tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12909347387712164202024-03-13T04:44:38.987-07:00On The Rocks GemsOn The Rocks Gemstone Jewelry is designed and made by Maryanne Murphy in Atlanta, GA.On The Rocks Gemstone Jewelryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14024004415836303787noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1290934738771216420.post-32400262993837277212011-07-25T22:28:00.000-07:002011-07-26T08:42:03.773-07:00The Creative Drive. Where Does It Come From? Answered Here.OK. So I'm not very good at blogging entries. Actually it's been so long I didn't know how to get into this thing.<br />
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So why am I here now?<br />
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Well, I just had an interesting experience in how the creative (mine) mind works and I have this wonderful blog just sitting here doing nothing that I thought it needs to be the repository of creative genius at work.<br />
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People often ask "how did you come up with that design." My answer: "just happened." Well it "just happened" and I am rather astounded at the process. and can actually document it. Not that it will help anyone in figuring out how to be more creative.<br />
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I have been working very hard at organizing my studio space for the last week. I've also spent months involved with a wonderful line of jewelry I love, but have been away from my gemstones which I have missed.<br />
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Last night, actually early this morning, until 7:30am, I created 2 beautiful, classic in my style, black pearl necklaces. Ah, it was so nice to touch these beautiful pearls and admire their shinny deep luster. It's with this happiness I was about to embark on working with some gorgeous black agate that I've been dying to get my hands on for months. I have the design inside me and it's just dying to get out.<br />
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I haven't a clue as to how it happened, but instead of creating a lovely Grace Kelly type design that's my style....nothing fancy or ornate. I am of the "less is more" school. Simplicity of design and all that. My mind starts to wonder in an out of body experience. I don't know which draw I opened of the 200 that stare at me on my work space, or which lovely caught my fancy. But I was transported back into another time. Another place.<br />
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I was in a hot musty attic, rummaging through great-great-great-grandmothers trunks. Their had been talks of her exotic travels to the Orient and a great passionate love in India. But digging through her trunk I found no evedence of these stories. Not until I came to find a wad of beautifuly embroidered exotic fabric. I picked it up and noticed that it was wrapped around something heavy. Slowly and carefully I unwound the fabric, admiring it's richness of design and artistis skill until I found it's treasure. Lying in my hand was an intrecitally carved box with an intoxicating aroma that smelled familiar, but I didn't know why.<br />
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It wasn't for awhile until I opened the box, and didn't think I would find anything in it, but I sat down on the attic floor to better examine my discovery.<br />
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The first thing I saw was a very yellowed old piece of folded paper. I carefully lifted it out of the box, but the edges crumbled in my figures. I was wondering if this could be something written by my long ago grandmother. How exciting it would be to read something that she wrote, maybe about the adventure of this box and fabric I had discovered.<br />
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As I cautiously unfolded the paper that was still fairly in one piece, I was shocked by what it said.<br />
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"These are her dowry. Please see that she gets them. If you are to late, treasure them always, as I have you" Signed with a flourished "R."<br />
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I was so ingroused with the note thinking it could be from that great lady of ages past it didn't dawn on me that there was something else in the box. A dowry?<br />
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There was a beautiful ice blue velvet piece of fabric looking at me. I ran my fingures across it enjoying is silky texture. So soft. But I could also feel something underneath. I held my breadth as I lifted it out of the box and carefully unfolded the fabric to reveal..............the earrings that I was making.<br />
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This story was going through my head as I took this piece then that piece. Tried another. Ah, they fit! Slowly reveling a scrumptious earring of a different time. A different age. A different place.<br />
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Something SO radically different from what usually comes through the creative force that's within me.<br />
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It was like a puzzle. No, a compulsion. To bring into being this exotic elegant design of ages past into the present.<br />
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A 10mm white freshwater pearl.<br />
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Several small antiqued silver pieces building a story around it.<br />
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A sparkel here, a small textured ring balancing the shapes of three other pieces on top of it. There that works now.<br />
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No, no. Take it a part and do it again. Upside down.<br />
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The smaller one, then the larger and smaller again.<br />
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Ah, the flow of the shapes. The luster of the pearl. The many layers of intricacy.<br />
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A journey ended.<br />
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An earring luxurious and mysterious and beautiful enough to be a brides dowry and worn on her wedding day.<br />
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The creative process is a journey that an indescribable force takes one on, which draws from nothingness into small pieces of reality.......... revealing something that wasn't here before.On The Rocks Gemstone Jewelryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14024004415836303787noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1290934738771216420.post-16503514048733219892011-02-18T14:04:00.000-08:002011-02-19T10:35:56.379-08:00Springtime at The Christmas Corner: One of my favoriate people and shopsI can't remember exactly how we first met, but it definitely had something to do with me not knowing what I was doing on Etsy, and Audrey from <i><b>The Christmas Corner</b></i> being there to help me. REALLY help me find my way around. I still ply her with dumb questions that she always graciously has the time to answer.<br />
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Audrey is such a busy and talented lady her enthusiasm and energy leave me in the dust.<br />
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Don't let the name of her shop <i><b>The Christmas Corner</b></i> throw you off. It <b><i>is</i></b> THE BEST shop to go to for wonderful hand-painted and other beautifully creative Christmas decor. I bought my 2 grandsons <i><b>heirloom quality</b></i> hand painted Christmas ornaments this past year. They were VERY reasonably priced works of art.<br />
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But Spring has sprung at <a href="http://www.thechristmascorner.etsy.com/" target="_blank">The Christmas Corner</a>, and as of right this minute Audrey has 122 wonderfully beautiful and useful items for sale.<br />
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One of Audrey's brand new items are bottle cap magnets. So pretty, bright and spring-like. <a href="http://www.etsy.com/listing/65060949/chocolate-lovers-bottlecap-magnets">http://www.etsy.com/listing/65060949/chocolate-lovers-bottlecap-magnets</a><br />
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I LOVE "sayings." And Audrey has something for everyone on ceramic coasters and magnets.<br />
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I also LOVE magnates and as I write this she is making a special set for me of some of my favorite artist's works. Audrey does custom work and is very easy to communicate with. I love pretty magnets, and you can have them with a picture of your child or their art work, the family, your dog...anything. I LOVE these. Not only are they pretty and personalized they are practical too. One of my favorite "sayings" is The Four Chocolate Food Groups. Which says:<br />
<br />
Their are 4 main food groups<br />
Milk Chocolate<br />
Dark Chocolate<br />
White Chocolate<br />
Chocolate Truffle <br />
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You could just eat the graphic this is printed on, <a href="http://www.etsy.com/listing/67549742/chocolate-food-group-magnet">http://www.etsy.com/listing/67549742/chocolate-food-group-magnet</a> there are so many other magnates to choose from. Audrey also has ceramic coasters, again with great fun graphics or personalized. At this stage of my life I thought myself not a coaster person. My kids are grown up and I have only one piece of furniture someone could put a drink down on in my house. Condo. But my favorite one is this: Families are Like Fudge <a href="http://www.etsy.com/listing/67549854/families-are-like-fudge-magnet">http://www.etsy.com/listing/67549854/families-are-like-fudge-magnet</a><br />
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There was a time that I did a lot of entertaining had plenty of antique furniture and a wonderful collection of antique maritime art. I would have HAD to have coasters done of all my paintings.<br />
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The customization option here is just so much fun! When Audrey debuted the personalized coaster I just HAD to have one. I sit in a big leather chair when doing computer work and would have to move important stuff out of the way to put my morning cups of coffee down... and at night, my quench my parched lips beer. I am SO HAPPY that this all important space is delineated by my perfectly coordinated and personalized coaster. Audrey also had a mug done for me to match. You don't see to many items personalized "Maryanne." My grandsons will definitely get their own personalized coasters for Christmas to use at "guns" house. (Grammy came out "gun" from my eldest grandson. Now they both call me this..they are not that old and both still in diapers.) <br />
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Audrey also has a wonderful blog. <b><i>Audrey's Country Crafts</i></b> <a href="http://audreyscountrycrafts.blogspot.com/"> http://audreyscountrycrafts.blogspot.com/</a> I don't know where she has the time to cook, but she does (I don't) and offers mouth watering receipts...which just may get me cooking again. Check out her Blog at http://audreyscountrycrafts.blogspot.com/ for a yummy easy recipe for "Cream Puff Dessert" and make sure you visit Audrey's Etsy shop <i><b>The Christmas Corner </b></i>http://www.etsy.com/shop/thechristmascorner click on the photo of "my mug." and especially remember it as a place you can go to and get marvelous, useful items for your home and gifts for others.On The Rocks Gemstone Jewelryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14024004415836303787noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1290934738771216420.post-32497712343445511462011-02-09T05:49:00.000-08:002011-02-09T05:49:47.322-08:00Something Trivial To Keep Track Of...Pantone Colors<h3 class="UIIntentionalStory_Message" data-ft="{"type":"msg"}"><span class="comment-body" data-li-comment-text=""><span class="text"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small; font-weight: normal;"> <a href="http://www.linkedin.com/redirect?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Epantone%2Ecom%2Fpages%2FPantone%2FPantone%2Easpx%3Fpg%3D20752%26ca%3D4&urlhash=innX&_t=tracking_disc" target="blank">http://www.pantone.com/pages/Pantone/Pantone.aspx?pg=20752&ca=4</a></span></span></span></h3><h3 class="UIIntentionalStory_Message" data-ft="{"type":"msg"}"><span class="comment-body" data-li-comment-text=""><span class="text"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small; font-weight: normal;">I'm putting this here so I know where to find it. Not that I much care. The colors are just different shades of the same thing with "buzzier" names.... which are to easily forgotten. </span></span></span></h3><h3 class="UIIntentionalStory_Message" data-ft="{"type":"msg"}"><span class="comment-body" data-li-comment-text=""><span class="text"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small; font-weight: normal;">Honeysuckle? ...it's a shade of pink. Come on. I've never even seen pink honeysuckle. </span></span></span></h3><h3 class="UIIntentionalStory_Message" data-ft="{"type":"msg"}"><span class="comment-body" data-li-comment-text=""><span class="text"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small; font-weight: normal;">It's not even Valentines Day and I'm ready for spring. Just finished an 8 hour marathon creating frenzy . Pretty pastel springy colors. Adorable tiny princess pearl necklaces for little girls, and BIG yummy pearls for the rest of us. </span></span></span></h3><h3 class="UIIntentionalStory_Message" data-ft="{"type":"msg"}"><span class="comment-body" data-li-comment-text=""><span class="text"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small; font-weight: normal;">I have so many goodies in store. </span></span></span></h3><h3 class="UIIntentionalStory_Message" data-ft="{"type":"msg"}"><span class="comment-body" data-li-comment-text=""><span class="text"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small; font-weight: normal;">Lemon yellow quartz and watermelon tourmaline's are waiting their turn to go from pieces of this and that into something they want to be. Tiny rondelle gemstone chains waiting for their final crowning glory of faceted "Easter egg" colored briolettes. </span></span></span></h3><h3 class="UIIntentionalStory_Message" data-ft="{"type":"msg"}"><span class="comment-body" data-li-comment-text=""><span class="text"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small; font-weight: normal;">And heading into summer...... focal size abalone shells with gorgeous iridescent colors and the most incredible colored blister style pearls ready to sizzle in the summer sun.</span></span></span></h3><h3 class="UIIntentionalStory_Message" data-ft="{"type":"msg"}"><span class="comment-body" data-li-comment-text=""><span class="text"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small; font-weight: normal;">All done without the help of pantone colors...but when I checked, everything just happens to go with them beautifully. </span></span></span></h3><h3 class="UIIntentionalStory_Message" data-ft="{"type":"msg"}"><span class="comment-body" data-li-comment-text=""><span class="text"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small; font-weight: normal;">Pantone colors. We don't need no stinking panatone colors.</span></span></span></h3><h3 class="UIIntentionalStory_Message" data-ft="{"type":"msg"}"><span class="comment-body" data-li-comment-text=""><span class="text"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small; font-weight: normal;"><a href="http://www.linkedin.com/redirect?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Epantone%2Ecom%2Fpages%2FPantone%2FPantone%2Easpx%3Fpg%3D20752%26ca%3D4&urlhash=innX&_t=tracking_disc" target="blank"></a></span><br />
</span></span></h3>On The Rocks Gemstone Jewelryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14024004415836303787noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1290934738771216420.post-53389397659796283362011-02-08T00:09:00.000-08:002011-02-08T00:28:44.469-08:00I Changed My Mind. Do you want to know why?Quite frankly I'm sick of talking about myself.<br />
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When I did my research on what it is I'm suppose to be writing about it said that "blogging gives people the opportunity to get to know who you are." I'm 57 years old and I don't know who I am yet, nor do I care to.<br />
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One of my gleams into aging wisdom is that we are always constantly evolving, learning exploring and expanding. We are never the same person waking up as we were going to bed, and what I have to share with you is much more important then where my creative inspiration comes from. So all you big powerful corporate people who follow this blog trying to figure out how to be creative will have to wait.<br />
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Why?<br />
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Because Joan is more important. Her family is more important. And what they are doing can save your life or the life of someone you know and/or love. And that's more important. <br />
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Love. It seems that February has become the month of love. If you want to be inspired and humbled take a moment to meet Joan and her family. I promise that you'll be richer for the visit.<br />
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A life long non-smoker, Joan Gaeta was a devoted wife, teacher and mother of five. Diagnosed with lung cancer in early 2004, she fought a three and a half year battle before succumbing in July of 2007.<br />
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During that time she stressed the need for greater awareness of lung cancer (the number one cancer killer in the world), it's low survival rate, and it's tragic lack of research funds, She was most passionate about eliminating the stigma of the disease, since lung cancer slao strikes non-smokers at a high rate.<br />
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The Joan Gaeta Lung cancer Fund was created in the Fall of 2007 as The Joan Gaeta Lung Cancer Foundation by her husband and children to raise awareness of the disease, to educate the public, and to be an advocate for research. They also strive to eliminate the stigma of lung cancer and to support survivors and their loved ones in the community.<br />
<div style="color: black;"><br />
</div><div style="color: red;"><span class="UIStory_Message"> <a href="http://jglcf.org/aboutus.aspx" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://jglcf.org/aboutus.aspx</a> </span></div><div class="UIStoryAttachment" data-ft="{"type":"attach"}" id=""><div class="UIStoryAttachment_Media UIStoryAttachment_MediaSingle" data-ft="{"type":"media"}" style="color: red;"><div class="UIMediaItem"><a class="UIMediaItem_Wrapper" href="http://jglcf.org/aboutus.aspx" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><img class="img" src="http://external.ak.fbcdn.net/safe_image.php?d=9026f6fdc81568165e73d0cb82792aa2&w=90&h=90&url=http%3A%2F%2Fjglcf.org%2Fimages%2FJoan-large.jpg" /></a></div></div><div class="UIStoryAttachment" data-ft="{"type":"attach"}" id=""><div class="UIStoryAttachment_Info "><div class="UIStoryAttachment_Caption"> Don't live in Atlanta? Can't make it? Send a check. Five or ten dollars, it doesn't have to be big. Say "hey, I'm thinking about you." </div><div class="UIStoryAttachment_Caption"></div><div class="UIStoryAttachment_Caption">Spread the love. The REAL love.<br />
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<br />
During the month of February 20% of all proceeds from http://www.ontherocksgems.com will go to<br />
The Joan Gaeta Lung Cancer Foundation <br />
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Every month will be dedicated to a Non-profit organization with 20% of all sales at www.ontherocksgems.com being donated to them</div></div></div><div class="UIStoryAttachment_Info "><span style="color: blue; font-size: small;"><span style="color: #310500;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"><span style="color: #310500;"><br />
</span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div class="UIStoryAttachment_Info "><span style="color: blue; font-size: small;"><span style="color: #310500;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"><span style="color: #310500;"></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><a href="http://jglcf.org/DancingforJoan2011.aspx" id="" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><br />
</a></div>On The Rocks Gemstone Jewelryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14024004415836303787noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1290934738771216420.post-53872728901609753942011-01-29T15:09:00.000-08:002011-01-29T15:09:11.316-08:00Blog Intereupted by Life...great no spell check<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Sometimes in our well ordered life things come up unexpectedly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>Like watching my precious grandsons for the last I don’t know how many days until I don’t know when.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>Just in writing this one sentence I’ve had to stop 4 times and make sure the 3 year old didn’t take the train that the 1 ½ year old has.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ops…time out on the 3 year old.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Time out for the blogging and back to children…will return, so stay tuned.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Maryanne</span></div>On The Rocks Gemstone Jewelryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14024004415836303787noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1290934738771216420.post-78052636414179729092011-01-13T00:54:00.000-08:002011-01-13T03:16:06.974-08:00Can We Get Personal Here?From the many blogs I've read so far I guess I'm suppose to tell you something about myself.<br />
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I was raised in a different time. A time when children were seen and not heard.<br />
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It just amazes me how far society has come in "hearing" each other. But then again I am sure there are many "baby-boomers" raised similar in the way I was, and possibly raised their children to have "voices," do to the lack of not being allowed to express theirs.<br />
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I have two grown daughters. They don't have voices. They have mouths.<br />
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As they were growing up I must admit that it was at times very difficult to listen to those mouths, but I was determined that they should feel empowered and be able to verbally express themselves. I didn't have a blueprint on how this was supposed to be done, and pretty much stumbled my way through. But I felt that It was important that they have thoughts, ideas, questions, opinions and a vocabulary to express them with.<br />
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They practiced on me. <br />
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My younger (25) daughter just today thanked me for taking the time to have her stop and think about what she wanted to say, and find the words she needed to when she was younger in order to express herself.<br />
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Words mothers love to hear.<br />
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With both my girls these opportunities tended to present themselves at those times when they were very frustrated and angry.......usually with me. And those mouths would get pretty mouthy. Mom @#$%^&*. Yep, mouthy.<br />
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It was very difficult not to react back to them with all the things one could say at that given time. You're ground was always a handy one. And sometimes I did.. And sometimes they were. <br />
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However many times I asked them to better explain to me what they were feeling so I could understand what was happening inside them. This takes time and the acknowledgment that your mouthy 6, 11, 15 year old's thoughts, ideas, questions, opinions and feelings have the right to be expressed and respected by an adult. It's the adults responsibility to validate and teach a child the way to communicate these feelings, thoughts,questions, opinions and ideas with appropriate words, and thereby ingraining a child's respect for oneself and others.<br />
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Now, you are thinking, of course this makes sense. Isn't that what parents are suppose to do? Yes, I do. And I'm glad I broke the "rules" when I raised my girls. It is so much easier to redirect a "mouth" then to try and get one to talk.<br />
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As a child I kept all my thoughts, ideas, questions, feelings and opinions to myself. I didn't realize that you were suppose to have any. In conversations I would nod my head yes, agreeing with the speaker saying, "isn't that interesting, tell me more." I was viewed as a very intelligent young lady.<br />
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Of course as the years passed this was a deficiency that I overcame with a course on Assertiveness Training and a good therapist. It however is so ingrained that my first reaction to all this "social networking," bloging, tweeting etc., just amused the $%^&*() out of me. I just couldn't understand what the importance was of what everyone had to say.<br />
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Then I realized how I raised my girls. To be articulate, educated woman who had the ingrained respect that their thoughts, opinions, feelings, questions and ideas were part of who they are and it is their nature to express them. No wonder the "social network" is booming. We have a generation who has something to say in an educated, interesting and articulate way. <br />
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Gosh, I'm so glad as a mother I didn't screw that one up. So if my girls get a little mouthy with me, and yes, it sometimes still happens, I'm just grateful that they can use them. I still ask however if there's some other words they can find to express themselves!<br />
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When I grow up I want to be like my daughters.<br />
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My next blog post will be about how I got my "creative voice."On The Rocks Gemstone Jewelryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14024004415836303787noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1290934738771216420.post-51251420300855878232011-01-06T15:53:00.000-08:002011-01-06T15:53:41.967-08:00Etsy ,Blogging, and Spiders...What They Have In Common<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if !mso]><img src="http://img2.blogblog.com/img/video_object.png" style="background-color: #b2b2b2; " class="BLOGGER-object-element tr_noresize tr_placeholder" id="ieooui" data-original-id="ieooui" /> <style>
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<div class="MsoNormal"><span> </span>I have a shop on Etsy.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Opening it after family and friends suggested I expand into a larger market.<span> </span> </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">I'm happy staying right here in Atlanta but after looking at Etsy thought that this may be a fun way to interact with people in a new and meaningful way. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">I am glad that I had no illusions of sales rolling in.<span> </span>Etsy IS a great place for stretching your reach around the world.<span> </span>I have "friends" from Maine to California, Australia and Thailand.<span> One of which you have already met. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Since setting up an Etsy shop is a lot of work, I didn't want to let mine go to waste.<span> </span>I have a website that I am not particularity fond of and really liked the "community" feel of Etsy.<span> </span>But once you put a price tag on "it"...."it" becomes a business. And "business" becomes work. Something that creative right brained people like myself may have a hard time coming to terms with.<span> </span>I never felt as though creating my jewelry<span> </span>was work.<span> </span>I could, and have done it for over 24 hrs.<span> </span>Time just fly’s.<span> </span>One minute it's 9 :00 in the evening and I will start on something that pops into my mind, and the next thing it's 5:00 in the morning.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">I finally came to terms with the fact (most grudgingly) that I do have a business and I had better start doing business like things. I had been out of the 'business" world for a number of years and the closest thing to it are my Atlanta clientele who for the majority are professional women.<span> </span>Busy professional woman who appreciate the "boutique" service I am able to give them. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">On Etsy, I was nothing to no one.<span> </span>One of 200,000 shops with over 2 million items for sale...yikes!<span> </span>talk about being buried. And in jewelry, I found out that it is the most saturated market on Etsy. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Wake-up call.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">At least now if you have an internet business there are internet tools to actualize said business.<span> </span>I'm feeling my age catch up with me here, because yes, I was alive before there were computers and the internet.<span> </span>When e-mail was the only "social network" and Yahoo groups were a big thing and you had to actually wait for a phone connection to get you online. Matter of fact I ran out and bought my first computer as soon as Windows came out because I just didn't get DOS.<span> </span>Those of you who watched Howdy Dottie and Captain Kangaroo know what I'm talking about.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><span class="comment-body" data-li-comment-text=""><span class="text">Very simply though the bottom line of what I found out is one magic word called "content." One may have a product that is for people, but an internet business doesn't market to people. The internet markets to spiders that crawl the web looking for content to make sense of, and return viable links through a "search." Over 130 hours of research was done to spout out that sentence.<br />
<br />
I found out that my beautiful jewelry had to be "sticky" so that the "spider" would pick it up. And the food that the "spider" was looking for was manufactured by SEO. Now I'm going to be nice and tell those of you who don't know what that is, or maybe I was the last person on the face of the earth who didn't know what that was, because it took me forever to find out that SEO is Search Engine Optimization. Which has to do with content. <br />
Key words, tags, content. <br />
And that's now accomplished through the 4 corner posts (that's what I call them) of "social media."<br />
<br />
And they are: Face book, Linked In, Twitter, and a Blog. Oh my.<br />
<br />
I am on Linked In. And it's great because we are establishing "relationships." We're helping each other out. What a generous world this is.<br />
<br />
I've got my Face book page <br />
<a href="http://www.linkedin.com/redirect?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Efacebook%2Ecom%2Fpages%2FOn-The-Rocks-Gemstone-Jewelry%2F112558355478913&urlhash=5PH6&_t=tracking_disc" target="blank">http://www.facebook.com/ontherocksgems</a><br />
<br />
I've re-found a bunch of folks that I lost touch with. I'm Creating and re-establishing relationships. Matter of fact over on another group I'm Linked in to we have a thread going for everyone to post their Face book page so we can all "like" each other. Content.<br />
<br />
I Tweet <br />
http://twitter.com/ontherocksgems</span></span><br />
<br />
<span class="comment-body" data-li-comment-text=""><span class="text">Ok, I admit that I have a problem with the tweet. But I can do it if I want to. Up to the second, in your face, this is what I'm doing now.. TWEET! Wow, really relationship driven.<br />
<br />
I Blog <br />
<a href="http://www.linkedin.com/redirect?url=http%3A%2F%2Fontherocksgems%2Eblogspot%2Ecom%2F&urlhash=0r5J&_t=tracking_disc" target="blank">http://ontherocksgems.blogspot.com/</a><br />
<br />
Here it is!<br />
<br />
If you need a blog all you have to do is go to Google and enter Google blog and it's for free.<br />
<br />
It's kind of nice looking at all the internet-real estate my company name has.<br />
<br />
That's what created the "content" so I got "sticky" and the "spider" found me so that I would turn up in response to viable searches that people did. Oh my.<br />
<br />
And it's all relationship driven. The 1st holy principal in marketing has always been to create a relationship between the brand and the consumer.<br />
<br />
It's difficult to sell jewelry that people can't really see, touch and put on.. But it reminds me that something old is new again.<br />
<br />
Relationships that are created with the written word. </span></span>On The Rocks Gemstone Jewelryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14024004415836303787noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1290934738771216420.post-33056532628238556652011-01-04T06:21:00.000-08:002011-01-04T14:04:09.071-08:00With Friends Like This a Girl Can Do Anything"An Etsy message from ontherocks with a link that looked innocent enough; ontherocksgems.blogspot.com/ <br />
But was it Reeaally innocent I wondered my head still foggy from not enough sleep or coffee.<br />
<br />
Could it be True? a Blog written by that Funny, Smart, Creative and Endlessly sleep deprived Artist Maryanne Murphy!!, or was it just a cruel joke, a hack, a scam, a Nigerian phishing expedition where I’m meant to be the trout? <br />
<br />
I knew it could mean trouble but know matter, it was to late My interest was peaked I had to know the Truth. After making sure all my McAfee security software was up to date I cautiously clicked the afore mentioned link. It looked safe enough… but Was it?….Was It? I tentatively read the first few words,…yes…Yes!… Yes! It Was!, It Was a Blog written by the Beautiful and Always Entrepreneurial Maryanne Murphy!<br />
<br />
I couldn't wait to know more and proceeded on, soon finding myself swept up into a roller coaster of emotions, I laughed, I cried, I commiserated, and on top of it all I learned something New! OK! the crying was really the result of an errant poke & peck, but the rest is Absolutely True; well at least that’s how I remember it! Bravo!,.. Bravo! Oh Wait! …Brava!!,.. Brava!!,…Brava!!… Encore!!,…Encore!! You Did It! yyyYYeeeeaaaahhh!! <br />
I can’t wait to read the next installment. Cary…..:)"<br />
<div style="background-color: #d0e0e3;"><br />
</div><div style="background-color: #d0e0e3; color: black;">Life is full of interesting twists and turns. And if you're lucky some wonderful people along the way. </div><div style="background-color: #d0e0e3; color: black;"><br />
</div><div style="background-color: #d0e0e3; color: black;">Cary, who has a beautiful and interesting shop on Etsy (just click on the crown and you'll be whisked right over) was my very first Etsy friend. He doesn't know how much I truly appreciate his support, conversation and sense of humor especially in my very beginnings as a tentative Etsy Newbie. Well....I guess he does now. </div><div style="background-color: #d0e0e3; color: black;"><br />
</div><div style="background-color: #d0e0e3; color: black;">I "met" him while I was doing one of my first Etsy Treasuries. Titled "Oh Holy Night" </div><div style="background-color: #d0e0e3; color: black;">http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4cf9e0db20146d91894ee009/oh-holy-night?index=3</div><div style="background-color: #d0e0e3; color: black;">in which I gathered together offerings from Etsy shops that reflected the sanctity of the Christmas season. </div><div style="background-color: #d0e0e3; color: black;"><br />
</div><div style="background-color: #d0e0e3; color: black;">Now, I am originally from the New York Metropolitan region and a regular patron of the auction houses Christie's and Sotheby's. I had .....never,..... ever...... seen a crown for sale. </div><div style="background-color: #d0e0e3; color: black;"><br />
</div><div style="background-color: #d0e0e3; color: black;">What a beautiful visual it made for the birth of the "King of Kings" in my Treasury. And I was so fascinated by these gorgeous new discoveries. Go see - there's more crowns in the shop! I felt like a treasure hunter discovering priceless works of art.and giddy with discovery.</div><div style="background-color: #d0e0e3; color: black;"></div><div style="background-color: #d0e0e3; color: black;">Of course what is truly priceless is the person behind these beautiful things. </div><div style="background-color: #d0e0e3; color: black;"></div><div style="background-color: #d0e0e3; color: black;">In future offerings I will be introducing you to other wonderful and interesting people that I have been lucky enough to have "met" along life's twists and turns.</div>On The Rocks Gemstone Jewelryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14024004415836303787noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1290934738771216420.post-59650852790334070762011-01-03T20:22:00.000-08:002011-01-03T20:22:45.384-08:00Homage to a Friend<div style="color: purple; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">This is what I wrote to my continuously supportive friend I met through Etsy after he was the first person to read my blog...and follow me! I would add his letter here but I think I need his permission to do that and hope that I get it for tomorrows blog post. </div><div style="color: purple; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="color: purple;">It's OK to go backwards sometimes.</span> (wow, look at me. I just changed colors and fonts)</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><br />
I LOVE your sense of humor Cary! Thank you for being my first victim. <br />
<br />
I still haven't gone to sleep, but I feel fine. Well I wouldn't drive a car, but I can terrorize unsuspecting people on the internet. <br />
<br />
How often do you have to blog? Do you have to do it everyday???<br />
Content. I need content. <br />
<br />
My daughter, her boyfriend and my former husband put my desk (which was in a hundred pieces (IKEA))together.) I wanted to take pictures to post on my blog. But they wouldn't let me. Geewiz, I was sure that would be something everybody in the world would want to see. It was funny :)<br />
<br />
I have a nice 3 bedroom condo. My youngest daughter, Elizabeth moved back in last year because she wanted to stop working and go to school full time and finish her degree. Since the job market here is awful I agreed that the timing was good, and she was going to graduate Spring 2011.<br />
<br />
Things change.<br />
<br />
Now she's going to graduate next year with a Bachelors in Marketing and a Bachelors in Finance. SO since she's going to be here another year+, we, meaning them, moved her into the 2nd largest bedroom. The one I was going to use for all the neat stuff I like to do. <br />
<br />
Now the small bedroom is used for storage and I really love playing in my sun room which is off the living room. Right next to the kitchen and the beer. Yep. I know you are burning with curiosity.<br />
<br />
Did she have the beer or the orange? <br />
<br />
I looked at it this way. Since I didn't go to sleep, technically it wasn't morning for me. <br />
<br />
I had the beer.<br />
<br />
Well now the the living room, kitchen and sun room look like a disaster area.<br />
<br />
I think I'll go have an orange.:)<br />
<br />
MaryanneOn The Rocks Gemstone Jewelryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14024004415836303787noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1290934738771216420.post-58036304178513664992011-01-02T04:16:00.000-08:002011-01-02T04:16:25.059-08:002011 New Year's Resolution - Create Blog/What's In A Name?O.K. So now I'm Face booked, Linked In and Tweeted. From all the reading I have done on how to market your web based business all these things are necessary, PLUS the almighty Blog. Now I'm adding one more thing that I don't know how to do at 6:10 am Sunday morning, January 2, 2011. And no I haven't been to bed yet. <br />
<br />
Well, so far this blogging has been real easy. Somewhere in my research something and/or someone said that Google had a free blog thingy. So I typed in "Google blog" in the Google search box. I was asked for my email address. maryanne@ontherocksgems.com, a password, and to pick out the name of my blog. Now that was difficult.<br />
<br />
On The Rocks, On The Rocks Gems, Fun on the Rocks, RocksnGems (I liked that one) On The Rocks Gemstone Jewelry, Rocks, (ha, ha) Gems, (laugh harder). As you can see I picked out On The Rocks Gems. <br />
<br />
Why? Somewhere, somehow, along the way, someone found my website www.ontherocksgems.com and did an analysis, (is there spell check on this thing???)geezz, (oh, there it is!!) I spelled analysis right. Go me. My name got an "F." Yup, I failed website naming. I wish I could find what they said and "link" to it from here, but I guess it went into cyberspace. Me, I was thrilled. After HOURS, and yes I am shouting, of research work, SEOing and "optimizing" everything that I could find.... someone found me on the web.<br />
<br />
There it was. On the web.<br />
"ontherocksgems" earns an F in website names. <br />
<br />
I was happier then a pig in you know what. (I really would like to say s - - -, but I don't know what is correct in this blogging, and since I may become a literary genius blogging my way into 2 or 3 hearts (just woke my daughter up laughing my head off: 6:41 am) she will be one of the 2 or 3 people who will read this ...I better watch my language.<br />
<br />
I wrote to them and thanked them for finding me (the people who gave me the "F")....Told them how bad could the name be if they found me and took the time to flunk me in web site naming. <br />
<br />
And there I was...on the the first page. For the first time. Ever. On the web.<br />
<br />
I thought I did a great job naming my addiction. After all I paired it down from On The Rocks Gemstone Jewelry to plain old On The Rocks Gems. Couldn't do my first choice, On The Rocks. A bar and band had that name. Ha! I do have "ontherockss." What can I say, Go Daddy got me at a weak moment.<br />
<br />
So now you know what I had to go through to try and figure out what to call this thing. But it gave me something to write about, so I guess it can't be all that bad. WHAT on earth AM I going to write about? And who cares? <br />
<br />
Maybe at 57 years old I may have some nuggets of wisdom, or an arcane sense of humor to pass along.<br />
<br />
I mean, ALL I wanted to do was play with my pretty rocks and make my jewelry. And now because of the enthusiastic and wonderful support of family and friends who kept saying "you should sell your jewelry," I am littering up cyberspace with my 2 cents.<br />
<br />
It's 7:09 am. I can't make up my mind what I want. A beer or an orange.On The Rocks Gemstone Jewelryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14024004415836303787noreply@blogger.com0