We Welcome Refugees

image by Little Things Studio

I have been so heartbroken by the images of the Syrian refugee crisis. I feel helpless, but I know there are small ways in which I can help. Coincidentally, my friend and fellow Nashvillian Kate Whitley of Little Things Studio designed the above graphic and reached out to her network of makers like myself to encourage us to donate a portion of our sales to one of the organizations actively helping the refugees. The quote below is from Kate's response:

I’ve often thought what would I have done if I had lived during WWII and known about the concentration camps in Germany. Would I have sent money? Would I have spoken out and talked to my friends, local church, my city, and my government? Especially when some of the persecuted practiced a faith I did not. Because that’s what I would want to do. I wouldn’t want to live in regret. I don’t want to live in regret now over the refugee crisis. What if this moment is in our history books? What if it gets worse? And what if I did nothing?

I love Kate. So to help, we decided we would donate 10% of our booth sales and our online retail sales during the Renegade Craft Fair held on September 19+20, 2015 to World Relief. We officially donated the money we raised today and it feels so good to help, even if it just a drop in the bucket of what is truly needed to help these people. If you would also like to donate to World Relief, click here to learn more.

I also donated to the Migrant Offshore Aid Station - click to read about it if you haven't heard of the amazing rescue ship in the Mediterranean.

To read more about the crisis and what you can do to help, read "5 Ways To Stand Up" and visit We Welcome Refugees. You can read Kate's entire blog post that really resonated with me about why we should take action in this crisis.

Thank YOU friends and customers, for supporting Freshie & Zero (for 9 years!) and allowing me to not only support my family, but also to donate to causes where my heart is called. Something my pastor said to us in church a few weeks ago really struck me. I'm paraphrasing, but he said something like "You may not be called to help in this crisis in Syria. But if you are a Christian, you are called to help the poor." I would also like to believe that if you are just a human, you are called to help the poor. 

On a mostly unrelated note, if you haven't heard the Death Sex & Money podcasts about Hurricane Katrina, go listen now. SO eye opening to what people in New Orleans actually went through - I had no idea. My favorites were Big Freedia and Terri Coleman.

Summer Jewelry Care Tips

With the temperatures rising and the urge to be out in the gorgeous sunshine in full effect, it’s important to keep in mind that sun, sweat, exercise and traveling can take a toll on your jewelry.  This summer, beat the effects of the heat by checking out these simple Jewelry Care Tips from Freshie & Zero to ensure that your pieces stay sparkling all summer long!

Q: When should I avoid wearing my jewelry in the summer?

A: It’s important to avoid wearing jewelry in any sticky or sweaty situation with excessive moisture. Sorry Southern gals but if you're going to spend a lot of time outside in the humid days of summer (at a festival, outdoor concert, the beach, etc.) it's probably better to leave your Freshie & Zero necklace at home. BUT you can wear your Freshie & Zero earrings on a hot summer day instead!


Q: Should I exercise in my jewelry?

A: It is not recommended to exercise in your handmade jewelry, as it can cause unnecessary stress on the piece, and the salt from sweating does not react well with the metals. 


Q: Can I swim in my jewelry?

A:  I definitely do not recommend wearing jewelry in a treated swimming environment (unlike a natural environment like a lake or ocean). I learned this by mistake - I was wearing a silver necklace and got in a hot tub and it's never been the same since. Any sort of pool or hot tub has chemicals that the jewelry does not like, so play it safe and take them off before swimming. 

Q: What products should my jewelry avoid contact with?

A: In the summer, sunscreen is the big one to avoid when safeguarding your jewelry. Although the chemicals in Sunscreen protect your skin from serious harm, the same cannot be said about its effect on your jewelry. You should also avoid hairspray, lotion, and perfume as they have a damaging effect.
 
Q: Whoops! I got hairspray on my jewelry! How should I clean it?

A: If your pieces get "dirty" with sweat, sunscreen, hairspray, etc - make sure to wash your jewelry as soon as you can with mild soap and water (and rinse and dry well) to get the offending elements off of your jewelry.

Q: How should I store my jewelry?

A: Always store your pieces out of the open air (even though branch jewelry holders are super adorable) - instead store them in an airtight container or bag. Vacation tip: when traveling, don’t forget to bring your jewelry storage essentials so you have a safe place to keep your pieces!

Jewelry Storage from The Container Store

Q: My sterling silver jewelry has tarnished! How do I remove the tarnish?  

A:  Luckily sterling silver is super easy to clean! Special jewelry cleaning cloths will do the trick but they can take a lot of time & elbow grease so I prefer an actual liquid cleaner. You can pick up silver jewelry cleaner at any CVS/Walgreens/Bed Bath & Beyond type store and simply dip, rinse well, and dry! Just make sure you don't dip any of the stones or pearls in the cleaner - it will dissolve their luster. Even easier than that is cleaning them with toothpaste and a toothbrush (that you no longer use, of course!). Clean, rinse, and dry!        

Q: My gold filled jewelry has darkened and looks dull! How do I shine it up again? 

A: To be clear, Gold filled does not tarnish or "rub off", but it can darken if not taken care of properly (for example, you wore it to that hot summer festival and after a day of sweat, it turned dark). My own secret trick is that I dip it in a sterling jewelry cleaner for just a second or two to remove that outer dull layer, but that may not be a recommended practice if you ask an expert. I've also found that putting it in a regular jewelry cleaner (not one specifically for sterling silver) will shine it up again, too. 

My secret household weapon for gold is just a little liquid laundry detergent mixed in with about a cup of water - stir it up, soak your piece in it, and clean it with an old toothbrush if needed. Rinse and dry well when finished.  

*On some of my pieces that have a gold ring, there is a soldered joint that will occasionally darken due to wear and weather.  Simply buff the dark spot with a jewelry polishing cloth or clean it with a liquid jewelry cleaner to shine it back up again.

If you can boil it down to one fundamental rule of jewelry care - avoid all things moisture as much as possible to ensure your jewelry stays as pristine as possible!

Some of our favorite products: 

Empire's Instant Tarnish Remover 

Sunshine Polishing Cloth 

Jewel Brite Cleaner

Instagram

I got an iPhone for Christmas, so I can now officially call myself an iHole. But luckily, I don't say things like "You're just kidding yourself that Android is better than iPhone" (I'm looking at you, Beth Howard!) because really, they're just different. I loved my Android but there just wasn't a great new Android phone on Sprint that suited what I was looking for.  So my hubs got me one for Christmas using his "new to you" program discount.

That's love, people.

There are definitely things that I miss about Android, but there is one program that makes up for it. It's Instagram, of course! I knew I would love it from all of the cool pictures my friends had been posting, and I was right. It's so fun to use and I love checking into my friend's feeds and seeing what they're up to.  For some reason, you can't look at these things online through Instagram's website (what's up with that?), but there is this other cool website called Statigram were you can view all the lovely photos on your computer like so:

Then throw in more fun apps like Diptic and PhotoStudio to edit your photos, and voila! I have found a new time suck.  Just what I needed...

This is inside the Nashville airport

Zero, with his standard "read my mind" face

Eddie's Attic in Decatur, GA 

 My daughter & Zero look out the window. Cute, right?

SO fun. Do any of you peeps out there know of any other awesome Instagram related programs or websites I should know about?

Pinterest

Are you hooked on Pinterest yet? I go in and out of phases, mostly when I have a project I'm working on to distract me from actual work.  Last spring when I was looking for a studio, I was pinning anything and everything to help me decorate this imaginary amazing place:

 

Of course, then I moved into a boring office space with grey carpet, fluorescent lighting, and a drop ceiling.  I moved in quickly, and I didn't even paint the boring white walls. It doesn't have beautiful hardwood floors or cool brick exposed walls, but it's very safe and I call it home.  I started a paper plane garland across the ceiling, and after months of them sitting in a box, I finally finished hanging one of them (there will be three, dammit).  I am also planning on painting a chalkboard wall in the next few weeks, though. It will be Pinterest worthy, people.  I hope...

About the same time as all the studio dreaming, I was obsessing over stylish baby girl clothing that I mostly couldn't afford. That was fun as it only involved making purchases and not actually following through with making actual clothing which is good since I can't sew...

 

Then I got very, very busy. I didn't go on Pinterest for months. I didn't waste hours scrolling through fun and inspiring pin boards. Don't tell the cool kids, but I kind of forgot about it. But for some reason, I got back on the wagon this year (or is it off the wagon? I always get confused which is which) and started pinning again. And it's So. Fun.

It makes me want to create things again. Things that I am not planning on selling. Things to decorate my house and my children's rooms with.  Art projects to do and paint chips to recycle for alternative uses!  Pinterest has no shortage of adorable DIY inspirations, and just to add a little performance pressure, they are very well photographed:

Such cute stuff.  I hope I have time to do at least one of these little craft projects...

In addition to all the fun, Pinterest is also being touted as a great way to promote products and drive traffic to your website. Even Real Simple magazine thinks so. If I had time to look at my Google analytics, I could see if this is true for me, too.

Then there's the nagging question, How does Pinterest make any money? Here's an interesting article about the founder that basically says it doesn't... yet. It's been valued at $200 million, but it doesn't actually generate revenue. Wow.

So what about you? Are you staying up late on Pinterest, too?

Kind Words

print by Please Be Still

Every so often, I get a little hard on myself, overworked, overwhelmed, and I start to doubt what I'm doing and what I'm making. Sometimes it's because I haven't been feeling very creative lately. Sometimes it's because I simply need more sleep (or more coffee). It can also easily happen if a customer goes all crazy on me - maybe they're having a bad day and they decide to take it out on me (or maybe they're just a bitch). I'm sure no matter what line of work you're in, customers (or coworkers or bosses) have been unfairly unkind to you and it's easy to get bummed out or worse - down on yourself.

To counteract these dark moments, I've made a folder in my mail program called "Kind Words". Whenever someone writes anything nice to me, I drag the email into that folder so that I may revisit it whenever the blues set in. It's like a pep talk and can turn around a bad day for me! Here are a few happy thoughts from that folder:

Hi, I bought the post rectangle gold-filled earrings at the Renegade arts fair in Chicago and they have quickly become one of my favorite pairs of earrings-- I cannot take them off! They are beautiful and elegant and go with everything, I have been wearing them almost every day for weeks, to work and out. You have a new customer, thank you!!! Erica

..........................................................................................................................................................

You may or may not remember, I accosted you at Yazoo a while back to compliment you on your work. I continually get great comments on your pieces whenever I wear them, and I'm so happy to get to add to my collection. :)

..........................................................................................................................................................

Hi Beth, This is a quick note to say thank you so much. I am loving my new earrings (Kiwi in gold) and having so much fun wearing them! Your jewelry is so beautiful. I met you at Stitch in Austin several years ago and have been ordering from you ever since. Many, many thanks! I hope you have a wonderful holiday season and I look forward to seeing more lovely jewelry from you in 2011. Best, Kate

..........................................................................................................................................................

*Sigh* People can be so nice. And it's so easy to forget that when you're dealing with a not nice one. Take a minute to make a Kind Words folder of your own - put your favorite emails in it (even if they're from your best friends). You may need to use it one day when you're in need of a virtual hug!

away

Radnor Lake

Yep, I've been away from the blog. I've written one post all year. Blogging takes time, and I am seriously in short supply of that so far in 2011.

I've been busy.

Two wholesale shows in January resulted in more sales than ever before (take that, economy!) and 90% of them were to ship asap - yikes! So I've been cranking it out and decided that maybe it was time to get some help. Maybe it was time to move this operation out of my house. And then Anthropologie came a'knockin'. And they wrote some orders. Some big, fat, scary orders. So I got some help, found a studio, and signed a lease. And I started making jewelry around the clock with the help of my husband and my friends. And then it was shipped. It was over. Whew.

So now I'm still really busy but it's not the complete insanity that was February and March. I have a show in May that I'm getting ready for (the Harding Art Show), I am hopefully moving into my studio this weekend, I've been training my two helpers, and I'm planning my daughter's first birthday party which probably would be simple if I hadn't been spending lots of time on Pinterest working on my Party Inspiration board. Her first birthday will be beautifully decorated if my end result looks anything like my pin board....

Luckily, baby girl and I got to go for a stroll around Radnor Lake yesterday. It was perfect weather for a walk, and unfortunately it reminded me how out of shape I am. I was proud of myself that I huffed it with a stroller for an entire hour. I'm sure many of you who exercise regularly are laughing out loud right now, but did I mention my new studio comes with the use of a workout room? Boo-ya!

Quick Jewelry Care Tip

Here's a fun little tip for keeping your jewelry looking fresh and new! You know those little silica gel packs that come with your shoes or electronics that say "DO NOT EAT"? Instead of tossing them in the trash, toss them in your jewelry box! They absorb moisture in the air which is a common culprit of jewelry tarnishing. Just don't eat them. :)

My desk revolts

My desk has officially thrown up its contents everywhere. I usually have the right side somewhat clear but at the moment, I've given up. There's just so much.... stuff. And it's all important. I just need a better way to file things for later without putting them in my filing cabinet, because once it hits the filing cabinet, it's pretty much forgotten forever. At least Greggles emptied the trash for me today...

I got all of my Mart orders entered last night - over a week later. I just can't believe we made it to San Francisco and back in one piece! It was a nice trip, and I'm glad we went, even if my sanity is paying the price a bit. I have so much on my to-do list, I'm having a hard time prioritizing. So I'm writing a blog. And procrastinating. I guess I should get back to my list....

Zero, wet from the pool

Zero, wet from the pool, originally uploaded by Chewieez.

Zero is all smiles in my mom's backyard, after taking a dip in the pool. I'm trying to train him to not be petrified of the swimming pool. He's a great swimmer, but he HATES the water. The first time he saw the ocean as a puppy, he tried to climb onto my head to escape it!

Crema Coffee - Nashville TN

Crema, originally uploaded by Karen Alisa.

Have you been to Crema yet?

It's kind of made me think of Starbucks as sub-par. It's kind of made every other coffee shop I've ever been to seem sub-par.

Crema serves finer coffee and espresso and has a menu full of things you may never have heard of before. The first time I went there, I went there two more times in the next three days, and it's not down the street or anything. Well, it's sort of down the street - I take Nolensville until it becomes 4th and go through the mini-ghetto on 4th Ave. But when you get there all thoughts of ghetto-ness are gone as soon as you walk in and are welcomed by the yummy smell, the friendly service (suck that Bongo!) and the amazing menu full of so many different inspirations that you feel like you have to come back the next day to try another new one. I like the iced Cuban but it's an indulgence (condensed milk is all I'm saying). They also have some tasty summer specials up at the moment.

Crema Coffee
15 Hermitage Ave
Nashville TN 37210
http://crema-coffee.com/