On the move!

For a while now I've been considering moving my blog and I've finally made up my mind to go for it. There are a few reasons I want to move it, but the primary reason is that I don't just want to blog about making jewelry, so I feel like a blog called Sela Designs Jewelry is no longer fitting. Anyone else agree? You will now find me here - www.ashleighbecker.blogspot.com. 

I will still be taking about my adventures in jewelry making, but let's be honest, my life is 90% spent chasing toddlers and praying they won't kill each other in their reckless endeavors (kill may be a strong word, but I'm telling you, Liam is the brain & Henry has no fear it's a dangerous combo). I want to talk about real world issues like orphans going hungry, human trafficking and whatever else is on my mind. And so that's what I'm going to do in my new spot! I hope you'll join me. 

XOXO,

Ashleigh

Statement necklace three ways!

Statement necklace three ways by becker-ashleigh featuring long sleeve t shirts

Splendid short dress
net-a-porter.com

Gap petite top
gap.com

Gap long sleeve t shirt
gap.com

Gap tall jeans
gap.com

Gap short shorts
gap.com

Vince Camuto strappy sandals
amazon.com

Tagua Necklace in blues and greens
etsy.com

You know you're from Wisconsin when...

Green and Gold means something to you! Only in Wisconsin are fans so serious about their team. Through thick and thin, Green Bay Packers Fans are like none other, loyal and die hard to the end. Ok, reality check, we aren't that crazy, but we do like the Packers and I know a few players names - Aaron Rogers, Clay Matthews... that's about all I can think of at the moment. HA!

Anyway, the Packers hold a Family Night every year before pre-season games start. Tickets are a mere $10 and sell out very quickly. We decided to take our boys this year. The tickets said the events started at 5:30, so we got there a bit early and were some of the first people to enter the great Lambeau Field (some people worship this place, I kid you not, but I'm just not that into it). The place is like Mecca to some. Here are some photos of us enjoying the festivities:

Henry's just trying to steal the show with his abs of steel back there and well, Liam has mastered his fake smile in order to get me to stop taking pictures.

I told Bill we should take a nice selfie together and finally, Liam insisted on being in a picture after refusing for the last hour.

Henry was really getting into the wave and beach ball passing through the crowd.

Proof that we really were at a real Packer event. Aaron Rodgers was there!

Our pathetic attempt at a family selfie. Notice the photo bombing kid between my and Bill's heads, well done kid, well done.

Success at last, we got Liam out of the pic and have a nice, heads partially cut off, couple's selfie.

Some highlights of the night:

Upon arrival, Henry insisted on a jumbo popcorn. After eating a few handfuls, in a very desperate voice he said, "My body is thirsty! Daddy, my body is THIRSTY!" So, of course we had no choice but to pay $4.25 for a single bottle of water. 

When all of the quarterbacks came out wearing red jerseys Henry shouted, "Look there's the Henry team!" Because his favorite lego car and fire truck are red, he thinks all things red belong to him. 

Liam really enjoyed the blowup stick things (is there a proper name for them?) and occasionally smacked the girls in front of us with them. Ok, maybe he did it a lot more than occasionally.

You'll notice we were probably the only ones there not fully decked out in Packer attire. I showed my Packer spirit with a nice goldish tagua necklace and green tagua earrings. I go all out. Liam lucked out when a friend's mom offered to give him a Packer shirt to wear. He was happy since his lame Mom didn't buy him one. 

We only lasted until about 8:20. Henry asked if we could leave about 20 times so we decided it was about time. Note to self - next year, don't skip naptime to get there early; show up at 7:00pm when the Packers actually take the field. In the end, it was a fun experience for all, but we now know what to do next year!

The COVER!

Well, where to begin? It's been a while. I think I start a lot of posts with that phrase. It's not intentional. I want to be a blogger, a jewelry designer, an awesome mom, an advocate for those without a voice, an inspiring worship leader, a church administrator and about 10 other things, but for some reason I get overwhelmed with it all and something's got to give. That something is usually the blog. However, for the past couple months I keep thinking I should get back to the blogging world and do this thing right. Today, I had just the push I needed to get dust this ol' blog off...

Ladies and gentlemen, I made the Fall 2014 cover of Jewelry Stringing Magazine!

Yes, it's true, me, Ashleigh Becker, made the cover!!!! (is it terribly annoying if I add a few more exclamation points?) !!!!!!!! Ok, I'll stop now. I haven't even received my copy yet, but you can order it here or wait until it hits the stands at your favorite craft store in the next couple weeks. I have 3 necklaces in this issue and 3 pairs of earrings.

I have so many things I want to share with you, but I'll leave you with just a few highlights and save details for future posts. My goal is to stick with this blogging thing, but in a very real, Ashleigh sort of way. My pictures may not always be the best you've ever seen, probably mostly from my iphone. My stories will probably be laced with toddler mischief, lego building and food fights. This is my life; it's messy, it's crazy, it's fun (I'm the fun mom, ha!), it's hard at times, but it's my life and I want to keep it real. So, this isn't only about jewelry, it's also about motherhood, social justice issues, fashion (dare I call my wardrobe fashion?), faith and whatever else comes about. Join me on this journey, won't you?

Oh blog, I'm sorry I've neglected you

It seems that blogging crosses my mind quite often these days, but I never actually get around to doing it. The life of a mother of three is a whole lot more work than I realized it would be (duh!). I felt like I was completely submersed in toddlers and babies for a long time and now I can kind of see the light of day. I'm not saying it's been a bad few months, just filled to the brim with little room for anything extra. Lots of beautiful moments with my babies. Here are some updates:

My oldest, handsome boy, Liam, turned 4 years old this summer. He's a mini Bill (my husband) in the making. This boy is starting to look like Dad, act like Dad, talk like Dad, think like Dad and on and on it goes. His mind amazes me. Oh, and he now thinks that we are soooo old! Last week at school (yes, he started pre-school this year), he learned about fire safety. He came home and told me, "Mom, if you are on fire, you stop, drop, and roll!" I said, "I know. I learned that in pre-school too." To which he replied, "But Mom, that was ages and ages and hundreds of years ago!" Really Liam, I'm 28 years old! And that about sums up Liam.

Henry, aka the sweetest boy in the whole world, is into more mischief than one could dream possible. This boy can open every door in the house, including the sliding glass door leading him to the great outdoors (usually in just a diaper nonetheless) and the closet that houses all the snacks and treats. If anything is out of reach in any room of the house, he carries a chair into the room and figures out how to get what he "needs" - he's very resourceful! But, I did mention his sweetness, Lord have mercy, that boy knows how to tame his mother's heart. When in trouble, Henry quickly strokes my face and calmly says, "Hi, Momma." And that's it, I'm totally melted.

That would bring me to my little beauty, Norah. This girl has the most beautiful deep, brown eyes complete with lashes that go on forever! She is one blessed little girl. More importantly, she is doing very well - healthy as can be and keeping up with all of the typical milestones. Her adoption was finalized in September!!!!!! Our entire family let out a huge sigh of relief and a Hallelujah when the judge struck his gavel. We are so thankful to have our girl.

Through all of this, I've continued working on my jewelry. I did a whopping 1 show all year. That's OK with me. I now create only pieces I love and would wear myself - I have no time for anything else. I've been working mostly with tagua. My metalsmithing days are on hold for a while, like maybe 3-4 years. Tagua is such a great, natural material to work with and the colors are so rich. Combinations and styles are endless. My mind goes wild with ideas. Unfortunately, I also have to photograph all those ideas and list them so I can sell them! I prefer doing shows over selling online, but that's just not an option these days so to etsy I go. I listed a bunch of tagua necklaces today. Check out my shop: www.seladesigns.etsy.com

To stay up to date with what's going on follow me on Instagram: BeckerAshleigh or like me on Facebook
See you around!

Where in the world have I been?!

Well, what a great question! I have been off adopting a baby girl of course. Isn't that what you would expect from me? In all seriousness, it happened very quickly and we didn't tell many people until she was born and we were spending as much time as possible in the NICU with her. Our beautiful little girl, Norah Grace, is home and thriving. I plan to tell her story at some point but today is not the day. 

In the midst of all the madness that comes along with having 3 children under the age of 4 I've had a weird obsession with making wrap bracelets. I've done some Chan Luu inspired ones (ok, a lot of those) and some macramé. Anyway, I thought I'd share some pictures of them and yes, this is the majority of what I've made in the past 3-4 months (the rest was custom orders for weddings and a few pairs of earrings that I'll share later). Here they are:

As of late...

I've been working on all kinds of different projects - custom jewelry orders, rearranging our entire house (all done, but not totally decorated), baking, doing projects with Liam, and even a little crocheting (I seem to take up knitting and crocheting every winter but it never lasts long). Oh yes, I've also been making some facial toner and tried out some new facial products, which have turned out to be good and bad.

First up is the jewelry since this is supposed to be a jewelry maker's blog. I just made a custom bracelet for a cool guy who works with my sister-in-law. I must say his girlfriend is one lucky girl! He had great ideas for what he wanted stamped on the charms of this custom bracelet. Kuddos to him for being so thoughtful and detail oriented!

I also made a tagua necklace for him, which is maybe not as exciting but I thought it was great that he knew just what colors he wanted. Here it is:

And now for my latest venture - making facial toner. I follow a blog call Delighted Momma. Lindsey, the author, was an esthetician before she quit her job to be a stay at home mom. She shares all kinds of skincare tips and diy projects. Anyway, she gave instructions for making your own cleansing facial toner here way back in August. I finally tried it in December with hopes of making extra to give to family members for Christmas (that didn't happen). I really like it, but you do have to get over the strong smell of the apple cider vinegar. If I don't have makeup on after I use it, which is 90% of the time, I randomly smell apple cider vinegar throughout the day. I guess it's not the worst thing I smell all day! It's an all natural product that is very inexpensive to make - I'd highly recommend it.

I'll save some of my other projects for another day & time. Have a great weekend everyone!