Friday Friends - Dusty Divas - Part 11

Happy Friday everyone ! It's Dusty Diva time again and this week I am thrilled to introduce a relatively new duster and adventure woman extraordinaire;
Tia of NotWeeds ! I have found Tia's story to be an exceptional tale - but won't spoil it for you as you can read it for yourself !

The NotWeeds website product statement is
Herbal Teas and Legal Highs for Wellness and Relaxation!
NOTWeeds specializes in Herbal Teas and Legal Highs - Weight Loss, Womens Health, Cold and Flu Prevention, Relaxing Blends and Aphrodisiacs.
Got Weeds ?
Take the opportunity to get to know them and make friends..., discover their true nature and simply call them Herbs instead.
Herbs can become your closest allies in your quest for Wellness, and we are excited to offer you our herbal blends to help you get started.


I seriously could have done with some of Tia's Cold & Flu Herbal Tea during this winter season and some of Nourishing Herbal Tea would do wonders for my long blond locks. I have always had an interest in alternate therapies including Aromatherapy and Herbalism, so I truly found this information fascinating.

Now, to let Tia tell you the story of NotWeeds and the woman behind it !

The Story of NotWeeds
A few years ago I willingly threw myself out of a perfectly sound plane over Hawaii and this event has changed my life!
It was then that I decided - after 28 years of nursing in the conventional sense - it just was not possible for me to continue with this career; my work ethics and morals were constantly compromised with the advance of 'technologically focused' nursing. I retired in style - my uniform was strapped to a couple of stakes and burnt in a bonfire ... I guess I really meant it!

It was time to get back to my roots! Herbal Health has been part of my life since my birth, my mother - also a nurse - was a great herbalist and readily employed their services to her family whenever she could. Herbs were well accepted in German University Hospitals (which is where I started my nursing career) - every day a big pot of chamomile, peppermint, hibiscus or fennel would be placed in each ward for the patients to help themselves freely and Valerian Tincture was given at nighttime to help patients settle.
I know prevention is the key and good health starts from within - this has now become my area of focus - and I support others with their journey to wellness and health by providing well balanced herbal blends.

First things first though, in order to refresh and deepen my herbal knowledge I studied Home Herbalism with Belle Gibbons
http://www.thehomeherbalist.com/
and thus NOTWeeds was conceived. My background with nursing is mainly in Women's Reproductive Health ( I was one of the early certified Nurse Practitioners in NSW) and Drug and Alcohol Rehabilitation - both of these areas are also a focus of NOTWeeds.

NOTWeeds offers safe, non addictive relaxing blends that can be consumed as a tea or smoked for people that seek an occasional 'adventure' outside their usual sphere. 'Kite' and 'Smokin' Hot' are the blends that can provide such an experience. Every body is different, so the response will be individual too ;)
Other NOTWeeds Blends include the popular 'Nourishing Blend' - a great 'every day' blend (which has the wonderful 'side effect' of producing lustrous hair)
and
'A-C-E' - a wonderful alkalising blend which gently re balances an acidic body and assists with weight loss, and many more.

Thank you to Maddo for giving me the opportunity to 'show and tell' in this blog! For more details on the NOTWeeds products available head over to these links :

http://www.etsy.com/shop/NOTWeeds

http://www.madeit.com.au/NOTWeeds

or check out my website and blog at :

www.notweeds.com

http://www.notweeds.com/notweeds-blog.php

Friday Friends - Dusty Diva's Part 9

I can't believe I am up to the 9th instalment of the Dusty Diva's series already !
This week I am proud to introduce a truly inspirational dusty diva - Julie-Ann from JulieAnnsJewels ! As well as the challenges everyday life throws at her, Julie-Ann tirelessly serves the DUST team by

* Accepting new members and answer their questions
* Sending in new member names to the teams section
* Starting the weekly chit-chat threads and sending the DUST Team
newsletter
* Organising DUSTy craft swaps
* Organising the sale threads
* Listening to the DUSTers rant on the DUST forums and providing
much needed moral support.

The Boss of the DUST Team !
Where would the DUST team be without Julie-Ann ?

I really love Julie-Ann's creations - these copper earrings are just divine -


green lucite and copper are a fabulous combination - also I adore the earthy rich colour of this Necklace made of Sebucao Seeds, Hawaiian Coral Tree Willwill Seeds and Wooden beads

and how stunning are the blue Chalcedony stones in this bracelet that have been teamed with glass pearls, swarovski crystals, sterling silver and pewter !

And now I will let Julie-Ann tell you her story - enjoy !

Julie Anns Jewels
Hi all, I’m Julie-Ann the creator behind Julie’s Jewels.

I began playing with little round shiny things called beads a few years ago and still do.
I began by going to a Christmas Ornament craft class; this is the only class I have ever taken so basically I’m a self-taught artist.

Anyway back to the class, I’d never beaded before this and I found that this was an easy class to do and was even able to help other beginners who had problems.

Fast forward to today and I now create all sorts of things with beads, all types of beads. Check out my blog Julie’s Jewels to whet your appetite.

I sell from home and have expanded to online with three main stores, on Etsy, ArtFire and MadeIt.

Apart from creating new Jewellery and Accessories I also do custom orders, and repairs. I figure if I can create something new I can fix something broken, or re-create something you no longer like.

If I’m not beading I spend my days going to my children’s schools. I have 4 children and 1 grandson. My eldest daughter Jessica, is mum to Kade 9 months and then I have Nicholas, Jacinda and Michael. Our children have problems with various disabilities therefore I need to work from home so that’s one of the reasons I started with the beadwork, I also sell Avon another home based business. I teach music – recorder – at Michael’s primary school and play clarinet also at this school when needed. So I keep myself pretty busy…


Want to see and learn more about Julie-Ann ?
Check out these links :

Blog: http://juliesjewels.wordpress.com

Etsy: http://JulieAnnsJewels.etsy.com or http://ljjnjm.etsy.com

ArtFire: http://Julies_Jewels.artfire.com

MadeIt: http://www.madeit.com.au/storecatalog.asp?userid=452

FaceBook: http://www.facebook.com/JuliesJewels