Life Is What Happens...

In the midst of redesign, my father passed away. I live in another state, so it's been very difficult logistically, as well as dealing with my loss. In addition to his memorial service, there was the interment of his ashes on the family farm and the sale of his herd of beef cattle to handle. Now there's probate and his estate to administer, which involves travel back and forth from California to Texas. I've lost some of my momentum with my grief and all the confusion that goes with it, but I hope to be able to pick up the reins and continue soon. Thank you for staying "tuned."

Rebranding

I have really grown beyond jewelry in the last few years, so a site with jewelry in the url isn't working for me. Hence, in 2009, I will be rebranding Dragonfly Design to Bijoux Bisous, Jewelry & Other Kisses. You will still be able to get there from here (at least until the domain expires sometime in I think 2010), but I really think the new site offers greater flexibility. So much has changed since I started Dragonfly 5 years ago, that it's time for a redesign, and starting from scratch seemed a lot easier than trying to rearrange the furniture here.

I've given it quite a bit of thought, and my heart just hasn't been in Dragonfly since I came back from Paris. If I'm going to spend my time building something, I want it to be something I really enjoy spending time on, and I just wasn't connecting with Dragonfly any longer. It had gotten too far away from what I really wanted to do and the jewelry I really wanted to make, and I was spending most of my time making jewelry for other people, not for me. Which sounds odd, but if jewelry is my creative outlet, I want to make stuff *I* like, and if others like it too, so much the better. Besides, I believe that if I'm excited about something, that excitement rubs off on others and attracts like minds. If I'm not excited...well, the last 2 years at Dragonfly is what you get. I think the new site will be a lot more fun, a lot more positive, and way more relaxed, and frankly, I crave more of all of that in my life these days.

So I hope those of you who have been my faithful fans will follow me to Bijoux and enjoy it as much as I plan to. :) And of course, you can still order from Dragonfly. Just shoot me an email with your order.

See you there!

Jenie

Busy Busy Busy

It's crazy here at Chez Dragonfly these days!

We have a new puppy in the house, and he's a bit of a terror. Imagine Attila the Hun as a 10-week-old Shepherd-Rottweiler puppy, and you have our little Napoleon. I adore him, but I swear to you, I have already written several different versions of Buffy the Vampire Slayer scripts in my head where Buffy gets this adorable little puppy who turns out to be a demon in disguise, merrily working his way through systematically destroying her life in the most destructive way possible. Of course, he's an adorable little puppy, so there would have to be a crossover episode into Angel, and I've written that in my head, too. Mainly because I think it would be absolutely hysterical watching Angel deal with the mayhem of a furry little demon puppy. Fear not for the little guy, however - his very cuteness demands he live on at the end of the episodes. :) Our pet names for him are The Monster and Piranha, if that tells you anything at all. He was a shelter puppy and demands a lot of attention, so I really only get things done during his naps. I don't know how those of you with human kids do it, because if I had years of this to look forward to, I think my head would explode...

Of course, we also have a 7 month shepherd mix named Razzle, who seems to have reverted back to his hyper puppy days, so I've really had my hands full. I love my boys, but they do make it hard to get things done, I have to say!

In addition to running Dragonfly, I also work in television, which can be rewarding and fun, but is also a little irregular and crazy, as it tends to run toward the feast-or-famine type of employment. Right now, I'm in a famine stage, which necessitates job hunting, one of my least favorite things in the entire world. As you can imagine, that's taking a lot of energy, so the redesign of the site and choosing a new payment gateway and the like are taking longer than I'd like, but they'll come together in time for late Fall. Please continue to order via email, and I'll take your credit card or Paypal cash payments.

I'm pleased to report my mosquito repellent worked quite well during the summer months at the dog park, so when the site's up again, I'll be running with that, as well as facial toner and bath scrubs added to the skin care line. I hope you'll like them as much as I do!

I'm revamping packaging as well, going with more glass and aluminum and scaling back on shipping packaging (going with more paper and recycled or corn starch peanuts, as opposed to polyester bags and new styrofoam). I have never liked plastic. It seems cheap and is not good for the environment. It also emits gasses and can react with the product inside it. Glass does not do that and is easier to recycle. I'm considering giving discounts to people who return their jars and bottles for refill, too. A recycled glass jar is a happy, happy jar!

And now Napoleon is up from his nap, so duty calls!

Take care,
Jenie

Temporarily taking orders via email

For the time being, I have discontinued credit card service and am accepting payment via check or Paypal.com - I disabled my payment gateway today, due to lack of satisfaction with the service since Paypal took it over. Since I'm in the middle of revamping my entire business anyway, it's not the worst thing in the world, but I'm less than thrilled. If you'd like to place an order, please contact me via email. You shouldn't see any extra delay in accepting or processing your order.

My mosquito spray seems to be working quite well so far. That makes me happy.

Aside from that, some reorganization and trying to get taxes done, life is pretty uneventful.

How's YOUR summer?

Mosquitos?

I take my dog to the bark park pretty often, and there's a creek running behind it, so the mosquitos come out as soon as the sun sinks below the horizon every day. I've been using a lot of repellent to ward them off, and as someone else there pointed out, your skin is your largest organ, and what you put on it gets sucked right into your body. So who wants to spray DEET on themselves every single day? Not me...yick. So I'm currently testing herbal mosquito repellent on myself - and any takers I get at the bark park. I'll let you know how it works out.

I also got a new camera recently, so as I wrap testing on the newest body stuffs, I'll take pictures at long last, and you'll be able to buy them on the site. It's been a while worth of testing, but I'm getting good results and finding out some products do more than I thought they would, which is pretty nifty. I'm leaning more towards body products than jewelry, these days. The skin care stuff is just more fun and rewarding. Probably more difficult, too, but oh well. :)

ttyl!
Jenie

Surly-Ramics

Hey, ceramic jewelry lovers!

There's a really great place here in LA (and on the web) where you can get really fantastic, truly unique and one-of-a-kind pieces. Check out Surly-Ramics, where Johnny Skaare and Amy Roth (who are now engaged!) are turning out everything from the spiritual to the punk and all stops in between in the form of some awesomely creative pendants, focal pieces, and jewelry. They're gettin' bigger and bigger, so get thee hence and order, because soon the only way you may be able to get their stuff is to pay high prices in places like the Nieman of the Marcus. I'm not kiddin'. You want something special and tailored to you, Surly-Ramics is a great way to express your individuality and/or make a personal statement. It really is art you can wear. Check 'em out. :)

Happy Independence Day!

So if you've been posting and not getting replies, I'm sorry. I'm really disenchanted with Blogger since Google made me register for a stupid google account to use it. I do not need yet another service requiring yet another user ID and password combination, and I'm looking for a better blogging service. Wordpress is looking better and better.

I've been noodling around with skin care products from time to time, only making jewelry for special orders, as I've also been working nights in television, and that messed my body clock up something fierce. I got a new puppy a few months ago (rescue from the pound), and he's also time-consuming, but also very rewarding. I take him to a nearby dog park, and today, I spent my time chatting about jewelry with another woman there, and that's actually gotten me thinking about making jewelry again and putting in the work to get new stuff made and revamp the site, which I've been meaning to do for 2 years, now, since I got back from Paris...which I miss something fierce!

So that's what's going on, and those of you who have emailed me too, please forgive the tardiness of my replies. There was a bit of a hiccup with my mail program, and I didn't get all my messages all the time.

I think I may also be changing my payment gateway soon, as I've not had good luck with Verisign since Paypal acquired it. :( I'm casting about for options, now.

Happy 4th of July, everybody! I hope to see more of you, soon.

Jenie

China, Jewelry & Lead

If you are purchasing jewelry made in China, you need to be aware of the risk it poses to your children. China refuses to acknowledge United States standards for lead content, as it finds the .06% by weight limit imposed by the US Consumer Product Safety Commission as unreasonable. The Chinese government feels the level of lead which can seep from items such as charms and painted trinkets harmless to small children, despite the cumulative damage of lead poisoning. So far this year, over 6 million pieces of jewelry manufactured in China have had to be recalled on 17 different occasions, and at least one child has died from swallowing a charm containing high concentrations of lead.

In addition, you should be aware that jewelry containing lead crystal - such as that made by Swarovski* - should not be purchased for wear by children or for mothers with babies, as babies will often put necklaces in their mouths as they are being held. Even tiny amounts of lead can be poisonous to babies and small children, and the effects of lead poisoning are cumulative, which means the amount of lead one's body absorbs can build up with each additional exposure.

Products made in China account for the vast majority of recalls issued by the CPSC each year, so please check the label for country of manufacture before you buy anything that will come into contact with your children, be it the jewelry you wear or toys your children play with. As well, it is prudent to ask before you buy from jewelry artists in this country where they get their materials and whether or not the components contain lead. It's a big world out there. Let's all try to be safe.

* it should be noted the Swarovski company in no way suggests its product is safe for small children; I only use it as an example because most people are familiar with it.