I love silver jewelry but I hate tarnish, and eventually, tarnish will happen to your silver jewelry.A few words of caution to begin with, however:

*Make sure the kids and/or family pets are away from the stove top.

*DO NOT put anything but sterling silver items (no plated materials) into the cleaning solution.

*DO NOT put any porous stones (turquoise, etc.), shells (mother of pearl, etc), or pearls (cultured, freshwater, etc) into the solution. You can damage stones if you aren’t careful, so you may want to be extra cautious and use this on silver only jewelry.

*Use your common sense. When in doubt, don’t do it.

You will need the following:

1/4 cup baking soda
1/4 cup salt
1/4 cup liquid dish soap
1/2 gallon of water
Large pot
Aluminum foil
Plastic spoon
Stove top
Colander or strainer
Towel

Take a large pot, such as an old spaghetti pot, and line the inside with aluminum foil. Make sure you cover all the sides as well as the bottom completely with the foil.

Pour all of the ingredients into the pot and stir with your plastic spoon. Collect the sterling silver jewelry you want to clean and count each item so you know the total number you put into the pot. Place them into the solution.

Bring this to a low (not high) boil for a few minutes. Then turn off the burner and let it sit for another couple of minutes.

Then using the colander or strainer, pour out the solution. Rinse very well with cold water. It is important to get all the salt, especially, off the jewelry or it will literally eat your silver later on.

Count your items as you place them on a towel to dry. Make sure you’ve accounted for all your jewelry before you throw away the aluminum. It will be dirty because the oxides on your jewelry were transferred to it. Your sterling silver jewelry should now look like new.

Harley and I just wrapped up a photo session of a custom boutique outfit made for her to model!! I think this has to be my fav outfit from Kelly of betterwithabow.com , by far!!

Here are just a few of what we took: You can view the rest HERE

This is one of her school outfits for her first week of kindergarden! Cant wait!! You could definitely tell by the way she just kept right on posing when I told her I had enough, that she really like this outfit!!

Just finished a pair of ruffled jeans a couple of days ago. Thought I would share them with you guys. I listed them on ebay to see how well they would do. Hopefully I will have good luck with them!!. I have 60 more pair to sell.

If you are interested in a pair, just contact me and let me know andrea@andreanelsondesigns.com . I can make them for 12.99 per pair. Or if you provide me with the pants, I can make them for 8.99 per pair.

I am so excited to finally be able to do applique! It is so much fun! Check out the new things I made for Harley:

So anyways, I was so excited that I had to show it off!!

It has been a while since I have posted anything.. Thought I would give an update. First things first.. My 2 boys FINALLY got a “real” haircut.. No  more long shag. There for a while, I thought I was raising 3 girls! Anyways… Harley lost her first 3 teeth.

She fell on her chair in her room, last Thursday night. We rushed her to the ER and they told us that she looked ok, but needed to go to her dentist. So I took her for an emergency appointment last Friday. The dentist told us she needed to pull them. You should have seen the shock and horror on Harley’s little face!! She looked at me saying with her eyes, “Momma you said they weren’t going to pull them!” Needless to say, they scheduled her for this past Monday and had the 3 front ones pulled. The good thing is that her permanent teeth have already started making there way down, and will probably be peeking out in a little over a year Here she is:

(hehe, she looks so goofy.. I sing goofy goober to her alot now.. If you dont watch spongebob squarepants, then you have no idea what song I am talking about.. But believe me… Its fits.. LOL)

Here are some of my latest clothing creations I made:

She has done quite a few photoshoots for designers lately but I havent had time to even think about posting any of them.. You can check our gallery on my website: www.andreanelsondesigns.com/gallery . I put all of them there. Haven’t updated it in while with all the newest stuff she modeled. Maybe my next post won’t be so far apart. Until next time

I just have to post some of these photos of Miss. Tyra.. She is just an adorable little girl.. Very co-operative with photographing!! She modeled an outfit for me that Kelly Walker created.

 For the complete photoshoot, please check out my GALLERY:

I have ONE background for the studio inside. That is the high key/white background look. I do plan on grabbing some more later down the road.. I need for the shoots I do now, to pay for my equipment. Most of my shots are done outdoors. I have a 2008/2009 Park pass, so I plan to use it this year…  For right now, I only charge 5.00 per sheet. (That price will change soon, so plan your family shoot now!!) There is a 35.00 minimum order. the 35.00 is due up front and will go toward the photos.. I dont charge anything for actually taking the photos. If you want your photos on a cd, that is 35.00 . If you want me to send you websized version of your pictures, without the word PROOF all over it, so you can post them to your blog, galleries, myspace page, etc.. there will be a charge of 10.00 for that service.

All reprints will need to be made by me. I will take as many photos as you like .. The turn around time for getting the proofs is around  1-2 weeks. That all depends on what I have going for the week.

Here is the picture package options: (Printed on 8×10 sheets. One Pose Per sheet)

(2) 5×7

(1) 5×7 (2) 2.5×3.5 (4) 2×2.5

(1) 5×7 (2) 3.5×5

(1) 5×7 (8) 2×2.5

(1) 5×7 (4) 2.5×3.25 (2) 1.5×2

(1) 5×7 (4) 2.5×3.5

(4) 4.x5

(2) 4×5 (2) 2.5×3.5 (4) 2×2.5

(2) 4×5 (8) 2×2.5

(2) 4×5 (4) 2.5×3.5

(4) 3.5×5

(20) 2×2

(16) 2×2.5

(8) 2.5×3.5

(4) 2.5×3.5 (8) 2×2.5

(9) 2.5×3.25

I  am just drooling over the recent shoot I done of Harley.. I can’t believe how photogenic she is.. She truely amazes me everyday!! It is a joy to watch my little girl grow with every passing moment You can view these sets on EBAY.. SHIRT , HAIRBOWS , FLOPS

YAY me!!! I am pretty positive I have mastered the lighting for the all white photos!! I LOVE how these photos turned out.. I took them recently of my cousin, I just haven’t had time to post them. Please let me know your thoughts .. I took these photos as a requested clippie shoot for a clippie designer. Hence, the reason for the photos geared toward trying to show off the bows worn.

I was asked to bring along my camera for birthday photos at her party.. She was such a sweetie. I loved watching her plow into her own seperate little birthday cake!! Too precious! If you want to see more of the birthday girl and the family, you can click HERE to view more.. I hope that this makes one certain lady happy now

We really didnt do much that day. It was mostly just close family. I was glad that it was nice outside. It gave alot of us a chance to just sit around and talk. I am REALLY starting to enjoy taking photos more than anything else.. It is an extrememly rewarding experience! I would love to master an inside studio. I have a little bit of it down, but still have a lot to learn!