On October 1, I celebrated the anniversary of a big change in my life. One year ago, I embarked on my year of freedom project. My plan was to pour every ounce of energy I had in me into creating the foundation of a meaningful, joyous life spent doing what meant the most to me. The goal was to create a jewelry design business that would bring in enough income that I could support myself. A secondary goal was to establish myself as a designer. In the past year, I accomplished the following:
--I published an article on critical theory and feminism in Current Perspectives in Social Theory.
--Three wearable art pieces were exhibited at SNAG's Exhibition in Motion at the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, TX.
--My beaded talons were accepted into a national juried exhibition: "Extremities: Exploring the Margins of the Human Body."
--I won the People's Choice Award and 2nd place in the Wirework competition in the 2010 Bead Dreams competition.
--My "Squares with Flair" project was published in Step by Step Wire Jewelry.
--I took home the grand prize in the Fashion Fever sewing and fashion design competition at the CHA Craft SuperShow.
--I was awarded first place in the Pendants/Necklaces category in the 2010 Jewelry Arts Awards and had my piece published in Lapidary Journal Jewelry Artist Magazine.
--I am now represented in 8 stores, with two more orders in the works.
Looking back is always a little bittersweet because I wish that I had a sense earlier of what could be accomplished with a lot of dedication, passion, and hard work. In the course of a year, I have fundamentally changed the shape of my life. I am a professional jewelry designer. I think that's incredible.
Now that I've gotten my freedom mojo going, I've been thinking about what to do for this following year. My goal for this year is a) to establish myself as the aluminum chainmaille jewelry queen, and b) to purge myself of all my procrastination and anxiety. This is the year of fearlessness.
Vanessa
Aluminum chain mail jewelry
Handcrafted aluminum chainmail jewelry
Love your post. I do believe that a person has to put their foot down & say "stop!" to all the things that hold them back from the life they keep saying they want to live. Then they do have to ATTACK that life that they want, making sure that no is not an option. Congrats girl!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Kat. I just read the post on your blog--saying yes is so important! Every day I'm amazed by what a little attitude adjustment can do in a person's life. Once you start believing that things are possible, you start pursuing your dreams and things start coming together in amazing ways. You gotta go conquering and to conquer!
ReplyDeleteNice article!!! I have read your post. To do business, jewelry is the perfect choice to start business.
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