P. S.

Gonna be absent mostly all this week. Working on a documentary and getting my butt whupped.

Now That's What I Call a Trick

I've been dieting for the last few months, trying to lose all the excess weight which has been slowly packing on for the last 4.5 years. I used to weigh 118 and was a size 5 (back when I was that rarest of creatures, a woman who loved her body) and then suddenly skyrocketed up to 138 and a size 8 (in a kind brand...10 in some brands made for 20something girls with no hips). From there, I constantly lost and gained another 5 pounds, up and down. I quit sugar, kickboxed 4 times a week, walked, ran, rode around the world on a stationary bike, climbed hills...none of it mattered. I got up to 148. I was appalled. Even my fat jeans were too tight. Something had to give. I finally resolved to kick the junk food habit. And I did. And after one particularly strenuous day walking, walking, walking at Universal Theme Park, I lost 5 or 10 pounds (I don't have a scale at home, so I don't know how much, but my jeans were loose!). I started walking in my neighborhood, which means a neverending uphill circle. I continued eating homecooked meals and kept most of the Universal weight off. And then 10 days ago, I fell off the wagon.

No, that is too kind.

I somersaulted off of the wagon, did a full Nelson double half-back with a twist, and landed right in front of the horses, who, along with the wagon, the steamer trunks, and the 4 or 5 teams behind them, proceeded to rumble right over my ass.

So I am back where I started.

But the jump?

Truly looked spectacular.

Jenie

They Like Me; They Really Like Me!

I applied a few weeks ago - 2 or 3 - for membership to the Society of International Jewelry Artisans. It's a small, closed group, so frankly, I figured once they got over laughing at my simple jewelry, they'd send me a mail saying "gee thanks, but we're not accepting new members at this time."

Imagine my surprise to find an email in my box today telling me I've been accepted. :)

I'm really excited, because a lot of the members make some really insane stuff. The kind of stuff I have my sights set on and want to design myself, one day. To be a member, you also have to adhere to a certain set of standards and business practices. Stuff like truth in labelling and the like, all of which I've been doing anyway, but in reading the code I am expected to follow, I discovered it is considered an unfair business practice to label a cultured pearl as a pearl. So since all my items with cultured pearls just say pearl, I have to go back into my product table and edit all my product descriptions to say cultured pearl.

The codes I am expected to follow are those of the United States jewelry trade, federal law, and can be found here.

Wow, huh?! It's a lot. I'm happy to say that except for the pearl thing, I've been sticking with it. And I'm going to try to ignore all the people I see selling jewelry on the web who aren't. Which will be the hardest thing to do, because I am a HUGE stickler for rules and can't stand to see people slipping by, whether from ignorance or apathy. So say a prayer for my blood pressure when you go to sleep tonight, and spread the word about fair labelling standards, coz I am *in*! :)

Jenie

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

Wirewrapped teardrops

I am in love with this shape lately, and have a bunch of sketches utilizing it for the next time I have time to sit down and make jewelry just for fun. For now, though, I have 2 or 3 custom orders I need to fill, and some other chores calling my name.

Stupid chores.

ps. please note changes to my Yatta product review. The SO's leather checkbook is 3/4" thick, not 1/2", as previously stated. And I need to add that the Zuzu's Garden website is just as pretty as the product it sells. :)

Tuesday Treasures: Zuzu's Garden

I'm a romantic at heart. I love Sleepless in Seattle, pretty boxes, chocolate, fresh cut flowers, and old jazz standards. So I was delighted to stumble across Zuzu's Garden in my wanderings this week and instantly fell in love.

Offering what it calls "handcrafted garden-inspired home accents and gifts," Zuzu's Garden is a sun-dappled meadow full of flowers, butterflies, and delicate skyblue eggs masquerading as whimsical fairy keepsakes and framed cross-stitch or pressed botanicals.

At this writing, the keepsakes called Woodland Fairy Collectibles consist of 4 designs, each a tiny, painted, papier-mache box topped with vintage silk and preserved flowers and plants and containing a small paper bearing the Shakespearean verse or Elizabethan lyric or poem that inspired the box's design. My favorite is Titania's Woodland Bouquet, an oval keepsake topped with pink roses, tiny fern-like fronds, yellow twigs, and a pale pink velvet ribbon.

The Cottage Garden Miniature Cross-Stitch Collection consists of cross-stitched miniatures of designs by Dutch artist Marjolein Bastin. The small works (the largest measures roughly 4.5 x 4") are sewn in soft colors on antique-white fabric and framed in creamy, whitewashed wood frames. My favorites are the Butterfly Threesome, a set of 3 tiny (life-sized?) butterflies, and Three-ball Topiary, a modified design daintily stitched and perfect for a cottage mantlepiece or tucked into a bookshelf or plant-filled ledge. It's a little taste of Old Europe.

But my favorite part of the entire site, the pièce de résistance, is the Pressed Botanicals Collection, dried and framed collages consisting of pressed flowers and leaves, sheet music, old letters, elegant and pretty paper, original drawings and artwork, and whitewashed wooden frames unique to each work. All of them are absolutely gorgeous, and it seems a shame to single any out, but I absolutely fell in love with the shower of delicate lavender petals in Loves Me and the wild roses and sheet music of Moonlight Sonata. Thinking of You consists of vintage letters and stamps beneath the deep violet petals and graceful green leaves of Epilobium angustifolium, and Zuzu's own artwork is showcased floating over vintage ledger papers in the feathered grass of Cecropia Study.

If Zuzu's Garden leaves you craving more, her links page leads to a plethora of sites for the garden-craving cottage set. It's a nice slow way to laze away a romantic, sunny afternoon.

Yatta, Redux

I liked Yatta's website and product line so much, I thought it would be nice to try the actual product. Since I'm very much a small bag kinda girl, and since two of my favorite designs on the site were the trademarked Clutchlet®, that's what I went for. Blu Kitty, to be precise. And what a purrfect product it is. (Sorry; the punster in me had to go there!)

Yatta's order process is simple. Fill out the typical billing/shipping information and move on to method of payment, either credit card or Paypal. Simple, straightforward, no problems. And shipping is in line with Yatta's actual cost, so Ms. Benson isn't making any money there. Kudos.

The product itself arrived US Priority Mail. I got it in 2 or 3 days from ordering, which is pretty awesome. But when I opened the package, that's when the fun started. Inside its protective layer of bubblewrap, the Clutchlet® came adorably wrapped in cheery, lime green tissue, tied with a bright pink satin ribbon tied in a bow and bearing a little black gift card with a bright pink “y.” on one side and room to write to and from information on the back. There were also some freebies tucked into the ribbon: little 1” button pins bearing different Lola images. I was already gushing my enthusiasm with an enthusiastic “How cuuuuute!” loud enough to draw the attention of several passers by. (I was sitting outside the post office.)

Never one to be deterred by a few glances, I pressed on, and opened my new Clutchlet® to find a handwritten thank you note bearing a cute little scribble of a girl holding a purse. It was all very much like opening a present, and I felt – appropriately enough – like I had gotten a package from a person, rather than a huge, faceless conglomerate, and that this person was happy to have sent it. Frankly, that makes me want to shop Yatta again, and I would gladly order gifts for people and have them sent straight from Yatta. If Benson takes this much care with a simple order, I’m sure a gift order would go down equally as well.

The Clutchlet® measures approximately 4 x 7.25” and is around an inch thick when filled with my things. In addition to the roomy outside change pocket, the Clutchlet® also contains 4 credit card pockets, each of which will easily hold 2 cards, a nice big compartment for folding money, and two other large compartments for any receipts, business cards, or other paper scraps you might aquire. The coolest feature is the checkbook holder. I can slide my entire checkbook in there, and there’s a little snapped band to fit over the checks themselves, so that if you have duplicate checks, you can make them out without writing through to the checks underneath. Ingenius. :) The only negative critique I can make of the whole thing is that if you have a thicker checkbook, you might have some trouble closing your Clutchlet®. My checkbook fits just fine, but the SO’s doesn’t. Then too, his is leather, contains duplicate checks, and is a 3/4" thick by itself. Still, I’d like it if the Clutchlet® were just a little wider, so that it had a little more “room to grow”. That would make it absolutely perfect in every way.

As far as construction goes, the Clutchlet® also has a sturdy webbed wristband strap just the right size to loop over my wrist and then totally forget about. I don’t have to hold onto it for the purse to stay on, and that’s important, since I hate bags you have to actually grasp. The whole thing is very sturdy and well-made, with pretty, coordinated fabrics and details. It’s a fun, kicky little bag I can carry without having to carry, if you know what I mean. I took it grocery shopping, and it was nice not to have to worry about a purse for once. I was able to carry my bags without dealing with a purse, and once the groceries were loaded, I just pitched the thing into the car seat next to me, no muss, no fuss. I didn’t even have to keep an eye on it while I was in the store, since it was right there, dangling from my wrist the entire time. Wonderful!

What it basically comes down to is that if you’re hunting for a new bag and want something cute and different that demonstrates some personality, I can happily recommend Yatta for dependable product and service. And I'm pleased as punch to carry Benson's banner on my friends page. :)

Jenie

Orange you glad I didn't say banana?

I write a column, of sorts, for a friend's e-zine every other month, and this month I'm writing about carnelian. It's one of my favorite stones, so I have quite a bit of it on hand, so instead of finding an image on the web and borrowing a tiny part of it to show the readers what the stone looks like, this time around, I got out a bunch of my carnelian to take photos myself, instead. What the heck; I can use the photography practice.

Only, I used sunlight, which is easy to photograph in (well, for my needs, anyway; I'm sure professional photographers - of which I am not one - would disagree strenuously, but I take my best photos in sunlight), so that's not much in the way of practice, but whatever. I can always use another lesson in framing. :)

So anyway, here are my beads. Rounds in a lighter gold and a very rich madeira color, tumbled nuggets, and cut & tumbled "bicones". Aren't they pretty?!



Jenie

How cuuuute!

I got a wristlet from Yatta today, and it is the most adorable thing, ever! :) I'll be writing about it in full detail later, but I have to say right now, it's like, the cutest thing! :)

I love my new index page

I just like looking at it, all new and full of possibilities. :) I also like this picture of the Gina earrings. It was a very gusty day when I took it, so I really had to have the patience of Job - and a quick shutter finger - to get a nice clear picture. Sunshine is the best light you can ever hope for, too. The color came out perfectly, not like when I take them inside and then have to mess around with the balance because I don't have proper lights for indoor photography. So I love the sun. Not just for it's brilliant photographic qualities, but they add to my enjoyment. :) And I think this photo came out fairly nicely. :)

For the page, it is a cha-angin'!

Bad, I know. It's 3:48am; what can I say? :)

The new index page is up and running, and it's a beaut, I think, even if the bottom nav bar is still too wide and rather unwieldy. The SO is working on a huge server change for 9 of the company's biggest accounts (and my little site), and that leaves him no room for helping me. He's logged 80 hours in the last 4 or 5 days and is cranky. YOU ask him, if it's all that important to ya; me, I'm good with waiting. ;)

The server change is goin' down (happening, not actually crashing) sometime late Saturday, so if you have any problems with accessing this blog or the site, that's the problem. It should only take a few minutes, but I have the worst feeling there's a form page somewhere on the site that I missed, and if so and you try to access that particular page, well, then you should let me know. :)

But I digress. You know the best part of the new index page? It actually fits perfectly on an 800 x 600 monitor! :)

Actually, you still have to scroll up and down, but that will be resolved when the bottom nav bar is consolidated with the top one, and even if it isn't, that's not a big deal. It's the horizontal scrolling that is a pain and which I have gotten rid of. :)

Also, comments are back for anonymous posters, but you will now have to pass a Turing Test. If that doesn't work, I'll kill 'em for a while.

I also need to do a bit of redesign for all the other, informative-type pages on the site, so that they fit the new, slimmer design, but I can do that bit by bit, a page or two a day. I think it's mostly resetting the table widths, and finally remembering to place the right-hand navigation on all the pages...I think. I haven't decided if I like that. I'm open to suggestions.

So there you go, and I am now for bed. I managed to completely screw up my sleep schedule again this week. Not that it was hard. I am and will always be, a night person. Alas.

Nighters,
Jenie

Ch-ch-change-es

:) I'm sorry. I can't seem to help myself with the cheesy song title blog titles, complete with the singing inflections. :)

The house smells like snake again today. I don't know if that means the cat got all excited and pounced on it while we weren't paying attention, or what, but since I've been home all day, and the smell didn't start up until right around 5, which is the same time I got home yesterday, I wonder if it's just coincidence, and the smell (which I keep typing as small) is something else. Either way, it's unpleasant. And there was a bloodbath in the small bathroom when I got up today. A trail of blood leading into the house from the garage, up the hall to the bathroom, across the bathroom floor to her preferred killspot just in front of the sink, and a LOT of smeared blood and spatters covering a 2' square area (that means 2 on a side, right?) in front of and under the sink. Since it always and without fail falls on me to clean up the blood of whatever hapless victim Fujo brought into the house, I grow steadily un-enamored with the cat. And whatever this bitter smell that tastes frigging horrible is that is filling the house, it really needs to go.

But none of that has to do with our title, so let me tell you I have finished the new index page to the site, but I have to redesign the nav bar across the top of the page, incorporating the bottom bar into it and effecting a system of rollovers. Since I am not a flash type of person, this will require actual work, which will require help from the very impatient and unhelpful SO, who is himself bogged down with work, not to mention, I am PMS'g, making it a very bad time to learn anything new regarding web design, so the new page has not yet gone up to replace the old one. I like it so much though, that I am inclined to put it up anyway, even with the now too-wide bottom nav bar.

Ah, webdesign, they name is Pita. ;)

However, the friends page, which is easy to change, is growing like mad. :) I am proud to say I have added Silver Parrot, Yatta, and a new banner for Indigo Art to that page, and have become a member of the International Jewelry Designers Guild and Bust Magazine's Girl Wide Web (those are on the links page), and am waiting confirmation (and an opening) to join the Society of International Jewelry Artisans, which I am VERY excited about and hopeful they will accept me. Their membership is doing some crazy beautiful stuff, and I can only grow and benefit from membership with them.

I also changed the template to the Dragonblog, as I call it, here, because blogger navigation drives me absolutely insane, in that once you click a link to another page not the main index page, you can't get back to index without hitting the back button. Now, however, you can. Just click "Dragonblog" up there at the top of the page under the title, and it will take you back to the index page of this blog. :)

In addition to my own changes, I would like to congratulate Cynthia Schmidt, of Indigo Art, who has hit a milestone of her own, having recently registered the Cranky Cat® trademark! :) I wish her nothing but the best and all kinds of wonderful success. :)

(I can not wait till I have a kitchen with actual wall space - this one is entirely open, accept for the cabinetry and a window - so that I can hang my wonderful Indigo Art print, Fish Soup. :)

And Sea of Stars is going through a bit of expansion and has redesigned recently, as well. :) So it looks like everyone is right on path at the moment. :)

That's it for now. Ciao, bella!

Jenie

Of Skunks & Snakes

Did you know there are snakes which put out a "musky odor" as a defense mechanism when they get really freaked out?

Yeah, neither did I.

Until the cat brought another one into the house yesterday, and while the SO was disposing of it - ie. taking it back outside; this of course after making me take a picture of it because he thinks it's a beautiful little snake, and while I can appreciate the bright red color of it's markings, I am amazingly herpephobic in such a way that I can not even stand to touch a photograph of a snake and was very close to tears just having it in the vicinity of my person, so taking a picture of it slithering about in his hands was really pretty much the LAST thing I wanted to be doing - I picked up the cat and cradled her on her back in my arms, her paws all sticking up into the air, so that she could not go trotting out after him to watch where he released it in order to catch it again and return it to the environs of the house, a ploy she is wont to follow.

So anyway, there I am, holding this longhaired cat in my arms and opening my mouth to ask her nicely to please stop bringing the evil snake monsters into my house, when I draw in a breath for speaking and get the hugest whiff of the foulest scent known to man.

Seriously, that little olfactory treasure was hideous. It filled my nose, my mouth, everything. It tasted so utterly bitter, it was all I could do not to throw up, and I flung the cat away from me and ran to the bathroom, where I spat up as much as I possibly could and scrubbed my hands and arms and ripped off my t-shirt in an effort to cleanse the smell from my person, because as God is my witness, that frigging snake can put SKUNKS to shame. Seriously, flowers compared to that thing. Skunks do not in any way smell bad at all when sized up against ringneck snakes. And they do not taste like that, either. The taste alone was enough to put me away for ever and ever. It was truly the most vile thing I have ever experienced, and I have eaten raw squid and grew up on a dairy in Texas, where my father would make me tow away by hand the bloated carcasses of rotting animals in triple degree heat, not a one of which EVER smelled that bad or filled my mouth with such a taste. There's not a smell on this planet that can ever offend me again, because I have been to hell and back, baby, and there's nothing you can do to me, now.

And to top it all off? When I got home from the doctor's office today? The house was filled with the same smell, albeit a watered down version of it. You know what that means?

There's a snake. Loose. In my house.

Awesome.

Spam

I'm sorry legitimate anonymous posters, but until Blogger comes up with a spam-blocking protocol for comments, I have had to change my comments settings so that only Blogger members can comment. I hate that, but last night I got nuked into oblivion with spam comments in under 30 minutes. Since I hate spammers with every single fiber of my being, I set my comments to no anonymous posters. Perhaps in future I'll be able to return to the free-posting process I prefer, but for now, I'm afraid you will need to register with Blogger to comment. One spammer was a registered Blogger member and got through anyway, which vexed me in a serious way, so if that continues, I will be forced to discontinue comments at all, as I would rather sacrifice feedback than allow a scumback lower lifeform to feed off of me and my legitimate business practice. I'm very sorry for any consternation that might cause you anonymous readers. If you know any people who practice spam as a business practice, I recommend punching them to see if it makes you feel better.

Tuesday Treasures: Yatta

Working from the theory you can tell a lot about a person by the purse she carries, former fashion major Jeaneen Benson has designed a line of accessories with style and verve all their own.

Yatta's product line includes handbags, clutches, wallets, checkbook covers, idea books and art, as well as the Yatta-trademarked "clutchlet": adorable handbags sized between a wallet and a clutch, perfect for the girl on the go who hates to be bogged down with heavy bags. The clutchlet also has a handy wrist strap, so if you're like me and avoid clutches like the plague but don't like to carry an actual bag just because it has a strap, the clutchlet may be the purse for you. My favorite style is the adorable vintage fabric Lamb, though the Blu Kitty also caught my eye!

If clubbing is your thing, Yatta's wristlets measure approximately 9 x 7" and will hold a wallet, keys, and lipstick. I love the soft pink felt Pear.

In addition to smaller wristlet bags and clutches, Yatta also offers the Lola line of larger bags featuring exclusive artwork by Enrique Torres. There are currently three bags in the series, available now. The Camille line also heeds the call of the large purse set, with plenty of room inside the attractive, utilitarian handbag. I have to admit to finding Kittens adorable. :)

Using sturdy outer fabrics like denim brocade and wool felt, Benson lines her constructions with vintage and whimsical fabric of dolls and bunnies or vibrant tropical scenes and flowers. She accents them with ribbons, lace, Swarovski crystal, and "windows" that provide glimpses of lining. After all, what earthly good is a cute kitty lining no one but the wearer ever sees? I appreciate this attention to detail and the care and creativity Benson obviously employs with each creation. And I love that she offers a reduced price outlet offering "projects gone wild" - items which, for one reason or another, did not meet Benson's production standards. I can not tell you how much I love this long wallet with its cheery sheer flower accent and the kicky-fun Butterfly bag.

I wonder what Benson would think that says about me?

Change Is Bustin' Out All O-oh-ver...

I had to file for an extension, so while I am killing time the couple of days I have before sitting down to file again, the site is getting a redesign. A certain web developer of my acquaintance periodically argues with me that my design needs to take into account those people who still surf on antiquated monitors with the dinosaur resolution of 800 x 600. These Old Schoolers make up about 19% of all nomads wandering the web, and their number is shrinking by the day. In addition, I don't know if you know much about web design, but 800 x 600 is a tiny little space, very limiting in what you can do. Consequently, I hate it. I sort of refuse to design for it, which has been the source of many a heated argument in this house, but seriously, unless you are vision-impaired, which would in some instances necessitate bigger text and icons, etc., it's time to upgrade to a better monitor. Even my old Super-VGA monitor, circa 1992, was a 1024, and in technoterms, 13 years is equal to 130 in computer years. It's much easier to design for 1024 x 768 up, and most pages are laid out for it. The new design will probably fit that medium resolution with no horizontal scroll bars, which is a good thing, but even making everything smaller, I'm afraid those of you surfing on 8x6 boards will still have to scroll a little. Bygones.

Site design is also how I practice avoidance; in this case, looking for a job. Very ostrich-like of me, I know, but I am just not up to another round of here's a job, no wait, nevermind. There's always tomorrow for that joy. I really want to make jewelry right now, but what with all the summer cleaning and the packing ahead, I really need to leave my bead boxes put away. Still, it's killing me that I have tons of ideas for jewelry right now and am not really able to sit down and play with them. On the brighter side, however, I found a pair of earrings I'd made that then went missing (they were in one of the trays in my bead board, which I had then laid a stack of paperwork on top of, so that's happy news. They're out of some very nice freeform tumbled nuggets of beautiful smokey quartz with no inclusions or defects, and I was very unhappy to have lost them, so it's wonderful to have found them again. :)

I have to go, now. I have to go do something productive...what, I don't know, seein' as it's after 5. But something.

adios,
jenie

Have I mentioned I hate taxes?

Because I really, really do.

I just want to make pretty things with beads and silk and silver.

Taxes? Not so much.

::sigh::

Just call me Indy Annie

You know that scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark where Indiana Jones rolls over, away from the opening in the sand that leads down into the tomb, and says "Snakes. Why did it have to be snakes?"

Yeah...that's what the cat has now decided to bring into the house. And not just any snakes, either. Endangered species snakes.

Excellent.

Friday Finds WE 081405

I'm starting off the Finds this week with a discovery near and dear to my heart. I absolutely adore Dream Life Studio at Etsy. Lori-Lyn's greeting cards are my favorites, but I also think the softies are adorable and the jewelry is really unique. I can't rave about the greeting cards enough. Some of my favorites are Trust, Queen, and Pink Cupcake.

Dream Life also has a store at Cafe Press where Lori-Lyn sells goods ranging from journals to aprons to keepsakes and magnets. The magnets are my absolute faves, and at $2 a pop, I think they're a steal for that kind of originality. Frankly, I can't wait for Dream Life to go solo and make it a Tuesday Treasure. I love her design that much.

Okay, I know it's geeky, but the little girl in me - the one who still loves fairytales and fantasy and thinks magic and dragons could exist - thinks the wings at Faerietail are just too pretty for words. :)

Forever French is a beautiful website, crisp and clean, with excellent images. I wish my own site was that well designed. Plus, their product is really cool, if you are a fan of the provencal. Which I am. :)

If you are a fan of pyrography - or just want to know what it is, check out Steve Wright's Sunlion Crafts. I've known Steve online for about a year now (we belong to the same UK art group), and he's a very nice man and a fantastic artist. :) His pyrography is beautiful, too!

Bella Lucce has a huge line of all-natural skin care products, similar to what I hope to offer at Dragonfly one day. I only have a facial mist and oatmeal mask, at the moment. Guess I better get on that, huh? ;) I especially like that Bella does not test on animals and is committed to recycling and giving back to the communities with which they do business.

Besides, the Wildberry Body Polish looks good enough to eat!

That's it for the Finds this week. Have a very pleasant weekend.

Jenie

Fini!

How do you like the new blog appearance? The quickie travel skin was just not working for me anymore. I needed some personality...and, you know, to match my site. :) Blogger's interface is a little confusing, I have to say. I'll probably tweak this more later; shopping links, blog links, cool stuff links, etc.

But for now, it's done. :)

I wish I could say the same for other projects, but at least this one, which has been bugging me a while now, is done. And served very well as an avoidance project. Now, however, duty calls.

Stupid duty.

J

In the middle of changes.

Bear with me.

Treasures & Finds: The 411

I didn't come across a single thing I wanted to mark this Tuesday; sorry. Nothing really leapt out at me except for Dream Life Studios, and I'm saving them for when Lori-Lyn opens her own site. She will be a Friday Find this week, though, so all is not lost. I was going to list her this weekend, but life really threw a wrench into the works, so it will just have to wait.

If you maintain your own independent website and would like to be considered for write up in the Tuesday Treasures or a mention in the Friday Finds, please drop me a mail and let me know; I'd love to see your stuff. :) I am always happy to pass cool discoveries along to others...though sometimes it takes me a while to get to it! :)

Should you choose to "submit" your site for a Tuesday Treasure, keep in mind the following:

You must be an independent artisan/artist/crafter. My goal is to showcase small business people; the big guys do not need the help.

You must make the product you sell yourself. (ie. no mass-produced stuff you buy from a sweatshop 3rd world country, mark-up, and resell)

Your site should be clean and easy to navigate, with good pictures which adequately and fairly represent your product. That means having your information up front so that people do not have to hunt for it, your navigation well-organized so that it's easy to shop, and crisp, well-lit, in focus images of your product, whatever it might be. You do not have to have a website that looks like it was designed by a professional. I am a big fan of pretty websites; however, I realize everyone is not a web developer, and just because you can collage a beautiful work of art or are a genius when it comes to wirewrap and PMC does not mean you know the slightest thing about HTML or CSS!

As for the Friday Finds, those consist of stuff I come across that I just happen to like, for whatever reason, whether it be the entire site, the concept, or a particular item on the site.

I also have a Dragonfly Friends page for those independent artisans whose products and sites I really like, some of whom I also know as people. Most of them have been good enough to link back to me, which is always appreciated. I'm a big believer in synergy and supporting your fellow artists/human beings. The parameters for that page are pretty much that you be an independent artisan with your own website to sell your goods, preferably in a nice, quiet, pleasing and professional manner. :)

That's about it. I got nothin' else today.

ttyl,
Jenie

No time for blogging

Sorry there were no finds this weekend; it was busy. My friends were here from France, and I had a second job interview for a job I'd really like to land. In addition, I have to move soon, so that created some angst I was vastly underprepared for. The Finds will hopefully be back this coming Friday, and I'll probably post a Treasure tomorrow (Tuesday proper; I do not count 3am Monday night as Tuesday, even though I know that technically it is. I have not been to bed yet, and that makes this Monday, as far as I am concerned!)

With the impending move, I have to put all my beads away and do some serious organizing. Filing and packing; two of my most hated things. I hate moving, and it seems like that's what I've spent my life doing, what with my dad's impatience and boredom sparking a move every other year and then the natural transience of your 20's. I thought when we moved into this house, that would be the last move I'd ever make. Alas, I was wrong.

So I have to pack and file and put away, and I just realized I never did my taxes, and those are due on the 15th, and since I have no good reason for a second extension, add that to the list of onerous duties I have to perform in the next few weeks. Like, by the weekend.

::sigh::

Jenie

Tuesday Treasures: Mood Swing Studio

Poking around Mood Swing is a little like suddenly discovering your Great Aunt Agatha's attic on a rainy afternoon. You know Agatha; she was the creative one in the family. The one everyone thought was just a little off, who saved everything and filled her house with unusual "treasures".

So it is with Kristen Townsend, the creative force behind Mood Swing. A self-described "one woman chaos," Townsend collects beads, vintage items and other bits of nostalgia, incorporating them into her designs. Products range from jewelry like rings, brooches and bracelets, to home accents such as papier mache alphabet letters, throw pillows, pictures, and things Townsend calls "Vignettes": vintage images and papers encased in soldered glass and given an aged appearance, meant to be hung from doorknobs, shelves, or anywhere else you might care for a whisp of the past.

The Mood Swing website well matches Townsend's products and is uncluttered and easy to navigate. She also offers a sale page, wishlist (registration required), and The Glitter Diaries, an aptly-named blog featuring Mood Swing's new items and Townsend's treasure hunt adventures and plunders.

Though the site is fairly small, if nostalgia's your thing, there are probably more than a few items you'll like at Mood Swing, and I'd give it a looksee, just for fun, if nothing else. Aunt Agatha would love it.


Jenie

jill-i designs

It's really not that often I look at another designer's stuff and am so blown away I want to cry. But sometimes I see the kind of stuff I dream of making if only I had the know-how and the money for the stones, and it just makes me feel like even if I did, I'd never be able to turn out jewelry that beautiful.

Jill Italiano is one such designer.

Seriously insane. Go. Look. Dream. It's just that gorgeous.

I especially like the wire-wrapped sort of floral vine jewelry she makes, like this cuff bracelet and this pendant. And I think they're even more beautiful in sterling silver. Those make me weep for my complete and utter lack of talent or imagination. But I'm also really jealous over the stones she uses. They're the kinds of stones I dream of using. The ones I can't yet buy but am constantly on the look out for, ooing and ahing over them at gem shows, fingering them with such avarice I never knew I could feel, and the sharp, sharp pang of regret when I must turn my back on them and move on.

I can see someone driving down the street in a newer, nicer car, or watch someone buying the expensive gadgets and toys I only wish I could afford, and experience nothing more than the tiniest twitch of envy. But seeing the stones other people can afford to play with and not being able to buy them myself? That is an agony that prompts brutal jealousy. So go take a look at Jill's stuff. Such art should not go unseen.

Jenie