Aw Man! No Handmade Market for The Summer!

About a month ago I participated in a craft show called the Handmade Market. I had a nice time there and I made some badly needed sales. This market usually happens once and month and the cost to participate was really inexpensive (about $30 and up for more space). All I had to do was bring my table and set up. There was a nice amount of traffic too so I got to meet some new people and hand out some cards. I was really looking forward to doing some more shows with them this summer. However, I received an email yesterday stating that the organizers have decided to take the summer off and restart in fall. I was really sad to hear this because I made a decent amount of cash there (way more than I have made on etsy). I guess I will have to find some other opportunities although many of the craft fairs and shows here in Chicago have high fees, are juried, or have deadlines that I've already missed(for the summer)!*whimper* I do have more Bloomingdales shows coming up though. But cash up front is sooo great!

My Latest Etsy Listing!

Horn, Amazonite, and Shell

I Said I'd Never Do it But....

I could not resist. I am talking about Twitter. I, just a couple of days ago said that I was not interested in Twitter or tweeting. Besides I have an esty shop, facebook, myspace, website-I don't want to deal with anything else. Plus who cares what I am doing? However, I saw some people on Etsy forums talking about it and they said it was a good way to promote their shop and some even got a few sales. This caused me to rethink twitter and I joined this Monday. Of course I am addicted now and I'm updating way more I thought I would. In fact I update more about regular, average stuff than I do about my etsy shop(shame). Maybe I should have expected this though because I said the exact same thing about Facebook (was not interested) but I joined that and got hooked especially when I started to get in contact with so many old friends. I can't wait to see what next phenomena I vow to not get involved in but then eventually do. I guess the lesson for me is never say never!

Spring Clearance @ Beautyhabit.com!

Beautyhabit.com is one of my favorite places to buy great, boutique-y, beauty products. They have a great selection and always send the best free samples with your order. Beautyhabit is having a clearance sale and there are some great products available for really great prices. So much to buy-so little money!

Community Urban Gardens!

Majora Carter
Recently I have been looking for information about urban gardening or farming. I would like to start growing my own vegetables in my backyard but I would also like to get involved in some type of community gardening project for my neighborhood and other inner city areas.

I was born and raised in Chicago's inner city and there was a grocery store right down the street from my house. We were able to do our shopping and had access to fresh fruits and vegetables. As time passed and this grocery store became another grocery store and then a few years later it was gone and nothing replaced it. All that remained in my neighborhood were "quik-ee mart" type stores where you could buy, snacks, cigarettes, juices, sodas, but nothing fresh. Sadly, this is the state of many inner city areas-you can buy snacks, fast food, soda and juice but can't find an apple to save your life. However, lately I have been hearing more about individuals starting urban farms and co-ops to supply their neighborhoods with fresh vegetables. And I am going to keeping looking into to this so that I can get involved.

One person in particular that I have been hearing about and seeing is a long time south Bronx resident named Majora Carter. Majora is an African American woman who advocates for enviromental justice and has an organization called Sustainable South Bronx. Carter and her organization have been making the South Bronx a better and greener place to live with gardening, green job training, parks, transportations and many other projects. When I read about people like Majora I realize that one person can make a difference-it just takes some hard work and time and a never give up attitude.

15% Offf Mychelle Products! Oooh!

Mychelle is one of my fave natural skincare lines and they are offering 15% off their products for the month of March! I bought one of their sampler sets a while back and really liked everything, but what I loved most was the Clear Skin Serum. This serum really seemed to keep pimples at bay and gave my skin an overall nice texture. Must replenish now!Plus Mychelle has a bunch of single trial sized items that are also %15 off so you can try before you buy full price.

Even More Jewels!

Chrysophrase Gold-Filled Earrings



Green Amazonite Gold-Filled Necklace


Sodalite Necklace


Citrine Gold-Filled Necklace


Zoisite Gold-Filled Necklace

Zoisite Gold Filled Necklace

Trunk Show Jewels Cont.

More jewels

Amber and Silver Earrings


Green Amazonite/Gold-Filled Earrings


Andalusite/Gold Filled Earrings


Mookaite Necklace


Sodalite Bracelet

Trunk Show Jewels

Here a few pictures of jewelry from my trunk show :

Flourite Gold-Filled earrings




Tourmaline Gold-Filled Bracelet


Ametrine Gold-filled Earrings



Flourite Gold-Filled Earrings

My Trunk Show

My Bloomingdales trunk show went fairly well this past Sunday. I got some sales and a few contacts, and a custom order. So I am pleased and hoping to do more trunk shows (and maybe some craft fairs) in the near future.

Skincare for Men that I Love!

I got some skincare samples a while back (can't remember from where) and I recently tried them. It is called Eyre Bio Botanics and there was a multivitamin day balm and a facial moisturizer. I used them for a couples of days and I thought they were great. The day balm moisturized but it was not at all greasy or oily. And the moisturizer (I used at night) was good too-not too thick or rich. On about the fourth day of using the samples I looked closely at the label and saw that it was skincare for men. Oh well, I'd use it anyway. Plus it is seems better than many of the "made for women" products I have tried.

Girls Night Out ! Sounds Like Fun!

Shecky's Girls Night Out is coming to Chicago (Mar.18-20th) and it sounds like fun! Free samples, shopping, swag (goodie bag worth $100) -what more could a girl ask for? And the tickets are a discounted $15 until March 12- I might just take advantage!

The Countdown is On!

Just a few more days until my first department store (Bloomingdales) trunk show and I am busy, busy, busy. I still have some finishing touches to make to jewelry and I am gathering all my display items too. I will post pictures after the show-I don't believe in jinx but I just have a thing about showing new work before the show. Well, gotta go get to work!

My Latest Etsy Listing!

I just added these earring to my etsy store! They are made faceted green rutilated quartz, stones sterling silver chain and tiny sterling silver beads.

Bloomingdales Trunk Show! YaY!

I am getting ready for a trunk show at Bloomingdales in Skokie, IL (Old Orchard) so I am super busy making jewelry. Hello 3 o'clock in the morning! I am really excited about some of the pieces I have made too. I feel like I am finally getting a hold on my style instead of being all over the place! I hope it goes really well and I get a nice response!

My Latest Etsy Listing

Here is my latest etsy listing-a pair of earrings made with Chrysocolla, Blue Kyanite, Amazonite all connected and wire wrapped with gold-filled wire.

Yay for my Homemade Studio in a Box!

I do not have the best digital camera and I am not the best photographer. I make and sell jewelry on etsy, so I wanted to have better pictures of what I was selling. I read that studios in a box could make pictures of small items (like jewelry) look a hundred times better that just shooting them in a regular setting. So I did some searching on amazon and found a few options(from about $20-$70), but I am on a tight budget so I held off on buying one. Instead, I did a google search for how to make one and found a great step-by-step blog post (Strobist). I made it (for $0-already had everything I needed), and it does not look as good as the ones on amazon or the one on the blog-but it helped my pictures out some. I still have a ways to go though. The pictures shown are before and afters


Before


After

Bath and Body on Etsy!

I found some cool bath and body products on etsy and tres inexpensive too! I really like the Gudonyatoo shop especially for their Smoochy Bars and solid perfumes.

Q.Bel Wafer Bars! Yum!

I found these Q.bel Belgian Chocolate Wafer Bars at Whole Foods and they are delish and under 200 calories. They come in dark or milk chocolate and there is a peanut butter flavor (with dark or milk). I bought the bars but they also come as wafer rolls. So good and they don't have high fructose corn syrup or partially hydrogenated oils. I have not seen them available online yet- so off to Whole Foods I go.

Join the Inner Circle

Saffron Rouge is a website that sells only natural and organic skincare, haircare, and cosmetics. They carry many brands-some I have heard of before and others that are new to me. I, being the beauty product junkie that I am, was interested in so many of the products on this site. I wanted to try almost every product I saw, especially the brands I had never heard of. However, I simply can not afford to spend much money on skincare these day, so I decided to join their sampling program. The program is called the Kirstin's Inner Circle and costs $35 to join. A membership gets you a couple of samples ( of the very best organic and natural beauty products) every month for 12 months and a detailed letter about the product. Also, there is usually an exclusive (for Inner Circle members) percentage amount off of that product or brand for a month. I have even received one full size product (valued at $17) as one of my monthly samples. Whoo Hoo! so glad I joined-now when I get some real money I can buy full-sizes of the products I like.