Gemstone meanings

I like to use stones and gems that are used for healing in my jewelry. I decided to list some of these qualities here.

Agate is a variety of chalcedony quartz and is often dyed with bright colors. Promotes grounding, protection, security; balances aura, spiritual growth; stimulates precision and perceptiveness, concentration and memory. It symbolizes courage, gives a spiritual love of truth, and banishes fears.

Amethyst is a member of quartz family. The gemstone calms the emotions, creates clarity of thought and assist in attaining wisdom. Amethyst helps to draw your attention beyond the mind to the realm of pure spiritual knowledge. Amethyst helps you let go of all that is old and all that holds you back so you may fully embrace your spiritual destiny. It helps by providing protection, gives visions or opens spiritual and psychic centers, reduces mental tension, induces pleasant healing dreams, prevents over indulgence and encourages transformation and breaking of bad habits.

Coral is an organic gemstone made by living sea coral. Coral aids in soothing, intuition, imagination and energizing the emotions. It is good for keeping thoughts in control for visualization and while meditating, helps arthritis

Fluorite gemstones are important balancers and healers. Fluorite opens the heart and the mind, which assist in producing clarity.

Garnet - Aids in remembering dreams, for going backwards in time, attracts profound love, gives persistence, cures depression, works on liver to relieve toxins in the body.

Jade is the common name for two minerals, Jadeite and Nephrite, with both minerals having the same appearance. Jade is considered to be a gemstone of good fortune. The gemstone increases relaxation and reduces tension. Jade can also be used to relieve grief and improve sleep, promote peace, tranquility; soothes the eyes and emotions.

Lapis Lazuli is a rock not a mineral. The lapis lazuli gem assists in harmonizing your heart and your mind, and strengthens bonds between them. When the heart and the mind are working in harmony, mastering any area of your life is more attainable. Lapis Lazuli helps you to live your dreams and increases your adventurous spirit. The stone of friendship, it helps one to be more kind and helpful, it is also the stone of fidelity. Ancient cultures' medicine men and Shamans used Lapis in jewelry and headpieces to help them connect with their spiritual selves.

Onyx is part of the chalcedony family. Onyx can be used to stabilize and heal your root chakra, to increase grounding and productiveness. Onyx offers energetic support to help your chakras become more adaptable, this in turn enables you to be more productive.

Quartz is a crystalline rock or mineral composed of silicon dioxide. Quartz attracts life force from your being and brings it into the physical world. This life force then flows through your body and helps to nourish your mind, emotions and physical body. It raises one's vibration, bridges the material world with other realms, it has the ability to store and transmit energy, excellent for healing on all levels and for meditation.

Rhodite gemstones are used to stabilize the emotions. The gemstone sorts out any feelings that are scattered, imbalanced, or ungrounded and allows you to broadens your perspective and helps you become more balanced and mature.

Rose Quartz - Brings more love into the life, skin rejuvenation, kidneys. Sapphire - Treats mental illness, it attracts good people into the life, calms the nerves, suitable for meditation, gives pure insight and God truth, stone of chastity.

Tiger Eye is a form of chalcedony quartz Cat's Eye. Tiger Eye gems are generally cut as cabochon, but also often into round pieces for necklaces and pendants. Tiger Eye gemstones help to convert anxiety, fear and obsessiveness into practicality and logic. The gemstone increases confidence and clear thinking.

Turquoise is porous, so contact with liquids, oils or even perspiration should be avoided. Turquoise is considered a good general healer for all illnesses and excellent conductor. It induces wisdom and understanding, enhances trust and kindness. It brings the qualities of mental and spiritual clarity. Turquoise reminds us of our spiritual nature, gives protection, and it is the stone of friendship.



COLOR OF STONES ALSO PROMOTES HEALING:

White Stones - Purifies physical, emotional, mental or etheric bodies.

Pink - Love, self-respect and self-worth.

Red - Energy, sex, courage.

Orange - Cheerfulness, frees one from too many responsibilities.

Yellow - Mental awareness, nerves.

Green - Healing, abundance, balance self-control.

Turquoise - Flashes of intuition, encounters from the past.

Sky Blue - Increases spiritual awareness.

Dark Blue, Indigo - Protection, strength, occult work, calms

Violet, Purple - Transformation, elevates the soul.

Gold - Wisdom, self-confidence, strengthens the heart.

Brown - Practicality, stabilizes.

Black - Abstract thought, protective, material world.

what to do...

**article found on columbusunderground.com**
The past few years have seen a huge surge in handmade crafts and toys, especially here in Columbus. The rise in people crafting has lead to the birth of shows like Tiny Canary and Craftin’ Outlaws. Tiny Canary was created to support the spirit of the handmade community and to give consumers a chance to purchase a locally made and safe toy instead of mass-marketed toys which have been facing frequent recalls.

All of the recent recalls on toys brought strong action from Congress. On August 14, 2008, President Bush signed into law the Consumer Products Safety Improvement Act. This toy safety act was put into place to protect our children younger than twelve against lead and phthalates in toys. It also put into effect things such as: mandating third-party lead testing and certification for all toys and requiring toy makers to permanently label each toy with a date and batch number. The law is written so broadly that it also includes the people crafting handmade toys who were originally providing safe alternatives to unsafe toys.

Local artisans Amy Turn Sharp and husband Joseph began making handmade wood toys in the winter of 2007. Their desire to make safe toys led them to start their business Little Alouette. The past holiday season was very successful for them and their sales have been rising steadily. But the problems with unsafe toys will cause them problems as well if the legislation isn’t amended. ”We were sick of unsafe toys,” says Turn Sharp. “And here we are, and we’re going to go out of business because of unsafe toys.”

Under the new legislation, every unique toy would need to be tested for lead by an accredited third-party tester, and that testing is very expensive. Does it make sense for a company who manufactures their toys from Ohio maple and other wood and finishes them with organic seed oil to test for lead? “It will put us out of business as we cannot afford to test our entire line,” says Turn Sharp. Companies found in violation of the law can face fines from $5,000 to $100,000 per individual violation, and from $1.85 million to $15 million for aggregate violations.

The Handmade Toy Alliance has developed a petition that “calls for rational exclusions from lead testing of materials including wood, paper, cotton, and other materials known by science to not contain lead.” It also seeks to put the burden of testing on the manufacturers of supplies instead of finished products, “which would allow [their] members to rely on certifications from their materials suppliers instead of repeating tests multiple times for each product made from those materials.” They’d also like the law to differentiate the concept of batch labeling between large companies and small businesses.

This law takes effect on February 10, 2009.

How can you help? We need to write to our legislators to address these implementation problems with the CPSIA. Not sure what to write? Please view this page for ideas and also this page to find letters you can endorse and modify.

All Ohio Senators and Representatives voted yea on the bill, except for Dennis Kucinich and Stephanie Jones who did not vote on it.

Use this form to contact your Representative.

Use this website to get your Senator’s contact information.

Send an email directly to the CPSC (Consumer Product Safety Commission) or contact chairperson Nancy Nord at 301-504-7923

Sign this petition to Save Small Businesses from the CPSIA.
show support on facebook by joining the group to save handmade toys.

I’m sure we can all agree that toy safety should be a very high priority, but the way this legislation was written has the potential to put many people out of work and could not be at a worse time. Please help save handmade crafters with your support to have the legislation amended!

update...

Greetings!!

So happy to see that there are so many talented artists out there. Loving all the new friends I've made lately!

I do enjoy seeing all the new projects everyone is working on! Please feel free to post pics in my comments! I love to see what you're all up to!


I am participating in a Valentine's day exchange with another talented artist from ETSY, Justine check out her myspace page she is amazing. If anyone is interested in participating, just let me know!


*Putting together a trading circle page where we can all post pics of items that we are willing to offer for trading with other artists. Working on it, along with the million other things I have goin on right now. If you are interested, let me know! So keep your eyes open, I will be sending out invites as soon as I have it up and running.


~also want to congratulate whatshername for winning the weekly giveaway on cafehandmade.com for a $25 gift certificate for my etsy shop. She picked out a cute hand painted tank top. YAY!

check out cafehandmade.com they have a very cool virtual craft show with so many talented artisans participating right now! Check out their ad rates, it's wonderful to have such a great resource for us all to advertise our shops.


Hopefully everyone had a great week and will soon be enjoying the weekend.

~blessings to all my friends out there!!

much love, Annie

xo

enter to win!!

I am part of the weekly giveaway on cafehandmade. com
enter to win a $25 gift certificate!

Etsy Buy Handmade rheedunn

SAVE US

VOTE FOR THIS IMPORTANT ISSUE!!

http://www. change. org/ideas/view/save_handmade_toy...

A Proposal From the handmadetoyalliance. org:

In 2007, large toy manufacturers who outsource their production to China and other developing countries violated the public's trust. They were selling toys containing dangerously high lead content, unsafe small parts, and chemicals that made kids sick.


The United States Congress rightly recognized that the Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC) lacked the authority and staffing to prevent dangerous toys from being imported into the US. So, they passed the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) in August 2008. Among other things, the CPSIA bans lead and phthalates in children's products, mandates third party testing and certification, and requires manufacturers of all goods for children under the age of 12, to permanently label each item with a date and batch number.


All of these changes will be fairly easy for large, multinational companies to comply with. Large manufacturers who make thousands of units of each item have very little incremental cost to pay for testing and updating their systems to include batch labels. Small businesses however, will likely be driven out of business by the costs of mandatory testing, to the tune of as much as $4,000 or more per item. And the few larger manufacturers who still employ workers in the United States face increased costs to comply with the CPSIA, even though American-made toys had nothing to do with the toy safety problems of 2007.


Anyone who produces or sells any of the following new or used items will be required to comply with the law: toys, books, clothing, art, educational supplies, materials for the learning disabled, bicycles, and more. Any uncertified item intended for children under the age of 12 will be considered contraband after February 10, 2009. It will be illegal to sell or give these items away to charities, and the government will require their destruction or permanent disposal, resulting in millions of tons of unnecessary waste, and placing an enormous strain on our landfills.


There is a clear disconnect between the sweeping nature of this law, and the narrow range of products that were problematic in 2007. The CPSIA applies standards that were put in place in reaction to the sale of toys contaminated with lead paint and toxic plastics. Rather than focus on these materials, this law places a guilty until proven innocent mentality on all children's product producers by imposing mandatory testing and certification, and in the process will kill an entire industry.


Thriving small businesses are crucial to the financial health of our nation.
Let's amend the CPSIA so that all businesses large and small are able to comply and survive!

blessings!

hello to all of you lovely friends out there!! I wish you a happy New Year!
May 2009 bring so much love and prosperity that you overflow into those who surround you.

Please feel free to post your work in my comments section, as often as you like.
I looooove to see your new work, That inspires me!
I am grateful to you all for the kindness and support we all show each other, I love networking! If anyone has any ideas for future collaborations, drop me a line! I will be doing a lot this year to promote us all.
So let me know if you are interested in participating!
love, annie

coupon for my lovely friends!!

okay here it is, the coupon for you to use.


*directions for use: either send me an email or conversation on etsy.com with the words "coupon code 2009". along with the item (or description) you would like to purchase. then i will let you know how to proceed from there. My thanks to you for being a lovely friend!
xo, Annie
PS happy new year!!

gift certificates!!

GIFT CERTIFICATES AVAILABLEthey are available in any amount... I had fun making them!
I'm going to post a $5 one for everyone to use on the etsy site or handmade.com
I hope everyone is having a fabulous holiday season! I better go get ready to visit with family!
love, annie xo

I am in love...

this calendar is so pretty! i found it while browsing on etsy.
check it out
there are so many cool items in her store.

I also found some really cute lil baby things...
baby boots
legwarmers
clothing

I love etsy window shopping. There are so many great vendors out there.
Well, I'm off to have some sleepytime tea, and a cuddle with my honey.
Hope everyone has a wonderful Holiday Season!
~blessings and love
xo, Annie

crochet=obsession

wow, i swore earlier today
that I wouldn't be crocheting
ANYTHING for awhile
~check out the monkeys, I finally finished them
they look a bit like bears though...
yet here I am, into another project before the day is through...
:)
crocheting circles to join together to make a rug
for Jaden (baby girl due in MARCH)'s room
omgoodness
it is gonna be cute.
I saw a site earlier today with some cute dolls,
i was planning on making some dolls next, but...
now this rug thing idea has taken hold
i will be filling the coffee table with crocheted circles
of green, pink white and brown
and my man just smiles and says
what are you doing now??!!!
look at you go.
and he winks at me, a knowing look in his eyes...
i won't be making any dinner tonight.
:)
luckily he is a very resourceful man
and he even did the laundry...
it's truly love on a deep level.