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I had the honor of first meeting Char at Gallery Ten many years ago. After enduring an art fair washed out in the rain, I rambled into Gallery Ten on the advice of another artist. This was my first experience walking into a gallery with hopes that they would represent my jewelry artwork and I did not know how to approach the owner to inquire. I was nervous and anxiety was high as I approached the beautiful red door entering the gallery. As I entered, I was allowed time to take everything in, no pushy salespeople or anyone breathing down my back as I walked around. The pretty woman behind the counter smiled and said hello, my heartrate increased knowing she would be the person I would have to ask about carrying my jewelry in this exquisite space. To my surprise, and in complete relief, she approached me and asked about the pendant I was wearing. As we chatted and introductions were made, my anxiety melted away, I could immediately feel the love and radiant energy that Charlene embodied. This small encounter would in many ways, alter my life as I had known it, bringing new people and magical experiences into my world. This is the magic of Char.

It's art fair and festival season in Wisconsin!

As a creative creature and maker of handmade jewelry, I've been selling on Etsy since the beginning of time. Ok, not since the actual beginning of time, but since around 2007. I've always dreamed of having my own jewelry website but have zero technical aptitude, and less than zero patience for it, so the road getting here has been a bit slow. Who wants to create a website when you could be creating jewelry and other cool and amazing things? Not me. I stumbled upon IndieMade while doing website research and learned that it would sync with Etsy and give me the ability to actually download all listings from my current Etsy shop over to IndieMade. With a generous 30 day free trial, I jumped in and downloaded my listings and got started on choosing the theme and layout of my new shop. I have to admit, this transition was not as horrifying as I had anticipated, due in part to the great support team at IndieMade. They have a little "Help" bubble at the bottom of the screen that allows you to enter your personal info and then ask questions. My support team has been incredible, they respond via email and do so very quickly, usually within minutes and no longer than an hour. I'm not here to bash Etsy, but most of us that have been long time sellers on that platform are very well aware of the lack of support when you need them. Over the past few weeks I've discovered that I'm not as technically challenged as I had thought and creating this new website has actually been a creative and fun challenge, it's just a different kind of creativity. I will still sell on Etsy, of course my shops are still there, I just can't have all my precious eggs in their one basket.