send cookies now! Love, Sissy" and on the other side I addressed it to me and put a stamp on it. So, whenever she felt like my homemade cookies, she'd just pop the card in the mail, and I'd overnight her some the next day! I loved getting them! It feels like just the other day I was walking the same campus she is, and attending class in the same rooms. I get a little sad thinking it was 5 years ago. :( And in the fall, my littlest sissy is going to be there, too!

4. Should I even put in on here?! Okay...I'll try to get to my curtains. Cross my heart.

Off to photography class!

Happy planning!

xoxo

My Little Shop

I've noticed that there are many wives on the blogs I read that have an Etsy shop. I just adore Etsy. I found some awesome gifts for Christmas this year on there and it has also been so kind as to afford me a little 'mad money'. Since May of this year, I have been an Etsy seller myself! :) I am a metals jewelry stamper and my favorite medium to work on is sterling silver. My shop is called Her Southern Charm, and it has really been a delight. The Lord has blessed my little business many times over and I couldn't be more grateful. I was so overwhelmed this holiday season with orders, that at times, I thought I would lose it! At least now, I'm better prepared for next Christmas!

I thought I'd give you a small peek at some of my favorite designs from this year, and a couple of new ones that I'm working on for 2009. I'm so excited! I've got all these ideas swirling in my little head and I just bought a new adorable font that I can't wait to show my customers!!! :)

One of my favorite peices because it is one of my favorite quotes from Scripture.

Walk by faith, not by sight. 2 Corinthians 5:7

LOVE this one for the mamas out there. It's called "Branch Child" and represents that this child (or children) are each thier own parts of your beautiful family tree. Of course the only branch that me and Hubby have right now is our little Jackson. :)

Another super seller! I think it's the pearl that gets 'em...Oh goodness, what G.R.I.T.S gal

could ever resist pearls?!

This is my pride and joy! It was done for Ms. Kathy Cash herself!! She commissioned me to do my Walk the Line necklace and I just had to make her this one. On the other side, I've stamped 'Mama', as she used to call her, as well as the dates she lived. She was oh so sweet and couldn't be more gracious and thankful. I can't tell you how far my jaw dropped when I saw that she had ordered something from me. I was just speechless! And for me, that is saying something!

Anyhoo, on to some new ideas I have for next year. Let me know what yall think of them as well as the font. It's called Kismet and I just can't get enough of it. I've been stamping with it anything I can get my pretty little hands on! :)

This is cause I'm a serious "Take Care of Mama Earth" freak. You gotta do what you can. I just couldn't believe all the environmental issues that come up in the last election. Watching that commercial about the polar bears got me every time....I get teary just thinking about that baby polar bear trying to swim to his sweet mama. Recycle people! Walk! Buy used books! Use your library! Carry the non-disposable bags to the grocery store! (You can get some caa-ute ones at Tarjay or Central Market) Ok, I'm stepping off my soapbox now.... ;)

Here's the new font! What do you think?

I did this one for a Yorkie Rescue group that I love to donate to. There are just so many sad stories on there. I always give my baby extra hugs and kisses after I read some. Please consider adoption before contributing to horrible puppy mills and "mall" pet stores. You'e saving a life and giving a soul a new family to love.

Simple and classic. :) I wear this one all the time with our initials.

Now let's see your treasures! What do you sell in your etsy shop or make for craft booths and shows? I'm just so amazed and blown away by some of yall's creativity. We are all so lucky that we are able to contribute to our family, no matter how small may be. And the fact that we can do it in our own sweet homes makes it that much more special.

Hope you all have a fantastic weekend!