It's Here! It's Here!!!

Nesting With Style is open!!! Hurray! There are all kinds of gorgeous items on the site, too. It's awesome. I suggest you head over and check it out. :) My Gina earrings are there, but obviously, I have to get cracking on new designs, so I can keep up with the many talented designers Lauren has listed. I am sad to say Calico Juno beat me to fabricating a design or two. That's a bummer. She makes these teardrop-shaped wire drops with wire wrapped around the bottom to form loops, and I have that design sketched out in my book. Sadly, I won't be making them now, at least for Nesting. I have to say, btw, that Calico Juno makes some gorgeous stuff. Check it out!

I had wanted to do a post with items or sites I liked prior to Christmas, but when I hadn't been able to do it by last Saturday, I figured it was way too late. :(

If you won a drawing recently and have not yet gotten your box, I'm sorry. I've been just buried and am horribly behind with anything not of paramount importance (ie. that someone paid me for). I apologize profusely and hope that when you get your box, the stuff inside makes up for the delay. I'm just trying to keep my head above water, so stuff that I could let slip, I did. I'm sorry and PROMISE to mail the stuff out after Christmas. PROMISE!

Have I mentioned I want a puppy? I really do. But first I need a cool day job that pays cool wages. ::sigh::

If we don't chat again before Christmas - which we very well may not - I just want to say Merry Christmas. Happy Hanukkah. Happy Holidays. Seasons Greetings. Peace on Earth. And Happy New Year.

xo,
jenie

New Camera

So, since my Canon took a header, I thought it might be wise to have a backup camera. Circuit City is having a sale, so I went tonight and picked up a Nikon CoolPix 4600 for $150. I'll let you know how it works out, but so far it looks like it will do the trick, even if I do have to use a tripod. I love my A70 and will be glad to get it back from Canon again, but this Nikon seems a decent backup.

The other day I had to go to my old bead store to buy a sterling silver heart ring for a heart lasso necklace, and while I was there, I shopped their semi-precious strands, because even though I know it costs me a lot more there than it does elsewhere, they get cool stuff. And in fact, I got some gorgeous rose quartz strands and some hematite tubes, onyx rectangular tubes, some sort of cathedral-cut onyx beads, howlite heishe beads, and little 4x4mm turquoise and howlite cubes. I went for the greys, blacks and whites, because a little birdy (Lauren) told me that's what's in this winter. (I have been remiss in my fashion forward research lately.)

I really like the howlite. Normally, I'm not a fan of howlite, but the greys in what I got are really soft and nice, and the beads look like snow. They're really great. :)

I did some research on howlite, and unfortunately, there's not much out there, but here's what I got:

Once called "white buffalo" by some Native Americans, howlite is a soft stone rating 2.5 - 3.5 on the Mohs scale. Most notable for it's ability to masquerade as turquoise and some other semi-precious stones, howlite draws its name from that of its discoverer, Nova Scotian geologist Henry How. Often erroneously labelled "white jasper," howlite isn't jasper at all, but a much softer stone rating 2.5 - 3.5 on the Mohs scale. Its soft nature makes howlite ideal for carving, and slabs of the material are often painted with scenes and designs that make artistic use of the veins. Howlite represents patience and is often worn to help increase observation, memory, inner peace. It is said howlite reflects offensive behavior and is a good stone to wear to help positively resolve confrontation. Because of it's softness, care should be taken with howlite jewelry. It is found in most substantial quantities in Canada and California, with smaller deposits located in Germany and Serbia.

I also discovered a "new" kind of turquoise. Discovered in the Dry Creek Mine on the Shoshone Indian Reservation near Battle Mountain, Nevada, in 1993, Sacred Buffalo turquoise is rare and fairly new to the jewelry scene. Sometimes called white turquoise, the stone is not white at all and varies in color, due to a lack of heavy metals in its composition. The vein ranges from whitish grey to black. Not to be confused with "white buffalo," which is actually the white stone howlite and not turquoise at all, the only known streak of Sacred Buffalo turquoise in the entire world is that located in the Dry Creek Mine, where it is mined by the Shoshone peoples and sent to Navajo indians in Arizona and New Mexico to be made into jewelry.

And thus endeth the "lesson". :)

Jenie

Only 10 More Days!?!

Getting over a head cold and still have intermittant sore throat and a whole head full of snot. Sounds gross, no? It is.

I've got a busy weekend ahead of me. Business and personal packages to mail, and I still have not done a lick of Christmas shopping. Where the heck did the time all go? It was Thanksgiving last week, I swear. I'm supposed to provide a list of things I want to the fam, and I haven't given it any thought at all. All I know is that I do not want yet another tchotchke. If it can't be depleted, read, or listened to, I do not want it.

Unless it can be strung on silk or stainless steel cable, in which case, bring it on. :)

I'm extending order deadlines to December 18 to ship Priority Mail and December 20 to ship Express Mail, so if you're looking to order and think you missed the window, it's still wide open. I haven't had that many orders this Christmas, so extending deadlines doesn't seem to be a problem.


I finally got my dragonfly logo worked out in 300dpi so I can have some little 1" promo buttons made up. Yay! I'm looking forward to them. I don't know why, I just really want to have some made. They're just my logo (no text) on a sky-like background, but if you want one, drop me a mail, and I'll send one to you when I get them. I might do some little marble magnets with them too. Because I also like fridge magnets. :)

Have you entered the December drawing yet? The prize is some sort of earrings - mainly because that's all I have time to make - and one of my Christmas mix cd's. And actually, no one has entered for this month, so if you toss your name into the ring, you'll probably win. :) I do covers and liner notes for my mix cd's, so not to brag, but they don't suck all that much.

That's it for now,
Jenie

Thank you, Canon

So, Canon is replacing my camera. They're all "this is not a recall," but when you have a whole slew of cameras that have the same malfunction, and you offer to fix all of them en masse, that's a recall, in my opinion. I don't care what you call it. Thanks for fixing it, and I'm good.

That sounds kinda rude, but considering I paid $376 for that camera two years ago ($576, by the time you count batteries, case, charger, memory card, and card reader), I really am very happy Canon is doing the right and responsible thing, and fixing my camera. :)

My birthday was wonderful, thank you for asking. It was nice to finally have a good birthday again, because trust me, most of them since I turned 21 have sucked pond water.

So, I have new items which are not yet up on the site, on accounta I can't take images of them and there are too many up there currently which are sans image. But there are sterling silver and blue opal linear drops, 14k gold-fill & strawberry "quartz" linear drops, and a black leather unisex necklace with free-floating sterling silver rings and bali beads. I have ideas for more, so probably when I'm unemployed again in January, there will be new things for February and spring. :)

People, I have gained weight. I weigh more than I have ever weighed in my entire life, and when I caught sight of myself in a big ol' dressing room mirror this evening, I was NOT thrilled. The diet has begun in earnest. I will add that it is particularly cruel that I am gaining weight now, when I spent my entire life until just a few years ago eating whatever I wanted, when I wanted, with no thought to weight gain. Everyone told me I was *too* thin. I did not care, because I was happy with how I looked. I wish I had really loved my body then, instead of being so profoundly self-conscious, because it was a much better body than the one I am currently occupying and can't stand the feel of. If I ever get my old body back, I vow to thoroughly bask in the comfort of it and never, ever take it for granted again. And just for the record, I see girls every so often who have the same body type and build as I used to and who weigh what I used to weigh, and all those bitchy women who told me I was too skinny were full of crap; I looked guuuud.

::sigh::

ciao, bella. ciao.
jenie

No New Images for Me

My digital camera - the camera I spent $576 on two years ago - the camera I took to France and use for all of my website images, the camera I love and have happily used so often lo, these last 2 years and 4.5 months, has tanked on me.

I think it was the rechargeable batteries, which never seemed to get along with the camera all that well. I always had trouble with the display when they started to run out. And now that trouble has extended to regular batteries and has gotten worse, so that it happens all the time now, rather than just when the batteries are low. So that I can no longer take images, because not only will they not display, but it seems to actually be a short with the lens, and the camera actually will not take a photo of anything other than black screen or purple wavy lines. :(

I can't afford another camera right now, so this makes me less than happy. Less. Than. Happy. :(

Alas.

Introducing the Amy BFF Necklace

Here's the latest item on the site. I tried to make more jewelry this week, but I'm having some serious motor coordination issues, and my hands just will not cooperate. I actually made this 2 weeks ago but hadn't gotten around to photography until the weekend. This is the larger, pop-up image I'll be using. I need to take a better one for the thumbnail and regular view(s).


It's comprised of a free-floating heart on greek leather, 16" long, with a 2" extender chain, if requested.

I have "finished" my part of the documentary footage. I actually had 4 more interviews to do, but I have to send them back to my friend Jodie, on accounta I have damaged the rotator cuff in my left shoulder and have a scorching case of bursitis which makes typing difficult and painful. I have to start visiting my chiropractor regularly for ultrasound treatments and physical therapy. If only I had time for that, it'd be awesome. My work load at the day job is increasing, which exacerbates the bursitis like I can't tell you, so I'm gonna have to find the time, which means I'm going to have to miss work, which isn't going to sit well with the company...maybe if I dangle the word "disability"? Since the desk and chair are the wrong height, and all... ::sigh::

My anti-birthday is Sunday. I am thinking of offering a prize to the first person to send me a birthday email on Sunday. Not Saturday, Sunday. Maybe that way, I'll actually get greetings on the actual day, this year. Sneaky, no? :)

Enough typing, now. Because, ow.

J