Help an Artist in Need

Kimberly Willcox - Help an Artist in Need (click here)

 Please visit Lori Anderson's blog to find out how you can help Kimberly Willcox and enter to win a bag of beady goodies.

Last month Kimberly's studio was destroyed by a fire. 

(photo via Daily Art Muse)

There's a way you can help Karen.  Daily Art Muse has set up a donation button via Paypal, and even if you only have $1, it can grow and help.

Thanks for reading,

Shannon

Is it really August 20th?

I cannot believe the summer is almost over. I feel like I have been running in circles all summer.

I never got the chance to explain why my daughter had a black eye in my last post. See Houdini had decided to climb out of her crib one Tuesday morning resulting in the most horrible sound I have ever heard in my entire life. She fell onto the hardwood floor on her face, she appeared to be fine and it wasn't till later that that the eye started to swell and turn blue. She is such a happy girl that I began to forget that she had the black eye. I did notice no one told me she was pretty for an entire week, which I am SO not used to. I wondered what they must have thought happened.

Things are back to normal now I am working at the salon 3 days a week from 9 till 7 or 7:30 PM. I wish I could stay home but I also love what I do, the freedom it gives me and the interaction with other adults. It is also a great place to display my jewelry and sales have always been good there.
I am trying to build my brand and manage my time better so every minute is useful but sometimes it is nice to just sit and watch TV or play on Facebook.

I am working on a fall line right now, I wish I could think like the magazines they always want the fall items in the spring, for right now I cannot get my brain to think that far ahead so I have never submitted anything to a magazine although I would like to very much. Someday...

I ordered letter stamps from Beaducation and I am so excited I already started playing with them, they are very high quality- a far cry from the letter stamps I was using. They have more "bite" into the metal so I have to get used to that. I already punched right through a 24g blank I was making for Emily. Live and learn. 

I have always wanted to etch metal and I finally have all the supplies now I just need the alone time to do it! I have so many things in my head I had better start keeping a journal because when my mind is full of ideas I seem not to have the time and when I have the time I have no ideas.

My daughter makes me laugh every day, she is such a comedian. She likes us to chase her around the kitchen island, she throws up her hand and giggles. She loves playing peek a boo and in the supermarket on Sunday she was playing while we went up and down the aisles, giggling while she was still under the blanket.
I am hoping to go to the Dutchess County fair next weekend. This would be a first for The Girl and my husband who is not big on crowds of people but will do anything for her...

I hope you enjoy the rest of your summer!

Breast Feeding Walk

Friday morning was the Breast Feeding Walk in Dutchess County. I had wanted to go last year but with The Girl being so colic it didn't happen. I asked my sister-in-law and her 2 year old son to join me and off we went.

We stopped for some snacks to bribe the kiddies with, cookies for The Girl and a roll for The Cousin. It seemed to hit the spot!

We sang songs and learned the 10 steps to successful breastfeeding we began our 1 mile walk from the Poughkeepsie Journal building to the Civic Center.

Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding Every facility providing maternity services and care for newborn infants should: Have a written breastfeeding policy that is routinely communicated to all health care staff. Train all health care staff in skills necessary to implement this policy. Inform all pregnant women about the benefits and management of breastfeeding. Help mothers initiate breastfeeding within half an hour of birth. Show mothers how to breastfeed, and how to maintain lactation even if they should be separated from their infants. Give newborn infants no food or drink other than breast milk, unless medically indicated. Practise rooming-in - that is, allow mothers and infants to remain together - 24 hours a day. Encourage breastfeeding on demand. Give no artificial teats or pacifiers (also called dummies or soothers) to breastfeeding infants. Foster the establishment of breastfeeding support groups and refer mothers to them on discharge from the hospital or clinic. Source: Protecting, Promoting and Supporting Breastfeeding: The Special Role of Maternity Services, a joint WHO/UNICEF statement published by the World Health Organization. After our walk we met at the Civic Center to play games, talk with other moms, ate lunch and win some prizes. I even won a $25.00 gc to ShopRite! I think everyone had a great day, especially the kids....