About my art and jewelry

Hello, this is just a post for information and clarity sake.

if your wondering where the flowers, fern, mushroom and other items come from that I use in my work, they come from my yard and from the town I live in on the sides of the road. I do not gather from national parks and I do not take more then I need to, I leave enough of everything so it can reseed and continue healthy growth.

Update

If you are wondering about my findings, the chains are made of stainless steel, I use a sturdy chain so it does not easily break, I also offer rope as another option, just specify what you would like. For earring hooks I use brass plated in silver. Everyone reacts differently to findings, if you you are having a reaction let me know I’ll send you new findings to try, also if you know you will react let me know when ordering and I’ll make your earrings with different findings.

UPDATE

if you are wondering about the resin I use, I use high quality casting resin that takes 72 hours to cure, I then sand and polish it with two high quality polishes. In all it takes up to 5 days or more of work from start to finish resin pieces. And they are still not perfect but I endeavour to do my very best.

Resin is in fact a plastic, so there are environmental concerns. Most crafts have an impact on the environment, weather it's metal work, resin, acrylic, even wood, these all have an impact on the environment. I am very aware and conscientious of this. Uncured resin poses the higher risk, but once cured it is recyclable like any other plastic. I take careful precaution to make sure I use all of what I mix, and dispose of left overs carefully once cured. I make in small batches for the specific purpose of preserving plants to create jewelry. Resin jewelry once worn out (5+years) it can then be recycled. I do not do large pours.

If you are wondering about a return policy, if you receive a broken item or your item breaks within two weeks of receiving it contact me and I will gladly remake and resend your item or reimburse you. other wise there are no returns.

If you are wondering about the size of my jewelry it can be found in the description tab of each item, I’m also available to answer any questions or concerns you may have, and I usually answer pretty quickly 😊

if your wondering about feedback and reviews. I am always open to kind hearted feedback, I prefer not to give an option for reviews as I’ve seen it used to drag businesses and people through the mud. My work is not perfect, it is handmade, there will be flaws, but if you find my work is very poor please feel free to inbox me and let me know so we can work things out.

If you are wondering about my paintings or drawing, I have limited time to do large amounts of my art but I do periodically post my art in my shop. I usually work with high quality ink and high quality watercolour on 100% cotton paper. The size of each piece of art will vary but will be noted in the descriptions.

About my prices, pricing has been very challenging for me, each piece takes a different amount of time and a different amount of material. I try to keep my prices fair and low. Things are priced according to time and materials.

packaging and shipping

I’ve changed my packaging is plastic free, the envelopes are made from recycled paper grocery bags, and the wrapping to keep my pieces safe and unscratched is a simple brown recyclable tissue wrapped with brown twine. I stamp each package with an ink made from oak trees and voila no plastic, much better looking packages and much better for the environment 😊

I have had to add a $5 shipping fee (untracked) because to package and ship is quite expensive, and most of my packages are larger then the basic mail. I have made it a flat fee to keep things simple. If you need express shipping with tracking please message me to arrange it. It costs $12+ for tracking. Most packages arrive within 14 business days within Canada, I do not ship outside of Canada unless you are family. If you do not receive you’re package within the 14 day time frame please let me know so I can either refund or resend. I have had packages get lost in the mail, only a handful of times, most packages find their way back to me eventually. It is sooo important you check your address is correct and include an apartment number if you live in one BEFORE you place your order, the time it takes for a package to return to me because of a wrong address is quite slow, and not guaranteed, so check your info, and I’ll check to, I have made mistakes in addresses as well.

Prices

Recently many of my materials have risen in price, so I’ve to raised my prices. I still try to keep my prices as low as I can, and will continue to work to keep my prices fair.

I apologize if this a challenge for any of my customers. But as always I will have sales so there will always be opportunities to get things at a lower price.

Finally a note as an artist and maker, I am a real person and I am really grateful, It is such a joy to get to create and I am incredibly thankful to all those who have taken the chance and bought anything I’ve made. Allowing me to do what I love, to grow, to learn is a blessing and I’m so thankful to those who have been on this journey with me as I’ve stepped out and shared what I love. Thank you, thank you, thank you 🙏

Fashionable 40’s

As a young person clothes were such an important part of me expressing myself, I’ve never really thought of myself as fashionable (because I’m not lol), but I liked having fun with my clothing choices, I always just wore what I liked even if it wasn’t on trend. I didn’t gravitate towards name brands, I often bought my clothes second hand and I still am like this.

When I started having kids, clothes sort of became an after thought, I really dedicated my whole self to being a mom. Now my kids are older and I’m re-learning who I am outside of motherhood, and I’ve discovered I haven’t really changed, that part of me I had as a young person still finds a bit of fun in using clothes as self expression and honestly as a way of loving myself. I wouldn’t say my style is bold by any means but putting something I like on makes me feel……good. I’m enjoying my 40’s because so much of the pressure of looking thin or youthful has sort of disappeared in me, I’ve embraced the fact I’m not thin, I’m a plump lil fairy and I like me. I’m experimenting with subtle makeup, I’m doing my nails and enjoying feeling beautiful in my mid 40’s. There were years I didn’t know how to dress my body, my brain struggled with the fact I had a lot of curves, I had a belly from having babies, and I’m not someone who is “fit” looking, I hid myself. Now I look at my body and think “wow, I birthed 5 kids, I breast fed for over 10 years of my life, I’ve battled illness, I’ve gone through pregnancy loss, this body has gotten me through some things,

my body is amazing”. My body is amazing, and so is yours, no matter the appearance, your body allows you to experience this big wide world and it’s amazing. Sometimes self love is hard, I still have days I look at myself and don’t love what I see. It’s normal to have those days, but even on those days I remind myself, I’m here, I can hug my husband and kids with this body, I can listen to music and experience art with this body, some days that’s all I can do and on those days that’s enough.

The body shaming I grew up with

The 90’s were an interesting decade, it was the height of skinny and appearance culture, there were entire shows and movies dedicated to shaming people for their appearance, it was a time when being fat was seen as some sort of personal failure, and it was ok to make fun of others for their appearance.

I heard a lot of opinions about others appearance, what others ate, if they exercised, and internally it created a lot of anxiety. I wish the appearance shaming ended when I was a young person but it continued even into my adulthood.

Things like this were said at family events:

“fat ankles are ugly”

“women with small breasts are more attractive”

“you’re tall, but you don’t have any muscle”

“ I eat clean, take your junk food with you, I won’t have it in my house”

“I don’t visit with people who don’t do physical activity”

“The lasagna you made was unhealthy” (after taking my resources and time making lasagna for 20 people)

“Are you eating more?”

I could go on.

There was a time I actually skipped a close friends wedding because I was so ashamed of my appearance, I stood out of photos with my kids for YEARS. I tried several diets and felt like a failure when I couldn’t follow through. It had a huge internal impact on me, and I often hated the way I looked.

Its not something I want my own children around. My youngest son is autistic and struggles with ARFID, some of his safe foods are not “healthy” and I will not expose my child to anyone who could potentially shame him, especially if we call them “family”, because family should be a safe place, not a place where you fear being shamed. My own family just encourages him to try new foods, we let him decide if he wants to, he takes supplements so he’s getting the nutrients he needs when he won’t eat certain things, we do not comment any further, we simply allow him to be himself.

Other people’s bodies are none of our business to comment on, because body commenting, and food and exercise pressure and shaming are UNHEALTHY and damaging. My upbringing around appearance and diet culture is something I strive not to repeat with my own family, I’ve had to do a great deal of deprogramming to stop looking at food and exercise the way I was raised to. So many young people struggle with disordered eating and excessive exercise because of the messages they have heard from family and see on social media, and I do not care to contribute to this toxic part of society. Our bodies are a vehicle to experience the world, not a problem that needs fixing. We have tastebuds….we are meant to enjoy food. We have legs,  they are meant to get us places to enjoy the world. We are meant to live, not shame ourselves over appearance. We are meant to love ourselves and take care of ourselves, and shame is not a part of love.