Cheap Silver Cleaner using everyday household items

Recently being at the PNE and looking around the Marketplace, (which is a must on my PNE list of things to do and see each summer - I call it the "didn't know I needed it until I was told" building.)  In recent years I have purchased a $700 vitamix blender (which shockingly haven't regretted once), a $100 massager (that broke with in the first year), eyebrow make up set that was to change my non-existent brows into magnificence in 10 second a day (problem being you have to do it), Shea butter from Africa (an annual must..love it).
This year the jewellery cleaner caught my eye.. it is apparently fantastic on gold and silver.. and I almost bought it for something crazy like $20. And then I remembered.. that I clean my silver jewellery with table salt and aluminum foil.   I don't own a lot of gold so I have never tried it on gold.. I wouldn't recommend it. So here is my tip for the day that costs just cents:


For jewellery I use a pasta bowl or casserole dish, for silverware and tea sets I use the kitchen sink.


Line the bottom of the dish or sink with aluminum foil and add a generous amount of table salt (at least a couple tablespoons), fill with warm water (actually I have no idea if temperature matters but that's what I use) and set silver into bowl/sink.  Leave for a minimum of 2 -3  minutes and then rinse with water. Depending on amount of tarnish you can re-soak. I have left heavily tarnished items overnight. 

The science behind it:
When salt, aluminum foil and water are combined they create a chemical reaction known as ion exchange. During this process, the tarnish on the silver is transferred to the foil. In fact, if your silver is tarnished enough, you'll actually see brown tarnish on the aluminum foil.

Have a great day!


Aly

BabyVibe.. Are you vibing?

I am so excited my first ad with Babyvibe came out this morning!

What is Babyvibe?....
Babyvibe is your trusted voice for new and expecting parents in Canada, delivering pint-sized news, product reviews, tips and family friend event listing. 

I signed up to get the newsletter a few months back and have loved the great product reviews, what to do and parenting tips.  I have found many local businesses like mine that are a Mom Run and worth supporting. 


I am proud that I am now a babyvibing advertiser and hope that the ad brings in some revenue so I can continue to advertise with them!


To check out my ad click here: Babyvibe


Scroll down to the bottom and a surprise discount you will find for Aly Dahl Designs.... 

Check it out and sign up for the e-newsletter and take advantages of the great discounts to cool shops and products just because you subscribe!


Have a great Monday!


Aly

Common Sense and Reading came in Handy yet again!

Last October I met a young man who was a "website genius".. I met with him at Lougheed mall in Burnaby for coffee,  I knew the questions to ask according to what I learned at my business classes at college, but really I knew nothing about building a website.


He reminded me of my younger brother Luke (who I have a  soft spot for) and I hired him instantly. He didn't want payment up front he said when we got working on things more seriously I could pay half up front and half when it was done.   I spent MONTHS and months getting stuff together for him, making items to photograph, photographing.. searching the web for sites I liked.   


When I first decided to sell on line I was searching names and bought website names I thought were good.  The first one I bought was www.silverfingerprints.ca it was through a dotcom company who does back end servers and had templates and things. One of the things I did do was put up a site I made as a "holding site".  So I started to build my site while my "Web Genius" was building my "real" site. 

Along the way I named my business Aly Dahl Designs and bought www.alydahl.com and www.alydahl.ca,  I called my web guy a few times and he said he could help me.. but then he started to not return my emails or my calls.  So I figured out how to forward those addresses to the silverfingerprints one.  Getting smarter. 
I started to tweak my site and started getting compliments on it.. smarter again..  Figured out how to re-size photo's, make tab's, meta tags...Wow, starting to get cocky..


For the past 4 months since firing my "Web Genius" as he was too busy to remember I was alive.. and he did nothing in 6 months... I had been looking for someone to do a shopping cart on my site.  Life being like it is I haven't found anyone.


So today I decided.. how hard could it be? I am proud to say I am now pretty flippin smart.. Although it has taken 12 hours, two of my collections now have "Add to Cart" buttons so people can buy stuff directly from my site!!! No more email!!! (Although I had linked it up to each piece and I thought I was pretty smart)...


So you can now officially actually Shop "Shop Fingerprint Impressions" and my iCANDY line!!!! Check it out!!!


Well that's my big accomplishment for today, It was a biggy!  Hopefully next week all my lines will have "Add to Cart" button and I will get back to making and posting new pieces!!! 


Have a great weekend,


Aly
AKA.. an Almost  "Web Genius"

On the Road again.. Peddling my wares

I am getting ready to hit the road.  Doing a sales trip of sorts. I have had a fantastic boutique/salon in Victoria approach me about carrying some of my jewellery.  Brandi Wein For Hair
Brandi did my hair for what was probably close to 10 years when I lived on the island (and when ever I can get back), she is an award winning hair dresser with the most beautiful boutique at Shoal Point. 
If you ever get the opportunity to get your hair done by her, you are in for a treat! AMAZING!

When I saw Brandi last weekend she loved my new 'Turq'ish Delight line and asked me to make a few pieces to display in her shop.  I have been busy working and making (my hands feel twice my age today) and am really happy with some new creations that I will be leaving in her shop next week.

I am also bringing some of my fingerprint jewelry line to display and sell in shops up and down the island.  I make anything you can think of out of silver that includes you and your loved ones fingerprints.    It is the perfect cherished keepsake.  My favourite of the moment is the military style dog tag on silver ball chain.   I am almost always seen wearing my two kids prints on a plain chain, it goes with everything, and they love to feel them as much as I do. 

So I am island bound, items to sell in tow and supplies to make in totes.. I am off.  If you have a boutique or shop and would like to try my stuff out, email me at aly@silverfingerprints.ca 
and I will make sure to stop by and peddle my wares!

All the best!

Aly

Brandi Wein For Hair is located at: #15 - 21 Dallas Road,  Victoria BC

A delicate balance

Here I am in the middle of summer, working from home with a stay at home dad, and 2 pre-school kids which technically makes us a stay at home family I think. 
I have to be honest.. It makes for an incredibly difficult work environment.. Seeing them get ready to go to the pool, hearing the laughter of them frolicking in the sun, oh how I yearn to be with them.  I work in the morning, and in the evening except for busy days, then it's just a sh*t show...  but I have stopped on the weekends (except to sell, I'll do that night or day..).  A few months ago I found my life was being taken over by my business and I was no longer enjoying my life. 
Then I read an incredible book Women, Food, and God  by Geneen Roth.  I read the book and connected instantly.  It has helped with my relationship with food, but it spoke to me on a much grander scale.  I had the opportunity to step back and look at my life.  I realised that I not only used food to avoid feelings, but I worked to avoid feelings.  There was a line that said something along the lines of "you weren't put on this earth to lose the same 10,20, 50 lbs over and over".
My life's purpose is not to avoid my life with work.  I enjoy and love my job, which is why it is so easy to get lost in it.  I have the most wonderful life, I just have to stop and take it in. 
Since affording myself the "OK" to take a break in the afternoon and play with my kids, go swimming with my family, hold my husbands hand and go for a walk to appreciate all things around me,  I have found that I am happier, and have a deeper passion for making my business a success. 
If I am OK with enjoying life,  and my life consists of my job which affords me the time to be with my kids and husband.. I am going to work as hard as I can to keep this.  I just need to remember to take time to enjoy what I am working so hard to provide for.   I want this business to be successful and thriving and something my children can take over should they choose. 

My daughter and I on a whim going to visit family on the island

My Orchid

I have been "working" on my Orchid for months now.  I use the term "working on" loosely as I put 2 weeks work into it back in what I think was April, and on my final firing... It cracked and my heart sank.  I knew I could fix it and go on with creating my masterpiece.. But, it broke my heart. I put hours upon hours into making it and in one wrong move it was ruined.  The money..the time.. would I ever finish it?

Doing large intricate pieces are a passion, but rarely do I ever recover the cost of raw material, and the man hours it take to make them are purely for enjoyment..

The Pendant is a direct casting of a flower I have in my home. This is the sister flower from the same plant I casted from.

Today I started working on the pendant/broach again.  It feels good..and scary... So far I have used the Silver Orchid as a paper weight, and a prop for photography... Here it is before I started working on it again.. (In all it's prop glory)

Granted it is a bit hard to see the detail when it's draped in rubies... But there could be worse things to be draped in I suppose! 

So back to the passion project I go, perhaps one day soon I will blog with an update and a picture of the final product. 

The ruby earrings are available on line at:  Aly Dahl Designs

I repeat...Let it go Aly...

I feed off people's energy, I have always been in-tune with what's going on around me.  That is both a blessing and a curse.  If you are upset with me, or something is off in your life, if you are angry or sad, I feel it. I sometimes make myself ignore it, but it comes at an expense, I seem to take on people's emotions and problems and it makes it very difficult for me to function at my best. Even if I ignore it, I take it home and ponder your emotions while I toss and turn trying to sleep.  My friends call me sensitive, I say Empathetic..To a fault.

I find this my biggest down fall in creating the Aly Dahl empire...  I have a very difficult time differentiating myself from my business,  I take all comments to heart. I have been so lucky to have so many people write praising letters, emails, and voice mails after receiving their items,  but it's that 1 email or comment when someone says "it's too expensive" or "what will they thing of next" as though what I am doing is equivalent somehow to nutella swirled with peanut butter sold in the same jar.  It takes all my might to not explain that it is actually a very good price and all the reasons it is a good deal, I mean come on, I make it by hand, I buy top quality product...It's made in Canada... I use more expensive raw material that is in the end better for the earth because I care... But alas, I bite my tongue and know that they are simply not my customer. However,  I do re-think that one comment over and over and over again... and then as though the universe knows when I need a moral boost I receive an order from a wonderful customer.  They get it, they are looking for quality, being made in Canada matters, supporting the arts is important... They are my customer.  And they are by far the best customers to have.

After a few really unpleasant experiences with people trying to knock me down, be-little me, and that gross gut feeling when you feel your being taken for a ride.. I am slowly learning to be more assertive and to follow my gut.

After returning from Las Vegas I realized that my taxes were due in 1 week, I quickly started looking up accountants and found one that had a decent website and went in.  This man made me so uncomfortable, made me feel like I was the dumbest person to walk the earth and without his help I would fail as a person.  BTW my biggest pet peeve is scare tactic selling.. And as soon as he started down that path I felt like I was going to puke.  I tried to take my documents back and be nice saying things like "I think I better go home and sort through some stuff and come back".. To which he grabbed my stuff and said "No, we'll contact you if we need anything, come back in a week".   So I left.  Got in the elevator and called my husband,  Darren can be very wise sometimes. Perhaps it is because he has lived with me for almost 9 years.... He said the greatest thing ever to me
"Aly, if you don't go back up there and get your property you will spend the next week agonizing over this creep.. or you take 5 minutes of uncomfortableness and go back up there and it will be over, now go and get your taxes back."  That sunk in deep.. And so I did.  I got my stuff back, the creep yelled at me as I walked as fast as I could getting out of the office, my documents in hand.  I proceeded to get in the elevator, called an old friend Doug who is now officially the worlds best accountant friend to have.   Thanks Doug!  I got off the phone and started crying tears of joy.. and my taxes were filed on time.

Following my gut may not feel good in the moment.. but as soon as that moment passes, the next one is AWESOME... That feeling of  "I did it, I stood up for myself and I noticed".