Well, hello! It's been a whole week since I've blogged and I want to check in before I really get going again. As seems to be the norm lately, my posts are anything but balanced...which is nothing more than a reflection of my life. I tend to focus on something and then it's all anyone hears about. So now enter Wish Bracelets!!
I came up with Pretty by JL Wish Bracelets for a local fundraiser which I told you about in
this post. I do plan to do a follow up post to that one, as well as an
instructions for use post, more on the
Wish Bracelet Guarantee, and a running post of
testimonials. Hence my warning you in advance, there is going to be lots about our wish bracelets on the PRETTYblog over the next week. I'm working on getting the
official page up to speed!
Now, to touch on life for just a moment...Elle West and I have a cold. I spent the entire day in my pajamas yesterday which is highly unusual for me. There is nothing like being sick to take all the drive and ambition right out of a person. I knew that my want-to-do list was a mile long, but simply didn't care. I sat in the yard while the kids played for three hours yesterday morning; in my pajamas, slippers, and sweatshirt; soaking up the warm fall sun, and while nodding off continually in between Elle West's visits to snuggle.
When we finally came in for lunch, we all decided on summer sausage and crackers and I sat in the sun that was coming in from the kitchen window. The kids were down for their nap by 11:30 am, and I crawled into my bed for a nap as well. We woke up at 1:30; I started dinner at 3:30, and I did a lot of sitting while the kids played games on the iPad and colored.
In the time between my last post a week ago, and now, I delivered my first Wish Bracelet retail display to Dietz Market in Durango; spent an evening in Pagosa Springs at the Hot Springs and for dinner, with the kids and Gabe; accompanied Gabe to Rangely for two days, two nights, and visited our faithful fifth wheel where the kids and I just hung out, and then I woke up yesterday with a cold. BUT, after my day of extreme rest, and probably from all of the vitamin D I soaked up, I feel amazingly better today. Elle West and I are now just stuffy and sneezy with runny noses. Most of my aches and sinus pain is gone, and Elle West is sleeping through the night.
I feel like the PRETTYblog has recently lost the little perspective into my day to day life that I like it to have, because I always have so much Pretty by JL stuff that I want to share. I have lots of regular ol' life stuff to share, too, but it's not what always gets first dibs on my blog!
Anyway, welcome to my Wish Bracelet obsession...this is just the beginning for about a week! As we get settled in to fall, I'd like to think that my posts will become a bit more balanced. But, then again, that might not ever be the case!
So, a couple weeks ago I was in
Dietz Market {a local favorite in Durango for 30+ years}. I've always loved the store, but hadn't thought of them as a potential retailer until my friend Mary mentioned it. Mary helped me make our Wish Bracelets for Girls' Night Out {more to come on that later}. As I browsed, I convinced myself that there wouldn't be a better time to inquire about it than right then. Everything was beautiful, and it seemed like Pretty by JL Wish Bracelets would fit right in. Lucky for me, Kay, the owner was there. I quickly told her about the accessories I make, why I do it, and how I began making Wish Bracelets. Her interest was peaked and she loved that I was a local artist...inviting me to an annual event they host featuring local artists and offering free shipping store wide, November 2nd-10th, and without even seeing my products! I told her that I'd be in the following week with Wish Bracelet samples.
When I brought them in the next week, she loved them. She had strong ideas on how they should be displayed, that their story needed to be framed and part of the display, and that there needed to be photos of the wish bracelets being worn. They needed to lay flat, on a background, versus being hung. She put me in charge of creating the display. Up to that point, I had only began to brainstorm a tag design. She liked the tag plan, but was adamant about the importance of display, and a bit less interested in the tag. However, she did insist that the tag mention that our Wish Bracelets are handmade in Colorado. I absorbed the words she spoke...Kay knows retail and knows our community. There has never been a time that I've walked into the store and did not want to buy armloads of goods. Her advice on the matter was like gold.
My visit with Kay was pretty darn stimulating. It was Sunday and I wanted to deliver the display the following Saturday. I had nothing more than ideas and Wish Bracelets. When I got home, I started looking around our yard. Sound strange? Well, that's what I always do first. I see what we have that might work {for whatever I'm working on}, and I like rustic/natural sorts of things...which is why I start outside. Kay had also mentioned the use of "wood" several times in our conversation. Dietz Market has a very rustic/natural/barn-wood & iron/warm feel to it. My tastes would be a naturally perfect fit for a Dietz Market display.
While I let my mind work on the elements of the display, I picked two more wish bracelets to wear for photographs {I already had one on}. While I was at it, I made a wish for each. Gabe helped me take pictures on Monday and I got those, tag info, and graphic ideas to
Chloe {my go-to graphic designer}. Then I looked around outside some more. I needed Gabe, again.
I had all sorts of ideas for the display, but nothing was fitting together quite right. It was all just a jumble of ideas, and the display would need some sort of construction {not something I could do, or certainly not in four days anyway}. So, I asked my dear-construction-expert-husband to come outside to look at things with me. I stood at an old weathered table next to a junk pile of ours explaining bits and pieces of what Kay had mentioned; interjecting my ideas that coordinated with what I thought she had in mind. I'd say, "I keep thinking about this tin." He'd say, "Rusted or treated {shiny} {because we have both}?" When I said rusted, but voiced my worries about cleaning the rusted surface he dismissed it casually saying that we could spray it with shellac for a nice finish. When I mentioned, "I keep thinking about old crates...like pop crates..." He said, "Like the one sitting by my printer with paper and wires in it?" It went on like that, and I kid you not, within thirty minutes we had all the pieces for an amazing display worthy of Dietz Market! He got out his tin snips and cut a piece to size. I found a barn-wood frame hanging in True & Elle West's room that fit in our crate perfectly! Over the next few days, Gabe put the finishing touches on the display, Chloe sent me some amazing graphics, and I tagged wish bracelets! Here's how it all turned out >>----->
Well, what do you think?! Kay l.o.v.e.d. it. She positioned them by the scarves, which I thought was quite appropriate. They are just to the left of the front door! If you happen to stop in, let me know what you think of them, and the display, in person!
Putting that display together was SO much fun...it is hard for me to explain what work like this does for my soul. Aahhh. As if the wish bracelets weren't cool enough already...oh, don't worry, you're gonna hear more about them!! Click
here to see the official page...when the text is blue, it's linked with the specified heading info!
By the way, now we also have pages with
Retailer &
Wholesale information! Have a look to see where you can find Pretty by JL in your area! Let us know if you have a retail location and would like to carry Pretty by JL accessories, or feel free to suggest a retail location where you feel Pretty by JL would be a nice fit!
X O X O, JL
