Our new bundle of joy is here!

Our daughter Christen went into labor with our 4th grandchild Saturday morning, Aug 22. William John Kolberg was born at 8:20 a.m. He was 8 lbs 8 ozs. and 20 3/4 inches long and is a sweetheart!

Mom and baby are doing great!
Will's big brother Grant loves to hold him as you can see by the picture.

We are so blessed to have another beautiful child in our family.

I just applied for the 2009 Sisters Harvest Faire

Well, I got my pictures together and my cover letter to apply for this years Sister Harvest Faire.

I was lucky to get accepted last year and was pleasently surprised at how well I did, considering the turn in the economy. So this year I decided to apply again. What fun it is to get instant feedback on your work, and to share the processes with interested people. Everyone was so nice and meeting new people is always fun!

The jurors changed what they wanted in the way of photos of your work this year. They also want pictures of your workspace as well as the process you go through to make your craft. So here is one of the collages I put together showing my work and the process to get there. Hopefully these photos will help!

I have also been asked to teach a class next year at the annual Sister-in-Sisters event. I was honored to be asked. It will probably be a byzentine chainmaille bracelet that I choose to teach. It is easy and beautiful. I will have lots of time to get everything together since it will be Sept. 2010.

I will be donating 3 of my Sisters necklaces to the event this year for a raffle. It seems fitting to donate my Sisters necklaces to the Sister-in-Sisters event.

I made a little movie of my studio and jewelry and also incorporated some of these collages in it. I will post that next.

Thanks for stopping by!

Char

I wasn't going to do it!

Told myself I wasn't going to do it. I work at a high school and do not need any more high school drama. But once I started I couldn't quit.

I picked up the first "Twilight" book at my daughters while babysitting, just to flip through the pages. Grant was sleeping and I thought I would just take a look. I was really surprised how quickly I got sucked in. I had heard all the same hype about Harry Potter, which I could not get into, and thought this would be similar.

Four books later and I am waiting for the fifth to be written. Will I go see the movie...oh probably? But I kind of hate to wreck the vision I have in my mind how the characters really look. So in less you want to keep your nose in a book for the next couple of weeks...don't pick up that first one.

It's been a long time since I posted!

Wow, I didn't realize It has been so long since I posted last. The family is growing, and all is good! Our kids make us very proud because they are such good parents and just good people. The grandkids are awesome, and I am sure the cutest and smartest kids ever.

Here is a picture from Thanksgiving 2008.

Lots has happened since my last post, a trip to our nieces wedding in Wisconsin and side trips Chicago, and Iowa, the end of summer and back to work.

Christmas was very busy and quite rewarding. I am so pleased with the great response I have received on Etsy, the perfect venue while still working full time. I am over 200 sales now! It took awhile for sales to take off, I guess we all gave to pay our dues, but now sales are more consistant.

This weekend I am taking another ring casting class. It will be a sort of reunion with people who I had taken classes with before. Evie, Bob, Debbie and Diane...I can't wait. Now if I could only make enough to afford all of the casting equipment.

That's it for now....I'm down to the barn to feed the horses.

OK...so this has been a really good day! A Wahoo day!

My biorythms must be in sych!

Woke up and checked my site and started to post the new necklace below. I noticed my hearts on Etsy kind of went wild (increase of about 30 or so). I figured something was going on. That's when I checked the treasury I had been in and found out it went Front Page..no wonder! And the item that was in it had over 500 hits. This is the first front page I have ever had! Wahoo #1.

Later I received a convo from a person that wanted one of my rings in a larger size...she paid for it as soon as I put up her custom listing! Wahoo #2.

I got it made for her and it is in the tumbler.So I had a minute and thought I would check my site. I had a new convo...this time from Adam from Etsty Admin.
This is his convo:

Hi! This is Adam from Etsy marketing. We are going to be featured in Mary Engelbreit's Guide to Creative Living. Alongside the description of Etsy, we get to include a photo. I would love to send them the photo of your ZIG ZAG Blue and Green Handmade Glass Lampwork Bead Set (listing #7594472) as a representation of great things that are available on Etsy. I just wanted to check with you to make sure that is ok. The only bad thing is that I don't think they will able to credit your shop directly. Please let me know!Thanks,Adam

Well, needless to say I couldn't type fast enough with my thanks and that would be honored! Wahoo #3

I feel very blessed to do something I love to do and also get the Kudos to go with it!

New friendship necklace

The friendships in my life are so very important. I have some very dear friends who over the years have been with me through thick and thin. We celebrate the good and commiserate the bad. We support each others accomplishments and hold each other up when needed.

True friendship doesn't happen often, as my aunt says, you are blessed if you have a handful of true friends in your life. I have created a necklace that celebrates these friendships. A symbol of someone special in ours lives. Be it a girlfriend, mom, grandma, aunt, teacher or any other meaningful woman in our lives, it is nice to let them know that you care.

I wrote a little saying to put in the gift box with each necklace to let our friends know how we feel about them.This piece holds a special place in my heart and I hope it will for someone else as well.

You can see the necklace on my site http://www.charouellette.etsy.com/

We're taking a new class!

Oh, I love having summer's off of work! Deep breath....I am doing some really fun stuff. This is my reward for sending 9 months out of the year with teenager's!!!

First, I started an Agility class with my girl Sophie.Sophie came to us 2 years ago by a fluke.

She had been running wild for over a month in our community. One of our staff came to me and asked me to see if I could catch her. No one had been able to get near her although she took shelter at our elementary school, where she lurked and got free handouts.I was dog sitting my son's chocolate lab, Obie at the time and thought I would take the loveable guy with me to see if we could catch this dog. When I got to the school I saw a beautiful yet very thin, scruffy German Shepard. She took to Obie right away but when we would come close she would run. I decided to just sit in the grass with Obie and just be still. She would come several yards away and lay down. Then a little closer. I thought if I lay down maybe she would not be intimidated, and soon she was closer. I slowly put my arm out, careful not to make eye contact and was able to touch her briefly, but then she would run. I told her that if she would let me touch her, she would never regret it.

Finally on the second day of trying to catch her we tried a new plan. I knew dog control was coming the following day and I was so afraid she would be euthanized because of her lack of social skills. We decided to lure her into an enclosed area with Obie. It worked, now we only had to catch her. We finally cornered her. Now I knew this could be dangerous but I had a feeling it would be OK. We got her cornered and I put the leash around her neck. She just shook. It was so heartbreaking, I just cradled this poor dog on my lap and rocked her like a baby. When I felt she had calmed down I then picked her up to put her in the back of my SUV, concern that she could bite me in the face during this maneuver, but she just layed quietly, shaking with Obie. I was hoping that I could keep her long enough to get her socialized and find a good home for her.

I spent my childhood in Southern California three houses down from Rin Tin Tin's trainer, Frank Barnes and grew up with Rinney (as my sister and I called him) and Frank's other German Shepards, J.R. and Bear Heart, so I have a soft spot in my heart for these wonderful, intelligent dogs.I got home and put on a collar and leash and she had no idea how to walk on one. She circled and circled me wrapping the leash around my legs. When my husband came home I got an idea of some of the things that had happened to her. She was so deathly afraid of him when he wore his baseball hat. I know that she had been abused by someone, most likely a man in a hat. I worked with her and slowly she started to come around. I took her to obedience classes where she did very well, although she was still very scared of things around her. I could tell she just wanted to do whatever I asked of her but at times the fear took over, she wanted to be around people and trust them but was very jumpy and fearful. I was amazed with the fear that she wasn't a fear biter or aggressive at all. She would even let our other dog eat from her bowl and in fact, would not even eat when I left the room, instead she would follow me wherever I went.

I was falling in love with her and so was John although he told me "Char, we don't need another dog" and my response was "No, but she needs us". Well that did it! She is a wonderful part of our lives and a real blessing. She is kind hearted and wants to do anything to please us. She is very kind to her 14 lb. Schipperke sister April who rules the roost. I named her Sophie because when I looked up German names "Sweet" came up for it's meaning. That describes her, SWEET.

ANYWAY....She is doing great in her agility class...going through the tube (A big stretch for her) and over jumps, a ramp and weaving through the obstacles. She even has done it off leash at her second class. She is not motivated by treats like the other dogs, Sophie just wants to make me happy and will do whatever I ask.
It is wonderful watching her confidence grow!