Another New Year in the Sandhills!

I can not believe that another year has passed and I am so far behind on this blog. Wonder why? It was another very successful year for Jewelry by Sonell and we thank all of our customers, old and new. Without you, this could not be happening. This past year has seen a graddaughter graduating from high school and is now attending college and a Little Britches World Champion grandson in the Ribbon Roping.


After a very blessed Christmas holiday here in the sandhills with friends and family I thought it was perhaps time to update the blogand say hello to all!
It has been a mild winter so far in the Nebraska Sandhills, (knock on wood) and we are very appreciative. Today it is in the 50's but it makes one wonder if this can last. Hay is being fed to the cattle as the cattle work on a ranch is never finished. We have been so thinkful for all the moisture that we received this past year but have felt so bad for the ranchers in the south. Ellen and I visited with some at the Nebraska Cattlemen Christmas Convention in Kearney, NE. and they have truly had their share of problems. But true to the code of the West, they are surging on, we are a tough breed. We have also been thankful for the higher prices this past year.
Ellen and I had a Jewelry by Sonell booth at the Convention and met so many new people and a lot of people we already knew. It was a very successful show but we fought glare ice all the way home and let me tell you it was so nice to get home in one piece.

We are looking forward to Spring and our busy season, we are busy in June with all the Cattlemen's Ball, High School Rodeo Finals, Rodeo Queen shows etc, and then again from November thru December. It is good to have a slowdown in between as it gives us time to make new 'one of a kind' pendants, we are now working a lot with Copper as Sterling Silver has gotten so high and Copper is in, especially with the Southwestern look. We truly love what we are blessed to do and love seeing peoples faces when they see our pieces in person. We have started out 8th year and thank God for the ability and chance to do this.

If you get a chance to attend a show where we are at, be sure and stop by the booth and say hello as we love meeting new people all the time.

Please remember to pray for this wonderful country of ours and for our military to keep us safe and give us the chance to be free in what we do and where we go. We are so fortunate to be able to live in the USA and thank our Saviour every day for the opportunity to do so. Will say adios until next time.

Summer In The Sandhills Is Just Around The Bend!

I don't don't whether I am lazy or just sooo busy but I have neglected our blog. It has been a wet spring here in the Sandhills of Nebraska, for which we are thankful and Summer is just around the corner. The storms throughout the United States have been violent and we pray for all the victims of them.
June is alwasy such a busy month for Jewelry by Sonell as this week-end we will be setting our jewelry up at the Cattlemen's Ball in West Point, NE. Then we are scheduled for a T.V. appearance on KNOP T.V. out of North Platte. Following that we will be setting up at the Miss Rodeo Nebraska Brunch on the 14th and then the Nebr. High Rodeo Finals June 22-25.
I thought I had better take the time to sit down and fill everyone in. We had quite a Winter here in the Sandhills, and had to postpone and cancel some shows. Everyone was more than anxious for Spring to Spring. To date we have had over 9 inches of rain here at the ranch. It is beautful as the grass is tall and the wild flowers are starting to bloom, though is has not been a warm spring as we have had a lot of cloudy and windy days.
We attended our granddaughters Graduation from high school this past week-end, it seems like they grow up so fast. What excitement they feel to start the next chapter of their lives. We wish all the Graduates well and success with their futures.
Please Pray for out country and our military that we can find peace and prosperity again. Also please remember the victims of the tornado's that have ravaged this great country of ours. Before you know it we will all be celebrating July 4th. This country is the greatest and we must always remember how lucky we are to have been born here.
God Bless you all!

Christmastime in the Sandhills!

I just looked out and the snow is falling, large flakes, no wind, just Christmas Card Perfect. Oh Joy! It certainly puts me in the Christmas mood. Decorations are up, gifts are wrapped and under the tree, now the time for candy making and cookie baking. I just love this time of the year. Now to begin family time.

We must 'Remember the Reason for the Season', We sometimes get so caught up in the hustle and bustle that we neglect to take the time to rememember just what the season really is. The Celebration of the Birth of the Christ Child, our Saviour. We all need to stop and reflect on the Season's Reson.

Jewelry by Sonell has had another successful year and now that all our shows and Open Houses are over, we would loike to say Merry Christmas and thank you to all our friends and customers who have supported us this year. We would like to wish Everyone and Very Happy New Year and look forward to seeing you all next year.

Please take time to Thank all of our Military for keeping us safe another year and to thank all of their families for the sacrifices for us. May God Bless them all!

Just catching up, Summer is over, Fall is beginning.

The above picture is a of our Jewelry Booth at the WPRA Rodeo Finals in Lincoln, NE. I can't believe that Summer is over and I am so far behind in updating our blog. What a Summer is has been for Jewelry by Sonell. We had a such a great time at the Nebraska Cattlemen's Ball and then went right to the Miss Rodeo Nebraska Queen Style Show with our jewelry. The Nebraska High School Rodeo Finals followed that and we had a great time seeing old friends and meeting new ones as we did at all the Summer Activities. June is always such a busy month for us but we enjoy selling our jewelry and making new friends. July wasn't quite as busy for me but Ellen was off to Washington D.C. for her annual DAR Convention and I was busy working in my garden, keeping my yard up and cooking for the guys as they were putting up hay. We were so fortunate that our son, Bret, came and helped hay and he rodeoed here in Nebraska with Ellen's son, Jeff. August was just as busy and Ellen and I were trying to create jewelry for our Fall Shows and our In-Home Shows. We really enjoy our In-Home Shows as it is so personal and our hosts by now have become old friends. It is so hard to believe that we are starting our 7th year, how times flies and there are no words to describe how much we enjoy what we are doing. We just got home Sunday night from the WPRA Finals in Lincoln, where we again made new friends and got reaquainted with old ones. We met a special new friend there, Hi! Jaycee!

We are now getting ready for the 'Cowboy Christmas Show' held in North Platte Nebraska the first week-end in November and hosted by Shelli Arensdorf. She always has such a great show with something for everyone. Western gifts galore, jewelry, barnwood frames and furniture and just about anything you can think of to start off Christmas Shopping in the Western World.

Following that will be a busy time for Jewelry by Sonell as we will be doing local Cowboy Christmas Shows and In-Home Shows. Needless to say, we LOVE what we do and are always looking forward to the next one.

We would like to take this time to thank everyone who comes out to our shows, and would like to ask everyone out there to pray for our Armed Forces who are working so hard at keeping us and our country safe so that we can keep doing what we love. GOD BLESS AMERICA!

Also like to thank everyone who takes the time to read our blog and I will try to not let it get so far behind.

HAPPY FALL Y'ALL AND HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Blog comments!

We love to have people view our blog and comment but we would at this time request that you DO NOT leave commnets that do not pertain to our blog or use our blog to advertise products that we DO NOT ENDORSE!!!!! PLEASE, AND I AGAIN SAY PLEASE, REFRAIN FROM DOING THIS OR WE WILL JUST DELETE THEM!!!! This blog is for 'Jewelry by Sonell's' friends and not for you to advertise on. Thank you!

We're off to the Cattlemen's Ball!

I am so far behind but I thought that I had better update our blog and let everyone know what is going on in our lives.

June is a busy month for 'Jewelry by Sonell' and we love being busy. Thought I would give all of you our schedule for the month and let you know that we would love to see old friends and meet new ones.

Our schedule for June is:

Saturday, June 5th we will be attending the Cattlemen's Ball in Kearney, NE. Once again we will have our Jewelry there. This Ball was started years ago to raise money for Cancer research and they have raised a lot of it. It will be held this year at Norris and Lori Marshall's just south of Kearney. Randy Travis will be in concert in the evening after a full day of great activities. We look forward to seeing everyone there. Everyone be sure and stop by and see us.

Tuesday, June 15th, we will be attending the Miss Rodeo Nebraska Style Show held in North Platte, Ne. We will also have a jewelry booth there.

June 24th, 25th and 26th, we will again have a jewelry booth at the Nebraska State High School Rodeo Finals that will again be held in Hastings Nebraska. The facilities there are great and we always look forward to seeing old friends. Rodeo has been a part of our lives for years and years and now the grandchildren of old friends are competing. Stop by our booth and say hello.

We would like to wish everyone a great and safe summer and hope to see you down the road.

It's Easter Time in the Sandhills.

As the Easter Season comes to the Sandhills, we all rejoice in this wonderful time of year.
Ellen and I are busy getting ready for the Spring Jewelry Shows along with getting our spring cleaning done. Isn't it a glorious time of the year as Spring descends on this beautiful country of ours. Robins have been on the scene for several days now and several have reported seeing Blue Birds. God has truly blessed all of us that have the opportunity to live here. Baby calves are seen everywhere and the green grass is peeping through. It has been a long Winter with more snow than usual and at times we thought Spring would never get here but here it is.
Ellen and I, again will be having our jewelry at the Nebraska Cattleman's Ball, which this year will be hosted by Norris and Lori Marshall who make their home south of Kearney, Nebraska. The ball is held every year to raise money for Cancer. We hope to see all of our friends there and to make many new ones. Randy Travis will be in concert that evening.
We also plan on having our jewelry at the Nebraska Rodeo Queen's Bruch which will again be held in North Platte, Nebraska the middle of June and after that we will be setting up at ehe Nebraska High School Rodeo Finals June24th though 26th at Hastings, Nebraska. We hope to see everyone there.
We have more events scheduled and will post those at a later time.

We wish everyone a very Happy Easter Season!

Happy Valentine's Day

Is it really Valentine's Day again already? It doesn't seem like a year since we started
our blog and etsy store and what an interesting year it has been. The places we have been and
the people that we have met have been just wonderful. So many new friends, we feel so
blessed and we truly are. So many more places and new people to meet in the coming year.
Ellen and I appreciate each and everyone that we have been fortunate to get to know and
would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a HAPPY VALENTINE"S DAY!

Happy New Year

Brrr, Brrr, Baby, it is cold outside, got down to -18 here last night and the night before was almost as cold. I thought we were supposed to be in global warming, it is colder this winter so far than it has been for sometime. I received this picture of this baby in my email and thought that

like all of us he has the winter blues.

I am a little behind in updating the blog. Hope everyone had as nice of a Christmas as we did.

Our son and family came from Colorado and we had a great time. We always have our family Christmas the Sunday before the actual holiday, that way everyone can have Christmas with their immediate family. It was at my house this year, I had 18 for dinner and I think a good time was had by all. I always feel sad when our son, Bret, his wife, D.D., and grandchildren, Mercedes and Jhett leave, they were here a few days and I know it is important for them to be home on this wonderful day.

Now, the New Year has rolled around again, and with it let's hope for Peace and Prosperity and that our leaders get this problem of the economy straightened out. Doubtful, you say, maybe!

Jewelry by Sonell had a good year and look forward to what 2010 will bring, I know we will be busy as we will have the most of the same dates and places as of last year, we have eliminated a couple though. We are now busy designing new items and excited about them.

We want to wish everyone A Happy New Year and urge everyone to pray for the safety of our military and also for our country so that peace as we know it can continue.

Autumn leaves are fallin!

Yes, Autumn leaves are falling along with the snow and ice. We haven't had much of a fall this year, the summer was cool and now all this snow and ice. I had to travel on ice and snow packed roads to get to Ellen's Saturday for our show in Alliance, NE. last Saurday, and then from her house we had to some snow and ice spots on to Alliance. So much for Global Warming! Our show turned out well, we were sure wondering but everything went well. We have a lot of shows yet before Christmas and it makes one wonder if we are going to have this kind of weather from now on. One thing about it, it puts one in the Christmas mood to do some shopping. A couple weeks ago Lar, I, and Troy went to our son's in Salida, Colorado to the Doug Kaess Memorial Roping to watch our 11 year old grandson, Jhett, rope (he did well!) and you wouldn't have believed how beautiful the Aspens and other foliage in the mountains were, it was absolutely breath taking. I was telling my 16 year old, granddaughter , Mercedes, about it and she it was my artistic eye, I hope everyone has one because to see all of those autumn colors merging together was awesome. We had a great time there, got to see a lot of old friends that we rodeoed with.

It is pumpkin time and to prove it, I received the above photo from Ellen's daughter, Kristi, of Ellen's Granddaughter, Anna Kay. What a darling 'little punkin' she is. Anna Kay is 4 1/2 months old and everyone's 'Lil Punkin'.

It will soon be goblin and ghost time with all the kiddies Trick or Treating. What fun! Anyway, Happy Fall Y'all. Pray for our country and our troops and that everthing will turn out the way God intended!

In The Good Old Summertime

Busy, yes, that is how you would decribe this summer. June was and is our (Jewelry by Sonell's)busy month. We start off the first week-end by setting up at the Nebraska's Cattlemens' Ball and this year it was in Doniphan. It had rained and the mud was high but we managed and had a very successful day. We met a lot of our old friends and as always made new ones. It was good to see everyone and although the weather was wet it didn't dampen ours or anyone else's spirit.

Then in the middle of June we set up at the Miss Rodeo Nebraska's brunch where we always

meet many of the Queen's from all over the United States. They are always so perky and fun.

Such beautiful girls with such futures ahead. And of course Ellen and I always have to pick who we think might win, and it looks like Nebraska has another very capable Queen in the waiting.

We got to see Miss Amy Amack, the currant Miss Rodeo Nebraska, who is always a delight to see. We got to see her at the Cattleman's Ball also.

The Nebraska High School Rodeo Finals always takes up the third week in June and again

Ellen and I were on the road to set up there. This time instead of rain it was unseasonalbly and unreasonalbly hot but everyone suffered through it. Again it was a reunion of old friends and

meeting new ones. Again we got to see Amy. These pictures above are of our booth there.

In July, haying began, so between running for parts and cooking for them, and working in a very successful jewelry in-home show, I was kept quite busy. Ellen was gone to Washington D.C. for her annual DAR Convention, she was gone a week so it was quite hectic for her also. Her DAR keeps her time used up in the summer and then in October she will go back to Washington.

My birthday is the last of July and 3 of my old friends took me tanking on the Loup River. It is so much fun and such a serene trip. This year we took the 5 hour trip down that took 6 hours as we were always getting stuck in trees where the currant would take us. If you have never done this, you must. We are going to get Ellen to go one of these days. Imagine sitting in a horse tank and letting the currant take you down a river, it is great.

That about tells it for our summer so far, except I and my family plan on going to Estes Park, Co.the middle of the month to watch my grandchildren compete in the CJRA Rodeo Finals, sure hope it don't rain.

Oh, I almost forgot to mention that Ellen has a new granddaughter and what a sweetie. Congrats. Ellen.

Branding Time in Nebraska

Granddaughter, Mercedes coming in with a calf
for the branders.

After branding dinner, time is spent visiting and

catching up on the events of the day.

Son, Troy and friend, Cody, waiting for the

the brander and vaccinator.

Grandson Jhett, dragging one in to the fire.

Corey, a little roper draggin one in.

And then it is over for another year, it is a lot of work but a lot of fun. A time

for neighbors to get together and one of the last social events in cattle country.

Nebraska's Springtime in April

How does the song go? When it's 'Springtime in the Rockies'? Well, this is springtime in Nebraska! I can hardly wait to work in my yard but first I have to find it. I have been thinking about ordering my vegetable seed for my garden. Should I be in a hurry, I don't think so. The wind blew and we worried about the safety of the livestock but most fared pretty well.

It did get up to 60 yesterday so a lot of the snow melted and it is supposed to get that warm again today but tomorrow more rain and snow is predicted. We won't complain as we all need

the moisture and hopefully we won't have to hide Easter Eggs in the snow.

Sonja

Home Again!

Photo of myself, Ellen and Kalene taken by Tate Taylor whom we
met at the Horse Expo and who always had his camera handy.

Ellen's daughter-in-law, Kalene at our booth in Denver,

was such a great help as we put her to work arranging our booth

and just being our right hand woman.

Picture of our booth at the Denver Horse Expo.

We had a great time at the Horse Expo, meeting so many new and nice people. It is always so

much fun making new friends. We met Siri Stevens and her daughter Laci, editor of the 'Rodeo

News' magazine and who we will be doing some advertising with in the future. I had already

felt like I knew her as we subscribe to the magazine, it carries all the rodeo news in Colorado

and surrounding states. Beings my grandchildren and son rodeo there I can hardly wait for

each issue to see the news and see if people we know out there are in it. Also the Nebr. rodeo

news. The people are so friendly and it always seems like they know who we know.

What a small world! Thanks to all we met and all that helped us in any way. We apreciate each and everyone of you.

We are off again!

Hi all,
Ellen and I are packing up again, we are going to Denver to the Horse Expo and of course where we go, so does our jewelry. We have a booth there March 13-14-15th.
We are looking forward to meeting more new people and making more new friendships. Ellen's daughter-in-law, Kalene, is going with us, yeah! She will be a great help and she is so good at creating an eye-catching arrangement of our jewelry. We are lucky as both of our daughter-in-laws are good at this. If there is anything in our store that anyone has been looking at and thinking about, you might want to get it as we are taking it all with us. Hopefully, we will have new photo's to post when we get home and stories to tell.
Until then,
Sonja and Ellen

'Our Cowboys'

We've told you that part of the background of our jewelry making
is rodeo, so we thought maybe it would be fun to share some
photo's with you..

Sonja's husband Larry, heeling
a steer at a rodeo in Nebraska.


Ellen's husband Tom, heading a steer at a team roping in Nebraska.


They both have had their share of roping championships in this event and Larry also in the calfroping event.

And it goes on and on with our kids roping and tying goats and now grandkids.
What a fun life we have had traveling and rodeoing in most of the surrounding states and all the wonderful friends we have made all over the country. We do a lot of reminiscing as we travel to our jewelry shows up and down the road and meeting our old friends to talk over fun times.

We're back and ready to go again!

Pictures of our booth at the Cattleman's Classic. We met so many nice people there in Kearney, Nebr showing their cattle. We saw a lot of old friends and sold some jewelry.
If you were wondering where some of the pieces that we had in our etsy store dissappeared to, we sold them at the Classic.

Thank you, Mary Clifton, for all your help and support and to all who helped us in any way while we were there. And of course, a big thank-you to our customers!
Sonja and Ellen

Valentines Day Blog Party

Romancing the Blog Party !!


Welcome to our blog - Jewelry by Sonell.

This is our first blog party and our first Giveaway too!

There are over 54+ participants so far participating today
who will be offering you wonderful Valentines. Some with free downloads or random drawings to win some goodies, as well as sharing their blogs
with us, so I hope you will join us and visit as many blogs as you can.

Here is what you do.... CLICK HERE to visit the party host, Flatwoods FolkArt, and on her left column is a LIST of party blogs to go visit and leave comments.

But first.... You can start with US!! Here is the Jewelry piece we are offering today!!


This giveaway is open to all! You can enter by just leaving a comment on this post only in the comments area (click the little comments button below). If you don't have a blog, add your email addy so that I can reach you! The random drawing will be midnight tonight...February 14th and we will e-mail the winner.
Good luck! We can't wait to visit all of the awesome blogs that are participating.

Happy Valentines Day Everyone!!
Sonja and Ellen

Nebraska Cattlemens Classic

Got up this morning to rain, rain, rain and we were expecting to get up to ice and snow. The temp was 42 at 6:30 A.M. This will be so good for the hills.

Well, Ellen and I have been real busy getting ready to be gone to the Cattlemen's
Classic in Kearney, NE. all next week. We will have a jewelry booth there and we are looking forward to it. Besides getting jewelry ready to go, packing for 6 days and getting food ready to be left here for the guys. They're not much on batching, but will get along,I am sure. This will be our longest to be gone, we always do the Nebraska High School Rodeo Finals in June and that usually makes us away from home 4 days.
It is always so exciting to meet new people and have them see our jewelry. Then when we get home from that we have several in-home shows scheduled and a bead show to attend. I will have things to report I am sure when we get back.
Thanks to everyone for the support that our blog has gotten and also our etsy store.

Carnelian and Turquoise Necklace

WOW! Are we excited, we were notified that we had sold our first piece of jewelry out of our Etsy store and we were so excited.

We are in our fourth year of this venture and have sold a LOT of jewelry,but this really thrills us. When we decided to try going online after so much urging from our customers, we really didn't know how it might go. You see, we do in home shows kind of like Tupperware and special events and had thought about this for some time. With our son's and Connie's help, we dove in.

WE love a challenge and do custom work, if it is doable. You might all enjoy this little story. A few years ago, I was waiting at Walmart for my husband who was at the cattle sale in North Platte. I struck up a conversation with a little lady who was also waiting for someone and she admired the necklace I had on and asked where I had gotten it. I preceded to tell her about our jewelry and she asked if we did custom work. Of course I told her yes, IF it could be done. WELL, a few days ago she called me and said she had some stones and would like earrings and a pendant made out of them. Yesterday, I received them in the mail and that is just what they are, stones. They are pretty, but no way can they be set on silver. I will have to return them and I'm sure she will be dissappointed, but that is better than cobbling something up than she wouldn't wear.

Well, the sun is out here today after 5 days of snowing off and on and accumlating 11-12" of snow. We will all be ready for spring.
Thanks again, Connie and Thank-You Kathy for our 1st Etsy Sale!
Sonja

Hi,
We woke up to a real snowy day here in the sandhills of Nebraska. At least 4-5" of the white
stuff on the ground. It was snowing when we went to bed last night but we thought it would soon end. Yeah right! It sure covered the grass so if it doesn't melt soon the guys will have
to start feeding hay to the cattle.
Ellen and I have been so pleased with the response that we have gotten since we started our
blog and etsy store. I don't know if I mentioned it before or not but we do custom jewelry orders also. We love a challenge and are always open to new ideas. Youcan always get ahold of us by email if you need to. My e-mail address is strenary@wildblue.net and Ellen's is
ekwhite@neb-sandhills.net.
Keep warm everyone!

We are two women from the sandhills of Nebraska, setting up our first blog and are excited to bring our beautiful western and southwestern 'One of a Kind' jewelry to you. We will be adding some pictures as we go and also on etsy. com.
Sonja and Ellen