He Sent Us Two Angels

After three arduous months of worry the end of misfortune has come!!!

We, John and I, were down to my last thread of hope that we would ever get out of this mess, that seemed to be snowballing, until my dear friend, Gisele offered to lend us her car (mostly to take our teenage children to their respective jobs) while she took a well deserved vacation in the sun.

The night she picked me up with her car (I had to take her to her gentleman friends home prior to their trip) I was in tears..., normally a very composed person, I reliquished all my emotion on her..., God bless her. Like the true friend that she is, she cried along with me.

She was the first angel that He sent!!

Key chain like this available from our shop

She held my hand and re-affirmed to me what I already knew..., that everything will work out in the end. I was so thankfull for her kindness. I wanted to give to her something special and to me something made from the heart is always special to me. Yes!! I do make a lot of these but they are practical and people do like them. :P But hers was different. I stamped something on the back - "My Angel"

The story gets better! Just when John and I thought that there was no way for us to get a vehicle the assistant to the sales manager of KIA , Alison called us to tell us that Mario had appoved a lease-to-own on a trade-in he had received. It was perfect. We had the money but the banks wouldn't touch us. As the old saying goes, They won't lend you money unless you can show them you don't need it..., well Mario came through for us. He actually went to another dealership to obtain a lease agreement form so we could have the van.

He is the second angel.

So, the happy ending to this story is that prayers can and always are answered.

Thanks again to Gisele, Mario and Alison you are truly angels in our book!!

Anne ^i^ & John

Luther's Legacy

About a month ago I received an email from a woman by the name Danni. She wanted to know if I could make her a custom key ring similar to the ones she had seen in our Etsy shop. She was having it made for her husband in memory of his beloved pet and recently deceased dog, Luther. I was touched by this and agreed. Her request was not a unique one, as I have made many of them before but this was to be my first as a keepsake in memory of a dog.

These are samples of our personalized, handstamped keychains

from our shop As I read further on, I realized that she wanted me to make two personalized key chains out of an existing dog collar that was previously worn by Luther. I had no idea at the time what the collar looked like nor if I could emboss it with the dogs name on it. You see, the leather was finished and worn for some time. Danni left the desicion up to me, regardless. But as I am sure other leather workers will attest - once leather has been dyed and finished with a protective coat it is unlikely that other impressions stamped into the leather will be able to leave permanently embossed markings.

I had forgotten about our conversation until the day I received a package in the mail. It contained the dog collar below. As I held it in my hands and caressed the extremely weathered and worn leather, fond memories of my dog, Friday, came to mind. I felt a sense of duty to Danni and her husband to deliver to them the best possible reconstructed item I could using this wonderful old dog collar.

John and I both examined it closely. It had years of grim built up on it from dirt and water. I had to strip it down, clean, and condition the leather to the base so I would be able to attempt the undertaking of embossing lettering.

It came out beautifully. I had enough of the collar left to make a personalized wristband as well.

A few nights later, I lay awake imagining how it would come out. Like every thing we do I handled it as if it were my own.

I had to wait patiently for the treatment to dry fully before John could add the new dye. The leather sucked up the first application of dye like a dry sponge. It took several coats of dye and two applications of "super sheen" to bring it to a rich luster. John and I were thrilled with the results.

This has to be one of my most rewarding and memorable moments in this business. For someone to part with and entrust us with this cherished article made me feel quite honored. If you have such an article that you would like us to give life to visit us at our website or Etsy shop. We would love to chat with you and possible deliver to you the same results as we did to Danni and her husband.

"Luther"

Anne ^i^