100 likes giveaway winner!

Before long, I expect to have 100 likes on my Facebook page.  As I've said before, I'm pretty new to all of this.  I wrote my first pattern three months ago, and immediately opened an Etsy store in order to get that pattern to the people who had requested it.  https://www.etsy.com/shop/AuntieJewelrybyJulie?ref=si_shop  I then set up a Facebook page for this brand new business.  The trouble is, I had no idea what to do with it.  I let a few close friends know about it, and as of Tuesday, I had 12 likes.  That was more than fine with me, because there was nothing on the page to see.  While taking a class on how to sell on Etsy I learned that a blog will help.  I still didn't know what I was doing when I started this blog, but I took it on faith that my teachers, Shae and Cloe, knew what they were talking about.  
On Tuesday, I shared my few posts onto Facebook, and then it looked like something was really starting.  I decided it was time to ask friends and family to like my page.  That was two days ago, and I'm now watching for my 100th like.  Someone said it pays to have a large family....after laughing, I started to wonder how many of these nearly 100 likes were family.  I looked at the list and it was only 24 out of 90 something people who were family.  Then I started finding names that weren't even Facebook friends.  This has given me a renewed enthusiasm to list more jewelry for sale.  (just in time to go off grid for the weekend.  I'd better do something to work on those listings off grid)
As a thank you, I will be giving a $10 gift certificate to Fulya Kazar who is the person who gave me the 100th like, and a coupon for 10% off for everyone else during the month of September.  https://www.etsy.com/your/shops/AuntieJewelrybyJulie/coupons?si_ys_dd_coupons=#100LIKESONFACEBOOK   I'll also be adding more items during the first week of September, and watch for a Birthday special.  I'll give you the gifts for my birthday.  
When I figure out more how to tweet, I'll have the same deal.  $10 for my 100th twitter follower, and a discount for everyone when I hit that level.   https://twitter.com/AuntieJewelry1

Who is Auntie Jewelry?

I am Auntie Jewelry, and I like to make jewelry, and if I want to continue making jewelry, I need to start selling some of it.  My first memories of making jewelry are of going to a local store owned by some people from our church.  The name of the store was JewelArt.  I remember staring in those little bins full of sparkly treasures and various metal findings.  My mom introduced me to Filigree.  This stuff looked like lace made out of metal.  Mom made lots of pins or brooches with Cameos and other Cabochons with Victorian scenes of lovers in their finest attire.  Sadly that store wasn't around for very long, but it definitely placed a spark deep inside of me. 
Without adequate supplies, or any access to them, I resorted to using the brightly colored plastic covered phone wires that my brothers had left behind when I moved into the upstairs bedroom.  I did a lot of wirewrapping, even though I had no idea of what it was.  I made many multi-colored rings, some bracelets and necklaces.  
Fast forward lots of years.  I got married (and divorced and remarried) quite young.  I am lucky enough to be married to a man who comes from a long line of devoted husbands.  They are so known for this that when my grandma heard we were engaged, she said, "Oh good! Those Spendlove men take good care of their women!"  I am the mother of 6 children and 11 grandchildren.  I spent 31 years raising children, and soon learned I had no time for hobbies.  My youngest child, Benjamin, was born with Cystic Fibrosis, and for the nearly 20 years he was on this earth, my whole world revolved around his care.  
For the last year and a half of his life Benjamin's medical team was an 8 hour drive away from home.  When he was hospitalized for 5 weeks at a time, I would move into the hospital with him. It was a time of hard work for him, and a bit of a vacation for me, because others were responsible for his care.  One time when we were there, Benjamin had stumbled upon a bushel box filled with beading supplies.  He told the occupational therapist that he thought his mom would like to see this box and maybe make something (even when he was sick, he followed the Spendlove tradition, and he was taking care of his mom).  That week, my spark for creating jewelry was reignited!  I still had no time, but I took a set of jewelry with a bracelet, earrings , and a necklace that I had made, home from that hospitalization.
During this same time, we would stay at my sister Amy's house the day before hospitalization, and the day of release, before heading home.  Amy's oldest three children are girls, and they were small at this time.  One of them commented that it was pretty neat that my name was Jewelry and I wear jewelry.  That's when I learned that they thought my name was actually Jewelry instead of Julie, so I was Aunt Jewelry!  
A few years later, I thought I had experienced all the grief I could possibly handle.  I had lost my son in 2009, just before he turned 20.  Twenty days later, I lost my Daddy, fifteen months later I lost my Mom.  I survived the grief, but it was more than my baby sister could take, and she suddenly died of stage four lung cancer last year.  
When Amy died, our older sister and I had been waiting for Amy to wean her youngest child, so the three of us could take a trip to Hawaii together.  Linda, my older sister, commented that Amy never seemed excited to go, but I believe that somewhere deep inside, Amy knew she would not live long enough to take this trip.  Linda and I took the trip in October to honor our baby sister, and while we were there we learned that all adult women are referred to as Auntie, because everyone is family.  At this time in order to honor family, or as they say in Hawaii, Ohana , I became Auntie Jewelry.
Go to my fledgling Etsy store