CTR Rings and bands

So I’ve tried in the past to sell some CTR rings which stands for “Choose The Right”. Then I stopped because of licensing issues. I am now proud to announce that I’m have permission to sell some CTR rings again. There are only five designs that I can sell for now. I have maybe 15 designs. I will work on getting the others approved. As of now I have these five available as I get time to list them on my site. I’m excited to share these designs with you. Here is the first one that I’ve listed. CTR Rock Foundation in Sterling silver

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To “Choose the Right” is not always an easy thing to do. I feel it’s easier to do alone than when around friends that may give a little pier pressure. Either way we need to stay strong and always remember to choose the right especially when faced with hard choices. We may be tempted to take the easy way out, but if we can learn to pre decide and know what we would say or do in certain situations we will make those hard choices become easy choices. So lets choose to choose the right.

DA update and life

So I’ll have to say that a lot has been going on because usually I can’t stand still and keep things moving along. lol. For Dana Arts I keep myself busy. I always have and will continue to do so. I’m a small business that is just me and my determination, passion and love for what I do that will keep it going no matter what. I have to admit that the past 5 or 6 months have been more than slow as far as sales go, but I continue to try and find ways to come up with new ideas, improve the website, or as of lately planing to do more video about what I’m up to. I have a few pendants that I think are really cool that will come out for the next few months as my newest featured items that you can usually see when they come out from the banner at the top of the webpage. I try and come up with ideas of what I think is cool. There have been times when a customer had an idea that we worked together on and are now available for sale. If you’d ever are inspired just let me know. I can do custom unique pieces just for you or we can work it out to put it into my line of jewelry. My shop is a bit cluttered right now. I have a 12’x12’ shed that I work out of right now. It has all my equipment for jewelry, gardening tools, and wood working tools. Oh an a lot of vw bug parts all over the place mixed in with everything.

So the shop has been real messy lately as I have been working more on my vw bug engine than jewelry. Ever since the fire I’ve been slowly trying to get parts and now cleanup to get this thing running again. So far I’ve managed to pull the engine from the car. (my first time ever doing so). Now I’ve been tearing it apart. I’ve managed to paint a few tins and am currently working on cleaning up other tins for painting. Next I’ll clean up the engine bay and then re wire the car. After that I plan to assemble the engine and put it back in. I want to test it to see if I can get it running again. If it does then I can work on the seats, windows, and the rest of the car to make it usable again. I just want to know if it can run before I spend the time fixing up the rest. The sad thing is that I am not going to be able to restore the whole car as it should be. I can’t replace the pans right now that have holes in them. I can’t do a lot of things that should be done since the car is stripped down to nothing. I don’t have the money to put into it, so I just want it running and drive able again. This way I can enjoy it once again even thought it won’t be perfect. It’s just a joy to drive my 67 VW bug. My first car. It’s a big fun project that I will share more about down the road.

The garden is doing well. After the last frost I pulled out all the tomato plants and basil. Right now I have onion, yarrow, mint, carrots, a few types of lettuce, bak choi, thyme, cilantro and a few other small plants and herbs. It’s starting to warm up a bit and I have planted a few carrots, celery, squash and more. It may not be the right time for some of these, but I will replant if nothing shows up. Already we have tons of tomatoes popping up from the old tomatoes. Same thing with the basil. It’s like a weed. I plan to keep the garden area a bit more clean this year. We’ll see how it goes. My henna plant may have died in the frost because it got frosted when my cover blew off it. Hopefully it survives. I could go on and on, but that’s just a small update on the garden.

Garden Area in the back and the fire ring up close to us.

The Garden House. It has begun. Yes the day we have been waiting for for almost 2 years now. The pad was built a few weeks ago and then it rained for a week. Now that it’s dry again the footing was just poured Friday the 16th of February 2024. I look forward to seeing the next steps and progress of the build. To get to this point felt like it would never happen. I did have to change the plans and lower the pitch of the roof from a 9:12 to a 6:12 because it just plainly cost too much. I also had to modify the foundation a bit to save some money. We are happy that our builder is our next door neighbor. He is amazing and so helpful. I would love to post about this whole journey someday. It’s a blessing that I’d love to share with everyone, but for today I’m just keeping it simple and letting you know that it has begun. Within six months we should be in our new home.

The House footing is poured.

Live is full of ups and downs. I know that nothing lasts and I’m sure hard times and good times come and go. I just know that if we keep God close to us we will be able to get though anything, appreciate life and see the light as we progress through life. Our outlook on life will be different and we will have greater peace within our life and that energy will show. I will keep everyone updated now and then on mainly the house, garden and of course Dana Arts. Take care and I’ll talk with you again soon.

A little update on life

So the holidays were great! It’s a wonderful time of year where we can all enjoy good spirits and family. Now that the new year has started I have hopes that life will continue to grow and expand and mature as the year goes on. I will go through what my plans are for this year.

First off Dana Arts will be posting a new design every month for this year. Keep an eye out for these new and exciting designs. I love designing and want to keep the flow of creativity going through the year. This means creating new design even when there are so many other things I have to take care of in life and in the business. I hope you will be as excited as I am to see each new design as the become available. I’ll try and promote each one through the month so you can have a look at it. I hope to grow Dana Arts this year as much as possible. I need your help to spread the word and continue buying rings that you love. Every bit helps when you are a small business like me with no employees.

American Flag Star ring with and eagle on the inside.

The Garden House. Well the plans were submitted on December 8th. I called today and it has gone through various steps and it’s in the actual plan review stage. They say it will now take another 30-40 business days. Really? They blame it on the holidays and being backed up. They say they are a week ahead and we should have them reviewed by the end of February. That’s a total of 3 months. Wow! I really hope there are no revisions that have to be done because each revision will take another 2 weeks for them to review and hopefully I won’t need weeks to make the changes, but it’s possible. I’m starting to have the feeling the house will not be completed before my son returns from El Salvador in November. I was trying so hard to make that happen, but it will be close. I’m so tired of waiting. Once the plans are approved I know things will move forward and wont' worry so much.

The Garden at the Garden House. Well I have finished the second strip of garden box. They are both 5ft by 15ft. The next ones will be a little longer. I need to pull weeds and then start mixing the dirt. I would like to get a few more done before spring planting. The new Home Depot just opened here in San Tan Valley so I can make shorter trips for the things I need. for building, so that is a plus.

The driveway. We need to be working on this. I have a friend that will come help me cut some 23” pipe that will hopefully go in at the front of the driveway. I need to destroy a little of the old cement of the old spot for the pipe so this new one can go in it’s place. I then would like to brick lay the end of it and then fill the top with cement. The top cement layer will be thin as this pipe is in reality too big and should be smaller, but that is what size is there and our wonderful neighbor is so kind and generous to give us that pipe. So I’m humbly thankful for their generosity. Once the driveway is fixed we can get rid of all the trash that is on the property. It will feel good to have it cleaned up a bit more. Each new stage is challenging and I am up for it. This is where I want to live and improving the land is a way to make life happier.

Broken part of the driveway.

We all need something in life that keeps us going and keeps us happy. For me it’s believing in God and Jesus Christ and all they do for me as I strive to follow the gospel that has been taught. My family and the joy they bring to me everyday. My work that to me isn’t really work, but play time. My new home where I can create a place of peace and beauty for my family and I. A place of safety where we can all grow together. This is what life is all about. With this we can also then think about serving and helping others the best we can and know how to. We are all here on this journey through life and it’s wonderful to serve and help others the best we can. It only lifts our souls and make life that much easier and joyful. I hope this year that we all can progress together on this journey of life to live it to it’s fullest.

Mission Rings Update

Ok so this is just a quick update on my site in the Mission Rings section. I know I only have three rings so far and soon I will post one for Mexico. So I hope to come up with more designs, but it’s a slow process. I am not able to make a sample ring for every mission out there so I have found a way that hopefully works. Now when you order a mission ring you will be able to select your finger size and then once you add it to your cart a pop up window will come up and ask what mission you were in. Just add the mission name to the field and add it to your cart. This way I can change out the text before I cast it and you will have you mission ring that looks like the sample photo, but with your mission name on it. It’s an exciting update that I feel will help to easily make your mission ring personalized. If you wanted a date or something like that, I am thinking of having that option too. Just like this post if you would like this and I’ll add if with enough support. Thanks.

Always a little progress is good

Things are moving along slowly, but to me any progress is good. I was able to figure out where some of the electricity is going. I got electricity working in the shed I want to tare down and possibly rebuild. I also got a telephone pole that has a light on it working. It had extra wires I disconnected that I have no idea where they go and are not live. I also would like to redo some wiring because it all looks so old and falling apart. Probably not very safe. There is one light near the shop that I tore down and need new wiring and a new light. That will be done soon.

The guy I’m going to hire to use machinery to help clean up the land has cancelled our scheduled date. It should be happening again next weekend. Until then I’ll continue working at it one day at a time cleaning up as much as I can. For now I’ve included an image to show you the vision I have for the property.

This is my vision for the Garden House

I haven’t had any sales this past month so I’m taking advantage of the time to polish up some designs I had cast months ago. This gives me the time to work in other areas of my business that need work on. So expect to see some new designs come out soon. That is always good. :) It’s been hard to find all the little miscellaneous things I need to work smoothly. For example I want to take pictures of some new designs and I can’t find my white box that I made to do that. My lighting is also not easily accessed. I now have to find a new way or make and find a new spot to do my jewelry photography. It’s those little things that sometimes can be big and make a difference. It’s a lot like life in general sometimes. My new goals are to do as I’m doing along with trying to find new ways to promote my designs. Not sure how yet, but as I try and figure it out, my hopes are that my mind will be enlightened with ideas as to how I should proceed. I see it all the time that people quit their jobs and start their own businesses and manage to survive. I’ve been doing this for well over 20 years and I still can’t manage to survive (good thing I’m not surviving off it). I think the one main difference is not product or design, but promotion. I can design and make beautiful things, but I don’t know how to promote myself. That is the main issue. Once I push my boundaries in that area and find a way to put myself out there, I will probably then find a way to survive. Let’s hope I can do that sooner than later. I don’t want to be a huge business, just one that I can make a living from. Anyway, I am thankful for all of those people that have supported my over the years by buying my art. Each sale is so important to me and I am thankful for each and every one of you. Thank you!