Ring Ideas for Something for Nothing

Here is an idea I have for this Something for Nothing giveaway! This is a Smokey Quartz set in a serrated bezel on a band of sterling silver berry wire. I'm also thinking of a plain band or maybe wrapped in copper? I'll post another idea soon... I'm going to update this as often as I think of new plans. I'd love to get ideas from you as well.

Something for Nothing!!

I've been thinking how I can get my jewelry out to more people and my Etsy Team the Aspiring Metalsmiths have some great ideas. Our fearless leader is Clarity from Scrollwork designs and she came up with a "game" where you refer friends to her page and you get entered into a drawing!

Bingo!!

I loved it so I stole it (hey I gave her credit right?) Anywho - here are the details I'm sure you're just dying to hear:
1) refer as many people as possible. Heckle all of your buddies until they become fans of my facebook page http://www.facebook.com/elizabethsexclusives no really, don't heckle anyone just politely suggest to them that they might enjoy looking at some of my pieces... um... I'll do the heckling for you... yea... I'm innocent I swear... you can use the "suggest to friends" button that is located under my profile picture
2) check back on my page every so often and click "see all" on my fans list so you can tell who "liked" my page that are from your friends list or those friends who have told you they joined my page
3) once you see a name you recognize let me know who it is so you can get credit and receive an entry. This can be done through private message to my personal page (Elizabeth Porter Duke) or just posting a comment/post on my page!
4) once I've reached the deadline (still TBA) I'll draw a lucky person's name and they will receive a custom designed/sized ring. I'm still working on the design but it will be posted here once it is determined.

I'll post encouragements on my FB page and ask for ideas or styles you are fond of to create the perfect ring. Any questions please feel free to ask anytime - either through a comment here or on my FB page. I'm really excited about doing this as I've never tried anything like it before.

Here's to a fun game and I wish you all the best of luck!! Oh I'm so excited about this I'm bouncing up and down in my chair - I love a good game!

Discovering Lupus

When I got married I was fairly indifferent about wanting a baby. It was something we talked about but always "in the future". It wasn't until my sister in law was going through Leukemia that I realized I didn't know what we were waiting for anymore. My brother and SIL had been wanting another child (they each have a beautiful daughter from previous relationships) and due to her treatments this was no longer possible.

I basically came to the conclusion that the longer I waited, the more chances of something preventing me getting pregnant. To make a long story short, I did have some issues and went through a bad year before I finally was able to carry a child. I listened to everyone say how they loved being pregnant, that it would always be something to be treasured, and it was the best time of their lives.

THEY LIED!!!

I was absolutely miserable. From the time I reached 6 weeks until the day I delivered I was sick. Within a 10 day period I lost 17 lbs. My OB-GYN prescribed Zofran and that was the only way I was able to keep food in. I had horrible swelling that would come all the way up to my knees. Pitting edema was the worst - that's where you can press a finger against your leg and an indention remains. I could play tic tac toe on myself! I knew I had a rough time but couldn't really understand why.

Fast forward several months - beautiful baby boy is born and I'm starting to feel much better. After a few months I notice I'm getting a lot of headaches, I'm sore a lot even if I've only done a little walking while shopping. The worst was all the colds. Every time anyone around me got a cold I was bound to get sick. It was like I was catching every little bug that was going around. Then I got a 24 stomach flu virus thing. I was actually wishing for death at that point. After I got over that it was a cold every month or so. I was always joking that my son was getting me sick from daycare. He had his own problems with ear infections. I asked my doctor about it and was told my immunity was low because of childbirth and to not worry about it.

I found a new doctor after my son reached his 15 month. The muscle pain was getting worse. I'm a personal trainer and teach several exercise classes a week so I'm constantly active and lifting weights. I'd teach my kettlebell class and have difficulty walking the next day and picking up my son. I went to a new doctor and he ordered a whole battery of tests. Everything came back negative. He ordered an ANA and RA tests. Specifically these are Antinuclear Antibodies test and Rheumatoid Arthritis. The RA came back negative but the ANA came back positive. It is very common to get false negatives/positives so he ordered an Anti Double Strand DNA test - that was positive as well. So it's pretty clear at this point and I really can't keep denying anything. The constant colds are due to my immune system attacking my muscles instead of foreign germs.

My next step is heading over to the Cleveland Clinic and meeting with a specialist. This appointment is next week and I have SO many questions to ask. I can deal with the current symptoms but I'm afraid they will get worse. The fatigue, muscle pain, joint pain, headaches and constant sickness are doable. It's the organ failure, heart problems, potential for dialysis and widespread infection that I'm more leery of. Lupus is an unpredictable disease and you can't really expect a normal course. I guess you never know where your life is going to take you either way. Hell, I could get in a car accident on the way to work today and this whole discussion is moot. It's just the expected unknown that's formidable.

And we're off...

First time I've ever had a blog so bear with me as we get through the growing pains. This will hopefully be a place where I can show off my jewelry creations, my family and my ups and downs dealing with Lupus.

I've been making jewelry for more years then I care to admit. I've grown from simple beading to more complex metalsmithing techniques. I still like to create earrings and necklaces from semi-precious gemstones such as smokey quartz, chalcedony, topaz and peridots. I'm just taking that love of gemstones into a new era - a time when I can melt silver (hopefully not too much) and form bezels to hold these same cabochon cut stones.
Bezel setting for me is therapeutic. It takes my full concentration and if I get distracted at all I'm bound to make a mistake. My most common mistake is holding the torch in one place too long and melting a delicate portion of fine silver. Then again, doing any kind of jewelry making is therapeutic for me. It can be absolutely maddening at times but overall I really love it. I can totally space out and lose track of time for hours. Many times I've started in the early evening around 7pm and not looked up until well after midnight.

Lately though this has been a source of aggravation in more ways then one. I was recently (last week!!) diagnosed with Lupus. I've been dealing with muscle and joint pain along with headaches for over a year. Only recently had it gotten to the point where I needed to see a doctor to figure out what the heck was going on with me. I used to joke I had hypochondriac tendencies so I avoided complaining about it too much. Turns out it was something serious after all. I have an appointment with a specialist at the Cleveland Clinic coming up soon so I should know more by then. My mother has suffered from this same disorder for 20 years now - while I know what to expect for the most part it is still the unknown that frightens me most. My next post will be more about what led up to my diagnosis and where to go from here.