Bloom for Just One Season

Blooming, Beth Hemmila (Hint Jewelry): sterling silver daisy charm

I'm extremely fond of perennials because when you plant them they return year after year, grow, multiply, and spread. They feel dependable to me. I rarely invest my time in annuals even though they add all sorts of variety, color, and pop. They feel temporary, and I don't want to get too deeply attached to them because their life span is so short.

Blooming, Beth Hemmila (Hint Jewelry): sterling silver daisy charm

Then the other day, I realized that sometimes my own life can be like an annual, for some activities I participate in, friendships I make, classes I take, and places I live can be short and bloom for just one season.

Blooming, Beth Hemmila (Hint Jewelry): sterling silver daisy charm

Maybe I'm drawn to daisies because as a perennial they feel unwavering like a constant presence. They never fail to show up in the garden, and they keep their promise year after year.

Blooming, Beth Hemmila (Hint Jewelry): sterling silver daisy charm

Nevertheless, I'm beginning to see the value of embracing annuals, for they teach me how to love more intensely and ask me to be more awake so as to experience every possible moment before they go away.

JCK Rock Star Video Series

JCK Magazine has crafted a neat online video series that follows a group of designers tasked with creating the most beautiful piece of jewelry featuring Swarovski precision-cut genuine gemstones. To catch the different episodes check out the JCK Rock Star Web page. A new video episode debuts each month and will continue through June 2012.

Designers include Alex Woo, Michael Bruder, Nina Basharova, Rosanne Pugliese, and Walter Adler Chefitz.

Seattle's Pike Place Market

Last week I took Amtrak's Cascades train from Portland, Oregon up the coast of Washington to see the Seattle Gift Show. I couldn't pass up an opportunity to check out the Pike Place Market. What fun! Tons of people, music, food, and unique gifts.

Here is a peek at some of the happenings...

Behind the Scenes: Seattle Gift Show Jewelry Displays

One of the ways to sell jewelry wholesale is to have a booth at a trade show. Last week I decided to check out the Seattle Gift Show, to see what kind of exhibitors attend and what sort of displays jewelry designers put together.

Here are a few examples of how jewelry designers constructed their booths. I'd be interested to know if you have any thoughts about which booths work well and why?

The Seattle Gift Show is put on by Urban Expositions, which organizes other gift shows around the country. Check out Urban Expositions' Web site for more information.

Rubygirl Rings

Rubygirl

Rubygirl is a wonderful Portland, Oregon artist with lots of heart. When I first opened Hint Jewelry, I was inspired by her style and great photographs. When I popped by Rubygirl the other day I noticed a bunch of fantastic rings. Come to find out, in 2010, Shannon at Rubygirl produced a ring a day for 365 days.

Rubygirl

To jump start your own creative endeavors, check out her 365 day ring challenge at her Flickr photo collection.

Rubygirl

To purchase a Rubygirl ring be sure to visit her shop and take advantage of the end of the summer sale where Rubygirl is offering 25% off on all her one-of-kind pieces here. See Rubygirl's shop announcement on the front page for details and to receive the coupon code for discount.

Rubygirl

This piece has already been sold, but I think it is my favorite. Too sweet!

Trust in Divine Providence

Providence, Beth Hemmila (Hint Jewelry): sterling silver courage lion, key, and flower charms

I've been watching a lot of The Tudors lately, and it struck me the other day just how much people during the 16th century put their daily lives in the hands of God and King Henry VIII of England. Besides extraordinary dedicated religious figures, I was trying to come up with a single person in my personal life or in Western culture who endeavor to live this way today. 

Providence, Beth Hemmila (Hint Jewelry): sterling silver courage lion, key, and flower charms

This practice of trusting in Divine Providence, believing that ALL outcomes are part of a bigger plan, seems to be a foreign concept to modern society. Countless figures throughout history such as Buddha, Lao Tzu, and Jesus have spoken about the idea of trusting in what each moment brings as part of a greater whole. And for contemporary readers, Eckhart Tolle presented these same ideas in his book The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment.

Providence, Beth Hemmila (Hint Jewelry): sterling silver courage lion, key, and flower charms

It is not a new concept to trust in Providence, to surrender to each moment, it's just something I have a difficult time applying to my daily life because it's a new habit.

For my own desire to remember to trust in every single second of every day, I designed this meditation necklace that includes a lion to give me the courage to yield to the moment, a key to remember to put my faith in Providence, and a field of flowers to remind me that all joy can be derived from this way of Being.

Providence, Beth Hemmila (Hint Jewelry)

See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith?

Matthew 6: 28-30

 

Columbia Gorge Wine Country

At the end of July some friends and I traveled out along the Columbia Gorge to see a concert at Maryhill Winery in Washington. Here are a few snapshots of the Columbia Gorge Wine Country taken at Cascade Cliffs Vineyard  & Winery.

If you are visiting Portland, Oregon and you love wine you will want to familiarize yourself with the map "a world of wine in 40 miles." The Columbia Gorge is an amazing place and has an extraordinary mixture of climate, soil, and geography that creates a unique growing region for grapes.

Gaea Handmade: Ceramic Bead and Pendant Bundles

Gaea Handmade

There is nothing like someone else helping make decisions for you when you feel like there are too many possibilities to choose from. The other day while perusing Gaea's shop, I saw these fabulous Ceramic Bead and Pendant Bundles that seem to help launch you on your way to creating the next fabulous necklace or bracelet.

Some people don't like it when they aren't given control over each and every choice, and then there are others like me that sometimes enjoy a specific set of parameters to work within for it helps me develop a foundation to build around. It can actually spark more creativity then having a blank canvas and too many ideas to choose from. What do you think? Do you like having some structure or a theme to move your creativity forward?

Gaea Handmade

new seeds

Gaea Handmade

personal songs

Gaea Handmade

awakenings

Feral Cat Coalition of Oregon

Here are two beloved creatures stationed outside my door, guarding against vermin, watching for general misbehavior, and greeting all who enter. They are ambassadors for our little community in Northeast Portland. I'm not sure where these feral kitties came from, but it's clear that these scrappers have made their home in the urban jungle and are content to remain wild.

What does your community do about feral cats? It's a confusing issue. Here in Portland, Oregon we have the Feral Cat Coalition organized by a group of veterinarians who have come up with an innovative trap-neuter-return program to reduce the number of strays in our city.

Developing a mobile veterinary hospital, the Feral Cat Coalition of Oregon enables caregivers who are feeding strays to humanely trap animals, get them spayed or neutered, and then after recovery return them to the streets. The program works on the premise that if you remove a group of cats from a food source a new group will move in to take over, so trapping and euthanizing animals at shelters isn't an effective solution.

Whatever their chosen lifestyle, these street smart friends are hard to resist, and each morning I find myself peeking outside my window to see what they've been up to out in the wild.

No Plan: Being in Time with Timelessness

I went right along, not fixing up any particular plan, 

but just trusting to Providence to put the right words 

in my mouth when the time come; for I'd noticed 

that Providence always did put the right 

words in my mouth if I left it alone. 

~ Mark Twain, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, 1884

Lately I've had a bit of luck in my life and have been experiencing a period of time where almost every moment has been an act of spontaneous creation without any planning ahead. It starts with feeling what might be the right moment to get out of bed in the morning (as opposed to looking at the clock) to noticing impulses that come up throughout the day and only acting on them if they feel right. The closest I remember to being like this was on a vacation alone where I'd wake up with no agenda and no one to please. It was delicious and incredibly rejuvenating. This way of being in time with timelessness seems more difficult when you've got obligations to other people, schedules to keep on track, deadlines to meet, bosses to make happy, distractions to indulge in, and the list goes on. 

However, if you are ever at a crossroads, and find yourself in a state of in between people, places, and things, I hope you take an opportunity to experience this sense of being completely in time with the impulse that is arising exactly as you feel or think it. 

I've glimpsed this kind of timelessness being while making art or music, playing sports, performing on stage, cooking a meal, or walking out in nature. The feeling that you don't know what's coming, but you are trusting in the beginning of the next moment and are open and ready to experience it. 

Though it may be hard to carve this place of improvisation out of scheduled time which is filled with pleasing the outside world, I've noticed that I can access this experience more readily through language and communicating with others. 

There are so many conversations that happen throughout day that are holding this amazing opportunity to create with each sound that emanates from your mouth. What if everyone became so utterly aware of their next thought and word that arises and embraced that this simple act in itself is a creative experience between them and Divine Providence? And what would the world be like if every word that fell from your mouth felt like the birth of something exquisitely new that the universe had never seen before?

Royal Mint

Young Jackal, Royal Mint

A photo of a jackal created by Royal Mint caught my eye the other day because most people don't sell this feisty animal in their shop, so I had to find out more.

Here's what Royal Mint has to say about the jackal:

Don't be afraid to bring a Jackal home. If you're lucky enough to find one, hold on tight and don't let him go. We know they have a bad rap, but they are really misunderstood. First of all, they are a nice size. This little fella right here can fit just about anywhere. A Jackal will never growl at your guests or eat your baby, no. That's what dingos do. One thing this Jackal will surely do is give you his heart, if you give him a home. 

Haha!! This is so true for anyone, but especially for those who are practicing Marshall Rosenberg's Nonviolent Communication and accessing their inner jackal on a daily basis :)

Each of Royal Mint's charming creatures has a back story like this so be sure to check out her shop and visit one of the spirits that may already inhabit your heart.

Nordic Spirit Bear, Royal Mint

fly to the north with nordic spirit bear

Mini Spring Bunny, Royal Mint

embrace bunny love

Secret Society of Bears, Royal Mint

join the secret society of bears