Where Oh Where have my paintbrushes gone?

So......... I sat down the other day to work on some ornaments made from used light bulbs and discovered I seemed to be missing all my paintbrushes. They are usually kept in a coffee cup the hubby picked up for me on a fishing trip he took a few years ago.

Having encountered this situation on numerous occasions in the past, I knew who to blame. Grimmie fancies himself a budding young artist and is always taking off with the brushes.

After several minutes spent on this latest scavenger hunt, I was able to find most of the missing brushes and get a good start on some happy little snowmen ornaments. In the near future, they will be found in my ETSY shop, ravenheartdesigns.etsy.com. I'm just not sure where my paintbrushes will be found.

Message from the CEO

Hello everyone! We have undergone some changes around here in our first quarter. In mid-January, we said good bye to our part-time employee, Aaron. He was instrumental in dragging us into the social media age. We can now be found on facebook, twitter, and of course, this blog. During his time here, we also did some experimenting with tie-dying baby bibs and onesies, and found the results pleasing.

Our experiments with the screen printer did not turn out as positively, but we were able to learn what does not work, which is half the battle. We are still optimistic that someday you will see screen printed items for sale in one of our ETSY shops. Last, but not least, no accounting of Aaron's time with us can be complete without mentioning that we now all know what the fox says. Now, whenever one of the humans in the household set the timer on the clothes dryer, the dinging sounds take on new meaning. Thank you, Aaron. (Us cats are the kings and queens of sarcasm).

Aaron's lovely lady, a photographer, took some beautiful new photos for our listings. We especially love the outdoor pictures featuring the hand knit scarves, which can be found at ravenheartdesigns.etsy.com.

It took awhile, but the editing is finally finished and the new pictures are now included in both shops.

Several new earrings were listed at ravensmysticmoon.etsy.com, including our new 3-in-1 earrings. The 3-in-1 earrings are actually three different pairs of earrings using only one ear wire. We thought we would try this as a way to save our customers some money.

This quarter also saw us do our first give-away on facebook. Congratulations to Andrea, who was the winner of a $20 gift certificate. She correctly guessed our March 'Stone of the Month', which was Unakite.
The 'Stone of the Month' is a new feature we started in January. Each month we spotlight a different healing stone, offering discounts on any item in either shop containing it. Our Raven Heart Designs shop does not have the variety of stones Raven's Mystic Moon does, and sometimes chooses to provide a coupon code good for a discount on any item instead. In addition to the savings, Madame Z provides a monthly blog post on all the amazing things the spotlight stone is believed to do.

Looking ahead into the next quarter, we will be adding embroidered items to both shops. Raven's Mystic Moon, with the healing stones, pentagrams, yin/yang's, oms, and crosses, is our spiritual shop. With that in mind, we will be adding embroidered baby bibs that reflect the spiritual nature. Our hope for the future is to expand the inventory to include bath towels, also.
Raven Heart Designs is more of a menagerie. The human employee would like to get away from knitting, because it is too time consuming, and focus on other projects. Our plan for this shop is to focus more on the Christmas/ Yule season, but to also add embroidered items here, too. We are planning on adding embroidered baby bibs and onesies that just would not fit in with the spiritual nature of the other shop. We will be launching our line of 'inappropriate baby bibs' soon.

Our long range goal is to learn to digitize our own patterns for the embroidery machine. We want to be able to offer our customers designs exclusive to our shops.

It certainly has been a busy quarter!
See you next update,
Jezebel

Madame Z's Corner: Carnelian

Madame Z provides monthly posts featuring a different healing stone each month. She gathers her info from many different sources including the books: The Pocket Book of Stones; The Way of the Green Witch; Healing Crystals and Gemstones; The Essential Guide to Crystals, Minerals, and Stones; and Grimoire for a Green Witch; the websites: That Crystal Site; Wings of Spirit; and Healing Crystals for You; as well as relying on personal experience. Healing stones are not a substitute for medical treatment. Anyone with serious medical or emotional issues should consult with a health care professional. When purchasing a healing stone, it is best to buy the stone you are drawn to. Healing stones should be cleansed and charged periodically. We cleanse our personal stones at least once a month, and sometimes more often if we feel they need it. Cleansing can be accomplished by holding the stone in a stream of water. A natural stream is best, but since most of us do not have access to one, filtered water is a good substitute. Stones that include metals should not be placed in water because of the risk of rust. These stones can be placed in dirt or smudged with white sage. To recharge the stones, place in a sunny window or in moonlight for a few hours.

We have featured a few calming stones the previous months, and have decided to spotlight an invigorating stone this time.

 

Carnelian is one of the oldest healing stones in history. The Egyptians carried it as a source of energy and vitality. It was placed in the tombs in ancient Egypt as a 'magic armor' for life after death.

Carnelian is associated with the root, solar plexus, and sacral chakras, and is believed to bring an influx of creative and sexual energies. It is thought to increase a zest for life, and to help one regain strength after an illness or injury. It is considered a powerful aid in building courage, passion, and confidence. It is also associated with success, motivation, protection, and grounding. Carnelian is thought to help boost self confidence, aid concentration, and to help with decision making. It is believed to dispel envy and fear, and can also be used to reveal past life experiences. This stone is thought to encourage community spirit, and to promote helpfulness. Physically, carnelian is considered helpful for relieving arthritis pain, and for supporting respiratory function. It is also thought to be helpful with the prevention of miscarriage, and for treating lower abdominal pain caused by cysts.

In our experience with this wonderful stone, we agree that it brings a sense of vitality and zest for life to the wearer. For us, it brings the amount of energy needed, without being overpowering. Carnelian should be cleansed under warm running water once a month, and recharged in sunlight.

 

Grimoire's Sneak Peek

Madame Z is hard at work on her next 'Stone of the Month' post. April's spotlight stone will be one of the oldest healing stones in history, Carnelian. Check out her post next week for all the info.
As always, every item containing this awesome stone at both ravenheartdesigns.etsy.com and ravensmysticmoon.etsy.com, will be 10% off all month long!

Look for our CEO Jezebel's quarterly update later this month, also. We have some exciting changes coming to the shops soon, and she will tell you all about it!

 

Side Project

The past week I have been working on a project for the hubby. Years ago when we were first married we purchased a couple old chairs from an antique shop. The chairs needed to be re-finished and to have new cane seats put in them. Our plan was for me to do the re-finishing and for him to do the caning. He had learned chair caning as a youngster in 4-H, and had taken on the occasional job in the years since then. Well, he has a way of taking on too many projects and not having enough time to do everything, and I made the mistake of saying I would finish the chairs if I only knew how to cane. Long story short, he taught me how to do chair caning, and I not only refinished the chairs, I caned them too. I even ended up doing a couple rocking chairs, one of which can be seen as a prop in some of my ETSY listings. Now all these years later, he was approached by someone who had chairs in need of new cane seats, and who knew it was a skill he had. Long story short again, I have a chair caning job.

It has been fun to get back into caning after all these years, and Jezzie has even taken time out from her busy napping schedule to help me. (OK, so she only moved to a different room to nap. It's the thought that counts, right?)

Grimmie decided to add his invaluable assistance on a different day. Lucky me!

Sick Day

I have been battling what I have labeled 'the head cold from hell' for the past couple weeks. One positive thing about being too sick to make anything new, was it forced me to take the time to list all the finished items. I really get tons of enjoyment out of creating the things I sell. Unfortunately, I have a lot of trouble making myself sit at the computer to list them once they are done. So, with the boss watching over me in case I tried to bolt, the computer work was finished. She and I even managed to work in an online class on digitizing designs for the embroidery machine. The hope is to have embroidered towels and baby bibs for sale shortly, sometime this spring. The long range goal is to use only our own designs on them. CEO Jezebel has confidence in my ability to become a master digitizer, and is even willing to give up a small portion of her nap time to give me all the support I need. In other words, to stand over me and force me to sit at a computer!

Madame Z's Corner: Unakite

Madame Z provides monthly posts featuring a different healing stone each month. She gathers her info from many different sources including the books: The Pocket Book of Stones; The Way of the Green Witch; Healing Crystals and Gemstones; The Essential Guide to Crystals, Minerals, and Stones; and Grimoire for a Green Witch; the websites: That Crystal Site; Wings of Spirit; and Healing Crystals for You; as well as relying on personal experience. Healing stones are not a substitute for medical treatment. Anyone with serious medical or emotional issues should consult with a health care professional. When purchasing a healing stone, it is best to buy the stone you are drawn to. Healing stones should be cleansed and charged periodically. We cleanse our personal stones at least once a month, and sometimes more often if we feel they need it. Cleansing can be accomplished by holding the stone in a stream of water. A natural stream is best, but since most of us do not have access to one, filtered water is a good substitute. Stones that include metals should not be placed in water because of the risk of rust. These stones can be placed in dirt or smudged with white sage. To recharge the stones, place in a sunny window or in moonlight for a few hours.

The spotlight stone for March is Unakite. Unakite, considered a good grounding stone, is a type of jasper. Jaspers are known as gentle, slow healers, and unakite is no different in that regard. This wonderful stone is thought to help one release old emotional wounds in a way that avoids trauma, and to support the slow purging of toxic energies. A spiritual stone, it is believed to bring about a feeling of unconditional love of humanity, and to assist one in finding their animal spirit guide. Like many green stones, it is thought to help one feel a connection to nature, and is considered to be beneficial to gardeners. Unakite, a protective stone, is also considered to be a balancing stone, helping to balance the mind with the emotions. It is thought to help one with the healing of abandonment and separation issues.
Physically, this stone is thought to help improve ones sleep. It is also considered a helpful stone to use when trying to overcome addictions. Unakite is associated with all chakras, but in particular the heart.
Our personal experience with this delightful stone, is of a gentle healer. We feel it brings about a peaceful feeling, and helps us to feel a connection with nature.