This weekly update is coming a little later than usual because Fiercely and I have spent almost the last week and a half preparing for, vending at, and recovering from Unison Festival in Aztec, New Mexico. This was a big one for us. We haven't vended at a music festival in about four years, so there was A LOT to prepare. We had to pull out our old booth setup, clean our 10x20 tent (from Burning Man 2018) rethink how we wanted CraftyFingas to be presented, prep jewelry, gather supplies, pack everything up, and somehow fit our little traveling jewelry store into our lives again. Not onlythat, but we shared space with our Best Friend Kaja (Infinite Light Within) who makes absolutely incredible Palo Santo jewelry and gorgeous earrings, so we had to consider how both of our work would be best displayed and maximize flow of people and conversation space. And, naturally, things DID NOT go according to plan. 😂 During packing, I managed to forget the couplings that connect our 10×20 steel tent together, arguably a fairly important part of a tent since it wont go up without them. We realized they were missing while we started to put up the tent poles, and I had quite the moment of "freak out" mode. The closest replacement 10×20 we could find was hours away in Albuquerque, NM, and we called every major store who carries them for 2-3 towns in ever direction. After a whole lot of scrambling, we found the only available option within a reasonable distance at Tractor Supply, changed plans, made do with what we had, and eventually got the booth standing. We got set up late and we were exhausted from the additional work we had to do after a 7 hour drive. There were definitely moments where I was kicking myself for mistakes I had made because we've done this soooo many times before. But we made it happen. And when it was finally finished, our booth looked absolutely beautiful! We ended up right along the main vendor row, a short distance from main stage. We could stand at the entrance to our booth and watch the performances, meet people as they moved through the festival, and then dance to our hearts content at any moment we wanted. So we feel very blessed fir our experience at Unison.

Every wire wrapper has one. That bin, bag, tote, drawer, box or pile of "not quite" pieces. The component that came out a half inch too short. The wrap that didn't quite land but you couldn't bring yourself to melt it down. The offcuts from something bigger. We set them aside, tell ourselves we'll use them "someday," and someday rarely comes. This week, someday is here. Here's the challenge: Dig into your scrap bin and build a piece where a good portion of the wrap comes from what's already there. Not a token scrap tucked in for show. A real, meaningful use of the material you'd normally set aside or toss. That "ruined" component might be perfect for something smaller. That too-short piece might become an accent instead of a focal. That awkward leftover curve might be exactly the shape you need for a detail you haven't found a use for yet. The good wire underneath a mistake doesn't stop being good wire. How it works: Start by actually going through your scraps. Don't just grab the first thing on top. Look at what you've got, and think about what it could become instead of what it was supposed to be. Let the material guide the design a little, rather than forcing a plan onto pieces that don't want to cooperate. This is as much a mindset shift as a technique challenge. We're practicing seeing potential instead of waste. Pay attention to what almost gets thrown out that shouldn't be, and where you're being too quick to write something off. Hero's Journey Prompt: Second Chances Think about a piece or component you set aside because it "didn't work." What was it supposed to be, and what could it become instead? Sometimes the thing we call a mistake just h as n't found its purpose yet. Post your progress: Show us your scrap bin before, and the piece it bec22wame04ak after. Tell us what you almost tosse, what you rescued instead, and what surprised you about giving those pieces a second life. **the pic included in this post is a set of earrings I made for the Flat Back Series Tutorials, and these are roughly 80% scrap wire, and I will be including a short bit on rescuing wire from my scrap bags 9plin the tutorial itself

Our First CraftyFingas Giveaway- The Winners Announced! Winners will be contacted via Skool message and email Hey everyone! Our first giveaway is officially complete, and we're so grateful for how many of you jumped in and participated. Thank you for being part of this community! We had originally planned to run the winner selection live here on Skool, but ran into some technical issues switching between cameras (everything was coming out mirrored, so names weren't readable on screen). Rather than leave you all waiting, we recorded the full process instead, exactly as it would have happened live, so you can watch the entire drawing from start to finish. The video above walks through the whole giveaway and announces both winners. The Prizes Prize 1: Open to all members (Free & Premium) Winner's choice of: $50 gift card to RioGrande.com OR A $50–$100 gem parcel from our personal CraftyFingas collection Prize 2: Premium members only $50 gift card to RioGrande.com AND A $100 gem parcel from our personal CraftyFingas collection Congratulations to our two winners! You'll see the announcement in the video and we've also posted it in the comments below. Thank you again to everyone who entered, this is just the first of many giveaways to come. We love being able to give back to this community. 💛