Friday Finds WE 082805

So many things to do. I have a custom order I wanted to do today, other jewelry I wanted to photograph, a temp job to put some hours in on, and I really needed to clean house. So of course, none of it got done. Alas.

I am happy to announce I will be serving as co-blogger over at CraftJoint, a new resource site. I'm excited to be joining the group and blogging with peers; it's my first group blog! :)

So, I had a busy week, web-wise. Met a bunch of new people, thanks to Zuzu and Jeaneen Benson, of Yatta, who clued me in to The Switchboards. I am also pleased to say that Zuzu is as lovely and delightful as her Garden. :)

I have to say, I'm glad I decided to highlight other artisans and independent business people on Tuesdays. Every person I've highlighted has turned out to be just great!

So now, let's get down to the Finds. I came across a lot of those this week, too. :)

If you guys think *I* come up with some good finds, you ain't seen nothin' like Heather's finds at Creature Comforts. Wow. Prepare to be overwhelmed! In addition to her finds, Heather also makes unique gift tags with beautiful graphics she paints herself. They're really just gorgeous. And adorable softies, one of which serves as her blog photo. I am in love with little Anoush, the Elephant. :)

I also discovered Miss Benson of Yatta does good design work and does not charge through the nose for logo design. I found this out because I liked my bag so much and pestered the hell out of her in email until she finally told me she does freelance design and has her own site, Design 911. :) I am very excited about having her design the logo for my second label, when I start working again. :)

StumbleUpon is a toolbar you add to your browser that allows you to rate pages as you come across them on the web. You can tell it to never show you a page again or show you others like the one you're on. Seems like a nifty idea to me, and I notice it's building a following, but I hasten to add that I do not know whether or not StumbleUpon is spyware, and that if you choose to download the program, you do so at your own risk and can not hold me accountable for your decision. So there. ;) (Seriously, though, before you download anything to your computer ever, you should know what it is you're downloading, from whom, read all the print in every single dialogue box before you click yes, and use common sense and your best judgement. And before you install it, you should run a virus checking program on it. I do this with every single think I download, from .txt files to font files, and I definitely do it with executables or other programs that do things.) (ie. .com, .exe, .bat, .dll's)

I was absolutely crushed one night in the middle of some web design when I went to ColorSchemer online, and it was down. Seriously, I did not handle it well. I love the program, but I don't use it often enough to buy it. I do, however, use ColorPix, which rocks, and I'd never have found it if CSonline hadn't been malfunctioning. The free download is at the bottom of the Color Schemer page, and seriously, it's insane. I love it to pieces. It's also a very small program, too, so it doesn't take up any space. How it works is it tells you the hex code, and rbg numbers on any color on your desktop you mouse over. There's even a zoom feature, if what you're trying to nail is really small, and you can anchor the application to float on top of all your other program windows, if you want. I have already used it to pieces and adore the livin' daylights out of it. It totally rocks the house. The SO is a web developer, and I told him about it, and he was all yeah, yeah, yeah...until he tried it. Now he, too, is hooked. :)

And finally, the intricate wirewrapped pendants of Isaac LeFever at Nattywraps. I was absolutely beside myself to discover he's new to jewelry-making. Seriously, go look. Click "Items For Sale" and "Previously Sold" at the top. You'll be like, *wow*. Seriously: wow.

That's all for me, my lovelies. I can't believe it's only Friday. It feels way past Saturday.

bff, (well, aren't we? ;)
jenie