Favorite new pieces

These are my first forays into Viking Knit pieces. (Yes, Viking Knit was done by the Vikings. Examples have been found as early as the 8th century.) My extraordinarily talented mother in law does the weaving and sends me long lengths of it.  From there I cut it and work it into a finished necklace or bracelet.  I'm interested to attempt earrings, too.  I've had the woven sections for months and months but have been afraid to do anything with them, lest I ruin a length of weave that took hours and hours to finish.  I've gotten over my fear and I'm glad I have!  I really like how they've turned out.  I like pairing the almost geometric weave with something organic and rough, like the raw turquoise or the seemingly random bunch of pearls. 

Excited to launch my page!

Last night at 1am we officially launched www.terravidadesigns.com !  The business and website have been over a year and a half in the making.  I began making jewelry to sell for charity donations in the summer of 2009 when I was raising money for Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Team in Training (TNT).  I was training for the Dublin Marathon and had to raise over $7,000.  I had never in my life raised that kind of cash and had no idea where to start.  I'm not great at marketing myself.  I didn't have the time or sales skills to walk the malls and get donations from stores. I can't sell a glass of water to a dying man in the desert. 

I started making simple earrings and selling them on Etsy to friends and family.  100% of my profits were donated to TNT.  Eventually I got more and more creative and started remembering that I have a right side of my brain - something I hadn't used since before graduate school!  Once the money was raised and the marathon was over, I had big plans to keep up the creativity.  Like many best-laid plans before, it went astray.  I found out I was pregnant AND had to chase around a very VERY active toddler.  I slept every moment I could.  Now I have an even more active toddler and a super sweet 4 month old.  I'm still busy and I still want to sleep every moment I'm able, but for me it is more important to have something that is my own.  Something that helps define me as more than a mother. Something that reminds me I can do more than play patty cake (although that is very important!). 


If you are interested in using my site to help raise money for a charity, please contact me at terravidadesigns@gmail.com .