Tag Archives: Photography

Long Break

Hi, I can’t believe that we are already in July and that it has been over two months since I published a post here! In my defense, I can tell you that I have had a lot going on since the end of April.

In early May, I started looking for a house to move to because with the housing market going crazy, I was sure that the owner of the house we had been renting for the last six years would want to sell. About a week later, my suspicions were confirmed by a phone call from the owner. Finding a house was challenging because a home would be listed online, and not even 24 hours later, there were multiple applications on it. Right before we were due to leave on vacation, we went to see a house, and it was perfect! At first, we didn’t know if we had gotten it, but right before we flew out of town, we received the news that we had been approved and would get the keys on June 1st after we returned from vacation. So, my time was filled with stress from looking for a house and then getting ready to go on vacation, but it was worth it because we have moved into a house that is perfect for us and our vacation was wonderful!

While on vacation, we renewed our wedding vows on our 17th anniversary, and everything was perfect on our special day! Ocho Rios, Jamaica, is one of our favorite places to relax and reconnect with each other, so why not renew our vows while there. We were supposed to renew our vows two years ago, but between my breast cancer diagnosis and treatment in 2019 and Covid causing the world to stop in 2020, we had to post phone our trip and ceremony until this year.

So now that I have decompressed from all of the chaos, my new home is unpacked and my studio is back up and running! I will have new jewelry to photograph and post soon so hold on for just a little bit longer for me!

Thank you for your patience and continued support! 🙂

March 18th: Update & New Jewelry

Hello! I realize that I have been gone from my studio for a while now, but my absence could not be avoided. Soon after my last post in February, I hurt my back. I have had issues with my sciatic nerve in the past, but that was years ago, so it was quite a surprise when it flared up after so long. About two weeks after the initial pain started, my back was better, thanks to a lot of rest and avoiding sitting in my studio chair where I have to sit up straight. Once my back was better, I worked on a few custom orders that I needed to get done and shipped out.

A few days later, I had a follow-up appointment with my surgeon, and it was determined that I needed surgery to fix an issue from a surgery I had back in November 2019. For those who have not noticed the links connecting you to my other blog, I was diagnosed with breast cancer in late February 2019. Two weeks ago today, I had my 5th surgery, and I am doing well! I am excited to see my surgeon again next week to remove any stubborn steri-strips that are still hanging on to my surgery site.

Today I finally felt well enough to get back into my studio and design a few pieces. It felt so good to be able to sit for a few hours and do what I love! I hope to work on a few more pieces tomorrow, and then I will list them in my online shop.

Thank you for your understanding and support! 💕

mmillsdesigns shop now open!

Welcome! I will update my progress on new items as well as new listings in my shop in my blog, so watch for updates in the coming weeks and months.

My website is finally fully functional and my shop is open! I only have the handmade jewelry section of my shop open at this time. I will be working on the other two sections in the coming weeks, my Destash Boutique and my Original Photography.

For those of you who not familiar with the term Destash, it is referring to the sale of crafting supplies. I have quite a few extra beads and supplies that I will be selling at a reasonable price in the coming months. I will have some individual items as well as a few bulk purchases available.

I will be working on new items for the jewelry section of my shop in the coming weeks and again, I will post updates in my blog.

If you have any questions for me please contact me through my Contact Me page.

Welcome to the new mmillsdesigns website!

I have decided to close my Etsy shop. Etsy has become greedy over the years and their site is no longer all about quality handmade items. They are now allowing sellers to come on to the site and sell cheap items that are made in China. Some sellers are taking the extra step to remove the “made in China” tag before sending the item out to unsuspecting customers but very often, that is not the case.

There are also issues with their analytics as far as shop items being visible on their main page. I am in a highly competative area on selling sites and I am not visible without constantly renewing my listings at $.20 each. I do not have that kind of money, so my sales on their site do not justify the cost of keeping my shop open.

So, now you can shop from my website and support my business directly!

Thank you for being here! I will get my “Shop” tab set up as soon as I can, so look for a new blog post announcing my Grand Opening Sale!