It’s been a while
Well I have definitely dropped the ball on putting a blog entry with each new drop!
Isaac and I welcomed our baby boy in January 2024. Life has been so busy since then! I took the year off of reffing and focused on healing and taking care of our son. I would get to work on my bench very rarely, which seems like the norm now. I will get random bursts of inspiration and then it’ll be gone for a while. Right now, I seem to find myself in the lack of inspiration.
December 2024 I had done my first ever bazaar! I really enjoyed the holiday season and having a place where people could see my work in person and try it on. I loved talking jewelry, stones and the process of designing and creating with everyone! It helped motivate me to do more bazaars December 2025 as well. It wasn’t as busy— but I will blame that on the 102% increase in silver. Yikes.
I have done a couple custom pieces, discovered making gemstone bookmarks and found a love for agate hunting! I recently purchased my own gem faceting machine that I will pick up in Washington within the next few months— I am so excited to learn how to facet my own stones!
Isaac, Eli and I are heading to Arizona at the end of the month for a disc golf tournament (if you don’t know much about me— just know disc golf runs our life when the temps aren’t freezing). I mentioned that I would love to go to the Tucson Gem Show one of these years and Isaac asked for the dates, which happened to line up with our trip! So we made a couple changes and I AM GOING TO THE OPENING DAY! I am SO EXCITED to go check out all the vendors I have met through instagram, find new ones, enjoy rocks, gemstones and good vibes.
For now, my spare time is taken up with reffing basketball (high school and Divison 2 women’s) until mid March! I love the atmosphere and all the wonderful officials that I get to call games with. 2025-2026 season started on a high note when I was able to officiate the Clark Cochran Christmas Classic down in Ketchikan, Alaska! I played in that tournament my freshman, junior?? and senior year! It was amazing to be on the other side of the game with many people I get to call my friends, while making new ones along the way. The funniest part to me was reffing a game with Zosha Krupa, a UAF alum— the only college tech I have given out so far in my collegiate officiating carrier! We had a good laugh about the whole situation and enjoyed running the court together in stripes. I couldn’t have done the tournament without my Mom, who had watched Eli for 12+ hours in the gym for 3 days straight! What an awesome Grandma.
My updates will be random— I still have a bunch of new inventory that needs to make its way to my website. That just sounds like a lot of work right now. I will get to it— I promise! Don’t be afraid to reach out to me if there’s something you remember seeing at the bazaars that is not up on my site or if you’re interested in creating a custom piece together. I will be creating, quietly. Thank you all for the love and support through 2025— I am looking forward to 2026 and all the beauties that’ll come off my bench!
With love,
Cassi
