Our business was born during a day of housecleaning.

During a walk with our dogs, we had mourned the days when we had jobs that warranted hiring people to keep our homes tidy for us and how the feeling of “everything clean at once” was not happening now that we were stay at home moms.  Oh, everyone was fed and clothed and breathing, but our homes would get vacuumed and dusted or the kitchen was clean for 30 minutes, but never all at the same time. So we thought we’d try cleaning both of our homes TOGETHER at the same time in one 5 hour period of time.

And it worked!  I would vacuum and dust at her house while she cleaned the kitchen, bathrooms and floors and we would swap roles at my house, spending 2.5 hours on each home.  Of course Jumping Castle the day before we would do laundry, change sheets, put away mounds of toys and shoes and junk and HAIR ACCESSORIES in preparation for our cleaning day.  The point is IT WORKED!  And we chatted while we worked and asked important questions and caught up on each other’s daily lives.

Here’s the thing… when your friend is vacuuming in the other room you CANNOT stop and chat with your mother on the phone for 45 minutes.  While she dusts you don’t get rabbit-trailed into another side project when you should be scrubbing the tub.  You use every loving minute of that 2.5 hours to stay completely focused so that when times up your house is totally clean!

Those were purposeful days.  And on one such day, during a hypothetical conversation about how we would spend all of our time when our youngest kids went to school full time in the fall, our business was born.  And now we don’t clean house together anymore, we just don’t really have that luxury of time.  But I miss those days spent serving my best friend and being served by her.  Rich times indeed!

This past weekend we were able to attend a graduation party for the daughter of some good family friends of ours.  I had talked with the mom earlier in the week and told her that we wanted to make Emma a special necklace.  The necklace you see pictured is the result of our conversation and we couldn’t love it more. Let me tell you a little bit about Emma and her family.

A couple summers ago Emma went on a mission trip to China and worked in an orphanage there.  While she was there, one little girl captured her heart, and when Emma returned home she approached her parents about adopting little Mia.  “One at a time” Emma thought.  We can be overwhelmed when we hear the number of orphans in our world, and yet, the only way to change it is one at a time.  Emma’s dream became her parents dream too in time and they set out to adopt this special little girl.  As they began the adoption process, they were faced with roadblock after Hüpfburg roadblock.  At one point, it looked like they would not be able to adopt Mia and so they began pursuing another little girl to adopt in China.  Well, in God’s perfect plan, the barriers were lifted to adopt Mia, and this family was now adopting TWO little girls at the same time!  Here is a picture of Emma with the two girls…

This story moves me in two ways.  One… to see a young girl want to change the story of orphans and to see them in families.  Two…that our friends were willing to listen to their daughter’s dream and have it become their own.  When I saw their Christmas card this year, I couldn’t help the tears from streaming down my face.  Aren’t they beautiful?I love how God makes family in all different ways.  They were willing to set aside their worldly dreams and desires and instead chose to adopt these precious girls.

This family now has six children from ages eighteen to four.  Emma, and her 16-yr-old sister, Maddie, are going back to China this summer for over a month to work in an orphanage devoted to children with Brittle Bone Disease.  With some of the children they even have to be careful on how they pick them up and hold them as their bones can break that easily.  It is so inspiring to me to see the hearts of Emma and Maddie…when most teenage girls are only concerned about boys, tanning and the next party, they are serving “the least of these”.  James 1:27 says, “Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of God is this, to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.”

We have decided to offer this necklace on our website and donate $5.00 for every adoption necklace sold to “The Jeremiah Project“, an organization devoted to helping families financially to adopt.  Check out the necklace here.

One at a time.   We have the power to help change people’s stories.   Where do you feel called to serve?  Who is your ONE right now?

~Kendra

Last night our church hosted a fun Girl’s Night Out called the “Bling Fling”.  We were honored to be one of the vendors at the event.  Actually, I organized the vendors so I guess it was pretty easy to be included. 🙂   We have both been at our church for years now and it was really fun to share what we do in person with so many of our friends!  Here we are right before the night started…Sister Sledge on the left and Hammergirl (that’s me!) on the right.  I was a little jealous as Sister Sledge had her hair done that day so she was looking mighty fine.  Why didn’t I think of that?The event was packed full with things that all women LOVE… Shopping of course, free neck massages, a photo booth, dessert bites, door prizes, an inspirational talk and conversation with good girlfriends.  A PERFECT night. A bonus to the evening was that my sister, Krista Gilbert, was the speaker!  Here she is talking about our INNER SHINE.

She talked about how our world can feel very dark at times but that is when we can SHINE the brightest.  On a sunny day you can’t see a lit candle very well, but in complete darkness one candle can light up the whole room.  We need to be that light!  She challenged us to write down 5 ways we want to work on lighting up our own world.  So good…when we all are spreading grace, love and encouragement in our own families and communities, this world will be brighter.  We will help others see that they matter.  We will give love when it is least deserved.  We will be the encouragers instead of the stone throwers.  We, expecially as women, can be natural stone throwers as Krista coined, but how powerful it is when we put down our stones and extend grace and shine light instead.

I love that our business lets people add sparkle to their lives with meaningful silver pieces, swarovski crystal and fun charms.  Even better is seeing women sparkle from the inside.  So, let’s go out there today and look for opportunities to SHINE BRITE.

Love, Hammergirl

I’m not really a big baker, but yesterday morning I was overcome by the desire to make cupcakes for my daughter’s fourth grade classroom.  You see, I am the art docent for the year and the project for the day was to make a cupcake out of cardboard, teaching a lesson on texture.   Here they are (cute, don’tchathink?)…

I thought to myself…how fun would it be to bring in actual cupcakes for them to see and eat while I am doing the lesson?  Then, I thought:  Wait, Im not THAT mom.   We all know that mom…the overachiever, the one who the other moms roll their eyes at and wonder how many cups of coffee they must have a day to do all that they do.

But, I realized I wasn’t doing it for any kind of compliments, kudos or points from the teacher.  Being THAT mom for the right reasons can be OK.  I purely wanted to bring the cupcakes because I know how fleeting this time is with my 10-year-old daughter.   How many more times would I get to do this?

Yes, let’s bring the cupcakes!  Now, I don’t have a cupcake stand and the sprinkles and gummy lifesavers aren’t quite Martha Stewart, but cupcakes were coming for the art lesson.

As I mixed the batter, while my daughter with her swinging ponytail cracked the eggs, I tried to etch this special time into my memory and be in the moment.  I love the quote from Annie Dillard that says, “How we spend our days, is of course, how we spend our lives.”  When we step back from the busyness of life, the to-do lists and the time we often spend on things that in the end don’t matter, we find that the little things with those we love the most are what bring the most joy.

And at that moment, I couldn’t think of a better way to spend my day.

Love, Hammergirl (Kendra)

A gal called us last week because her dear friend was turning the big 4-0 and they wanted to get her something meaningful and special for her surprise party. When they were a bit younger (BEFORE KIDS!), they would go out and always bring “Wally” with them. He is the yellow smiley face guy. Wally became near and dear to all their hearts and signified there fun times together. We inscribed “wally” on the back of the necklace. She texted me after the party and said that their friend had tears in her eyes as she opened their present. She LOVED it. It is so much fun being able to mark people’s special occasions with our hand stamped jewelry!!

Happy Birthday to us!  As You Wish Design turns two today!  We officially applied for our very first business license two years ago today and have loved every minute we’ve spent pouring ourselves into this business.  To celebrate we’ve cooked up a little giveaway.  Here’s how it goes… go to our website at www.wishmamasdesign.com and click on the flickr button on the left hand side of our homepage.  When the flickr site appears click on the word “photostream” which will bring up all of our designs.  Find your favorite and make note of the name.  Post the name of your favorite design in the comment box at the end of this blog.  That will give you one entry!  If you are already a “friend” of our facebook page (As You Wish Design) then post that too, otherwise “friend” us and post that you have done so.  That will give you two entries!  Suggest us to your friends on facebook, and let us know that you did, and that will give you a third entry!  A winner will be drawn at the end of this month (April) and will receive a $50.00 gift certificate towards the personalized design of your choice, or a gift for someone you really like!  We are really excited to celebrate with you as we enter our third year stamping our wearable, personal art!  So what are you waiting for?…

Ideas for your Valentine

Originally uploaded by asyouwishdesign

We realized that Valentine’s day is right around the corner. Known as the holiday where you show your loved ones how special they are, this can be a bit of a pressure-filled day. We can help you with that. We took a photo of some of the things we can make to help you start the thought process. One of our favorite ideas for the man in your life is our 1″ circle or dog tag key chain. When you personalize these with some of the traits you love most about your man it becomes a piece they are proud to carry around each day. Take a look at our Flickr photo gallery (link under Blogroll)- the possibilities are endless…

It’s hard to believe we’ve welcomed a new year. Last year was so exciting with this new venture and our littlest ones going off to first grade. We are excited for all that is to come in 2010 including wherever our little business takes us. We’ve discussed teaming with a national non-profit that is close to our hearts and of course working one on one with each new person As You Wish Design brings into our lives, however briefly. It was such fun designing and crafting so many special Christmas gifts this last month and we realized on Christmas Day how many people were opening a little something personal on Christmas morning. What a gift to us! It has been a wonderful blessing in so many ways these past 8 months to do what we do and we are looking forward to seeing what this new year will bring. If you are new to our blog and our business, welcome, if you are an old friend, welcome! Leave us a note, we love to hear from you!

So, this venture has required lots of baby steps in order to get us this far.  We are always stepping forward into uncharted territory and sometimes it takes awhile for us to start a new path or continue on one long enough to reach a destination.  However, we finally have photos and pricing for you to view on this site.  Just click on the site on the right hand menu under blogroll that says flickr.com and you will see our link.  All of our photos are a small example of the many different things we have created and all of them can be personalized any way you wish.  Our favorite part of this business is creating each piece and so the business end of things often gets neglected as we stamp silver and bring each piece to life.  Hope this is helpful for all of you that would like something special.  Communicate with us if you are interested in something and we will love getting it to you!  Thanks for your patience!

monogrammed accessories com

Originally uploaded by asyouwishdesign

Look at this fun golf ball marker and keyring. We can monogram it or personalize it however you like. I made another golf ball marker for my Dad with “Boppa” hand stamped on it. He loved it! The golf ball marker is made from heavy 18 gauge sterling silver and is 7/8″. Both the keyring and golf ball marker are $20. You could add a fun charm to the keyring for an added personal touch.