Updates + Markets + News

Hello friends, I'm pleased to welcome you to the NEW Christina Holland Designs blog. 

After much ado and tinkering I've finally got my blog back up and running, partially anyway. If you followed my blog back on my old site you'll notice not every old post is back, or even back in its original state. When I shut down the old site I saved everything that was important to me, and let some of the date specific or general updates go. With that in mind, I also made edits to the first collection of blog posts I brought back (Gemstones for the Astrology Signs) to be more open-ended and not date specific, while also wanting to create an archive of those jewelry collections. Moving forward, the CHD blog is a work in progress. It is at its most simple form at the moment while I continue to learn more to improve it. 

What I love about having the blog is it's a great way to share updates, collections, information, and all the adventures I have with my business and personal life. Which brings us here- so let's get on to it! 

(photo by Chelsea Whitaker Photography)

Being in the studio creating is my absolute favorite thing about my small business, obviously. But any small business owner will tell you that running a small business is an act of wearing many, many hats. One of which is social media and the "hat" I want to discuss a little now. 

 

Social media + Connecting

Social media is a great tool that allows us to connect with people and loved ones all over the world, and it's been a great tool for artists and makers to share their creations and processes with the world too. In recent years it's become a bit of a drain as many of us have had to fight against the algorithms and often become more or less content creators for these platforms. I saw other creatives make it work for them, but I just don't think I ever got the groove of making it feel authentic to me. And ya know, that's ok. 

I'm recreating the way I work with social media, especially in light of recent changes with how some of these platforms function. I'll be looking to try out other options, like BlueSky and others to come- I'm especially curious to see what the upcoming Flashes app has to offer (BlueSky's answer to Instagram). I've decided not to leave any of the platforms I have a business profile with at this time, but I do plan to post less and in different ways on all of them. I will be removing/reducing any personal/private profiles I have and instead of keeping these parts of my life completely separate, I'll post a mix of business and personal life when and as I see fit. While I considered long and hard about leaving social media all together, I still thinks they offer us a good way to connect to long distance friends, family, and our communities. 

That being said, as I had started to do on my old website + blog, the focus of my "content" will be done here on the blog first. From there I'll share updates to my email newsletter subscribers, and then small bits on social media- which you'll be able to come to my website + blog to get more info if you want to. Having control and ownership over the content I create is important to me and this route feels good for how I want to manage things right now.

 

Market Planning for 2025

By the first week in January every year, I've already begun prepping and applying for markets for the year. While this year January also brought trip to England to our life (more on that below), I still managed to send out one application before I left and applied to two markets while I was overseas! The work of a small business jeweler is never done! Here's what I've got on the schedule and what I'm hoping/planning on for the Spring + Summer seasons. *I'll also be updating my EVENTS page as I book events all year.

Spring Market Season in Arizona

• February 22nd: Witchcrafted's Ostara Market - I'm pleased to return to the Witchcrafted Ostara market in Glendale this Spring. I'll be bringing along all my magical wears, ready to chat about gemstone properties, and be a part of this wonderfully witchy event.
• March 8th: Desert Air Market (DAM) - Always a DAM good time, I'm thrilled to be a part of the Spring Desert Air Market, representing a slice of Tucson's talented artist and maker community.

I'm still booking for April and keeping my eyes open for events that are a good fit for me, so check the events page to see what's new. *If you've got a shop/gallery in AZ or know a place you'd like to see me, please reach out with info: CONTACT

Summer Market Season in Minnesota + on the Road

• July 19th & 20th: Watermark Art Festival (Art in the Park) - My beloved hometown show is officially on the books, save the date Bemidji area friends!

I loved my Great Minnesota Tour in 2024, but doing an event 4 weekends in a row is a bit exhausting! This year I'm hoping to split things up a bit and might even add a couple events on the road. I'm actively planning markets + pop-ups for June, July, and August; if there's an event you'd like to see me at or you want to host me at your shop or event, feel free to reach out: CONTACT

 

Jewelry + Collections

(Photo by Chelsea Whitaker Photography)

January + some of February are a nice pause, reset, and then a spark of creative planning and ideas. Fresh off the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show this month and I'm bursting with new ideas after restocking my gem stash.

There's a couple ideas I have had in mind for 2025 that I was particularly focused on as I shopped the gem show... 

Vampire Moonstone Jewelry

During the Witchcrafted Samhain market back in October I unveiled this collection of vampy Moonstone jewelry, and much to my delight you love it as much as I do! My mini collection sold out in the first hour of Witchcrafted and I had a slew of requests to make more. With a limited supply of these gems I could only fill the requests of a few people, with promises to everyone else that I'd do my best to track down more of the deviously vampy gems. I remembered the gem dealer I got them from, went opening day and bought all of their small stock of this cut of Moonstone! I'll be opening up a pre-sale on the fang necklaces before the weekend and will bring a few to Witchcrafted Ostara on Feb 22nd.

*Pre-Order available now- click HERE! 

Gemstones for the Astrology Signs

(I had to visited The Astrology Shop in London during our trip to England in January!)

If you've ever chatted with me, it's not long before I slip a little astrology tidbit into the conversation. I really love astrology and how it helps us learn and understand each other and ourselves on a deeper level. I've been curious about astrology since I was a teen, but in the last 10 years or so it's really sparked a fire inside me every time I learned a little more about reading the stars. 

Like the fiery Aries I am, I've followed that spark in my personal life, as well as incorporating it into an astrology themed jewelry collection; creating well over a dozen collections in 2023-24, releasing one monthly for each astrological season. You'll find most of these collections and the corresponding posts on the blog now! *I'm missing a few that need formatting work, but you'll find every sign mentioned at least once as of now.

I LOVED creating the astrology collections and I've been dreaming of bringing it back in some form ever since I took a pause at the end of Pisces season last year. When making these collections I loved the way it naturally brought variety into each collection as I thought of various personality styles and the energy of each astro season; bringing shapes, colors, and textures together to create original designs, and connecting to others personal style and intentions really lit me up creatively. I'm really looking forward to creating in this realm again in the coming year. I'm aiming for an Aries release, but you'll probably get an unofficial Pisces collection cause it's such a dreamy season to create in! 

 

If you read this far, here's some personal things and thoughts.

Mid-January Weston and I took a trip to England, with stays in Oxford and London + a day trip to Stratford-upon-Avon. It was my first time to England and Weston's second, it was such a special and wonderful trip! It was definitely colder than Tucson, but nowhere near the cold of our Januarys growing up in Minnesota. I'd love to share more about our trip and some photos, so maybe in another post- would you be interested in more personal posts like that? Leave a comment below and let me know. 

Not realizing it when we booked the trip, but we ended up being in England during most of the first week after the inauguration of the current US president. It was really weird to watch everything happening from another country, and when we returned it felt like we'd come back through the Twilight Zone.

I want to be open about the person I am and don't think you'll be surprised to know that I did NOT vote for this administration. Their actions and goals go against absolutely everything I am, think, and feel. If I'm posting online about it or not, I take it seriously to stand up for the future I want to see in this world and show my support for oppressed people and communities on an on-going basis. I think it's my duty to adjust my habits and routines to reflect this in my life, and vote with my money as much as possible and to the best of my ability. I think it's important we as a society talk openly about these things and move away from the notion that discussing hard topics isn't done in polite conversation. I share this not to change anyone's mind, but to let others know they aren't alone and we've got each other. 

I'm here for deep conversations, building communities, collaborative journeys, making connections, bucking the system, changing societal constructs, evolving our minds, and protecting the planet.

Let every action we take in our day to day lives be in support of the future we want to see. 

- Christina