February 2010

74 Harley Street

Let’s say after last week’s entry on jewelry swapping with your friends, you started looking at your accessories in a different light. Perhaps you came across a piece of jewelry that you inherited from a relative. You’ve never really worn it and you’re not quite sure what to do with it…

Well, saunter on over to 74 Harley Street (www.74harleystreet.com), a jewelry line that takes vintage treasures and gives them new life. Dress clips are re-fashioned into show-stopping necklaces, skeleton keys combine with pearls and sparklies on vintage chains, broken or single earrings find new life on charm bracelets, etc.

74 Harley Street is the stunning creation of Susan Mayer, mom of four boys under age 7. Carpool, PTA and playdates by day, jewelry designer by night, Susan brings her dramatic taste to bear on re-purposed trinkles.

Much of Susan’s business is custom. Friends and their friends are now bringing her boxes of old family jewelry they inherited from mom/great-aunt/grandma and don’t know what to do with. Some of it is gorgeous, but doesn’t fit the style of today, so it sits… until they collaborate on how to bring them to life. Even the most unsuspecting pieces look great jazzed up with pearls and sparklies.

Susan also scouts out estate sales and antiques dealers…and she keeps her prices reasonable so she can keep shopping. She loves the hunt and is growing to appreciate even the oldest and oddest of baubles.

The next time you eye that broach that’s been sitting in the bottom of your jewelry box, contact Susan at www.74harleystreet.com. She can help you turn drab into dazzling! And who couldn’t use a little dazzle these days?

One Girl’s Junk Is Another Girl’s Treasure

Several Friday nights ago, my daughter was at a school social. The social was oddly timed – Friday night, 630-830pm. By the time you dropped them off, you had to turn around and go back to get them. Hmmm… how to spend the time?

The few hours seemed like a great opportunity to get together with school mom/friends I don’t often have a chance to see. Rather than sit around and compare notes on kids and school, I thought it could be fun if we stepped outside of our mom lives and stepped into our girlfriend lives instead!

Now, many of these women have great taste. I appreciate how some of them wear really fun accessories. And when I comment on their style, some say, ““Oh, this old thing?” Well, I personally would love their old things. So, I suggested we clean out our jewelry/accessory drawers, meet for drinks and swap “old things”. This way, we could clean out our drawers (something all of us could easily do) and walk away feeling as if we had something new.

It was a blast! 14 of us gathered at the local pub and set our treasures up on a table (and a few chairs). We drew numbers from a hat and went in order. We agreed that we would choose two items at a time and continue to go around, for as many items and as much time as we had.

I couldn’t believe what some girls brought. Wow! There was so much, that we had the added bonus of donating jewelry, bags and scarves to the local women’s shelter at the end of the evening. It was heart warming to see how happy everyone was with their finds. I personally walked away with a fabulous pair of earrings to match some bangles I had just bought. A total score!

Capital One asks, “what’s in your wallet?” However, I encourage you to think about, “what’s in your drawer?” How can you mindfully generate opportunities to spend time with friends and re-purpose what you have? The possibilities are endless! Leave your ideas below and let us know what you create!

Imaginibbles

Now is that a clever word or what? It doesn’t even begin to describe the creative, thoughtful and fun website and its creator.

Imaginibbles is the brainchild of Tamara Kleinberg. Some of you may recognize Tamara’s name. I thanked her in my first blog entry for encouraging me to step into The MindFULL Creative. Actually, in my minds eye I wear a t-shirt that says , “Thanks Tamara!” This lady really knows how to inspire others.

I had the amazing grace to cross paths with Tamara several years ago when she was a VP in a local marketing agency and hired me to be part of a creative brainstorm session. She saw and validated a creative spirit that I had been eager to unleash. And scared to death.

Lucky for us, Tamara laughs in the face of fear and holds out her hand to you while you leap.

And she does it with her own experience and well-researched creative methodologies. She’s turned her experience and knowledge into Imaginibbles: Little Ideas for Big Imaginations. As you’ll learn on her blog, Imaginibbles provides “ toe tickling ways to ignite the mojo; and state-of-the-imagination exercises, ideas and inspirations”. Whether you personally want to expand your comfort zone (vs stepping outside of it), create a vision and take action or find fun and creative activities to do with your kids, Imaginibbles has something for you.

Wander over and check her out. Experiencing Tamara is like taking a bite out of the juiciest and ripest piece of summer fruit. For just a moment you are transformed to another world. And you’ll be the better for the world of possibility you visit.

http://imaginibbles.com/

The Catch 24

Barbara and Vikki. They’re Best Friends. They do so many things together and figured, why not work together? After both starting small businesses, these dynamic and sassy women decided to focus on something that they could do… together. They believed, that regardless of their success financially, they would get to learn and explore whole new realms together – way more fun to do with a best friend!

Their early morning exercise dates turned into business meetings (and inspite of having young children at home, they found creative ways to make time!). Their first business, designing and selling rhinestone tees profiting charities, didn’t really fly. Sitting on a pile of unsold tees forced them to get creative and led them to a new business, the Catch 24, an internet-based, timed sale of hugely discounted accessories.

Get it? Shoppers have 24 hours to catch the deal and then, it’s gone!

http://www.thecatch24.com

Subscribe to their mailing list and get free shipping on your first order!

While the accessories they find and sell are hot and fun, their “can-do” spirit is worn like a colorful cashmere sweater. It makes you admire where they got it.

Let Barbara and Vikki’s story fill your mind with ways to be creative with your best friend…