In November of 2014, I began a new journey. I opened a jewelry business – Lavender Fields Creations! I’ve been making jewelry for a couple of years, but last year I began making more and more quality pieces. My husband noticed that my interest in making jewelry had spiked and suggested that I start a Facebook page. It was the scariest thing I had ever done. It’s one thing to create art – regardless of the medium – and have people other than your immediate family and closest friends to comment on your work and quite another to have complete strangers commenting and liking your collection. It was extremely frightening.
I initially opened it up for just a few friends, but then my husband posted a link to my page on HIS page. So, I had to make it public. I had so many views and likes that in just a week, my views had gone from thirteen to over one hundred. The only problem was that I wasn’t selling anything. People were making all kinds of requests – “nickel free” “smaller pieces” “larger pieces” “real gold.”
I tried to maintain a list of all of the requests, but even after making some of the custom pieces, they didn’t make any purchases.
I opened up an Etsy page and on the first day – a sale!! How exciting! It was for a pancreatic cancer awareness bracelet that I made in memory of my father. I immediately checked the bracelet for any imperfections, then packaged it up and mailed it. Since that sale, I’ve gone through a personal tragedy and have not been able to keep up with my pages. I just lost my mother at the end of January to brain cancer. She had been fighting cancer for a year and a half. So I eventually unpublished the Facebook page and I haven’t updated my Etsy page in weeks.
Beginning the Monday following her memorial service, I plan on reopening my poetry page AND my jewelry page on Facebook, updating my blog at least once a week, updating my photos and jewelry on Etsy and getting back to business. I would like to leave behind as big a legacy for my children as my mom did for me.
lavender fields creations 