Mrs. Pacific Northwest: January 2010

Welcome to my Blog!

I am Lisa Bluhm Mrs. Pacific Northwest 2010-2011. I am competing in March for the title of Mrs. Washington. The Mrs. Washington Pageant is about making a difference. As a contestant I volunteer my time and talents to serve charities and organizations. I am also an active participant in my community. I am passionate about many different organizations and leave myself open to be able to support or participate in as many as I can.

My platform is called "Unlock Your Potential". It has always been my passion to inspire and encourage others to discover their goals or dreams and then teach them the steps to achieve success. When I hear people say I could never do that, I am not talented or anything that is negative towards their capabilities I feel called to action to help them see they have the potential to do or be anything they want to be. It may not be the same goals or dreams someone else has but their own personal challenges that lie within them. Once they realize they have the potential and they can achieve their dreams they are on their way to achieving success in their life. It can be as simple as getting their house organized or running a marathon. I am able to use my personal experiences in trials and triumphs as examples to encourage and inspire them on their journey. Throughout the year I will be featuring different peoples stories and sharing how they have unlocked their potential. Will you be one of them? Contact me with your story I would love to hear about it!

It is my desire to be Mrs. Washington so that I may represent the married women of our state. I consider it an honor and a responsibility. I take this role seriously. With my 22 years of marriage and a lifetime of experiences I am ready to continue fulfilling my role as a leader and a mentor. As Mrs. Washington I will have the opportunity to reach out to even more people in our state sharing my platform and have more opportunities to volunteer and bring awareness to non profit organizations that make our state so great.

I have unlocked my own potential in many areas of my life. Competing in marathons and triathalons, leading women's groups, leading children's groups, coaching teams and starting my own business. After being a stay at home mom for several years I took my passion for creating soldered art and shared it with others. My company Simply Swank llc was born! I developed my own technique and product line that is now sold in stores globally. I am also the author of Simple Soldered Jewelry and Accessories, the host and instructor of Simply Solder DVD and am currently writing a new book.

Friday, January 29, 2010

It's been awhile...

Everyone always says how time flies, I get tired of hearing it, but it sure is true! I've been so busy through football season and the holidays with my family and friends. I have had no time to blog!!

The whole month of January I have been working overtime in my business Simply Swank to get all my new products done, samples made and the booth built for the Craft and Hobby Association Trade show. Often times people are curious how you set up a trade show booth so I tried to take some photos with my iphone during set up. The photos are a little fuzzy but you can see in the photo box below a little of how it all goes together. You basically start with an empty space that is 10x10 and build it within that space. We actually built this booth ourselves me, Melissa & Nanette from scratch about a week before it had to ship! The whole booth weighed 600 pounds! That is small in comparison to other booths. It turned out pretty nice!

The show was very successful for my company. We have many new customers, several chain stores and new distributors. Our products will now also be sold in Tahiti, Italy, Germany, Sweden, & Mexico! I have also been offered to write some new books! I am excited to show more advanced techniques for art soldering and new project ideas.

We taught a class to 50 people, with amazing help from our Swanky Volunteers. It was very fun and not one accident with all those hot irons being used! The class sold out as soon as registration opened up for classes! Next time we will have to do more than one class!

It was a lot of work but also a lot of fun. We feel blessed to have such great customers and colleagues who make being in this industry worth wile!!