D.O.N.E.

Whew! It's done! After working on it off and on for the last 3 months or so, I'm finally finished with my White Wedding Necklace! This includes 275 wire wrapped drops and a whopping 464 jump rings, all of which were handmade!! And yes, I counted. I had to calculate my cost, after all. :)

I love how the AB coated crystals flash as you move, and there's just enough of them that it's not overwhelming. It's also very slinky, and drapes nicely on your skin. I wish you could see it in person!

With this new necklace, I finally have 50 items in my inventory! Which leads to my reminder that you only have 1 more day for the 15% off sale. Don't forget to enter the promo code "SPECIAL15" during checkout!

50 / 50 and a 15% Off Sale Too!

SonoSono Studio just hit a big milestone! I've had my 50th sale at Etsy this past weekend!! Woo hoo!! And not only that, I'm getting very close to having 50 listings in my Etsy shop.

That calls for a big celebration, don't you think? So, I'm having a sale until the end of January. Use the coupon code "SPECIAL15" during check out, and save 15% off of your entire order!! I'm hoping that by the time this sale ends, I'll have 50 listings in my store too. I'm at 48 right now, so only 2 new listings to go!

New New New

Hello everyone! I hope your year is starting off on the right note! I have several wonderful announcements, but first thing first...

I do apologize for disappearing during the last few months! Sometimes, life takes a few unexpected turns and you're forced to go with the flow. And the flow just was not pointing me towards this blog. But now I AM back, so let's take a look at what has been going on!

While I was not regularly posting on the blog, I did still manage to post a few new items in my Etsy store. The Mermaid Tears Earrings shown above is one of them. It's a brand new design, so I'm excited to see where they take me. I've also been working on the bridal necklace that I mentioned in the previous post, but that one is taking quite a long time to complete as it needs a lot of teeny tiny drops and a never-ending supply of jump rings! :) I actually ran out of silver in the middle of it, so hopefully, I will get right back on it once the new shipment arrives. The bridal bracelet, on the other hand, is available now in my Etsy shop.



I was also honored to have my Blue and Green Furnace Cane Glass Extra Long Necklace included in the January issue of the Beading Times eZine! If you like to bead, it's well worth your time to look through the archives as there's a wealth of information included in each issue! And don't forget to click on the Design Corner to view my necklace right along side lots of lovely cane glass jewelry.

Last but not least, SonoSono Studio is now on Facebook! Please go visit http://www.facebook.com/pages/SonoSono-Studio/107120562650245 and become a fan by clicking the "Like" button! I'm planning to announce a big sale there soon, so stay tuned!

OOF!!

It's been a rough couple of weeks! With my son starting Pre-K, I expected a little chaos, but a particularly long-lasting cold/flu that we all passed around to each other really threw me in for a loop!

I'm still feeling it a little bit, but my son is starting to get excited about school now. (I still have to give him a little pep talk some mornings, but not everyday!) Our dog has also stopped panicking now that she knows she gets to go for a long walk after I drop her brother off at school. After the walk, I have about an hour and a half before it's time to pick him up again, but I feel blessed to have that little bit of time to myself!

With things settling down a bit, I finally managed to list a brand new item yesterday! It's yet another project that I'd been turning over in my head for a long time and finally managed to create. (I have A LOT of those!) I feel really encouraged by the number of views it got within the first 5 minutes of listing, so I'm definitely going to try doing a wedding necklace in a similar style!

Hopefully, I'll be able to list more things on a regular basis now, all the way through the holidays!

Please Remember...

One year ago, an 8-year-old boy named Yuto departed this Earth quite suddenly and joined the angels up above. It happened in the early morning hours on the day he was supposed to go back to school. He left behind a school bag all packed and ready to go, and a countless number of families, friends, and community members devastated by the news.

During the past year, I've spent many hours questioning and challenging my understanding of life and death. One of the hardest lessons I have had to learn was that this happens to children much more often than we prefer to acknowledge. Hardly a day goes by without hearing about earthquakes, floods, fires, accidents, and medical complications that take young lives.

So, on this one-year-anniversary, rather than just memorializing Yuto, I want to ask you to remember all of the children whose lives were cut too short. And please pray for their parents, who are enduring the worst pain any parent could ever face. And please remember, too, that many of these children had siblings whose lives were turned upside down and who have had to learn such a serious lesson at an early age.

Also, please remember in your prayers, their grandparents who not only lost their precious grandchild, but must be a rock for their own children as they grieve. And please send your loving thoughts to their classmates and other friends who have suddenly lost their friend and must now come to terms with the concept of death.

I write this on behalf of the aunts, uncles, cousins, and other family members who are mourning the loss of a special member of their family, and are also worried about how their loved ones are coping. I feel the loss every single day, and it's almost astounding how such a small being had taken up such a large part of my heart.

Finally, if you are lucky enough to have children in your lives, please hug them often and tell them you love them. When it comes to death, there are no age limits. These children who left us too early could easily have been yours.

I know at first, this sounds morbid and hard to accept, but once you face it head on, life is actually more beautiful than you ever thought before. You realize that each moment is precious, and each living being has a glowing light within. And there's nothing, NOTHING, more amazing than the mere fact that we are alive here on this Earth.

Jewelry for Your Home

It's finally here! After years of just thinking about it, and months of procrastinating (whoops!) I'm finally introducing my new line of Jewelry for Your Home! For now, I have a Necklace for your Lamp listed, but you can expect to see more new and innovative items coming soon!

I plan on introducing 2 more different styles for your lamp, and then moving on to different parts of your home. Yup, you can expect to have a little bit of sparkling goodness all over your house! I never really thought of myself as a girly girl, but for some reason, most things I create end up being that way. Go figure!

Freezing Time

Wouldn't it be great if you could freeze time?

If you could stop everything, but were still able to think, so that you could observe every drop of water, every ripple. Then, once you've marveled at every little detail and taken note of all the beauty in that moment, you can go back to your life in normal speed.

Or, if you were able to see the things that usually happen in a blink of an eye. To actually watch it take form and then disappear, and then to be able say, "I saw you, I watched you come into existence, and you were precious."

Of course, if you could do that, if you could actually stop or slow down time, maybe it'll be so ordinary that you would fail to recognize the extra-ordinariness of the moment. If that's the case, I'd rather not have a special power at all. I'd rather keep my ability to appreciate the beauty that surrounds us each and every day of our lives.