SHE of the Month: Cindy Brady Premier Jewelry

Hey Y'all,

If you have been following us very long, you might remember our SHE of the Month.  SHE of the Month, highlights a lady and her business.  SHE's support, encourage, build up and are genuinely happy for one another.  Today we are introducing you to a great SHE!

Say hello to Cindy Brady!! 

Cindy is a Jeweler with Premier Designs who lives in Ringgold, GA with her husband of 25 years, Brent.  They have two young adults - Bailey, a 21 year old junior at Mercer University in Macon, GA and Josh, 18 and a freshman football player at Jacksonville State University in Jacksonville, AL.  When Josh started his senior year in high school Cindy realized that she needed something meaningful to do to help fill her “empty nest”. 

Having a strong background in sales she started looking for something  in that area.  Knowing she would be traveling to her son’s football games each weekend she realized flexibility would be very important and she didn’t want the pressure of quotas. 

Having been a Christian for most of her life and being a 2 year cancer survivor it was a priority for her to be a part of something where she could make a difference for eternity.   As her sponsor, April Meeks explained that Premier is a Christian based company that gives a huge portion of its profits to support missionaries worldwide and puts God front and center of everything they do, she knew it was a perfect match for her.   Premier’s founder, Andy Horner is a very devout Christian who believes in encouraging women to be all that God has planned for them. 

In addition, Premier offers many opportunities that other Direct Sales companies do not.  Their jewelers are paid very well and they are very generous with hostesses who allow jewelers into their homes to do jewelry parties and bless them with lots of jewelry.  Premier stands behind their products with a golden guarantee that no other jewelry company can compete with.  Premier Designs has been and continues to be a life changer for thousands of women.  

Are you looking for that special sparkly piece to set your outfit off but not sure "what" you need?  Cindy is just the lady for the job.  You can reach her by phone at (423)718-0141,  email, Bradymommy@aol.com or visit her website.  She is available to help you find just the right accessories for your fashion needs.   

While perusing Cindy's website you can see all the beautiful items Premier has available, schedule a party of your own, or join Cindy's team.   So much flexibility, it is crazy not to sign up.  And as a bonus! Cindy has offered a special discount to our SHE Degree friends.  Be sure to mention the promo code "SHE Degree" to receive a discount on your next purchase with Cindy's Premier Jewelry.

Everyone loves  jewelry~ so share a catalog with your friends and get your party started.

          XoXo, 

Amy

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SHE Makes Glittery Pumpkins

I went to a local fall festival this past weekend.  They had these fabulous silver and gold pumpkins.  I just had to have them!  I love the silver and white pumpkins.  They just remind me of Cinderella and Prince Charming.  We are doing a bridal shower this weekend and needed something to go with my silver pumpkin. So, I got out the glitter and made these other pumpkins.  How many of  you have the traditional colored pumpkins at your house?  Well, I do too!  So I made a few gold and bronze colored pumpkins too.  

I haven't added flowers to them yet. Sorry!   Trying to decide where I want them and what I want them to hold.  I think I may add candy to one and put a vase inside the other to hold my silverware. Or a mason jar with fresh flowers??  I can't decide!

 Anyway,  here is how  I made these pumpkins.

First, I bought the plastic pumpkins for about $1. 

Then, I spray painted the inside and outside with a coat of silver/gray paint.  I didn't want the bright blue or orange to show on the inside.  I was thinking I would add a candle or flowers..or even fill with my silverware.  

The next step is get rid of the face on the plastic pumpkin.  I used Plaster of Paris.  (You can buy a tub of this at Michaels or Hobby Lobby). When you mix it be careful.  Read the label!  Watch out and do not ingest the dust when mixing it.  I mixed mine in a throw away styrofoam bowl and used a plastic spoon.  This stuff sets up like concrete.  

Put a little in the face indentions and spread and smooth it out.  It is like icing a cake.  Work fast because the Plaster of Paris dries fast.  Don't worry if it is not perfect.  Look at real pumpkins.  They have "spots" where they have been laying on the ground.  

Once this dries, you can paint the whole surface.  You can use chalk paint, craft paint, but I used a sample of Valspar's wall paint.  (It was the color I wanted and I had it from a previous project.  And it went on fabulously.). You can get the sample size at your local hardware store for under $5 in any color.  

Now, this is the part that would be scary to most perfectionist. Your pumpkins won't be perfect.  But as soon as you get the paint on to help with the imperfections I immediately sprinkled on Epsom Salt and glitter.  It gives it dimension and hides flaws. Plus who doesn't like glitter....  Now this needs to dry.  Once this is totally dry you need to spray a sealer on top!    Then you can add sand and candles,   or you could go with flowers.  

I had the hurricane globes from another project. I did add glitter to the top of my sand.  (I covered the candle with a cupcake liner while I sprinkled the glitter so it wouldn't get on the candle.) 

I hope you make a Glittery Pumpkin!  I would love to see how yours turns out.  I want to know what colors you use and how you finish it out...candles...or flowers...or silverware holder!  I am curious!  

Lisa B

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SHE: Celebrates the Occasions

Hey Y'all,

It has been a very busy week around here and I couldn't be happier.  You know I love fall ~ October in particular for so many reasons.... We celebrate my birthday, (6th), our wedding anniversary (8th), my hubby's birthday, (19th), and this year our SHE Degree anniversary, (7th). 

The celebrating has gone on all week.  I truly have the best family and friends.  So many took time out of their day to wish me a happy day and Mike & I a congratulatory happy anniversary (#34 is a pretty big deal, don't you think?).  Our home is filled with sweet cards, fragrant flowers and too much leftover dessert. We had yummy dinners with the ones I love most too.  Don't you just love to feel loved? of course you do ~ it's how we are made. 

With social media, it's so easy to send a quick text or post a tweet wishing others a happy day. But I received hand delivered bouquets, cards in my real mailbox, homemade dinner... things that my sweet friends and family did personally "on their time" to make my day and me feel special. 

All this special attention got me thinking about whether or not I make those important to me feel special enough.  I think I try, but... I can probably do better.  So for my first goal of this new year, I am going to do better ~ I am putting special dates in my planner and will be visiting my local card store this week to get prepared.

Tell the ones you love "thank you" and truly take the opportunity to celebrate each day.  I am guilty of wishing them away.  But remember, we are given a certain number of days in our lifetime. Let's make sure we use them wisely.

 Have a lovely week friends~

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Happy ONE Year!

Hey y'all! Today is such an exciting day. This time last year we sat around the table at our meting and said "ready or not, here we go" and made SHE Degree live and told all our friends and family.  It was a scary day - would people like us? Would we succeed? The answer turned out to be yes!

I just want to take a minute to reflect over the past year... 

We've held a class, a market, and have another market on the way.

We've written countless blog posts and shared tips.

We've been on TV!

We've learned that we have the most supportive friends in the world and are so thankful for you all.

We've learned that we have the most supportive husband's in the world too!

We text almost daily and have become the best of friends (although we were already best friends, this just brought us closer.)

We're so thankful that you've joined us for this ride. I hope the next year is just as wonderful.  

In case you missed any of these, here our the top five most popular posts from the past year:

1. SHE's Fine!

2. Christmas Decorations: Brittney

3. SHE Cooks: Homemade Biscuits

4. SHE Sets a Table

5. SHE Never Knew That!

Help us out? Over the next year we want to make sure we're still moving in the right direction. If you've got 2.5 minutes, we'd sure appreciate it if you'd fill out our reader survey!

Thanks you all of you, because without you we wouldn't be here!

xo Courtney

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SHE: Packs it Away

image via google

Hey Y'all,

We are starting to have some nice dips in the temperature. That can only mean "sweater weather" is on the way.  It's time to pack away the summer items and start lining your closet and dresser with leggings and sweaters and sweatshirts.  I move all my summer items out of my closet and pack them away for the winter.  It gives me more closet space and keeps things a little more organized. A few things to think about before you begin.

I recommend that you take your time doing this. Use it as an opportunity to purge but also to repair.  

1) Be sure they are clean before you pack them away, six month in a storage tub allows all sorts of stains to appear.
2) Evaluate the quality of life left in the items... do you really need to hang on to that ratty t-shirt you will never wear again? This goes for all the stained, torn, faded items in your closet.  It will make more sense to toss it out now. 
3) Check for any needed repairs: are all the buttons in place? How is the hem? 
4) And my personal favorite...does it still fit? No? Toss it/ donate it.  In the event you lose weight~  you will want to reward yourself with some "new" items. 
5) Pack items neatly. You will be so happy you have next Spring when you do the wardrobe swap.

Hope you all have a great week. October is my birthday month~  so let the celebrating (and sweater weather) begin.

                                                                                                  xoxo,

                                                                                                            Amy

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SHE Cooks: Creamy Cheesy Crockpot Chicken & Rice

Happy Friday! The other day I made this tried and true recipe that I've had forever and knew it would be perfect to share with you!  The cooler weather has hit us (at least this week) and it's perfect crock pot weather now! 

Let's start with ingredients -

3-4 Chicken Breasts

1 can Cream of Chicken

1 box Yellow Rice Mix (7oz)

1 can Corn

1 - 2 cups of Cheddar Cheese

Onion

Now let's talk about these ingredients. First, I realized while pulling this post together that I didn't flip the cream of chicken for the picture (embarrassing...), so that's what that random can is. Second, you can almost make this recipe what you want it to be. Hubs and I don't like chunks of onion, so I use minced instead of chopping one up, but you can do whichever you like. We also like a lot of cheese so I ended up using 2 cups of cheese even though the recipe only calls for one!

To start lay your chicken breasts in the bottom of the crock pot and cover with onion. 

Scoop the cream of chicken on top of the chicken. Cover and cook. If using the low setting, cook for 4-6 hours. If using the high setting, cook for 8-10 hours!

In the last 30 minutes of cooking start preparing your rice according to the directions on the box. (Hint: you could also do this the night before and just have it waiting in the refrigerator.) 

Add your corn to crock pot while the rice is cooking so it can begin warming up. If you cooked your rice ahead of time go ahead and it now too so it'll be warming up. 

You'll notice my chicken is shredded at this point. The chicken is so tender at the end of cooking that I just stirred it and it fell apart!

Once you've added the corn and rice, you can add your cheese! Stir it in and then recover and let cook a few more minutes so the cheese can melt.

That's it! From there you're ready for a nice delicious hot meal!

I hope you enjoy this meal and I hope you're also getting nice temperatures right now. 

Happy fall and happy weekend!

xo Courtney

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SHE: Has the Best Connections

Hey Y'all,

I hope your day is going well. Don't you love to see how simple activities can open a door to something better than you ever expected.

This weekend was a great example of that for us, the ladies of SHE Degree.  You know we are hosting our Christmas market in November, so I am always (always!!) messaging folks, thinking of who we can invite that would be successful and unique and of course fun... trying to find the best vendors for our event. It is a running joke among the group that I will reach out to anyone that might have a business I think would work well at our market.  Apparently,  I invited a very sweet lady from New Mexico to participate, she politely declined.  So of course when we were invited to a local church craft fair we decided to try it out. We didn't have any "crafts" to sell there, but we did have our cookbook and it would be a chance to explain SHE Degree to others and an opportunity for a few of us to hang out together.  No pressure on our part, just show up and do what we love to do ~ socialize. 

This event was not widely publicized, the local county fair was going on and a little football was being played in Knoxville.... Knowing these things, we didn't anticipate an overwhelming turnout of people, but it was a very small fee to participate so what the heck. Let's do it!  

Worst case scenario we might sell a cookbook and hopefully invite some people to the Christmas market. Knowing too, that if there wasn't a lot of traffic, it would give us a chance to work on market details, planning our sweet Riley's bridal shower and of course just visit with each other. So we knew we would have a fun day regardless. 

Saturday gets here, we set up and people start strolling through.... And while there was not an abundance of people, it was the most awesome selection of people.  As we were just hanging out discussing details about the Christmas market that we still needed to work out ~ a couple walked up to our booth. Turns out they are connected to Toys for Tots and would love to help facilitate getting the toys collected at the market to our local Toys for Tots. (You know you can bring a new, unwrapped toy to the market for free admission). The detail of how to get the toys collected to Toys for Tots had been discussed not 5 minutes earlier. They had been at breakfast earlier that morning and just happened to over hear about the craft fair and decided to stop by.... Wow!

Throughout the day, we visited off and on with the couple next to us. They are from Georgia and make all types of beautiful cutting boards. As we are visiting, they mention that they have LOTS of "vendor" friends who would be perfect additions to our Christmas market. They recommended a wooden toy maker...  the need for some children's toy vendors had also been a subject of discussion. Wow again right?

By not being overwhelmed, we were able to speak with everyone who walked through the church gym doors and they now know ALL about SHE Degree. Mission accomplished ~ that is fabulous. But wait.... it gets better! They loved our cookbook, they want to come to the market, they signed up for our emails~ Tweet, Tweet and best of all they loved the concept of SHE Degree!

At the end of the day, Lisa and I were packing our booth away and both commented on how great the day turned out. We had both prayed that the Lord would put the right people there today. Wow! Isn't it cool to see how God just open doors for us when we give him the chance.   Who knew what doors he was opening when Lisa  invited us all to her home for dinner for the first time. What an amazing year we have had ~ God has truly blessed us all.

Have a great week friends ~ watch for those doors to open!!

Amy

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