Why We Need to Share our Stories

Just before Christmas I shared some very personal information on my Instagram about the nature of my grief and the loss of my partner back in May of 2020. I shared about the true nature of my relationship with my partner - that he was abusive towards me, both physically and emotionally. That he gaslit me and betrayed me. He had an affair and he kept a gazillion and one secrets. After he died, more and more was revealed and I went down a rabbit hole for months trying to uncover everything. One thing led to another and before I knew it I was questioning if I ever really knew him. Another fair question to ask: Did he ever really know himself?

I received innumerable responses from followers, most of them supportive. And even more than that, many women shared their stories with me, of getting out of their own abusive relationships. Some of these women I knew, some were people I had never met in real life, all were grateful for what I had shared.

Over the last two and a half years, since my partner died, I confided the true nature of my relationship to many of my closest friends and family. I opened up more and more about it because I was exhausted from carrying the secrets. Grief is also exhausting and I couldn’t carry both by myself -  couldn’t carry the grief and the secrets and not collapse from the weight of it all. Most people I confided in were endlessly supportive, never doubted me, and thank goodness for that because while I was feeling a lot of relief in finally being able to share my story I was also saddled with a fair amount of guilt. The old adage “we don’t speak ill of the dead” has deep roots in this culture and there were times when I wasn’t sure if I was doing the right thing.

Slowly, as time passed, my need to confide in those closest to me lessened, but something else grew. It was a desire to share my story on a larger scale, and even within the context of Tangleweeds. My art has always been highly interwoven with the fabric of my life, and I was carefully excising a large part of it every time I jumped on social media to share something or wrote a Tangleweeds newsletter or shared the backstory on the inspiration behind some of my designs.

I can’t tell you how many times I bit my tongue and minimized my story when anyone at an event, or on Instagram, or in an email, asked about the inspiration behind my snake designs. The inspiration had come out of my own grief experience in loving and losing my abusive partner. But when anyone asked, I always focused on snakes as metaphors for transformation and metamorphosis, emphasizing that we had all collectively gone through a huge transformation through the pandemic. While all of that is true and is part of my story, it left out an enormous part of my personal story and journey.

Getting out of an abusive relationship doesn’t happen all at once and I had tried to leave my partner multiple times over, only to get drawn back in. Even though the way I was released from this nightmare was through his death, and it might seem like an “all of a sudden I’m free” moment, it wasn’t that at all. The trauma that remains is significant, and is going to take me a long time to heal. Creating the snakes was a symbolic way of me getting back in touch with my power and my authority and represented something much bigger than just myself or an attractive piece of jewelry. Creating these designs was integral to my personal transformation and metamorphosis. But when I left out this part of my story, I striped myself of the power of connection with others.

I don’t think we always fully realize what we are cutting ourselves of from when we keep other people’s secrets, as I kept my partner’s. I now see clearly that I was cutting myself off from true connection with others. From both receiving support from others and being able to offer it up myself. There are supportive and healing conversations that cannot happen in this life unless we talk about the difficult stuff. Which takes me full circle back to that series of Instagram posts. The messages I exchanged with women who shared their own stories of abuse offered me support and made me feel less alone. I hope that is what sharing my story did for them, even in a small way. I don’t think we can ever fully know how we positively affect change in others, or in this life, but that is the beauty in everything being connected in ways that we don’t completely understand.

I feel a little bit lighter these days, and the future feels brighter and fuller than I ever thought possible. That doesn’t mean all of a sudden life is easy, but there is a centeredness and a groundedness that I never thought was possible when my life was one traumatic event after another.

Before I wrap-up this post, I just want to say that I hope to share more of my story this year and in the years to come. I hope it can be a beacon for some who may feel lost. And my gratitude to all of you who walk this creative life with me is endless.

Everything is Connected

Today I felt called to sit down and write a blog post. Do you ever have one of those days where getting your work done feels like moving through sludge, but then your focus and your mind lands on that one thing that feels right for your current energy and mood? Writing a blog post was that one thing for me today. Doesn’t help that the sun is shinning beautifully outside and tempting me to throw ALL of the work out the window and just find a grassy spot to lie about and read in. . . 

But there will be time for all of that. Because I am learning how to make the time this year.

If you follow along with my Tangleweeds journey then you know that last year I celebrated 10 years of being in business. It was a milestone. One that I marked with a big series on Instagram (that you can still find in my stories highlights if you are so inclined) and lots of soul searching on my part. Shortly after wrapping up those celebrations major holiday prep began, and I didn’t have a lot of time to really start to implement the changes I had in mind. As 2020 rolled to a start though, I knew things had to shift if I was going to keep moving forward with Tangleweeds.

Which brings us to now. Changes are starting to happen. Brick by brick I am trying to disassemble the old house while building a new one. I am closing most of my wholesale program for the foreseeable future. (For my lovely customers that just means you'll need to make sure to buy from me either online or at events, because my work won’t be in very many shops for a while.) I am retiring many old designs all to make room for more creative work. Lots of one-of-a-kind and very limited edition pieces. Experiments in jewelry making that I hope to become more comfortable sharing with all of you over time. Because I find that I can be a bit protective of new work as it is percolating. And the vintage - yes, after attempting a debut of vintage clothing last year I will be officially rolling out a Tangleweeds vintage program this year. I already sell vintage alongside the handmade jewelry at the events I vend at that allow for it (many events are strictly handmade and at these events vintage is not allowed, unless it has been altered in some way), so this is simply an extension of what I’ve been doing on the side for a while.

In the vein of one of my classic Tangleweeds sayings “everything is connected” I will be playing with that idea - pulling the threads in places, adding new ones in others, stitching holes closed when necessary, and intentionally creating them when it feels right. I’ve spoken and written about it before, but Tangleweeds is my embodiment of that notion: that everything is connected. Naturally, when I started Tangleweeds I thought it would be the engine that propelled and helped to motivate many creative endeavors, not just jewelry making. I sort of lost that focus over the years though, and with my slow shifts and change-making this year, I hope to start to bring that idea of everything is connected back to the center. I can’t say with 100% certainty that I’ll be releasing any sort of handmade collection that isn’t jewelry any time soon - but there will most definitely be more creative exploration in the realm of jewelry, as I mentioned above, and with time, some new art to share with the world as well.

I’ll also be sharing more of my regular ‘ol life, interests, and behind the scenes stuff with my newsletter subscribers as I embrace these changes. I LOVE my subscribers because I think, more than anyone who only knows me through social media, they embrace the whole person that I am. I send out some of my best writings and inspiration lists to this coveted list, and if you are so inclined, I invite you to sign up for my newsletter here. It’s super simple, I won’t sell your email to anyone, and you will have the appreciation from this jewelry artist from the tips of my toes to the top of my head =). 

Lastly, before I sign off for now, have a read of this blog post from the middle of last year. It is when I really was at a turning point with Tangleweeds, where the first inklings of change were beginning to make themselves known. 

Thanks for reading and I hope you have a beautiful week!

Looking Back Looking Forward

It’s been a while since I’ve written a blog post. Before starting this post, I felt compelled to look over my posts form 2018. And one thing I noticed was last year found me struggling with finding better ways to work and better ways to balance life and work. I wrote about taking a 10-day staycation and explored my thoughts about the need for social media as a small business. Which naturally led to taking a social media fast for one month. I also shared with you my conflicted thoughts about where I live and my desire to settle somewhere else in the near future. It was a year full of challenges and growth - growth that could only come out of struggle. When I look back over these posts I know one thing that many of you don’t: most of last year I was working harder than I ever have and dancing with burnout in the process.

Last year could have only led me to where I am now. All of our choices are always taking us one step at a time to the next place we need to be. And last year was bound to throw something at me to slow me down:

Welcome in back problems like I’ve never had - sciatica pain, a herniated disc, tingling, numbness, pain so bad it takes an elephant’s worth of will power just to get out of bed in the morning.

I think one of the only reasons I can write about this in any way where I’m even remotely grateful for what I’m dealing with is because a few days ago it seems like I may have passed the worst of the pain. As I begin physical therapy I’m trying to reconfigure my life around a slower pace. Around a TRUE acceptance in my head that to be less busy is OKAY, that relaxation does not equal being lazy.

I always like to take some time at the beginning of a new year to write about what I hope to realize and bring into being in the new year AND what I would like to let go of. The things I wrote about this year are less things and more ways of thinking:

1. To be more accepting of what I am capable of doing in a given span of time (be that an hour, a day, a month, a year, heck, even a lifetime.)

2. To let go of guilt. Whether that’s guilt for taking time off or guilt because I actually do love my work and sometimes, when it feels right, I WANT to work all day (now, the caveat is, so long as I’m not overworking my body.) To realize that all of the pieces and parts are necessary and not anything to feel guilty about.

3. To run with the things that spark my excitement and imagination and let go of many of the things that drag me down.

4. To better embrace the “middle” and transitional times in life. Whether that’s when I’m in the middle of a work-related goal and don’t know when the dream will be realized, or just in the middle of a big closet clean out. I tend to be bad with “middle” energy. I’m all excited when I’m getting a project started and feel very proud once I’ve realized the goal/dream/clean closet, but overall I just end up trying to rush through the middle. The middle is where a lot of the good stuff is, and I know that when I’m rushing through it I’m missing a lot of life.

And so, I move forward, one foot in front of the other, seeing quite clearly that slowing down is the only REAL way to enact REAL change in my life.

This year is off to a bit of a muddled start. I had a tradeshow very early in the month, that I had to be prepared for. And so I put on my big girl pants and I got it done, even while dealing with an immense amount of pain. I will report: the show went well. And I can happily say there are some new stores that will be receiving Tangleweeds goods for their shop in the weeks to come. But as soon as that show was over I slowed the train down. I’ve mostly taken the last week off and it’s felt great. I even took some time to really clean up my workshop and it now feels like a space I am excited to (carefully) get back to work in. Maybe I’ll even offer up some more mini-tutorials on Instagram like I did last year.

Overall though, Tangleweeds isn’t going anywhere. There are some significant changes ahead, but given that I’m not quite sure how quickly things will happen around here for now, I’m not going to offer up any timelines.

What you can expect to see from Tangleweeds this year:

1. A remodel and pairing down of the online shop. Many designs will be discontinued and overall the shop will have a new, more shopper friendly look. (I will of course announce the re-model and design discontinuation with plenty of notice in case there’s something you’d like to get while you still can.)

2. A new series of limited edition pieces. These will be released on Instagram on a schedule that I have yet to set. I will announce all of this on IG as I refine this way of releasing designs.

3. A PODCAST!!!! I’m beyond excited about this idea. It’s my way of continuing to further the building of the handmade/maker/artisan community, especially as I consider moving out of the bay area this year.

4. More workshops. Definitely my Metalwork Made Easy class, along with some other ideas in the works.

5. A more paired down craft fair schedule. I most likely won’t do any events at all until April or May of this year. This is both to give my back time to heal and to focus on other areas of Tangleweeds.

6. A different focus on my newsletter - I want to grow the arm of Tangleweeds that is about finding the beauty in the everyday. And I want to share it with all of you!

That about wraps up my thoughts for 2019. I could write an equally long post reflecting on 2018, but I’ll just leave it at this: I realized a lot of my goals. Now the challenge: continuing that journey towards new goals while incorporating more mindfulness, more self-care, and heaps more “living in the moment” types of energy!!!

Tell me about your new year goals. Or conversely, how do you feel about the way 2018 went? I love the practice of looking back/looking forward.

My Antidote to Finding the Stress in the Everyday

Last year I started a little feature in my newsletter (and sometimes shared here on the blog) called “The Tangleweeds Tool Kit.” This tool kit was full of suggestions for finding the beauty in the everyday. I’ve loved putting these tool-kits together and plan to continue with them this year (come late February/early March you’ll see them back in your in-box.) As I consider the different things I’d like to include in the 2018 tool-kits, I realized I wanted to share my reasoning behind my message with Tangleweeds: the message of “finding the beauty in the everyday.” While I hope that my jewelry embodies this idea - with pieces that easily fold into your everyday lives - I wanted to more directly address where this message sprang from in my life and business. 

I think my back story is one many of you can relate to: I’m really f*$#ing good at finding the stress in the everyday. Some days I’m better at it than others. Over the years, as I grew Tangleweeds from a hobby without a name or much focus and eventually into the sustainable business it is today, I only grew more adept at finding the stress in the everyday. 

I would wake up most mornings and instantly my brain would start churning on all of the things I needed to do that day. “Ugh, there’s still that pile of dishes in the sink, and I need to write that blog post, and shoot, I forgot to get back to 100,109,560 emails yesterday, and oh-my-god Christmas is only 6 months away and I haven’t EVEN STARTED prepping for the holiday season!!!” Basically I’d wind myself into this tight ball of stress over things that weren’t even real, or certainly weren’t worth the added stress.  

Even more significant was that many of the “to-do’s” were things I was very excited to get to. But I would over-think and over-stress myself so much that it would take much of the joy out of the things I wanted to do (designing new pieces), let alone the things that were pure drudgery (book-keeping). 

Somewhere along the line, around the second or third year of running my business full time, I simply started to realize that I was making myself miserable. That, yes, there were many things about running Tangleweeds that were stressful, but that ultimately I was making the situation that much worse with my constant worry and need for control at all times. And, of course, you can bet if I was being like this with Tangleweeds I was also being like this with most other areas of my life. 

Slowly I learned to stop worrying so much, and to cede control when it was possible, and to not shoot for perfection all of the time. All of these things are easy for my conscious mind to understand, but not as easy for my unconscious to unwrap. Many of the tools I use are similar to the tools you will hear many experts praise: I make time to slow down, I meditate, I schedule off-days from work. And maybe, most importantly, I schedule down time within my work day. Just yesterday I was listing to a show on NPR and there was this time management expert on. (I’m not 100% clear what his area of expertise was but he said something that really stuck with me.) He said that (paraphrasing here) basically it’s not the amateurs in life who take breaks or step away form work when they’re tired, but it’s actually the seasoned experts who do this. That to acknowledge the need for rest is actually an incredibly mature thing to do and that the idea of just “powering through” is the amateur’s way. I heard this and honestly gave a sigh of relief. I think the more that the mainstream can soak up this message the more it will begin to be accepted in all areas of life. 

Hand-in-hand with allowing myself to slow down, came the ability to appreciate the small things more. I wish I could point to a moment when all of this just became easier, but as I described above, it’s all been a slow process, one that is still unfolding. Finding the beauty in the everyday became my own personal mantra and naturally became the underlying message I wanted Tangleweeds to embody. Whether it’s a pile of un-raked leaves in the fall (a personal favorite), or the smell of damp cat fur when one of my feline babies have just come in from the rain, there are too many small moments of beauty everyday to count. 

I’m looking forward to continuing my adventures in slowing-down and appreciating the everyday, and most of all I am excited to share them with all of you this year!

warmly,
Jeannine

Full Circle ~ Changes Ahead and Summer Thoughts

Two weekends ago I attended and vended at the Whole Earth festival in Davis. It was a wonderful time, and I got to see vendor friends that I only get to see once a year, at this event. In so many ways, being a vendor at many different craft fairs all year long is my own version of a traveling circus. We vendors joke about that often!

I came back from this event with lots of thoughts about where Tangleweeds is headed and what I want the business to look like in the years to come. Running a handmade business, there are always so MANY things to consider and sometimes the changes you hope to make get swept under the rug in the running of the day to day, week to week, and month to month. 

So I'm putting this out there, not sure if I'll still want this in a few months or even the next year, but I'm seriously considering finding a way to raise the capital to invest in a better traveling vehicle and to begin to travel further afield for events. I love the idea of hitting the open road more often, and even creating a small work space in my home on wheels so I can work while on the road. 

When I think about all it will entail to make this dream happen I get a little overwhelmed, but I'm hoping to break this down into manageable steps that will get me closer to my dream. Already I am planning an event in Nevada this year, and while that's not that far away, it's a step in the direction I'd like to head. 

For now though, the dream is in it's infancy stages. While I'd like to say I'll update about the progress on it here, and I will, in all likelihood progress will be slow and I may not have much to share for a while.

In the meantime I'm starting to dream about my plans for the summer. I'm really hoping to fit in at least one big music festival (of the bluegrass/country ilk preferably.)

What's on your mind for summer plans this year? I'd love to know!

warmly,
Jeannine

Full Circle ~ Family Times

Last week I went to Disneyland for a few days with my sister's family and my dad. It was great to have this kind of time together, as it can be difficult to get everyone's busy schedules to all line up such that we can go on a trip together!

me and my 9 year old nephew, Noah. He's not bored, he just hates having his picture taken.

This week, being back to work with Tangleweeds has felt great. Sometimes stepping away form something you love is just what you need to re-charge your batteries. 

As a quick reminder, tomorrow is the last day of my Everything is Connected sale (use code "connected" for 25% off all orders) and the last day to enter my giveaway by the same name. Good luck and enjoy!

Full Circle ~ Calico Seasons

My newest collection is here: Calico Seasons. And I'm so happy with how it all came together. The palette really speaks to spring and newness and light femininity, but with an underlying strength. I'm also playing around with mixed metals again, which is definitely getting my creative juices flowing in a whole new way. 

There's also a small selection of OOAK pieces and limited editions, like the Sepia Seasons necklace (above, middle) and the Serpentine River Necklace (above, bottom.)

This collection, surprisingly (or not, depending on how you look at it) came our of a rather dark place. After the elections in November and the divisiveness that arose in our country, I was walking around feeling over-whelmed, angry, and hopeless. When shit goes sideways so to speak (and pardon my french) I often want to throw my all into fixing things, making things better, and I didn't see a clear way to go about fixing what was now, in my view, broken about our society. 

Slowly though, and with the help that comes from talking about these feelings with friends and those I care about, I started to see that the best work I could do would be to continue to do my creative work. I'm now really trying to put more of an emphasis on connecting with others too, helping other creatives out in whatever ways I can. (Part of that work is with the Creative Pursuit Collective, which you can read more about here.)

There four photos above are part of the Vista Series in the Calico Seasons collection. In particular, the Vista Bangle has quickly become a go-to piece for me and I'm finding myself wearing this piece nearly daily. I love this design (in all three - the earrings, the necklace and the bangle) because it's almost "shield" like in it's shape. It feels powerful. And I imagine that from our vantage point, or Vista, as we rise above the mess of the last few months, things will start to sort themselves out and become a bit more clear. 

As I've been saying, this collection is inspired by "nature's lessons and nature's patience." The designs came out of a confused and frustrating time for me, and a time when I found myself calmed and put at ease by simple things, like sunsets and sunrises, the birds chirping in my yard in the early morning or the light fog cloaking my street as I went about starting my day. 

It's funny how something inspired by very confused and dark emotions can end up feeling so light  and cheery, but that's exactly how this collection came about to be manifested. Or it's not so funny at all and in a way makes perfect sense. . . and shows me yet again how most things in life come full circle if we only give them the time. 

Through Wednesday, 3/22, take 15% off all pieces in the new collection with code nature. I will also be including small, hand-written bits of poetry with each item from the new collection. I hope to convey a certain feeling and idea with each design, and the poetry that will accompany each piece is my gift to you. 

Happy Monday everyone!

Full Circe ~ Simplifying and Making Room

The last couple of weeks I've really been focused on streamlining and simplifying many of my habits and methods around how I run Tangleweeds. One BIG part of this has been buying new equipment for my business, something that now that I've done I wish I had so much sooner! BUT, it's fantastic that I've finally made this investment. It has me looking at many areas of my business with a more critical eye, contemplating how I can make things run more efficiently. 

All of this is being done with an eye on making more time and room in my life for things that aren't necessarily 100% Tangleweeds related. I say this because over the last few months I've come to the realization that I don't intentionally make time for much in my life that isn't directly related to Tangleweeds. This is because I LOVE running Tangleweeds. It is my breath and soul and I am so happy to put my all into it. 

Hand-in-hand with this realization, it came to my attention that I actually get more stressed out on days off from work than I do working days. I think this is a many layered thing that needs time for me to thoroughly address. I know there's a few things going on here that I am aware of: 1. I take time off so infrequently that I put A LOT of pressure on that time to deliver in BIG dividends. (as in, it better be a completely AMAZING trip or small adventure or time with friends, or whatever otherwise it's a letdown.) and 2. I treat the time off much like I treat work time, as in it needs to be "productive". Which is crazy-ness, right?!

Thirdly, I've put so much energy and time into Tangleweeds over the last few years that sometimes I feel like I've become a little bit out of touch regarding what I desire from the rest of my life. I think this is two-fold: I was so busy with Tangleweeds (and happily so for the most part) that I ceased to put as much energy into other areas of my life. Also, and maybe the more subtle, hard to pin down thing that was going on in my head, I think I was subconsciously avoiding making some big decisions about the rest of my life. A little bit head-in-the-sand, a little bit workaholic. 

With the streamlining and systematizing that I am diving into with Tangleweeds, I'm starting to see the spaces open up in my life for other things. I actually feel like I have the mental room to even consider what I might want my non-work/Tangleweeds related life to look like. 

The other day I was flipping through some green/new-hippie lifestyle magazine at the bookstore and I read something along the lines of "it's your life, edit it as you please." And that line has really stuck with me. I used to feel like when I wanted to get rid of something, or stop doing something that I was giving up on that thing or that endeavor. Now I'm starting to see that with every thing or endeavor that we choose to move out of our lives, we make room for something new. I'm pretty darn excited about what embracing my inner "life editor" may look like in the months (ands years) to come!

Full Circle ~ Self Care and Creative Windows

Getting back into the swing of things this week. Working on my next collection for spring and summer. Trying to focus more on self care. I often struggle with that last one. I'm so driven to work hard and create with Tangleweeds that sometimes it feels easier to, well, just do things the easy way, which for me tends to lead to long work hours and not a lot of time for taking care of myself. But I promised myself I'd truly make an effort to take better care of myself this year. I'm starting small: daily meditation (even if it's just in the car during my drives from Vallejo to Oakland and back), flossing (and making an appointment for a teeth cleaning), and stretching - all daily. 

Turquoise and Moss Agate Redwoods Necklaces

The Wander Necklaces and Stepping Stones Bracelets

Pieces from the Earth Relics Collection

Above, assorted photos from the Seattle tradeshow and work in progress. Also, I got a rolling mill last week and I couldn't be more thrilled. It's seriously helping to streamline a huge chunk of my production along with opening up some new creative doors. I'll post more about the mill once I really get crankin' with it!

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Below: Some pieces that shipped out to one of my new stockists in Seattle.
+ 
worktable explosion as I work on my next collection

Ahh, Thursday. My favorite day of the week. Seriously, for the longest time it's been my favorite. Two of my favorite radio shows are on on Thursdays (one about herbalism and one about astrology and activism), and in general there's just something in the air that makes me love this particular day of the week. Today I'm working from home, but I'm also going to take some time out to go see a movie all by myself, one of my absolute favorite things to do! I think I'm going to go see La La Land.

Enjoy your Thursday everyone!

P.S. Next Tuesday my first Creative Tenacity post will go up here. I'm touching on some of the most salient advice I was offered when I was first starting out, and why it took me a while to realize I needed to take the advice offered. I hope you'll join me here for a good read.

Full Circe ~ Ready to Dive In

Good morning! And happy new year! (even if it is a couple of weeks late=) I'm freshly back from a trip to Seattle for the Seattle Gift Tradeshow and a two day re-treat with my fellow biz-ladies, the Creative Pursuit Collective. Needless to say, the last half of December and the first half of this month have gone by in a blur! 

I drove up to Seattle with Amy Rose. It was a winding and challenging adventure, what with the huge storms blowing through the west coast during our travels. Not to mention the nervousness ahead of us about how the tradeshow would go. The trip was a good reminder though, that if I can push myself to do things that make me a little nervous and a little uncomfortable, that the rewards will come in dividends for years to come! I'm now feeling a little bit like I could take on the world if (I needed to.)

By Chance necklaces - a popular hit at the Seattle Tradeshow. 

Slightly tacky opulence at The Unicorn lounge/bar in Seattle. We didn't have a lot of time for non-work related activity, but we managed to sneak in a bit of downtime! I simply adored this place.

A couple of days after getting back from Seattle, I was off to a short two day re-treat with the Creative Pursuit Collective, a small handmade business incubator group that I formed with Kyla O'neil of Impressed BY Nature almost two years ago. This was our first re-treat. It was rewarding, challenging, and insightful. We're already planning a mini-one for the middle of the year!

The ladies of the Creative Pursuit Collective (CPC) left to right: Ann Marie, Kyla O-Neil, Laura Bruland Shields, Maggie Hurley, and me! (Not pictured, Creek Lia Van Houten)

There's going to be lots of great stuff coming in 2017 for Tangleweeds and I can't wait to share it ALL with you guys. But, first and most relevant given that you're reading my blog right now: I'll be starting a series called Creative Tenacity. It will be a series of monthly or bi-monthly blog posts chock-a-block full of helpful tips and info for anyone hoping to venture into the world of selling their handmade goods. Look for a post with more details about that next week. 

And in the meantime, I hope 2017 is off to an inspiring start for everyone. I know we've all got our challenges and that the road ahead will not always be clear. What I do know is that the more you surround yourself with people who can support you through it all, the little bit easier and more manageable it all becomes.