Musings from Kris
17 May 2011 2 Comments
in Jewelry, Necklaces, Tutorial Tags: artisan, bracelets, designer, earrings, handmade, Jewelry, kl jewelry design, kljewelrydesign, necklace, pearls, silver, wire wrapping, women
Learn how to make this necklace for free!
Click on this link if you need a pdf reader.
Check out my Facebook page to see photos of the latest designs. Soon the new pieces will be at http://www.kljewelrydesigns.etsy.com so please do heart me in Etsy and friend me on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001263081321
Musings from Kris
15 May 2011 1 Comment
in Jewelry Tags: artisan, designer, disability, Jewelry, kl jewelry design, kljewelrydesign, ms
So I’ve been working myself up to start blogging again after almost a year off.
In 2007 I was diagnosed with MS. Not really a big deal until it decided that the best place to affect my life is by interrupting the transmission of what I see to the part of my brain that processes what I am seeing. That means I can be looking at something like an agenda and not see changes that need to be made at all on one side of the page. That happened over and over again when I was working as the Assistant Grants Administrator for the Omaha Community Foundation. In 2009 I was let go and applied for disability.
Now for those of you who don’t know about getting disability I’ll explain a bit about it. I applied, was denied like most applications applied again and was denied again; then I hired an attorney to represent me mainly because this stage involves a hearing and most claims with an attorney are approved. To my disappointment my attorney told me I could not be self-employed. I never looked at myself as self-employed making jewelry and selling it at arts and crafts shows but that is exactly what I was. Lots of steps had to be taken to remove my name from the company and any reference to me being with the company.
This was supposed to take over 3 years from August 2010 but with the huge number of claims waiting for a hearing date some of them were assigned to Sr. Attorneys with the SSA to see if the claim could be approved without a hearing. I was lucky to be one of those claims so now I can start blogging again.
That all said I’m ready to start blogging about my favorite thing; JEWELRY designing and making. Yea!
Since I first started making jewelry in 2004 I’ve learned a lot and realized a lot. I started out making jewelry with glass beads in kits, then started buying beads on ebay and selling on ebay. Now I find beads just about everywhere, even when I’m on vacation.
A quick update on how far KL Jewelry Design has come 7 years. Starting selling on ebay, then to co-workers, Etsy, local school craft shows, and then Artfire. Now you can find KL Jewelry Design at the Corning Center for the Fine Arts, more fine art shows and juried shows, and hopefully at New Realities in the Old Market. How exciting is that?
Check out my facebook page to see photos of the latest designs. Soon the new pieces will be at http://www.kljewelrydesigns.etsy.com/ so please do heart me in Etsy and friend me on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001263081321
KL Jewelry Design Closing Shop
21 Aug 2010 Leave a Comment
Okay so this has been a really tough week. On the 9th of August I was notified by SSA that they are denying my disability claim again. Second time for that. When they did that it meant that for me to appeal I have to ask for a hearing which also meant it was time to get an attorney. Did that on Wednesday this week. He’s great and I’m very confident I will win this time.
Got the request for a hearing done, he sent a letter to my doctors, I’ll go see my doctors every few months to follow up on things and now I just get to sit and wait for up to 22 months!!!! This has been going on for 9 months already. Our government at work.
Anyway part of this process meant that I am no longer allowed to be self-employed. I never really thought of myself as being self-employed but turns out that’s exactly what I was. I had to close my website store, take all my inventory off of Artfire and Etsy, untangle myself from a bunch of groups and websites that I showed my goods on, cancel all my fall shows, cancel hotel rooms, and I’m down to the last two shows that I have to call the schools to cancel and I’ll do that on Monday.
Talk about depressing. I don’t think my meds will help much today. Trying to keep my chin up and so I thought I’d just post this quick blog.
I’m not doing away with my blog so you’ll see news from me. I’ll keep making jewelry for that day when I’m allowed to start earning some money again. I can’t just not do what I love. I’ll show photos of my work and keep everyone informed of upcoming shows in the area but I just can’t be part of selling things there.
Thanks for following and reading my blogs and don’t forget I’ll still be here just not selling.
KL Jewelry Designs’s First Jewelry Giveaway!
04 Jul 2010 Leave a Comment
in Uncategorized Tags: artisan, bracelet, copper, crystals, free, giveaway, handmade, Jewelry, kljewelrydesign, necklace, pearls, silver
Read my post about my giveaway for your chance to win. http://eepurl.com/Gv2H
Women Supporting Women in Business
22 Jun 2010 Leave a Comment
in Uncategorized Tags: business, free, kljewelrydesign, support, website, women
Welcome to Women Supporting Women in Business!
In an effort to encourage growth and participation in this group I’ve made a few changes that I’d like to update everyone on. Please read on:
1. We are changing our name to: Women Supporting Women In Business. We are no longer limiting membership to the Nebraska/Iowa area but opening it up to Women in Business throughout the US. I know we have a few ladies already on here – and we welcome you! Please feel free to participate and add events & activities that you participate in. We’d love to see you be successful and hopefully you will find some new clients too.
2. Tina Peterson said, “I have asked Kris Penney of KL Jewelry Design to join me in moderating this site. She and I have come up with a few guidelines that will be required of everyone. These guidelines are now in place to help with advertising our group, encouraging participation and hopefully improve our site.”
So, here we go:
A. Email/blog/facebook: Everyone is required to have something similar to:
A member of Women Supporting Women in Business, where women support and encourage each other in business. For networking and the opportunity to find events to showcase and demonstrate your business, go to: http://www.wswinbusiness.spruz.com
To add your ‘signature’ to your email in gmail or yahoo – do the following:
Gmail: Go to Settings (top right corner), click, scroll down to signature and put your contact information in the text box. Here is what mine says:
Kris Penney
KL Jewelry Design
Order online: www.kl-jewelrydesign.com .
Blog: www.kljewelrydesignblogspot.com or www.kljewelrydesign.wordpress.com
FB: www.facebook.com/kljewelrydesign
Twitter: www.twitter.com/kljewelrydesign
A member of Women Supporting Women in Business, where women support and encourage each other in business. For networking and the opportunity to find events to showcase and demonstrate your business, go to: www.wswinbusiness.spruz.com
Yahoo: Open your email account, click on Options (a drop down menu opens), click on Email Options, click on ‘signature’ in left hand corner, add or change your signature. When finished click on ‘save changes’, and you’re done!
B: All members should post something about WSW on Twitter and Facebook a minimum of once a week. I will admit, I have not been real good about doing this. And I am starting now. Remember Twitter only allows 140 characters. Our goal is to help each grow and expand our businesses. I will be posting a group site and we can follow each other’s face book and/or twitter site. (Note: No example – I used the same signature for both accounts)
C. Please feel free to use the blog function, list your blog, website, face book and twitter addresses on your page. Ideally I’d like to see people using the blog function for sure. Please let Kris or I know if you need help with this.
D. Please create a photo album of your business. I’m planning on figuring out how to have those in a visible place for each business. Each person should have at least 1 photo album on the site. If you don’t know how to create a photo album or load a picture from your website or from your camera – let us know and I’m sure we can figure it out. Personally, I highlight the picture I want to download to my computer, right click on it and save picture as and go from there to save it. Then all you need to do is upload it to your album. Easy Peesy.
E. Member photo. Each member needs to upload a picture of themselves or their product (I don’t own a camera so I understand if you need to use your product in place of a picture of you). Please don’t leave a grayed out picture – it’s awfully hard to know who that is a picture of without something downloaded in place! No more gray people allowed! Need help? Just ask.
We would really like to see more growth and participation on this site. If you have any great ideas or would like to start up a group – please feel free to or send us a message and we can do some brainstorming.
Thanks! Tina & Kris
Tina’s email: wswpub@gmail.com
Kris’s email: kljewelrydesigns@q.com
KL Jewelry Design Summer News
06 Jun 2010 1 Comment
in Uncategorized Tags: accepting credit cards, art show, bracelets, craft show, festival, gemstones, handmade news, Jewelry, jewelry business, kl jewelry design, kljewelrydesign, outdoor event, outdoor events, wire wrapping
New Bracelets!
I’ve been working on my wire wrapping skills and the things that are the most fun to make are bracelets.
Not to disappoint anyone that loves gemstones I’ve also been making bracelets with only beads and no wire.
All of these newest pieces are available online at my store www.kl-jewelrydesign.com or stop by any of these shows and see the piece for yourself.
2010 Show Schedule
Introducing the KL Jewelry Design Home Jewelry Party!!
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Chrysoberyl – Crafting With Gemstones
03 May 2010 Leave a Comment
in Uncategorized Tags: article, feature, handmade news, Jewelry, kl jewelry design
This article features my jewelry!!! www.KL-JewelryDesign.com
This is the first article that has been published featuring some of my jewelry!! I’m excited.
http://www.handmadenews.org/article/index.php?id=4990
Spring Fever
02 May 2010 Leave a Comment
in Uncategorized Tags: accepting credit cards, bad show, outdoor events, wind
Wow was this show a bomb. A fair amount of traffic but people just walking around not really purchasing from anyone. Most of the vendors thought it was a huge waste of time.
It was a real learning experience for me. My first outdoor event and my first time using my canopy. I have sides for it but since I couldn’t stake them down I put weights on them but the wind was so gusty that it blew my displays over so I laid my jewelry on the tables. But then the wind gusted and took the weights off the back wall and the side knocked a table with rings, bracelets, and pendants over. Luckily nothing broke and no one was near the table. Sure cleared out my booth in a hurry.
First time taking credit cards too. The first one I scanned I did it wrong and didn’t capture anything. Thought I saw the green light but it was so sunny I guess I didn’t. Anyway after that I scanned them correctly and processed them when I got home. The one I did wrong I just called the man and told him about it. He laughed and gave me the number and I processed his payment. I did let people know that it was the first time I had ever used my scanner.
I have to go get something to hold my tablecloths down today and figure out something to do with my walls. They are supposed to be for an ezup but they are too big. I wonder if I can’t sew up the seam in the middle and weather proof it to make them fit the sides without a lot of slack and bagging.
My Tials for Out of Town Shows
19 Apr 2010 Leave a Comment
in Uncategorized Tags: fixes, jewelry business, polite, problems, travel
Last weekend I was to have a booth at the Tulip Festival but on Thursday I discovered that I would not be able to attend. I had a scheduled set up time on Friday and the show was Saturday and Sunday. I called the Chamber of Commerce for the town and called and emailed the hotel I had reservations at.
The next day I got a really nasty email from the hotel telling me to never stay with them again and it’s because of people like me that hotels overbook and give your room away.
I’ll tell you the name of the hotel after I’m done with this story.
I was shocked by the email and took most of the day to think about what I would write back or if I was even going to reply. In the end I sent them an email telling them that they were rude, I didn’t know about the 1 week cancelation policy, and they didn’t need to worry because I would never stay there and I would be sure to post on everything I post on (and I post a lot) about how terrible the hotel was.
The next morning the hotel started calling me and emailing me trying to make up for the nasty email I received. It turns out that the owners of the hotel didn’t know anything about what was going on and they emailed me to apolgize for the manager they had just fired. They told me they have owned the hotel for 18 years and the last two years they have had nothing but trouble with their managers and the owners are now running the hotel again. They apologized for what the disgruntled employee had said to me. I thanked them and told them I understand but they had still charged me for the room and overdrawn my account. (Car broke down and had to be fixed leaving me without the money to go to the show.) Anyway I have since been refunded all the money including the overdraft and I now have a free room either next year for the show or for a get away weekend in their suite with the jacuzzi in it.
Turns out it will be a fantastic place to go and stay, just far enough away from my husband’s family in Kansas but close enough to visit for the day. I have since decided to go ahead and recommend the Simmer Motel in Wamego, KS.
I just thought I’d write this showing that if you are polite and don’t fly off the handle like the manager did you can usually work out a problem without damaging your reputation as a business person or the other business’ reputation.
Do give them a try and I’m sure you will enjoy your stay.
Wamego, KS Tulip Festival This Weekend
15 Apr 2010 Leave a Comment
in Uncategorized Tags: art show, craft show, festival, juried, kl jewelry design, kljewelrydesign, outdoor event
The annual Tulip Festival Arts and Crafts show is this weekend in Wamego, KS in the city park. Juried event with judging of artists’ work beginning Friday. Come see my booth and make your Mother’s Day purchases this weekend in Wamego, KS.
KL Jewelry Design
