YAY, Spring! Updates and News...

Well, hello!

I'm sorry it's been a little longer than planned to update my blog.  I always seem to remember to update it when I have to run to do something else!  I think that's always the way, though.

After the weirdest "winter" ever, we're back again in spring.  This is my favorite time of year.  Everything starts to turn from this dull green to bright green.  No, it's not fun for allergy sufferers, but the blooming trees are just beautiful.  I have another month before I get to hang my hummingbird feeders again, filling them with sugar water and cleaning them almost every other day.  It's arduous sometimes, but I love seeing those little buzzing beings flying around my front and back yard.  I've had the same three return each year, so I'm looking forward to seeing my rubies again!

The pups are happy to be able to go out on walks again.  The lack of walks was mostly due to Mike's knee needing to heal from his meniscus surgery (I would have walked both, but I cannot handle Sam... he's way too strong for me!).  He's slowly back at the gym and doing pretty well. The Madam was cleared for her spay with an xray showing no masses.  The vet said that he thought she was even a little younger than we thought... possibly 4.5 - 5 instead of 6?   Her spay was scheduled for Thursday, Feb. 23.  Brady and I visited her on Friday, and she truly looked traumatized.  I felt so badly, but with a uterine cancer risk of 85 - 90%, it had to be done.  We carefully brought her home on Saturday and she's healed perfectly.  We had to make some adjustments to her hutch, going from a two-story to a one story, which she was NOT happy about.  Speaking of bunnitudes, I read on many forums that sometimes a bun's attitude dramatically changes... or they don't speak to you for quite a while afterward.  I was so worried about this, but she's just as kissy as she was.  She has been different in some weird ways.  She's almost impossible to get out of her hutch for her free roam and even harder to put back in.  She doesn't like being picked up at all and just hops a foot in the air if you try to do so.  It's not that she's in pain, I think it's just that she was grabbed and moved a lot at the vet and she's wary of it now.  She doesn't get as excited about her hide a treat toy much, anymore, and she doesn't jump up in my lap like she used to.  It's only been a month, but hopefully, she'll be her old self again soon!

Sorry there was so much about the bun, but everyone always wants to know about her the most!

Ok, some updates!

MEDIUM STUFF:

I am still working through my wait list, so thank you for your patience!

Regarding my waitlist.  What I basically do is pull about 6 people for 6 spots and write them with dates, info, and prices and then ask for them to get back to me to book ASAP.  The pattern seems to be that about 1/2 get back to me within a few days and are booked, easy peasy.  The other 1/2 I just don't hear back from, even after a few reminder emails where I mark a "1, 2, 3" near their name.  I have a mail track system that shows me if someone opens my email, so I know it's been received. After the third email, I will cross the person off the list.  All this said, if you are on the list and want a session, it may come up a little sooner than I thought.  :)

If I send you an Appointment Availabilities email and you are no longer interested, would you please simply reply that you are, in fact, no longer interested?  Thank you so much... this way I can get to other clients faster.

CLASSES ARE BACK!

I am once again holding my Psychic Development and Animal Communication classes in my Chantilly, VA office.  I was holding out for a while trying to find another hotel or large conference room who wouldn't charge me an arm and a leg and just haven't been able to find one yet.  So, I just decided to hold smaller classes in the office suite I'm in now.

These are going to be a little different in that they will be very small, intimate classes with 4 - 6 students only.  The PD class will be 4 people and will take place in the office where I conduct sessions.  The AC class will be held in the conference room in my office suite.

Upcoming classes:
Psychic Development - Sunday, April 30 from 11 - 4 (SOLD OUT)
Animal Communication - Sunday, May 21 from 12 - 3:30 (5 spots left)
Psychic Development - Sunday, June 4 from 11 - 4 (4 spots left)

Interested?  Here's the link to my Events page! 

JEWELRY STUFF:

I'm currently looking for worthwhile fairs and shows to attend and will keep you updated when shows come up.

Also, if you don't already know, I've had a big sale going on for about a week in my Etsy shop and still have some really pretty pieces left!  Just a few more days and it'll be over!

YOU get 25% OFF any item in my shop (excluding custom orders) if you use COUPON CODE: YAYSPRING at checkout!  25% off!!  :)

Go take a peek!  As you can see, my pieces are already pretty reasonable.  Imagine 25% off!  :)

I think that's it for now!  Ms. Bun needs to go back into her hutch, so we'll see how long it takes me.  :/

Hope you all have a wonderful week and let me know if you have any questions about anything!

Barb xo

Expanding Horizons

Hi everyone!

Yep, I suck at keeping up with my blogging, but that’s going to change.  And there are a few reasons why, which I’ll get into later.  While you read these, however, please keep in mind that I really don’t feel the need to gramatically correct anything, heh.  I think that’s part of my problem.  I can be so worried about how a sentence is being written that I just decide not to write anything.  Anywhoo…

So, for those who follow my pages on Facebook, you’ll know that I’ve recently (as of December) started back up my jewelry business.  About 16/15 years ago, I had a website and created and sold more metaphysically/spiritually inspired jewelry.  Little, unobstructive pretties with gemstones, charms and chain.  I really loved it and since many weren’t really creating much metaphysical jewelry, I did pretty well.  At the same time, I was feeling incredibly pulled to expand and work with my own intuitive abilities and well, the rest is history.  I’ve been a spiritual medium since then and love my work tremendously.  It’s something that has always fed my soul and brought joy to me and my clients.  What could be better?  Welllll…. all that said, this year or so I’ve found myself feeling a bit burned out.  I don’t work a “regular” job; taking clients is the only way I help to pay bills.  Because of the economy and my husband having a very hard time finding full time work (he finally did, phew), it’s been more about “having” to work rather than “wanting” to work.  Before, I was helping with the bills and taking care of the kids, but these past few years it’s been more about what absolutely needs to be in money-wise in order to survive.  This brings a different energy and I’ve tried hard to harmonize my feelings about this and to stay positive.  The work I do has enabled me to have an extremely flexible schedule, to be home for my kids and be there whenever they need me, so I’m very blessed and grateful, but… I really wanted to bring into my life something more creative, as well.  This is something that comes through for my clients all of the time.  Balance, harmonize, bring joy into your life.

After many months of thinking about it, I finally went down to the basement and found my two huge boxes of gemstones and silver charms and took inventory.  TONS of things left over and I started to dabble again.  Had to find my old tools, but once I did it was like a bolt of lightening hit me.  ZAP!  I started ordering ear wires, new beads and some chain.  I created a few pieces, started an Etsy store and was having a ball… THEN, I had the idea, “hey, these earwires are just sterling wire.  I wonder if there’s a video about how to make your own earwires?”  Well, there was!  And lots of them!  Times are so different now… if you need to know how to do something, YouTube it!  I learned how to make my own earwires, and then I learned how to make my own headpins, and then what were these?  ”Balled” headpins?  What do you need to make those (and thereby saving a TON of money)… a micro torch???  Ok!  And it was about this time while hammering on a plastic table in my living room that I had the thought that this set up just wouldn’t do.  I saw how folks had (can you believe it?) JEWELERS BENCHES and bench blocks, bench pins and tools and saws and lights and containers and … SOLDER EQUIPMENT?  Nope, terrified of that, so I YouTubed it, found easy videos of how to use silver solder paste or wire and fell in love.  I’ve now gone from a Micro butane torch which I’ve used to solder much of my silver, to owning an acetylene torch (no, I haven’t used it yet… still scared… ha).  The cool thing?  My daughter just got engaged and her fiance’ is a metalsmith, so I can ask tons of questions about this scary torch, which I hear isn’t really too scary afterall.  Hmmm….

Anyway my office, where I’ve always conducted my phone sessions has now become my office/studio.  I have three workbenches (well, ok, ONE real workbench, and two tables.  Still trying to find a cheap workbench or two!) and different stations: hammering/creating, soldering, pickling and tumbling.  My basement bathroom is now where I rinse and patina my silver.  Basically, I’ve taken over 2/3 of the basement and am now trying to really “get out there” and sell more jewelry – emmm, yep, to pay for what I’ve put into it!  :D  I’ve sold many, many items, and have even created custom orders (4 of which were wedding bands, how cool is that?!?) and yes, I’m in love!

I’m getting pretty good at putting pieces together now.  Surprisingly, there are many self-taught silversmiths out there.  Eventually, I’d love to find some classes, but it’s going well and I feel I’m in it for the long run.

So, you’ll see more consistent blogs about my progress along with things I’ve learned the hard way NOT to do (um, wear shoes and natural fibers so you don’t burn yourself, derrr!).  I’ll even do a few videos of how to make certain things… this helped me so much while I’ve been learning and gave me such inspiration so I want to do the same for other newbs.

If you’d like to see some of my work you can find it at http://www.barbmallon.etsy.com 

Go see!  Everything’s on sale until the 30th!  With that, it’s time to pull my jewelry out of the tumbler which, by the way, freaks out my new dog!

Enjoy your day!

Barb