Custom Mother's Day Bracelet

For Mother's Day I wanted to make a unique gift for my mom.

I have recently been playing with jewelry stamping, so I thought that would be fun to try.

Now normally I would start with a necklace, but there were two problems with that theory. First, my mom ALWAYS wears a rose pendant that my father gave her that matches her wedding ring. And second, there are WAY too many of us for a necklace! So I went with a bracelet even though she usually does not wear bracelets.... Maybe this one will be special enough that she will wear it, otherwise I will find a shadow box to mount it in for her!

I chose to do this piece in Copper, even though I have mostly been working in Sterling Silver. My mom wears rose gold everyday, and almost NEVER silver, so I hoped this would blend with what she wore more!

The three names together are my brothers and I, her children. The other side, the one with tags galore, are her grandchildren (this really makes it look like Shawn and I have been busy..... oh well!)

I chose the word BLESSED because I was thinking of a Proverbs 31 mother, and how blessed my mom is.

And each little hanging pendant was hand made by me too!

This piece was LOTS of fun to make, and very dear to my heart!

I hope my mom LOVES it!

If you are ever looking for something unique and personalized I would greatly enjoy working with you to create that very special piece, please feel free to contact me anytime!

My Blog Spot Linky Party

I am excited to be taking part in this blog party from The Blog Guidebook! Have you ever check them out?? I always find the coolest information there, and I totally adore Lyndsay and Sarah, who created the Blog Guidebook. If you have never visited there you should cruise on over AFTER you have read my post and left me a little love!

So!

 I am Gretchen and this is my newest blog!

I write here to share the wonderful creations that I make, to bring awareness to my business, Creating 4 Care, so I can continue to work from home and provide care for my children and to share about our wonderful Care Team.

 I know, it's a lot. And it might even seem like it does not tie together much... but it does in my brain!

(yes, I know, I am an artist, so many don't understand my brain, but if you want to try to understand a little more try reading THIS, it might help!) 

I really do LOVE creating things with my hands, and sharing them with the world. So for me, this business venture was an easy choice to make, and so far it has been a complete blessing to my family and I! Through this blog I hope to share some of the passion behind the treasures you will find in my Etsy store and to increase readership, and therefore people who will fall in love with our goodies and spread the word to others!

Finding TIME to blog is the true challenge for me. I get into creative bursts of energy where I create non stop. I also have TONS of responsibilities as a single mom. And to top it all off, one of my children has special needs! So I often have to make sure blogging gets on my never ending to do list, or I simply don't make time for it. Even then my children come first, my clients come second, my employees come third, my household comes fourth and THEN building my business comes next, so there are often spurts of time that I don't get a chance to blog much. It is a bummer, I know, because I LOVE to share, but a girl has to prioritise you know??

When I do get a chance to blog, the most common place I am is curled up in my bed in the middle of the night!

But when I have time scheduled into my day for blogging I love to head out and blog in places like these:

I have a THING for all places beachy, can you tell??

It is a good thing that the good Lord has seen fit to bless me with living where I do!

(Central Coast of California, for those of you who don't know!)

My other favorite place to blog is at a little coffee shop (although the coffee is the LEAST of the reasons to go there... their food is DELICIOUS!) that sits on the beach. I love sitting on their patio, watching the ocean )or better yet, the sun set!) and writing!

So, that is a little peak at who I am. If you want to find out more, please feel free to cruise around, I think we have hidden lots of great little nuggets about us all around this here blog! 

Now won't you leave me a little comment so I can come on over to your blog house and meet you??

Thanks for stopping by today!

New Headband

I thought it would be fun to show you the new headband I made for my daughter for Easter.

(Yes, I know it is WEEKS after Easter! What can I say... it has been CRAZY over here! Read about what has been going on in our personal world HERE if you would like!)

It came out a bit large, but I think it is totally still darling!

Would you like something like this made for a princess in your life?

Leave me a comment with an email address and I would LOVE to create something just for you!!!

Good Bye Reb!

**If you read over on our Family Blog this will be a repeat post for you... sorry!*

Not long ago (or maybe longer than I want to admit ago...) we had our last contact with Reb.

Reb has been on our team for over a year, and he was really the leader of the pack. He was more mature than the rest of the team, and really able to keep his "cool as a cucumber" type demeanor NO MATTER WHAT, which with Nathaniel can be VERY challenging at times. Whenever Reb was on shift, I knew I didn't have to worry about anything Nat might throw at us, and therefore Reb ended up going to lots of events with us. (Events bring out a unique side of Nathaniel).

Nathaniel LOVED Reb too!

Reb had endless stamina for all things sports, which delighted Nathaniel.

So for our closing contact we headed to one of our favorite parks with a picnic dinner and all things sports.

Audrey LOVES this park for all of it;s cool climbing things, but this night she was totally into this huge rock...

Silly Girl!

After dinner and a round of baseball, we broke out the bubbles for an activity Audrey would enjoy.

Surprisingly Nathaniel got into the bubbles too!

Which gave me lots of time to take pictures :)

After a bit Nathaniel just wanted to sit on Reb (why is it kids always want to sit ON people, not NEXT to them??)

Then we were off to more baseball...

Would you please check out that baseball fashion!

Jeans under the dress (because she was cold), jacket over the whole thing, and then cowgirl boots for the finishing touch... interesting sports attire!

We ended the out outing with me TRYING to get a picture of these three silly folks....

At least they were all being silly the same way in this one!

All in all it was a great closing contact and we all miss Reb (and his phone!) very much!

Reb, the Soares family wishes you well in the next chapters of your life and will remember you fondly!

 Take Care!