New Year's Resolutions

Every New Year people are inclined to make New Year's resolutions and most times those resolutions are not kept. I'm not really into making resolutions, I just want to enjoy each year to it's fullest and try and make improvements in my personal health, the organization of my home and self improvement.  I love to learn new things and to improve my overall knowledge of things.  This year  I  have set a goal for myself to learn new techniques in making jewelry and to focus on techniques that I am not as comfortable with.  This might be learning a new beading stitch or working more with leather, waxed cord, other metals besides sterling silver.  


When I first started making jewelry over nine years ago I started out with bead stringing and mainly czech glass beads.  At the time there was only a few bead stores in my city and beading books and magazines were not as abundant as they are now.  I actually had trouble finding a beginners book when I started so a lot of the jewelry I made was very simple designs.   Then I found lampwork beads and I was off on another journey using lampwork beads in my jewelry and a lot of swarovski crystal.  I like to think that our styles change and evolve as we learn any skill. Over the years I have grown partial to natural stones and every vacation that my family has taken has included a trip to any bead store that was in that particular location.  My husband has been a good sport in all this.  


I now like to use a variety of materials in my designs and I love following jewelry blogs to see what other people are doing.  So this year my resolution is to further stretch my skills, continue with the old familiar materials and experiment with some new.  I plan to share this journey here on my blog.