The necklace we were contemplating the other day (in some mighty poor photos) sold for $110! That’s after I asked $100 for it—the customer decided it was worth more than that.
Who am I to argue?
Gosh. This is the first thing I’ve ever made that someone else ventured to buy (well…other than books and magazine articles). How neat!
It gets better. Our stellar First Customer works at a large country club. She kindly gave me the grand tour (and “grand” is the word for it!), with the new lariat necklace draped around her neck. When she introduced me to her boss, the boss admired the thing and when she found out I made it, she was interested in getting one, too. And so was another employee.
The country club has a crafts sale, which unfortunately happened about a week ago and will not be repeated this year. However, it was suggested that if I’m still in the “business” (as it were) of selling these things, by next fall I might like to participate.
😀
How about that?
This evening I finished another one, craving to use a pretty Talavera-style cross and a cute “message” charm I’d found—First Customer wished not to be confronted with religious symbols. Having spent a bit more than I should have on the first effort, I recycled some hematite beads from a large, rather heavy necklace a former student gave me years ago. The beads were pretty but three linked strands were rather much of a much.
The idea of building a single long strand seemed like the highest and best use for the things. Quite a few glass “pearls” and tiny silver seed beads remained from the last project. These all went together nicely to create a light, rhythmic pattern of brights and darks—turned out kinda pretty. IMHO.
As usual, you have to click on the image to see a higher-definition picture.
Originally I planned to keep it really minimalist and add only the little cross and the “Sing” charm, but then decided the effect was more stark than minimal and so added some frou-frou. And some color in the form of a few red beads:
This morning I’ll wear it to choir… Who knows? Maybe Client No. 2 will surface.
Or maybe you’re Client No. 2. If you’d like to purchase a lariat necklace like these, contact me at funnyaboutmoney {at} gmail {dot} com. Each one is different; no two are alike. If you have a general color scheme in mind, let me know. And give me a week or ten days to make it, since a fair amount of time is required to track down the most desirable beads.
😀
In other precincts, over at Budgeting in the Fun Stuff, Crystal and Mr. BFS are feeling a bit unnerved at the confluence of moving expenses and holiday expenses. They’re determined to get spending under control and pay off the mortgage on their rental house in 2013 and max out their 2012 Roth IRA contributions and their 2013 Roth contributions. Don’t expect much of themselves, do they?
Budget Glamorous explains how to become involved in an international homestay program, and better yet, tells some stories of her adventures as a foreign-student landlady (and stand-in mom?). Interesting thing to do, and you can even earn a few dollars for your efforts.
Frugal Scholar and Frugal Son are seeking suggestions for things to sell at a fund-raising bazaar.
At WindyCityGal’s Weblog, Linda is abhorred by inconvenient changes in the squall jacket by Land’s End. She contemplates buying the men’s version, which, par for the course, is better designed and more functional than the new woman’s style.
NicoleandMaggie contemplate potty training in the context of upper-middle-class high-pressure.
At NZMuse, eemusings directs our attention to a new-to-me cloud storage bin for photos, SnapJoy. So far, it’s free, and it looks like it holds a lot of stuff with minimal hassle.
At Planting Our Pennies, Mrs. PoP breaks down the property tax bill, to interesting effect.
At The Blue-Collar Workman, TB visits an abandoned old building in a blighted area and is surprised to find antique printing presses and assorted metal gear untouched.
Donna Freedman has a gently funny post advising on ways to pass the time while some merchant has you on the telephone “hold” button.
Meanwhile, her daughter Abigail is pleased to find a so-called “spoiled” Black Friday ad (one that has been leaked before the corporation’s embargo date), and she points out the excellent reasons for the frugalist to know what will be on sale and by how much.
Money Beagle has one last camper adventure of the year. One tries not to giggle at other people’s headaches, but…heeee! SDXB and I were so lucky to have foisted our camper onto one of his old cronies before it started to cost us a lot of money.
At My Journey to Millions, Evan dispenses some wise and little-known advice about the people you need to name in your estate planning. If you haven’t read this post, you should: it’s extremely important.
101 Centavos has a very interesting post on Sallie Mae—what it is, what it does (some of which possibly it ought not to be doing…), and what its prospects are. In case you’ve been living in a cave, this outfit has a great deal to do with the cost of student loans—yours or your kid’s.
There’s a nice post at Afford Anything on what money actually can be said to buy.
The recent catastrophe on the East Coast leads Nickel to discuss, at Five-Cent Nickel, what renter’s insurance does and (most importantly!) does not cover.
At Bargaineering, Jim trots out the old chestnut about legalizing marijuana and gets broad reader response.
Speaking of reader response, wanna stir up a hornet’s nest? Do as Shawanda does at Fabulously Broke in the City. Amazing how hot under the collar women get about certain subjects.
Free Money Finance asks what figure you’ve set as your “retirement number.”
At Get Rich Slowly, April Dykman holds forth on holiday come-ons to get people to sign up for loyalty cards, one of my favorite hobbyhorses.
Did you realize credit unions have started ripping off customers with fees, just like banks? Mrs. Accountability notes that hers dinged her, and several readers report similar experiences.
At Gather Little by Little, Stew uses the holiday season as a teaching moment, guiding his kids to consider value vs. cost.
